Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth:
But of the tree whose operation brings

Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set
The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith,
Amid the garden by the tree of life,
Remember what I warn thee, shun to taste,
And shun the bitter consequence: for know,
The day thou eat'st thereof, my sole command
Transgress'd, inevitably thou shalt die,
From that day mortal, and this happy state
Shalt lose, expell'd from hence into a world
Of woe and sorrow. Sternly he pronounc'd
The rigid interdiction, which resounds
Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in
my choice
Not to incur; but soon his clear aspect
Return'd, and gracious purpose thus renew'd.
Not only these fair bounds, but all the earth
To thee and to thy race I give; as lords
Possess it, and all things that therein live,
Or live in sea, or air, beast, fish, and fowl.
In sign whereof each bird and beast behold

323. But of the tree &c.] This being the great hinge on which the whole poem turns, Milton has marked it strongly. But of the tree-Remember what I warn thee-he dwell expatiates upon it from ver. 323 to 336, repeating, enforcing, fixing every word; it is all nerve and energy. Richardson.

330. inevitably thou shalt die,] In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, as it is expressed Gen. ii. 17. that is,

325

330

335

340

from that day thou shalt become mortal, as our poet immediately afterwards explains it.

335. Yet dreadful in mine ear,] The impression, which the interdiction of the tree of life left in the mind of our first parent, is described with great strength and judgment; as the image of the several beasts and birds passing in review before him is very beautiful and lively. Addison.

After their kinds; I bring them to receive
From thee their names, and pay thee feälty
With low subjection; understand the same
Of fish within their wat❜ry residence,
Not hither summon'd, since they cannot change
Their element to draw the thinner air.

As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold
Approaching two and two, these cow'ring low
With blandishment, each bird stoop'd on his wing.
I nam'd them, as they pass'd, and understood
Their nature, with such knowledge God indued
My sudden apprehension: but in these

I found not what methought I wanted still;
And to the heav'nly vision thus presum❜d.
O by what name, for thou above all these,

353. with such knowledge
God indued &c.] Wonderful
was the knowledge God be-
stowed on Adam, nor that part
of it least, which concerned the
naming things aright; as Cicero
agrees with Pythagoras; Qui
primus, quod summæ sapientiæ
Pythagore visum est, omnibus
rebus nomina imposuit. Tusc.
Disp. lib. i. sect. 25. Hume.
354.

-but in these

345

350

855

gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field: but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And from this short account our author has raised what a noble episode! and what a divine dialogue from the latter part only!

357. O by what name, &c.] Adam in the next place describes a conference which he held with his Maker upon the subject of solitude. The poet here represents the Supreme Being, as making an essay of his own work, and putting to the trial that reasoning faculty, with which he had indued his creature. Adam urges in this divine colloquy the impossibility of his being happy, though he was the inhabitant of Paradise, and lord of the whole creation, without

G

Above mankind, or ought than mankind higher,
Surpassest far my naming, how may I

Adore thee, Author of this universe,

360

And all this good to man? for whose well being

So amply, and with hands so liberal

Thou hast provided all things: but with me
I see not who partakes. In solitude
What happiness, who can enjoy alone,
Or all enjoying, what contentment find?
Thus I presumptuous; and the vision bright,
As with a smile more brighten'd, thus replied.
What call'st thou solitude? is not the earth
With various living creatures, and the air
Replenish'd, and all these at thy command
To come and play before thee? know'st thou not

the conversation and society of
some rational creature, who
should partake those blessings
with him. This dialogue, which
is supported chiefly by the beauty
of the thoughts, without other
poetical ornaments, is as fine a
part as any in the whole poem.
The more the reader examines
the justness and delicacy of its
sentiments, the more he will
find himself pleased with it.
The poet has wonderfully pre-
served the character of majesty
and condescension in the Cre-
ator, and at the same time that
of humility and adoration in the
creature. Addison.

O by what name,
O quam te meinorem?

Virg. Æn. i. 327. 357. O by &c.] It is an unreasonable as well as untheolo

365

370

gical supposition, that God gave man the inspired knowledge of the natures of his fellow-creatures before the nature of his Creator; yet this our poet supposes. What seems to have misled him was, that in the ordinary way of acquiring knowledge we rise from the creature to the Creator. Warburton.

372.

-know'st thou not

Their language and their ways?]

That brutes have a kind of language among themselves is evident and undeniable. There is a treatise in French of the language of brutes: and our author supposes that Adam understood this language, and was of knowledge superior to any of his descendants, and besides was assisted by inspiration, with such knowledge God indued his sudden

Their language and their ways? they also know,
And reason not contemptibly; with these
Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is large.
So spake the universal Lord, and seem'd
So ord'ring. I with leave of speech implor'd,
And humble deprecation thus replied.

375

Let not my words offend thee, heav'nly Power, My Maker, be propitious while I speak.

380

Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,

And these inferior far beneath me set?
Among unequals what society

Can sort, what harmony or true delight?
Which must be mutual, in proportion due
Giv'n and receiv'd; but in disparity
The one intense, the other still remiss

Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove
Tedious alike: of fellowship I speak
Such as I seek, fit to participate
All rational delight, wherein the brute
Cannot be human consort; they rejoice
Each with their kind, lion with lioness;
So fitly them in pairs thou hast combin'd;

apprehension. He is said by the
School divines to have exceeded
Solomon himself in knowledge.

379. Let not my words offend thee,] Abraham thus implores leave to speak, and makes intercession for Sodom with the like humble deprecation, Gen. xviii. 30. Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak.

386. but in disparity &c.] But in inequality, such as is between brute and rational; the

385

390

one intense, man high, wound up, and strained to nobler understanding, and of more lofty faculty; the other still remiss, the animal let down, and slacker, grovelling in more low and mean perceptions; can never suit together. A musical metaphor, from strings, of which the stretched and highest give a smart and sharp sound, the slack a flat and heavy one. Hume.

Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl
So well converse, nor with the ox the ape;
Worse then can man with beast, and least of all.

Whereto th' Almighty answer'd not displeas'd.
A nice and subtle happiness I see

Thou to thyself proposest, in the choice

Of thy associates, Adam, and wilt taste
No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary.

What think'st thou then of me, and this my state?
Seem I to thee sufficiently possess'd

Of happiness, or not? who am alone
From all eternity, for none I know

395. Much less can bird with

beast, or fish with fowl So well converse, nor with the ox the ape;

Worse then can man with beast, &c.]

Dr. Bentley would have us read thus,

But ox with ape cannot so well con

But this reading is faulty in the diction; for it names or and ape without the article the before them. When Milton speaks of general things, as bird, beast, and fish, he drops the article; but he always uses it when particular kinds are mentioned; and this grammar requires. Well, but what is the fault of the common reading? The Doctor says that the or is nearer to the ape than bird is to beast, &c. so that the disharmony diminishes by the order of the phrase, instead of increasing. This objection will

395

400

405

be removed by considering the
sense of the whole passage,
which the Doctor seems not to
have considered aright. The
brute (says Milton, ver. 391.)
cannot be human consort in ra-
tional delight, i. e. cannot con-
verse with man in that way:
and then he adds here, Much
less can bird well converse so with
beast, &c. i. e. less still can one
irrational animal converse in
this way with another irrational
animal; not only if they be of
a different species, as bird and
beast, fish and fowl are; but
even if they be of the same spe-
cies, as the ox and ape are; the
most widely different creatures
of any which are of the same
species. But least of all can
man converse in a rational way
with any of the beasts or irra-
tional creatures. Is not here a
very proper gradation? Pearce.
406.
none I know

Second to me or like,]
Nec viget quicquam simile aut
secundum. Hor. Od. i. xii. 18.