Inhumanly to men, and multiply Ten thousandfold the sin of him who slew His brother: for of whom such massacre Make they but of their brethren, men of men? To whom thus Michael. These are the product 680 Where good with bad were match'd, who of themselves Abhor to join; and by imprudence mix'd, 686 Produce prodigious births of body' or mind. To overcome in battle, and subdue 683. To whom thus Michael. These are the product] The accent upon the word product is to be varied product or próduct, according as you pronounce the word Michael with two or three syllables. 688. Such were these giants, men of high renown ;] Gen. vi. 4. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. Some commentators understand by the word which we translate giants, men of large bulk and stature; 690 Of triumph, to be styl❜d great conquerors, 695 But he the sev'nth from thee, whom thou beheld'st 700 And utter odious truth, that God would come Did, as thou saw'st, receive, to walk with God home their spoils: and here he adds, (for this I take to be his sense,) that it shall be held the highest pitch of triumph for that glory obtained, to be styled great conquerors. So that though I approve of Dr. Bentley's changing done into won, I cannot agree to his altering Of triumph to Or triumph. Pearce. hended from a passage in Mr. Pope's Essay on Criticism, that all auxiliary verbs are mere expletives, While expletives their feeble aid do join. But this I believe Mr. Pope never intended to advance. Milton has used them in many places, where he could have avoided them if he had pleased. I will produce one, Did, as thou saw'st, receive This is one of the most difficult passages. I am not satisfied with the conjectures of either of these learned men, and see no other way of understanding it Milton might have said but this. To overcome, to subdue, to spoil, shall be held the highest pitch of glory, and shall be done for glory of triumph, shall be achieved for that end and purpose, to be styled great conquerors &c. 700. But he the sev'nth from thee,] Jude 14. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, &c. 707. Did, as thou saw'st, receive,] It is commonly appre VOL. II. Receiv'd, as thou hast seen, But he thought the auxiliary verb added strength to the expression, as indeed it does. I own where the auxiliary verb is brought close to its principal, and that a thin monosyllable, as in the line just now referred to, the verse is very rude and disagreeable. But to prove that the auxiliary verb may be employed Y High in salvation and the climes of bliss, properly, I will produce an instance in rimed verse, as strong as that of Milton just mentioned, Then did the roaring waves their rage compose, arose. 710 would have been extremely so, if he had writ it thus, a The queen of heav'n her fury thus did vent. From whence it appears that the auxiliary verb is not to be rejected at all times; besides it is particular idiom of the English language, and has a majesty in superior to the Latin or Greek tongue, and I believe to any other language whatsoever. Many instances might be brought to support this assertion from great authorities. I shall produce one from Shakespeare, When the great father of the flood Pitt's first Eneid. I believe it will not be disputed, but that this line is as full, as sonorous, and majestic, as if the it auxiliary verb had been left out, and the author had used composed instead of did compose. The expression is certainly more beautiful and more poetical; and the reason of it is, that it occasions suspense, which raises the attention; or in other words, the auxiliary verb gives notice of something coming, before the principal thing itself appears, which is another property of majesty. Mr. Dryden's authority might likewise be added on this occasion; even in his celebrated lines on Milton it is to be met with, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. In his translation of the Æneid there are many instances of the same nature, one of which I will mention, The queen of Heav'n did thus her fury vent. The metre of this line, as the words are here ranged, is not bad, as the ear can judge; but it -this to me In dreadful secrecy impart they did. The auxiliary verb is here very properly made use of; and it would be a great loss to English poetry, if it were to be wholly laid aside. See Letters concerning poetical translations &c. p. 8, 9, 10. 711. Which now direct thine eyes and soon behold.] The syntax is remarkable. Which governed not by the verb next following, but by the last in the sentence. 712. He look'd, and saw the Milton, to keep up an agreeable face of things quite chang'd;] variety in his visions, after having raised in the mind of his reader the several ideas of terror which are conformable to the The brazen throat of war had ceas'd to roar; All now was turn'd to jollity and game, To luxury and riot, feast and dance, Allur'd them; thence from cups to civil broils. But all in vain: which when he saw, he ceas'd 715 720 725 Measur'd by cubit, length, and breadth, and highth, 730 the days of Noah: as what follows of Noah's desisting when he found his preaching ineffectual, and removing into another country, is taken from Josephus, Antiq. lib. i. c. 3. 730. Measur'd by cubit, length, and breadth, and highth,] The dimensions of the ark are given Gen. vi. 15. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the highth of it thirty cubits. A cubit is the measure from the elbow to the fingers' ends, and is reckoned a foot and a half, or (according to Bishop Cumberland) 21 inches 888 decimals. Smear'd round with pitch, and in the side a door For man and beast: when lo a wonder strange! With their four wives; and God made fast the door. 731. Smear'd round with pitch, and in the side a door &c.] Gen. vi. 14. Thou shalt pitch it within and without with pitch; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. ver. 16. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee and for them. 732. and of provisions laid in large] He uses the adjective adverbially here and elsewhere, as is common in Latin. Magnumque fluentem Nilum. Virg. Georg. iii. 28. Sole recens orto. Georg. iii. 156. 735. Came sev'ns, and pairs,] Sevens of clean creatures, and pairs of unclean. For this and other particulars here mentioned, see Gen. vii. 738. Meanwhile the south-wind rose, &c.] As it is visible that the poet had his eye upon Ovid's account of the universal deluge, the reader may observe with how much judgment he has avoided every thing that is redundant or puerile in the Latin poet. We do not see here the wolf swimming among the sheep, nor any of those wanton imaginations, which Seneca found fault with, as unbecoming the great catastrophe of nature. If our poet has imitated that verse in which Ovid tells us that there was nothing but sea, and that this sea had no shore to it, he has not set the thought in such a light as to incur the censure which critics have passed upon it. The latter part of that verse in Ovid is idle and superfluous, but just and beautiful in Milton: Jamque mare et tellus nullum dis- -Sea cover'd sea, In Milton the former part of the description does not forestall the latter. How much more great and solemn on this occasion is that which follows in our English poet, -and in their palaces Where luxury late reign'd, sea-monsters whelp'd And stabled than that in Ovid, where we are told that the sea-calves lay in those places where the goats were used to browse? The reader may find several other parallel passages in the Latin and English description of the deluge, |