Eve separate, he wish'd, but not with hope Veil'd in a cloud of fragance, where fhe ftood, 425 Each flow'r of flender stalk, whose head though gay 435 Imborder'd on each bank, the hand of Eve: Spot more delicious than thofe gardens feign'd Alcinous, host of old Laertes fon, Or that, not mystic, where the fapient king 438. Imborder'd on each bank,] Dr. Bentley believes that Milton gave it Imbroider'd, proper to thick-woven. But imborder'd is the right word according to Bishop Kennet, who in his gloffary to his Parochial Antiquities in the word Bordarii fays, Some derive it from the old Gallic bords, the limits or extremes of any extent: as the borders of a county and the borderers or inhabitants in those parts. Whence the bordure of a garment, and to imborder which we corrupt to imbroider. See alfo Furetiere's French Dictionary on the words Brodeur and Embordurer. Pearce. Imborder'd on each bank, the banks the hand of fuch or fuch a master. 439. Spot more delicious &c.] He is not speaking here of Paradife in general, but of this particular spot, the handiwork of Eve; and he fays it was more delicious than the gar 440 Much dens of Adonis or Alcinous are feign'd to be. Of reviv'd Adonis; for after he was kill'd by the wild boar, it is faid that at Venus's request he was reftor'd to life. And we learn from St. Jerom, Cyril, and other writers, that his anniversary festival was open'd with forrow and mourning for his death, and concluded with finging and rejoicing for his revival. It is very true, as Dr. Bentley fays, that Ka Adavid, the gardens of Adonis, fo frequently mention'd by Greek writers, Plato, Plutarch &c. were nothing but portable earthen pots with fome lettice or fenel growing in them, and thrown away of Adonis: whence the gardens of the next day after the yearly feftival Adonis grew to be a proverb of conperishable affair. But, as Dr. Pearce tempt for any fruitless, fading, replies, Why did the Grecians on Adonis's feftival carry thefe fmall earthen gardens about in honor of him? was it not because they had a tradition, that when he was alive he delighted in gardens, and had a magnificent one? Pliny mentions the gardens of Adonis and Alcinous together as Milton does. There is nothing that the Ancients admir'd more than the gardens of the Hefpe Much he the place admir'd, the person more. rides, and thofe of the kings Adonis and Alcinous. Antiquitas nihil prius mirata eft quam Hefperidum hortos, ac regum Adonidis & Alcinoi. Plin. Nat. Hift. Lib. XIX. cap. 4. The Italian poet Marino in his L'Adone, Cant. VI. defcribes the gardens of Adonis at large: and Huetius in his Demonftr. Evangel. Prop. 4. cap. 3. fect. 3. fays of the Greeks, Regem Adonidem bortorum curæ impensè fuiffe deditum narrantes. Our country man Spenfer celebrates the gardens of Adonis in his Fairy Queen, Book 3. Cant. 6. the title of which is The gardens of Adonis, fraught With pleasures manifold; where he likewife gives an account of his death and revival. Shake fpear too mentions the garden of Adonis, 1 Part of Henry VI. Act I. The Dauphin fpeaks to Pucelle, Thy promifes are like Adonis' garden, That one day bloom'd, and fruit ful were the next. 445 The Waxing well of his deep wound In flumber foft: And in his Defenfio Secunda he mentions both the gardens of Alcinous and Adonis, and here calls them feign'd, which fufficiently diftinguifhes thefe gardens of Adonis from those little earthen pots which were really exhibited at his festival. And the gardens of Alcinous he has alluded to before V. 341. Alcinous, hoft to old Laertes fon, that is to Ulyffes whom he entertain'd in his return from Troy, as Homer informs us Odyffey book the 7th, where he gives us a charming defcription of his gardens; which Mr. Pope felected from other parts of Homer's works, and tranflated and publish'd in the Guardian before he attempted the reft. Or that, not myftic, not fabulous as the reft, not allegorical as fome have fancied, but a real garden, which Solomon made for his wife the daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See Canticles. And thus, as the moft beautiful countries in the world, IV. 268. 285. And Milton himfelf in the Mask could not vy with Paradise, so neifpeaks of Beds of hyacinth and roses, Where young Adonis oft repoles, ther could the moft delicious gardens equal this flow'ry plat, the fweet recess of Eve. The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine, 450 Her graceful innocence, her 450.-tedded grass,] Grafs juft mow'd and spread for drying. Richardfon. See likewife Lye's Junii Etymologicum under the word Tede. 453. What pleafing feem'd, for her now pleafes more,] Did not the beautiful affemblage of proper circumftances in this charmingly natural and familiar fimile lead one to think, that Milton took the hint of it from fome real fcene of this fort, which had fome time or other fmit his fancy, I fhould be apt to think that he alluded to this fame thought in Spenfer, who defcribing his hero Guyon with a fair lady upon a little iland adorn'd with all the beauties of nature adds, Fairy Queen, B. 2. Cant. 6. St. 24. And all though pleasant, yet fhe made much more. Thyer. every air 455 Of nature with that betwixt the Saracen king Aladin and the Italian virgin Sophronia in the 2d Canto of Taffo's Jerufalem: and tho' perhaps it would be going too far to say that Milton has borrowed from thence, yet I think it muft give the reader fome pleasure to fee, how two great geniufes naturally fall into the fame thoughts upon fimilar fubjects. Milton fpeaking of Eve says, her every air Of gefture or least action overaw'd His malice, &c. Taffo fpeaking of Sophronia's addreffing herself to the fierce Aladin fays, Á l'honefta baldanza, a l'impro- Folgorar di bellezze altere, e fante, How Of gefture or least action overaw'd 460 His malice, and with rapin sweet bereav'd His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought: That space the Evil one abstracted stood From his own ev'il, and for the time remain'd Stupidly good, of enmity disarm'd, 465 Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge; But the hot Hell that always in him burns, Though in mid Heav'n, foon ended his delight, And tortures him now more, the more he fees It may Of cumftances, the English poet vaftly excels the Italian both in ftrength of fentiments, and beauty of expreffion. be further observed, that there never was a finer or jufter compliment paid to beauty than is here by Milton, as it is not made up of rant and rhapsody as most of this kind are, but only faying what one may cafily imagin might have really happen'd upon the fight of fo delightful a fcene. Thyer. 462. His fierceness of the fierce intent] Tho' Dr. Bentley thinks it jejune, yet fuch a repetition is not uncom mon in the best poets. Et noftro doluifti fæpe dolore. Virg. Æn. I. 669. 468. Though in mid Heav'n,] That Heaven, or it may be underflood as is, would do though he were in if he were fometimes in Heaven, and juftify'd by Job I. 6. II. 1. There was a day, when the fons of |