Adam, I therefore came, nor art thou such
Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
As may not oft invite, though Spi'rits of Heaven
To visit thee; lead on then where thy bower 375
O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise,
I have at will. So to the sylvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona’s arbor fmild
With flow'rets deck'd and fragrant smells; but Eve
Undeck'd save with herself, more lovely fair 380
Than Wood-Nymph, or the faireft Goddess feign'd
Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,
Stood to entertain her guest from Heav'n; no veil
She needed, virtue-proof; no thought infirm
Alter'd her cheek. On whom the Angel Hail 385

Bestow'd,

378. Pomona's arbor] The saying, Induitur, formosa eft; exuGoddess of fruit-trees might well itur, ipsa forma eft. Drels'd, the be supposed to have a delightful is beautiful; undress'd, the is beauty árbor, but that could not be more itself. With the fame elegance of delightful in imagination, than this expression, describing Adam, he was in reality. See Ovid. Met. has said, XIV. 623. &c.

- in himself was all his state. 380. Undeck'd save with herself,] 382. Of three that in mount Ida This is fimplex munditiis indeed, naked frove,] The judgment beyond Horace's, and makes an of Paris is very well known in preexcellent contrast to Ovid's de- ferring Venus to Juno and Mifcription of the fine lady full nerva, that is beauty to power dreisid,

and wisdom: a different choice - pars minima eft ipfa puella sui.

Bestow'd, the holy falutation us'd
Long after to blest Mary, fecond Eve.

Hail Mother of Mankind, whose fruitful womb.
Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons,
Than with these various fruits the trees of God 390
Have heap'd this table. Rais’d of grassy turf
Their table was, and mofly seats had round,
And on her ample square from side to side
All autumn pil'd, though spring and autumn here
Danc'd hand in hand. A while discourse they hold;
No fear lest dinner cool; when thus began 396
Our author. Heav'nly stranger, please to taste
These bounties, which our Nourisher, from whom
All perfect good, unmeasur’d out, descends,

To

384. — virtue proof;} Proof is the figure of Eve ministring at the used in the old poets for armour, table, are circumstances which deShakespear, Rom. & Jul. Act I. serve to be admired. Addison. And in strong proof of chastity

387. — a

to Mary, second Eve.]

See Luke I. 28. She is call’d second well arm'd, From love's weak childish bow Eve, as Chriit is lometimes called fhe lives unharm’d.

second Adam.

394. All autumn pild,] The table 385. On whom the Angel had mossy seats round it, and all

Hail &c.] The natural ma- autumn pil'd upon it; that is the jefty of Adam, and at the same fruits of autumn. So in Virg. time his submissive behaviour to Georg. II. 5. the superior being, who had vouch

- pampineo gravidus autumno safed to be his guest; the solemn Hail, which the Angel bestows upon the mother of mankind, with 399. — perfe&t] Milton writes

K

k

4

To us for food and for delight' hath caus’d 400
The earth to yield; unsavory food perhaps
To spiritual natures; only this I know,
That one celestial Father gives to all.

To whom the Angel. Therefore what he gives
(Whose praise be ever sung) to Man in part 405
Spiritual, may of purest Spi'rits be found
No ingrateful food: and food alike those pure
Intelligential substances require,
As doth your rational; and both contain
Within them every lower faculty

410 Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste, Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,

And

it perfet after the French parfait or him in thinking them the editor's, the Italian perfetto; our usual way tho’we entirely agree with him in of spelling it is after the Latin wishing, that the author had taken perfeEtus; and very sightly, espe- more care what notions of philosocially as we make use likewise of phy he had put into the mouth of the word perfection. And in the an Arch-Angel. It is certainly a general it is better surely to derive great mistake to attribute the spots our language from the original La- in the moon (which are owing to tin, than to make it only the copy the inequalities of her surface, and of a copy...

to the different nature of her con407. No' ingrateful food:] There ftituent parts, land and water) to being mention made in Scripture attribute them, I say, to vapors not of Àngels food, Psal. LXXVIII. 25. get turn'd into her subftance. It is that is foundation enough for a poet certainly very unphilosophical to say to build upon, and advance these that the sun fups with the ocean, notions of the Angels eating. but it is not unpoetical, And what.

