Within unféen. Får less abhotrd than these
Vex'd Scylla bathing in the sea that parts ,. 660
Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore: i
Nor uglier' follow the night-hag, when callid -
In secret, riding through the air she comes,
Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland witches, while the lab’ring moon 665
Eclipses at their charms. The other shape,
If Mape it might be call’d that shape had none
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb,

Scylla tifed part of the having por

660. Vix: Siylla bathing in the Scylla venit, mediaque tenus de

fea] For Circe having poi- " scenderat alvo; in son'd that part of the fea where Cum sua fædari latrantibus in Scylla used to bathe, the next time : guiná monftris Scylla bathed, her lower parts Afpicit: ac primo non credens were changed into dogs, in the sea corporis illas that parts Calabria, the fartheft Ese sui partes, rcfugitque, abigitpart of Italy towards the Mediter- que, timetque ranean, from the boars Trinacrian Ora proterva canum; sed quos fufrore, that is from Sicily, which git, attrahit una. was formerly called Trinacria from Et corpus quærens femorum, cruits three promontorics lying in the rumque, pedumque, form of a triangle: and this shore Cerbereos rictus pro partibus inmay well be called hoarse not only venit illis. . by reason of a tempestuous sea Statque canum rabies ; fubjecia. breaking upon it, but likewise on que terga ferarum account of the noises occafion'd Inguinibus truncis uteroque ex. by the eruptions of mount Ætna; ftante cohærent. . and the number of r's in this verse

rie The Cerberean mouths in Milton is

The very well express the hoarfness of

plainly after the Cerbereos ri&us in it. You have the story of Scylla | in die beginning of the 14th book

thylia Ovid.' of Ovia's Metamorphosis, ver. - 665..-- the lab'ring moon] The 59. &c.

Ancients believed the moon greatly

affected

Or substance might be call’d that shadow seem'd, ;
For each seem'd either; black it stood as Night, 670
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,
And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head-
The likeness of a kingly crown had on... aut
Satan was now at hand, and from his feat. .
The monster moving onward came as fast.: 675
With horrid ftrides, Hell trembled as he strode. į
Th’undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd, i
Admir’d, not fear'd; God and his Son except, :

Created

affected by magical practices, and 670.-black it food as Night, &c.] the Latin poets call the eclipses of Like the ghost described in Homer, the moon labores lune. The three Odyff. XI. 605., : foregoing lines, and the former

- do epopup ruxso goixas, part of this contain a short account Tourov TOEON EXwv, no €71 rej of what was once believ'd, and in

prosv oisov, Milton's time not so ridiculous as “Acid garlauwy, wies Baserte now. Richardson.

€01xes. ** 666. The other shape &c.) This Gloomy as night he stands, in act poetical description of Death our.. to throw author has pretty evidently bor- Th'aereal arrow from the twange rowed from Spenser. Fairy Queen, ing bow. Broome. B. 7. Cant. 7. St. 46. " .678. — God and bis Son except, But after all came Life, and lastly Created thing nought valued he nor Death,

Dunn'd;] This appears at Death with mof grim and grisly first fight to reckon God and his visage seen,

Son among created things, but ex. Yet is he nought but parting of copt is used here with the same lithe breath,

berty as but ver. 333 and 336, and Ne ought to fee, but like a Made Milton has a like passage in his to ween,

prose works, p. 277. Edit. Tol. Unbodied, unsoul'd, unheard, un- No place in Heaven and Earth, exseen. Tbyer..

'cept Half

Richardson. 683. - misa

Created thing nought' valued he nor shunn'd; . And with disdainful look thus first began.. 680

Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, That dar'it, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way To yonder gates? through them I mean to pass, That be assur’d, without leave afk'd of thee: 685 Retire, or taste thy folly', and learn by proof, Hell-born, not to contend with Spi'rits of Heaven.'

