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O Friends, why come not on thefe victors proud? Ere while they fierce were coming; and when we, To entertain them fair with open front

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And breaft (what could we more?) propounded

terms

Of compofition, ftrait they chang'd their minds,
Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell,

616

As they would dance; yet for a dance they feem'd
Somewhat extravagant and wild, perhaps
For joy of offer'd peace: but I fuppofe,
If our propofals once again were heard,
We should compel them to a quick refult.

To whom thus Belial in like gamesome mood. 620
Leader, the terms we fent were terms of weight,
Of hard contents, and full of force urg'd home,
Such as we might perceive amus'd them all,
And stumbled many; who receives them right,
Had need from head to foot well understand; 625
Not underfood, this gift they have befides,

620. To whom thus Belial] Whoever remembers the character of Belial in the first and fecond books, and Mr. Addifon's remarks upon it, will eafily fee the pro

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priety of making Belial reply to Satan upon this occafion and in this fportive manner, rather than Beelzebub, or Moloch, or any of the evil Angels.

635. Rag

They show us when our foes walk not upright.
So they among themselves in pleasant vein
Stood fcoffing, highten'd in their thoughts beyond
All doubt of victory; eternal might

630

To match with their inventions they prefum'd
So easy', and of his thunder made a scorn,
And all his hoft derided, while they stood
A while in trouble: but they stood not long;
Rage prompted them at length, and found them

arms

Against such hellish mischief fit to' oppose.
Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power,
Which God hath in his mighty Angels plac'd)
Their arms away they threw, and to the hills
(For Earth hath this variety from Heaven.
Of pleasure fituate in hill and dale)

Light as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew;
From their foundations loofning to and fro
They pluck'd the feated hills with all their load,

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635

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Rocks,

There is nothing in the first and laft day's engagement which does not appear natural, and agreeable enough to the ideas moft readers would conceive of a fight between

two

Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops 645
Up-lifting bore them in their hands: Amaze,
Be fure, and terror feis'd the rebel host,

two armies of Angels. The fecond day's engagement is apt to ftartle an imagination which has not been raised and qualify'd for fuch a defcription, by the reading of the ancient poets, and of Homer in particular. It was certainly a very bold thought in our author, to afcribe the firft ufe of artillery to the rebel Angels. But as fuch a pernicious invention may be well fuppos'd to have proceeded from fuch authors, fo it enter'd very properly into the thoughts of that being, who is all along defcribed as afpiring to the majesty of his Maker. Such engins were the only inftruments he could have made ufe of to imitate thofe thunders, that in all poetry, both facred and profane, are reprefented as the arms of the Almighty. The tearing up the bills was not altogether fo daring a thought as the former. We are in fome meafure prepared for fuch an incident by the defcription of the giants war, which we meet with among the ancient poets. What ftill made this circumftance the more proper for the poet's ufe is the opinion of many learned men, that the fable of the giants war, which makes fo great a noife in anti-. quity, and gave birth to the fub

When

limeft defcription in Hefiod's works was an allegory founded upon this very tradition of a fight between the good and the bad Angels. It may perhaps be worth while to confider with what judgment Milton in this narration has avoided every thing that is mean and trivial in the defcriptions of the Latin and Greek poets; and at the fame time improved every great hint which he met with in their works upon this subject. Homer in that paffage, which Longinus has celebrated for its fublimeness, and which Virgil and Ovid have copy'd after him, tells us that the giants threw Offa upon Olympus, and Pelion upon Offa. He adds an epithet to Pelion (voriQUAAOT) which very much fwells the idea, by bringing up to the reader's imagination all the woods that grew upon it. There is further a great beauty in ungling out by name these three remarkable mountains, fo well known to the Greeks. This laft is fuch a beauty, as the fcene of Milton's war could not poffibly furnish him with. Claudian, in his fragment upon the giants war, has given full fcope to that wildness of imagination which was natural to him. He tells us that the giants tore up whole ilands by the roots, and

threw

When coming towards them fo dread they faw
The bottom of the mountains upward turn'd;
Till on those curfed engins triple-row

threw them at the Gods. He describes one of them in particular taking up Lemnos in his arms, and whirling it to the fkies, with all Vulcan's fhop in the midft of it. Another tears up mount Ida, with the river Enipeus, which ran down the fides of it; but the poet, not content to defcribe him with this mountain upon his shoulders, tells us that the river flow'd down his back, as he held it up in that posture. It is vifible to every judicious reader, that fuch ideas favor more of burlesque, than of the fublime. They proceed from a wantonnefs of imagination, and rather divert the mind than astonish it. Milton has taken every thing that is fublime in these several paffages, and composes out of them the following great image;

From their foundations loofning

to and fro They pluck'd the feated hills with all their load, Rocks, waters, woods, and by the fhaggy tops Uplifting bore them in their hands:

We have the full majefty of Homer in this short defcription, improved by the imagination of Clau

650 They

dian, without its puerilities. I need not point out the defcription of the fallen Angels feeing the promontories hanging over their heads in fuch a dreadful manner, with the other numberless beanties in this book, which are fo confpicuous, that they cannot efcape the notice of the most ordinary reader. There are indeed fo many wonderful ftrokes of poetry in this book, and fuch a variety of fublime ideas, that it would have been impoffible to have given them a place within the bounds of this paper. Befides that I find it in a great measure done to my hand at the end of my Lord Rofcommon's Effay on tranfiated poetry. I fhall refer my reader thither for fome of the mafterftrokes in the fixth book of Paradife Loft, tho' at the fame time there are many others, which that noble author has not taken notice of. Addifon.

648. When coming towards them

fo dread they faw] Does not this verse express the very motion of the mountains, and is not there the fame kind of beauty in the numbers, that the poet recommends in his excellent Effay on Criticism?

When

They faw them whelm'd, and all their confidence
Under the weight of mountains buried deep;
Themselves invaded next, and on their heads
Main promontories flung, which in the air
Came shadowing, and opprefs'd whole legions arm'd;
Their armour help'd their harm, crush'd in and

bruis'd

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Into their substance pent, which wrought them pain
Implacable, and many a dolorous groan,
Long ftrugling underneath, ere they could wind

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