musician, and in his days of
darkness found habitual diversion at his organ. Indications of a
susceptible and appreciative ear for musical harmony are frequent
throughout the poems.

7. the sapphire-colored throne. See Ezekiel I 26.

27. consort is the word from which we derive our _concert_.

COMUS.

During the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., the _mask_ was
one of the most popular forms of dramatic entertainment. Having a
function and a character peculiar to itself, it flourished side by side
with the regular plays of the theatrical stage, and gave large scope to
the genius of poets, composers, and scenic artists.

The mask was usually designed to grace some important occasion, in which
members of the upper classes of society, or even royal personages, were
concerned. When the occasion called for particularly brilliant display,
and had been long foreseen, the preparations for it would involve immense
outlays for costumes, theatrical machinery, for new music, and for a
libretto by a play-writer of the greatest note. When the mask was purely
a private one, like Arcades and Comus, it was all the fashion for the
gentle youths and maidens, for gentlemen and ladies of the highest rank,
to take upon themselves the parts of the drama, to rehearse them
assiduously, and finally to enact them on the private stage or on the
lawn in the presence of a select audience.

The mask thus differentiated itself from the stage play in that it was
not given for the pecuniary behoof of a company of actors, but
represented rather expenditure for the simple purpose of producing grand
effects. To act in a mask was an honor, when common players were social
outcasts. The mask was got up for the occasion, and was not intended to
keep the boards and attract a paying public. When the august ceremonial
was over, the poet had his manuscript, to increase the bulk of his works,
and the composer had his score, to furnish airs that might be played and
sung in drawing-rooms if they had the good fortune to be popular.

Such was the origin of the poem which Milton, in all the editions
published during his lifetime, entitled simply "A Maske presented at
Ludlow Castle, 1634," but which editors since his day have agreed to name
Comus.

The occasion of the poem was the coming of the Earl of Bridgewater to
Ludlow Castle, to enter upon his official residence there as Lord
President of Wales. The pe