a passage from the Prometheus Vinct. of Eschylus (125) somewhat analogous to this line:

αιθήρ δ' ελαφραις Πτερυγων ριπαις ὑποσυρίζει.

433. Virgil, Æn. vii. 32:-

"variæ circumque supraque Assuetæ ripis volucres, et fluminis alveo, Ethera mulcebant cantu, lucoque volabant."

435. Milton has often described the nightingale, and more beautifully than all poets put together. Newton enumerates most of the passages in his works that refer to her. Par. Lost, iii. 37; iv. 602, 771; v. 40; viii. 518; and more particularly El Penseroso, besides passages in his sonnets.

439, 440." Rows her state with oary feet." Silius Italicus, as Wakefield remarks, says the swan "rows with her feet the silent waves." "Pedibus tacitas eremigat undas," xiv. 190. But no poet has ever attempted any thing like this description. Homer barely designates the swan as "the long-necked" The allusion to the arched neck, when it bows its head, and the wings half spread like a mantle, as it swims along in stately dignity, are pictures truly beautiful, as they are natural.

444-446. He alludes to the peacock, in whose tail, the hundred eyes of Argus were fabled to have been planted by Juno, after he was slain by Mercury.

451. "Living soul." Gen. i. 24. Though, in this passage of Genesis, our translation has "living creature," yet Milton follows, as he usually does, the Hebrew text, in which it is "living soul." By some strange mistake fowl was printed in the early editions for soul.(N.)

457. "Lair," layer, or bed.-" Wons," dwells. Both Saxon words.

461 "Rare," (Lat. rarus,) scattered here and there; a benevolent provision of the Divine goodness not to make beasts of prey numerous and gregarious, like cattle.-(N.)

462. "In broad herds." Spreading widely and numerously. So Il. xi. 678: Αιπολία πλατε αιγων.-(Ν.)

463. "The grassy clods now calved." He supposes the beasts to rise out in perfect form, limbed and full grown, as Raphael had painted this subject before in the Vatican. To calve is a general word signifying "to bring forth," and does not relate to cows only. Addison

particularly commends this metaphor, and the entire description of the beasts rising out of the earth.-(N.)

466. Brinded." The same as brended, from the Saxon brennan, to burn; hence, brown; originally, marked with a brown colour; hence, streaked. See Johnson's Dict. Todd's ed.

467. "Libbard," used by the old poets for leopard.

471. "Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved his vastness." The numbers admirably express the heaviness and unwieldiness of the elephant, for it is plainly the elephant that Milton means, though Bochart and others say that "behemoth " was the river-horse. The alliteration here, or the same letter commencing a number of words in succession, is remarkable. We had another instance (286) their broad bare backs upheaved." It is the same kind of beauty that is admired in Virgil, En. i. 61:

"Hoc metuens molemque, et montes insuper altos Imposuit."-(N.)

See 2 Esdras vi. 49. See 451.—(T.)

478. "Decked" is a verb. Decked their smallest lineaments, exact in all the liveries, &c.-(N.)

482-485." Minims," from Lat. minimus, the smallest things.-Serpents "involved their snaky folds;" this does not contain tautology; for "serpent" is a general word, and includes all the creeping kind, at least several animals that are not snakes, nor have snaky folds." Some... added wings;" it is common in poetry to represent the creature as doing that itself, which is done to it. So ix. 515, a ship is said to "steer and shift her sail." So in Virgil's Geor. ii. 535, it is said of Rome

44

Septemque una sibi circumdedit arces." A particular species of the serpent is mentioned again (495), with the plain view of making Adam more mindful of that animal which was to work his ruin. -(P.)

485. "The parsimonious emmet, provident of future." "Emmet," the ant. So Hor. i. Sat. 1, speaking of it:-"haud ignara ac non incauta futuri."-(N.)

486." In small room large heart enclosed." So Virgil, Georg. iv. 83, says of bees:

"Ingentes animos angusto in pectore versant." (N.)

Ꭰ Ꭰ ?

