The breaking up of this infernal assembly is also well described.

Their rising all at once was as the found
Of thunder heard remote

The following speech of Satan to the Sun is very beautiful, and, as Mr. Addison observes, has some transient touches of remorse and self-accusation.

O thou that, with surpassing glory crown'd,
Look't from thy sole dominion like the god
Of this new world, at whose sight all the stars
Hide their diminish'd heads, to thee I call,
But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,
.O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
That bring to my remembrance from what state
I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere.

We cannot leave Milton, without pointing out other paldages that are as sublime as those we have already quoted : for such are his undrawn chariots that inove by instinct ; his ceverlasting gates of heaven, that self-opend wide on golden hinges moving; and the Mefliah attended by angels, looking

down into Chaos, calming its confusion, and drawing the first out-lines of the creation; which is thus happily described.

On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore
They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss,
Outrageous as a fea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turn’d by furious winds
And surging waves, as mountains to assault
„Heav'n's height, and with the centre mix the pole.
Silence

ye

troubled waves, and thou deep, peace, Said then th'omnific word, your discord end:

Nor staid, but on the wings of cherubim
Up-lifted, in paternal glory rode
„Far into Chaos, and the world unborn;
For Chaos heard his voice : him all his train
Followed in bright procession to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might.
T'hen staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepar'd
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe

This universe, and all created things:
One foot he center’d, and the other turn'd
Round through the valt profundity obscure,
And faid, thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
This be thy juft circumference, O World.

The description he has given us of the angel Raphael is likewise nobly conceived, and finely delineated.

Six wings he wore, to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each houlder brond, came mantling o'er his breast
With regal ornament; the middle pair
Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
And colours dipp'd in heav'n ; the third his feet
Shadow'd from either heel with feather'd mail,
Sky-tinetur'd grain! Like Maia's fon he stood,
And mook his plumes, that heav'nly fragrance fillid
The circuit wide

There ja fomething singularly sublime and beautiful in the following passage, transcribed from a poem, entituled, The Omniscience of the divine Being, by Mr. Smart.

When Philomela, ere the cold domain
Of crippled winter 'gins t'advance, prepares
Her annual flight, and in some poplar Made
Takes her melodious leave, who then's her pilot?
Who points her passage thro' the pathless void
To realms from us remote, to us unknown?
Her science is the science of her God.
Not the magnetic index to the north
E’er ascertains her course, nor buoy, nor beacon.
She, hcav'n-taught voyager, that fails in air,
Courts nor coy west nor eart, but instant knows
What Newton or not fought, or sought in vain *.

Illuftrious name, irrefragable proof
Of man's valt genius, and the foaring foul !
Yet what wert thou to him, who knew his works,
Before creation form’d them, long before
He measur’d in the hollow of his hand
Th’exulting ocean, and the highest heav'ns

He comprehended with a span, and weigh'd
The mighty mountains in his golden scales :
Who fhione supreme, who was himself the light,
E'er yet refraction learn'd her skill to paint,
And bend athwart the clouds her beauteous bow.

It would here be unpardonable to pass over all thofe sublime and animated descriptions we have of the Morning; which the writers of heroic and tragic poetry have labour'd so much to heighten and variegate, that one would think they had exerted their utmost skill and genius, to see who could render that season the most endearing:

Homer leads the way, and by a beautiful and well-conceived fiction, describes the morning as a goddess arrayed in a saffron robe, Aying in the air, and with her rosy fingers unbarring the gates of light. She leaves the bed of Tithon her lover, arises from the sea in a golden throne to usher in the sun, or in a chariot drawn by celestial horses, bear. ing with her the day, and is preceded by a star, which is her harbinger, and gives signal of her approach.

Virgil follows Homer, and never loses sight of him, as will appear by the following descriptions.

Aurora now had left her saffron bed,
And beams of early light the Heav'ns o'erspread.
The morn began from Ida to display
Her rosy cheeks, and phosphor led the day.
And now the rosy morn began to rise,
And wav'd her faffron streamer thro' the kies.

Now rose the ruddy morn from Tithon's bed,
And with the dawn of day the skies o'erspread;
Nor long the sun his daily course with-held,
But added colours to the world reveal'd.
The morn ensuing from the mountain's height
Had scarcely spread the skies with rosy light;
Th'ethereal coursers, bounding from the sea,
From out their flaming nostrils breath'd the day.

Toso had most probably Homer or Virgil in view when he wrote the following lines :

с

The purple morning left her crimson bed,

And donn'd her robes of pure vermilion hue ; Her amber locks The crown'd with rofes red,

In Eden's flow'ry gardens gather'd new.

And Spenser, who excels in description, has the fame fort of images diversified.

Now when the rosy-finger'd morning fair,

Weary of aged Tithon's faffron bed,
Had spread her purple robes thro' dewy air,

And the high hills Titan discovered ;

The royal virgin Thook off drowsy head,
And rising forth out of her baser bower,
Look'd for her knight

-The day forth-dawning from the east,
Night's humid curtains from the heav'ns withdrew,
And early calling forth both man and beast,

Commanded them their daily works renew. Milton's descriptions of the Morning are exquisitely drawn; and though he has departed as much as possible from the beaten track, yet some traces of the former poets may be evidently seen.

Now morn her rofy steps in th' eastern clime
Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl.

The morn,

Wak'd by the circling hours, with rosy hand
Unbarr'd the gates of light-

And now went forth the morn,
Such as in highest heav'n, array'd in gold
Empyreal; from before her vanih'd night,

Shot thro' with orient beams No descriptions of the morning can be more animated and sublime than those of SHAKESPEAR ; yet his thoughts bear great affinity to the preceding.

Look where the morn in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.

-Look, Love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east.
Night's tapers are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops,

These passages may be juftly rank'd among grand and sublime thoughts; and though the out-lines seem to have been drawn by Homer, on which they have run their feve. ral divisions, yet they have all acquitted themselves, so as to obtain the applause of the learned and judicious ; for men of judgment will ever consider that nature is still the fame, and that where the same object is to be described, the fame thoughts, and often the same words, will occur, if the descriptions are just and natural.

We have attributed the first instance of describing the morning in this beautiful manner to Homer, yet it is to be observ'd, that there is much of this sublime imagery in the sacred writings, from whence fome hints may probably have been taken. Thus it is said of the sun, that He cometh forth out of his chamber as a bridegroom, and exulteth as a giant who is to run his race.

Besides these thoughts, which captivate with their grandeur and sublimity, there are others that equally affect us by their agreeableness or beauty. The first please, because they l:ave something great, which always charms the mind, whereas these please only because they are agreeable. Comparisons and descriptions, taken from florid and delightful subjects, form agreeable thoughts, in the same manner as those we take from grand subjects form those that are sublime.

The writings of the holy penmen are replete with these thoughts ; but as the beauties of the bible are in every hand, and to be seen every day, we shall select what ex. amples we have room to admit from our English poets. The description, however, which Solomon has given us of Wisdom, ought not to be omitted, because it is sufficient, one would think, to make every man in love with her.

Length of days are in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

There are many passages in Mr. Smart's poem on the Immensity of the Supreme Being, which contain agreeable thoughts; but that of the Ring-dove's neft is, I think, remarkably fo :

:

What are yon tow'rs,
The work of lab'ring man and clumsy, art,
Seen with the ring-dove's neft ? On that tall beeck