Of Galileo, less affur'd, observesTM

Imagin'd lands and regions in the moon:

Or pilot, from amidst the Cyclades
Delos or Samos first appearing, keņs.

A cloudy spot. Down thither

prone

in flight

265

He fpeeds, and through the vaft ethereal sky
Sails between worlds and worlds, with steddy wing
Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan
Winnows the buxom air; till within foar
Of tow'ring eagles, to' all the fowls he seems
A Phoenix, gaz'd by all, as that fole bird,
When to infhrine his reliques in the fun's

crown'd with cedars which were
higher than the highest bills.
261. As when by night the

glafs &c.] The Angel from
Heaven gate viewing the earth is
compared to an aftronomer ob-
ferving the moon thro' a telescope,
or to a pilot at fea difcovering an
iland at a distance. As when by
night the glafs of Galileo, the tele-
fcope first used in celeftial obferva-
tions by Galileo a native of Flo-
rence, lefs affur'd than the Angel,
as was likewise the pilot, obferves,
a poetical expreffion, the inftru-
for the person who makes
ment put
use of it, imagin'd lands and regions
in the moon, it is not only imagin'd
that there are lands and regions
in the moon, but aftronomers give

270

Bright

names to them: Or pilot, from amidst the Cyclades, a parcel of ilands in the Archipelago, Delos or Samos firft appearing, two of the largest of thefe ilands and therefore firft appearing, kens a cloudy spot, for ilands feem to be fuch at their first appearance. But the Angel fees with greater clearness and certainty than thefe; the glafs is lefs affur'd, and the pilot kens only a cloudy Spot, when the Angel fees not the whole globe only, but diftinctly the mount of Paradife.

266. Down thither prone in flight &c.] Virg. Æn. IV. 253. hinc toto præceps fe corpore ad undas Mifit, avi fimilis. 272, A Phænix,] Dr. Bentley objects

Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.
At once on th' eaftern cliff of Paradife

275

He lights, and to his proper shape returns
A Seraph wing'd; fix wings he wore, to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breaft

jects to Raphael's taking the shape of a Phoenix, and the objection would be very juft if Milton had faid any fuch thing: but he only fays that to all the fowls be feems a Phoenix; he was not really a Phoenix, the birds only fancied him one. This bird was famous among the Ancients, but generally looked upon by the Moderns as fabulous. The naturalifts speak of it as fingle, or the only one of its kind, and therefore it is called here that fole bird, as it had been before by Taffo unico augello. They defcribe it as of a most beautiful plumage. They hold that it lives five or fix hundred years; that when thus advanc'd in age, it builds itself a funeral pile of wood and aromatic gums, which being kindled by the fun it is there confumed by the fire, and another Phoenix arifes out of

the afhes, ancestor and fucceffor to himself, who taking up the reliques of his funeral pile flies with them to Egyptian Thebes to infhrine them there in the temple of the fun, the other birds attending and gazing upon him in his flight. Egyptian Thebes to diftinguish it from the other Thebes in Boeotia.

With regal ornament; the middle pair

Girt like a starry zone his waste, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold

And colors dipt in Heav'n; the third his feet

Shadow'd from either heel with feather'd mail,
Sky-tinctur'd grain. Like Maia's fon he stood, 285

And shook his plumes, that heav'nly fragrance fill'a
The circuit wide. Strait knew him all the bands
Of Angels under watch; and to his state,

And to his meffage high in honor rife;

289

For on fome meffage high they guefs'd him bound.
Their glittering tents he pass'd, and now is come

Αμβροσία, χρυσεία, τα μεν φε

τον ημεν εφ' ύγρων, H♪ en azaega jalav, apa

πνοιής ανέμοιο

Einero d'n eacdov, Ty t'avdewv όμματα θελγεία

Ὧν εθέλει, τις δ' αυτε και ύπνω or las eyesper.

Into

Seu terram, rapido pariter cum
Alamine portant.

Tum virgam capit: hâc animas
ille evocat Orco

Pallentes, alias fub tristia Tartara mittit ;

Dat fomnos adimitque et luming morte refignat.

The God obeys, his golden pi- Hermes obeys; with golden pi

nions binds,

nions binds

His flying feet, and mounts the western winds:

And whether o'er the seas or earth he flies,

With rapid force, they bear him down the skies.

But first he grafps within his awful hand,

The mark of fov'reign pow'r, his magic wand:

With this, he draws the ghosts

from hollow graves, With this, he drives them down the Stygian waves; With this, he feals in fleep the wakeful fight;

And eyes, tho' clos'd in death, reftores to light. Dryden.

If it is hard to determin (as Mr. Pope fays) which is more excellent, the

of myrrh,

Into the blissful field, through groves
And flow'ring odors, caffia, nard, and balm;
A wilderness of fweets; for Nature here
Wanton'd as in her prime, and play'd at will
Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more fweet,
Wild above rule or art; enormous blifs.

288.

295

Him

and to his ftate,

And to his meage high in honor rife;] With the fame respect

the copy or the original, yet I believe every reader will eafily determin that Milton's defcription is better than both. The reader may as the Mufes pay to Gallus in Virlikewife, if he pleafes, compare gil, Ecl. VI. 66. this defcent of Raphael with that of Gabriel in Taffo, Cant. 1. St. 13, 14, 15. But (as Dr. Pearce obferves) it is the graceful pofture in ftanding after alighting that is particularly compar'd to Mercury;

Hic paribus primum nitens Cylle

nius alis

Conftitit, Æn. IV. 253.

It is probable that the idea was firft
taken from the graceful attitudes
of the antique ftatues of Mercury
but our author might have it more
immediately from Shakespear's
Hamlet, Act III.

A station, like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a Heaven-kiffing

hill:

as the image of the Angel's fhaking his fragrant plumes is borrow'd particularly from Fairfax's Taffo, On Lebanon at firft his foot he fet, And shook his wings with roary May-dews wet.

Utque viro Phoebi chorus affur rexerit omnis.

296.-pouring forth more fweet, Wild above rule or art; enormous

blifs.] So the two first editions point this paffage: Dr. Bentley puts no ftop after art; for want of which he has fallen into a confiderable mistake: instead of pourring forth more fweet, he would have us read pouring forth profufe. He fays more fweet than what? nothing: for the comparison is dropt. But the fenfe is, pouring forth what was the more fweet for being wild and above rule or art.

Pearce.

Or fhould there not be a comma only after art? and is not enormous blifs the accufative cafe after pouring forth? which bliss was the more fweet, as it was wild above rule or art.

298. Him