And Eden were no Eden thus expos'd. To whom thus Adam fervently reply'd. O Woman, best are all things as the will Of God ordain'd them; his creating hand Nothing imperfect or deficient left Of all that he created, much less Man, 345 Or ought that might his happy state secure, defcribe him as in fome degree difpleas'd; but what extreme delicacy has our author shown in choofing the word fervently to exprefs it by? a term which tho' it implies fome emotion, yet carries nothing in its idea inconfiftent with that fubferviency of the paffions, which fubfifted before the fall. In the two foregoing fpeeches he had made Adam addrefs himself to her in the affectionate terms of Sole Eve, affociate fole, and Daughter of God and Man, immortal Eve; but here with great judgment he changes thofe indearing words for thefe more authoritative, O Woman. I should think that Milton in this expreffion alluded to what our Saviour faid to the Virgin Mary, Woman what have I to do with thee, was not I fatisfied, that he could not with his learning take thefe words in the vulgar miftaken fenfe, which power: 350 Reason, our tranflation naturally leads ignorant readers into, and must very well know that Turn amongst the Greeks is a term of great respect. Indeed throughout this whole converfation, which the poet has in every refpec worked up to a faultlefs perfection, there is the most exact obfervance of juftnefs and propriety of character. With what ftrength is the fuperior excellency of man's understanding here pointed out, and how nicely does our author here sketch out the defects peculiar in general to the female mind? and after all what great art has he shown in making Adam contrary to his better reason grant his fpoufe's requeft, beautifully verifying what he had made our general anceftor a little before obferve to the Angel? VIII. 546. &c. Thyer. 353. But Sticks no difhonor on our front, but turns 330 Foul on himself; then wherefore fhunn'd or fear'd From his furmise prov'd falfe, find peace within, And what is faith, love, virtue unaffay'd 335 340 O Woman,] Whr now faid requir TH And Eden were no Eden thus expr To whom thus Adam fervently reply'd. defcribe him as in fome degree dif- our Soft she withdrew, and like a Wood-Nymph light, Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train, Betook her to the groves, but Delia's felf and arguing with her, he ftill holds her by the hand, which fhe gently withdraws, a little impatient to be gone, even while fhe is fpeaking. And then like a Wood-Nymph light, Oread a nymph of the mountains, or Dryad a nymph of the groves, of the oaks particularly, or of Delia's train, the train of Diana, who is I called Delia as fhe was born in the iland Delos, fhe betook her to the groves; but the furpafs'd not only Diana's nymphs, but Diana herself. But as this beautiful fimilitude is formed very much upon one in Homer, and its parallel in Virgil, it may be proper to quote them both in order to make the beauties of this better apprehended, Hom. Odyff. VI. 102. Οι δ' Αρτεμις εισι κατ' ερεθ Though As when o'er Erymanth Diana roves, Or wide Taygetus' refounding groves; A fylvan train the huntress queen furrounds, Her rattling quiver from her fhoulder founds: Fierce in the fport, along the mountain brow They bay the boar, or chase the bounding roe: High o'er the lawn, with more majestic pace, Above the nymphs fhe treads with ftately grace; Diftinguifh'd excellence the Goddels proves; Exults Latona as the Virgin moves. With equal grace Nausicaa trod the plain, And fhone tranfcendent o'er the beauteous train. Broome. Though not as she with bow and quiver arm'd, 390 The others are like Diana in their gate, but Eve furpaffes her, only the wears different enfigns, not a bow and quiver, but fuch gard'ning tools as art yet rude, guiltless of fire, bad form'd, before fire was as yet stol'n from Heaven by Prometheus as the Ancients fabled, or such tools as Angels brought. 393. To Pales, or Pomona, thus adorn'd, Likeft fhe feem'd, &c.] Thefe four verfes Dr. Bentley rejects, as the editor's manufacture. Let us examin his objections to them. For likelieft (fays he) he meant likeft. So he did, and fo the first edition gives it, as the Likeft Doctor might have feen, if he pleas'd, because the first edition was before him. He objects farther that Eve, who was before like the WoodNymphs and Delia, is here likeft to Pales, or Pomona, or Ceres; all unlike one another, and yet Eve is like them all. But he feems not to observe, that Eve is here compar'd to the latter three, upon a different account, than fhe was compar'd to the former. She was liken'd to the Wood Nymphs and Delia in regard to her gate; but now that Milton had mention'd her being arm'd with garden tools, he beautifully compares her to Pales, Pomona, and Ceres, all three Goddeffes like to each other in thefe circumftances, that they were handfome, that they prefided over gard'ning and cultivation of ground, and that they are usually described tools of gard'ning or husbandry in by the ancient poets, as carrying their hands: thus Ovid in Metam. XIV. 628. fays of Pomona, Nec jaculo gravis eft, fed aduncâ dextera falce. The Doctor objects again, and fays that Eve is not here faid to be like Pomona always, but when he fled Vertumnus, who would have ravilh'd her. But Milton's meaning is, that fhe was like Pomona, not precisely at the hour when the fled Vertumnus, but at that time of her life when |
