The neo-Latin Cornus of Erycius Puteanus (Hendrik van der Putten) has been much neglected as a source of Milton's masque, in which Comus, the post-classical god of revelry, appears as the central figure. As early as 1790, Sir John Hawkins, in a note on Johnson's Life of Milton suggested Puteanus's fantasy as a source of Milton's fiction. To date, however, no serious attempt has been made to trace Milton's debt to this curious extravaganza, although its probable influence upon Milton has been universally recognized.