Page:Comus and other poems - Milton (1906).djvu/35


 * Spir.Alas good ventrous youth,

I love thy courage yet and bold Emprise, But here thy sword can do thee little stead, Farr other arms, and other weapons must Be those that quell the might of hellish charms, He with his bare wand can unthred thy joynts, And crumble all thy sinews.
 * Eld. Bro.Why, prethee Shepherd

How durst thou then thy self approach so neer As to make this relation?
 * Spir.Care and utmost shifts

How to secure the Lady from surprisal, Brought to my mind a certain Shepherd Lad Of small regard to see to, yet well skill'd In every vertuous plant and healing herb That spreads her verdant leaf to th' morning ray, He lov'd me well, and oft would beg me sing, Which when I did, he on the tender grass Would sit, and hearken even to extasie, And in requitall ope his leather'n scrip, And shew me simples of a thousand names Telling their strange and vigorous faculties; Amongst the rest a small unsightly root, But of divine effect, he cull'd me out; The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, But in another Countrey, as he said, Bore a bright golden flowre, but not in this soyl: Unknown, and like esteem'd, and the dull swayn Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon, And yet more med'cinal is it then that Moly That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave; He call'd it Hæmony, and gave it me, And bade me keep it as of sovran use 'Gainst all inchantments, mildew blast, or damp Or gastly furies apparition; I purs't it up, but little reck'ning made, Rh