Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclos'd Their callow young, but feather'd foon and fledge 420 425 way, Intelligent in profpect from his throne. Pearce. dentibus: feffos duces ad terga reciUnder a cloud, the ground being fhaded by the multitude of birds feem'd as when a cloud paffes over it. Richardfon. 423.there the eagle and the ftork On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build:] Thefe birds build their egries, that is their nefts in fuch high places. In Job XXXIX, 27, 28. it is faid particularly of the eagle, Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her neft on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the frong place. And Pliny fays of them, Nidificant in petris et arboribus. L. 10. Sect. 4. 426. piunt. Nat. Hift. L. 10. Sect. 32. But as this migration of birds is one of the most wonderful inftincts of nature, it may be proper to add some better authorities to explain and juftify our author than Pliny. Jerem. VIII. 7. takes notice of this remarkable inftinct; Yea the fork in the Heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle, and the crane, and the fwallow obferve the time of their coming, &c. So very intelligent are they of feafons. And as Milton inftances in the crane particularly, we will quote what the ingenious author of Spectacle de la Nature fays upon this occafion. Dial. XI. " Ás -rang'd in figure wedge "to wild ducks and cranes, both the their way,] Pliny has de- "one and the other at the approach scribed certain birds of paffage, fly." of winter fly in queft of more ing in the form of a wedge, and fpreading wider and wider. Those behind rest upon those before, till the leaders being tir'd are in their turn receiv'd into the rear. A tergo fenfim dilatante fe cuneo porrigitur agmen, largèque impellenti præbetur aura. Colla imponunt præce "favorable climates. They all af"femble at a certain day like fwal"lows and quails. They decamp "at the fame time, and 'tis very 66 agreeable to obferve their flight. They generally range themselves. "in a long column like an I, or "in two lines united in a point like Intelligent of feafons, and fet forth Their aery caravan high over feas Flying, and over lands with mutual wing Eafing their flight; fo fteers the prudent crane 430 Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air fays, Flotes, Harmonious numbers; as the wake. ful bird -rang'd in figure wedge their way. Sings darkling, and in fhadieft co "The duck or quail, who forms "the point, cuts the air, and facilitates a paffage to those who "follow; but he is charged with "this commiffion only for a certain "time, at the conclufion of which "he wheels into the rear, and ano"ther takes his poft." And thus as Milton fays, with mutual wing Eafing their flight. 435.-nor then the folemn nightingale &c.] Of all finging birds, we fee that he inftances in the nightingale particularly; and his fondness for this little bird is very remarkable, and he expreffes it upon every occafion. If the reader has not taken particular notice of it, he will be furpris'd as well as pleas'd to fee in how many paffages and with what admiration he speaks of this charming fongfter. He compares his own making verfes in his blindness to the nightingale's finging in the dark. III. 37. Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move vert hid Tunes her nocturnal note. In that charming description of evening, IV. 598. nothing can be more charming than what is faid of the nightingale. Silence accompanied; for beaft and bird, They to their graffy couch, these Were flunk; all but the wakeful In that tender fpeech of Eve's to With thee converfing I forget all amongst other pleafing images he mentions twice the filent night With this her folemn bird. And Adam and Eve are made to fleep lull'd by nightingales, IV. 77. Thefe, lull'd by nightingales, embracing flept, And Flotes, as they pass, fann'd with unnumber'd plumes: And on their naked limbs the flow'ry roof Show'rd rofes, which the morn repair'd. And when the evil Spirit tempts Eve in her dream, he mentions this as one of the strongest temptations to induce her to walk out in the cool evening, V. 38. Why fleep'st thou Eve? now is the pleasant time, The cool, the filent, fave where filence yields To the night warbling bird, that now awake Tunes fweeteft his love-labor'd fong. And here where the poet is defcribing the creation of all the forts and fpecies of fowl, of finging birds he particularizes the nightingale alone. From branch to branch the fmaller birds with fong Solac'd the woods, and fpread their painted wings Till ev'n, nor then the folemn nightingale Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her foft lays. And upon Adam's and Eve's first coming together the nightingale fung the epithalamium or wedding fong, VIII. 518. 435 The amorous bird of night Sung fpoufal, and bid hafte the evening ftar On his hill-top to light the bridal lamp. Other poets mention the nightingale And the mute filence hift along, Sweet bird that fhunn'ft the noise Moft mufical, moft melancholy! I woo to hear thy even-fong; And in his fonnets the firft is ad- 438.-the Others on filver lakes and rivers bath'd Their downy breaft; the fwan with arched neck The dank, and rifing on stiff pennons, tower 440 Walk'd firm; the crefted cock whofe clarion founds Of rainbows and starry' eyes. The waters thus 438.-the fwan with arched neck] The ancient poets have not hit upon this beauty, fo lavish as they have been in their defcriptions of the fwan. Homer calls the fwan longneck'd food espor, but how much more pittorefque if he had arched this length of neck! her wings mantling proudly, her wings are then a little detach'd from her fides, rais'd and spread as a mantle, which she does with an apparent pride, as is alfo feen in her whole figure, attitude, and motion. Richardfon. Dr. Bentley wonders that he should make the fwan of the feminine gender, contrary to both Greek and Latin. I fuppofe he did it, because he thought it would be more agreeable to the ear. Rows his fate founds rather too rough. 445 The 450. when God faid, &c.] So Gen. I. 24. And God faid, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beaft of the earth after his kind. We obferv'd before, that when Milton makes the divine Perfon fpeak, he keeps closely to Scripture. Now what we render living creature is living foul in the Hebrew, which Milton ufually follows rather than our tranflation; and foul it fhould be here as in ver. 388. living foul, and 392. foul living. It is indeed fowl in all the printed copies, Let th' earth bring forth fowl living in her kind: but Dr. Bentley, Dr. Pearce, Mr. Richardfon, and common fenfe, all condemn this reading; it is mani feftly The fixth, and of creation laft arofe With evening harps and matin, when God faid, 450 Let th' earth bring forth foul living in her kind, Cattel and creeping things, and beaft of th' earth, Each in their kind. The earth obey'd, and strait Opening her fertil womb teem'd at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limb'd and full grown out of the ground up As from his lair the wild beast where he wons In foreft wild, in thicket, brake, or den; Among the trees in pairs they rofe, they walk'd: The cattel in the fields and meadows green: 455 rofe 460 Those 456. out of the ground up rofe As from his lair the wild beaft where he wons In foreft wild,] Lair, or layer, an old Saxon word fignifying a bed. The ufe of this word is ftill kept up among us, as when we call the different ftrata or beds of earth, fome of clay, fome of chalk, fome of ftone &c lairs. Wons is an old Saxon word fignifying to dwell or inhabit. Dr. Bentley reads In foreft wide, inftead of wild, wild beaft going before; but Milton does not diflike fuch a repetition of the fame word. |