Deeming fome iland, oft, as fea-men tell, With fixed anchor in his fkaly rind Moors by his fide under the lee, while night 205 So stretch'd out huge in length the Ar'ch-Fiend lay Chain'd on the burning lake, nor ever thence by the night, and thence at a lofs which way to fail. That the poet fpeaks of what befel the pilot by night, appears from ver. 207. while fight invefts the fea. Milton, in his poem call'd the Mask, uses the fame phrafe: the two brothers having loft their way in the wood, one of them fays, for certain Either fome one, like us, nightfounder'd here &c. Pearce. 205. as fea-men tell,] Words well added to obviate the incredi bility of cafting anchor in this manner. Hume. 207. Moors by his fide under the lee,] Anchors by his fide under wind. Mooring at fea is the laying out of anchors in a proper place for the fecure riding of a hip. The lee or lee-fhore is that on which the wind blows, fo that to be under the lee of the fhore is to be close under the weather-fhore or under wind. See Chambers's Di&t. An inftance this among ethers of our author's affectation in the use of technical terms. 207. while night Invefts the fea,] A much finer ex 210 Had preffion than umbris nox operit terras of Virgil An. IV. 352. But our author in this (as Mr. Thyer remarks) alludes to the figurative defcription of night ufed by the poets, particularly Spenfer. Fairy Queen. B. 1. Cant. 11. St. 49. By this the drooping day-light 'gan to fade, And yield his room to fad fucceeding night, Who with her fable mantle 'gan to Shade The face of earth. Milton alfo in the fame taste speaking of the moon, IV. 609. And o'er the dark her filver mantle threw. 209. So ftretch'd out huge in length the Arch-Fiend lay, ] The length of this verfe, confifting of fo many monofyllables, and pronounc'd fo flowly, is excellently adapted to the fubject that it would defcribe. The tone is upon the first fyllable in this line, the Arch-Fiend lay; whereas it was upon the laft fyllable of the word in ver. 156. th Arch-Fiend reply'd; a liberty that Milton fometimes fakes to pronounce the fame word with 215 Had ris'n or heav'd his head, but that the will In billows, leave i'th' midft a horrid vale. Then with expanded wings he fteers his flight 225 Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air That felt unusual weight, till on dry land He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd With folid, as the lake with liquid fire; And fuch appear'd in hue, as when the force 230 Torn from Pélorus, or the fhatter'd fide The yielding air, which nigh too feeble found Her flitting parts, and element unfound, To bear fo great a weight. Thyer. 235 With 229. liquid fire;] Virg. Ecl. VI. 33. Et liquidi fimul ignis, 231. Of fubterranean wind] Dr. Pearce conjectures that it should be read fubterranean winds, because it is faid aid the winds afterwards, and the conjecture feems probable and ingenious: the fuel'd entrails, Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid and increase the winds which first blew up the fire. 232. Pelorus,] A promontory of Sicily, now Cape di Faro, about a mile and half from Italy, whence Virgil angufta a fede Pelori, Æn. III. 687. Hume. 238. Of £4 With stench and smoke: Such refting found the fole Of unbleft feet. Him follow'd his next mate, Both glorying to have 'fcap'd the Stygian flood Is this the region, this the foil, the clime, That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom For that celeftial light? Be' it fo, fince he 238. Of unbleft feet.] Dr. Bentley to make the accent fmoother reads Of feet unbleft;. but Milton could have done the fame thing, if he thought proper: On the contrary he chooses almost always to put the epithet before the fubftantive (excepting at the end of a verfe) even tho' the verfe be the rougher for it. A plain fign that he thought it poetical to do fo. 245 Who Who now is Sovran can difpofe and bid What shall be right: fartheft from him is beft, Where joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail Receive thy new poffeffor; one who brings owning his adversary to be almighty. Whatever perverse interpretation he puts on the juftice, mercy and other attributes of the Supreme Being, he frequently confeffes his omnipotence, that being the perfection he was forced to allow him, and the only confideration which could fupport his pride under the fhame of his defeat. Nor muft I omit that beautiful circumftance of his burfting out into tears, upon his furvey of thofe innumerable Spirits whom he had involved in the fame guilt and ruin with himself. Addison. 252. Receive thy new poffeffor;] This paffage feems to be an improvement upon Sophocles, Ajax 395, where Ajax, before he kills himself, cries out much in the fame In anner. Ελιπς ελεπ' οικήτορα, 250 Can is excellent in placing his words: 253. by place or time.] Milton invert them only, and fay by time or place, and if the reader has any ear, he will perceive how much the alteration is for the worse. For the paufe falling upon place in the first line by time or place, and again upon place in the next line The mind is its own place, would offend the ear, and therefore is artfully varied. A mind not to be chang'd by place or time. The mind is its own place. 254. The mind is its own place,] Thefe are fome of the extravagances of the Stoics, and could not be better ridiculed than they are here by being put in the mouth ·IN OROT, ELov quo, speμl of Satan in his prefent fituation. Ω φαίγον ως εμοίς Thyer. 257-all |