Long to continue, and this high feat your Heaven
Ill fenc'd for Heav'n to keep out fuch a foe
As now is enter'd; yet no purpos'd foe

Το you, whom I could pity thus forlorn,
Though I unpitied: League with you I feek, 375
And mutual amity fo ftrait, so close,

That I with you must dwell, or you with me
Henceforth; my dwelling haply may not please,
Like this fair Paradife, your fenfe, yet fuch

Maker's work; he gave

it me,

389

Accept your
Which I as freely give; Hell fhall unfold,
To entertain you two, her wideft gates,
And fend forth all her kings; there will be room,
Not like these narrow limits, to receive

385

Your numerous ofspring; if no better place,
Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge
On you who wrong me not for him who wrong'd.

389.-yet public reason juft, &c.] Public reafon compels me, and that public reason is honor and empire inlarg'd with revenge, by conquering this new world. And thus Satan is made to plead public reafon juft, and neceffity to excufe bis devilifh deeds; the tyrant's plea, as the poet calls it, probably with a view to his own times, and particularly to the plea for fhip-money.

And

3.95. Then from his lofty ftand on

that high tree &c.] The tree of life, higher than the reft, where he had been perching all this while from ver. 196. And then for the transformations which follow, what changes in Ovid's Metamorphofis are fo natural, and yet fo furprifing as thefe? He is well liken'd to the fierceft beats, the lion and the tiger, and Adam and Eve in their

And fhould I at your harmless innocence
Melt, as I do, yet public reason just,
Honor and empire with revenge inlarg’d,

By conqu❜ring this new world, compels me now
To do what else though damn'd I fhould abhor.

So fpake the Fiend, and with neceffity,
The tyrant's plea, excus'd his devilish deeds.
Then from his lofty stand on that high tree
Down he alights among the sportful herd
Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one,
Now other, as their shape serv'd best his end
Nearer to view his prey, and unespy'd

390

395

To mark what of their state he more might learn 400
By word or action mark'd; about them round
A lion now he ftalks with fiery glare;

Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spy'd
In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play,

Strait

native innocence to two gentle did not do it for want of attention, fawns,

400. To mark what of their fate

be more might learn By word or action mark'd:] Tho' the poet ufes mark and mark'd too, yet fuch repetitions of the fame word are common with him; fo common that we may fuppofe he

and that it was not merely the effect of his blindness. See inftances of it in my note on III. 147. and we have another following here, ver. 405.

Strait couches close, then rifing changes oft

His couchant watch.

Pearce. 410. Turn'd

Strait couches close, then rifing changes oft

405

His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
Whence rushing he might surest seise them both
Grip'd in each paw: when Adam first of men
To first of women Eve thus moving speech,
Turn'd him all ear to hear new utterance flow. 410
Sole partner, and fole part, of all these joys,
Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power
That made us, and for us this ample world,
Be infinitely good, and of his good

As liberal and free as infinite;

That rais'd us from the duft and plac'd us here
In all this happiness, who at his hand
Have nothing merited, nor can perform

415

Ought

Sole partner, and fole part, of all thefe joys,

So the paffage ought to be read (I think) with a comma after part; and of here fignifies among. The fenfe is, among all these joys Thou alone art my partner, and (what is more) Thou alone art part of me, as in ver. 487.

Part of my foul I feek thee, and thee clame

My other half.

Of in Milton frequently fignifies among. The want of obferving

Ought whereof he hath need, he who requires
From us no other service than to keep

420

This one, this eafy charge, of all the trees

In Paradife that bear delicious fruit

So various, not to tafte that only tree

Of knowledge, planted by the tree of life;

So near grows death to life, whate'er death is, 425
Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou know'st
God hath pronounc'd it death to taste that tree,
The only fign of our obedience left

Among fo many figns of pow'r and rule

Conferr'd upon us, and dominion given

Over all other creatures that possess

430

Earth, air, and fea. Then let us not think hard

this made Dr. Bentley read beft part for fole part, thinking that fole part is a contradiction, and fo it is as he understands of here, to be the mark of the genitive cafe govern'd of part.

Pearce.

One

Adam fays afterwards

dominion given Over all other creatures that poffefs Earth, air, and sea,

421. This one, this eafy charge, &c.] It was very natural for Adam it is taken from the divine commifto difcourfe of this, and this was fion, Gen. I. 28. Have dominion what Satan wanted more particu- over the fish of the fea, and over the larly to learn; and it is exprefs'd fowl of the air, and over every livfrom God's command, Gen. II. ing thing that moveth upon the earth. 16, 17. Of every tree of the garden These things are fo evident, that it thou mayeft freely eat; but of the tree is almoft fuperfluous to mention of knowledge of good and evil, thou them. If we take notice of them, halt not eat of it, for in the day that it is that every reader may be fen

fible

One easy prohibition, who enjoy

Free leave fo large to all things else, and choice
Unlimited of manifold delights:

But let us ever praise him, and extol

His bounty, following our delightful task

435

To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers, Which were it toilfome, yet with thee were sweet.

To whom thus Eve reply'd. O thou for whom 440 And from whom I was form'd flesh of thy flesh, And without whom am to no end, my guide And head, what thou haft faid is just and right. For we to him indeed all praises owe, And daily thanks; I chiefly who enjoy

fible how much of Scripture our author hath wrought into this divine poem.

449. That day I oft remember, &c.] The remaining part of Eve's fpeech, in which the gives an account of herself upon her firft creation, and the manner in which he was brought to Adam, is I think as beautiful a paffage as any in Milton, or perhaps in any other poet whatsoever. These paffages are all work'd off with fo much art, that they are capable of pleafing the moft delicate reader without offending the most severe. A poet of lefs judgment and invention than this great author would have

445

So

found it very difficult to have filled these tender parts of the poem with fentiments proper for a state of innocence; to have described the warmth of love and the profeffions of it without artifice or hyperbole; to have made the man fpeak the moft indearing things without defcending from his natural dignity, and the woman receiving them, without departing from the modefty of her character; in a word, to adjust the prerogatives of wifdom and beauty, and make each appear to the other in its proper force and loveliness. This mutual fubordination of the two fexes is wonderfully kept up in the whole

poem,