Beatitude past utterance; on his right
The radiant image of his glory fat,
His only Son; on earth he first beheld
Our two first parents, yet the only two
Of mankind, in the happy garden plac'd,
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,
Uninterrupted joy, unrival'd love
In blissful folitude; he then furvey'd

Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there
Coasting the wall of Heav'n on this fide Night

65

70

In

In the dun air fublime, and ready now
To stoop with wearied wings and willing feet
On the bare outfide of this world, that seem'd
Firm land imbofom'd, without firmament,
Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.
Him God beholding from his profpect high,
Wherein past, prefent, future he beholds,
Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake.

Only begotten Son, feeft thou what rage
Transports our Adverfary? whom no bounds

fpeakers. One may, I think, obferve that the author proceeds with a kind of fear and trembling, whilst he describes the fentiments of the Almighty. He dares not give his imagination its full play, but chooses to confine himself to fuch thoughts as are drawn from the books of the most orthodox divines, and to fuch expreffions as may be met with in Scripture. The beauties therefore, which we are to look for in thefe fpeeches, are not of a poetical nature, nor fo proper to fill the mind with fentiments of grandeur, as with thoughts of devotion. The paffions, which they are defign'd to raife, are a divine love and religious fear. The particular beauty of the fpeeches in the third book confifts in that fhortnefs and perfpicuity of ftile, in which the poet bas couch'd the greatest myfteries VOL. II.

75.

80

Prefcrib'd,

of Christianity, and drawn toge ther in a regular scheme the whole difpenfation of Providence with refpect to Man. He has repitfented all the abftrufe doctrins of predettination, free-will and grace, as alfo the great points of incarna tion and redemption (which naturally grow up in a poem that trea s of the fall of Man) with great energy of expreffion, and in a clearer and fronger light than I ever met with in any other writer. As thefe points are dry in themfelves to the generality of readers, the concife and clear manner, in which he has treated them, is very much to be admired, as is likewile that particular art which he has made ufe of in the interfperfing of all thofe graces of poetry, which the fubject was capable of receiving. Satan's approach to the confines of the creation is finely

imaged

way

Prescrib'd, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains
Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss
Wide interrupt can hold; fo bent he seems
On defperate revenge, that fhall redound
Upon his own rebellious head. And now
Through all restraint broke loose he wings his
Not far off Heav'n, in the precincts of light,
Directly towards the new created world,
And Man there plac'd, with purpose to affay
If him by force he can deftroy, or worse,
By fome false guile pervert; and shall pervert,
For Man will hearken to his glozing lies,
And easily tranfgrefs the fole command,
Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall,
He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?
Whofe but his own? Ingrate, he had of me
All he could have; I made him juft and right,
Sufficient to have ftood, though free to fall.

85

90

95

Such

imaged in the beginning of the fpeech, which immediately follows. Addijen.

101.- both them who stood and

them who fail'd;] Both the antitheton and the repetition in the next line fhow that the author gave it,

-both them who flood and them
who fell; Bentley.
Freely they flood who flood, and
fell who fell. Bentley.

108.(reafon alfo is choice)]
The author had exprefs'd the fame
fentiment before in profe.
"Many
"there be that complain of divine

"Pro

Such I created all th' ethereal Powers

100

And Spirits, both them who stood and them who fail'd;
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
Not free, what proof could they have giv'n fincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,

Where only what they needs must do appear'd, 105
Not what they would? what praise could they receive?
What pleasure I from fuch obedience paid,
When will and reafon (reafon alfo' is choice)
Useless and vain, of freedom both defpoil'd,
Made paffive both, had ferv'd neceffity,
Not me? They therefore as to right belong'd,
So were created, nor can justly' accuse
Their maker, or their making, or their fate,
As if predeftination over-rul'd

Their will, difpos'd by abfolute decree

115

Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,

"Providence for fuffering Adam "to tranfgrefs. Foolish tongues! "when God gave him reafon, he

gave him freedom to choose, for "reafon is but choofing: he had "been else a mere artificial Adam,

. See his Speech for the liberty of unlicenc'd printing, p. 149, and 150. Edit. 1738.

Fore

117.-if I foreknew,] If here does not imply the leaft doubt or uncertainty; but is used, as it is fometimes in the best authors, in the fenfe of Though. Though I foreknew, that foreknowledge had no influence.

Q 2

121. Or

Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,
Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown.
So without least impulse or shadow' of fate,
Or ought by me immutably foreseen,

120

They trefpafs, authors to themselves in all
Both what they judge and what they choose; for fo
I form'd them free, and free they must remain,
Till they inthrall themselves; I elfe muft change 125
Their nature, and revoke the high decree
Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd

Their freedom, they themselves ordain'd their fall.
The first fort by their own fuggeftion fell,
Self-tempted, felf-deprav'd: Man falls, deceiv'd 130
By th' other first: Man therefore shall find grace,

The

foreseen as to be immutable. If Milton had dictated immutable, he would probably have faid,

Or ought immutable by me fore-
feen.

The effects of this speech in the
135. Thus while God Spake, &c.]
bleffed Spirits, and in the divine
Perfon to whom it was addrefs'd,
cannot but fill the mind of the
reader with a fecret pleasure and
complacency. Addifon.
Our Milton here fhows, that he
was no fervile imitator of the An-

cients. It is very well known that