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Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease

Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd, for death mature :
This is old age; but then thou must outlive

Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change

To wither'd, weak, and gray; thy senses then.
Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forego,

To what thou hast; and for the air of youth,
Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign
A melancholy damp of cold and dry

To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume
The balm of life. To whom our ancestor.

Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong
Life much, bent rather how I may be quit
Fairest and easiest of this cumbrous charge,
Which I must keep till my appointed day
Of rendering up, and patiently attend
My dissolution. Michaël replied.

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537. Gather'd, not harshly plucked, for death mature:] He seems to have had in mind this passage of Cicero de Senect. 19. Et quasi poma ex arboribus, cruda si sint, vi avelluntur; si matura et cocta, decidunt: sic vitam adolescentibus vis aufert, senibus maturitas.

538. but then thou must outlive &c.] There is something very just and poetical in this description of the miseries of old age, so finely contrasted as they are with the opposite pleasures of youth. It is indeed short, but vastly expressive, and I think ought to excite the pity as well as the admiration of the

reader; since the poor poet is here no doubt describing what he felt at the time he wrote it, being then in the decline of life, and troubled with various infirmities. Thyer.

551. -and patiently attend My dissolution,]

In the first edition it was thus,

Which I must keep till my appointed

day

Of rend'ring up, Michael to him replied.

But I suppose the author thought that ending too abrupt, and therefore added these words in the second edition, and omitted to him for the verse sake.

Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st
Live well, how long or short permit to Heaven :
And now prepare thee for another sight.

He look'd, and saw a spacious plain, whereon
Were tents of various hue; by some were herds
Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound
Of instruments that made melodious chime
Was heard, of harp and organ; and who mov'd
Their stops and chords was seen; his volant touch
Instinct through all proportions low and high

553. Nor love thy life, nor hate;] Martial, lib. x.

Summum nec metuas diem, nec

optes.

554. permit to Heaven:] Permitte Divis. Hor. od. i. ix. 9.

a

556. He look'd, and saw spacious plain, &c.] As there is nothing more delightful in poetry than a contrast and opposition of incidents, the author after this melancholy prospect of death and sickness, raises up a scene of mirth, love, and jollity. The secret pleasure that steals into Adam's heart, as he is intent upon this vision, is imagined with great delicacy. I must not omit the description of the loose female troop, who seduced the sons of God, as they are called in Scripture.

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to Jabal, he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. Gen. iv. 20. Others, whence the sound was heard of harp and organ; these belonged to Jubal, he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. Gen, iv. 21. In other part stood one at the forge, this was Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every artificer in

brass and iron. Gen. iv. 22.

562. Instinct through all proportions &c.] His nimble fingers, as if inspired, flew through all the various distances of sound, treble or bass, and through all over all proportions, low or high, its parts followed the sounding symphony. A fugue (of fuga, Latin, a flight) is in music the correspondency of parts, answering one another in the same

For that fair female troop thou notes, either above or below;

saw'st, &c.

Addison.

557. Were tents of various hue; &c.] These were the tents of the posterity of Cain, as the author himself afterwards instructs us; by some were herds of cattle grazing; these belonged

therefore exactly and graphi cally styled resonant, as sounding the same notes over again. Hume.

Milton is the more particular in this description, as he was himself a lover of music, and a performer upon the organ.

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Fled and pursu'd tranverse the resonant fugue.
In other part stood one who at the forge
Lab'ring, two massy clods of ir'on and brass
Had melted, (whether found where casual fire
Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale,
Down to the veins of earth, thence gliding hot
To some cave's mouth, or whether wash'd by stream
From underground,) the liquid ore he drain'd

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Into fit moulds prepar'd; from which he form'd
First his own tools; then, what might else be wrought
Fusil or grav'n in metal.

565.

two massy clods of ir'on and brass

Had melted, (whether found
where casual fire
Had wasted woods on moun-
tain or in vale,
Down to the veins of earth,-]
From Lucretius, v. 1240.

Quod superest, as atque aurum,
ferrumque repertum est,
Et simul argenti pondus, plumbique
potestas;

Ignis ubi ingentes silvas ardore

cremârat

Montibus in magnis.

