256. ~sung~. "The verbs _swim_, _begin_, _run_, _drink_, _shrink_, _sink_,
_ring_, _sing_, _spring_, have for their proper past tenses _swam_,
_began_, _ran_, etc., preserving the original _a_; but in older writers
(sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) and in colloquial English we find
forms with _u_, which have come from the passive participles." (Morris).
~take the prisoned soul~, _i.e._ would take the soul prisoner; 'prisoned'
being used proleptically.
257. ~lap it in Elysium~. _Lap_ is a form of wrap: comp. _L'Alleg._ 136,
"_Lap_ me in soft Lydian airs." Elysium: the abode of the spirits of the
blessed; comp. _L'Alleg._ 147, "heaped Elysian flowers." ~Scylla ...
Charybdis~. The former, a rival of Circe in the affections of the sea-god
Glaucus, was changed into a monster, surrounded by barking dogs. She
threw herself into the sea and became a rock, the noise of the
surrounding waves ("multis circum latrantibus undis," _Aen._ vii. 588)
resembling the barking of dogs. The latter was a daughter of Poseidon,
and was hurled by Zeus into the sea, where she became a whirlpool.
260. ~slumber~: comp. _Pericles_, v. 1. 335, "thick slumber Hangs upon
mine eyes."
261. ~madness~, ecstasy. The same idea is expressed in _Il Pens._ 164: "As
may with sweetness, through mine ear, Dissolve me into _ecstasies_, And
bring all heaven before mine eyes." In Shakespeare 'ecstasy' occurs in
the sense of madness; see _Hamlet_, iii. 1. 167, "That unmatched form
and feature of blown youth, Blasted with _ecstasy_"; _Temp._ iii. 3.
108, "hinder them from what this _ecstasy_ May now provoke them to":
comp. also "the pleasure of that madness," _Wint. Tale_, v. 3. 73. See
also l. 625.
262. ~home-felt~, deeply felt. Compare "The _home_ thrust of a friendly
sword is sure" (Dryden); "This is a consideration that comes _home_ to
our interest" (Addison): see also Index to Globe _Shakespeare_.
263. ~waking bliss~, as opposed to the ecstatic slumber induced by the
song of Circe.
265. ~Hail, foreign wonder!~ Warton notes that _Comus_ is universally
allowed to have taken some of its tints from the _Tempest_, and quotes,
"O you wonder! If you be maid, or no?" i. 2. 426.