Puslapio vaizdai
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Down thither prone in flight He fpeeds, and through the vaft ethereal sky V. 267.

Upon the third,

what in me is dark

Illumin, what is low raife and support; I. 23.

as the wakefal bird

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Hung on his fhoulders like the moon, whofe orb I. 287. A fairer perfon loft not Heav'n; he feem'd II. 110.

Upon the ninth,

Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thron'd

Between the Cherubim I. 386.
And bush with frizled hair im,
plicit; | laft

Rofe as in dance the ftately trees,
VII. 323.

Sings darkling, and in fhadieft And here upon the end,

covert hid III. 39.

Upon the fourth,

-on he led his radiant files, Dazling the moon; these to the bow'r direct IV. 798.

at his right hand victory Sat eagle-wing'd; befide him hung his bow, VI. 763. Upon the fifth,

-bears, tigers, ounces, pards, Gambol'd before them; th'unwieldy elephant IV. 345.

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And fwims, for finks, For wades or creeps, or flies: II. 950. Exhaufted, I fpiritlefs, afflicted,1 fall'n. VI. 852.

of two fhort fyllables, as in

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v. 64.4

Serv'd only to difcover fights of

woe.

Sometimes the Dactyle or foot of one long and two fhort fyllables as in v. 45.

Hurl'd headlong flaming from thethereal sky.

Sometimes the Anapest or foot of two fhort and one long fyllable as in v. 87.

133

Myriads though bright! If he whom mutual league

as

Sometimes the Tribrachus or foot
of three short fyllables
in v. 709.

To many a row of pipes the found

board breathes.

But befides this variety of the paufes, there are other excellencies in Milton's verfification. The Englifh heroic verfe approaches nearest to the Iambic of the Ancients, of which it wants only a foot; but then it is to be meafur'd by the tone and accent, as well as by the time and quantity. An Iambic foot is one fhort and one long fyllable → and fix fuch feet conftitute an Iam bic verfe: but the Ancients feldom made use of the pure Iambic, efpecially in works of any confiderable length, but oftner of the mix'd Iambic, that is with a proper intermixture of other measures; and of these perhaps Milton has exprefs'd as happy a variety as any And fometimes there is variety of poet whatever, or indeed as the na- thefe measures in the fame verfe, ture of a verse will admit, that con- and feldom or never the fame mea fifts only of five feet, and ten fyl- fures in two verfes together. And fables for the most part. Sometimes there changes are not only rung for he gives us almoft pure Iambics, as the fake of the greater variety, but in I. 314. are fo contriv'd as to make the found more expreffive of the fenfe. And this is another great art of verfification, the adapting of the very founds, as well as words, toothe fubject matter, the ftile of found, as Mr. Pope calls it: and in this Miton is excellent as in all the reft, and we shall give feveral inftances of it in the courfe of these remarks. So that he has abundantly exemplified in his own practice the rules laid down by himself in his preface, his verfification having all the requifites of true mufical delight, which as he Sometimes the Pyrrichius or foot fays confifts only in apt numbers, fit

He cáll'd fo loud, that all the hōl-
low deep

Of Hell refounded.
Sometimes he intermixes the Tro.
chee or foot of one long and one
Thort fyllable

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as

in

V 49.

Who durft defy th' Omnipotent to

arms.

Sometimes the Spondee or foot of two long fyllables as in v. 21. Dove-like satft brooding on the vaft abyss.

quantity

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Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With lofs of Eden, till one greater Man

quantity of fyllables, and the fenfe
variously drawn out from one verfe
into another.

1. Of Man's firft difobedience,]
Muvi deide. Iliad.
Ανδρα μοι εννεπε. Οdyf.

Arma virumque cano. Æneid. In all these inftances, as in Milton, the fubject of the poem is the very first thing offer'd to us, and precedes the verb with which it is connected. It must be confeffed that Horace did not regard this, when he tranflated the first line of the Odyffey, Dic mihi Mufa virum, &c. De Art. Poet. 141. And Lucian, if I remember right, makes a jeft of this obfervation, where he introduces the fhade of Homer as exprefsly declaring that he had no other reason for making the word

n the first in his poem, but that it was the firft which came in

to his head. However the uniform practice of Homer, Virgil, and Milton in this particular, feems to prove that it was not accidental, but a thing really defign'd by them, 4. With lofs of Eden,] But Eden was not loft, and the laft that we

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fure, and the country is fuppofed to be the fame that was afterwards called Mefopotamia; particularly by our author in IV. 210. &c. Here the whole is put for a part, as fometimes a part for the whole, by a figure called Synecdoche.

4. till one greater Man Reftore us, and regain the blissful

feat,] As it is a greater Man, fo it is a happier Paradise which our Saviour promis'd to the penitent thief, Luke XXIII. 43. This day fhalt thou be with me in Paradife. But Milton had a notion that after the conflagration and the general judgment the whole Earth would be made a Paradife,XII. 463.

for then the Earth Shall all be Paradife, far happier place

Than this of Eden, and far hapIt fhould feem that the author, pier days. fpeaking here of regaining the blissful feat, had at this time formed fome defign of his poem of Paradife Regain'd. But however that be, in the beginning of that poem he manifeftly alludes to the beginning of this, and there makes Paradife to be regain'd by our SaThrough Eden took their folitary viour's foiling the tempter in the wilderness.

read of our first parents is that they were ftill in Eden,

way.

