By place or choice the worthieft; they anon With hundreds and with thousands trooping came Attended: all accefs was throng'd, the gates 761 And porches wide, but chief the fpacious hall 765 To mortal combat, or career with lance) adivawv. Ηντε έθνεα εισι μελισσάων αδινάων. Βοτρυδόν δε πετολαι επ' ανθεσιν εια φίνοισιν, In Dufky they fpread, a clofe im body'd croud, And o'er the vale defcends the living cloud. There are fuch fimiles likewife in Αν μελ' ενθα άλις πεποτήαται, αν δε Virgil, Æn. I. 430. τι ενθα. Qualis apes æftate novâ per florea In fpring time, when the fun with Taurus rides, The fuburb of their ftraw-built citadel, And again, Æn. VI. 707. Ac veluti in pratis, ubi apes æftate ferena Floribus infidunt variis &c. But our poet carries the fimilitude farther than either of his great mafters, and mentions the bees conferring their fate affairs, as he is going to give an account of the confultations of the Devils. New Cum prima novi ducent examina reges Vere fuo, Iudetque favis emiffa juventus. 777. Behold a wonder! &c.] The paffage in the catalogue, explain ing the manner how Spirits tranfform themselves by contractions or inlargement of their dimenfions, is introduced with great judgment, to make way for several furprising ac 769. In Spring time, when the fun cidents in the fequel of the poem. with Taurus rides,] Dr. Bentley reads in Taurus rides, and fays, Does Taurus ride too, a conftellation fix'd? Yes, or elfe Ovid is wrong throughout his whole Fafti, where he defcribes the rifing and fetting of the figns of the zodiac: See what he fays of the rifing of Taurus, V. 603. and our author in X. 663. fpeaking of the fix'd ftars, fays, Which of them rifing with the fun or falling, &c. Pearce. 770. Pour forth their populous youth about the hive] Virg. Georg. IV. 21. There follows one, at the very end of the first book, which is what the French critics call marvellous, but at the fame time probable by reafon of the paffage laft mention'd. As foon as the infernal palace is finish'd, we are told the mul titude and rabble of Spirits immediately fhrunk themselves into a fmall compafs that there might be room for fuch a numberless affembly in this capacious hall. But it is the poet's refinement upon this thought which I mot admire, and which is indeed very noble in itfelf. For he tells us, that notwithftanding the vulgar, among the fallen Spirits, contracted their forms, thofe of the first rank and diguity ftill preferved their natural dimenfions. Addifon. Monfieur Voltaire is of a different opinion 775 New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer opinion with regard to the contrivance of Pandemonium and the transformation of the Devils into dwarfs; and poffibly more may concur with him than with Mr. Addifon. I dare affirm, fays he, that the contrivance of the Pandemonium would have been entirely difapproved of by critics like Boileau, Racine, &c. That feat built for the parlament of the Devils feems very prepofterous; Since Satan hath fummon'd them all together, and harangu'd them just be fore in an ample field. The council was neceffary; but where it was to be held, 'twas very indifferent. But when afterwards the Devils turn dwarfs to fill their places in the houfe, as if it was impracticable to build a room large enough to contain them in their natural fize; it is an idle ftory, which would match the most extravagant tales. And to crown all, Satan and the chief lords preferving their own monftrous forms, while the rabble of the Devils fhrink into Pygmies, hightens the ridicule of the whole contrivance to an unexpreffible degree. Methinks the true criterion for difcerning what is really ridiculous in an epic poem, is to examin if the fame Now thing would not fit exactly the mock-heroic. Then I dare fay that nothing is fo adapted to that ludicrous way of writing, as the metamorphofis is of the Devils into dwarfs. See his effay on epic poetry, p. 113, 114. I have been favored with a letter from William Duncombe Efq; juftifying Milton against Monfieur Voltaire's objections. As to the contrivance of Pandemonium, he thinks it agreeable to the rules of decency and decorum to provide a faloon for his Satanic Majefty and his mighty campeers (the progeny of Heaven) in fome measure adapted to the diguity of their characters; and the defcription is not inferior to any thing in Homer or Virgil of the like kind. We may farther add, that as Satan had his palace in Heaven, it was more likely that he fhould have one in Hell likewife; and as he had before harangued the fallen Angels in the open field, it was proper for the fake of variety as well as for other reafons that the council fhould be held in Pandemonium. As to the fallen Angels contracting their fhapes while their chiefs preferved their natural dimenfions, Mr. Duncombe obferves with Mr. Addifon, Now lefs than fmalleft dwarfs, in narow room. Throng numberlefs, like that pygmean race 780 that Milton had artfully prepared the reader for this incident by marking their power to contract or inlarge their fubftance; and Milton feems to have intended hereby to diftinguish and aggrandize the idea of the chieftains, and to defcribe in a more probable manner the numberless myriads of fallen Angels contain'd in one capacious hall. If Milton had reprefented the whole hoft in their enormous fizes, crouded in one room, the fiction would have been more fhocking and more unnatural than as it flands at prefent. Thefe arguments feem to carry fome weight with them, and upon thefe we muft reft Milton's defenfe, and leave the determination to the reader. Or the hint till he has raised out of it fome glorious image or fentiment, proper to inflame the mind of the reader, and to give it that fublime kind of entertainment, which is fuitable to the nature of an heroic poem. Thofe, who are acquainted with Homer's and Virgil's way of writing, cannot but be pleafed with this kind of ftructure in Milton's fimilitudes. I am the more particular on this head, because ignorant readers, who have formed their tafte upon the quaint fimiles and little turns of wit, which are fo much in vogue among modern poets, cannot relish thefe beauties which are of a much higher nature, and are therefore apt to cenfure Milton's comparifons in which they do not fee any furprising points of likenefs. Monfieur Perrault was a man of this vitiated relish, and for that very reafon has endevor'd to turn into ridicule feveral of Homer's fimilitudes, which he calls comparaitons à longue queue, long-tail'd comfa ifans. Ithal conclude this paper on the first book of Milton with the anfwer, which Monfieur Boileau makes to Perrault on this occafion. "Compa"rifons, fays he, in odes and epic 66 poems, 780.-like that pigmean race &c.] There are alfo feveral noble fimiles and allufions in the first book of Paradife Loft. And here I mult obferve that when Milton alludes either to things or perfons, he never quits his fimile till it rifes to fome very great idea, which is often foreign to the occafion that gave birth to it. The refemblance does not, perhaps, lait above a line or two, but the poet runs on with Or dreams he fees, while over-head the moon Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 785 Wheels her pale courfe, they on their mirth and dance Intent, with jocund mufic charm his ear; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. 66 poems, are not introduced only "to illuftrate and embellish the "difcourfe but to amute and re"lax the mind of the reader, by frequently difengaging him from "too painful an attention to the principal fubject, and by leading "him into other agreeable images. "Homer, fays he, excell'd in this "particular, whofe comparifons " abound with fuch images of naas are proper to relieve "and diverfify his fubjects. He continually inftructs the reader, "and makes him take notice, " even in objects which are every << ture day before our eyes, of fuch cir"cumftances as we fhould not "otherwife have obferved." To this he adds as a maxim univerfally acknowledged, "That it is not neceffary in poetry for the "points of the comparifon to cor respond with one another ex"actly, but that a general refem"blance is fufficient, and that too "much nicety in this particular "favors of the rhetorician and "epigrammatift." In short, if we look into the conduct of Homer, Virgil and Milton, as the great fable is the foul of each poem, fo to give their works an agreeable variety, their epifodes are fo many |