heathen, has taken notice of the fublime manner in which the law-giver of the Jews has defcribed the creation in the firft chapter of Genefis; and there are many other paffages in Scripture, which rife up to the fame majefty, where this fubject is touched upon. Milton has fhown his judgement very remarkably, in making ufe of fuch of these as were proper for his Poem; and in duly qualifying thofe high ftrains of Eastern poetry, which were fuited to readers whofe imaginations were fet to an higher pitch than thofe of colder climates.

Adam's fpeech to the Angel, wherein he defires an account of what had paffed within the regions of Nature before the creation, is very great and folemn. The following lines, in which he tells him, that the day is not too far fpent for him to enter upon fuch a fubject, are exquifite in their kind:

"And the great light of day yet wants to run

"Much of his race though steep; fufpenfe in Heaven, "Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, "And longer will delay to hear thee tell

"His generation, &c."

The Angel's encouraging our firft parents in a modeft purfuit after knowledge, and the caufes which he affigns for the creation of the world, are very juft and beautiful. The Meffiah, by whom, as we are told in Scripture, the heavens were made, comes forth in the power of his Father; furrounded with an hoft of Angels, and clothed with fuch a Majefty as becomes his entering upon a work, which, according to our conceptions, appears the utmost exertion of Omnipotence. What

a beautiful defcription has our author raifed upon that hint in one of the prophets ! "And behold there came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass."

"About his chariot numberlefs were pour'd

"Cherub, and Seraph, Potentates, and Thrones,
"And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots wing'd
"From the armoury of God; where ftand of old
"Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodg'd
"Against a folemn day, harnefs'd at hand,
"Celestial equipage; and now came forth
"Spontaneous, for within them Spirit liv'd,
"Attendant on their Lord: Heaven open'd wide
"Her ever-during gates, harmonious found
"On golden hinges moving

I have before taken notice of these chariots of God, and of thefe gates of Heaven; and fhall here only add, that Homer gives us the fame idea of the latter, as opening of themselves; though he afterwards takes off from it, by telling us, that the Hours first of all removed thofe prodigious heaps of clouds which lay as a barrier before them.

I do not know any thing in the whole Poem more fublime than the defcription which follows, where the Meffiah is reprefented at the head of his Angels, as looking down into the chaos, calming its confufion, riding into the midft of it, and drawing the firft outline of the creation.

The thought of the golden compaffes, ver. 225, is conceived altogether in Homer's fpirit; and is a very noble incident in this wonderful defcription. Homer, when he fpeaks of the gods, afcribes to

them several arms and inftruments, with the fame greatnefs of imagination: Let the reader only perufe the defcription of Minerva's Ægis, or buckler, in the fifth book, with her fpear which would overturn whole fquadrons, and her helmet that was fufficient to cover an army drawn out of an hundred cities. The golden compaffes in the above-mentioned paffage appear a very natural inftrument in the hand of him, whom Plato fomewhere calls the Divine Geometrician. As poetry delights in clothing abftracted ideas in allegories and fenfible images, we find a magnificent defcription of the creation formed after the fame manner in one of the prophets, wherein he defcribes the Almighty Architect as measuring the waters in the hollow of his hand, meting out the heavens with his fpan, comprehending the duft of the earth in a measure, weighing the mountains in fcales, and the hills in a balance. Another of them, defcribing the Supreme Being in this great work of creation, reprefents him as laying the foundations of the earth, and ftretching a line upon it: And in another place as garnishing the heavens, ftretching out the north over the empty place, and hanging the earth. upon nothing. This laft noble thought Milton has expreffed in the following verfe:

"And Earth felf-balanc'd on her center hung."

The beauties of defcription in this book lie fo very thick, that it is impoffible to enumerate them in these remarks. The poet has employed on them the whole energy of our tongue. The feveral great fcenes of the creation rife up to view one

after another, in fuch a manner that the reader feems prefent at this wonderful work, and to affift among the choirs of Angels, who are the fpectators of it. How glorious is the conclufion of the first day!

"Thus was the first day even and morn :

"Nor paft uncelebrated, nor unfung

By the celeftial quires, when orient light

"Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;

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Birth-day of Heaven and Earth; with joy and fhout "The hollow univerfal orb they fill'd."

We have the fame elevation of thought in the third day, when the mountains were brought forth, and the deep was made. We have alfo the rifing of the whole vegetable world defcribed in this day's work, which is filled with all the graces that other poets have lavished on their defcription of the fpring, and leads the reader's imagination into a theatre equally furprifing and beautiful.

The feveral glories of the heavens make their appearance on the fourth day.

One would wonder how the poet could be fo concife in his defcription of the fix days works, as to comprehend them within the bounds of an epifode; and at the fame time fo particular, as to give us a lively idea of them. This is ftill more remarkable in his account of the fifth and fixth days, in which he has drawn out to our view the whole animal creation, from the reptile to the behemoth. As the lion and the leviathan are two of the nobleft productions in the world of living creatures, the reader will find a moft exquifite fpirit of poetry in the account which our author

gives us of them. The fixth day concludes with the formation of Man; upon which the Angel takes occafion, as he did after the battle in Heaven, to remind Adam of his obedience; which was the principal defign of this his vifit.

The poet afterwards reprefents the Meffiah returning into Heaven, and taking a furvey of his great work. There is fomething inexpreffibly fublime in this part of the Poem, where the author defcribes the great period of time, filled with fo many glorious circumftances; when the heavens and earth were finished: when the Meffiah afcended up in triumph through the everlafting gates; when he looked down with pleafure upon his new creation; when every part of nature feemed to rejoice in its exiftence; when the morning ftars fang together, and all the fons of God fhouted for joy.

f

I cannot conclude this book upon the creation, without mentioning a poem which has lately appeared under that title. The work was undertaken with fo good an intention, and is executed with fo great a maftery, that it deferves to be looked upon. as one of the moft ufeful and noble productions in our English verfe. The reader cannot but be pleased to find the depths of philofophy enlivened with all the charms of poetry; and to fee fo great a ftrength of reafon, amidft fo beautiful a redun

f

a poem which has lately appeared &c.] This was The Creation by Sir Richard Blackmore, published in 1712; a poem, fays Dr. Johnfon, which, "if he had written nothing elfe, would have tranfmitted him to pofterity among the first favourites of the English Mufe." See Lives of the Eng. Poets, edit. 1794, vol. iii. p. 72. TODD.