In blissful folitude; he then survey'd

Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there 70
Coafting the wall of Heaven on this fide Night
In the dun air fublime, and ready now

To ftoop with wearied wings, and willing feet,
On the bare outfide of this world, that seem'd
Firm land imbofom'd, without firmament, 75
Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.
Him God beholding from his profpect high,
Wherein past, present, future, he beholds,
Thus to his only Son foreseeing fpake.

Only begotten Son, feest thou what rage 80

Ver. 72. In the dun air] This is the aer bruno of the Italians, who almost conftantly exprefs a gloomy, dusky air, in these terms. THYER.

Ver. 75. Firm land imbofom'd, without firmament, &c.] The univerfe appear'd to Satan to be a folid globe, encompaffed on all fides but uncertain whether with water or air, but without firmament, without any sphere or fixed stars over it, as over the earth. The fphere, or fixed ftars, was itfelf comprehended in it, and made a part of it. NEWTON.

Ver. 77. Him God beholding from his profpect high,

Wherein paft, prefent, future, he beholds,] Boethius, an author not unworthy of our poet's imitation, defcribing the Deity, ufes exactly the fame terms, De Conf. Philof. L. iv. Qui cum ex alta providentiæ Specula refpicit, quid cuique eveniat." Again, L. v. Metr. ii.

66

"Quæ fint, quæ fuerint, veniúntque,

"Uno mentis cernit in ictu." THYER.

Ver. 80. Only begotten Son, &c.] I will make one general obfervation, on this and all the speeches in the Poem, put into the mouth of God the Father; which is, that nothing can be more unjust than Pope's criticifin on Milton, accufing him of

Transports our Adverfary? whom no bounds
Prefcrib'd, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains
Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss -
Wide interrupt, can hold; (fo bent he seems
On defperate revenge, that fhall redound
Upon his own rebellious head.) And now,
Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his

way

85

Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light,
Directly towards the new created world,
And man there plac'd, with purpose to affay 90
If him by force he can destroy, or, worse,
By fome falfe guile pervert; and shall pervert ;)
For man will hearken to his glozing lies,
And eafily tranfgrefs the fole command,
Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall 95
He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?
Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me
All he could have; I made him juft and right,

making God turn fchool-divine, unless he meant, by fchool-divinity, the doctrine of St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John, &c. For Milton has copied them with the greateft exactnefs; and, bating a word or two, (fully implied however in those writers,) has kept to their very expreffions. STILLING FLEET.

Ver. 93. his glozing lies,] The fame expreffion is applied to the Devil, B. ix. 549. "So gloz'd the Tempter." See note on Comus, v. 161. Thus alfo, in Sylvefter's Du Bartas, the Tempter's addrefs to Eve is called “glozing rhetorike." TODD.

Ver. 98.

vii. 29.

I made him juft and right,] Ecclef. "God made man upright." GILLIES.

Sufficient to have food, though free to fall.)

Such I created all the ethereal Powers

100

And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd;

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have given fincere Of true allegiance, conftant faith or love,

Where only what they needs must do appear'd, 105 Not what they would? what praise could they receive?

What pleasure I from fuch obedience paid,
When will and reason (reason also is choice)
Useless and vain, of freedom both defpoil'd,
Made paffive both, had ferv'd neceffity,

Ver. 101.

110

both them who flood, and them who fail'd ;] Both the antitheton and the repetition in the next line show that the author gave it,

"both them who stood and them who fell; Freely they stood who ftood, and fell who fell." BENTLEY. Ver. 108. (reafon alfo is choice)] Milton had expreffed the fame fentiment before in his Areopagitica; "Many there be that complain of Divine Providence for fuffering Adam to tranfgrefs. Foolish tongues! when God gave him reafon, he gave him freedom to chufe; for reafon is but choofing: He had been elfe a mere artificial Adam." NEWTON.

The poet's meaning feems to be this: When two or more things are propofed, 'tis the bufinefs of reafon to choose, i. e. netermine fpeculatively, which is the beft; as it is the business of will to determine practically. These words were thrown in to take off the objection which might have arifen, in the minds of his readers, upon feeing the word freedom in the next line applied to reafon. This way of speaking Milton took from Plato. STILLINGFLEET.

Not me? They therefore, as to right belong'd,
So were created, nor can juftly accufe
Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,
As if predeftination over-rul'd

Their will difpos'd by abfolute decree

115

Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed
Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,
Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,
Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.
So without leaft impúlfe or fhadow of fate, 120
Or aught by me immutably foreseen,
They trespass, authors to themselves in all
Both what they judge, and what they choose;
for fo

I form'd them free: and free they must remain,
Till they enthrall themselves; I else must change
Their nature, and revoke the high decree

126

Ver. 117. if] If here does not imply the least doubt, or uncertainty; but it is used, as it is fometimes in the best authors, in the fenfe of though. "Though I foreknew, that foreknowledge had no influence." NEWTON.

Ver. 121. Or aught by me immutably forefeen,] To foresee immutably, fays Dr. Bentley, are two ideas that cannot unite : He thinks therefore that Milton muft have given it, immutably foredoom'd. His objection is right, but his emendation is wrong, I think. Milton feems rather to have dictated,

"Or aught by me immutable foreseen;"

where aught immutable may fignify any event that cannot be changed or altered. PEARCE.

Immutably forefeen feems to mean fo foreseen as to be immutable, If Milton had dictated immutable, he would probably have faid, "Or aught immutable by me forefeen." NEWTON.

Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd

Their freedom; they themselves ordain'd their fall.

(The first fort by their own fuggeftion fell, 129 Self-tempted, self-deprav'd:) Man falls, deceiv'd By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace, The other none: In mercy and justice both, Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel;

But

mercy,

first and last, shall brightest shine. Thus while God fpake, ambrofial fragrance fill'd

135

Ver. 135. Thus while God Spake, &c.] Milton here shows, that he was no fervile imitator of the ancients. It is very well known, that his mafter, Homer, and all who followed him, where they are representing the Deity speaking, describe a scene of terrour and awful confternation. The Heavens, Seas, and Earth, tremble, &c. and this, to be fure, was confiftent enough with their natural notions of the Supreme Being: But it would not have been fo agreeable to the mild, merciful, and benevolent idea of the Deity upon the Christian scheme, and therefore our author has very judiciously made the words of the Almighty diffufing fragrance and delight to all around him. There is a pas fage in Ariofto, which is exactly in the fame tafte with what Milton has given us, C. 29, ft. 30.

“Dio così diffe; e fe ferena intorno

"L'aria, e tranquillo il mar più che mai fuffe." THYER. The breath of Jove is defcribed as fhedding fuch exquifite fragrance, as might infpire the dead with life, in Camöens's Lufiad, C. i. ft. xxii. See alfo the Romance of Huon de Bordeaux, 8vo. Rouen, f. d. fol. 404. a. " Droit à cefte heure que la noble pucelle faifoit fes prieres à Dieu, vne moult grand clarté s'efpandit par la chambre, puis apres y furuint vne odeur fi tres-fouëƒ, fleurant, qu' aduis eftoit que toute la chambre fut pleine d'encens, § d'efpices aromatiques, puis apres ouirent vne voix angelicque qui de par noftre Seigneur vint & dit, A toy Empereur de Rome, Dieu te mande par moy, &c." TODD.