With lofs of Eden therefore means no more than with lofs of Paradife, which was planted in Eden, which word Eden fignifies delight or plea

I who ere-while the happy garden fung,

By one Man's difobedience loft, now fing

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Reftore us, and regain the blissful feat,

Sing heav'nly Mufe, that on the fecret top

Recover'd Paradife to all mankind, By one Man's firm obedience fully try'd,

And Eden rais'd in the wafte wilderness.

6. that on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, —] Dr. Bentley fays that Milton dictated facred top: his reafons are fuch as follow: The ground of Horeb is faid to be holy, Exod. III. 5. and Horeb is called the mountain of God, 1 Kings XIX. 8. But it may be anfwer'd, that tho' that place of Horeb, on which Mofes ftood, was boly, it does not follow that the top of the mountain was then holy too: and by the mountain of God (Dr. Bentley knows) may be meant only, in the Jewish ftile, a very great mountain: Befides let the mountain be never fo holy, yet according to the rules of good poetry, when Milton fpeaks of the top of the mountain, he should give us an epithet peculiar to the top only, and not to the whole mountain. Dr. Bentley fays farther that the epithet fecret will not do here, becaufe the top of this mountain is vifible feveral leagues off. But Sinai and Horeb are the fame mountain, with two several eminences, the higher of them called Sinai: and of Sinai Jofephus in his Jewish Antiquit. Book 3. Chap. 5. fays that it is fo high, that the top of it cannot be feen without ftraining the eyes. this fenfe therefore (tho' I believe

In

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it is not Milton's fenfe) the top of it may be well faid to be fecret. In Exod. XVII. it is faid that the Ifraelites, when incamp'd at the foot of Horeb, could find no water; from whence Dr. Bentley concludes, that Horeb had no clouds or mifts about its top; and that therefore fecret top cannot be here meant as implying that high mountains against rainy weather have their heads furrounded with mifts. I never thought that any reader of Milton would have understood fecret top in this fenfe. The words of Horeb or of Sinai imply a doubt of the poet, which name was propereft to be given to that mountain, on the top of which Mofes receiv'd his infpiration; becaufe Horeb and Sinai are used for one another in Scripture, as may be seen by comparing Exod. III. 1. with Acts VII. 30. but by naming Sinai laft, he feems to incline rather to that. Now it is well known from Exod. XIX. 16. Ecclus. XLV. 5. and other places of Scripture, that when God gave his laws to Mofes on the top of Sinai, it was cover'd with clouds, dark clouds, and thick Smoke; it was therefore secret at that time in a peculiar fenfe: and the fame thing feems intended by the epithet which our poet ufes upon the very fame occafion in XII. 227.

God from the mount of Sinai, whofe gray top Shall tremble, he defcending, &c.

Dr.

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen feed,
In the beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
Rofe out of Chaos: Or if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd

Dr. Bentley shows that facred hill is common among the poets in feveral languages; from whence I fhould conclude that facred is a general epithet: whereas fecret, in the fenfe which I have given it, is the most peculiar one that can be: and therefore (to ufe Dr. Bentley's words) if, as the best poets have adjudg'd, a proper epithet is to be preferr'd to a general one, I have fuch an efteem for our poet, that which of the two words is the better, That I fay (viz. fecret) was dictated by Milton. Pearce.

We have given this excellent note at length, as we have met with feveral perfons who have approved of Dr. Bentley's emendation. It may be too that the poet had a farther meaning in the ufe of this epithet in this place; for being accustomed to make ufe of words in the fignification that they bear in the learned languages, he may very well be fuppofed to use the word Secret in the same sense as the Latin fecretus, fet apart or feparate, like the fecretofque pios in Virgil, En. VIII. 670, and it appears from Scripture, that while Mofes was with God in the mount, the people were not to come near it or touch it, till after a fignal given, and then they were only to ap

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Faft

proach, and not to ascend it, nor pass the bounds fet for them upon pain of death. Exod. XIX. So that upon all accounts fecret is the mot proper epithet, that could have been chofen.

8. That shepherd, who firft &c.] For Mofes kept the flock of Fethro his father-in-law. Exod. III. 1. And he is very properly faid to have firft taught the chofen feed, being the most ancient writer among the Jews, and indeed the most ancient that is now extant in the world.

9. In the beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth] Alluding to the firft words of Genefis.

11. and Siloa's brook] Siloa was a small river that flow'd near the temple at Jerufalem. It is mention'd Ifai. VIII. 6. So that in effect he invokes the heavenly Mufe, that infpir'd David and the Prophets on mount Sion, and at Jerufalem, as well as Mofes on mount Sinai.

15. Above th' Aonian mount,] A poetical expreffion for foaring to a highth above other poets. The mountains of Boeotia, anciently called Aonia, were the haunt of the Mufes, and thus Virgil, Ecl. VI. 65.

Anas

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