Shone like a meteor ftreaming to the wind,

With gems
Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while
Sonorous metal blowing martial founds:

and golden luftre rich imblaz'd,

At which the univerfal hoft up fent

A fhout, that tore Hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
All in a moment through the gloom were seen
Ten thousand banners rife into the air
With orient colors waving: with them rose

unfurls; as alfo of that ghaftly light, by which the fiends appear to one another in their place of torments: the fhout of the whole hoft of fallen Angels when drawn up in battel array: the review which the leader makes of his infernal army: the flash of light which appear'd upon the drawing of their fwords: the fudden production of the Pandemonium: and the artificial illuminations made in it. Addison.

543. Frighted the reign of Chaos

and old Night.] Reign is ufed like the Latin regnum for kingdom: and fo in Spenfer's Fairy Queen, B. 2. Cant. 7. St. 21.

That ftrait did lead to Pluto's grifly reign.

545. Ten thousand banners rife into the air

540

545

A

A foreft huge of spears; and thronging helms

array

Appear'd, and ferried shields in thick
Of depth immeasurable: anon they move
In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood

Of flutes and foft recorders; fuch as rais'd
To highth of nobleft temper heroes old
Arming to battel, and instead of rage
Deliberate valor breath'd, firm and unmov'd.
With dread of death to flight or foul retreat;

Nor wanting pow'r to mitigate and swage

359

555

With folemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase Anguish and doubt and fear and forrow' and pain From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they Breathing united force with fixed thought

560 Mov'd

550. to the Dorian mood &c.] All accounts of the mufic of the Ancients are very uncertain and confus'd. There feem to have been three principal modes or measures among them, the Lydian, the Phrygian, and the Dorian. The Lydian the moft fprightly, and the Dorian was the most doleful, the Phrygian the moft grave and majestic. And Milton in another part of his works ufes grave and Doric almost as fynonymous terms. "If we think "to regulate printing, thereby to

rectify manners, we must regulate all recreations and paftimes,

all

Mov'd on in filence to foft pipes, that charm'd
Their painful steps o'er the burnt foil; and now
Advanc'd in view they ftand, a horrid front
Of dreadful length and dazling arms, in guise
Of warriors old with order'd spear and shield,
Awaiting what command their mighty chief
Had to impose: He through the armed files
Darts his experienc'd eye, and foon traverse
The whole battalion views, their order due,
Their visages and ftature as of Gods,

565

570

Their number laft he fums. And now his heart Distends with pride, and hard'ning in his strength Glories: for never fince created man,

Met fuch imbodied force, as nam'd with these

"all that is delightful to man. "No mufic must be heard, no fong "be fet or fung, but what is grave "and Doric." (See his Speech for the liberty of unlicenc'd Printing. Vol. I. p. 149. Edit. 1738.) This therefore was the meafure beft adapted to the fall'n Angels at this juncture; and their inftruments were flutes and pipes and foft recorders, for the fame reafon that Thucydides and other ancient hiftorians affign for the Lacedemonians making use of these instruments, because they infpir'd them with a more cool and deliberate courage, whereas trum

Could merit more than that small infantry
Warr'd on by cranes; though all the giant brood
Of Phlegra with th' heroic race were join'd
That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each fide
Mix'd with auxiliar Gods; and what refounds
In fable or romance of Uther's fon

Birgirt with British and Armoric knights;
And all who fince, baptiz'd or infidel,
Joufted in Afpramont or Montalban,
Damafco, or Marocco, or Trebifond,
Or whom Biferta fent from Afric fhore,

575

580

585 When

unlike that in Shakespear, Anth. fide the heroes were affifted by the & Cleop. A& I..

thofe his goodly eyes

Gods, therefore call'd auxiliar Gods; and what refounds even in fable or

That o'er the files and mufters of romance of Uther's fon, king Arthur,

the war

Have glow'd like plated Mars.

575

that fmall infantry Warr'd on by cranes ;] All the heroes and armies that ever were affembled were no more than pygmies in comparison with these Angels; though all the giant brood of Phlegra, a city of Macedonia, where the giants fought with the Gods, with th' heroic race were join'd that fought at Thebes, a city in Boeotia, famous for the war between the fons of Edipus, celebrated by Statius in his Thebaid, and Ilium made ftill more famous by Homer's Iliad, where on each

fon of Uther Pendragon, whose exploits are romanticly extoll'd by Geoffry of Monmouth, begirt with British and Armoric knights, for he was often in alliance with the king of Armorica, fince called Bretagne, of the Britons who fettled there; and all who fince joufted in Afpramont or Montalban, romantic names of places mention'd in Orlando Furiofo, the latter perhaps Montauban in France, Damafco or Marocco, Damafcus or Morocco, but he calls them as they are call'd in romances, or Trebifond, a city of Cappadocia in the leffer Afia, all these places are famous in romances, for jouftings between the baptiz'd and infi

dels;

When Charlemain with all his
peerage fell
By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond
Compare of mortal prowess, yet obferv'd
Their dread commander: he above the reft
In fhape and gesture proudly eminent
Stood like a tow'r; his form had yet not loft
All her original brightness, nor appear'd
Less than Arch-Angel ruin'd, and th' excess
Of glory' obfcur'd; as when the fun new risen
Looks through the horizontal mifty air
Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon

dels; or whom Biferta, formerly call'd Utica, fent prom Afric fhore, that is the Saracens who pafs'd from Biferta in Africa to Spain, when Charlemain with all his peerage fell by Fontarabbia, Charlemain king of France and emperor of Germany about the year 800 undertook a war against the Saracens in Spain, and Mariana and the Spanish hiftorians are Milton's authors for faying that he and his army were routed in this manner at Fontarabbia (which is a ftrong town in Biscay at the very entrance into Spain, and efteem'd the key of the kingdom): but Mezeray and the French writers give a quite different and more probable account of him, that he was at laft victorious over his enemies and died in peace. And tho' we

590

595

In

cannot agree with Dr. Bentley in rejecting fome of thefe lines as fpurious, yet it is much to be wish'd that our poet had not fo far indulged his tafte for romances, of which he profeffes himself to have been fond in his younger years, and had not been oftentatious of fuch reading, as perhaps had better never have been read.

589.- he above the reft &c. ] What a noble defcription is here of Satan's perfon! and how different from the common and ridiculous representations of him, with horns and a tail and cloven feet! and yet Taffo hath fo defcrib'd him, Cant. IV. The greatest mafters in painting had not fuch fublime ideas as Milton, and among all their Devils have drawn no portrait comparable to this; as every

body