THE ARGUMENT. Raphael, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declared his pleasure to create another world, and other creatures to dwell therein; fends his Son with glory, and attendance of Angels, to perform the work of Creation in fix days: the Angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his reafcenfion into Heaven. PARADISE LOST. BOOK VII. Defcend from Heaven, Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whofe voice divine Following, above the Olympian hill I foar, Above the flight of Pegaféan wing. The meaning, not the name, I call: for thou 5 Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Ver. 1. Defcend from Heaven, Urania,]"Defcende cœlo," Hor. Od. iii. iv. 1. But here it is better applied, as now his fubject leads him from Heaven to Earth. The word Urania in Greek fignifies heavenly; and he invokes the heavenly Mufe as he had done before, B. i. 6. And as he had said in the beginning that he intended to foar above the Aonian mount, so now he fays very truly that he had effected what he intended, and foars above the Olympian hill, above the flight of Pegaféan wing, that is, his fubject was more fublime than the loftiest flight of the heathen poets, NEWTON. Nor of the Mufes nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'ft; but, heavenly-born,] Taffo, in his invocation, has the fame fentiment, Gier. Lib. c. i. ft. 2. "O Mufa, tu, che di caduchi allori THYER Of old Olympus dwell'ft; but, heavenly-born, IO Ver. 7. Of old Olympus] Some would read " cold Olympus," as in B. i. 516. But Milton calls it old, as being famed of old and long celebrated. So, in B. i. 420, he fays "old Euphrates," and, in B. ii. 593, "Mount Cafius old." NEWTON. Ver. 8. Before the hills appear'd, &c.] From Prov. viii, 24, 25, and 30, where the phrase of Wisdom always rejoicing before God, is playing, according to the Vulgar Latin, “ ludens coram eo omni tempore," to which Milton alludes, v. 10. And fo he quotes it likewife in his Tetrachordon: "God himself conceals not his own recreations before the world was built; I was, faith the eternal Wisdom, daily his delight, PLAYING always before him." NEWTON. So Spenfer, in his Hymn of heavenly Beauty, having described the throne of God, thus proceeds, v. 183. "There in his bofom Sapience doth fit, Ver. 14. and drawn empyreal air, Thy tempering:] This is faid in allufion to the difficulty of refpiration on high mountains. This empyreal air was too pure and fine for him, but the heavenly Mufe tempered and qualified it fo, as to make him capable of breathing in it: which is a modeft and beautiful way of befpeaking his reader to make favourable allowances for any failings he may have been guilty of, in treating of fo fublime a fubject. NEWTON. Thy tempering: with like fafety guided down 15 Left from this flying steed unrein'd, (as once 20 Ver. 15. Thy tempering :] Dr. Bentley makes himself very merry in his infulting manner, with the word tempering, and calls it the printer's blunder; but I think the following application of it in Spenfer may justify both printer and poet, Faery Queen, ii. ii. 39. I "Thus fairly fhe attempered her feaft, "And pleas'd them all with meet fatiety.” agree with the Doctor that thee is better than thy tempering. THYER. Ver. 18. Bellerophon, &c.] Pope remarks, that Milton has interwoven the offence of Bellerophon with Homer's relation of this valiant youth, in the fixth Iliad. Endeavouring to mount up to heaven on the winged horfe Pegasus, he fell upon the Aleian fields, where he wandered till he died. In Homer, his wanderings are attributed to a distracted mind. And Dr. Newton obferves, that the plain truth of the ftory feems to be, that, in his latter days, he grew mad with his poetry; which Milton begs may never be his own cafe: "Left from this flying fteed &c." And he fays this, to distinguish his from the common Pegafus," above the flight of whofe wing he foared," as he fpeaks, v. 4. Ver. 21. Half yet remains unfung,] I understand this with Mr. Richardfon, that it is the half of the epifode, not of the whole work, that is here meant, for, when the poem was divided into but ten books, that edition had this paffage at the beginning of the feventh as now. The episode has two principal parts, the war in Heaven, and the new Creation; the one was fung, but the other remained unfung, and he is now entering upon it- Within the visible diurnal sphere; Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole, 30 but narrower bound. Bound here feems to be a participle as well as unfung. Half yet remains unfung; but this other half is not rapt fo much into the invifible world as the former, it is confined in narrower compafs, and bound within the visible sphere of day. NEWTON. Ver. 25. though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues ;] The repetition and turn of the words is very beautiful. A lively picture this, in a few lines, of the poet's wretched condition. Though he was blind, in darkness; and with dangers compass'd round, and folitude, obnoxious to the government, and having a world of enemies among the royal party, and therefore obliged to live very much in privacy and alone; he was not become boarfe or mute. And what strength of mind was it, that could not only fupport him under the weight of thefe misfortunes, but enable him to foar to fuch heights, as no human genius ever reached before? NEWTON. Ver. 29. Vifit'ft my flumbers nightly,] The poet might here remember the nightly vifions of Beatrice to Dante, Purgatorio, c. xxx. 133. However, fee Mr. Warton's note on Eleg. v. 6. and fit audience find, though few.] He had Ver. 31. Horace in mind, Sat. i. x. 73. neque te ut miretur turba, labores, "Contentus paucis lectoribus." NEWTON. |