The portal fhone, inimitable on earth Dreaming by night under the open fky, And waking cry'd, This is the gate of Heaven. Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood There always, but drawn up to Heav'n fometimes Viewlefs; and underneath a bright fea flow'd and ardent are too near akin to be both used together, and fince (as the Doctor allows) the best gems come from the Eaft Indies, it may be allow'd to Milton to mean by orient gems no more than the best and most precious ones. Milton very frequently uses the word orient in fuch a fenfe as this, and Dr. Bentley generally corrects it, tho' he has made no objection to the expreffion in I. 546. With orient colors waving. Poets, who write of things out of this world, muft ufe epithets and metaphors drawn from things in this world, if they would make themselves understood. Pearce. 510 514 510. The fairs, the degrees men. tion'd before, ver. 502. were fuch as whereon Jacob far &c.] A comparifon fetch'd from Gen. XXVIII. 12, 13. And he dreamed, and be bold a ladder fet upon the earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven, and behold the Angels of God afcending and defcending on it; and behold the Lord flood above it. &c. But this line Why do not then the bloffoms of To Padan-Aram in the field of Luz, the field must not be understood as if PadanAram Of jafper, or of liquid pearl, whereon Who after came from earth, failing arriv'd 520 Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds. His fad exclufion from the doors of blifs: Aram was in the field of Luz; but he was flying to Padan-Aram or the Country of Aram, that is Syria; and by the way refted and dreamed this dream in the field of Luz, for fo the adjoining city was called at the first; Jacob upon this occafion gave it the name of Bethel, by which it was better known afterwards. The paffage was wrong pointed in all the editions, for there hould be no comma after Luz: the comma fhould be after PadanAram, in the field of Luz being to be join'd on to dreaming in the next verse. 518. and underneath a bright fea flow'd] The author himfelf explains this, in the argument of this book, to be meant of the water above the firmament. He mentions it again VII. 619. Heylin. 525 Over 521. Wafted by Angels, &c.] As Lazarus was carried by Angels, Luke XVI. 22; and Elijah was rapt up in a chariot of fire and horfes of fire, 2 Kings II. 11. 525. doors] Milton writes this word dore and dores except only in one inftance in I. 504. of the second edition, which he alter'd from the first edition: but the other approaches nearer in found to the original word, if it be deriv'd from the Saxon duru, the German dure, dura, tura; and all as Junius fays from the Greek Jua, janua. And yet I think we commonly pronounce it dore tho' we conftantly write it door. But in all fuch cafes we want an advantage, that the French have enjoy'd, of an Academy to fix and fettle our language. Some proposals were made for erecting Over mount Sion, and, though that were large, 530 Over the Promis'd Land to God fo dear, By which, to vifit oft those happy tribes, On high behefts his Angels to and fro Pafs'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard Borders on Egypt and th' Arabian shore; 535 So wide the opening feem'd, where bounds were set Satan from hence, now on the lower stair erecting fuch an Academy to the Lord Treasurer Oxford at the latter end of the reign of Queen Anne; and it is a pity they were never carried into execution. 534. and his eye with choice regard] Dr. Pearce thinks that after regard a verfe feems to be wanting to defcribe what his eye did with choice regard: but it may be understood thus, his eye pass'd frequent, as well as his Angels to and fro on high behefts or commands, and furvey'd from Pancas, a city at the foot of a mountain of the fame name, part of mount Libanus where the river Jordan has its fource, to Beerfaba or Beer 540 Of fheba, that is the whole extent of the Promis'd Land from Paneas in the north to Beerfaba in the fouth, where the Holy Land is bounded by Egypt and Arabia. The limits of the Holy Land are thus exprefs'd in Scripture, from Dan even unto Beersheba, Dan at the northern and Beersheba at the fouthern extremity; and the city that was called Dan was afterwards named Paneas. So wide the opening feem'd, that is fo wide as I have reprefented it, wider than the paffage over mount Sion and the Promis'd Land; So wide the opening feem'd, where the fame divine power fixed the limits of darkness, that faid to the Of all this world at once. As when a scout First seen, or some renown'd metropolis With glift'ring fpires and pinnacles adorn'd, 545 550 Which now the rifing fun gilds with his beams: the proud ocean, Hitherto fhalt thou come and no farther. 540. Satan from hence, &c.] Satan, after having long wander'd upon the furface, or outmoft wall of the universe, discovers at last a wide gap in it, which led into the creation, and is defcribed as the opening through which the Angels pass to and fro into the lower world upon their errands to mankind. His fitting upon the brink of this paffage, and taking a furvey of the whole face of nature that appeared to him new and fresh in all its beauties, with the fimile illuftrating this circumftance, fills the mind of the reader with as furprifing and VOL. I. So So high above the circling canopy Of night's extended fhade) from eastern point Beyond th' horizon; then from pole to pole might in his préfent fituation, fo high above the circling canopy of night's extended hade. Dr. Bentley objects to the expreffion of circling canopy, when the shade of night muft needs be a cone: but as Dr. Pearce replies, to Satan who look'd down upon it from such an highth, it appear'd not a cone as it really was, but a circle. In this fituation then he furveys from eaftern point of Libra, one of the twelve figns exactly oppofit to Aries, to the fleecy flar, Aries or the Ram, that is from eaft to weft, for when Libra rifes in the eaft, Aries fets fall weft; and Aries is faid to bear Andromeda, because that conftellation reprefented as a woman is placed juft over Aries, and therefore when Aries fets he feems to bear Andromeda far off Atlantic feas, the great weftern ocean, beyond th' horizon; then from pole to pole he views in breadth, that is from north to fouth, and that is faid to be in breadth, because the Ancients knowing more of the earth from east to west than from north to fouth, and fo having a 560 His much greater journey one way than the other, one was called length or longitude, the other breadth of latitude. It is fine, as it is natural, to reprefent Satan as taking a view of the world before he threw himfelf into it. 562. Downright into the world's &c.] Satan after having furvey'd the whole creation, immediately without longer paufe throws himself into it, and is defcrib'd as making two different motions. At first he drops down perpendicularly fome way into it,downright into the world's firft region throws his flight precipitant, and aftewards winds his oblique way, turns and winds this way and that, if he might any where elpy the feat of Man; for tho' in ver. 527 it is faid that the paffage was juft over Paradife, yet it is evident that Satan did not know it, and therefore as it was natural for him to do, winds about in fearch of it through the pure marble air. The first epithet pare determins the fenfe of the fecond, and fhows why the air is compared to marble, namely for |