ARCADES.* Part of an Entertainment presented to the Countess Dowager of Derby,† at Harefield, by some noble persons of her family; who appear on the scene in pastoral habit, moving toward the seat of state, with this song: 1 *The same character may be given of the style, sentiments, imagery, and tone of these Fragments, as far as they go, as of Comus. Warton observes," Unquestionably this Mask was a much longer performance. Milton seems only to have written the poetical part, consisting of these three songs, and the recitative soliloquy of the Genius: the rest was probably prose and machinery, and the whole was acted by persons of Lady Derby's own family." + Milton is not the only great English poet who has celebrated this Countess Dowager of Derby. She was the sixth daughter of Sir John Spenser, with whose family Spenser the poet claimed an alliance. In his "Colin Clout's come Home again," (written about 1595,) he mentions her under the appellation of Amaryllis, with her sister Phyllis or Elizabeth, and Charillis or Anne: and in the dedication to her, of his "Tears of the Muses," he acknowledges the particular bounties she had conferred upon himself and other poets. Thus the lady who presided at the representation of Milton's Arcades, was not only the theme, but the patroness of Spenser. Mother of a hundred gods? Juno dares not give her odds. Who had thought this clime had held A deity so unparallel'd? As they come forward, the Genius of the wood appears, and, turning towards them, speaks: GEN. Stay, gentle swains; for, though in this disguise, I see bright honour sparkle through your eyes; Fair silver-buskin'd nymphs, as great and good; 23. Give her odds. This certainly seems no very elegant phrase, but it was a mode of compliment usual in Milton's time.TODD. 26. Stay, &c. That is, though ye (the actors being of Lady Derby's own family) are disguised like rustics, and wear the habit of shepherds, I perceive ye are of honourable birth, your nobility cannot be concealed. 28. Arcady. The inhabitants of Arcadia, in the Peloponnesus, were devoted to pastoral life; and hence the scene of many ancient pastoral poems, as well as of Sir Philip Sidney's "Arcadia,” is laid there. Hence, of course, the name of 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 this pastoral fragment of a Mask by our author. 31. Arethuse. It was fabled that Arethusa, a nymph, and one of Diana's attendants, being pursued by the river-god Alpheus, was changed into a fountain, and flowed under the earth across the Adriatic, and came up at Ortygia, an island in the bay of Syracuse. 34. Quest: Inquiry, search. 46. To curl: To dress with curls. A horn of bugle small, Which hung adowne his side in twisted gold And tassels gay. Shakes the high thicket, haste I all about, With puissant words, and murmurs made to bless: On which the fate of gods and men is wound. And so attend ye toward her glittering state; II. SONG. O'er the smooth enamell'd green And touch the warbled string, | 60 65 70 75 80 6.5 the nine Syrens sing or address to the Supreme Being. This last circumstance illustrates, or rather explains the sixth, seventh, and eighth lines of the “Ode at a Solemn Music :”. That undisturbed song of pure concent, &c. Milton, full of these Platonic ideas, has here a reference to this consummate or concentual song of the ninth sphere, which is undisturbed and pure, that is unalloyed and perfect. The Platonism is here, however, in some degree Christianized.-T. WARTON. 62. Then listen I, &c. This is Plato's | melodies; which diapason or concentus system. Fate, or Necessity, holds a spindle of adamant; and, with her three daughters (Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos) who handle the vital web wound about the spindle, she conducts or turns the heavenly bodies. Nine Muses, or Syrens, sit on the summit of the spheres, which, in their revolutions, produce the most ravishing musical harmony. To this harmony the three daughters of Necessity perpetually sing in correspondent tones. In the mean time the adamantine spindle, which is placed in the lap or on the knees of Necessity, and on which the fate of men and gods is wound, is also revolved. This MUSIC OF THE SPHERES, proceeding from the rapid motion of the heavens, is so loud, various, and sweet, as to exceed all aptitude or proportion of the human ear, and therefore is not heard by men. Moreover, this spherical music consists of eight unisonous melodies; the ninth is a concentration of all the rest, or a diapason of all those eight | 81. Glittering state. The Nymphs and Shepherds are here directed by the Genius to look and advance towards a glittering state, or canopy, in the midst of the stage, in which the Countess of Derby was placed as a Rural Queen. It does not appear that the second song, which here immediately follows, was now sung. Some machinery or other matter intervened.-T. WARTON |