What we receive, would either not accept
Life offer'd, or foon beg to lay it down,
Glad to be so dismiss'd in peace.

Can thus

Th' image of God in man created once

So goodly and erect, though faulty fince,
To fuch unfightly fufferings be debas'd

Under inhuman pains? Why fhould not man,
Retaining ftill divine fimilitude

In part, from fuch deformities be free,

And for his Maker's image fake exempt?

505

510

Their Maker's image, answer'd Michael, then 515 Forfook them, when themselves they vilify'd To ferve ungovern'd appetite, and took

His image whom they ferv'd, a brutish vice,

In

I had not fo much of man about me,
But all my mother came into my

much of the fire and fpirit would ton has preferved at the close of the be loft. The reader may fee other fentence. beauties of the fame kind in the note upon IV. 351. And there are feveral examples of it in Homer, but the Latin language feems hardly capable of it; at least I cannot recollect an inftance in Virgil, who is the great master of verfification.

495.
Adam wept,
Though not of woman born; com-
paffion quell'd

His beft of man, and gave him up

to tears] This thought (as Mr. Whalley obferves) is certainly from Shakespear, whofe words Mil

eyes,

And gave me up to tears.

Henry V. Act IV.

5.17. To ferve ungovern'd appetite,] Appetite here is made a perfon: and took his image whom they ferv'd, that is ungovern'd appetite's, a brutish vice, that was the principal occasion of the fin of Eve, inductive mainly to the fin of Eve. How different is this image from God's image, when (as we read in IV. 291.)

-in

Inductive mainly to the fin of Eve.

Therefore fo abject is their punishment,
Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own,
Or if his likenefs, by themselves defac'd,
While they pervert pure nature's healthful rules
To loathsome sickness, worthily, fince they
God's image did not reverence in themselves.

yield it juft, faid Adam, and fubmit.
But is there yet no other way, Lefides
These painful paffages, how we may come
To death, and mix with our connatural duft?

520

525

There is, faid Michael, if thou well obferve 530
The rule of not too much, by temp'rance taught,
In what thou eat'ft and drink'st, seeking from thence
Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,

Till

So

many years over thy head return:

may'st thou live, till like ripe fruit thou drop 535

Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease

Gather'd, not harfhly pluck'd, for death mature: : This is old age; but then thou must outlive

Thy youth, thy ftrength, thy beauty, which will change
To wither'd, weak, and gray; thy fenfes then 549
Obtufe, all taste of pleasure must forgo,

To what thou haft; and for the air of youth,
Hopeful and chearful, in thy blood will reign
A melancholy damp of cold and dry

To weigh thy fpirits down, and last consume
The balm of life. To whom our ancestor,
Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong
Life much, bent rather how I may be quit
Faireft and eafieft of this cumbrous charge,
Which I must keep till my appointed day
Of rendring up, and patiently attend
My diffolution. Michaël reply'd.

545

550

Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st Live well, how long or fhort permit to Heaven: And now prepare thee for another fight.

He look'd, and faw a fpacious plain, whereon
Were tents of various hue; by fome were herds
Of cattel grazing; others, whence the found
Of inftruments that made melodious chime

555

Was heard, of harp and organ; and who mov'd 560
Their ftops and chords was seen; his volant touch
Instinct through all proportions low and high
Fled and purfu'd transverse the resonant fugue.

553 Nor love thy life, nor hate ;] Martial. Lib. 10.

Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes.

554-permit to Heaven:] Per mitte Divis. Hor. Od. I. IX. 9. 556. He look'd, and faw a fpacious plain, &c] As there is nothing more delightful in poetry than a contralt and oppofition of incidents, the author after this melancholy profpect of death and fickness, raises up a scene of mirth, love, and jollity. The fecret pleasure that fteals into Adam's heart, as he is intent upon this vifion, is imagin'd with great delicacy. I must not omit the defcription of the loofe female troop, who feduced the fons of God, as they are called in Scripture.

For that fair female troop thou faw'ft, &c. Addifon.

In

.

557. Were tents of various bue; &c.] These were the tents of the pofterity of Cain, as the author himself afterwards instructs us; by fome were herds abal, he was the father of fuch as of cattel grazing; these belong'd to cattel. Gen. IV. 20. Others, whence dwell in tents, and of fuch as have the found was heard of harp and organ; thefe belong'd to fubal, he was the father of all fuch as handle In other part food one at the forge, the harp and organ. Gen. IV. 21. this was Tubal cain, an inftructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Gen.

IV. 22.

562. Infine through all proportions &c.] His nimble fingers, as

if infpired, flew thro' all the various distances of found, o'er all proporand through all its parts followed tions, low or high, treble or base, the founding fymphony. A fugue

(of

565

In other part stood one who at the forge
Lab'ring, two maffy clods of ir'on and brass
Had melted, (whether found where cafual fire
Had wafted woods on mountain or in vale,
Down to the veins of earth, thence gliding hot
To fome cave's mouth, or whether wash'd by stream
From underground) the liquid ore he drain'd

579

Into fit molds prepar'd; from which he form'd
Firft his own tools; then, what might else be wrought

After thefe, different fort

From

Ignis ubi ingentes filvas ardore cre

mârat
Montibus in magnis.

But these verses want emendation.
Plumbi poteftas is nonfenfe. The
ftops fhould be placed thus:

Et fimul argenti pondus, plumbi
que, poteftas
Ignis ubi ingentes &c.

Argenti pondus plumbique, as in
Virgil, argenti pondus et auri. Po-
teftas ignis expreffes the confuming
power of fire. We have potentia
folis in Virgil, and poteftates her-
barum. Fortin.

573. Fufil or grav'n] By melting or carving. Hume.

573. After thefe,] As being the defcendents of the brother, but on the bither fide, Cain having been banish'd into a more diftant country, a different fort, the

pofterity