With that twice-batter'd God of Palestine And mooned Ashtaroth,

Heaven's queen and mother both,

Now fits not girt with tapers' holy shine; The Libyck Hammon fhrinks his horn,

;

200

In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Tham

muz mourn.

XXIII.

And fullen Moloch, fled,

Hath left in fhadows dread

His burning idol all of blackest hue;

In vain with cymbals' ring

They call, the grifly king,

Ver. 200.

205

And mooned Afhtaroth,] So, in Par. Loft, B. iv. 978. "Sharpening in mooned horns ;" in imitation of the Latin lunatus, whence alfo the Italian lunato. Milton added this word to our language; but it is not noticed in Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. But Mr, Dunfter notices the adjective moony in Sylvefter, Du Bart. "Moony ftandards."

1621, p. 29.

Ver. 201.

Heaven's queen and mother both,] She was called regina cæli and mater Deûm, See Selden, NEWTON. Shine is a fubftantive in Harrington's Arifto,

Ver. 202.

c. xxxvii. ft. 15.

"the fine of armour bright,"

And in Jonson's Panegyre, 1603. Works, edit. 1616. p. 868. "When like an April-Iris flew her shine

"About the ftreets.'

And Drummond, Sonnets, edit. 1616.

"Faire moone, who with thy cold and filuer shine.”

And in other places. But fee Obfervat. on Spenser's Faer. Qu. vol. ii. p. 181. WARTON.

Ver. 205. And fullen Moloch, fled,

Hath left in fhadows dread

In difmal dance about the furnace blue: The brutish Gods of Nile as fast,

Ifis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis, haste.

His burning idol all of blackest hue;

In vain with cymbals' ring

They call the grisly king,

210

In difmal dance about the furnace blue:] A book, popular in Milton's time, thus defcribes the dreadful facrifices of the worship of the idol Moloch. "Wherein [the valley of Tophet] the Hebrews facrificed their children to Mo. loch; an idol of brafs, having the head of a calf, the rest of a kingly figure with arms extended to receive the miferable facri. fice, feared to death with his burning embracements. For the idol was hollow within, and filled with fire. And left their lamentable fhrieks fhould fad the hearts of their parents, the priests of Moloch did deaf their ears with the continual clangs of trumpets and timbrels." Sandys's Travels, p. 186. edit. 1615. fol. This imagery, but with less effect, was afterwards transferred into the Parad. Loft, B. i. 392.

"Firft, Moloch, horrid king, befmear'd with blood
"Of human facrifice, and parent's tears ;

Though, for the noife of drums and timbrels loud,
"Their children's cries unheard that pafs'd through fire
"To his grim idol.”

Thefe dreadful circumftances, of themfelves fufficiently striking to the imagination, are here only related: In our Ode, they are endued with life and action, they are put in motion before our eyes, and made fubfervient to a new purpose of the poet by the fuperinduction of a poetical fiction, to which they give occafion. "The fullen spirit is fled of a fudden, and has left his black burning image in darkness and folitude. The priests, dancing in horrid gefticulations about the blue furnace from which his idol was fed with fire, in vain attempt to call back their griefly king with the din of cymbals, with which they once used to overwhelm the fhrieks of the facrificed infants." A new ufe is made of the cymbals of the difappointed priests. He does not fay,

XXIV.

Nor is Ofiris feen

In Memphian grove or green,

Trampling the unshower'd grafs with lowings

loud:

Nor can he be at reft

Within his facred cheft;

215

Nought but profoundest hell can be his shroud;

219

In vain with timbrell'd anthems dark
The fable-stoled forcerers bear his worshipt ark.

XXV.

He feels from Juda's land
The dreaded Infant's hand,

"Moloch's idol was removed, to which infants were facrificed; · while their cries were fuppreffed by the found of cymbals." In Burnet's treatife De ftatu mortuorum et refurgentium, there is a fine picture of the rites of Moloch.

Milton, like a true poet, in defcribing the Syrian superstitions, felects fuch as were moft fufceptible of poetical enlargement; and which, from the wildness of their ceremonies, were most interesting to the fancy. WARTON,

Ver. 210. In difmal dance about the furnace blue:] So in Macbeth, as Mr. Steevens has obferved to me.

"And round about the cauldron fing." Ver. 215. Trampling the unfhower'd grafs]

WARTON,

There being no rain in Egypt, but the country made fruitful with the over, flowings of the Nile. RICHARDson.

So Tibullus of the Nile,

"Te propter nullos tellus tua fupplicat imbres,

"Arida nec pluvio fupplicat herba Jovi." WARTon.

Ver. 220.

The fable-ftoled forcerers] He changed this fine compound into "fable-vefted," Par. Loft, B. ii. 962.

rays

The of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyn; Nor all the Gods befide

Longer dare abide,

Not Typhon huge ending in fnaky twine: Our Babe, to show his Godhead true,

225

Can in his fwaddling bands controll the damned

crew.

XXVI.

So, when the fun in bed,

Curtain'd with cloudy red,

Pillows his chin upon an orient wave,

The flocking fhadows pale

Troop to the infernal jail,

230

Each fetter'd ghoft flips to his several grave;

Ver. 230.

Curtain'd with cloudy red,] Crafhaw thus de

fcribes the fun, Sac. Poems, p. 17. edit. Paris, 1652.

"All the purple pride that laces

"The crimson curtains of thy bed."

Ver. 231. Pillows his chin upon an orient wave,] The words pillows and chin, throw an air of burlesque and familiarity over a comparison moft exquifitely conceived and adapted.

Ver. 232. The flocking fhadows pale

Troop to the infernal jail,

WARTON.

Each fetter'd ghost flips to his feveral grave;]

Mr. Bowle here directs us to the Midsummer Night's Dr. A. iii. S. ult.

"And yonder fhines Aurora's harbinger;

"At whofe approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,

Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all,

"That in cross-ways and floods have burial,

"Already in their wormy beds are gone." WARTON.

And the yellow-skirted Fayes

235

Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon

lov'd maze.

XXVII.

But fee, the Virgin bleft

Hath laid her Babe to reft;

Time is, our tedious fong should here have

ending:

Heaven's youngest-teemed star

Hath fix'd her polifh'd car,

240

Her fleeping Lord with handmaid lamp attending:

And all about the courtly stable
Bright-harness'd Angels fit in order serviceable*.

Ver. 235. And the yellow-fkirted Fayes

Fly after the night feeds, leaving their moon-lov'd

maze.] It is a very poetical mode of expreffing the departure of the fairies at the approach of morning, to say that they "fly after the steeds of Night." WARton.

Ver. 244. Bright-harnefs'd Angels] Bright-arm'd. So, in Exod. xiii. 18. "The children of Ifrael went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt." NEWTON.

The arch-angel Michael is thus armed" in harnesse strong of never-yeelding diamonds," Fairfax, B. ix. ft. 58.

* A great critick, in fpeaking of Milton's fmaller poems, paffes over this Ode in filence, and obferves" All that short compofitions can commonly attain is neatnefs and elegance." But Odes are short compofitions, and they can often attain fublimity, which is even a characteristick of that fpecies of poetry. We have the proof before us. He adds, "Milton never learned the art of doing little things with grace." If by little things we are to understand short poems, Milton had the art of giving them another fort of excellence. WARTON.