Meats by the Law unclean, or offer'd first
To idols, thofe young Daniel could refuse;
Nor proffer'd by an enemy, though who
Would scruple that, with want opprefs'd? Behold,
Nature asham'd, or better to exprefs,

330

Troubled that thou should'ft hunger, hath purvey'd
From all the elements her choiceft ftore

To treat thee as befeems, and as her Lord
With honor, only deign to fit and eat.
He spake no dream, for as his words had end,
Our Saviour lifting up
his eyes beheld

I. 475. Chrift is Lord of nature ver. 335 of this book, and all creatures owe him duty and fervice, and that by right. This could not be true, but on the fuppofition of his being the Eternal Word; and to what purpose could the temptation be continued, if the Devil had been really convinc'd that he was fo? Calton. This part of the Tempter's fpeech alludes to that heavenly declaration which he had heard at Jordan, This is my beloved Son &c. One may obferve too, that it is much the fame fort of flattering addrefs with that which he had before made ufe of to feduce Eve. Paradife Loft. IX. 539,

Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine

By gift &c.

VOL. I.

Thyer.

335

In

329-thofe young Daniel could re

fufe;] Dan. I. 8. But Daniel purpofed in his heart, that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: and the reason affign'd by commentators is, because in thofe and most other countries they used to offer fome part of what they eat and drank to their Gods and therefore Daniel refufed to partake of the provifions from the king's table, as of meats offered to idols, and confequently unclean The poet had before mention'd Da niel at his pulfe ver. 278 and Mofes in the mount and Elijah in the wilderness are brought in several times, as history affords no inftances of abstinence fo like our Sa

In ample space under the broadest shade
A table richly fpread, in regal mode,

With dishes pil'd, and meats of noblest sort
And favor, beafts of chafe, or fowl of game,

340

In

All dainties made by art, and at the table

An hundred virgins ferv'd, for hufbands able. Fairfax.

340. A table richly spread, &c. ] This temptation is not recorded in Scripture, but is however invented with great confiftency, and very aptly fitted to the present condition of our Saviour. This way of embellishing his fubject is a privilege which every poet has a juft right to, provided he obferves harmony and decorum in his hero's character; and one may further add, that Milton had in this particular place ftill a ftronger claim to an indulgence of this kind, fince it was a pretty general opinion among the Fathers, that our Saviour underwent many more temptations than thofe which are mentioned by the Evangelifts; nay Origen goes fo far as to fay, that he was every day, whilft he continued in the wildernefs, attack'd by a fresh one. The beauties of this description are too obvious to escape any reader of tafte. It is copious, and yet exprefs'd with a very elegant concifenefs. Every proper circumftance is mentioned, and yet it is not at all clogg'd or incumber'd, as is often the cafe, with too tedious a de

In paftry built, or from the fpit, or boil'd,
Gris-amber-fteam'd; all fifh from fea or fhore,
Frefhet, or purling brook, of fhell or fin,
And exquisitest name, for which was drain'd

345

Pontus,

tail of particulars. It was a fcene" which laft I have eat of at an entirely fresh to our author's ima- "old courtier's table. And I regination, and nothing like it had "member, in an old chronicle before occurr'd in his Paradife Loft," there is much complaint of the for which reafon he has been the "nobilities being made fick at Carmore diffuse, and labor'd it with "dinal Wolfeys banquets, with greater care, with the fame good "rich fented cates and dishes most judgment that makes him in other "coftly dreffed with ambergris. I places avoid expatiating on scenes "alfo recollect I once faw a little which he had before defcrib'd. See "book writ by a gentlewoman of the note on his fhort defcription of " Queen Elizabeth's court, where night at the end of the first book. In a word, it is in my opinion work'd up with great art and beauty, and plainly fhows the crudity of that notion which fo much prevails among fuperficial readers, that Milton's genius was upon the decay when he wrote his Paradife Regain'd. Thyer.

344. Gris-amber-fteam'd;] Ambergris or grey amber is esteemed the best, and used in perfumes and cordials. A curious lady communicated the following remarks upon this paffage to Mr. Peck, which we will here transcribe. "Grey am"ber is the amber our author here fpeaks of, and melts like butter. "It was formerly a main ingre"dient in every concert for a banquet; viz. to fume the meat with, and that whether boiled, roafted, or baked; laid often on "the top of a baked pudding;

ambergris is mention'd as the
"haut-gout of that age. I fancy
"Milton tranfpofed the word for
"the fake of his verfe; to make
"it read more poetically." So far
this curious Lady. And Beaumont
and Fletcher in the Custom of the
Country. A&t III. Scene 2.
Be fure

The wines be lufty, high, and
full of fpirit,
And amber'd all.

346. And exquifiteft name, ] He alludes here to that fpecies of Roman luxury, which gave exquifite names to fish of exquifite tafte, duch as that they called cerebrum Jovis. They extended this even to a very capacious difh as that they called clypeum Minerva. The modern Italians fall into the fame wantonnefs of luxurious impiety, as when they call their exquifite wines by

G 2

the

Pontus, and Lucrine bay, and Afric coast.
Alas how fimple, to these cates compar'd,
Was that crude apple that diverted Eve!
And at a stately fide-board by the wine
That fragrant smell diffus'd, in order stood
Tall ftripling youths rich clad, of fairer hue

Than Ganymed or Hylas; diftant more

Under the trees now tripp'd, now folemn stood
Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades

With fruits and flow'rs from Amalthea's horn,
And ladies of th' Hefperides, that seem'd
Fairer than feign'd of old,' or fabled since

others fay, that Amalthea was the name of the goat.

357. And ladies of th' Hefperides,] If we compare this with what the Devil fays a little lower, ver. 374. All these are Spirits of air and

woods and fprings,

we shall find that they do not tally each to the other, for the Hefperides were neither ladies of woods nor fprings.

Sympfon.

What are the Hefperides famous for but the gardens and orchards which they had bearing golden fruit in the western iles of Africa? They may therefore not improperly be rank'd, they and their ladies, with the Spirits of woods and fprings.

357. And ladies of th' Hefperides, that feem'd &c.] This is the pointing of the firft, and all the editions; but I take it to be wrong. The Demons feem'd (or were like) nymphs of Diana's train &c, but they were really fairer than thofe nymphs &c. were feign'd to be. This I take to be the poet's thought; and therefore the comma fhould be put after feem'd.

Calton.

355

Of

This is very good fenfe, but it may be queftion'd whether that feem'd may be referred fo far back as to nymphs of Diana's train; and if these Spirits were fome nymphs of Diana's train, and fome Naiades, others might as well be faid to be ladies of th' Hefperides; and then, that feem'd will be join'd in conftruction, as it is plac'd, with what follows,

Fairer than feign'd of old, or fabled fince

Of faery damfels &c.

But here feems to be fome defe& in the fyntax, as if the poet had meant to fay Fairer than feign'd of old, or what has been fabled fince of faery damfels met in foreft wide by knights, &c, of whom he had read in his romances, where it is not fo easy to trace him, but the name of Sir Pelleas occurs in the Faery Queen B. 6. Cant. 12. St. 39. 358. or fabled fince &c] Some readers may perhaps in this paffage think our author a little too fond of fhowing his great reading, a fault which he is indeed fometimes guilty of: but those who are converfant in romance-writers, and G 3

know