946. ~not many furlongs~. These words are deliberately inserted to keep up
the illusion. It is probable that, in the actual representation of the
mask, the scene representing the enchanted palace was removed when
Comus's rout was driven off the stage, and a woodland scene redisplayed.
This would give additional significance to these lines and to the change
of scene after l. 957. 'Furlong' = furrow-long: it thus came to mean the
length of a field, and is now a measure of length.
949. ~many a friend~. 'Many a' is a peculiar idiom, which has been
explained in different ways. One view is that 'many' is a corruption of
the French _mesnie_, a train or company, and 'a' a corruption of the
preposition 'of,' the singular noun being then substituted for the
plural through confusion of the preposition with the article. A more
correct view seems to be that 'many' is the A.S. _manig_, which was in
old English used with a singular noun and without the article, _e.g._
_manig mann_ = many men. In the thirteenth century the indefinite
article began to be inserted; thus _mony enne thing_ = many a thing,
just as we say 'what _a_ thing,' 'such _a_ thing.' This would seem to
show that 'a' is not a corruption of 'of,' and that there is no
connection with the French word _mesnie_. Milton, in this passage, uses
'many a friend' with a plural verb. ~gratulate~. The simple verb is now
replaced by the compound _congratulate_ (Lat. _gratulari_, to wish joy
to a person).
950. ~wished~, _i.e._ wished for; see note, l. 574. ~and beside~, _i.e._
'and where, besides,' etc.