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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,-] Muriv dede. Iliad. Ανδρα μοι έννεπε. Odyfit. 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 Musa 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 reafon for making the word

viv the first in his poem, but that it was the firft which came into his head. However the uniform

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

Than this of Eden, and far happier days.

practice of Homer, Virgil, and It fhould feem that the author, Milton in this particular, feems to fpeaking here of regaining the blissprove that it was not accidental, ful feat, had at this time formed but a thing really defign'd by them, fome defign of his poem of Para4. With lofs of Eden,] But Eden dife Regain'd. But however that was not loft, and the laft that we he manifeftly alludes to the beginbe, in the beginning of that poem read of our first parents is that they were still in Eden, ning 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.

way.

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

I who ere-while the happy garden fung,

By one Man's disobedience loft, now fing

Re

Restore us, and regain the blissful feat,

Sing heav'nly Muse, 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 fecret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, -] Dr. Bentley fays that Milton dictated facred top: his reasons are fuch as follow: The ground of Horeb is faid to be boly, Exod. III. 5. and Horeb is called the mountain of God, 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 boly, yet according to the rules of good poetry, when Milton fpeaks of the top of the mountain, he fhould 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, because the top of this mountain is vifible feveral leagues off. But Sinai and Horeb are the fame mountain, with two feveral 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. In this fenfe therefore (tho' I believe

5

Of

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 ufed 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 fmoke; 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

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Of Òreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd, who first taught the chofen 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 fhows that facred bill is common among the poets in feveral languages; from whence I fhould conclude that facred is a general epithet: whereas fecret, in the sense which I have given it, is the moft peculiar one that can be: and therefore (to ufe Dr. Bentley's words) if, as the beft 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 use 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 fecret in the fame fenfe as the Latin fecretus, fet apart or separate, 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

IO

Faft

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

8. That shepherd, who firft &c.] For Mofes kept the flock of Fethro bis 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 Muse, 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.

Aonas

Faft by the oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous fong,

That with no middle flight intends to foar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in profe or rhime.

Aonas in montes ut duxerit una fo-
rorum,

And again Georg. III. 11.

Aonio rediens deducam vertice Mufas;

though afterwards, I know not by what fatality, that country was fa. mous for the dulnefs of its inhabitants.

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And

It is evident enough that by rhime in this place is meant verfe in general; but I fuppofe Milton thought it would found too low and familiar to the ear to say in profe or verfe, and therefore chose rather to fay in profe or rhime. When he fays in profe or verfe, he adds an epithet to take off from the commonnefs of the expreffion, as in V. 150.

-fuch prompt eloquence Flow'd from their lips, in profe or numerous verse.

16. Things unattempted yet in profe or rbime.] Milton appears to have meant a different thing by rbime here, from rime in his preface, where it is fix times men- It is faid that Milton took the firft tion'd, and always fpell'd without hint of this poem from an Italian an h; whereas in all the editions, tragedy called II Paradifo perfe; and till Dr. Bentley's appear'd, rhime it is pretended that he has borin this place of the poem was row'd largely from Mafenius, a spell'd with an b. Milton pro- German Jefuit, and other modern bably meant a difference in the authors; but it is all a pretence, thing, by making fo conftant a dif- he made ufe of all authors, fuch ference in the Tpelling; and in- was his learning; but fuch is his tended that we should here under- genius, he is no copyer, his poem ftand by rhime, not the jingling is plainly an original, if ever there found of like endings, but verfe in was one. His fubject indeed of general; the word being deriv'd the fall of Man together with the from rythmus, pubμos. Ariofto had faid

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principal epifodes may be faid to be as old as Scripture, but his manner of handling them is entirely new, with new illuftrations and new beauties of his own; and he may as juftly boaft of the novelty of his poem, as any of the ancient poets K

bestow

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
Waft prefent, and with mighty wings outspread 20
Dove-like fatft brooding on the vast abyss,
And mad'ft it pregnant: what in me is dark

bestow that recommendation upon their works; as Lucretius I. 925. Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nul

lius ante Trita folo &c.

and Virgil Georg. III. 3.

Illumin,

This addrefs therefore is no more formality. Yet fome may think that he incurs a worse charge of enthufiafm, or even profaneness 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.
Primus ego in patriam &c.
292.Juvat ire jugis, quà nul-
la priorum
Caftaliam molli divertitur orbita

clivo.

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 used infignificantly: and befides our author, in the beginning of his next work Paradife Regain'd, fcruples not to fay to the fame divine perfon

Infpire, As thou art wont, my prompted fong, elfe mute.

gift, in naturals as well as in mo ral, defcendeth from the great Father of lights, Jam. I. 17. And an extraordinary fkill even in mechanical arts is there ascribed to the illumination of the Holy Ghost. It is faid of Bezaleel who was to make the furniture of the tabernacle, that the Lord had filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, and to devife curious works, &C. Exod. XXXV. 31. Heylin.

It may be obferved too in juftification of our author, that other fa cred poems are not without the like invocations, and particularly Spenfer's Hymns of Heavenly Love and Heavenly Beauty, as well as fome modern Latin But I poems. conceive that Milton intended fomething more, for I have been informed

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