01-16-28 Lut NOTE. HE text of the books of Paradise Lost in this volume. is that of the first edition (1667), with the slight corrections and additions of the second (1674). Most of the Biblical references given in the Notes have been pointed out by previous editors. I make this general acknowledgment of my obligations here, as it would have been inconvenient to crowd the Notes with the names of the various editors who have detected the allusions. Indeed, in many cases it would be impossible to say to which of the editors the credit belongs. The most of the allusions are obvious enough. The edition of Milton's prose-works referred to is that published in 'Bohn's Standard Library.' A. W. V. BOURNEMOUTH, ADDENDUM To this edition (1918) may be added a fuller explanation of a point hitherto treated inadequately by the editors, viz. the expression "the mouth of hell," P.L. XII. 42. No doubt, Milton had in mind the classical parallels given by the editors (see note on p. 80); but something more was embedded in the description. The place he meant is Hit, captured by the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force on March 9, 1918. It lies on the Euphrates, 100 miles west of Bagdad, and has been "from time immemorial the chief source of supply of bitumen to Babylonia," the whole ⚫ region being very rich in mineral oils. "It is known to the natives as 'the mouth of Hell"" (The Daily Chronicle, March 11, 1918). Native names of this kind are always of great antiquity; and it is obvious that Milton was alluding directly to this name, which he must have got from the works of some traveller, probably Sandys (see p. 84). Of course, “hell” used in this descriptive way is a general sort of term applied to volcanic places; Todd, in his note on XII. 42, quotes various illustrations, e.g. a passage from Sandys, referring apparently to southern Italy. But Milton is speaking of Babylonia, and one cannot doubt that he meant this particular place-Hit— "towards the west” (XII. 40), and was simply introducing its ancient native name. Hit, anciently Is, has been identified with the Ahava of Ezra viii. 15; see The Times, March 11. It is surely a curious turn of the Fortune's wheel of scholarship that makes a military Dispatch serve to illustrate the inexhaustible range of Miltonic allusion! A. W. V. BOSCOMBE, April 15, 1918. |