Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;

Sad Acheron of forrow, black and deep;
Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud

Heard on the rueful ftream; fierce Phlegethon, 580
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from thefe a flow and filent ftream,
Lethe the river of oblivion rolls

Her watry labyrinth, whereof who drinks,

577. Abborred Styx, &c.] The Greeks reckon up five rivers in Hell, and call them after the names of the noxious fprings and rivers in their own country. Our poet follows their example both as to the number and the names of these infernal rivers, and excellently defcribes their nature and properties with the explanation of their names. Styx fo named of a Greek word Toys that fignifies to hate and abbor, and therefore called here Abborred Styx, the flood of deadly hate, and by Virgil palus inamabilis, n. VI.438. Acheron has its name from uyos dolor and pew fluo, flowing with grief; and is reprefented accordingly Sad Acheron, the river of Jorrow as Styx was of hate, black and deep, agreeable to Virgil's cha

-racter of it

--- tenebrofa palus Acheronte refufo. En. VI. 107. Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation, becaufe derived from a Greek word

เร

Tartareus Phlegethon.
We know not what to say as to the
fituation of these rivers. Homer,
the most ancient poet, reprefents
Cocytus as branching out of Styx,
and both Cocytus and Phlegethon
(or Pyriphlegethon) as flowing in-
to Acheron, Ody. X. 513.

Erba μer eis Axiela Пueixe-
γεθών σε ρευσι
Κωκυτό θ', ός Της Στυ

διατα εσιν απορρωξ.

and perhaps he describes their fituation as it really was in Greece: but Virgil and the other poets fre

quently

2

Forthwith his former ftate and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.
Beyond this flood a frozen continent
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual ftorms
Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin feems
Of ancient pile; all else deep fnow and ice,
A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog

quently confound them, and mention their names and places without fufficient difference or diftinc

tion. Our poet therefore was at liberty to draw (as I may fay) a new map of these rivers; and he fuppofes a burning lake agreeably to Scripture that often mentions the lake of fire; and he makes thefe four rivers to flow from four different quarters and empty themselves into this burning lake, which gives us a much greater idea than any of the Heathen poets. Befides thefe there is a fifth river called Lethe, which name in Greek fignifies forgetfulness, and its waters are faid to have occafion'd that quality, Æn. VI. 714.

Lethæi ad fluminis undam Securos latices, et longa oblivia potant:

and Milton attributes the fame effect to it, and defcribes it as a flow and filent fiream, as Lucan had done before him, IX. 355.

585

590

Betwixt Damiata and mount Cafius old,...!

Where armies whole have funk: the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire. 595 Thither by harpy-footed furies hal'd

At certain revolutions all the damn'd

Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine

Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round,

Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire.:
They ferry over this Lethean found

Both to and fro, their forrow to augment, 605
And wish and struggle, as they pafs, to reach.
The tempting stream, with one fmall drop to lofe,
In fweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,

All in one moment, and fo near the brink;
But fate withstands, and to oppofe th' attempt 610
Medufa

There is a fine paffage likewife in Shakespear, where the punishment after death is fuppofed to confift in extreme heat or extreme cold; but thefe extremes are not made alter nate, and to be fuffer'd both in their turns, as Milton has defcrib'd them, and thereby has greatly refin'd and improv'd the thought. Measure for Meafure, A&t III. Ay, but to die, and go we know

not where :

To lie in cold obítruction, and to

rot; This fenfible warm motion to be

come

A kneaded clod; and the delighted fpirit

To bathe in fiery floods, or to refide

In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice, &c.

they were fo near the brink, so near the brim and furface of the water, yet they could not taste one drop of it. But the reafons follow, fate withstands, fata obftant as it is in Virgil, Æn. IV. 440. and Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards the ford. Medufa was one of the Gorgon monfters, whofe locks were ferpents fo terrible that they turned the beholders into stone. Ulyffes in Homer was defirous of feeing I was afraid, fays he, Odyff. XI: more of the departed heroes, but 633.

Μη μοι Γοργώην κεφαλήν δύνοια πέλωρο

EE Aïd weμter a yawn Пep

σεφόνεια.

Left Gorgon rifing from th'infer nal lakes,

With horrors arm'd, and curls of hiffing snakes,

Should

Medufa with Gorgonian terror guards

The ford, and of itself the water flies

All taste of living wight, as once it fled
The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on

In cónfus'd march forlorn, th' adventrous bands 615
With fhudd'ring horror pale, and eyes aghaft,

View'd first their lamentable lot, and found

No reft: through many a dark and dreary vale
They pafs'd, and many a region dolorous,

O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp,

620

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs,dens, and fhades of death,
A universe of death, which God by curfe
Created evil, for evil only good,

Should fix me, ftiffen'd at the
monftrous fight,

A ftony image, in eternal night!
Broome.

So frightful a creature is very pro-
perly feign'd by our poet to guard
this water. And befides of itself
the water flies their tafte, and ferves
only to tantalize them. This is a
fine allegory to fhow that there is
no forgetfulness in Hell. Memory
makes a part of the punishment of
the damn'd, and reflection but in-
creases their mifery.

628. Gorgons, and Hydra's, and

Chimera's dire.] Our author