494. ~Thyrsis~, Like Lycidas, this name is common in pastoral poetry. In
Milton's _Epitaphium Damonis_ it stands for Milton himself; in _Comus_
it belongs to Lawes, who now receives additional praise for his musical
genius. In lines 86-88 the compliment is enforced by alliterative
verses, and here by the aid of rhyme (495-512). Masson thinks that the
poet, having spoken of the madrigals of Thyrsis, may have introduced
this rhymed passage in order to prolong the feeling of Pastoralism by
calling up the cadence of known English pastoral poems.
495. ~sweetened ... dale~; poetical exaggeration or hyperbole, implying
that fragrant flowers became even more fragrant from Thyrsis' music.
496. ~huddling~. This conveys the two ideas of hastening and crowding:
comp. Horace, _Ars Poetica_, 19, "Et _properantis_ aquae per amoenos
ambitus agros." ~madrigal~: a pastoral or shepherd's song (Ital. _mandra_,
a flock): such compositions, then in favour, had been made by Lawes and
by Milton's father.
497. ~swain~: a word of common use in pastoral poetry. It denotes strictly
a peasant or, more correctly, a young man: comp. the compounds
boat-_swain_, cox-_swain_. See _Arc._ 26, "Stay, gentle _swains_," etc.
499. ~pent~, penned, participle of _pen_, to shut up (A.S. _pennan_, which
is connected with _pin_, seen in _pin_-fold, l. 7). ~forsook~: a form of
the past tense used for the participle.
501. ~and his next joy~, _i.e._ 'and (thou), his next joy'--words
addressed to the second brother.
502. ~trivial toy~, ordinary trifle. The phrase seems redundant, but
'trivial' may here be used in the strict sense of common or well-known.
Compare _Il Pens._ 4, "fill the fixed mind with all your _toys_"; and
Burton's _Anat. of Mel._, "complain of _toys_, and fear without a
cause."