1831.] The Beauty of Shakspeare' s Epithets. 649 



the tone and manner * of " Comus" and of the beauty and expressive- 

 ness of its peculiar epithets. Milton,, when he produced his masque, 

 was young, and, if we may judge from his verses on Shakspeare, no very 

 cold or grudging admirer of the great dramatist. Indeed, it is apparent 

 that he had studied this masque attentively he has even transplanted 

 the expressive epithet " bosky" into his own. There is, too, a passage 

 spoken by Prospero, beginning 



" Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves, 

 And ye that on the sands with printless foot 

 Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him 

 "When he comes back " 



which is still more (if we may use such an anachronism) full of Milton- 

 ismsit has, indeed, the true blank- verse flow and music of " Comus," as 

 well as that fitness of expression which he had caught from Shakspeare, 

 and which is only more generally characteristic of the style of Milton, 

 because he had more frequent literary opportunities for indulging in that 

 excellence. Hear Iris once more : 



" You nymphs, called Naiads, of the wandering brooks, 

 With your sedged crowns, and ever-harmless looks, 

 Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land 

 Answer your summons Juno does command. 

 Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate 

 A contract of true love : be not too late. 

 You sim-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary, 

 Come hither from the furrow, and be merry ; 

 Make holyday your rye-straw hats put on, 

 And these fresh nymphs encounter every one 

 In country footing." 



What epithets can be more beautifully designed more chaste more 

 classical ? Milton, a thorough tactician in his art, has finely varied the 

 expression " country footing" into " chaste footing," and " fresh footing" 

 expressive quaintnesses, evidently borrowed or imitated from him who can 

 afford to lend, but whom it is dangerous to imitate Shakspeare. In 

 him these happy illustrations have all the appearance of being unconscious 

 and unimitated ; for it would be a difficult task to trace his beauties to 

 any other source than his own inexhaustible mind, and still more difficult 

 to detect any thing like apparent art in the working up and disposition 

 of his precious materials. But in Milton these adornments of his severe 

 style were, on the contrary, as certainly derived from sources not his 

 own. His imitations are sometimes, indeed, too palpable ; but such of 

 our readers as are curious in these matters may be gratified by going 

 through Todd's over-noted edition of " Comus," where he will find the 

 sources of many of Milton's finest epithets, and be convinced of the value 

 which he set on this ornament and grace of poetry. 



As an instance of the value of a well-chosen epithet, that fine piece of 

 painting in " II Penseroso" 



* The writer is aware that some important resemblances in the mailer of this admirable 

 poem are said to exist in the " Comus" of Puteanus, and the " Old Wives' Tale" of 

 George Peele ; and that the manner is said to be imitated from the " Faithful Shepherdess," 

 and Browne's " Inner Temple Masque ;" but who was the English model of these last- 

 mentioned writers ? Shakspeare ; the style of Jonson's Masques being modelled upon his. 



M.M. New Scries. VOL. XI. No. 66. 4 O 