To whom the goblin full of wrath reply'd. Art thou that traitor Angel, art thou He, Who first broke peace in Heav'n and faith, till then Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms 691 Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's sons Conjúr'd against the Higʻhest, for which both thou

And 683. mifcreated] We have I mean not thee intreat been told that Milton first coin'd To pass; but mauger chee will the word miscreated, but Spenser pass, or die. Fortin. wed it before him, as Fairy Queen, 602. Drew after him the third B. 1. Cant. 2. St. 3.

part of Heav'n's Sons] An Eftsoons he took that miscreated opinion, as we noted before, grounfair.

ded on Rev. XII. 3, 4. Bebold a and B. 2. Cant. 7. St. 42.

great red dragon -- and his tail drew Nor mortal steel empierce his mif. the third part of the stars of Heaven

created mold. Bentley. and cast them to the earth. 684. - through them I mean to 693. Conjúr'd againft the Hig'beft,]

pass, &c.] Spenser, Fairy Banded and leagued together aQueen, B. 3. Cant. 4. St. 15. gainst the most High. Of the Latin

And they, outcast from God, are here condemn'd;
To waste eternal days in woe and pain? ... 695
And reckon't thou thyself with Spirits of Heaven,
Hell-doom’d, and breath'st defiance here and scorn
Where I reign king, and to enrage thee more,
Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,
False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings. 700
Left with a whip of scorpions I pursue
Thy lingring, or with one stroke of this dart !
Strange horsor seise thee', and pangs unfelt before.

So spake the grilly terror, and in Ihape,
So speaking and so threatning, grew tenfold 705
More dreadful and deform: on th’other side
Incens'd with indignation Satan stood
Unterrify'd, and like a comet burn'd,

That

conjurare to bind one another by himself a Spirit of Heaven. Comoath to be true and faithful in a de. pare ver. 687 with ver. 696. fign undertaken,

Pearce. Et conjuratos cælum rescindere fra- _.708.-- and like a comet burn'd, &c.]

trés.
tres.

Virg. Georg. I. 280. The ancient poets frequently com

Virg. Georgiacus ab Aut conjurato descendens Dacus ab pare a hero in his shining armour Iftro. Georg. II. 497. Hume.

09. Hume. to a comet; as Virg. Æn. X. 272.

Non secus ac liquida fi quando 697. Hell-doom'd,] As Satan had

nocte cometæ called Death Hell-born, ver. 687, Sanguinei lugubre rubent Death returns it by calling Satan Hell.doom'd,

But this comet is so large as to fire 700. False fugitive,] He is here the length of the constellation Ophiucalled falfe because he had called chus or Anguigcnens, or Serpenta

That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge ·
In th’arctic sky, and from his horrid hair 710
Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head
Leveld his deadly 'aim; their fatal hands
No second stroke intend, and such a frown
Each cast at th’other, as when two black clouds,
With Heav'n's artillery fraught, come rattling on .
Over the Caspian, then stand front to front 716
Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow ..
To join their dark encounter in mid air:
So frown'd the mighty combatants, that Hell:

Grew

rius as it is commonly callid, a As“when a comet far and wide length of about 40 degrees, in descried, th' ardic sky, or the northern he- In scorn of Phæbus midft bright misphere, and from bis horrid hair Heav'n doth shine, Jakes peftilence and war. Poetry And tidings fad of death and delights in omens, prodigies, and mischief brings such wonderful events as were sup To mighty lords, to monarchs, posed to follow upon the appear and to kings. Fairfax. ance of comets, eclipses, and the like. We have another instance

714. -as when trvo black clouds, of this nature in I 598. and Tasso

&c.] It is highly probable,

that Milton took the hint of this in the same manner compares Ar

noble fimile from one of the same gantes to a comet, and mentions

fort in Boiardo's Orlando Inamothe like fatal effects, Cant. 7. St. 52.

6. rato, tho' it must be own'd that he Qual con le chiome sanguinose has excell'd the Italian much, both horrende

in the variety of its circumstances, Splender cometa suol per l'aria and the propriety of its applica. S aduita, - ,*?

. tion. Boiardo is describing an enChe i regni muta, e i feri morbi counter betwixt Orlando his hero, i adduce,

and the Tartar king Agricane, and A i purpurei tiranni infausta luce, begins it thus, B. 1. C. 16.