choice 335 Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my 340 345 As 330. inevitably thou shall die,] In the day that thou eateft thereof thou fhalt furely die, as it is exprefs'd Gen. II. 17. that is from that day thou fhalt become mortal, as our poet immediately afterwards explains it. -335. Yet dreadful in mine ear,] The impreffion, which the interdiction of the tree of life left in the mind of our firft parent, is defcrib'd with great ftrength and judgment; as the image of the feveral beafts and birds paffing in review before him is very beautiful and lively. Addifon. 353-with As thus he fpake, each bird and beast behold I found not what methought I wanted ftill; O by what name, for thou above all these, Adore thee, Author of this universe, 353. with fuch knowledge God indued &c.] Wonderful was the knowledge God beftow'd on Adam, nor that part of it leaft, which concerned the naming things aright; as Cicero agrees with Pythagoras; Qui primus, quod fummæ fapientiæ Pythagoræ vifum eft, omnibus rebus nomina impofuit. Tufc. Difp. lib. 1. fect. 25. Hume. 354. but in these I found not what methought I wanted ftill;] The account given by Mofes is very fhort here, as in all the reft. Gen. II. 19, 20. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beaft of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to fee what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was 355 360 And the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattel, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field: but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And from this fhort account our author has rais'd what a noble epifode! and what a divine dialogue from the latter part only! 357.0 by what name, &c.] Adam in the next place defcribes a conference which he held with his Maker upon the fubject of folitude. The poet here reprefents the Supreme Being, as making an effay of his own work, and putting to the trial that reafoning faculty, with which he had indued his creature. Adam urges in this divine colloquy the impoffibility of his being happy, tho' he was the inhabitant of Para And all this good to man? for whose well being Thou haft provided all things: but with me I fee not who partakes. In folitude What happiness, who can enjoy alone, Or all enjoying, what contentment find? 365 370 To come and play before thee? know'ft thou not dife, and lord of the whole creation, without the conversation and fociety of fome rational creature, who fhould partake thofe bleffings with him. This dialogue, which is fupported chiefly by the beauty of the thoughts, without other poetical ornaments, is as fine a part as any in the whole poem. The more the reader examins the juftnefs and delicacy of its fentiments, the more he will find himself pleafed with it. The poet has wonderfully preferved the character of majesty and condefcenfion in the Creator, and at the fame time that of humility and adoration in the creature. Addifon. Their 357. O by &c] It is an unreafonable as well as untheological fuppofition, that God gave man the infpir'd knowledge of the natures of his fellow-creatures before the nature of his creator; yet this our poet fuppofes. What feems to have mifled him was that in the ordinary way of acquiring knowledge we rife from the creature to the creator. 372. Warburton. know'st thou not Their language and their ways?1 That brutes have a kind of language among themselves is evident and undeniable. There is a treatise in French of the language of brutes: and our author fuppofes that Adam underflood this language and was of knowledge fuperior to any of his Virg. Æn. I. 327. defcendents, and befides was affifted O by what name, by Their language and their ways? they alfo know, Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is large. 375 So ord'ring. I with leave of speech implor'd, Let not my words offend thee, heav'nly Power, My Maker, be propitious while I speak. 380 Haft thou not made me here thy fubftitute, And these inferior far beneath me fet? Can fort, what harmony or true delight? 385 Giv'n the animal, let down, and flacker, 395. Much lefs can bird with beaft, So well converfe, nor with the ox the ape; Worfe then can man with beast, &c.] Much lefs can bird with beaft, or Ви! Giv'n and receiv'd; but in disparity The one intense, the other ftill remifs Cannot well fuit with either, but soon prove Such as I feek, fit to participate All rational delight, wherein the brute 390 Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl 395 Α man confort in rational delight, i. e. cannot converfe with man in that way: and then he adds here Much lefs can bird well converfe fo with beaft &c. i. e. lefs ftill can one irrational animal converfe in this way with another irrational animal; not only if they be of a different fpecies, as bird and beaft, fish and fowl are; but even if they be of the fame fpecies, as the ox and ape are; the moft widely different creatures of any which are of the fame fpecies. But leaft of all can man converse But this reading is faulty in the diction; for it names ox and ape without the article the before them. When Milton fpeaks of general things as bird, beaft and fib, he drops the article; but he always ufes it when particular kinds are mention'd; and this grammar requires. Well, but what is the fault of the common reading? The Doctor fays that the ox is nearer to the ape than bird is to beaft &c; fo that the disharmony diminishes by the order of the phrafe, inftead of increafing. This objection will be remov'd by con- in a rational way with any of the fidering the fenfe of the whole beafts or irrational creatures. Is not paffage, which the Doctor feems not here a very proper gradation? to have confider'd aright. The brute (fays Milton ver. 391.) cannot be huVOL. II. Pearce 406. --none |