paths. Horror is from Lat. _horrere_,
to bristle, and may be rendered 'shagginess' or 'ruggedness,' just as
_horrid_, l. 429, means bristling or rugged. Comp. _Par. Lost_, i. 563,
"a _horrid_ front Of dreadful length, and dazzling arms." ~shady brows~:
this may refer to the trees and bushes overhanging the paths, as the
brow overhangs the eyes.

39. ~Threats~: not current as a verb. ~forlorn~, now used only as an
adjective, is the past participle of the old verb _forleosen_, to lose
utterly: the prefix _for_ has an intensive force, as in _forswear_; but
in the latter word the sense of _from_ is more fully preserved in the
prefix. See note, l. 234.

40. ~tender age~. Lady Alice Egerton was about fourteen years of age; the
two brothers were younger than she.

41. ~But that~, etc. Grammatically, _but_ may be regarded as a
subordinative conjunction = 'unless (it had happened) that I was
despatched': or, taking it in its original prepositional sense, we may
regard it as governing the substantive clause, 'that ... guard.' ~quick
command~: the adjective has the force of an adverb, quick commands being
commands that are to be carried quickly. ~sovran~, supreme. This is
Milton's spelling of the modern word _sovereign_, in which the _g_ is
due to the mistaken notion that the last syllable of the word is cognate
with _reign_. The word is from Lat. _superanum_ = chief: comp. l. 639.

43. ~And listen why~; _sc._ 'I was despatched.' The language of lines 43,
44 is suggested by Horace's _Odes_, iii. 1, 2: "Favete linguis; carmina
non prius Audita ... canto." The poet implies that the plot of his mask
is original: it is not (he says) to be found in any ancient or modern
song or tale that was ever recited either in the 'hall' (=
banqueting-hall) or in the 'bower' (= private chamber). Or 'hall' and
'bower' may denote respectively the room of the lord and that of his
lady.

46. Milton in his usual significant manner (comp. _L'Allegro_ and _Il
Penseroso_), proceeds to invent a genealogy for Comus. The mask is
designed to celebrate the victory of Purity and Reason over Desire and
Enchantment. Comus, who represents the latter, must therefore spring
from parents representing the pleasure of man's lower nature and the
misuse of man's higher powers on behalf of falsehood and impurity. These
parents are the wine-god Bacchus and the sorceress Circe. The former,
mated with Love, is the father of Mirth (see _L'Allegro_); but, mated
with the