exhibited in the autograph manuscript of some of the minor
poems preserved in Trinity College, Cambridge, does not
correspond with that of the printed copy. [Note: This
manuscript, invaluable to all students of Milton, has lately been
facsimiled under the superintendence of Dr. Aldis Wright, and
published at the Cambridge University press]. This is certainly
true, as the reader may see for himself by comparing the
passage from the manuscript given in the appendix with the
corresponding place in the text. Milton's own spelling revels in
redundant e's, while the printer of the 1645 book is very sparing
of them. But in cases where the spelling affects the metre, we
find that the printed text and Milton's manuscript closely
correspond; and it is upon its value in determining the metre,
quite as much as its antiquarian interest, that I should base a
justification of this reprint. Take, for instance, such a line as the
eleventh of Comus, which Prof. Masson gives as:-

Amongst the enthroned gods on sainted seats.

A reader not learned in Miltonic rhythms will certainly read this

Amongst th' enthroned gods

But the 1645 edition reads:

Amongst the enthron'd gods

and so does Milton's manuscript. Again, in line 597, Prof.
Masson reads: