485

Wondrous in length and corpulence, involv'd
Their snaky folds, and added wings.

First crept
The parsimonious emmet, provident
Of future, in small room large heart inclos’d,
Pattern of just equality perhaps
Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes
Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd
The female bee, that feeds her husband drone

490

versant.

485. - provident

“amples to imprudent and unOf future,]

“ governed men, of a frugal As Horace says, Sat. i. i. 35. " and self-governing democracy Haud ignara ac non incauta futuri.

or commonwealth, safer and

more thriving in the joint in small room large heart in

providence and counsel of closed, Georg. iv. 83.

many industrious equals, than Ingentes animos angusto in pectore “ under the single domination

" of one imperious lord.” See It is there said of the bee, and his Ready and easy way to estahere applied to the ant.

blish a free commonwealth, p. 591. 487. Pattern of just equality] Edit. 1738. He adds perhaps We see that our author upon hereafter, as he had no hopes of occasion discovers his principles it at that time. He commends of government. He enlarges the ants or emmets for living in upon the same thought in an- a republic, as the bees are said other part of his works. “Go to to do under a monarchy; and “the ant, thou sluggard, saith therefore Mr. Pope says, Essay “ Solomon; consider her ways

on Man, iii. 186. “and be wise; which having no The ants' republic, and the realm "prince, ruler, or lord, provides “ her meat in the summer, and 490. The female bee, that feeds gathers her food in the harvest :

her husband drone “which evidently shews us, Deliciously, and builds her " that they who think the na- waxen cells] “tion undone without a king, Dr. Bentley would throw out

though they look grave or part of these verses. The drone " haughty, have not so much (says he) is not the bee's hus. "true spirit and understanding band ; and that bees are all fe“in them as a pismire: neither males, seems an idle and idiot

these diligent creatures ical notion, against the course “hence concluded to live in nd rule of nature. But (how"lawless anarchy, or that com- ever that be) both those opi“mended, but are set the ex- nions had been strenuously

of bees.

are

Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
With honey stor’d: the rest are numberless,
And thou their natures know'st, and gav’st them names,
Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown
The serpent subtlest beast of all the field,

495
Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.

Now heav'n in all her glory shone, and rollid Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand First wheel'd their course ; earth in her rich attire Consummate lovely smil'd; air, water, earth, By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk'd Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd; There wanted yet the master work, the end

500

505

maintained by Mr. Charles But- other from thirty to forty thouler in the fourth chapter of his sand bees. The drones or huscurious treatise upon bees, en- bands of this queen, except when titled The Feminine Monarchie, they are paying their duty to printed in 1634. and it seems to her, live idly and luxuriously have been the prevailing doc- upon the finest honey, whereas trine in Milton's days. Pearce. the common bees live in great

There has been lately pub- measure upon wax; and the lished in French a natural his- queen herself will condescend tory of bees, Histoire naturelle to wait upon the drones, and des abeilles, &c. Paris 1744. bring them honey; and so, as wherein the curious author has Milton expresses it, feeds her huscollected all that Swammerdam band drone deliciously. and others have written upon 497. And hairy mane lerrific,] the subject. He says that in a Virgil in like manner attributes hive there is commonly one a mane to serpents, Æn. ii. 206. queen, and perhaps a thousand males called drones, and near

jubæque

Sanguineæ exuperant undas. twenty thousand working bees of no sex that can be distin- 505. There wanted yet the masguished. The queen or mother ter work, &c.] The author here bee is longer than the rest, and remembered and copied Ovid, will produce one year with an- Met. i. 76.

510

Of all yet done; a creature who not prone
And brute as other creatures, but indued
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence
Magnanimous to correspond with heaven,
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
Descends, thither with heart and voice and

eyes
Directed in devotion, to adore
And worship God supreme, who made him chief
Of all his works : therefore th' omnipotent
Eternal Father (for where is not he
Present ?) thus to his Son audibly spake.

