And in her looks, which from that time infus'd 476. And into all things from Lucretius iv. 1047. Seu mulier toto jactans è corpore The rino amorem. Bentley. very same compliment Mapays to the three Goddesses, when they descended upon mount Ida to present themselves before Paris, Ne presente vi fù creata cosa, Che non sentisse in sè forza amo. rosa. Adon. cant. ii. st. 125. The Italian poet, with a surprising redundancy of fancy and beauty of expression, carries on and explains the same thought for six stanzas together, but the graver turn of our author's poem, and the divine character of the person Adam is talking to, would 475 480 485 have made an imitation in this respect indecent and inconsistent. Thyer. 478. She disappear'd, and left me dark;] She that was my and comfortless. For light is in light vanished, and left me dark almost all languages a metaphor for joy and comfort, and darkness for the contrary. As Dr. Pearce observes, it is something of the same way of thinking that Milton uses in his Sonnet on his deceased wife; after having described her as appearing to him, he says, She fled, and day brought back my night. 485. Led by her heav'nly Maker,] For the Scripture says, Gen. ii. 22. that the Lord God brought her unto the man; and our author still alluding to this text says afterwards, ver. 500. that she was divinely brought. Grace was in all her steps, heav'n in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love. This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfill'd I overjoy'd could not forbear aloud. Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign, Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see 490 Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself 488. heav'n in her eye,] A passage in Shakespeare's Troilus seems to have been in our author's view, act iv. Diom. Lady Cressid, prince expects: The lustre in your eye, heav'n in your cheek, Pleads your fair usage. 494. nor enviest.] The verb enviest is joined in construction to thou hast fulfilled: there is then no such loose syntax here, as Dr. Bentley imagines; nor will the words nor enviest be too flat for the present passion, if we understand by them, Nor thinkest this gift too good for me. See concerning the sense of this word the note on i. 259. Pearce. 495. Bone of my bone, &c.] As if he should say, O my Crealor, those creatures which thou broughtest to me before were neither like nor suitable to me; but this that now thou hast bestowed upon me is bone of my bone, my similitude, myself. That own 495 Adam, waking from his deep sleep, should in words so express and prophetic own and claim his companion, gave ground to that opinion, that he was not only asleep, but intranced too, by which he saw all that was done to him, and understood the mystery of it, God informing his understandidg in his ecstasy. Hume. 498. —and to his wife adhere ;] Adhærebit uxori suæ, as it is in the vulgar Latin; shall cleave unto his wife, says the English Bible. Gen. ii. 23, 24. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. How has Milton improved upon the last words, and they shall be one flesh; and what an admirable climax has he formed! And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul. And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul. She heard me thus, and though divinely brought, 500 Yet innocence and virgin modesty, Her virtue and the conscience of her worth, That would be woo'd, and not unsought be won, Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought, And by the way we may observe, that there may be great force and beauty in a verse, that consists all of monosyllables. It is true indeed that -ten low words oft crept in one dul! line: but there are several monosyllable verses in Milton as strong and sublime, as beautiful and harmonious, as can possibly be written. No number of syllables can equal the force of these monosyllables, ii. 621, and 950. Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death. And swims, or sinks, or wades, or 505 1 Cor. viii. 7. Some with conscience of the idol eat. And thus conscientia is used by the Latin authors, as in Cicero de Senect. Conscientia bene actæ vitæ jucundissima est. Pearce. 505. -or to say all, &c.] The construction of the whole passage is this, Though she was 509. And with obsequious majesty approv'd] How exactly does our author preserve the same character of Eve in all places where he speaks of her! This obsequious majesty is the very same with the coy submission, modest pride in the fourth My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower book, and both not unlike what Behold how goodly my fair love doth lie Glad earth perceives, and from her bosomi pours Unbidden herbs and voluntary flow'rs Celestial dews, descending o'er the ground, Perfume the mount, and breathe ambrosia round. Pope. But Milton has greatly improved this, as he improves every thing, in the imitation. In all his copies of the beautiful passages of other authors he studiously varies and disguises them, the better to give himself the air of an original, and to make by his additions and improvements what he borrowed the more fairly his own; the only regular 510 515 way of acquiring a property in thoughts taken from other writers, if we may believe Horace, whose laws in poetry are of undoubted authority. De Art. Poet. 131. Publica materies privati juris erit, si Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere For what originally others writ, That with some justice it may pass for yours: But then you must not copy trivial things, Nor word for word too faithfully translate. Roscommon. Milton indeed in what he borrows from Scripture observes the contrary rule, and generally adheres minutely, or rather religiously, to the very words as much as possible of the original. 519. and bid haste the evening star On his hill top, to light the bridal lamp] The evening star is said to light the bridal lamp, as it was the On his hill top, to light the bridal lamp. Which I enjoy, and must confess to find 520 In all things else delight indeed, but such As us'd or not, works in the mind no change, 525 Nor vehement desire, these delicacies I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers, signal among the ancients to Vesper adest, juvenes consurgite &c. On his hill top, says our author, -Phoebus' fiery car 530 In haste was climbing up the eastern hill. And Shakespeare, Romeo and Now is the sun upon the highmost hill Of this day's journey. And this ceremony of the ancients, of lighting their bridal lamps and torches at evening, is Jamque jugis summæ surgebat Lu. alluded to more plainly in book cifer Idæ, Ducebatque diem. Virg. Æn. ii. 801. when it appeared westward in the evening, it was said to be seen on mount Eta. Virg. Ecl. viii. 30. Sparge marite nuces, tibi deserit Our author therefore writes in cant. 2. st. 1. xi. 588. |