Persuasively hath so prevail'd, that I Have also tafted, and have alfo found Th' effects to correfpond, opener mine eyes, And growing up to Godhead; which for thee 875 For blifs, as thou haft part, to me is blifs, Left thou not tasting, different degree Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce Deity for thee, when fate will not permit. 885 Thus Eve with count'nance blithe her story told; But in her check diftemper flushing glow'd. 875. opener mine eyes, Dim erft, dilated Spirits, ampler beart, And growing up to Godhead ;] Milton in the manner of expreffion here feems pretty plainly to allude to what Thirfis in Taflo's Aminta fays of himself upon his feeing Phoebus and the Mufes. A&. I. Sc. 2. Sentii mè far di mé fteffo maggiore, Thyer. On Ran through his veins, and all his Obftupuere animi, gelidufque per 120. Æn. XII. 951. Hume. 892. From his flack hand the garland wreath'd for Eve Down dropt,] The beauty of the numbers, as well as of the image here, must strike every reader. There 890, Aftonied flood and blank, while is the fame kind of beauty in the borror chill placing of the words Down dropt, as On th' other fide, Adam, foon as he heard 890 Ran through his veins, and all his joints relax'd; O faireft of creation, last and best Of all God's works, Creature in whom excell'd 895 How art thou loft, how on a sudden lost, Defac'd, deflowr'd, and now to death devote? a in this paffage of Virgil, Æn. and in Virgil, Æn. VI. 834II. 531. Ut tandem ante oculos evafit et ora Neu patriæ validas in viscera ver tite vires. Sometimes two or more letters are repeated at the beginning of different words, as Hom. Iliad. XXI. 407. Επα δ' επεχε τελεθρα πεσων— and Virg. Æn. IV. 238. Dixerat: ille patris magni parere parabat Imperio. Erythræus and fome critics lay great itreis The ftrict forbiddance, how to violate The facred fruit forbidd'n? fome curfed fraud Of enemy hath beguil'd thee, yet unknown, 905 And me with thee hath ruin'd, for with thee my How can I live without thee, how forgo Thy sweet converfe and love fo dearly join'd, ftrefs upon this, efteeming it a fingular beauty in writing, though it is probable that the Ancients fell into it by chance as often as by defign: but the Moderns have carried it to a ridiculous degree of affectation, and Dryden particularly thought it one of the greatest arts of verfification. As there is fcarce any beauty in writing, or art in numbers, that is not to be found in Milton, fo he has fomething of this, but is more fparing in the use of it than feveral of the modern poets. We produc'd before an inftance of the fingle allitteration, VII. 471. Behemoth biggest born and here two or more letters are repeated, VI. S40. 919 Would And certainly now and then an in ftance may have a very good effect; but the continued affectation of it is below a great genius, and muft be offenfive to the ear instead of pleafing. 908. How can I live without thee, bow forgo Thy fweet converfe and love fo dearly join'd,] Dr. Bentley reads fo dearly joy'd, the fame as enjoy'd, as in ver. 1166. Who might have liv'd, and joy'd immortal bliss. But there is no occafion for this alteration; the paffage may very well be understood without it. Mr. RiO'er fhields and helms and helmed chardfon understands it thus, Con beads he rode, as well as in the inftance before us Defac'd, deflowr'd, and now to death devote. verfation more fweeten'd and indeared by love; if he lost her, he could only converse with Angels, where he should want the dear ad Would never from my heart; no no, I feel The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh, Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state 915 Mine never shall be parted, blifs or woe. So having faid, as one from fad difmay Recomforted, and after thoughts disturb'd Submitting to what feem'd remedilefs, Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turn'd. 920 Bold deed thou haft prefum'd, adventrous Eve, And peril great provok'd, who thus haft dar'd, dition of love. But the fenfe is much better as Dr. Pearce underftands it, that is, the fweet converfe and love of thee fo dearly join'd to me. This is a common way of fpeaking in Milton, and the reader may fee more inftances of it in IV. 129. and VIII. 423. The fenfe of this laft verfe is again found in ver. 970. link'd in love fo dear. 910. To live again in thefe wild woods forlorn?] How vaftly expreffive are these words of Adam's tenderness and affection for Eve, as they imply that the mere imagination of lofing her had already converted the fweets of Paradife into the horrors of a defolate wilderness! Thyer. 913. 12o no, I feel The link of nature draw me:] The Scripture account of Eve's formation might poffibly fuggeft this thought to Had Milton, and yet I can't help thinking but that he might probably have in view Plato's notion of the first human creatures being androgynous, i. e. male and female in the fame perfon, and that the affection now fubfifting betwixt the different sexes is only a fecret tendency or drawing of nature towards her first state. Thyer 920. Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turn'd.] He had till now been fpeaking to himself; now his fpeech turns to her, but not with violence, not with noife and rage, 'tis a deep confiderate melancholy. The line cannot be pronounc'd but as it ought, flowly, gravely. Richardfon. 922. who thus haft dar'd,] So it is in the first edition, but in the fecond by mistake it is printed hath dar'd, and that is follow'd in fome others. N 4 928. Per Had it been only coveting to eye Much more to tafte it under ban to touch. 928. Perhaps thou shalt not die, &c.] How juft a picture does Milton here give us of the natural imbecillity of the human mind, and its aptness to be warp'd into falfe judgments and reasonings by paffion and inclination? Adam had but juft condemn'd the 925 939 935 940 For action of Eve in eating the forbidden fruit, and yet drawn by his fondnefs for her immediately fummons all the force of his reafon to prove what she had done to be right. This may probably appear a fault to fuperficial readers, but all intelligent ones |