Let us be glad of this, and all our fears

55

Lay on his providence; he will not fail,
Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall,
Mock us with his bleft fight, then snatch him hence;
Soon we shall see our hope, our joy return.

60

Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume
To find whom at the first they found unfought:
But to his mother Mary, when she saw
Others return'd from baptism, not her son,
Nor left at Jordan, tidings of him none,
Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure,
Motherly cares and fears got head, and rais'd
Some troubled thoughts, which she in fighs thus clad.
O what

- -But [to come] to his mother
Mary-to [come next to speak
of] his mother. Sanctius obferves,
that all languages delight in bre-
vity. Milton certainly is fond of
it in ours. His ftile is exceedingly
elleiptical, and fometimes crampt
by an unnatural concifenefs. This
might be the cafe here; but I
would rather believe, that the poet
dictated

But O! his mother Mary,

60. But to his mother Mary,] The meaning of the common reading (if it have any, and be not a blun- See the happy effect of a very small der of the prefs) muft be- ad alteration! the tranfition to the matrem quod attinetas for or great mother is freed from an aukas to his mother Mary for her ward elleipfis; and the poet brings part. Or the meaning might be her upon the fcene, with a com

paffionate

O what avails me now that honor high
To have conceiv'd of God, or that falute
Hail highly favor'd, among women blest!
While I to forrows am no lefs advanc'd,
And fears as eminent, above the lot
Of other women, by the birth I bore,

In fuch a season born when scarce a shed

Could be obtain'd to fhelter him or me

66

70

75

From the bleak air; a ftable was our warmth,
A manger his; yet foon enforc'd to fly
Thence into Egypt, till the murd'rous king
Were dead, who fought his life, and miffing fill'd
With infant blood the streets of Bethlehem;

paffionate feeling of her grief. If
this reading was but poffeffed of
the editions, nothing could be ob-
jected to it.
Calton.

I am no friend to alterations of the
text, unless they are abfolutely ne-
ceffary. The conftruction is
But to his mother-within her
breaft-motherly cares and fears
got head, and rais'd fome troubled
thoughts: and if the words were
brought thus near together, there
would not perhaps be thought that
difficulty and perplexity in the
fyntax.

63. Within her breaft though calm,
her breast though pure,
Motherly cares and fears got head,]

From

A fentiment much of the fame kind with that in the Paradife Loft, where upon the fall of our firft parents it is faid X. 23.

--dim fadnefs did not spare That time celestial visages, yet mix'd

With pity, violated not their blifs:

and may also serve to confirm what has been obferv'd in the note upon that place. How much more dignity and amiablenefs in this cha

racter than in that of a Stoical indifference and freedom from all perturbations as they term it?

Thyer. 79. -in

80

From Egypt home return'd, in Nazareth
Hath been our dwelling many years; his life
Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,
Little fufpicious to any king; but now
Full grown to man, acknowledg'd, as I hear,
By John the Baptist, and in public shown,
'Son own'd from Heav'n by his Father's voice; 85
I look'd for fome great change; to honor? no,
But trouble, as old Simeon plain foretold,

That to the fall and rifing he should be
Of many in Ifrael, and to a fign

Spoken against, that through my very foul
A fword fhall pierce; this is my favor'd lot,
My exaltation to afflictions high;

Afflicted I may be, it seems, and blest;

99

I will

I will not argue that, nor will repine.

But where delays he now? Some great intent

Conceals him:] How charmingly does Milton here verify the character he had before given of the bleffed Virgin in the lines above?

Within her breaft though calm, her breast though pure, Motherly cares and fears got. head.

We fee at one view the piety of the

I will not argue that, nor will repine.

intent

95

But where delays he now? fome great
Conceals him: when twelve years he scarce had seen,
I loft him, but fo found, as well I faw

He could not lose himself; but went about
His Father's business; what he meant I mus'd,
Since understand; much more his abfence now 100
Thus long to some great purpose he obscures.
But I to wait with patience am inur'd;
My heart hath been a store-house long of things
And fay'ings laid up, portending strange events.
Thus Mary pond'ring oft, and oft to mind
Recalling what remarkably had pafs'd

Since first her falutation heard, with thoughts
Meekly compos'd awaited the fulfilling;

105

The

the faint, and the tenderness of the
mother; and I think nothing can
be conceiv'd more beautiful and
moving than the fudden ftart of
fond impatience in the third line,
But where delays he now? breaking
in fo abruptly upon the compos'd
refignation exprefs'd in the two
preceding ones. The fame beauty
is continued in her fuddenly check-
ing herself, and refuming her calm
and refign'd character again in
thefe words-
-fome great intent
Gonceals him. Thyer.

103. My heart hath been a store-
boufe long of things
And Sayings laid up,

Thus Mary pond'ring oft,] Allud ing to what is faid of her, Luke II. 19. But Mary kept all these things, and pondred them in her heart: and again, ver. 51. but his mother kept all these fayings in her heart: fo confiftent is the part that the acts here with her character in Scripture.

110. —with

The while her fon tracing the defert wild,
Sole but with holieft meditations fed
Into himself defcended, and at once

All his great work to come before him fet;
How to begin, how to accomplish best
His end of being on earth, and miffion high :
For Satan with fly preface to return

Had left him vacant, and with speed was gone
Up to the middle region of thick air,

Where all his potentates in council fat;

There without fign of boast, or sign of joy,

122.

Solicitous

from th' element Each of his reign allotted, rightlier call'd

Pow'rs of fire, air, water, and

earth beneath,] It was a notion among the Ancients, especially among the Platonists, that there were Demons in each element, fome vifible, others invifible, in the æther, and fire, and air, and water, so that no part of the world was devoid of foul: εισι δε και άλλοι δαίμονες, ἐς και καλοίη αν τις γεννητες θεός, καθ' έκαςον των σοιχείων, οἱ μὲν ὁρατοι, οἱ δὲ αόρατοι, εν τε αιτ θεςι, και πυρί, περί τε, και ύδατι, ὡς μηδεν κοσμο μερά ψυγής αμοιρον είναι, as Alcinous in his fummary of the Platonic doctrines fays cap. 5. Michael Pfellus, in his dialogue concerning the operation of Demons, from whence Milton borrowed

fome