ortending good, and all her spi'rits compos'd o meek fubmiffion: thou at season fit

600

et her with thee partake what thou hast heard,
hiefly what may concern her faith to know,
"he great deliverance by her feed to come
For by the Woman's feed) on all mankind:
hat ye may live, which will be many days,
oth in one faith unanimous though fad,
Vith cause for evils past, yet much more chear'd
With meditation on the happy end.
605

He ended, and they both defcend the hill;
Defcended, Adam to the bow'r where Eve
Lay fleeping ran before, but found her wak'd
And thus with words not fad fhe him receiv'd..

Whence thou return'ft, and whither went'ft, I

613

For God is alfo' in fleep, and dreams advise, 611
Which he hath fent propitious, fome great good
Prefaging, fince with forrow' and heart's diftress
Wearied I fell asleep: but now lead on;
In me is no delay; with thee to go,
Is to stay here; without thee here to stay,
Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me
Art all things under Heav'n, all places thou,
Who for
my wilful crime art banish'd hence.
This further confolation yet fecure

I carry hence; though all by me is loft,
Such favor I unworthy am vouchfaf'd,

611. For God is alfo in sleep, and

dreams advife,] Is alfo in fleep, and admonishes by dreams as well as by vifions, according to Numb. XII. 6. If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vifion, and I will speak unto him in a dream. And thus Homer, Iliad. I. 63. Ko γαρ τ' οναρ εκ ΔιΘ- εςιν. Nam et fomnium quoque ab Jove eft. And the application is very elegant in this place, as Adam's was a vifion, and Eve's a dream, and God

was in the one as well as in the other.

615. In me is no delay;] In memora non erit ulla. Virg. Ecl. III. 52.

616. Is to stay here; &c.] She is now come to that temper of mind, as to think it Paradife, wherever

620

Th' Arch-Angel Arcod,] Our poet obferves the το προπον, the decorum to the laft degree, making our firft parents fuch perfect patterns of modefty, as to forbear their indear

ments,

y me the promis'd Seed shall all restore.

So fpake our mother Eve, and Adam heard

Well pleas'd, but answer'd not; for now too nigh 625 h' Arch-Angel ftood, and from the other hill 'o their fix'd station, all in bright array 'he Cherubim defcended; on the ground liding meteorous, as evening mist is'n from a river o'er the marish glides, nd gathers ground faft at the lab'rer's heel Homeward returning. High in front advanc'd 'he brandish'd fword of God before them blaz'd ierce as a comet; which with torrid heat,

630

And

turned again to the marish of fordan,
and again, ver. 45. the marifh like-
We meet with it
wife and wood.
Act I. as Mr. Pope and Mr. War-
too in Shakespear, 1 Henry VI.
burton rightly read the paffage,

Our ile be made a marish of falt

tears.

ents, though but in words, at the ngel's approach. Hume. 629. Gliding meteorous,] Helioorus in his Ethiopics acquaints us, at the motion of the Gods differs om that of mortals, as the former o not ftir their feet, nor proceed Eep by step, but flide o'er the furace of the earth by an uniform wimming of the whole body. The And throughout the course of our wimming of the whole body. The remarks we have been the more wileader may obferve with how poetial a defcription Milton has attri-ling to explain and illuftrate our author by fimilar expreflions and fenouted the fame kind of motion to caufe Milton was a great reader and timents in Shakespear, not only beadmirer of his works, but also becaufe we conceive Shakespear and Milton to be two of the most extraordinary geniufes and greatest poets, whom any country or any time has produced. E e 4

he Angels who were to take pof-
effion of Paradise. Addi fon.
630. marish] An old word
for marfh, of the French marais,
and of the Latin marifcus, rushes
Commonly growing there. The word
Occurs in 1 Maccab. IX. 42. they

635. And

And vapor as the Libyan air aduft,

635

Began to parch that temp'rate clime; whereat
In either hand the haft'ning Angel caught
Our ling'ring parents, and to th' eastern gate
Led them direct, and down the cliff as faft
To the subjected plain; then disappear'd.
They looking back, all th' eaftern fide beheld
Of Paradife, fo late their happy feat,

640

Vav'd over by that flaming brand, the gate
Vith dreadful faces throng'd and fiery arms:

ome natural tears they dropt, but wip'd them

foon;

645

The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and flow, Through Eden took their solitary way.

neet alfo with the word in fo late a
erformance as Mr. Pope's tranfla-
on of the Iliad, B. 5. ver. 105.
On his broad fhoulder fell the-
forceful brand,
Thence glancing downward lopt
his holy hand,
Which ftain'd with facred blood

the blushing fand.

Brando in Italian too fignifies a fword.
And the reason of this denomination
Junius derives from hence, becaufe
men fought with burnt takes and fire-
brands, before arms were invented.

Direxere acies: non jam certamine
agrefti,
Stipitibus duris agitur, fudibufve

præuftis;

Sed ferro ancipiti decernitur.

Virg. Æn. VII. 523. 648. They hand in hand, with wan

d'ring fteps and flow, Through Eden took their folitary

way.] If I might prefume to offer at the smallest alteration in this divine work, I fhould think the poem would end better with the

foregoing paffage, than with the two
verfes here quoted. These two verses,
though they have their beauty, fall
very much below the foregoing paf-
fage, and renew in the mind of the
reader that anguish which was pretty
well laid by that confideration.

The world was all before them,
where to choose
Their place of reft, and Providence
their guide. Addifon.

If I might prefume, fays an ingenious
and celebrated writer, to offer at the
Smalleft alteration in this divine work.
If to make one small alteration ap-
pear'd to be fo prefumptuous; what
cenfure muft I expect to incur, who

have prefum'd to make so many? But Jacta eft alea, and Non injuffa cecini: