“Studious Retirement” 1632–1638ter with Comus, this is not a drama but a masque, as its title indicates. Dances are at
the heart of masques, though we cannot now recover their visual impact: here, the
antic dances of Comus’s rout, the rustic dances of the shepherds, the masque dances
of the children at Ludlow (probably followed by Revels).^96 Songs, composed by
Henry Lawes, also have special prominence: the Lady’s haunting song invoking
Echo, the Attendant Spirit’s song invoking Sabrina, Sabrina’s lovely lyrics, the At-
tendant Spirit’s song presenting the children to their parents at Ludlow Castle. The
dialogue often resembles formal debate – a presentation of opposed positions – first
by the two brothers, then by the Lady and Comus. The masque transformations are
produced through Sabrina’s songs and rituals; and the children’s virtue is exhibited
and celebrated in their masque dances at Ludlow.
In form, theme, and spirit, however, this is a reformed Masque, projecting re-
formist religious and political values. It requires no expensive and elaborate ma-
chinery – no cloud machines for the Attendant Spirit, no elaborate sets. The principal
characters, the three children, are not masqued allegorical or mythic figures as an
audience would expect; only Comus, Sabrina, and the Attendant Spirit (Lawes,
disguised as the Shepherd Thrysis) are true masquers. And while the lost Lady sees
“visibly” the forms of those virtues especially necessary to her in her plight – faith,
hope, and chastity – they are not masque personifications but the inhabitants of her
own mind. Bridgewater is described as a representative of the ancient British nation
holding power directly from Neptune and Jove, the gods of sea and sky; his con-
nection with the Stuart court is elided.^97 The ideal masque world is Ludlow Castle
not the Stuart court, and it is attained through pilgrimage; it does not, as is usual in
masques, simply appear and dispel all dangers. Nor are the monarchs the agents of
cure and renewal: that role belongs to Sabrina as an instrument of divine grace from
the region, the Welsh countryside, and as an embodiment of the transformative
power of song and poetry. Also, the Platonism in this masque is a far cry from that
of the Caroline court: external form does not reflect internal worth, and evil is
conceived in Protestant, not Platonic terms. At the end of this masque evil remains:
the dark wood is still dangerous to pass through and Comus is neither conquered,
nor transformed, nor reconciled.
Comus himself is a species of court masquer, enacting “dazzling Spells” and
marvelous spectacles, but they only “cheate the eye with bleare illusion” (154–5).^98
He deceptively claims the world of pastoral by his shepherd disguise and his offer to
guide the Lady to a “low / But loyall cottage”(319–20), alluding to the pastoralism
so prevalent in court masques. But instead he leads her to a decadent court with an
elaborate banquet and a beast-headed entourage – a none-too-subtle allusion to the
licentious Cavaliers. In formal terms, this is a surprise: a masque audience would
expect the court scene to be the main masque after the antimasque in the dark
wood with the antic dances of Comus’s rout. Instead, Milton’s court is another
antimasque – not the locus of virtue and grace but Comus’s own residence.
As do several of his early poems, Milton’s masque also contrasts alternative styles