490. It appears this is a fact, that not only the bees, but even the queen, feeds and attends on the drones, who live on the best of the honey, while the common bees live in a great measure upon wax.(N.)

496, 497. So Virg. Æn. ii. 206 :-
“———————— jubæque

Sanguineæ exuperant fluctus.'

Thus Olaus Magnus, xxi. 27, describes the Norwegian serpent.-(T.)

506-516. Milton, as has been observed before, has Ovid necessarily in view, in his description of the creation. Met. i. 76:

"Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altæ Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in cætera posset.

Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta Deo

rum:

Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera ter

ram,

Os homini sublime dedit; cœlumque tueri Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus."

Pearce justly observes that ". "prone " in the sense of pronus, as used by good classic authors, concisely expresses what Ovid's "prona spectent terram" can; and that "sanctity of reason concisely expresses Ovid's entire first line. Stillingfleet observes, "sanctity of reason is the same as holy reason, as purity of love is pure love, &c. Sanctity of reason is more proper here, for sanctity is the effect of reason, belongs to, or is of it; I speak of an unassisted state.' Milton's interweaving with this description man's duty is a peculiar beauty.

519 to 534, taken from Gen. i. 26-28. 535-537. Gen. ii. 8:-" The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." This seems to imply that man was created in some other place, and afterwards brought to paradise; therefore Milton says, Wherever thus created," &c.-(N.) See 2 Esdras iii. 6.—(T.)

544. Thou may'st not," i. e. taste, classically understood out of the previous participle tasted.

548-550. So Gen. i. 31. There is something inexpressibly sublime in the following passages of the poem.-(Ad.) Plato represents the Creator surveying his great work, and delighted with its answering his great idea.—(T)

556. See note on 422.

563. "Station." The station of a planet is a term of art, when the planet appears to stand still in its orbit.-(N.)

565. Psalm xxiv. 7: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." This hymn was sung when the ark of God was carried up into the sanctuary on Mount Sion, and is understood as a prophecy of our Saviour's ascension into heaven; and is therefore fitly applied by our author to the same divine Person's ascending thither after he had created the world. (N.)

578. "As stars to thee appear," i. e. set thickly as they are seen in the "Galaxy," or "Milky Way," so called from its whiteness. "Galaxy," yaλaşıa, from yaλa, milk. Milton sometimes ex"the

plains his Greek names; so 619, clear hyaline, the glassy sea;" vaλin, from valos, glass.—(N.) So also his ample and beautiful definition of the rivers of hell, ii. 576, &c.

589. "Went. yet stayed." He was in heaven, and at the creation at the same time.-(N.)

592, 593. So Gen. ii. 2, 3.

597. On the finger-board of a bass-viol, for instance, are divisions athwart, by which the sound is regulated and varied; these divisions are called "frets.”—(R.) By organs before, he means all wind instruments consisting of pipes, and of stops touched by the hand.-(R., N.)

599. "Choral or unison." In concert, or sounding alone.-"Of incense clouds;" the use of incense in heaven is mentioned in Rev. viii. 3, 4: "And an angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and the smoke of the incense ascended up before God out of the angel's hand."-(N.)

602. Milton is generally orthodox. Here he intimates the unity of Father and Son by the word Jehovah.-(N.)

605. "Giant angels." This expression, "giant," is not used to signify the stature and size of the angels, but that disposition of mind which is ascribed to the giants, namely, a fierce, aspiring, temper; and this the Hebrew word, gibbor, signifies, which is rendered a giant in Scripture.-(P.) Thus, in Shakspeare (Hen. VIII. act i. sc. 2,) Buckingham is called, "a giant traitoran aspiring traitor." The word may be also explained by the expression, "spirits apostate," 610, apostate being the margi nal reading in the Latin version of the Bible for the term giants, Gen. vi. 4.(T.)

619. The hyaline" or "glassy" is

1-39. This book opens with a beautiful description of the impression which the discourse of the archangel made on Adam. Adam afterwards, by a very natural curiosity, inquires concerning the motions of those celestial bodies which made the most glorious appearance among the six days' works. The poet here, with a great deal of art, represents Eve as withdrawing from this part of their conversation, to amusements more suitable to her sex. He well knew that the episode in this book, which is filled with accounts of his passion and esteem for Eve, would have been improper for her hearing; and has therefore devised very just and beautiful reasons for her retiring.

