Loud as from numbers without number, fweet As from bleft voices, uttering joy, Heaven rung With jubilee, and loud Hofannas fill'd of it the dramatick form, which at one time he intended entirely to have given it. A Chorus of Angels was a material part of his first sketch; and was perhaps his firft inducement for inclining to make it a tragedy. Here the attendant Angels are a perfect Chorus; accordingly he terms them (ver. 217.) "the heavenly quire."-For the choral parts we may, befides this part of the book, particularly refer to Book vi. 882, B. vii. 182, 565, 601. We may also refer to the Angelick Chorus in Pur. Reg. B. i. 169, B. iv. 596. In the Adamo of Andreini there is a double chorus one of good Angels, the other of Demons. The great body of the fallen Angels, in this poem alfo, fometimes exhibit to us the form of a fecond Chorus. See B. i. 666, B. ii. 477, B. x. 505. But for the Divine Chorus, finging their angelick hymn, fee Ifaiah vi. 3. See alfo Job xxxviii. 7. And the note on ver. 365. DUNSTER. Ver. 345. The multitude of Angels, &c.] The conftruction is this; All the multitude of Angels uttering joy with a fhout loud as &c. Heaven rung &c. where the firft words are put in the ablative cafe abfolutely. PEARCE. I would make out the fyntax, by fupplying the verb fhouted or received; fo that the full conftruction will be, The Angels Jhouted with a fhout, or received, viz. what God had faid, with a fhout loud as from numbers without number, &c.-The ablative abfolute, in the first place, would be making the connection too remote, when the natural connection is with the word immediately preceding, viz. voices; fo that the conftruction is, voices uttering joy. And, fecondly, the fenfe is better, if we follow the natural connection, as uttering joy accounts fo well for the sweetness of the voices. I therefore think it is better to fuppofe, that Milton, in imitation of his great model Homer, intended to vary his ftyle, and make it more poetical, by an anomalous conftruction, but fuch as does not at all obfcure the fenfe. Ver. 348. LORD MON BODDO. and loud Hofannas fill'd The eternal regions:] Thus Dante reprefents, as The eternal regions: Lowly reverent Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground With folemn adoration down they caft 350 Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold; Immortal amarant, a flower which once In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, Began to bloom; but foon for man's offence 355 To Heaven remov'd, where first it grew, there grows, And flowers aloft fhading the fount of life, And where the river of blifs through midst of Heaven Rolls o'er Elyfian flowers her amber stream; Mr. Dunfter alfo remarks, the general fong of the choral Angels through all the orders and hierarchies, Parad. C. xxviii. 94. "Io fentiva ofannar di coro in coro Ver. 351. down they caft Their crowns] So they are represented, Rev. iv. 10. Ver. 353. Immortal amarant,] A flower of a purple velvet colour, which, though gathered, keeps its beauty; and, when all other flowers fade, recovers its luftre by being fprinkled with a little water, as Pliny affirms, lib. 21, c. 11. Milton seems to have taken this hint from 1 Pet. i. 4. "To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fudeth not away, papárter; and v. 4. "Ye fhall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away, åμapávтivov :” Both relating to the name of his everlafting amarant, which he has finely fet near the tree of life. "Amarantus flos, fymbolum eft immortalitatis." Clem. Alex. HUME. Ver. 359. Rolls o'er Elyfian flowers her amber ftream;] Dr, Bentley reads "Rolls o'er relucent gems &c." because (he fays) it is not well conceived that flowers grow at the bottom of a river. With these that never fade the Spirits elect 360 Bind their refplendent locks inwreath'd with beams; But (as Dr. Pearce replies) Milton's words do not neceffarily imply fo much; the river might only fometimes roll over them, to water them. And yet (fays Dr. Pearce) I am rather inclined to think, that the poet here by over means through or among. So Mr. Jortin understands Rolls o'er for rolls through or by; and obferves that Horace uses the verb præterire in much the fame manner, Od. IV. vii. 3. "et decrefcentia ripas "Flumina prætereunt," roll by and within their banks. But if we understand the paffage as it is expreffed, there is no kind of abfurdity