COMUS
33
And the sweet peace that goodnes boosoms ever,
As that the single want of light and noise
(Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)
Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,
And put them into mis-becoming plight.
Vertue could see to do what vertue would
By her own radiant light, though Sun and Moon
Were in the flat Sea sunk: and Wisdoms self
Oft seeks to sweet retired Solitude,
Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation,
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,
That in the various bussle of resort
Were all to ruffl’d, and somtimes impair’d.
He that has light within his own cleer brest
May sit i’th center and enjoy bright day;
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the mid-day Sun;
Himself is his own dungeon.
As that the single want of light and noise
(Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)
Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,
And put them into mis-becoming plight.
Vertue could see to do what vertue would
By her own radiant light, though Sun and Moon
Were in the flat Sea sunk: and Wisdoms self
Oft seeks to sweet retired Solitude,
Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation,
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,
That in the various bussle of resort
Were all to ruffl’d, and somtimes impair’d.
He that has light within his own cleer brest
May sit i’th center and enjoy bright day;
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the mid-day Sun;
Himself is his own dungeon.
Second Brother
Tis most true
That musing meditation most affects
The pensive secrecy of desert cell,
Far from the cheerfull haunt of men and herds,
And sits as safe as in a Senat House:
That musing meditation most affects
The pensive secrecy of desert cell,
Far from the cheerfull haunt of men and herds,
And sits as safe as in a Senat House:
