"Not that fair field

Of Enna, where Proserpina gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis

Was gather'd; which cost Ceres all the pain
To seek her through the world."

Page 256. (Line 64.) When Venus was enamoured of Adonis.-This blow her son Cupid is said to have inflicted unawares, contrary to his usual custom. See Ovid, Met. x. 125. (80.) "For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy works, and I will rejoice in giving praise for the operations of thy hands."-Psalm xcii. 4. Did you know, she says, the song I am singing, your understanding would be cleared, and you would perceive the reason of my smile; viz. the delight I take in beholding the works of God in this terrestrial Paradise.

Page 257. (Line 87.) Dante had been informed by Statius that the mountain of Purgatory was subject to no changes such as arise from wind, &c. See xxi. 43. The answer to this question is given, line 97. (91.) God," the supreme Good," is said to delight in himself alone, i.e. in goodness, of which he is the perfection. (93.) Thus Milton, Par. Lost, iii. 96.

"Whose fault?

Whose but his own? Ingrate! he had of me

All he could have: I made him just and right;

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall."

(103.) Matelda now proceeds to explain why the leaves of the forest were in motion.

Page 259. (Line 141.) "This dream of the poets is one in which our best and purest sensibilities are deeply interested; and to which, though we know it to be a dream, our imaginations delight to recur, when they would turn to the contemplation of spotless innocence, and happiness without alloy, by way

of relief from the sickening spectacles of wickedness and misery which we see in the world around us."-Gresswell's Exposition of the Parables, vol. i. p. 442. "I cannot help thinking that the modern commentators on prophecy have reason, when they say that the expectation of the restitution of all things, occupies a much less space in the thoughts of Christians than it ought to do. It is the chief feature of that gospel which was preached to Adam........What Adam was taught to expect, we still look forward to....I speak of a fixed and longing expectation of the sure and fast approaching accomplishment of those promises which announce the final triumph of the Messiah, and the establishment of his reign upon earth....The gate of Eden will once again be unbarred; and the banished ones brought back; and in the mean time, though their path lie through the desert, yet that path is the way of holiness; and in it He will be with them, whose presence can make the wil derness to be glad, and the desert to rejoice and blossom like the rose."-Erskine. Freeness of the Gospel, p. 110, &c. Our poet, it will be seen, considers Eden as the seat of the future Zion. (144.) Thus Milton. Par. Lost, iv. 239.

"With mazy error under pendent shades
Ran Nectar, visiting each plant.”

And Ovid. Met. i. 111.

"Ver erat æternum, placidique tepentibus auris
Mulcebaut Zephyri natos sine semine flores :

Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant."

CANTO XXIX.

ARGUMENT.

THE poet keeps pace with Matelda along the opposite bank of the river Lethe. The forest is illuminated by a sudden flash, and a delicious melody is heard, A procession follows, in which a triumphal car is drawn by a griffon.

As though by love inspired-her heavenly lay
Continued to its close that lady fair;

"Blessed are those whose sins are wash'd away:"

And like to nymphs advancing one by one
Along the sylvan shades-with studious care,

Some to avoid, and some to meet the sun;

So she against the river upward went

Along the bank; and I with her kept pace,-
By her short step to measure mine intent.

Not fifty paces had we made our way,

When both the banks took such a turn-my face
Caught the reflection of the eastern ray.

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Nor had we far at equal distance sped,

When in a moment turning round to me,

"Look, brother, look, and hear," the lady said.
And lo! shot suddenly throughout the wood
A flash of such surpassing brilliancy,
Methought it must be lightning that I view'd.
But because lightning with the speed it came,

Departs, while this grew more and more intense,
"What can it be?" I to myself exclaim.
Then through the glowing air was sweetly sent

A strain, so ravishing to mortal sense,

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It made me Eve's audacity lament ;—
That when both heaven and earth obedient were,

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Woman alone, and she but just created,
Refused the veil of ignorance to bear;
To which had she submitted patiently,
O how extended, how much antedated
Had been these joys ineffable !-While I
Was wandering such primæval fruits among
Of the Eternal Love, in thought profound,
And on the hope of further pleasures hung ;-
Before us, 'neath the verdant boughs appear'd
The air on fire; and what seem'd first a sound,
Distinctly now in sweetest songs was heard.

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O holy Virgins, for your sake if I

Have ever suffer'd hunger, watching, cold, Now grant your aid in my necessity. Through me let Helicona pour her springs; And may Urania's choir divine unfold Verse suited to my high imaginings.

A little further on I seem'd to view

Seven trees of gold, which at such distance lay,
That though unreal, they appear'd as true.

But when I came so near, that I could trace
The form whose general semblance led astray,

(Its lineaments no more obscured by space)—
That
power which unto reason speech supplies
Seven candelabra recognized, and e'en

Could hear the strain "Hosanna."-On mine eyes

That object fair with more effulgence shone,

Than doth the moon, when 'mid the blue serene

She walks at midnight in her highest noon.

With an admiring and astonish'd gaze

I turn'd to Virgil; and the bard replied

By look no less o'erburden'd with amaze.

These glorious things I then again survey,
Which moved so slowly tow'rds us, that a bride
Had e'en outstripp'd them on her nuptial day.

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