Deftin'd to this, is late of Woman born. 65 His birth to our juft fear gave no fmall cause : But his growth now to youth's full flower, difplaying 70 All virtue, grace, and wisdom to achieve Ver. 74. Purified, to receive him pure,] 1 John iii. 3. "And every man that hath this hope in him, "purifieth himself even us he is pure." NEWTON.. Ver. 81. Heaven above the clouds Unfold her cryftal doors;] It is the fame idea in the Ode on the Natio. ft. 13. "Ring out, ye cryftal spheres." And in the Latin Ode, Præful. Elien, ver. 63. "Donec nitentes ad fores "Ventum eft Olympi, et regiam cryftallinam, &c." Compare alfo Par. L. vi. 771. He on the wings of Seraphs rode fublime "On the crystalline sky"). TA 19 c A perfect dove defcend, (whate'er it meant,) Again, B. i. 741. "Sheer o'er the See alfo B. vi. 756, 860. the imagery of romance. "Thrown by angry Jove crystal battlements.” 86 Milton's "crystal battlements” are în The "cryftalline fphere" is from the Ptolemaick or Gothick system of Aftronomy, Par. L. iii. 482, And fo perhaps Spenfer, Tears of the Mufes : "For hence we mount aloft into the skie, "And look into the cryftall firmament." T. WARTON. Ver. 83. A perfect dove defcend,] He had expreffed it before, ver. 30. in likeness of a dove, agreeably to St. Matthew," the Spirit of God defcending like a dove," iii. 16. and to St. Mark, "the Spirit like a dove descending upon him," i. 10. But as Luke fays, that the Holy Ghost defcended in a bodily shape, iii. 22, the poet fuppofes with Tertullian, Auftin, and others of the fathers, that it was a real dove, as the painters always represent it. NEWTON. Vida, like Milton, defcribes the Holy Ghoft defcending as a "perfect dove;" Chrift. iv. 214. "Protinus aurifluo Jordanes gurgite fulfit, "Et fuperum vasto intonuit domus alta fragore : ་་ Infuper et cœli claro delapfa columba eft "Vertice per purum, candenti argentea pluma DUNSTER. Ver. 87. He who obtains the monarchy of Heaven:] Obtains is in the fenfe of obtineo in Latin; to hold, retain, or govern. And what will he not do to advance his Son?. 95 But obtains rather means here obtains by conqueft: Satan being the fpeaker, it is a word of much force. It implies ufurpation. It should be noted that the He is, in this place, fneeringly emphatical. DuNster. Ver. 89. and fore have felt, When his fierce thunder drove us to the deep :] In reference to the fublime description, in the Paradife Loft, of the Meffiah driving the rebel Angels out of Heaven,. B. vi. S34, &c. DUNSTER. Ver. 91. Who this is we must learn,] Our author favours the opinion of those writers, Ignatius and others among the ancients, and Beza and others among the moderns, who believed that the Devil, though he might know Jefus to be fome extraordinary perfon, yet knew him not to be the Meffiah, the Son of God. NEWTON.. It was requisite for the poet to affume this opinion, as it is a neceflary hinge on which part of the poem turns. DUNSTER. on the utmost edge Ver. 94. Of hazard,] Dr. Newton fays, this is borrowed from Shakspeare's All's well that ends well, A. iii. S. iii. "We'll strive to bear it, for your worthy fake, "To the extreme edge of hazard ;" Et is certainly a ftrong coincidence of expreffion. But Milton may be supposed to have had in his mind a paffage in Homer: from whom Shak fpeare might alfo have borrowed a metaphos (Not force, but well-couch'd fraud, well-woven fnares,) fo perfectly Grecian, by the means of his friend Chapman's verfion. See Il. x. 173. Νῦν γὰρ δὴ πάντεσσιν ΕΠΙ ΞΥΡΟΥ ΙΣΤΑΤΑΙ ΑΚΜΗΣ Η μάλα λυγρὸς ὄλεθρος Αχαιδις, η βιῶναι. For the very frequent ufe of 'Ei Eupe anus, among the Greek writers, fee a note of Valckenaer on Herodotus, 1. vi. c. 11.— And Warton on Theocritus, Idyll. xxii. 6. Milton has twice ufed nearly the fame expreflion in his Paradife Loft; "on the perilous edge "Of battle, when it rag'd,"- B. i. 276. "On the rough edge of battle, ere it join'd," B. vi. 108. where I am not a little furprised to find Dr. Newton and Dr. Jortin both endeavouring to trace out the phrafe, without being at all aware that it was fo common an expreffion among the Greeks, as to be quite proverbial. See Lucian, Jupit. Tragad. tom. ii. p. 605. Ed. Reitz. DUNSTER. Milton, I obferve, ufes this proverbial expreffion literally in English: "We never leave fubtilizing and cafuifting, till we have ftraitned and pared that liberal path into a razor's edge to walk on, between a precipice of unnecefiary mifchief on either fide." Profe-W. vol. i. p. 321. ed. 1698. See alfo Sir Henry Wotton's Remains, 3d. edit. 1672, p. 355. " Methinks I fee him walking not like a Funambulus upon a cord, but upon the edge of a razor." TODD. Ver. 97. Not force, but well-couch'd fraud,] Marino, Strage de gli Innocenti, 1633. p. 11. where the devil alfo is the fpeaker: "Se la forza non val, vaglia la froda." TODD. Ibid. well-couch'd fraud,] So it is faid of the Devil, as Mr. Dunfter also has obferved, that he " was the first "That practis'd falfhood under faintly fhow, "Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge.” And, in Milton's Profe-Works, flattery is called "that deceitful and clofe-coucht evil." vol. i. p. 141. ed. 1698. TODD. Ere in the head of nations he appear, 100 Their king, their leader, and fupreme on earth. And ruin Adam; and the exploit perform'd Will waft me; and the way, once, found profperous Induces beft to hope of like fuccefs. 105 He ended, and his words impreffion left Of much amazement to the infernal crew, Distracted and furpris'd with deep difmay At thefe fad tidings; but no time was then For long indulgence to their fears or grief: 110 Unanimous they all commit the care And management of this main enterprise Ver. 97. well-woven fnares,] Thus Spenter, Aftrophel, it. 17. "There his well-woven toils, and fubtle traines Ver. 100. I, when no other durft, fole undertook The difmal expedition &c.] The fear and unwil lingnefs of the other fallen Angels to undertake this dismal expedition, is particularly defcribed in the Paradife Loft, B. ir. 420, &c. DUNSTER. Ver. 103. a calmer voyage now Will waft me;] Thus, in Paradife Loft, B. it. 1041, where Satan begins to emerge out of chaos, it is faid the remainder of the journey became fo much easier, "That Satan with lefs toil, and now with cafe, |