And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that doft prefer Before all temples th' upright heart and pure, Inftruct me, for Thou know'ft; Thou from the firft bestow that recommendation upon and Virgil Georg. III. 3. Illumin, This addrefs therefore is no mere formality. Yet fome may think that he incurs a worfe charge of enthufiafm, or even profanenefs in vouching infpiration for his performance but the Scriptures reprefent infpiration as of a much larger extent than is commonly ap Cætera quæ vacuas tenuiffent car- prehended, teaching that every good mina mentes Omnia jam vulgata. 17. And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, &c.] Invoking the Mufe is commonly a matter of mere form, wherein the poets neither mean, nor defire to be thought to mean any thing feriously. But the Holy Ghost here invok'd is too folemn a name to be ufed infignificantly: and befides our author, in the beginning of his next work Paradife Regain'd, fcruples not to fay to the fame divine perfon Inspire, As thou art wont, my prompted fong, elfe mute. gift, in naturals as well as in moral, defcendeth from the great Father of lights, Jam. I. 17. And an extraordinary fkill even in mechanical arts is there afcribed to the illumination of the Holy Ghoft. It is faid of Bezaleel who was to make the furniture of the taber nacle, that the Lord had filled him with the Spirit of God, in wifdom, and in all manner of workmanship, in understanding, and in knowledge, and to devise curious works, &c. Exod. XXXV. 31. It may be obferved too in juftificaHeylin. tion of our author, that other facred poems are not without the like fer's Hymns of Heavenly Love invocations, and particularly Spenand Heavenly Beauty, as well as fome modern Latin poems. But I conceive that Milton intended fomething more, for I have been informed Illumin, what is low raife and fupport; That to the highth of this great argument I may affert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to Men. 25 Say firft, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell, fay first what cause Mov'd bird, becaufe the defcent of the Holy Ghoft is compared to a dove in Scripture, Luke III. 22. As Milton ftudied the Scriptures in the original languages, his images and expreffions are oftner copied from them, than from our tranflation. 26. And juftify the ways of God to Men.] A verfe, which Mr. Pope has thought fit to borrow with fome little variation, in the beginning of his Effay on Man, But vindicate the ways of God to Man. informed by thofe, who had opportunities of converfing with his widów, that she was wont to say that he did really look upon himself as infpir'd, and I think his works are not without a spirit of enthusiasm. In the beginning of his 2d book of The Reafon of Church government, fpeaking of his defign of writing a poem in the English language, he fays, "It was not to be obtained "by the invocation of Dame Me"mory and her Siren daughters, "but by devout prayer to that "eternal Spirit who can enrich "with all utterance and know"ledge, and fends out his Sera- It is not eafy to conceive any good "phim, with the hallow'd fire of reafon for Mr. Pope's preferring "his altar, to touch and purify the the word vindicate, but Milton lips of whom he pleafes, p. 61. makes ufe of the word juftify, as it Edit. 1738. is the Scripture word, That thou mightest be juftified in thy fayings, Rom. III. 4. And the ways of God to Men are juftified in the many argumentative discourses throughout the poem, and particularly in the conferences between,God the Father and the Son. 19. Inftru&t me, for Thou know'ft;] Theocrit. Idyl. XXII. 116. Είπε θεα, συ γαρ οι παί 21. Dove-like fatft brooding] Alloding to Gen. I. 2. the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters; for the word that we translate moved fignifies properly brooded, as a bird doth upon her eggs; and he fays like a dove rather than any other 27. Say firft, for Heav'n hides nom thing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell,-] The poets attribute a kind of omniscience K 2 Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state, fcience to the Mufe, and very rightly, as it enables them to speak of things which could not otherwife be supposed to come to their knowledge. Thus Homer, Iliad. II. 485. Υμείς γαρ θεα ε5ε, πάρεσε τέ, ισε τε πανία. And Virgil Æn. VII. 645. Et meminiftis enim, Divæ, et me morare poteftis. Milton's Mufe, being the Holy Spirit, muft of course be omniscient. And the mention of Heaven and Hell is very proper in this place, as the scene of fo great a part of the poem is laid fometimes in Hell, and fometimes in Heaven. 32. For one refraint,] For one thing that was reftrain'd, every thing elfe being freely indulged to them, and only the tree of knowledge forbidden. 30 35 Had Th' infernal Serpent;] An imitation of Homer, Iliad. I. 8. where the question is afk'd, and the anfwer return'd much in the fame manner. Τις τ' αρ σφωε θεων έριδι ξωει- 38. by whofe aid afpiring peers,] Here Dr. Bentley objects, that Satan's crime was not, his aiming above his peers: he was in place high above them before, as the Doctor proves from V. 812. But tho' this be true, yet Milton may be right here; for the force of the words feems, not that Satan but that he afpir'd to fet himself in afpir'd to fet himself above his peers, glory, &c that is in divine glory, in fuch glory as God and his Son were fet in. Here was his crime: and this is what God charges him 33. Who firft feduc'd them to that with in V. 725. foul revolt? Had caft him out from Heav'n, with all his hoft 40 Hurl'd who intends to' erect his often cuts off the vowel at the end throne Equal to ours, of a word, when the next word begins with a vowel; though he does not like the Greeks wholly And in VI. 88. Milton fays that the drop the vowel, but ftill retains it rebel Angels hop'd in writing like the Latins. Another liberty, that he takes likewise for the greater improvement and variety of his verfification, is pronouncing the fame word fometimes as two fyllables, and fometimes as only one fyllable or two short ones. We have frequent inftances in fpirit, ruin, riot, reason, bigheft, and feveral other words. But then thefe excellencies in Milton's verfe are attended with this inconvenience, that his numbers feem embarafs'd to fuch readers, as know not, or know not readily, where fuch elifion or abbreviation of vowels is to take place; and therefore for their fakes we fhall take care throughout this edition to mark fuch vowels as are to be cut off, and fuch as are to be contracted and abbreviated, thus'. Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky, 45 Nine times the space that measures day and night 5a Hurl'd headlong downward from th'ethereal height. Pope. 46. With hideous ruin and combuftion,] Ruin is deriv'd from ruo, and includes the idea of falling with violence and precipitation, and combuftion is more than flaming in the foregoing verfe, it is burning in a dreadful manner. So that he was not only burl'd head long flaming, but he was hurl'd headlong flaming with hideous ruin and combuftion; and what occafion is there then for reading with Dr. Bentley confufion instead of combustion? for now the thought Both 48. In adamantin chains ] Æschy: lus Prometh. 6. Αδαμαντίναις πεδησιν. 50. Nine times &c.] The nine days aftonishment, in which the Angels lay intranced after their dreadful overthrow and fall from Heaven, before they could recover either the use of thought or speech, is a noble circumftance, and very finely imagined. The divifion of Hell into feas of fire, and into firm ground impregnant with the fame furious element, with that particular circumftance of the exclufion of hope from those infernal regions, are inftances of the fame great and fruitful invention. Addison. 63. darkness vifible] Milton feems to have used thefe words to fignify gloom: Abfolute darkness |