175 But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles! 180 Indeed the Paradife Regained abfolutely exhibits the tempta tion of our bleffed Saviour in the light of a duel, or perfonal conteft, between him and the Arch-enemy of mankind; in which our Lord, by his divine patience, fortitude, and refignation to the will of his heavenly Father, vanquishes the wiles of the Devil. He thereby attefts his own fuperiority over his antagonift, and his ability to restore the loft happiness of mankind, by regaining Paradife for them, and by refcuing and redeeming them from that power, which had led them captive. DUNSTER. Ver. 175. But to vanquish] Milton lays the accent on the last syllable in vanquish, as elfewhere in triumph; and in many places he imitates the Latin and Greek profody, and makes a vowel long before two confonants. JORTIN. The accent upon the last fyllable of triumph was common in Milton's time; and the accent upon the last fyllable alfo of vanquish may be paralleled by a paffage in Shakspeare's Hen. VI. Part I. A. iii. S. iii. "I am vanquish'd; thefe haughty words of hers "Have batter'd me like roaring cannon-shot." Ver. 182. So they in Heaven their odes and vigils tun'd: Mean while the Son of God,] How nearly does the poet here adhere to the fame way of speaking which he had fed in Paradife Loft on the fame occafion, B. iii. 416! "Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere, 185 Lodg'd in Bethabara, where John baptiz'd, "Mean while upon the firm opacous globe "Of this round world, &c.” Ver. 182. THYER. vigils tun'd;] This is a very uncommon expreffion, and not easy to be understood, unlefs we fuppofe, that by vigils, the poet means those fongs which they fung while they kept their watches. Singing of hymns is their manner of keeping their wakes in Heaven. And I fee no reason why their evening service may not be called vigils, as their morning service is called matins. NEWTON. The evening fervice in the Roman Catholick churches is called vefpers. There was formerly a nocturnal fervice called vigils, or nocturns, which was chanted and accompanied with mufick. Ducange explains vigilia " ipfum officium nocturnum quod in vigiliis nocturnis olim decantabatur.”—The old writers often speak of the vigiliarum cantica. DUNSTER. Ver. 183. who yet fome days Lodg'd in Bethabara, where John baptiz'd,] The poet, I prefume, faid this upon the authority of the first chapter of St. John's gofpel, where certain particulars, which happened feveral days together, are related concerning the Son of God, and it is faid, ver. 28. " These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing." NEWTON. much revolving in his breaft,] Virg. Ver. 185. En. x. 890. "Multa movens animo” DUNSTER. Ver. 189. One day forth walk'd alone, the Spirit leading With folitude, till, far from track of men, Thought following thought, and step by step led on, He enter'd now the bordering defart wild, And, with dark fhades and rocks environ'd round, Milton here place that text of Scripture, where it is faid that Jefus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness! He adheres ftrictly to the infpired hiftorian, and at the fame time gives it a turn which is extremely poetical. THYER. Ver. 190. the better to converse With folitude,] So, in Comus, v. 375. "Wifdom's felf "Oft feeks to fweet retired folitude." DUNSTER. But the poet here perhaps alludes to the facred text, where it is faid of our Saviour, that, " in the morning, rifing up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a folitary place, and there prayed," Mark i. 35. See alfo Matt. xiv. 23. Ver. 193. He enter'd now the bordering defart wild, And, with dark shades and rocks environ'd round,] The wilderness, in which John preached the gospel, and where Jerufalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan went out to him and were baptized in Jordan, we are expressly told by St. Matthew, iii. 1, was the wilderness of Judea ; which extended from the river Jordan all along the western side of the Afphaltick Lake, or Dead Sea. The different parts of this wilderness had different names, from the neighbouring cities or mountains; thus 1 Sam. xxiii. 14. it is called the wilderness of Ziph, and, xxiv. 1. the wilderness of Engaddi. The word in Scripture, which in our verfion is rendered wilderness or defart, does not mean a country abfolutely barren or uninhabited, but only uncultivated. Indeed in the 15th chapter of Joshua, where the cities of Judah are enumerated, we read of fix cities in the wilderness. Of these Engaddi ftood nearest to the river Jordan, and the northern end of the Dead Sea. The defart, His holy meditations thus pursued. O, what a multitude of thoughts at once Awaken'd in me fwarm, while I confider What from within I feel myself, and hear What from without comes often to my ears, Ill forting with my present state compar'd! 195 200 where Milton, following what could be collected from Scripture, now places our Lord, we may suppose then to be that part of the wilderness of Judea, in the neighbourhood of Engaddi. The wilderneffes, or uncultivated parts of Judea, appear chiefly to have been forefts and woods, loca faltuofa et fylvofa. (See Reland's Palaftina, L. 1. c. 56. de locis incultis et fylvis Palaf tina.) About Engaddi alfo there were many mountains and rocks. David is defcribed (1 Sam. xxiii. 29.) dwelling in ftrong holds at Engaddi; and of Saul, when in pursuit of him, (xxiv. 2.) it is faid that he went to feek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. The bordering defart" then is the rocky uncultivated foreft country nearest to that part of Jordan where John had been baptizing, and our bleffed Lord is accordingly, with the greatest accuracy of defcription, there reprefented, as entering "now the bordering defart wild, "And with dark fhades and rocks environ'd round.” It should be obferved, that D'Anville, in the map of Palestine in his Geographie Ancienne, has laid down Bethabara wrong. He places it towards the northern end of that part of Jordan, which flows from the lake of Genezaret into the Dead Sea; and on the eastern bank of the river; almoft oppofite Enon. But it is nearly certain, that it really flood, as bishop Pearce fuppofes, See his note on John i. 18.) at the fouthern end of the river Jordan, on the western bank; and within a little diftance of the wildernefs, being only a very few miles from the Dead Sea.An opportunity of confidering this more fully will occur, towards the beginning of the fecond book of this Poem. DUNSTER. When I was yet a child, no childish play my To me was pleasing; all mind was fet Serious to learn and know, and thence to do What might be publick good; myself I thought. Born to that end, born to promote all truth, 205 All righteous things: therefore, above my years, The law of God I read, and found it fweet, Ver. 201. When I was yet a child, no childish play To me was pleafing;] How finely and confiftently does Milton here imagine the youthful meditations of our Saviour! How different from, and fuperiour to, that fuperftitious trumpery, which one meets with in the Evangelium Infantiæ, and other fuch apocryphal trash! Vid. Fabricii Cod. Apoc. N. Teft. THYER. Dr. Jortin was of opinion, that Milton might here allude to Callimachus's account of Jupiter's infantine difpofition, Hymn in Jov. v. 56. Dr. Newton produced á fimilar description of Demophilus by Pindar, Pyth. Od. iv. 501. And Mr. Dunfter has added an appofite paffage from Plutarch's Life of Cato. But the conclufion, made by Dr. Newton, ftill applies "Our author might allude to those paffages, but he certainly did allude to the words of the apoftle, I Cor. xiii. 11, only inverting the thought, When I was a child, I fpake as a child, &c.” Ver. 204. myself I thought Born to that end, born to promote all truth,] Alluding to our Saviour's words, John xviii. 37. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." NEWTON. Ver. 206. therefore, above my years, The law of God I read, &c.] This has a refemblance of Virgil's, En. ix. 311. "Ante annos animúmque gerens curámque virilem.” And thus Spenfer, Faer. Qu. ii. ii. 15. "Ne in her fpeech, ne in her haviour, |