316 Albert S. Cook, 



P.R. 1. 242-4: 



At thy nativity a glorious quire 



Of Angels, in the fields of Bethlehem, sung 



To shepherds, watching at their folds by night. 



28. In allusion to Isa. 6. 6, 7. Milton twice refers to it in The 

 Reason of Church Government {Prose Works, ed. Bohn, 2. 481, 494), 



29. ■winter wild. This is, of course, not historically justified. 

 By some writers the date is supposed to have been fixed to accord 

 with that of the Roman Saturnalia, but a better explanation is that 

 the worship of Mithra, known as the Sol Invictus, or the Uncon- 

 quered Sun, recognized the winter solstice (Dec. 25 in the Roman 

 calendar) as the birthday of the Sun, because from this point he 

 proceeds to grow in power (at least in northern climes). As Thom- 

 son says ( Winter 868-9) : 



The welcome sun, just verging up at first. 

 By small degrees extends the swelling curve. 



Another explanation proceeds on the basis of a calculation forward 

 from March 25, regarded as the date of. the conception; but this 

 is again referable to the sun, since that is the approximate date 

 of the vernal equinox. Astronomy, then, and not histor}', is re- 

 sponsible foi* the choice of the date for Christmas. This fact invests 

 much of Milton's imagery with natural significance. Cf. Duchesne, 

 Christian Worship (London, 1903), pp. 258 ff. ; the admirable work 

 of Cumont, Textes et Monuments Figure's Relatifs aux Mysteres de 

 Mithra 1. 342, note 4; and the Catholic Encyclopcedia 3. 724 ff. 



But the assignment of Christmas to December 25, while it suggests 

 the winter of northern latitudes, does not necessarily connote severe 

 cold. The earliest suggestion of this that I have found is in Bernard 

 of Clairvaux, Sermo III in Nativitate Domini : ' Hieme natus est. Num- 

 quid credimus casu factum ut in fanta aeris inclementia . . . nasceretur ? ' 



In the York Plays, ed. Toulmin Smith, p. 114, Joseph thus so- 

 liloquizes : 



A ! lorde, what the wedir is colde ! 

 f>e fellest freese {)at euere I felj'd. 



These plays may possibly have been known to Milton, though 

 after this date. This conjecture is based upon the following facts : 

 (1) The manuscript of the York Plays has, written on a fly-leaf, 

 'H. Fairfax's book, 1695'; (2) This was Henry Fairfax, a relative of 

 the Lord General Fairfax to whom Milton inscribed a sonnet ; (3) The 



