Comus (Milton)

rdf:langString Comus (Milton)

rdf:langString Comus

rdf:langString Comus

rdf:langString Title page of the first edition , published anonymously

rdf:langString England

rdf:langString English

rdf:langString Print

rdf:langString Poems of Mr. John Milton, Both English and Latin, Compos'd at several times

rdf:langString Comus (A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634) is a masque in honour of chastity, written by John Milton. It was first presented on Michaelmas, 1634, before John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater, at Ludlow Castle in celebration of the Earl's new post as Lord President of Wales. Known colloquially as Comus, the masque's actual full title in its first publication is A Maske presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: on Michaelmasse night, before the Right Honorable, John Earle of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackly, Lord President of Wales, and one of His Majesties most honorable privie counsell. It was first performed for the Earl of Bridgewater on 29 September 1634. The performance also featured his two sons as the Elder Brother and Second Brother, and his daughter, Alice, as the Lady. Comus was printed anonymously in 1637, in a quarto issued by bookseller Humphrey Robinson; Milton included the work in his Poems of 1645 and 1673. Milton's text was later used for a highly successful masque by the musician Thomas Arne in 1738, which then ran for more than seventy years in London.