And vapor as the Libyan air aduft, Began to parch that temp'rate clime; whereat 635 640 and brand here does not fignify what we commonly mean by it, but a fword, as it is used in Spenfer, Fairy Queen, B. I. Cant. 3. St. 3. With thrilling point of deadly iron brand: And again, B. 5. Cant. 1. St. g. Which steely brand - Chrysaor it was hight, Chryfaor, that all other fwords excell'd: And again, B. 5. Cant. 9. St. 30. But at her feet her fword was likewife laid, Whofe long reft rufted the bright steely brand. And fo Fairfax likewife ufes the word in his tranflation of Taffo, Cant. VII. St. 72. Then from his fide he took his noble brand, And giving it to Raimond, thus he fpake; This is the fword &'c: and in feveral other places. And we meet Wav'd over by that flaming brand, the gate Some natural tears they dropt, but wip'd them foon; 645 The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and flow, Through Eden took their folitary way. meet also with the word in fo late a performance as Mr. Pope's tranflation of the Iliad, B. 5. ver. 105. On his broad fhoulder fell the Brando in Italian too fignifies a fword. And the reason of this denomination Junius derives from hence, because men fought with burnt flakes and firebrands, before arms were invented. Direxere acies: non jam certamine agrefti, Stipitibus duris agitur, fudibufve præuftis ; Sed ferro ancipiti decernitur. Virg. Æn. VII. 523. 648. They hand in hand, with wan d'ring fteps and flow, Through Eden took their folitary way.] If I might prefume to offer at the fmalleft alteration in this divine work, I fhould think the poem would end better with the foregoing paffage, than with the two verfes here quoted. These two verses. though they have their beauty, fall very much below the foregoing paffage, and renew in the mind of the reader that anguish which was pretty well laid by that confideration. The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of reft, and Providence their guide. Addifon. If I might prefume, fays an ingenious and celebrated writer, to offer at the Smalleft alteration in this divine work. If to make one small alteration appear'd to be fo prefumptuous; what cenfure muft I expect to incur, who have prefum'd to make so many? But Jada eft alea, and Non injuffa cecini: band; which reading does indeed make the laft diftich feem loofe, unconnected, and abfcinded from the reit. But the author gave it Then hand in hand: which continues the prior fentence, Eve profefs'd her readiness and ala- In me is no delay. And why their folitary way? All words to reprefent a forrowful part Some natural tears they dropt, but ing? when even their former walks wip'd them foon; Then hand in hand. Nor can these two verfes poffibly be Apparent dire facies, inimicaque Numina magna Deâm. They must therefore be difmifs'd out of Eden, to live thenceforward in fome other part of the world. And yet this diftich, as the gentleman well judges, falls very much below the foregoing paffage. It contradicts the poet's own fcheme; nor is the diction unexceptionable. He tells us before, That Adam, upon hearing Michael's predictions, was even furcharg'd with joy, ver. 372; was replete with joy and wonder, ver. 468; was in doubt, whether he fhould repent of, or rejoice in his fall, ver. 475 was in great peace of thought, ver. 558; and Eve herfelf not fad, but full of confolation, ver. 620. Why then does this diftich difmifs our first parents in anguish, and the reader in melancholy? And how can the expreffion be juftified, with wand'ring fets and flow? Why wand'ring? Erratic fteps? Very improper: when in the line before, they were guided by Providence. And why flow? when even in Paradise were as folitary, as their way now: there being no body befides them two both here and there. Shall I therefore, after fo many prior prefumptions, prefume at laft to offer a diflich, as close as may be to the author's words, and entirely agree able to his fcheme? Then hand in hand with social steps Bentley. As the poem clofes with thefe two verfes, fo Dr.Bentley finishes his labor with remarks upon them. He obferves that Mr. Addison declar'd for ejecting them both out of the poem ; and fuppofes him to have been induc'd to this by a mistake of the printer, They band in hand: which reading (the Doctor thinks) makes the lait diftich feem loofe, unconnected and abfcinded from the rest. But Mr. Addifon was too good a judge of Milton's way of writing, to eject them upon that account only. He gave us another reason for his readinefs to part with them, and faid that they renew in the mind of the reader that anguish, which was pretty well laid by the confideration of the two foregoing verses. But it has been faid more juftly by another gentleman (who feems well qualified to give a judgment in the cafe) that confidering the moral and chief defign of this poem, Terror is the left paffion to be left upon the mind of the reader. Effay Effay on Pope's Odyffey, Part 2. p. 89. However this be, the Doctor's reafon for keeping these two verfes is extraordinary: he fays that, unlefs they are kept, Adam and Eve would be left in the territory and suburbane of Paradife, in the very view of the dreadful faces: and he adds that they must therefore be difmifs'd out of Eden, to live thenceforward in fome other part of the world. And yet both in the common reading and in the Doctor's too, they are left in Eden, only taking their way through it. But this by the by. Let us fee how the Doctor would