Let us make now man in our image, man

515

Sanctius his animal, mentisque ca- closely to Scripture in his ac. pacius altæ

count of the formation of man, Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in

as well as of the other creatures. cætera posset. -Finxit in effigiem moderantùm

And God said, Let us make man cuncta Deorum.

in our image, after our likeness; Pronaque cum spectent animalia and let them have dominion over

cætera terram, Os homini sublime dedit; cælumque fowl of the air, and over the cattle,

the fish of the sea, and over the tueri Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere and over all the earth, and over vultus.

every creeping thing that creepeth A creature of a more exalted kind upon the earth. So God created Was wanting yet, and then was man mun in his own image; in the design'd :

image of God created he him; Conscious of thought, of more ca.

male and female created he them. pacious breast, For empire form'd, and fit to rule

And God blessed them, and God the rest.

said unto them, Be fruitful, and - Thus while the mute creation multiply, and replenish the earth, downward bend

and subdue it: and have dominion Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,

over the fish of the sea, and over Man looks aloft, and with erected the fowl of the air, and over every eyes

living thing that moveth upon the Beholds his own hereditary skies, earth, Gen. i. 26, 27, 29. I have

Dryden. set down the passage at length, 519. Let us make now man in that the reader may compare the our image, &c.] The author keeps divine historian and the poet

520

525

a

In our similitude, and let them rule
Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
Beast of the field, and over all the earth,
And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.
This said, he form'd thee, Adam, thee, O man,
Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd
The breath of life ; in his own image he
Created thee, in the image of God
Express, and thou becam’st a living soul.
Male he created thee, but thy consort
Female for race; then' bless'd mankind, and said, 530
Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth,
Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold
Over fish of the sea, and fowl of th' air,
And every living thing that moves on th' earth.
Wherever thus created, for no place
Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know'st,
He brought thee into this delicious grove,
This garden, planted with the trees of God,

535

together. There are scarce any eastward in Eden ; and there he alterations, but what were re- put the man whom he had formed, quisite for the verse, or were oc- Gen. ii. 8. And afterwards ver. casioned by the change of the 15. And the Lord God took the person, as the angel is speaking man, and put him into the garden to Adam. And what additions of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. are made, are plainly of the This seems to imply that man same original, as the reader may was created in some other place, see by comparing both together. and was afterwards brought into And the Lord God formed mun the garden of Eden; and thereout of the dust of the ground, and fore Milton says, breatheil into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living Wherever thus created, for no place soul, Gen. ii. 7.

Is yet distinct by name, thence, as 535. Wherever thus created,

thou know'st, &c.] The sacred text says that

He brought thee into this delicious

545

Delectable both to behold and taste ;
And freely all their pleasant fruit for food

540
Gave thee; all sorts are here that all th' earth yields
Variety without end; but of the tree,
Which tasted works knowledge of good and evil,
Thou may’st not; in the day thou eatst, thou diest;
Death is the penalty impos’d, beware,
And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin
Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.

Here finish'd he, and all that he had made
View'd, and behold all was entirely good;
So ev'n and morn accomplish'd the sixth day:
Yet not till the Creator from his work
Desisting, though unwearied, up return'd,
Up to the heav'n of heav'ns his high abode,
Thence to behold this new created world
Th' addition of his empire, how it shew'd

550

555

548. Here finish'd he, and all Messiah returning into heaven, that he had made

and taking a survey of his View'd,]

great work. There is something The pause is very remarkable, inexpressibly sublime in this and admirably expresses the part of the poem, where the Creator surveying and contem- author describes that great peplating his work,

riod of time, filled with so many -and behold all was entirely glorious circumstances; when good;

the heavens and earth were So ev'n and morn accomplish'd finished; when the Messiah the sixth day :

ascended up in triumph through He finishes the account of the the everlasting gates; when he creation, in the same manner

looked down with pleasure upon as Moses, Gen. i. 31. And God his new cr

creation; saw every thing that he had made, part of nature seemed to rejoice and behold it was very good: and in its existence; when the mornthe evening and the morning were ing-stars sang together, and all the sixth day.

the sons of God shouted for joy. 551. Yet not till the Creator Addison. &c.] The poet represents the VOL. II.

E

when every