347

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK V.

Now

OW morn her rofy fteps in th' eastern clime Advancing, fow'd the earth with orient pearl, When Adam wak'd, fo cuftom'd, for his fleep Was aery light from pure digeftion bred,

And temp'rate vapors bland, which th' only found 5

t

1. Now morn her rofy steps] This is the morning of the day after Satan's coming to the earth; and as Homer makes the morning with rofy fingers, padedanlux Has, Iliad. I. 477. the rofy-finger'd morn, fo Milton gives her rofy fteps, and VI. 3. a rofy hand. The morn is first gray, then rofy upon the nearer approach of the fun. And fhe is faid to fow the earth &c. by the fame fort of metaphor as Lucretius fays of the fun, II, 211.

Of

And he obferves that Lucretius's metaphor lumine conferit arve wants much of the propriety of Milton's Jow'd the earth with orient pearl, fince the dew-drops have fomething of the fhape and appearance of fcatter'd feeds.

5.- which th' only found &c.] Which refers to fleep, and not to vapors the fubftantive immediately preceding. I mention this because it has been mistaken. It is certainly more proper to say that the found of leaves and fong of birds. difperfed fleep than vapors. The expreffion only found (as Dr. Pearce. rightly obferves) feems the fame with that in VII. 123. Only omnifcient; in both which places only fignifies alone; the only found, for there was none other; and it is to be understood as meant of the matin fong of the birds, as well as of Hh z

the

Of leaves and fuming rills, Aurora's fan,
Lightly difpers'd, and the shrill matin song
Of birds on every bough; fo much the more
His wonder was to find unwaken'd Eve
With treffes discompos'd, and glowing cheek,
As through unquiet rest: he on his fide
Leaning half rais'd, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld
Beauty, which whether waking or asleep,
Shot forth peculiar graces; then with voice

the found of leaves and fuming rills. Fuming rills, for fumes or teams rife from the water in the morning according to ver. 186.

Ye Mifts and Exhalations that now rife

From hill or freaming lake &c.

but they do not make a noife as fuming, but only as rills. Aurora's fan, the fanning winds among the leaves may be properly call'd the fan of the morning, and it is not unusual to refer a thing which follows two fubftantives to the first of the two only. Lightly difpers'd, Dr. Bentley fays that dispel fleep is better than difperfe it: but tho' to difpel fleep may be the more ufual expreflion, yet to difperfe fleep may be justify'd by very great authority, for Sophocles makes ufe of the very fame. Soph. Trachin. 998.

10

15 Mild,

Και μη σκεδάσαι Τωδ' απο κρατα βλεφάρων θ' ύπνον.

And the frill matin fong of birds on every bough. So Evander is wak'd in Virgil, Æn. VIII. 456.

Evandrum ex humili tecto lux fufcitat alma,

Et matutini volucrum fub culmine cantus.

The chearful morn falutes Evander's eyes,

And fongs of chirping birds invite

to rife: Dryden.

And Erminia likewife in Taffo by the fweet noife of birds, winds, and waters. Cant. 7. St. 5.

Non fi deftò fin che garrir gli augelli

Non fentì lieti, e falutar gli albori,

E

Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,

Her hand foft touching, whisper'd thus. Awake
My faireft, my efpous'd, my latest found,
Heav'n's last beft gift, my ever new delight,
Awake; the morning shines, and the fresh field 20
Calls us; we lose the prime, to mark how spring
Our tended plants, how blows the citron grove,
What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy reed,
How nature paints her colors, how the bee
Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.

E mormorare il fiume, e gli arbofcelli,

E con l'onda fcherzar l'aura, e co' fiori.

The birds awak'd her with their

morning song,
Their warbling mufic pierc'd her
tender ear,

The murm'ring brooks, and whift-
ling winds among
The rattling boughs and leaves,

25 Such

their part did bear. Fairfax. 5.-th' only found] This Dr. Bentley calls ftrange diction, and he will have it to be early found: but the prefent reading is countenanc'd by prime of the following line in Spenfer, Fairy elsewhere Queen, B. 5. Cant. 11. St. 30.

As if the only found thereof fhe
fear'd. Thyer.

16. Mild, as when Zephyrus on
Flora breathes,] As when the

21.

Song 3d. Thyer.

we lofe the prime,] The the day; as he calls it

that fweet hour of prime,

and IX. 200.

ver. 170.

The season prime for sweetest sents
and airs.
Hh3

The

Such whisp'ring wak'd her, but with startled eye On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spake. O fole in whom my thoughts find all repose, My glory, my perfection, glad I fee Thy face, and morn return'd; for I this night (Such night till this I never pass'd) have dream'd, If dream'd, not as I oft am wont, of thee, Works of day paft, or morrow's next defign,

The word is used by Chaucer and
Spenfer, as in Fairy Queen, B. 1.
Cant. 6. St. 13.

They all, as glad as birds of joy

ous prime.

30

But

between Adam and Eve, had his eye very frequently upon the book of Canticles, in which there is a

noble fpirit of eastern poetry, and very often not unlike what we meet with in Homer, who is ge26. Such whispring wak'd her,] nerally plac'd near the age of SoWe were told in the foregoing lomon. I think there is no quebook how the evil Spirit practiced ftion but the poet in the preceding upon Eve as the lay afleep, in or- fpeech remember'd those two pafder to inspire her with thoughts of fages which are spoken on the like vanity, pride, and ambition. The occafion, and fill'd with the fame author, who fhows a wonderful art pleafing images of nature, Cant. throughout his whole poem, in pre- II. 10, &c. My beloved pake and paring the reader for the feveral faid unto me, Rife up, my love, my occurrences that arife in it, founds fair one, and come away; for lo the upon the above-mention'd circum- winter is paft, the rain is over and ftance the first part of the fifth gone, the flowers appear on the earth, book. Adam upon his awaking the time of the finging of birds is finds Eve ftill afleep, with an unu- come, and the voice of the turtle is fual difcompofure in her looks. heard in our land. The fig-tree putThe pofture in which he regards teth forth her green figs, and the her, is described with a tenderness vines with the tender grapes give a not to be exprefs'd, as the whisper good smell. Arife my love, my fair with which he awakens her, is the one, and come away. Cant. VII. foftest that ever was convey'd to a 11, 12. Come, my beloved, let us go. lover's ear. I cannot but take no- forth into the field, let us get up early tice that Milton, in the conferences to the vineyards, let us fee if the vine

florifb,