COMUS:

A

MASK,

MASK,

PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634.

BEFORE

JOHN, EARL OF BRIDGEWATER,

THEN PRESIDENT OF WALES.

THE PERSONS.

THE ATTENDANT SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit of THYRSIS.

COMUS, with his Crew.

THE LADY.

FIRST BROTHER.

SECOND BROTHER.

SABRINA, the Nymph.

The chief Persons, who presented, were

The Lord Brackley.

Mr. Thomas Egerton, his br other

The Lady Alice Egerton.

COMUS.

THE FIRST SCENE DISCOVERS A WILD WOOD.

The Attendant Spirit descends or enters.

BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court
My mansion is, where those immortal shapes
Of bright aëreal spírits live inspher'd

In regions mild of calm and serene air,

Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot,

Which men call Earth; and, with low-thoughted

care

Confin'd and pester'd in this pin-fold here,
Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,
Unmindful of the crown, that Virtue gives,
After this mortal change, to her true servants,
Amongst the enthron'd Gods on sainted seats.
Yet some there be, that by due steps aspire
To lay their just hands on that golden key,

That opes the palace of Eternity:

To such my errand is; and, but for such,
I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds
With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould.

But to my task! Neptune, besides the sway
Of every salt flood, and each ebbing stream,
Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove
Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles,
That, like to rich and various gems, inlay
The unadorned bosom of the deep:
Which he, to grace his tributary Gods,

By course commits to several government,
And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns,
And wield their little tridents: But this Isle,
The greatest and the best of all the main,
He quarters to his blue-hair'd Deities;
And all this tract that fronts the falling sun
A noble Peer of mickle trust and
power
Has in his charge, with temper'd awe to guide
An old and haughty nation, proud in arms:
Where his fair off-spring, nurs'd in princely lore,
Are coming to attend their father's state,
And new-entrusted scepter: but their way
Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood,
The nodding horrour of whose shady brows
Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;
And here their tender age might suffer peril,
But that by quick command from sovran Jove