And should I at your harmless innocence
Melt, as I do, yet public reafon juft,
Honor and empire with revenge inlarg'd,

390

By conqu❜ring this new world, compels me now
To do what else though damn'd I should abhor.

So fpake the Fiend, and with neceffity,
The tyrant's plea, excus'd his devilish deeds.
Then from his lofty stand on that high tree
Down he alights among the sportful herd
Of thofe four-footed kinds, himself now one,
Now other, as their shape serv'd beft his end
Nearer to view his prey, and unefpy'd

395

To mark what of their state he more might learn 400
By word or action mark'd: about them round
A lion now he stalks with fiery glare;

Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spy'd
In fome purlieu two gentle fawns at play,

Strait

native innocence to two gentle did not do it for want of attention. fawns.

400. To mark what of their fate

be more might learn By word or action mark'd:] Tho' the poet ufes mark and mark'd too, yet fuch repetitions of the fame word are common with him; fo common that we may fuppofe he

and that it was not merely the effect of his blindness. See inftances of it in my note on III. 147. and we have another following here, ver. 405.

Strait couches clofe, then rifing changes oft

His couchant watch.

Pearce. 410. Turn'd

Strait couches close, then rifing changes oft

His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
Whence rushing he might surest seise them both
Grip'd in each paw: when Adam first of men
To first of women Eve thus moving speech,
Turn'd him all ear to hear new utterance flow.

Sole partner, and fole part, of all these joys,
Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power
That made us, and for us this ample world,
Be infinitely good, and of his good

As liberal and free as infinite;

That rais'd us from the dust and plac'd us here
In all this happiness, who at his hand
Have nothing merited, nor can perform

405

410

415

Of in Milton frequently fignifies among. The want of observing

Ought whereof he hath need, he who requires
From us no other service than to keep

420

This one, this eafy charge, of all the trees

In Paradise that bear delicious fruit

So various, not to taste that only tree

Of knowledge, planted by the tree of life;

So near grows death to life, whate'er death is, 425
Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou know'st
God hath pronounc'd it death to taste that tree,
The only fign of our obedience left

Among fo many figns of pow'r and rule

Conferr'd upon us, and dominion given

Over all other creatures that poffefs

430

Earth, air, and fea. Then let us not think hard

this made Dr. Bentley read beft
part for fole part, thinking that fole
part is a contradiction, and fo it is
as he understands of here, to be
the mark of the genitive cafe go-
vern'd of part.

Pearce.

dominion given Over all other creatures that poffefs Earth, air, and fea,

421. This one, this eafy charge, &c.] It was very natural for Adam it is taken from the divine commif. to difcourfe of this, and this was fion, Gen. I. 28. Have dominion what Satan wanted more particu- over the fifh of the fea, and over the larly to learn; and it is exprefs'd fowl of the air, and over every liv from God's command, Gen. II. ing thing that moveth upon the earth. 16, 17. Of every tree of the garden Thefe things are so evident, that it thou mayeft freely eat; but of the tree is almoft fuperfluous to mention of knowledge of good and evil, thou them. If we take notice of them, falt not eat of it, for in the day that it is that every reader may be fen

One eafy prohibition, who enjoy

Free leave fo large to all things elfe, and choice
Unlimited of manifold delights:

But let us ever praise him, and extol

His bounty, following our delightful task

435

To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers, Which were it toilfome, yet with thee were sweet.

To whom thus Eve reply'd. O thou for whom 440 And from whom I was form'd flesh of thy flesh, And without whom am to no end, my guide And head, what thou hast said is just and right. For we to him indeed all praises owe,

And daily thanks; I chiefly who enjoy

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445

So

fible how much of Scripture our author hath wrought into this divine poem.

449. That day I oft remember, &c.] The remaining part of Eve's fpeech, in which he gives an account of herself upon her firft creation, and the manner in which he was brought to Adam, is I think as beautiful a paffage as any in Milton, or perhaps in any other poet whatsoever. These paffages are all work'd off with fo much art, that they are capable of pleafing the moft delicate reader without offending the most severe. A poet of lefs judgment and invention than this great author would have

found it very difficult to have filled these tender parts of the poem with fentiments proper for a ftate of innocence; to have defcribed the warmth of love and the profeffions of it without artifice or hyperbole; to have made the man speak the moft indearing things without defcending from his natural dignity, and the woman receiving them without departing from the modefty of her character; in a word, to adjust the prerogatives of wifdom and beauty, and make each appear to the other in its proper force and loveliness. This mutual fubordination of the two fexes is wonderfully kept up in the whole

рость

450

So far the happier lot, enjoying thee
Præeminent by fo much odds, while thou
Like confort to thyself canft no where find.
That day I oft remember, when from fleep
I first awak'd, and found myself repos'd
Under a fhade on flow'rs, much wond'ring where
And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
Not distant far from thence a murm'ring found
Of waters iffued from a cave, and spread
Into a liquid plain, then ftood unmov'd
Pure as th' expanfe of Heav'n; I thither went
With unexperienc'd thought, and laid me down
On the green bank, to look into the clear

poem, as particularly in this speech of Eve, and the lines following it. The poet adds, that the Devil turned away at the fight of fo much happiness.

Addifon. That day I oft remember, From this as well as feveral other paffages in the poem it appears, that the poet fuppofes Adam and Eve to have been created, and to have lived many days in Paradife before the fall. See IV. 639, 680, 712. V. &c. 31.

450. I firft awak'd,] As death is often compar'd to fleep, fo our coming into life may well be liken'd to waking: And Adam fpeaks in the fame figure, VIII. 253.

455

Smooth

As new wak'd from foundeft fleep, &c.

If we compare his account of himfelf upon his creation with this here given by Eve, the beauty and propriety of each will appear to greater advantage.

451. Under a fhade on flow'rs,] The first edition has under a fhade on flow'rs, the fecond under a fhade of flow'rs; and the fubfequent editions vary in like manner, fome exhibiting on flow'rs, others of flow'rs; but repos'd on flow'rs under a fhade feems to be much better than a fhade of flow'rs.

458. to look into the clear Smooth lake,] It has been afked, sarcastically