Now lefs than fmalleft dwarfs, in narrow room Throng numberlefs, like that pygmean race Beyond the Indian mount, or faery elves, 780 Or the hint till he has raised out of it fome glorious image or fentiment, proper to inflame the mind of the reader, and to give it that fublime kind of entertainment, which is fuitable to the nature of an heroic poem. Thofe, who are acquainted with Homer's and Virgil's way of writing, cannot but be pleased with that Milton had artfully prepared the reader for this incident by marking their power to contract or inlarge their fubftance; and Milton feems to have intended hereby to diftinguish and aggrandize the idea of the chieftains, and to defcribe in a more probable manner the numberless myriads of fallen Angels contain'd in one capacious this kind of structure in Milton's ball. If Milton had reprefented fimilitudes. I am the more partithe whole hoft in their enormous cular on this head, because ignofizes, crouded in one room, the rant readers, who have formed fiction would have been more shock- their tafte upon the quaint fimiles ing and more unnatural than as it and little turns of wit, which are ftands at prefent. These argu- fo much in vogue among modern ments feem to carry fome weight poets, cannot relish thefe beauties with them, and upon thefe we which are of a much higher namust reft Milton's defenfe, and ture, and are therefore apt to cenleave the determination to the fure Milton's comparifons in which reader. they do not fee any furprifing points of likenefs. Monfieur Perrault was a man of this vitiated relish, and for that very reafon has: endevor'd to turn into ridicule feveral of Homer's fimilitudes, which he calls comparaisons a longue queue, long-tail'd comparisons. I fhall conclude this paper on the first book of Milton with the answer, which Monfieur Boileau makes to Perrault on this occafion. "Compa"rifons, fays he, in odes and epic 66 poems 780.-like that pygmean race &c.] There are alfo feveral noble fimiles and allufions in the first book of Paradife Loft. And here I muft obferve, that when Milton alludes either to things or perfons, he never quits his fimile till it rifes to fome very great idea, which is often foreign to the occafion that gave birth to it. The refemblance does not, perhaps, laft above a line or two, but the poet runs on with Or dreams he fees, while over-head the moon Sits arbitrefs, and nearer to the earth 785 Wheels her pale courfe, they on their mirth and dance Intent, with jocond mufic charm his ear; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. "poems, are not introduced only “to illustrate and embellish the "discourse, but to amuse and relax the mind of the reader, by "frequently difengaging him from "too painful an attention to the "principal subject, and by leading "him into other agreeable images. "Homer, fays he, excell'd in this "particular, whofe comparisons " abound with fuch images of na"ture as are proper to relieve and diverfify his fubjects. He continually instructs the reader, " and makes him take notice, " even in objects which are every "day before our eyes, of fuch cir"cumstances as we fhould not "otherwife have obferved." To this he adds as a maxim univerfally acknowledged, "That it is " not neceffary in poetry for the 66 points of the comparison to cor"refpond with one another ex"actly, but that a general refem"blance is fufficient, and that too "much nicety in this particular "favors of the rhetorician and epigrammatift." In short, if we look into the conduct of Homer, Virgil, and Milton, as the great fable is the foul of each poem, fo to give their works an agreeable Thus variety, their epifodes are fo many short fables, and their fimiles fo many fhort episodes; to which you may add, if you pleafe, that their metaphors are fo many fhort fimiles. If the reader confiders the comparifons in the firft book of Milton, of the fun in an eclipfe, of the fleeping leviathan, of the bees fwarming about their hive, of the faery dance, in the view wherein I have here placed them, he will easily discover the great beauties that are in each of those pasfages. Addifon. Thus incorporeal Spi'rits to finalleft forms Reduc'd their shapes immenfe, and were at large, 790 Though without number still amidst the hall Of that infernal court. But far within, And in their own dimenfions like themselves, The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim In close recefs and fecret conclave fat A thousand Demi-gods on golden feats, Frequent and full. After fhort filence then And fummons read, the great confult began. Carmina vel cœlo poffunt deducere lunam. Virg. Ecl. VIII. 69. 790. Reduc'd their shapes immense, and were at large, &c.] Tho numberless they had fo contracted their dimenfions, as to have room enough to be Au large (French) A largo (Italian) and be yet in the hall. So XI. 626. Ere long to fwim at large. Richardfon. 795. In clofe recefs and fecret conclave fat] It is not impro 795 The end of the First Book. THE ARGUMENT. The confultation begun, Satan debates whether another battel be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: fome advise it, others diffuade: A third propofal is preferr'd, mention'd before by Satan, to search the truth of that prophecy or tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature equal or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created: Their doubt who shall be fent on this difficult fearch: Satan their chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honor'd and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways, and to several employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He paffes on his journey to Hell gates, finds them fhut, and who fat there to guard them, by whom at length they are open'd, and discover to him the great gulf between Hell and Heaven; with what difficulty he paffes through, directed by Chaos, the Power of that place, to the fight of this new world which he fought. |