Servility with freedom to contend, 175 As both their deeds compar'd this day shall prove. 170 180 Reign thou in Hell thy kingdom; let me ferve In Heav'n God ever bleft, and his divine Behefts obey, worthieft to be obey'd; 185 Yet chains in Hell, not realms expect: mean while From me return'd, as erft thou faidft, from flight, This greeting on thy impious creft receive. So fay'ing, a noble stroke he lifted high, He back recoil'd; the tenth on bended knee 187. From me return'd, as erft thou faidft, from flight, This greeting &c.] So Afcanius in Virgil retorts his adversary's term of reproach, Æn. IX. 635, 195 Sidelong 189. So fay'ing, &c.] Saying is here contracted into one fyllable, or is to be pronounc'd as two short ones, which very well expreffes the eagerness of the Angel. He truck at his foe before he had finish'd his fpeech, while he was than Dr. Bentley's reading So aid, fpeaking, which is much better as if he had not aim'd his blow, till after he had spoken. 195. - as if on earth Winds under ground, &c.] Hefiod Bis capti Phryges hæc Rutulis re- compares the fall of Cygnus to an fponfa remittunt, alluding to ver. 599. oak or a rock falling, Scut. Herc. Sidelong had push'd a mountain from his feat Half funk with all his pines. Amazement feis'd The rebel Thrones, but greater rage to see Thus foil'd their mightiest; ours joy fill'd, and shout, Prefage of victory, and fierce defire 201 Of battel: whereat Michaël bid found Ηριπε δ', ὡς ὅτε τις δρυς ήριπεν, 11 ότε πετρη Hribar☺, wrnycsa AIO Jo λοεντι κεραύνω. And fimiles of this kind are very frequent amongst the ancient poets, but though our author might take the hint of his from thence, yet we must allow, that he has with great art and judgment highten'd at in proportion to the fuperior dignity of his fubject. But perhaps he might rather more probably allude to Spenfer's description of the fall of the old dragon, under which allegory he intended to represent a Chriftian's victory over the Devil. Fairy Queen, B. 1. Cant. 11. St. 54. So down he fell, as an huge rocky clift, Whofe falfe foundation waves have wafh'd away, With dreadful poife is from the main land rift, &c. Thyer. 210. - and the madding wheels] Hofanna What frong and daring figures are here! Every thing is alive and animated. The very chariot wheels are mad and raging. And how rough and jarring are the verses, and how admirably do they bray the horrible difcord they would defcribe! The word bray (probably from the Greek Bezy ftrepo) fignifies to make any kind of noise, tho' now it be commonly appropriated to a certain animal. It is apply'd by Spenfer to the found of a trumpet, Fairy Queen, B. 3. Cant. 12. St. 6. And when it ceas'd, fhrill trum pets loud did bray. But it ufually fignifies any difagreeable noise, as B. 1. Cant. 6. St. 7. Her fhrill outcries and fhrieks fo loud did bray: and B. 1. Cant. 8. St. 11. He loudly bray'd with beaftly yelling found: and Hofanna to the High'eft: nor ftood at gaze thus and in Shakespear's Hamlet, A&t I. 212. over head the difmal bifs Of fiery darts] Now the author come to that part of his poem, where he is moft to exert what faculty he has of, magniloquence of ftile, and fublimity of thought, Nunc, veneranda Pales, magno nunc ore fonandum. Virg. Georg. III. 294. He has executed it to admiration: but the danger is, of being hurried away by his unbridled fteed; and of deferting propriety, while he's hunting after found and tumor. 205 210 Of Of fiery darts in flaming volies flew, And flying vaulted either hoft with fire. Shakespear, the fubftantive is fometimes to be conftrued adjectively when governing a genitive cafe. Aristophanes in Plut. 268. pu σου αγελας επων. Ο thou who telleft me a gold of words, that is golden words. Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, p. 2. opening the cherry of her lips, that is cherry lips. So here the bifs of darts is hiffing darts. 214. And flying vaulted either hoft with fire] Our author has frequently had his eye upon Hefiod's giant-war as well as upon Homer, and has imitated feveral paffages; but commonly exceeds 215 220 225 Had |