Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers, 190 195 His praise ye Winds, that from four quarters blow, 181,- that in quaternion run &c.] That in a fourfold mixture and combination run a perpetual circle, one element continually changing into another, according to the doctrin of Heraclitus, borrow'd from Orpheus. Et cum quattuor fint genera corporum, viciffitudine eorum mundi continuata natura eft. Nam ex terra, aqua: ex aqua, oritur aer: ex aere, æther: deinde retrorfum viciffim ex æthere, aer: inde aqua ex aqua, terra infima. Sic naturis his, ex quibus omnia conftant, furfus, deorfus, ultro, citro commeantibus, mundi partium conjunctio continetur. Cicero de Nat. Deor. II. 33. 197.ye living Souls;] Soul is ufed here as it fometimes is in Scripture for other creatures befides Man. So Gen. I. 20. the moving creature that hath life, that is foul in the Hebrew, and in the Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep; Witnefs if I be filent, morn or even, To hill or valley, fountain, or fresh shade Made vocal by my fong, and taught his praise. 202. Witness if I be filent,] Dr. Bentley thinks that Milton had forthat both Adam and Eve far'd got in this hymn, and therefore he reads if we be filent, and in the next verfe but one by our fong: But Milton rather imitates here the ancient chorus, where fometimes the plural, and fometimes the fingular number is ufed. The fame is practic'd by our poet in the fpeeches of the chorus in Sampfon Agoniftes, where the reader will fee in every page almost that the number is thus varied. Dr. Bentley obferves, that the whole hymn naturally divides itfelf into parts interlocutory, and that he has prefumed to put it fo, tho' not warranted by any edition. But this is not Dr. Bentley's invention; for this hymn was fet to mufic fome years ago, and in that compofition the feveral parts of it were affign'd diftinctly to Adam and Eve. I think that fuch interlocutory parts are by no means fit for an heroic poem: but if the author fhould be fuppofed to have defign'd them, I should choose to divide this hymn very different from the Doctor's divifion. [The Do&or aligns the first feven lines to Adam, thofe of the Angels to Eve, thofe of the Morning Star to 200 Hail Adam, thofe of the Sun to Eve, thofe of the Moon to Adam, of the Air and Elements to Eve, of the Mifts and Exhalations to Adam, of the Winds and Pines to Eve, of the Fountains and Rills to Adam, of the Creatures and Birds to Eve, of the Fishes and Beafts to Adam, and the four laft lines_to Eve. But on the contrary Dr. Pearce fays] The first feven and the four last verfes of this hymn I would fuppofe fpoken by Adam and Eve together and as to the other verfes, I would have Adam fpeak all that the Doctor affigns to Eve, and Eve all that is now affign'd to Adam. In this method the mention of the fair Morning Star, the Moon, and Fountains and Rills will come to Eve's fhare, and they are circumftances which feem fitter for her to mention than her husband. Hail univerfal Lord, be bounteous ftill 205 Firm Jupiter give us good things, whether we pray for them or not, and remove from us evil things, even tho' we pray for them. And we learn from the first book of Xenophon's memoirs of his mafter Socrates, that Socrates was wont to pray to the Gods only to give good things, as they knew beft what things were fo. Euxero de προ της θεάς απλως τ' αγαθα διδίναι, ὡς τις θεως καλλιτα ειδότας οποία αγαθα εςι. And to the fame purpose there is an excellent collect in our Liturgy, for the eighth Sunday after Trinity, We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all burtful things, and to give us thofe things which be profitable for us. 209. So pray'd they innocent, and to their thoughts Firm peace recover'd foon and wonted calm. On to their morning's_rural work they hafte &c.] These verfes are thus pointed in the beft, that is in Milton's own editions: but the latter fentence begins very abruptly, On to their morning's work &c. Dr. Bentley therefore continuing the fentence reads thus, So pray'd they innocent; and to their thoughts Firm peace recov'ring foon and wonted calm, On to their morning's rural work they hafte &c. Dr. Pearce thinks the fentence fufficiently continued in the common reading, if recover'd be a participle of the ablative cafe; and conceives this to be the conftruction, Peace and calm being recover'd to their thoughts, they hafte &c. and accordingly points it thus, and, to their thoughts Firm peace recover'd foon and wonted calm, On to their morning's rural work they hafte. But perhaps the abruptness of the line On to their morning's rural work they hafte was defign'd the better to express the hafte they were in as they were later to day than ufual: Or perhaps with an easy alteration it may be read thus, Then to their morning's rural work they hafte 214. Their Firm peace recover'd foon and wonted calm. On to their morning's rural work they haste Among sweet dews and flow'rs; where any row 210 Their pamper'd boughs, and needed hands to check Fruitless embraces: or they led the vine To wed her elm; she spous'd about him twines 215 Her marriageable arms, and with her brings Her dow'r th' adopted clusters, to adorn 214. Their pamper'd boughs,] The propriety of this expreffion will beft be feen by what Junius fays of the etymology of the word pamper. The French word pampre of the Latin pampinus is a vine-branch full of leaves and a vineyard, he obferves, is faid by them pamprer, when it is overgrown with fuperfluous leaves and fruitlefs branches. Gallis pampre eft pampinus: unde iis pamprer dicitur vinea fupervacuo pampinorum germine exuberans, ac nimia crefcendi luxuria quodammodo fylvefcens. 216. To wed her elm;] Hor. Epod. II. 9. -Aut adulta vitium propagine Altas maritat populos: Inutilefque falce ramos amputans, Feliciores inferit. Adam and Eve are very well employ'd in checking fruitless embraces, and leading the vine to wed her elm ; His barren leaves. Them thus employ'd beheld His marriage with the fev'ntimes-wedded maid. Yet this tall elm, but for his vine (he faid) Had ftood neglected, and a barren fhade; And this fair vine, but that her arms furround Her marry'd elm, had crept along the ground. Pope. And Virgil likewife has the meta- Inde ubi jam validis amplexa fir- and not only the poets, but Colu- 222. To travel with Tobias,] In the book of Tobit the Angel Raphael travels with Tobias into Media and back again, and inftructs him how to marry Sara the daugh 226 |