FHayman inw: et det:

ISMüller

Book,

2.

IGH on a throne of royal state, which far

Outthone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous east with richest hand

Show'rs 1. High on a throne &c.] I have submission even to omnipotence. before observed in general, that The same boldness and intrepedity the persons, whom Milton intro- of behaviour discovers itself in the duces into his poem, always dif- several adventures which he meets cover fuch sentiments and beha- with during his passage through the viour, as are in a peculiar manner regions of unformed matter, and conformable to their respective cha- particularly in his address to those racters. Every circumstance in their tremendous Powers who are despeeches and actions is with great scribed as presiding over it. juftness and delicacy adapted to the

Addison. persons who speak and act. As the the wealth of Ormus ord of poet very much excels in this con Ind,] That is diamonds, a Tistency of his characters, I shall principal part of the wealth of Inbeg leave to consider several pal- dia where they are found, and of fages of the second book in this the iland Ornius (in the Persian light. That superior greatness and gulf) which is the mart for them. mock-majetty, which is afcribed to

Purce. the prince of the fallen Angels, is 3. Or where the gorgeous east &c.] admirably preserved in the begin- Not that Ormus and I were in the ning of this book. His opening west

. but the fenic is that the and closing the debate; his taking throne of Satan outthone diarr onds, on himself that great enterprise at or pearl and gold, the choiceft the thought of which the whole in- whereof are produced in the east. fernal assembly trembled; his en- Spenser expreites the same thought countering the hideous phantom, thus, Fairy Queen, B. 3. C. 4. who guarded the gates of Hell and St. 23. appeared to him in all his terrors,

that it did pafs are instances of that proud and The wealth of th'eait, and pomp daring mind, which could not brook

of Persian kings. VOL. I.

P

And

15

Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted fat, by merit rais’d

5
To that bad eminence; and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heav'n, and by success untaught
His proud imaginations thus display'd.

IO Pow'rs and Dominions, Deities of Heaven, For since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigor, though oppress’d and fall’n, I give not Heav'n for loft. From this descent Celestial virtues rising, will appear More glorious and more dread than from no fall, And trust themselves to fear no fecond fate.

Mc And the east is said to pow'r them Rich pearls upon thee. with richeft hand by an excellent metaphor to express the great And this pearl and gold is called plenty and abundance of them, barbaric pearl and gold, after the and to show's them on her kings, manner of the Greeks and Ro because there the kings have the mans, who accounted all other naprincipal fare of property; or this tions barbarous; as Virgil faid, Æn. might be said, as Dr. Pearce con 504. ceives, in allusion to the custom

Barbarico postes auro fpoliisque suus'd at the coronation of some

perbi. kings in the east, of show'ring gold and precious stones upon their and Æn. VIII. 685. heads. And the same sort of me Hinc ope barbarica variifque Antotaphor is used in Shakespear, Ant.

nius armis and Cleop. Act II.

Victor ab auroræ populis I'D set thee in a show'r of gold, and hail

Tallo alfo (as Mr. Thyer farther

adds)

II.

Me though just right, and the fix'd laws of Heaven
Did first create your leader, next free choice,
With what besides, in counsel or in fight, 20
Hath been achiev'd of merit, yet this loss
Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more
Establish'd in a fafe 'unenvied throne
Yielded with full consent. The happier state
In Heav'n, which follows dignity, might draw 25
Envy from each inferior; but who here
Will
envy

whom the highest place exposes
Foremoft to stand against the Thund'rer's aim
Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share
Of endless pain? where there is then no good 30
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

From sadds) adopts this word into the Ita- leader, yet this loss hath much lian language in a description fimi- more establish'd in a safe unenvied lar to this, Cant. 17. St. 10. throne. E ricco di barbarico ornamento,

achiev'd] We spell it as In hábito regal splender si vede.

we pronounce it atchiev'd; but Mil

ton writes it achiev'd, like the 11. Pow'rs and Dominions,] As French achever, from whence it is St. Paul .calls the Angels, Thrones deriv'd. er Dominions or Principalities or

24.

The happier fate Powers, Col. I. 16.

In Heav'n, which follou's dignity, 18. Me theugh just right, &c.] &c.) He means that the higher in Me is rightly placed first in the sen- dignity any being was in Heaven, tence, being the emphatical word the happier his fate was; and that and the accusative case governd therefore inferiors might there envy by the two verbs which follow, superiors, because they were hap.create and establish’d. Me though pier too. Pearce, just right, &c did first create your

33 - none,

21.

P 2