mend the matter; and then I will give my objections to his reading, and afterwards answer his objections to Milton's. He proposes to read thus, Then hand in hand with focial fteps their way Through Eden took, with heav'nly comfort chear'd. To this reading we may object, that the verb wants the word they before it; for it is too far to fetch it from ver. 645, when two verfes, of a quite different conftruction, are in ferted between. Again, chear'd with comfort feems tautologous, for comfort is imply'd in chear'd, without its being mention'd. Laftly, if they went hand in hand, there is no need to tell us, that their steps were focial; they could not be otherwife. So much for the Doctor's reading. We are now to confider the objections which the Doctor makes to the prefent reading. It contradicts (fays he) the poet's own fcheme, and the diction is not unexceptionable. With regard to the diction, he asks, Why were the fteps wand ring ones, when Providence was their guide? But it might be their guide, without pointing out to them which way they fhould take at every flep: The words Providence their guide fignify that now fince Michael, who had hitherto conducted them by the hand, was departed from them, they had no guide to their fteps, only the general guidance of Providence to keep them fafe and unhurt. Eve (it is plain) expected that her fieps would be wand'ring ones, when upon being told that he was to leave Paradife, he breaks out into these words, XI. 282. How fhall I part? and whither wander down Into a lower world? Again the Doctor asks, Why flow fteps; when Eve profefs'd her readinefs and alacrity for the journey, ver. 614? But that readiness was not an abfolute one, it was a choofing rather to go than to ftay behind there without Adam, ver. 615 &c. In that view fhe was ready to go: but in the view of leaving the delights of Paradife, they were both backward and even linger'd, ver. 638. Their fteps therefore were flow. And why (fays the Doctor) is their way call'd folitary, when their walks in Paradife were as folitary as their way now, there being no body befides them two both here and there? It may be anfwer'd, that their way was folitary, not in regard to any companions whom they had met with elsewhere; but because they were here to meet with no objects of any kind that they were acquainted with: Nothing here was familiar to their eyes, and (as Adam, then in Paradife, well expreffes it in XI, 305) all all places elfe Inhofpitable appear, and defolate, Nor knowing us, nor known. being for rejecting, others for altering, and others again for tranfpofing them: but the propriety of the two lines, and the defign of the author are fully explain'd and vindicated in the excellent note of Dr. Pearce. And certainly there is no more neceffity that an epic poem should conclude happily, than there is that a tragedy thould conclude unhappily. There are inftances of feveral tragedies ending happily; and with as good reafon an epic poem may terminate fortunately or unfortunately, as the nature of the fubject requires: and the fubject of Paradife Loft plainly requires fomething of a forrowful parting, and was intended no doubt for terror as well as pity, to infpire us with the fear of God as well as with commiferation of Man. All therefore that we shall add is to defire the reader to obferve the beauty of the numbers, the heavy dragging of the firft line, which cannot be pronounced but flowly, and with feveral pauses, [And may we not by folitary underftand farther their being now left by the Angel?] The last, but the main, objection which the Doctor makes, is that this diftich contradicts the poet's own scheme. To fupport this charge, he has referr'd us to half a dozen places of this twelfth book, where Adam or Eve are fpoken of, as having joy, peace, and confolation &c; and from thence he concludes that this diftich ought not to difmifs our first parents in anguish, and the reader in melancholy. But the joy, peace, and confolation fpoken of in thofe paffages are reprefented always as arifing in our firft parents from a view of fome future good, chiefly of the Meffiah. The thought of leaving Paradife (notwithstanding any other comfort that they had) was all along a forrowful one to them. Upon this account Eve fell afleep wearied with forrow and distress of heart, ver. 613. Both Adam and Eve linger'd at their quitting Paradife, ver. 638, and they dropt fome natural tears on that occafion, ver. 645. In this view the Arch-Angel, ver. 603, recommends to our first parents that they should live unanimous, tho' fad with caufe for evils paft. And for a plainer proof that as if Our the fcheme of the poem was to difhad moved heavily parents at first, being loath to leave their mifs them not without forrow, the poet in XI. 117. puts thefe words mended their pace, when they were delightful Paradife, and afterwards into God's mouth, as his inftruction at a little diftance. At least this is to Michael, the idea that the numbers convey: They hand in hand, with wan d'ring fteps and flow, | and then the quicker flow of the laft verfe with only the usual pause in the middle, Through Eden took their folitary way; So fend them forth, though forrow- and as many volumes might be com ing, yet in peace. Pearce. Thefe two laft verfes have occafion'd much trouble to the critics, fome pos'd upon the ftructure of Milton's verfes, and the collocation of his words, as Erythræus and other critics have written upon Virgil. We |