Adam by dire example to beware
Apoftafy, by what befel in Heaven

To those apoftates, left the like befall
In Paradise to Adam or his race,

Charg'd not to touch the interdicted tree,

If they tranfgrefs, and flight that fole command,
So eafily obey'd amid the choice

Of all taftes else to please their appetite,

45

Though wand'ring. He with his conforted Eve 50
The ftory heard attentive, and was fill'd
With admiration and deep mufe, to hear

Of things fo high and strange, things to their thought
So unimaginable as hate in Heaven,

with as magnificent ideas. The fixth
book, like a troubled ocean, repre-
fents greatness in confufion; the fe-
venth affects the imagination like
the ocean in a calm, and fills the
mind of the reader, without pro-
ducing in it any thing like tumult
or agitation. The critic above men-
tion'd, among the rules which he
lays down for fucceeding in the fub-
lime
way of writing, propofes to his
reader, that he fhould imitate the
most celebrated authors who have
gone before him, and been engaged
in works of the fame nature; as in
particular, that if he writes on a
poetical fubject, he fhould confider
how Homer would have spoken on
fuch an occafion. By this means
one great genius often catches the

And

flame from another, and writes in his fpirit, without copying fervily after him. There are a thousand fhining paffages in Virgil, which have been lighted up by Homer. Milton, tho' his own natural strength of genius was capable of furnishing out a perfect work, has doubtless very much raised and ennobled his conceptions, by fuch an imitation as that which Longinus has recommended. In this book, which gives us an account of the fix days works, the poet received very few affistances from Heathen writers, who were strangers to the wonders of creation. But as there are many glorious ftrokes of poetry upon this subject in holy Writ, the author has numberlefs allufions to them through the

whole

And war fo near the peace of God in blifs
With fuch confufion: but the evil foon
Driv'n back redounded as a flood on thofe
From whom it fprung, impoffible to mix
With blessedness. Whence Adam foon repeal'd
The doubts that in his heart arofe: and now
Led on, yet finlefs, with defire to know
What nearer might concern him, how this world
Of Heav'n and Earth confpicuous first began,
When, and whereof created, for what cause,
What within Eden or without was done
Before his memory, as one whose drouth
Yet fcarce allay'd ftill eyes the current ftream,

whole courfe of this book. The
great critic I have before mention'd,
though an Heathen, has taken no-
tice of the fublime manner in which
the Lawgiver of the Jews has de-
scribed the creation in the first chap-
ter of Genefis; and there are many
other paffages in Scripture which
rife up to the fame majefty, where
this fubject is touched upon. Milton
has shown his judgment very re-
markably, in making ufe of fuch of
these as were proper for his poem,
and in duly qualifying those high
firains of eastern poetry, which were
fuited to readers, whofe imagina-
tions were fet to a higher pitch than
thofe of colder climates. Addifon.

47. If they tranfgrefs, &c.] We fhould obferve the connexion; Left

55

60

65

Whofe

the like befall to Adam or his race, if they tranfgrefs, &c.

50.- He with his conforted Eve] Conforted from Confort, Cum conforte tori, as Ovid fays, Met. I. 319.

59.- Whence Adam foon repeal'd The doubts that in his heart arofe:] Dr. Bentley would read difpell'd: but if an alteration were neceffary, I fhould rather read repell'd, as in ver. 610. we have their counfels vain Thou haft repell d. But in the fame fenfe as a law is faid to be repeal'd, when an end is put to all the force and effect of it; fo, when doubts are at an end, they may be faid to be repeal’d. Pearce. 69. Pro

Whofe liquid murmur heard new thirst excites,.
Proceeded thus to ask his heav'nly guest.

Great things, and full of wonder in our ears, 70 Far differing from this world, thou haft reveal'd, Divine interpreter, by favor fent

Down from the empyréan to forewarn

76

Us timely' of what might else have been our lofs,
Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach:
For which to th' infinitely Good we owe
Immortal thanks, and his admonishment
Receive with folemn purpose to obferve
Immutably his fovran will, the end

Of what we are. But fince thou haft vouchfaf'd 80
Gently for our inftruction to impart

69. Proceeded thus &c.] The conftruction is, And led on with defire to know &c proceeded thus to ask his beav'nly gueft.

70. Great things, &c.] Adam's fpeech to the Angel, wherein he defires an account of what had paf fed within the regions of nature before the creation, is very great and folemn. The following lines, in which he tells him, that the day is not too far spent for him to enter upon fuch a fubject, are exquifite in their kind.

And the great light of day yet

Things above earthly thought, which yet concern'd
Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seem'd,

Deign to defcend now lower, and relate
What may no less perhaps avail us known,
How first began this Heav'n which we behold
Distant fo high, with moving fires adorn'd
Innumerable, and this which yields or fills
All space, the ambient air wide interfus'd
Embracing round this florid earth, what cause
Mov'd the Creator in his holy rest
Through all eternity fo late to build

In Chaos, and the work begun, how foon
Abfolv'd, if unforbid thou may'st unfold
What we, not to explore the fecrets ask

interfus'd denotes the air not only furrounding the earth, but flowing into and fpun out betweeen all bodies; and is a fuller and finer notation of its liquid and spiritual texture, leaving no Vacuum in nature than that of Ovid,

Nec circumfufo pendebat in aere tellus. Met. I. 12. Hume.

92. fo late to build] It is a queftion that has been often asked, Why God did not create the world fooner? but the fame queftion might

85

90

95 Of

And that can never be a juft exception against this time, which holds equally against all time. It must be refolved into the good will and pleafure of almighty God; but there is a farther reafon according to Milton's hypothefis, which is that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declar'd his pleasure to fupply their place by creating another world, and other creatures to dwell therein.

94. Abfolv'd,] Finish'd, combe asked, if the world had been pleted, perfected, from Abfolutus created at any time, for fill there (Latin.) Richardfon. were infinite ages before that time.

98. And

Of his eternal empire, but the more

To magnify his works, the more we know.
And the great light of day yet wants to run

Much of his race though steep; fufpenfe in Heaven,
Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, 100
And longer will delay to hear thee tell
His generation, and the rifing birth
Of nature from the unapparent deep:
Or if the star of evening and the moon

Hafte to thy audience, night with her will bring 105

98. And the great light of day yet

wants to run &c.] Our author has improv'd upon Homer, Odyff. XI. 372. where Alcinous by the fame fort of arguments endevors to perfuade Ulyffes to continue his narration; only there it was night, and here the scene is by day.

Νυξ δ' ήδε μαλα μακρη, αθεσ

φατα δε πω ώρη Ενδειν εν μεγαρω· συ δε μοι λεγε θεσκελα έργα. Και κεν ες ηω διαν αναχοιμην

And lo! a length of night behind
remains,

The evening ftars ftill mount th'
ethereal plains.
Thy tale with raptures I could hear

thee tell,

Thy woes on Earth, the wondrous fcenes in Hell,

Mr. Thyer is of opinion, that there is not a greater inftance of our author's exquifite skill in the art of lines. There is nothing more, repoetry, than this and the following ally to be exprefs'd, than Adam's telling Raphael his defire to hear the continuance of his relation, and yet the poet by a series of ftrong and noble figures has work'd it up into half a score of as fine lines as any in the whole poem. Lord Shaftsbury has obferved, that Milton's beauties generally depend upon folid thought, ftrong reafoning, noble paffion, and a continued thread of moral doctrin; but in this place he has shown what an exalted fancy and mere force of poetry can do. 99.- fuf