But these verses want emenda

tion. Plumbi potestas is nonsense. The stop should be placed thus:

After these,

As

573. After these,] being the descendants of the younger brother, but on the hither side, Cain having been banished into a more distant country, a different sort, the posterity of Seth wholly different from that of Cain, from the high neighbouring hills, which was their seat, having their habitation in the mountains near scended, where the Cainites Paradise, down to the plain dedwelt; by their guise just men they seemed, and all their study Scripture itself speaks of them bent to worship God aright, the as the worshippers of the true God, and know his works not hid,

Et simul argenti pondus, plumbi and Josephus and other writers

que, potestas

[blocks in formation]

inform us that they were addicted to the study of natural philosophy, and especially of astronomy, (Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 2.) nor those things last (in the first edition it is lost, but afterwards corrected among the errata) which might preserve, nor was it their last care and study to know those things which might preserve freedom and peace

But on the hither side, a different sort

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From the high neighb'ring hills, which was their seat,
Down to the plain descended: by their guise
Just men they seem'd, and all their study bent
To worship God aright, and know his works
Not hid, nor those things last which might preserve
Freedom and peace to men: they on the plain
Long had not walk'd, when from the tents behold
A bevy of fair women, richly gay

In gems and wanton dress; to th' harp they sung
Soft amorous ditties, and in dance came on:

580

The men though grave, ey'd them, and let their eyes 585
Rove without rein, till in the amorous net

Fast caught, they lik'd, and each his liking chose ;
And now of love they treat, till th' evening star,
Love's harbinger, appear'd; then all in heat
They light the nuptial torch, and bid invoke

to men. Though this account
of the Sethites be in the general
agreeable to Scripture, yet the
particulars of their living in the
mountains near Paradise, and
of their descending thence into
the plain, and their corrupt-
ing themselves in that man-
ner with the daughters of Cain,
our author seems to have taken
from the oriental writers, and
particularly from the Annals of
Eutychius.

582. A bevy of fair women,] A bevy is a company, of the Italian beva, (says Hume,) a covey of partridges. It is a word used by Chaucer, and by Spenser likewise of a company of women, Faery Queen, b. ii. cant. ix. st. 34.

590

A lovely bevy of fair ladies sat.
And b. iv. cant. x. st. 48.
A bevy of fair damsels close did lie.
And b. v. cant. ix. st. 31.

A bevy of fair virgins clad in white.

And by Shakespeare, Henry

VIII. act i.

-none here he hopes, In all this noble bevy, has brought with her

One care abroad.

586. -till in the amorous net Fast caught, they lik'd,] Dr. Bentley finding first in the later editions, says that Milton must have given it fast: and so he did in both the editions published in his life time. Pearce.

588. -till th' evening star, &c.] See the note on viii. 519.

Hymen, then first to marriage rites invok'd:
With feast and music all the tents resound.
Such happy interview and fair event

Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flowers,
And charming symphonies attach'd the heart
Of Adam, soon inclin'd t' admit delight,
The bent of nature; which he thus express'd.
True opener of mine eyes, prime Angel blest,
Much better seems this vision, and more hope
Of peaceful days portends, than those two past;
Those were of hate and death, or pain much worse,
Here nature seems fulfill'd in all her ends.

To whom thus Michael. Judge not what is best By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet, Created, as thou art, to nobler end

Holy and pure, conformity divine.

Those tents thou saw'st so pleasant, were the tents
Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race
Who slew his brother; studious they appear
Of arts that polish life, inventors rare,
Unmindful of their Maker, though his Spirit
Taught them, but they his gifts acknowledg'd none.
Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget;
For that fair female troop thou saw'st, that seem'd
Of goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay,
Yet empty of all good wherein consists
Woman's domestic honour and chief praise;

614. For that fair female troop thou saw'st,] The construction is not, as some may apprehend, For that fair female troop (which) thou sawest; but thou sawest that

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fair female troop, that seemed &c. which is a sufficient proof of the posterity of Cain begetting a beauteous offspring.

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