And what most merits fame in filence hid. But he the fev'nth from thee, whom thou beheldit The only righteous in a world perverse, 701 And therefore hated, therefore fo befet With foes for daring single to be just, 4 And atter odious truth, that God would come To judge them with his Saints: him the moft High Rapt in a balmy cloud with winged steeds 705 Did auxiliary verb is brought clofe to is principal, and that a thin many lable, as in the line juft now refer to, the verfe is very rude and digreeable. But to prove that the auxiliary verb may be employ'd pro perly, I will produce an infance in rim'd verfe, as ftrong as that of Milton juft mention'd, Then did the roaring waves ther I believe it will not be difputed, b that this line is as full, as fonoro, and majestic as if the auxiliary ve had been left out, and the had ufed compos'd instead of did pofe. The expreffion is certainly more beautiful and more poetical and the reason of it is, that it occ fions fufpenfe, which raises the a tention; or in other words, the auxiliary verb gives notice of font thing coming, before the princ thing itself appears, which is ther property of majesty, Mr. Dr den's authority might likewife added Did, as thou faw'ft, receive, to walk with God all now was turn'd to jollity and game, dded on this occafion; even in his elebrated lines on Milton it is to e met with, 710 Το from great authorities. I fhall produce one from Shakespear, this to me Greece, Italy, and England did In dreadful fecrecy impart they did. adorn. In his tranflation of the Eneid there are many instances of the fame nacure, one of which I will mention,, The queen of Heav'n did thus her fury vent. The meter of this line, as the words are here rang'd, is not bad, as the ear can judge; but it would have been extremely fo, if he had writ it thus, The queen of Heav'n her fury thus did vent. From whence it appears that the auxiliary verb is not to be rejected at all times; befides it is a particular idiom of the English language, and has a majefty in it fuperior to the Latin or Greek tongue, and I believe to any other language whatfoever. Many inftances might be brought to fupport this affertion The auxiliary verb is here very properly made ufe of; and it would be a great lofs to English poetry, if it were to be wholly laid afide.. See Letters concerning poetical tranflations &c. p. 8, 9, 10. 711. Which now direct thine eyes and foon behold.] The fyntax is remarkable. Which govern'd not by the verb next following, but by the laft in the sentence. 712. He look'd, and faw the face of things quite chang'd;] Milton, to keep up an agreeable variety in his vifions, after having raised in the mind of his reader the feveral ideas of terror which are conformable to the defcription of war, paffes on to thofe fofter images of triumphs and festivals, in that vifion of lewdness and luxury, which ushers in the flood. Addifen. A a 3 723.- preach'd To luxury and riot, feaft and dance, Rape or adultery, where paffing fair them came, And of their doings great dislike declar'd, 723. preach'd Converfion and repentance, as to fouls In prijon] This account of Noah's preaching is founded chiefly upon St. Peter, 2 Pet II. 5. Noah a preacher of righteousness, and 1 Pet. III. 19, 20. By which also he went and preached unto the fpirits in prifon, which fometime were disobedient, when once the long fiffering of God waited in the days of Noah: As what follows of Noah's defifting when he found his preaching ineffectual, and removing into another country, is taken from Jofephus, Antiq. Lib. 1. c. 3. 730. Meafur'd by cubit, length, and breadth, and highth,] The dimenfions of the ark are given Gen. VI. 15. The length of the ark fhall be three hundred cubits, the Con breadth of it fifty cubits, and the bighsh of it thirty cabits. A cubit is the meafure from the elbow to the f gers ends, and is reckon'da fot and a half, or (according to Bi Cumberland) 21 inches 888 decim 731. Smear'dround with pitch, ai in the fide a dear &c.] Ge VI. 14. Thou shalt pitch it within and without with pitch; and the of the ark shall thou fit in the far thereof. ver. 16. And take the the of all food that is eater, and the fhalt gather it to thee; and it foallo for food for thee and for them. 732. and of provifions laid in large] He ufes the adjective adverbially here and elsewhere, a common in Latin. Magnumque t entem Nilum. Virg. Georg. III. 28. Sole recens orto. Georg. I.16 735.Com 729 Contending, and remov'd his tents far off; Came fev'ns, and pairs, and enter'd in, as taught 735 735. Came ferns, and pairs,] Sevens of clean creatures, and pairs of unlean. For this and other particulars here mention'd, See Gen. VII. 738. Mean while the fouthwind Wide fuch a light as to incur the cenfure Jamque mare et tellus nullum dif- - Sea cover'd fea, rofe, &c.] As it is vifible that the poet had his eye upon Ovid's account of the univerfal deluge, the obferve with how much reader may judgment he has avoided every thing that is redundant or puerile in the Latin poet. We do not fee here In Milton the former part of the the fheep, the wolf fwimming among nor any of thofe wanton imagina- defcription does not foreftall the lattions, which Seneca found fault ter. How much more great and folemn on this occafion is that which with, as unbecoming the great cataftrophe of nature. If our poet has follows in our English poet, imitated that verfe in which Ovid tells us that there was nothing but fea, and that this fea had no thore to it, he has not fet the thought in and in their palaces Where luxury late reign'd, feamonfters whelp'd And ftabled A a 4 than Wide hovering, all the clouds together drove From under Heav'n; the hills to their supply 740 Vapor, and exhalation dusk and moist, Sent up amain; and now the thicken'd sky Like a dark cieling ftood; down rush'd the rain than that in Ovid, where we are told that the fea-calfs lay in thofe places where the goats were used to browze? The reader may find feve ral other parallel paffages in the Latin and English defcription of the deJuge, wherein our poet has vifibly the advantage. The sky's being over charged with clouds, the defcending of the rains, the rifing of the feas, and the appearance of the rainbow, are fuch defcriptions as every one muft take notice of. The circumftance relating to Paradife is fo finely imagin'd, and fuitable to the opinions of many learned authors, that I cannot forbear giving it a place in this paper; then fhall this mount Of Paradife by might of waves be mov'd &c. The tranfition which the poet makes from the vifion of the deluge, to the concern it occafion'd in Adam, is exquifitely graceful, and copied after Virgil, though the first thought it introduces is rather in the fpirit of Ovid, How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold &c. I have been the more particular in my quotations out of the eleventh Im book of Paradife Loft, because it is not generally reckon'd among the moft fhining books of this poem; for which reason the reader migh be apt to overlook those many pa fages in it which deferve our adm ration. The eleventh and twelfth are indeed built upon that fingle circumftance of the removal of our first parents from Paradife; but tho this is not in itself so great a fubject as that in most of the foregoing books, it is extended and diverfifed with fo many furprising incidents and pleafing episodes, that these two l books can by no means be looked upon as unequal parts of this diving poem. I must further add, that had not Milton reprefented our first pr fall of man would not have been rents as driven out of Paradife, complete,and confequently his affion would have been imperfect. The reader may farther compare the following paffages with Milton, and he will eafily fee the fuperiority of the English poet. Ovid. Met. I. 264. Madidis notus evolat alis, Terribilem piceâ tectus caligine vultum. Utque manu latâ pendentia nubi's preffit, |