415.-of elements &c.] Dr. Bent- ever other faults are found in thele ley is for omitting here eleven lines lines, they are not so properly the together, but we cannot agree with faults of Milton, as of his times,

and

And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
For know, whatever was created, needs
To be sustain'd and fed; of elements 415
The groffer feeds the purer, earth the sea,
Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon;
Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurg'd
Vapors not yet into her substance turn'd. : 420
Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale
From her moist continent to higher orbs.
The sun, that light imparts to all, receives
From all his alimental recompense
In humid exhalations, and at even

Sups and of those systems of philosophy Tove Jadave Navens, which he had learned in his O nn Janaurav, younger years. If he had written Tov do nasov gennyn. after the late discoveries and im; And we may suppose the poet al. provements in science, he would luded to this, and more particularly have written in another manner.

iner. to that passage in Pliny, where the It is allow'd by all philosophers, ñ that the sun and fixed stars receive in the moon.

TS, same account is given of the spots

Sidera vero haud their fupplies of nourishment; but dubie humore terreno pasci, quia in what manner they are fed and

orbe dimidio nonnunquam macufupply'd is a great question : and

losa cernatur, scilicet nondum sup surely a greater latitude and liberty

petente ad hauriendum ultra julta may be indulged to a poet in speak

vi: maculas enim non aliud effe ing of these things, than to a phi.

quam terræ raptas cum humore lofopher. The same kind of thought runs through an Ode of Anacreon, Ode 19.

421. Nor doth the moon no nourish. | H + MAdvd cave.

ment exhale) A Latinism. So Πινι δε δενδρε' αυτην

Virg. Georg. I. 83.

425

Nec

Sups with the ocean. Though in Heav'n the trees
Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
Yield nectar ; though from off the boughs each morn
We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground
Cover’d with pearly grain : yet God hath here 430
Varied his bounty fo with new delights,
As may compare with Heaven; and to taste
Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat,
And to their viands fell ; nor seemingly
The Angel, nor in mist, the common gloss 435

Of

Nec nulla interea est inaratæ gra. cient Doctors were of opinion, tia terræ.

that the Angels did not really eat,

but only seemed to do so; and they 426. Though in Heav'n the

ground that opinion principally uptrees, &c.] In mentioning on what the Angel Raphael says trees of life and vines in Heaven in the book of Tobit, XII. 19. All he is juftify'd by Scripture. See these days did I appear unto you, but I Rev. XXII. 2. Mat. XXVI. 29. As di

AS did neither eat nor drink, but you did in speaking afterwards of mellifluous

us see a vifon. But our author was dews and pearly grain he manifestly

try of the contrary opinion, that the alludes to manna, which is called

led Angel did not eat in appearance the bread of Heaven. Psal. CV. 40. only but in reality, with keen difAnd when the dow that lay was

patch of real bunger as he says, and gone up, behold upon the face of the

this opinion is confirm'd by the acwilderness there lay a small round

counts in the Canonical Scripture thing, as small as the hear froft on of Abraham's entertaining three the ground. Exod. XVI. 14. and it

Angels at one time, and Lot's enwas like coriander-feed, white; and 1

tertaining two Angels at another. the taste of it was like wafers made

See Gen. XVIII. and XIX. There with honey, ver. 31.

it is said plainly that meat was 435. — the common gloss set before them, and they did eat;

Of Theologians ;] The usual com- and there is no reason for not unment and expofition of Divines. derstanding this, as well as the reft For several of the Fathers and an. of the relation, litterally. Of Tbeo.

logiass;