The full relation, which muft needs be strange, And we have yet large day, for fcarce the fun Thus Adam made requeft; and Raphaël 560 High matter thou injoin'ft me', O prime of men, Sad task and hard; for how fhall I relate To human sense th' invifible exploits Of warring Spirits? how without remorse 565 And to Alcinous, and as Virgil's Eneas 574. though what if Earth &c.] In order to make Adam comprehend these things the Angel tells him that he must liken spiritual to corporal forms, and questions whether there is not a greater fimilitude and refemblance between And perfect while they stood? how last unfold Not lawful to reveal? yet for thy good 570 This is difpens'd; and what furmounts the reach By likening fpiritual to corporal forms, As may express them beft; though what if Earth now refts things in Heaven and things in Earth than is generally imagin'd, which is fuggefted very artfully, as it is indeed the beft apology that could be made for thofe bold figures, which Milton has employ'd, and efpecially in his defcription of the battels of the Angels. 577. As yet this world was not, &c. Had I follow'd Monfieur Boffu's method, I fhould have dated the action of Paradife Loft from the beginning of Raphael's fpeech in this book, as he fuppofes the action of the Eneid to begin in the second book of that poem. I could allege many reafons for my drawing the action of the Eneid rather from its immediate beginning in the first book, than Upon from its remote beginning in the fecond; and fhow why I have confider'd the facking of Troy as an epifode, according to the common acceptation of that word. But as this would be a dry unentertaining piece of criticism, I fhall not inlarge upon it. Which ever of the notions be true, the unity of Milton's action is preferved according to either of them; whether we confider the fall of Man in its immediate beginning, as proceeding from the refolutions taken in the infernal council, or in its more remote beginning, as proceeding from the first revolt of the Angels in Heaven. The occafion which Milton affigns for this revolt, as it is founded on hints in holy Writ, and Upon her center pois'd; when on a day (For time, though in eternity, apply'd To motion, measures all things durable 580 By prefent, past, and future) on fuch day As Heav'n's great year brings forth, th'empyreal hoft Of Angels by imperial fummons call'd, Innumerable before th' Almighty's throne Forthwith from all the ends of Heav'n appear'd 585 590 on the opinion of fome great writers, fo it was the moft proper that the poet could have made ufe of. The revolt in Heaven is defcribed with great force of imagination, and a fine variety of circumftances. Addifon. 579. Upon her center pois'd;] Ponderibus librata fuis, as Ovid fays Met. I. 13. or as Milton elsewhere expreffes it, VII. 242. And Earth felf-balanc'd on her center hung. 583. As Heav'n's great year] Our poet feems to have had Plato's great year in his thoughts. Magnus ab integro feclorum nafcitur ordo. Virg. Ecl. IV. 5. Of -Et incipient magni procedere menfes. Ecl. IV. iz. Hume. Plato's great year of the Heavens is the revolution of all the spheres. Every thing returns to where it fet out when their motion firft began. See Aufon. Idyl. XVIII. 15. A proper time for the declaration of the vicegerency of the Son of God, Milton has the fame thought for the birth of the Angels (ver. 861.) imagining fuch kind of revolutions long before the Angels or the worlds were in being. So far back into eternity did the vaft mind of this poet carry him! Richardfon. 583. th' empyreal hoft] We read of fuch a divine affembly in Job, I, 6. Now there was a day when Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees; 595 By whom in blifs imbofom'd fat the Son, when the fons of God came to prefent themselves before the Lord. And again, 1 Kings XXII, 19. I saw the Lord fitting on his throne, and all the boft of Heaven ftanding by him on his right hand and on his left, which was enough to furnish the hint to Milton. 589. Standards and gonfalons] A gonfalon is fome kind of ftreamer or banner, but of what particular fort authors do not seem to be at all agreed, and neither is it very material to know. 598. Amidst as from a flaming mount, &c.] This idea feems to be taken from the divine prefence in the mount, Exod. XIX. when God gave his commandments to the children of Ifrael, as here he is 600 This giving his great command con- Dark with exceffive bright thy See the note on that verfe. Thyer. 602. Hear my decree, &c.] We observed before that Milton was very cautious what fentiments and language he afcribed to the Almighty, and generally confin'd himself to the phrafes and expreffions of Scripture; and in this particular fpeech the reader will eafily remark how much of it is copy'd from holy Writ by comparing it L14 with This day I have begot whom I declare My only Son, and on this holy hill 605 Him have anointed, whom ye now behold 610 For ever happy: Him who difobeys, Me difobeys, breaks union, and that day 615 So fpake th' Omnipotent, and with his words All feem'd well pleas'd; all feem'd, but were not all. with the following texts. I have Jet my Anointed upon my holy bill of Sion; I will declare the decree, The Lord hath faid unto me, Thou art my fon, this day have I begotten thee. Pfal. II. 6, 7. By myself have I fworn, faith the Lord. Gen. XXII. 16. At the name of Jefus every knee fhall bow, of things in Heaven and every tongue shall confefs that Jefus Chrift is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Phil. II. 10, 11. 620. Myftical dance, &c.] Strange That myfterious motions, which the shining fphere of the planets and fixed ftars in their various revolutions imitates neareft; windings and turnings intangled and obfcure, involving and furrounding one another, altho' not moving on the fame center, yet then moft regular and orderly, when to our weak and diftant understanding they feem moft irregular and disturb'd. And thofe untruly errant call'd, I trow, |