To us for food and for delight hath caus'd 400 To spiritual natures; only this I know, To whom the Angel. Therefore what he gives (Whose praise be ever fung) to Man in part Spiritual, may of pureft Spirits be found No' ingrateful food: and food alike those pure As doth your rational; and both contain Within them every lower faculty 405 410 Of sense, whereby they hear, fee, smell, touch, taste, Tafting concoct, digeft, affimilate, it perfet after the French parfait or the Italian perfetto; our ufual way of fpelling it is after the Latin perfectus; and very lightly, efpecially as we make ufe likewife of the word perfection. And in the general it is better furely to derive our language from the original Latin, than to make it only the copy of a copy: 407. No ingrateful food:] There being mention made in Scripture of Angels food, Pfal. LXXVIII. 25. that is foundation enough for a poet to build upon, and advance thefe notions of the Angels eating. 415.-of elements &c.] Dr. Bentley is for omitting here eleven lines together, but we cannot agree with And him in thinking them the editor's, tho' we entirely agree with him in wifhing, that the author had taken more care what notions of philofophy he had put into the mouth of an Arch-Angel. It is certainly a great mistake to attribute the spots in the moon (which are owing to the inequalities of her furface, and to the different nature of her conftituent parts, land and water) to attribute them, I say, to vapors not get turn'd into her fubftance. It is certainly very unphilofophical to fay that the fun fups with the ocean, but it is not unpoetical, And whatever other faults are found in these lines, they are not so properly the faults of Milton, as of his times, and And corporeal to incorporeal turn. 415 For know, whatever was created, needs Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale In humid exhalations, and at even and of thofe fyftems of philofophy which he had learned in his younger years. If he had written after the late difcoveries and improvements in fcience, he would have written in another manner. It is allow'd by all philofophers, that the fun and fixed ftars receive their fupplies of nourishment; but Η γη μελαινα πινει. Πινει θάλασα δ' αυρας, 420 425 Sups Sups with the ocean. Though in Heav'n the trees Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn The Angel, nor in mift, the common gloss 435 Of Nec nulla interea eft inaratæ gra- cient Doctors were of opinion, tia terræ. 426. Though in Heav'n the trees, &c.] In mentioning trees of life and vines in Heaven he is juftify'd by Scripture. See Rev. XXII. 2. Mat. XXVI. 29. As in fpeaking afterwards of mellifluous derus and pearly grain he manifeftly alludes to manna, which is called the bread of Heaven. Pfal. CV. 40. And when the dow that lay was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness there lay a fmall round thing, as small as the boar froft on the ground. Exod. XVI. 14. and it was like coriander-feed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. ver. 31. that the Angels did not really eat, but only feemed to do fo; and they on what the Angel Raphael fays ground that opinion principally upin the book of Tobit, XII. 19. All thefe days did I appear unto you, but I did neither eat nor drink, but you did fee a vifion. But our author was of the contrary opinion, that the only but in reality, with keen dif Angel did not eat in appearance patch of real bunger as he fays, and this opinion is confirm'd by the acof Abraham's entertaining three counts in the Canonical Scripture tertaining two Angels at another. Angels at one time, and Lot's enSee Gen. XVIII. and XIX. There it is faid plainly that meat was fet before them, and they did eat; and there is no reason for not underftanding this, as well as the reft of the relation, litterally. Of Thes logians; Of Theologians; but with keen difpatch To transubstantiate: what redounds, transpires Through Spirits with ease; nor wonder; if by fire Of footy coal th' empiric alchemist Can turn, or holds it poffible to turn, Metals of droffieft ore to perfect gold As from the mine. Mean while at table Eve logians; this fame word he uses in his Tetrachordon, p. 223. Vol. 1. Edit. 1738. 438.what redounds, tranfpires &c. This artfully avoids the indecent idea, which would elfe have been apt to have arifen on the Angels feeding, and withal gives a delicacy to thefe Spirits, which finely diftinguishes them from us in one of the moft humbling circumftances relating to our bodies. Richardfon. 439.- — nor wonder; if by fire &c.] Nor is it a wonder, that the Angels have concoctive heat in their ftomachs fufficient to tranfubftantiate, to turn their food and nourishment into their own fubftance, to affimilate as it was faid before, and turn corporeal to incorporeal; if by fire the alchemist can turn or thinks to turn all metals to gold. The empiric alchemift, is one who makes 440 445 Deserving bold trials and experiments (een in Greek from weeg a trial or experiment) without much skill and knowledge in the art, like a quack in phyfick. And they muft be ftrange empirics indeed, who can hope to find out the philofopher's ftone, and turn metals of droffieft ore to perfect gold. But it is not ftrange that our author fo frequently alludes to alchemy (as he does in II. 517. III. 609. as well as here) when Johnson has written a whole comedy upon it. 445. With pleafant liquors crown'd:] To crown their cups was a phrafe among the Greeks and Romans for filling them above the brim, but yet not fo as to run over. Thus it is used by Homer, Iliad. I. 470. Kre per punes SWESE favo Deferving Paradife! if ever, then, Then had the fons of God excufe to' have been Was understood, the injur'd lover's Hell. 450 Thus when with meats and drinks they had fuffic'd, Not burden'd nature, fudden mind arose In Adam, not to let th' occafion pass Giv'n him by this great conference to know Of things above his world, and of their being 455 Who dwell in Heav'n, whofe excellence he faw Tranfcend his own fo far, whofe radiant forms Divine and by Virgil, Georg. II. 528. AUTOP ETH TOTI& na ednov© et focii cratera coronant. 447. Then had the fons of God ex cufe &c.] The doubling of the then adds great force and emphafs; if ever, then, then had the fons of God excufe &c. and this is faid in allufion to that text, Gen. VI. 2. The fons of God faw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all that they chofe, as if the fons of God there fignified Angels. See note on III. 463. ἐξ ερον είτο. Homer. Iliad. I. 469. Poftquam exempta fames epulis, menfæque remotæ. Virg. Æn. I. 216. Poftquam exempta fames et amor compreffus edendi. Æn. VIII. 184. Our author fays the fame thing, but at the fame time infinuates a fine moral of the true end of eating and drinking, which is to fatisfy but not to burden nature; and this fort of temperance he not only recommends as in the beginning of 451. Thus when with meats and this book and XI. 530. &c, but re drinks they had fuffic'd, Not burden'd nature, -] markably practic'd himself. - |