If counfels different, or danger fhunn'd By me, have loft our hopes. But he who reigns Put forth at full, but ftill his ftrength conceal'd, Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Henceforth his might we know, and know our own, So as not either to provoke, or dreade 645 New war, provok'd; our better part remains the third part of the fars of Heaven, and caft them to the carth; and this opinion Milton hath exprefs'd in feveral places, II. 692. V. 710. VI. 156: but Satan here talks big and magnifies their number, as if their exile had emptied Heaven. 642, Which tempted our attempt,] Words tho' well chofen and fignificative enough, yet of jingling and unpleafant found, and like marriages between perfons too near of kin, to be avoided." There ly thought an elegance by Milton, and many inftances of it may be fhown not only in his works, but I believe in all the beft poets both ancient and modern, tho' the latter I am afraid have been sometimes too liberal of them. 1 647. that he no lefs &c.] Sa tan had own'd juft before, ver. 642. that they had been deceiv'd by God's concealing his ftrength He now fays, He alfo fhall find himself mistaken in his turn; He.. This kind of jingle was undoubted-fhall find our cunning fuch as that Hume. tho i There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long 655 Full counsel must mature: Peace is defpair'd, 660 For who can think fubmiffion? War then, War Open or understood must be refolv'd. He tho' we have been overpower'd, diers, when they applauded a fpeech we are not more than half fubdued. of their general, was to finite their Richardfon. fhields with their fwords. Bentley. And the epithet grafted, join'd to arms, determins the expreffion to mean words only, which were fpoken of a little before, ver. 664. 662. underflood] Not exprefs'd, not openly declar'd, and yet imply'd as when we fay that a fubitantive of verb is understood in a fentence. Pearce. 664. -drawn from the thighs] It may be observed here that Milton, to keep up the dignity of language, has purpofely avoided the trite phrafe drawn from the fides, and adopted the Greek way of expreffing it. Thus Homer, Iliad. I. 190. Η όγε φάσγανον οξύ ερυσαμίνα wapa unps. Thyer. Pearce. 669. Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven?] Dr. Bentley reads the walls of Heaven, Heaven the habitation of God and Angels being never defcribed as vaulted; and Dr. Pearce approves the emendation; and without doubt the wall or walls of Heaven is a common exprefion with our du thor. But may we not by the vault of Heaven understand cali convexa, our vifible Heaven, which is often defcribed as vaulted, the sphere of the 665 He fpake: and to confirm his words, out-flew ? Millions of flaming fwords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze........ Far round illumin'd Hell: highly they rag'd Against the High'eft, and fierce with grafped arms Clash'd on their founding fhields the din of war, Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven. There stood a hill not far, whofe grifly top 670 That in his womb was hid metallic ore, sil the fixed ftars above which God and Angels inhabit? Hurling defiance toward the visible Heaven is in effect hurling defiance toward the invifible Heaven, the feat of God and Angels. 671. Belch'd] So Virgil, Æn. III. 576. fays eructans of Etna, from which, or from mount Vefuvius, or the like, our poet took the idea of this mountain. 673. That in his womb] A very great man was obferving one day little inaccuracy of expreffion in the poet's making this mountain a perfon and a male person, and at the fame time attributing a womb to it: And perhaps it would have been better if he had written its womb; but womb is used in as large a fenfe as the Latin terus, which A A numerous brigad haften'd: as when bands 675 From Heav'n,for e'en in Heav'n his looks and thoughts The riches of Heav'n's pavement, trodden gold, In vifion beatific: by him firft two effential parts or principles; mercury, as the bafis or metallic matter; and fulphur as the binder or cement, which fixes the fluid mercury into a coherent malleable mafs. See Chambers's Dict. of Sulphur. And fo Johnson in the Alchemift, A& 2. Sc. 3.. It turns to fulphur, or to quickfilver, Who are the parents of all other metals. 678. Mammon] This name is Syriac, and fignifies riches. Ye cannot Serve God and Mammon, fays our Saviour, Mat. VI. 24. and bids us make to ourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteoufnefs, Luke XVI. 9. and ver. 11. If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, who will commit to your trust the 681 685 Ranfack'd true? Some look upon MammoN as the God of riches, and Mammon is accordingly made a perfon by our poet, and was fo by Spenfer before him, whofe defcription of Mammon and his cave our poet feems to have had his eye upon in feveral places. 682. The riches of Heav'n's pave nient, trodden gold,] So Homer fpeaks of the pavement of Heaven, as if it was of gold, ypufo the heavenly Jerufalem is de-. GEW EV SATES, Iliad. IV. 2. And fcribed by St. John, Rev. XXI, 21. and the fireet of the city is pure gold. Ranfack'd the center, and with impious hands and the fame thing. This obfervation has the appearance of accuracy But Milton is exact, and allades in a beautiful manner to a fuperftitious opinion, generally believed amongst the miners: That there are a fort of Devils which converfe much in minerals, where they are frequently feen to bufy and employ themselves in all the operations of the workmen; they will dig, cleanfe, melt, and feparate the metals. See G. Agricola de Animantibus fubterraneis. So that Milton poetically fuppofes Mammon and his clan to have taught the fons of earth by example and practical inftruction, as well as precept and mental fuggeftion.. Warburton. -687. Rifled the bowels of their motherearth] LVO L. I. Itum eft in vifcera terræ, Quafque recondiderat, Stygiifque admoverat umbris, Effodiuntur opes. Ov. Met. I. 138, St. 688. For treafures better bid.] Hor. Od. III. III. 49. Aurum irrepertum, et fic meliùs fitum. ·694.—and the works of Mem phian kings,] He feems to allude particularly to the famous Pyramids of Egypt, which were near Memphis. Barbara Pyramidum fileat miracu- |