On either fide a formidable shape;

The one feem'd woman to the waste, and fair, 650
But ended foul in many a scaly fold

Voluminous and vaft, a serpent arm'd
With mortal sting: about her middle round

A

revolt of Satan, that Death appear'd foon after he was caft into Hell, and that the terrors of con fcience were conceived at the gate of this place of torments. The defcription of the gates is very poetical, as the opening of them is full of Milton's fpirit Addifon. But tho' Mr. Addison cenfures this famous allegory, as improper for an epic poem; yet Bishop Atterbury, whofe tafte in polite litterature was never queftion'd, feems to be much more affected with this than any part of the poem, as I think we may collect from one of "I rehis letters to Mr. Pope. "turn you your Milton, fays He, I proteft to you, this laft perufal of him has given me fuch new degrees, I will "not fay of pleasure, but of ad"miration and aftonishment, that "I look upon the fublimity of "Homer and the majefty of Virgil with fomewhat lefs reverence than I us'd to do. I challenge you, with all your partiality, "to fhow me in the firft of these "any thing equal to the allegory " of Sin and Death, either as to "the greatness and juftnefs of the "invention, or the highth and "beauty of the coloring. What I

" and

66

I need not mention to the reader
the beautiful circumftance in the
laft part of this quotation. He
will likewife obferve how naturally
the three perfons concerned in this
allegory are tempted by one com-
mon intereft to enter into a confe-
deracy together, and how properly
Sin is made the portrefs of Hell,
and the only being that can open
the gates to that world of tortures.
The defcriptive part of this alle-
gory is likewife very ftrong, and
full of fublime ideas. The figure
of Death, the regal crown upon
his head, his menace of Satan, his
advancing to the combat, the out-
cry at his birth, are circumftances"
too noble to be paft over in filence,
and extremely fuitable to this king
of terrors. I need not mention the
juftness of thought which is ob-
ferved in the generation of thefe
feveral fymbolical perfons; that
Sin was produced upon the firft

66

66

"looked

A cry

of Hell hounds never ceafing bark'd

With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung 655
A hideous peal; yet, when they lift, would creep,
If ought disturb'd their noife, into her womb,
And kennel there, yet there still bark'd and howl'd,
Within

"looked upon as a rant of Bar"row's, I now begin to think a "ferious truth, and could almost "venture to set my hand to it,

Hæc quicunque leget, tantum ce-
ciniffe putabit,

Meonidem ranas, Virgilium cu-
lices.

649. On either fide a formidable Shape;] The figure of Death is pretty well fix'd and agreed upon by poets and painters: but the defcription of Sin feems to be an improvement upon that thought in Horace, De Art. Poet. 4.

Definit in pifcem mulier formofa fuperne.

And it is not improbable, that the author might have in mind too Spenfer's defcription of Error in the mix'd fhape of a woman and a ferpent, Fairy Queen, B. 1. C. 1.

St. 14.

Half like a ferpent horribly dif-
play'd,
But th' other half did woman's
hape retain, &c.

Ημισυ μεν νύμφην, ελικώπιδα
καλλιπάρκου,
Ημισυ δ' αυτε πέλωρον όφιν, δει
ναν το μεγαλε

654. A cry of Hell-bounds never

ceafing bark'd Dr. Bentley reads A crue of Hell-bounds, &c. but Milton's cry of Hell-hounds is of much the fame poetical stamp as Virgil's ruunt equites et odora canum vis, Æn. IV. 132. where what is proper to the canes is faid of the vis; as here what is proper to the Hell-bounds is faid of the cry. We have the fame way of fpeaking in

And alfo the image of Echidna, VI. 212. VII, 66, and elsewhere.

B. 6. C. 6. St.10.

Pearce.

660

Vex'd Scylla bathing in the fea that parts
Calabria from the hoarfe Trinacrian fhore:
Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when call'd
In fecret, riding through the air fhe comes,
Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland witches, while the lab'ring moon 665
Eclipfes at their charms. The other fhape,

If fhape it might be call'd that fhape had none
Diftinguishable in member, joint, or limb,

660. Vex'd Scylla bathing in the

fea] For Circe having poifon'd that part of the fea where Scylla ufed to bathe, the next time Scylla bathed, her lower parts were changed into dogs, in the fea that parts Calabria, the fartheft part of Italy towards the Mediterrancan, from the boarfe Trinacrian pore, that is from Sicily, which was formerly called Trinacria from its three promontories lying in the form of a triangle: and this fhore may well be called hoarfe not only by reafon of a tempeftuous fea breaking upon it, but likewife on account of the noifes occafion'd by the eruptions of mount Etna; and the number of r's in this verfe very well exprefs the hoarfness of it. You have the ftory of Scylla in the beginning of the 14th book of Ovid's Metamorphofis, ver. 59.&.

Or fubftance might be call'd that shadow feem'd,
For each feem'd either; black it stood as Night, 670
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,

And fhook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head
The likeness of a kingly crown had on.

Satan was now at hand, and from his feat

675

The monster moving onward came as fast
With horrid ftrides, Hell trembled as he ftrode.
Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd,
Admir'd, not fear'd; God and his Son except,

affected by magical practices, and the Latin poets call the eclipfes of the moon labores luna. The three foregoing lines, and the former part of this contain a fort account of what was once believ'd, and in Milton's time not fo ridiculous as now. Richardson.

666. The other shape &c.] This poetical defcription of Death our author has pretty evidently borrowed from Spenfer. Fairy Queen, B. 7. Cant. 7. St. 46.

But after all came Life, and laftly
Death,

Death with moft grim and grifly

visage seen, Yet is he nought but parting of the breath,

Ne ought to fee, but like a fhade

Created

678.
God and his Son except,
Created thing nought valued be nor
founn'd] This appears at
first fight to reckon God and his
Son among created things, but ex-
cept is ufed here with the fame li-
berty as but ver. 333 and 336, and
Milton has a like paffage in his
profe works, p. 277. Edit. Tol,
No place in Heaven and Earth, ex-
Richardfon.
cept Hell
683.- mif

0

Created thing nought valued he nor shunn'd ;
And with disdainful look thus first began.

680

685

Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, That dar'ft, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way To yonder gates? through them I mean to pass, That be affur'd, without leave afk'd of thee: Retire, or tafte thy folly', and learn by proof, Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heaven. To whom the goblin full of wrath reply'd, Art thou that traitor Angel, art thou He, Who first broke peace in Heav'n and faith, till then Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms

691

Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's fons Conjúr'd against the Hig'heft, for which both thou

683.- mifcreated] We have been told that Milton firft coin'd the word mifcreated, but Spenfer ufed it before him, as Fairy Queen, B. I. Cant. 2. St. 3.

And

I mean not thee intreat To pafs; but mauger thee will pafs, or die. Fortin.

692. Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's Sons] An

Eftfoons he took that mifcreated opinion, as we noted before, groun

fair.

and B. 2. Cant. 7. St. 42.

ded on Rev. XII. 3, 4. Behold a great red dragon - and his tail drew

Nor mortal fteel empierce his mif- the third part of the ftars of Heaven created mold. Bentley. and caft them to the earth.