than thou Seem'ft to Think we fhould be when Thus Warn'd (381.) 372 Go; for thy Stay, not Free, Abfents thee More; what is Done Unwillingly is in Effect Deny'd; to which is Added the Harfh Senfe of Conftraint. Already the Fall is Begun; the Harmony of Paradife is Broke by Eve's Pride: She will not bear being Advis'd, as Implying some Sufpicion of Her. the whole Scene is Admirably Wrought up, the Breach was Occafion'd by a Trifle in Appearance, and What Seem'd to have a Right Motive, a Concern to Do Well; Exceeding Plaufible; but by Infenfible Steps This Little-Sufpected Caufe produc'd a Melancholly Effect, which produc'd a Much worse. They Part; the triumphing in her Obftinacy, and not Content with His Diffidence of Her; and He as Little pleas'd to find Her not fo Perfect as He had imagin'd. Seeds of Harfher Difcord. 378 with thy Permiffion then, a Forc'd Permiffion, Extorted by Her Perfifting, yet built upon as a Voluntary Approbation. the Confequence Fatal. See X. 155, 1171, 1184. 385 Thus faying, from her Husbands Hand ker 410 her Hand Soft fhee withdrew, "Tis Pity any Reader fhould Overlook the Beauty and Force of This Paffage. Impatient to Compleat her Conqueft, while fhe was yet fpeaking what did not really Convince Herfelf, fhe was Going; His Forc'd Confent is finely Mark'd, fhe Drew away Her Hand from His, yet Wishing to Detain her, Loath, Dreading to Part. In vain! 'tis a MafterTouch of Tenderness in Few Words. 387 Oread, or Dryad, or of Delia's Traine, Mountain Nymphs were call'd Oreads, the Dryads prefided over the Groves, and Chiefly the Oaks; Each had One, and Dy'd with it. Delia is one of Diana's Names, as born in Delos. 391 -fuch Gardning Tools as Art yet Rude, 392 Guiltless of Fire Alluding to the Story of Prometheus who had Stolen Fire from Heaven which the Gods had Refus'd, Thefe Tools were then made without the Help of that Criminal Advantage, not of Iron Therefore. 393 to Pales, or Pomona, Thus adorn'd, Likeft fhee Seem'd Pomona when free fled Ver Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her Prime, yet Virgin of Proferpina from Jove. Pales Goddefs of Shepherds, Pomona of Gardens and Orchards; Vertumnus King of Tufcia who taught the Art of Gardening. Thus Adorn'd, a Woman's Best External Ornament is what denotes her good Housewifry. The Others are well known. Likeft, not Likelyeft, as we think 'tis in All the Editions except the First. Thus Adorn'd, furnish'd with Gardening Tools, fhe feem'd most like Pales, or Pomona when he fled Vertumnus; or Ceres in her Bloom of Beauty; Unftain'd, Guiltless of, not the Mother of Proferpina, her Daughter by Jove's Embraces, from Jove, as Plaut. Curcul. I. 1. 51. She is Chafte from me, &c. Tam a me pudica eft quafi Soror mea fit. So Ovid Trift. II. 1. Facta fit unde Parens Ilia namque legetÆneiadum Genetrix unde fit Alma Venus. from whence Ilia is become a Mother, i. e. from Mars; from whence Venus is the Mother of Eneas, i. e. from Anchifes. 'till then Ilia was yet Virgin of Romulus from Mars, and Venus of Æneas from Anchifes. Lucret. fays IV. 1162. Ceres ab Iacco. Ceres from Bacchus, as Here Proferpina from Jove. 400 Shee to him as Oft engag'd and and all things in beft Order to invite Noontide Repaft, or Afternoons Repose. She Engag'd to be Return'd amid the Bowre and amid every thing There prepar'd to Invite, &c. Return'd, as if Already done; very Elegant and New, and full of Energy. it Expreffes great Punctuallity and Household Care, as IV. 624. O Much Deceiv'd, much Failing Hapless Eve! 408 Such Ambush Hid Hid is in the two First Editions, Some have Laid, Corruptly. 409 Waited with Hellish Rancour Imminent. Confirm'd and Settled Hatred juft ready to fall Hellish Rancour Watching Diligently on. the Occafion Now at Hand. 425 Veil'd in a Cloud of Fragrance, where shee food. Half Spy'd, fo Thick the Rofes Bushing round about her Glow'd; Cofii dentro una nuuola di Fiori Che da le Mani Angeliche Saliva, E ri cadeua giù, dentro e di fuori Donna m'apparue. Dante fays This, fpeaking of Beatrice when The came to him at his firft Arrival in Heaven. a Lady (fays he) appear'd to Me within a Cloud a Cloud of Flowers which rain'd on all fides from Angel hands. A Cloud of Fragrance, the Fragrance for the Roses which gave it. True Poetry; Profe would say the Bushing Rofes gave a Delicious Fragrance. This is the Spring of Rofes of v. 218. Spring, Bufhing, both denote a great. Number; So a Cloud here is not to exprefs a Vapour, as if Fragrance rofe in a kind of Smoak like That of Incense; Cloud as the rest, Means to exprefs the Multitude of Roses. See the Note on VI. 539. This Cloud of Rofes Glow'd, a Property apply'd to Rofes by Ancients and Moderns; for though the Colour of a Blown Rofe is Cool and Delicate, it Glows among the Dewy Verdure, as does Aurora's Purple Mantle in the Early Sky. Thus Veil'd, Half Spy'd is Eve's Virgin Beauty and Majefty Seen; Bufy with her Roses and other Flowers which the often Stoops down to Support with her Fine Hand, They Touch'd by Her fair Tendance Gladlier grew, VIII. 47. if Ever, Then, Then had the Sons of God Excufe to have been Enamour'd. Here is a Picture, which should All the Great Names we know, in whatever Age, Concur in Painting, Imagination Muft Supply what Colours cannot: And Happy is That Imagination that Can, or that even Can Attain to form Such a Picture as Some One of Those great Mafters could make. |