66-179. The angel's returning a doubtful answer to Adam's inquiries was not only proper for the moral reason which the poet assigns, but because it would have been improper to have given the sanction of an archangel to any particular system of philosophy. The chief points in the Ptolemaic and Copernican hypotheses are described with great force and perspicuity, and at the same time dressed in pleasing and poetical images.

179-560. Adam, to detain the angel, enters afterwards into a detail of the circumstances in which he found himself placed after his creation; as also his conversation with his Maker, and his first meeting with Eve. There is no part of the poem more apt to raise the attention

of the reader than this discourse of our great ancestor; as nothing can be more surprising and delightful to us than to hear the sentiments that arose in the first man, while he was yet new and fresh from the hands of his Creator. The poet has interwoven every thing which is delivered on this subject by Holy Writ with so many beautiful imaginations of his own, that nothing can be conceived more just and

natural than this whole episode. There are two very shining passages that deserve notice the first, which contains a very noble moral, is 210, &c. The second begins at 229. There is no question but our poet drew the image in what follows this from that in Virgil's Sixth Book, when Æneas and the Sybil stand before the adamantine gates, which are there described as shut upon the place of torments; and listen to the groans, the clank of chains, and the noise of iron whips, that were heard in those regions of pain and sorrow. The many wonderful and charming incidents in this part of the work have in them all the beauties of novelty, at the same time that they have all the graces of nature. They are such as none but a great genius could have thought of; though upon the perusal of them they seem to rise of themselves from the subject of which he treats. In a word, though they are natural they are not obvious; which is the true character of all fine writing.

560 to the end. The sentiments of love in our first parents gave the angel an insight into human nature, that he seems apprehensive of the evils which might befal the species in general, as well as Adam in particular, from the excess of this passion. He therefore fortifies him against it by timely admonitions; which very artfully prepare the mind of the reader for the occurrences of the next book, when the weakness of which Adam gave here such distinct discoveries, brings about that fatal event which is the subject of the poem.-(Ad.)

1-4. Newton observes that in the first edition of the poem in ten books, here was only this line

"To whom thus Adam gratefully replied," which in the second edition in twelve

Pearce justly observes that "prone" in the sense of pronus, as used by good classic authors, concisely expresses what Ovid's " prona spectent terram can; and that "sanctity of reason concisely expresses Ovid's entire first line. Stillingfleet observes, "sanctity of reason is the same as holy reason, as purity of love is pure love, &c. Sanctity of reason is more proper here, for sanctity is the effect of reason, belongs to, or is of it; I speak of an unassisted state." Milton's interweaving with this description man's duty is a peculiar beauty.

519 to 534, taken from Gen. i. 26—28. 535-537. Gen. ii. 8:-" The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." This seems to imply that man was created in some other place, and afterwards brought to paradise; therefore Milton says, "Wherever thus created," &c.-(N.) See 2 Esdras iii. 6.—(T.)

544. "Thou may'st not," i. e. taste, classically understood out of the previous participle tasted.

548-550. So Gen. i. 31. There is something inexpressibly sublime in the following passages of the poem.—(Ad.) Plato represents the Creator surveying his great work, and delighted with its answering his great idea.—(T)

556. See note on 422.

563. "Station." The station of a planet is a term of art, when the planet appears to stand still in its orbit.-(N.)

565. Psalm xxiv. 7: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." This hymn was sung when the ark of God was carried up into the sanctuary on Mount Sion, and is understood as a prophecy of our Saviour's ascension into heaven; and is therefore fitly applied by our author to the same divine Person's ascending thither after he had created the world. (N.)

578. "As stars to thee appear," i. e. set thickly as they are seen in the "Galaxy," or 66 Milky Way," so called from its whiteness. 66 Galaxy," γαλαξία, from γαλα, milk. Milton sometimes explains his Greek names; so 619, "the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;" vaλin, from valos, glass.-(N.) So also his ample and beautiful definition of the rivers of hell, ii. 576, &c.

