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Soft she withdrew, and like a wood-nymph light,
Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train,

Betook her to the groves, but Delia's self

In gait surpass'd, and goddess-like deport,

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Though not as she with bow and quiver arm'd, 390
But with such gard'ning tools as art yet rude,
Guiltless of fire, had form'd, or angels brought.
To Pales, or Pomona, thus adorn'd,

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rejects, as the editor's manufac

ture.

He objects that Eve, who was before like the wood-nymphs and Delia, is here likest to Pales or Pomona, or Ceres; all unlike one another, and yet Eve is like them all. But Eve is here compared to the latter three, upon a different account, than she was compared to the former. She was likened to the wood-nymphs and Delia in regard to her gate; but now that Milton had mentioned her being armed with garden tools, he beautifully compares her to Pales, Pomona, and Ceres, all three goddesses like to each other in these circumstances, that they were handsome, that they presided over gardening and cultivation of ground, and that they are usually described by the ancient poets, as carrying tools of gardening or husbandry in their hands: thus Ovid, in Met. xiv. 628. says of Pomona,

Nec jaculo gravis est, sed aduncâ dextera falce.

The Doctor objects again, that Eve is not here said to be like Pomona always, but when she fled Vertumnus. But Milton's meaning is, that she was like Pomona, not precisely at the

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Likest she seem'd, Pomona when she fled
Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime,
Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove.
Her long with ardent look his eye pursu'd

hour when she fled Vertumnus,
but at that time of her life when
Vertumnus made his addresses
to her, that is when she was in
all her perfection of beauty, as
described by Ovid in the place
above cited. But the Doctor's
greatest quarrel is with the lat-
ter part of these four verses:
Ceres in her prime, says he?
What? have goddesses the de-
cays of old age, and do they
grow past their prime? And yet
it is very frequent with the old
poets to describe their gods as
passing from youth to old age.
Juvenal says in Sat. vi. 15.

-sed Jove nondum

Barbato.

Virgil describes Charon thus,
En. vi. 304.

395

thought that the last of these verses ought to be read thus,

-or to Ceres in her prime Yet virgin, or Proserpina from Jove. And this reading at first sight is very apt to please and persuade one of its genuineness, because it frees the text from that hard expression, virgin of Proserpina: but when we consider the matter farther, it will be found that Milton could never have intended to compare Eve with Proserpina, because she had nothing to do with husbandry or gardening, on account of which only this comparison is introduced. Pearce.

394. Likest she seem'd,] So it is in Milton's first edition; in the second edition by mistake it is printed likeliest, and this has

Jam senior; sed cruda Deo viridisque been followed in all the editions

senectus.

And again we have in Æn. vii. 180. Saturnusque senex. But what monster of a phrase (says the Doctor) is that virgin of Proserpina? And I confess that it is one of the most forced expressions in this whole poem: probably our poet was led into it, by imitating the like phrase of some Italian poet. But the sense is plain enough, viz. that she had not yet borne Proserpina, who derived her birth from Jove for the like use of the word from, when other words are to be supplied in the sense, see ii. 542. and viii. 213. I have met with some gentlemen, who

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since, at least in all that I have

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Delighted, but desiring more her stay.
Oft he to her his charge of quick return
Repeated, she to him as oft engag'd
To be return'd by noon amid the bower,
And all things in best order to invite
Noontide repast, or afternoon's repose.
O much deceiv'd, much failing, hapless Eve,
Of thy presum❜d return! event perverse!
Thou never from that hour in Paradise

Found'st either sweet repast, or sound repose;
Such ambush hid among sweet flow'rs and shades

401. To be return'd by noon

amid the bower,

And all things in best order to invite &c.]

Here seems to be a want of a verb before all things &c. Dr. Bentley therefore reads

To be return'd by noon, and at the bower

Have all things in best order to invite.

But if it be necessary to insert the word have, I would read thus with less alteration,

And all things in best order have to' invite.