in it; for we fre quently fee grafs, and weeds, and flowers, growing under water: And we may therefore suppose the finest flowers to grow at the bottom of the river of bliss, or rather the river to roll over them fometimes, to water them. The author feems to intend much the fame thing that he has expreffed in B. iv. 240, where, fpeaking of the brooks in Paradise, he says they "Ran nectar, vifiting each plant, and fed "Flowers worthy of Paradise." And as there they are flowers worthy of Paradife, fo here they are worthy of Elysium, the region of the Bleffed: and he makes use of the fame expreffion in L'Allegro. And then as to his calling it amber stream, it is only on account of its clearness and transparency, and not at all on account of its colour, that he compares it to amber. The clearness of amber was proverbial among the Aucients; Callimachus, in his hymn to Ceres, ver. 29, has «λśxzpwvov idwę; and, in like manner, Virgil says of a river, Georg. iii. 522. NEWTON.. "Purior electro campum petit amnis." Ver. 360. With thefe that never fade] "With these flowers," as Dr. Newton rightly fuppofes; not, "with thefe crowns," according to Dr. Pearce, or, "with this amarant," according to Dr. Bentley. Thus Drummond speaks of Heaven, Poems 1616. Part fecond. "But there flowers do not fade, trees grow not olde." TODD. 740 Now in loofe garlands thick thrown off, the bright Pavement, that like a fea of jafper fhone, Impurpled with celeftial roses fmil'd. 364 Then, crown'd again, their golden harps they took, Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their fide Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet Of charming fymphony they introduce Ver. 363. The like a feu of jafper fhone,) and the green (the most esteemed) has Ruæ. de Gem. 1. 2, c. 1. HUME. jafper cafts divers colours, moft fimilitude to the fea. Milton, I dare fay, intended no allufion whatever to the feagreen colour of the jafper, but only borrowed it from its general brightness, and on account of the use of it in Scriptural defcriptions. See Rev. xxi. 11, 18. Compare alfo Exod. xxiv. 10. DUNSTER. It is probable that Milton had in remembrance the defcription of Spenfer, Faer. Qu. ii. xii. 62. "6 through the waves one might the bottom fee, "All pav'd beneath with jasper fhining bright, "That feem'd the fountaine in that fea did fayle upright." TODD. Ver. 364. Impurpled with celeftial rofes fmil'd.] A word very familiar with Spenfer, from the Italian imporporato. See Faerie Qu. iii. vii. 17. "Oft from the forreft wildings he did bring, "Whofe fides empurpled were with fmyling red." THYER. Ver. 365. Then, crown'd again, their golden harps they took, Harps ever tun'd, &c.] In the preceding part of the defcription, the choral Angels are palpably active perfons of the drama; and we can fcarcely avoid attributing a measure, i. e. a movement regulated by mufick, to their folemn adoration, ver. 351. Here the measure, I fuppofe, was intended to cease; and the heavenly Chorus prepare to fing their epode or stationary fong, i. e. their angelick hymn, to which Milton, who was him Their facred fong, and waken raptures high; Eternal King; the Author of all being, 375 Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st Thron'd inacceffible, but when thou shad'st Ver, 369. and waken raptures high;] Mr. Wakefield has noticed the obligation of Gray to this expreffion, in his Elegy: "Or wak'd to extafy the living lyre;" as also the original phrafe in Lucretius, ii. 412. Mufæa mele, per chordas organici quæ "Mobilibus digitis expergefacta figurant." TODD. Ver. 372. Thee, Father, first they fung &c.] This hymn feems to be compofed fomewhat in the spirit and manner of the hymn to Hercules in the 8th book of the Eneid: But is as much fuperiour as the subject of the one tranfcends that of the other. NEWTON. Ver. 377. Thron'd inacceffible, but when thou fhad'ft] The word but here is the fame as except, unless; inacceffible but when thou fhad'ft, that is, then only acceffible, when thou shad'ft &c. Perhaps Milton had in view what Ovid fays of Phoebus when his fon Phaeton came to him, Met. ii. 39. "circum caput omne micantes "Depofuit radios, propiúfque accedere juffit." PEARCE I rather conclude that thefe ideas were fuggefted by the 33d, chapter of Exodus, ver. 18, and the following paffage which ends thus, "Thou shalt fee my back parts, but my face shall not be feen." GREENWOOD. |