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Loud as from numbers without number, sweet

As from bleft voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung
With jubilee, and loud Hofanna's fill'd

Th' eternal regions: lowly reverent

Tow'ards either throne they bow, and to the ground

With folemn adoration down they caft
Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold;
Immortal amarant, a flow'r which once

a fhout loud as &c. Heav'n rung, &c. where the first words are put in the ablative cafe abfolutely. ¡

Pearce.

351. down they caft Their crowns] So they are reprefented Rev. IV. 10. The four and twenty elders fall down before him that fat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and caft their crowns before the throne.

353 Immortal amarant,] Amarant Apapan Greek, for unfading, that decayeth not; a flower of a purple velvet color, which tho' gather'd, keeps its beauty, and when all other flowers fade, recovers its luftre by being fprinkled with a little water, as Pliny affirms, Lib. 21. c. 11. Our author feems to have taken this hint from 1 Pet. I. 4. To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, apa and 1 Pet. V. 4 Ball receive a crown of glory that Fadith not away, apapalivo: both relating to the name of his ever

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351

In

lafting amarant, which he has finely fet near the tree of life. Amarantus flos, fymbolum eft immortalitatis. Clem. Alexand. Hume.

357- the fount of life, and

river of blis] The abundant happiness and immortal joys of Heaven are in Scripture generally exprefs'd by the fountain of life and rivers of pleasure: So, Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures, for with thee is the fountain of life, Pfal. XXXVI. 8, 9. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne fhall feed them, and fall lead them unto living fountains of waters, Rev. VII. 17. and Rev. XXII. 1. He showed me a pure river of water of life.

Hume. 359. Rolls o'er Elyfian flow'rs her

amber ftream;] Dr. Bentley reads Rolls o'er relucent gems &c. becaufe (he fays) it is not well conreceiv'd that flow'rs grow at the bottom of a river. But (as Dr. Pearce replies) Milton's words don't neceffarily imply fo much; the river

In Paradife, faft by the tree of life,

Began to bloom; but foon for man's offenfe

355

To Heav'n remov'd, where first it grew, there grows, And flow'rs aloft fhading the fount of life,

And where the riv'er of blifs through midft of Heaven Rolls o'er Elyfian flow'rs her amber stream;

360

With these that never fade the Spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks inwreath'd with beams,

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et deerefcentia ripas Flumina prætereunt, roll by and within their banks. But if we understand the paffage as it is exprefs'd, there is no kind of abfurdity in it; for we frequently fee grafs and weeds and flowers grow ing under water: and we may therefore fuppofe the finest flowers to grow at the bottom of the river of bliss, or rather the river to roll over them fometimes, to water, them. The author feems to intend much the fame thing that he has exprefs'd in IV. 240. where fpeaking of the brooks in Paradife he fays they

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From golden flumber on a bed Of heap'd Elyfian flow'rs. And then as to his calling it amber stream, it is only on account of its clearnefs and tranfparency, and not at all on account of its color, that he compares it to amber. The clearness of amber was proverbial among the Ancients; Callimachus in his hymn to Ceres, ver. 29. has

expor dwp; and in like manner Virgil fays of a river, Georg. III. 522.

Purior electro campum petit amnis. 360. With thefe that never fade] Dr. Bentley reads with this that P 3

ne ver

Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright Pavement, that like a fea of jafper shone, Impurpled with celeftial rofes fmil'd.

364

Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took,

Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their side
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
Of charming fymphony they introduce
Their facred song, and waken raptures high;

No voice exempt, no voice but well could join 370
Melodious part, fuch concord is in Heaven.

never fades, that is amarant. But thefe is right, and refers to crowns fpoken of in ver. 352. all the intermediate verfes being in a parenthefis. Milton alludes here to i Pet. V. 4. Ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Pearce. Or perhaps thefe may more probably refer to Elyfian flow'rs mention'd in the verfe preceding. It is more natural and eafy, and agrees better with what follows, with their being thrown off in loofe garlands, which it is better to understand of flow'rs than of crowns, which are themfelves garlands; but then there must be no parenthefis, as there is none in Milton's own editions.

363.like a fea of jafper fhone,] Jaiper is a precious tone of feveral colors, but the green is moft esteem'd, and bears some similitude and refemblance to the color of the fea.

364. Impurpled with celeftial rafes fail'd] A word very fami

Thee,

liar with Spenfer from the Italian
imporporato. Faery Queen, B. 3.
Cant. 7. St. 16.

Oft from the foreft wildings he
did bring,
Whofe fides impurpled were with
fmiling red.

Mariano Ad. Cant. 4. St. 291.
L'Ho.e fpogliando de lor fregi i
prati

Tutto di rofe imporporare il Cielo.
Thyer.

372. Thee, Father, firft they fung &c.] This hymn feems to be compofed fomewhat in the spirit and manner of the hymn to Hercules in the 8th book of the Æneid; but is as much fuperior as the fubject of the one tranfcends that of the other.

377. Thron'd inacceffible, but when thou fhad'ft] The word but here is the fame as except, unless; inacceffible, but when thou fhad'ft,

that

Thee, Father, first they fung Omnipotent,

Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,

Eternal King; thee Author of all being,

Fountain of light, thyself invisible

375

Amidst the glorious brightness where thou fitft
Thron'd inacceffible, but when thou fhad'ft

The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud
Drawn round about thee like a radiant fhrine,
Dark with exceffive bright thy fkirts appear,
Yet dazle Heav'n, that brightest Seraphim

that is then only acceffible, when thou fhad'ft &c. Perhaps Milton had in view what Ovid fays of Phoebus when his fon Phaeton came to him, Met. II. 39.

-circum caput omne micantes Depofuit radios, propiufque accedere juffit. Pearce.

I rather conclude that these ideas were fuggefted by the 33d chapter of Exodus, ver. 18. and the following paffage which ends thus, Thou balt fee my back parts, but my face fhall not be feen. Greenwood. 380. Dark with exceffive bright

thy fkirts appear,] Milton has the fame thought of darkness occafion'd by glory, V. 599. Brightnefs had made invifible. This allo explains his meaning here; the excefs of brightnefs had the effect of darknefs, invifibility. What an idea of glory! the fkirts only not

380

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Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes,
Thee next they fang of all creation first,
Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,

In whose confpicuous count'nance, without cloud
Made visible, th' almighty Father shines,

Whom else no creature can behold; on thee
Imprefs'd th' effulgence of his glory' abides,
Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit refts.

386

301

He Heav'n of Heav'ns and all the Pow'rs therein
By thee created, and by thee threw down
Th' afpiring Dominations: thou that day
Thy Father's dreadful thunder didft not fpe:c,
Nor stop thy flaming chariot wheels, that fok
Heav'n's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks 335
Thou drov'ft of warring Angels difarray'd.

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382. Approach not,] So Ovid Met. în Col. I. 15. the first born of every

II. 22.

Confiftitque procul, neque enim
propiora ferebat
Lumina.

but with both wings veil their eyes.
So they are reprefented in Ifaiah's
vifion of the throne of God:

Above it fiend the Seraphims; each one had fix wings; with twain he cover'd his face, &c. Ifa. VI. 2.

383.- of all creation firft,] So

creature or of all creation, πασης κλίσεως ; and Rev III. 14. the beginning of the creation of God.

387. Whom elfe no creature can

otherwife behold the Father but in behold;] No creature can and through the Son. No man hath Jeen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bofom of the Father, he hath declared him, John I. 18. But He that hath jeen me, hath feen the Father, John XIV. 9. 398. Thee

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