Pearce.

404. O much deceiv'd, much failing, hapless Eve, Of thy presumed return!] That is, much failing of thy presumed return. These beautiful apostrophes and anticipations are frequent in the poets, who affect to speak in the character of prophets, and like men inspired with the knowledge of futurity. Thus Virgil to Turnus, Æn. x.

501.

400

405

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O mortals! blind in fate, who never know

To bear high fortune, or endure the low.

The time shall come, when Turnus, but in vain,

Shall wish untouch'd the trophies of the slain;

Shall wish the fatal belt were far away,

And curse the dire remembrance of the day. Dryden. And Homer, Iliad. xvii. 497.

Νηπιοι, ουδ' αρ' εμελλον αναίμωσει γε νεεσθαι.

There is something very moving in such reflections concerning the vanity of all human hopes, and how little events answer our expectations.

408. Such ambush hid] So it is in Milton's own editions, and I know not how it comes to be

Waited with hellish rancour imminent

To intercept thy way, or send thee back
Despoil'd of innocence, of faith, of bliss.

For now, and since first break of dawn, the Fiend,
Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come,
And on his quest, where likeliest he might find
The only two of mankind, but in them
The whole included race, his purpos'd prey.
In bow'r and field he sought, where any tuft
Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay,
Their tendence or plantation for delight;

By fountain or by shady rivulet

410

415

He sought them both, but wish'd his hap might find
Eve separate, he wish'd, but not with hope
Of what so seldom chanc'd, when to his wish,
Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,

Veil'd in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood,
Half spied, so thick the roses blushing round
About her glow'd oft stooping to support
Each flow'r of slender stalk, whose head though gay
Carnation, purple', azure, or speck'd with gold,
Hung drooping unsustain'd; them she upstays
Gently with myrtle band, mindless the while
Herself, though fairest unsupported flower,

printed Such ambush laid, but so
both Dr. Bentley and Mr. Fen-
ton have printed it.

427. oft stooping to support Each flow'r of tender stalk,

mindless the while Herself, though fairest, unsupported flower,] We have the same manner of speaking in iv. 269.

-where Proserpine
flowers,

420

425

430

gathering

Herself a fairer flow'r by gloomy

Dis
Was gather'd.

A thought that must have pleased our author, since he has it a second time.

From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.
Nearer he drew, and many a walk travers'd
Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm,
Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen
Among thick-woven arborets and flowers
Imborder'd on each bank, the hand of Eve:
Spot more delicious than those gardens feign'd

434. Nearer he drew, &c.] The several wiles which are put in practice by the tempter, when he found Eve separated from her husband, the many pleasing images of nature which are intermixed in this part of the story, with its gradual and regular progress to the fatal catastrophe, are so very remarkable, that it would be superfluous, to point out their respective beauties. Addison.

438. Imborder'd on each bank,] Dr. Bentley believes that Milton gave it Imbroidered, proper to thick-woven. But imbordered is the right word according to Bp. Kennet, who in his glossary to his Parochial Antiquities in the word Bordarii says, Some derive it from the old Gallic bords, the limits or extremes of any extent: as the borders of a county and the borderers or inhabitants in those parts. Whence the bordure of a garment, and to imborder which we corrupt to imbroider. See also Furetiere's French Dictionary on the words Brodeur and Embordurer. Pearce.

Imbordered on each bank, the banks were bordered with the flowers, the hand of Eve, the handywork of Eve, as we say of a picture that it is the hand of

435

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439. Spot more delicious, &c.] He is not speaking here of Paradise in general, but of this particular spot, the handywork of Eve; and he says it was more delicious than the gardens of Adonis or Alcinous are feigned to be. Of revived Adonis; for after he was killed by the wild boar, it is said that at Venus's request he was restored to life. And we learn from St. Jerom, Cyril, and other writers, that his anniversary festival was opened with sorrow and mourning for his

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