589. "Went. yet stayed." He was in heaven, and at the creation at the same time.-(N.)

592, 593. So Gen. ii. 2, 3.

597. On the finger-board of a bass-viol, for instance, are divisions athwart, by which the sound is regulated and varied; these divisions are called "frets." —(R.) By organs before, he means all wind instruments consisting of pipes, and of stops touched by the hand.-(R., N.)

599. "Choral or unison." In concert, or sounding alone.-"Of incense clouds;" the use of incense in heaven is mentioned in Rev. viii. 3, 4: "And an angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and the smoke of the incense ascended up before God out of the angel's hand."-(N.)

602. Milton is generally orthodox. Here he intimates the unity of Father and Son by the word Jehovah.-(N.)

605. "Giant angels." This expression, "giant," is not used to signify the stature and size of the angels, but that disposition of mind which is ascribed to the giants, namely, a fierce, aspiring, temper; and this the Hebrew word, gibbor, signifies, which is rendered a giant in Scripture.-(P.) Thus, in Shakspeare (Hen. VIII. act i. sc. 2,) Buckingham is called, "a giant traitoran aspiring traitor." The word may be also explained by the expression, "spirits apostate," 610, apostate being the marginal reading in the Latin version of the Bible for the term giants, Gen. vi. 4.— (T.)

1-39. This book opens with a beautiful description of the impression which the discourse of the archangel made on Adam. Adam afterwards, by a very natural curiosity, inquires concerning the motions of those celestial bodies which made the most glorious appearance among the six days' works. The poet here, with a great deal of art, represents Eve as withdrawing from this part of their conversation, to amusements more suitable to her sex. He well knew that the episode in this book, which is filled with accounts of his passion and esteem for Eve, would have been improper for her hearing; and has therefore devised very just and beautiful reasons for her retiring.

66-179. The angel's returning a doubtful answer to Adam's inquiries was not only proper for the moral reason which the poet assigns, but because it would have been improper to have given the sanction of an archangel to any particular system of philosophy. The chief points in the Ptolemaic and Copernican hypotheses are described with great force and perspicuity, and at the same time dressed in pleasing and poetical images.

179-560. Adam, to detain the angel, enters afterwards into a detail of the circumstances in which he found himself placed after his creation; as also his conversation with his Maker, and his first meeting with Eve. There is no part of the poem more apt to raise the attention of the reader than this discourse of our great ancestor; as nothing can be more surprising and delightful to us than to hear the sentiments that arose in the first man, while he was yet new and fresh from the hands of his Creator. The poet has interwoven every thing which is delivered on this subject by Holy Writ with so many beautiful imaginations of his own, that nothing can be conceived more just and

natural than this whole episode. There are two very shining passages that deserve notice the first, which contains a very noble moral, is 210, &c. The second begins at 229. There is no question but our poet drew the image in what follows this from that in Virgil's Sixth Book, when Æneas and the Sybil stand before the adamantine gates, which are there described as shut upon the place of torments; and listen to the groans, the clank of chains, and the noise of iron whips, that were heard in those regions of pain and sorrow. The many wonderful and charming incidents in this part of the work have in them all the beauties of novelty, at the same time that they have all the graces of nature. They are such as none but a great genius could have thought of; though upon the perusal of them they seem to rise of themselves from the subject of which he treats. In a word, though they are natural they are not obvious; which is the true character of all fine writing.

560 to the end. The sentiments of love in our first parents gave the angel an insight into human nature, that he seems apprehensive of the evils which might befal the species in general, as well as Adam in particular, from the excess of this passion. He therefore fortifies him against it by timely admonitions; which very artfully prepare the mind of the reader for the occurrences of the next book, when the weakness of which Adam gave here such distinct discoveries, brings about that fatal event which is the subject of the poem.-(Ad.)

1-4. Newton observes that in the first edition of the poem in ten books, here was only this line

"To whom thus Adam gratefully replied," which in the second edition in twelve