Flowers of more mingled hue But far above, in spangled sheen, And from her fair unspotted side Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend, And from thence can soar as soon To the corners of the moon. Mortals, that would follow me, Love virtue: she alone is free. She can teach ye how to climb 1020. Higher than the sphery chime; Or, if virtue feeble were, Heaven itself would stoop to her. * Purfled (Old Fr. pourfiler; pour, for; fil, Lat. filum, thread; Ital. profilare, to embroider), with flowered border; embroidered.--Scarf, the rainbow.--Elysian. See note on line 257. -Adonis, etc. See Thammuz, p. 249. See Fairy Queen, Book 111.; Canto vi., 46. Adonis was famed for his beauty. He was greatly beloved by Venus, who used to entreat him not to expose himself to the dangers of the chase. At last he lost his life by the tusk of a wild boar.-Assyrian queen, Venus. "There is no other of the Olympians of whom the foreign origin is so probable as this goddess, and she is generally regarded as being the same with the Astarte (Ishtar) of the Phoenicians."-Psyche. See Fairy Queen, Book II.; Canto vi., st. 50, 51. The legend or allegory of Cupid and Psyche is one of the most beautiful of ancient mythology. The story is charmingly told in Bulfinch's Age of Fable. “The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche, and the same word means the soul. Perhaps there is no illustration of the immortality of the soul more striking and beautiful than that furnished by the butterfly, bursting on brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain, after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most fragrant and delicate productions of the spring. Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for the enjoyment of true and pure happiness."-Welkin (A. S. wolcen, cloud, sky), the vault of heaven, the sky. Bowed welkin, "a curve which bends, or descends slowly from its great sweep." Cleveland.-Sphery chime, the music of the spheres. See note on crystal spheres in Hymn on the Nativity, p. 247.-Stoop, etc. The moral of this elegant poem is summed up with exquisite felicity in these concluding lines. Well does Emerson pronounce Comus "the loftiest poem in praise of female purity in any language.” ་ Virtue, chastity, purity. Other synonymes? Distinguish, etc. Write out the story of Comus. To what extent was Milton indebted to Fletcher and other poets for the plan or leading thoughts? What can you say of the species of composition called Masques? Point out the beauties or blemishes in this poem. Write out a statemant of the origin and the exhibition of this Masque. It is the fashion with modern critics, Taine, Froude, White, and others, to disparage and even censure the appearance of any didactic purpose in a poem; to count it a blemish; and to regard as a great merit the fact that a poet is careless of the moral lesson his work conveys. Try Comus by this standard, and write your views of such a criterion. Is it matter of commendation in Shakespeare that he "carries his persons indifferently through right and wrong?" Write an essay on Milton's boyhood and youth; one on him as a politician; as a reformer; as a poet; one on his blindness; on his marriages; on his place in English literature; on Milton as a schoolmaster; on Paradise Lost; on his imitators. Compare Shakespeare's originality as an author with that of Milton. What sacrifices of taste and inclination did Milton make in joining the Puritans? What intimations does he give in youth or early manhood, of his intention to write a great poem? (These themes for essays are intended as suggestions to teachers, who should be fertile in devising and ingenious in selecting others. The student should be encouraged especially to rely on his own investigations and not to accept facts or principles at second-hand.) HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF WORDS. An historical analysis should give a history of each word. It should state, if practicable, the root form, the primary meaning, and the successive changes these have undergone. The prefixes and suffixes should be treated in the same way. If the period in which the term or element was introduced into the English language can be determined, it will be well to specify it. Something of comparative philology may be added. We have already, in the explanatory foot-notes, dipped, in a desultory way, into this interesting subject; but it will be well to be henceforth more systematic. If convenient, the student should consult, among other books, Trench on the Study of Words, English Past and Present, Diversions of Purley, Swinton's Word Analysis, Max Müller's and Marsh's Lectures, Goold Brown's Grammar of Grammars, Abbot's Shakespearian Grammar, and especially Wedgewood's Dictionary of English Etymology. If no other book can be had, Webster's or Worcester's Unabridged Dictionary will tolerably answer the purpose. The practice of examining reference-books of all kinds ought to become a confirmed habit. Let the teacher insist on this. Something should be done daily, for a year or more, in historical analysis. The following may serve as an EXAMPLE. "Whom we invite to see us crowned at Scone."-SHAKESPEARE. Whom is from A. S. hwá, who; dative, hwám, to whom; masc. accusative (i. e., objective) hwone, whäne, whom; Maso-Goth. hwas, who; hwana, whom; Ger. wer, who; wen, whom. The first two letters, hw, appear to have an interrogative (and often a relative) force. They are akin to Lat. qu in qui, who; quot, how many; and to Sans. k in kas, whọ; Gr. xóбos, how much. By a peculiar and unexplained caprice in orthography, they in the eleventh or twelfth century became permanently transposed to wh. The termination m or n is the common sign of the accusative singular, masc. and fem., in the Indo-European languages. We. A. S. we; Ger. wir; Dan. vi. Wis from u, an element of the first pers. plu. in our pronoun of the first person; as in we, our, ours, us. Invite. Lat. invitare, to invite. In is Sans. antu, ontu, on; Gr. ¿v, in; Lat., Goth., Ger., Ital., Dutch, in; Gr. ɛiv; Ice., Sw., Dan. i; Fr. en; -meaning within, into, to. Or it may be Gr. άv, à, Sans. an, a, akin to avεv, without; Ger. ohne; Lat. in-, not; Ger. un-; Eng. in- and un- not. Vite is from what? connected with Lat. vitare, to shun? or with Lat. vita, life? α To is A. S. tô; Goth. du; Ger. zu; perhaps fr. Lat. ad by transposition; indicating primarily approach and arrival. In A. S., to was used with the dative of the infinitive, and this usage became general with the infinitives * in all situations. It perhaps originally had a demonstrative force. See the element t, p. 60. See. A. S. seon, for sehwan; Goth. saihwan, saiwan; Ger. sehen; Dan. see; Ice. and O. Fries. sía; all meaning to see. Perhaps fr. Gr. 6ɛdouaz, to see. Us. A. S. ús, úsih, usic, accusative plu. of Ic, I; Goth. and Ger. uns; Lat. nos; O. Sax., O. Fries., Low Ger. us. See We above. Crowned. Lat. coronare; Fr. couronner; Ger. krönen; Dutch kroonen, to crown; fr. Lat. corona; O. Eng. corone, coroun; Fr. couronne; a crown. The -ed is probably abridged from an ancient auxiliary verb signifying to do. The most ancient English verbs express the past tense by an internal inflection or change of vowel, as sing, sang, sung. Those which add -d or -ed are more recent accessions to the language. At. A. S. œt; Goth., O. Sax., Ice., and Dan. at; Lat. ad. It is supposed to be another form of to, and to mean, primarily, near, present, or towards. See to on p. 283. Scone. Old Scotch Scoon. See p. 137. |