Thought following thought, and step by step led on,
He enter'd now the bord'ring defert wild,

And with dark fhades and rocks environ'd round,
His holy meditations thus purfu'd.

O what a multitude of thoughts at once
Awaken'd in me fwarm, while I confider
What from within I feel myself, and hear
What from without comes often to my ears,
Ill forting with my present state compar'd!
When I was yet a child, no childish play

One day forth walk'd alone, the
Spirit leading;
And his deep thoughts, &c.

But at most there should be only a comma after leading, for the conftruction is, his deep thoughts leading as well as the Spirit. And as Mr. Thyer obferves, what a fine light does Milton here place that text of Scripture in, where it is faid, that Jefus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, and how excellently adapted to embellish his poem! He adheres ftrictly to the infpir'd hiftorian, and yet without any fort of profanation gives it a turn which is vastly poetical.

191.. till far from track of men, Thought following thought, &c] I hope it won't be thought too light to obferve, that our author might probably in these lines have in view

195

200

To me was pleasing; all my mind was fet
Serious to learn and know, and thence to do
What might be public good; myself I thought
Born to that end, born to promote all truth,
All righteous things; therefore above my years,
The law of God I read, and found it fweet,
Made it my whole delight, and in it grew
To such perfection, that ere yet my agé

205

Had meafur'd twice fix years, at our great feaft 210 I went into the temple, there to hear

The teachers of our law, and to propose

Οξυ δ' ανάβησας, ταχινοι δε

τοι ήλθον ισλοίο
Αλλ' ετι παιδια των εφρασσας
παίζα τελεία.

Swift was thy growth, and early
was thy bloom,
But earlier wisdom crown'd thy
infant days. Fortin.

Henry Stephens's tranflation of the
latter verfe is very much to our pur-
pofe,

Verum ætate, puer, digna es meditatus adulta:

or rather his more paraphraftical tranflation,

Verum ætate puer, puerili haud

more folebas Ludere; fed jam tum tibi feria cuncta placebant,

What

Digna ætate animus jam tum volvebat adulta.

And Pindar in like manner praifes Demophilus. Pyth. Od. IV. 501. new gap ev ali veC, ev de βολαις πρέσβυς. Our author might allude to these paffages, but he certainly alluded to the words of the Apoftle 1 Cor. XIII. 11. only inverting the thought. When I was a child, I spake as a child &c.

204: myself I thought Born to that end, born to promote all truth,] Alluding to our Saviour's words John XVIII. 37. Ta this end was I born, and for this caufe came I into the world, that I fhould bear witness unto the truth.

210. at our great feaft] The feaft of the pallover, Luke II. 41. 214. And

What might improve my knowledge or their own;
And was admir'd by all: yet this not all

To which my spirit aspir'd; victorious deeds
Flam'd in my heart, heroic acts, one while
To rescue Ifrael from the Roman yoke,

Then to fubdue and quell o'er all the earth
Brute violence and proud tyrannic power,
Till truth were freed, and equity reftor'd:
Yet held it more humane, more heav'nly firft
By winning words to conquer willing hearts,
And make perfuafion do the work of fear;

214. And was admir'd by all: :] For all that heard him were aftonifhed at his understanding and anfwers. Luke II. 47.

219. Brute violence] So again in the Mask

215

220

At

victorque volentes Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat Olympo.

Our author was always a declar'd enemy to perfecution, and a friend to liberty of confcience. He rifes And noble grace that dafh'd brute above himself, whenever he speaks violence. Thyer.

of the subject; and he must have felt it very ftrongly, to have ex221. Yet held it more humane, more heav'nly first &c.] Here prefs'd it fo happily. For as breathes the true fpirit of tolera- Mr. Thyer juftly remarks upon tion in these lines, and the fenti- this paffage, there is a peculiar ment is very fitly put into the foftness and harmony in these lines, mouth of him, who came not to de- exactly fuited to that gentle spirit froy mens lives but to fave them. of love that breathes in them; The allitteration of w's in this and that man muft have an inqui fitorial spirit indeed who does not line, and the affonance of winning and willing have a very beautiful feel the force of them.

effect;

By winning words to conquer willing hearts,

222.

to conquer willing hearts,] Virgil Georg. IV. 561.

At least to try, and teach the erring foul

Not wilfully mis-doing, but unware

Misled; the stubborn only to fubdue.

225

These growing thoughts my mother foon perceiving By words at times caft forth inly rejoic'd,

And faid to me apart, High are thy thoughts

O Son, but nourish them and let them foar
To what highth sacred virtue and true worth
Can raise them, though above example high;
By matchless deeds express thy matchless Sire.
For know, thou art no fon of mortal man;
Though men efteem thee low of parentage,
Thy father is th' eternal King who rules

230

235

All Heav'n and Earth, Angels and Sons of men; A meffenger from God foretold thy birth

Conceiv'd in me a virgin, he foretold

victorque volentes

Per populos dat jura which expreffion of Virgil's, by the way, feems to be taken from Xenophon. Oeconomic. XXI. 12. Ου γαρ πάνυ μοι δοκεῖ ὅλον τετι το αγαθον ανθρωπινον είναι, αλλα θείου, το εθέλοι των αρχειν. I could add other paffages of Xenophon, which Virgil has manifeftly copied. Fortin.

Thou

negligence of the former editors and printers, who have not fo much as corrected the Errata pointed out to them by Milton himself, but have carefully followed all the blunders of the frft edition, and increaled the number with new ones of their own. This paffage affords an instance. In all the editions we read

-the stubborn only to destroy;

226.--the fubborn only to fubdue.] We cannot fufficiently condemn the and this being good fenfe, the

mistake

Thou should'st be great, and fit on David's throne,
And of thy kingdom there should be no end. 241
At thy nativity a glorious quire

Of Angels in the fields of Bethlehem fung
To shepherds watching at their folds by night,
And told them the Meffiah now was born

245

Where they might fee him, and to thee they camê, Directed to the manger where thou lay'ft,

250

For in the inn was left no better room:
A ftar, not seen before, in Heav'n appearing
Guided the wife men thither from the east,
To honor thee with incenfe, myrrh, and gold,
By whose bright course led on they found the place,
Affirming it thy ftar new grav'n in Heaven,'
By which they knew the king of Ifrael born.
Juft Simeon and prophetic Anna, warn'd

mistake is not fo eafily detected:
but in the firft edition the reader
is defired in the table of Errata
for deftroy to read fubdue; and if
we confider it, this is the more
proper word, more fuitable to the
humane and heavenly character of
the speaker; and besides it answers
to the fubdue and quell in ver. 218.
The fon of man came not to deftroy
mens lives &c. Luke IX. 56.

227.my mother foon perceiving inly rejoic'd,]

Virgil. Æn. I. 5oz.

255

By

Latonæ tacitum pertentant gaudia pectus. Fortin.

241. there fhould be no end.] We have reftored the reading of Milton's own edition, should not hall, as before

Thou shouldst be great

255. Juft Simeon and prophetic

Anna,] It may not be improper to remark how strictly our au

thor