feaft

To fuch perfection, that ere yet my age
Had measur'd twice fix years, at our great
I went into the temple, there to hear
The teachers of our law, and to propose
What might improve my knowledge or their own ;
And was admir'd by all: yet this not all

To which my spirit afpir'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 first

210

215

220

Born to that end, born to promote all truth, ] Alluding to our Saviour's words John XVIII. 37. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.

By

214. And was admir'd by all:] For all that heard him were aftonished at bis understanding and answers. Luke II. 47.

219. Brute violence? So again in the Mask And noble grace that dafh'd brute violence. Thyer.

221. Yet held it more humane, more heav'nly

firft &c.] Here breathes the true spirit of toleration in these lines, and the fentiment is very fitly put into the mouth of him, who came not to destroy mens lives but to fave them. The allitteration of w's in this line, and the 210. — at our great feaft] The feast of the affonance of winning and willing have a very paffover. Luke II. 41.

---

beautiful effect;

By

By winning words to conquer willing hearts,
And make perfuafion do the work of fear;
At least to try, and teach the erring foul
Not wilfully mif-doing, but unware
Misled; the ftubborn only to fubdue.

225

230

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 son of mortal man;

By winning words to conquer willing hearts.
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 con-
science. He rises above himself, whenever he
fpeaks of the subject; and he must have felt it
very ftrongly, to have express'd it fo happily.
For as Mr. Thyer juftly remarks upon this
paffage, there is a peculiar foftnefs and har-
mony in these lines, exactly fuited to that
gentle fpirit of love that breathes in them;
and that man must have an inquifitorial

เ

Though men esteem thee low of parentage,

Thy father is th' eternal King who rules

All Heav'n and Earth, Angels and Sons of men ;

A messenger from God foretold thy birth

Conceiv'd in me a virgin, he foretold

235

Thou should'st be great and fit on David's throne, 240

And of thy kingdom there should be no end.

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
Where they might see him, and to thee they came,
Directed to the manger where thou lay'st,

cannot fufficiently condemn the 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 first edition, and increased the number with new ones of their own. This paffage affords an instance.

In all the editions we read

-the stubborn only to destroy;

and this being good fenfe, the mistake is not so easily detected: but in the first 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

245

For in the inn was left no better room:

A star, not seen before, in Heav'n appearing
Guided the wife men thither from the east,

250

To honor thee with incenfe, myrrh, and gold,
By whose bright courfe 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

By vision, found thee in the temple', and spake
Before the altar and the vested priest,

Like things of thee to all that present stood.
This having heard, ftrait I again revolv'd
The law and prophets, fearching what was writ
Concerning the Meffiah, to our scribes

255

260

Known partly, and soon found of whom they spake

255. Just Simeon and prophetic Anna,] It may not be improper to remark how strictly our author adheres to the Scripture hiftory, not only in the particulars which he relates, but alfo in the very epithets which he affixes to the perfons; as here fuft Simeon, becaufe it is faid Luke II. 25. and the fame man was just: and prophetic Anna, because it is faid Luke II. 36. and there was one Anna a prophetess. The like accuracy may be observed in all the reft.

I

262. and foon found of whom they fpake. I am;] The Jews thought that the Messiah, when he came, would be without all power and diftinction, and unknown even to himself, till Elias had anointed and declared him. Xessos δε ει και γεγενηται, και εςι πω, αγνωςος 91, YOU BE CUITOS TOWN SOUTOV ETISATON, LOVE EXER 808 έχει uauv TIYA, μέχρις αν ελθών Ηλιας χρήση aurov, και φανερον πασι ποίηση. Juft. Mart. Dial. cum Tryph. p. 226. Ed. Col.

Calton.

266.— whose

I am; this chiefly, that my way must lie
Through many a hard assay ev'n to the death,
Ere I the promis'd kingdom can attain,
Or work redemption for mankind, whose sins
Full weight must be transferr'd upon my head.
Yet neither thus difhearten'd or dismay'd,
The time prefix'd I waited, when behold
The Baptist (of whose birth I oft had heard,

Not knew by fight) now come, who was to come
Before Meffiah and his way prepare.

I as all others to his baptifm came,

Which I believ'd was from above; but he

265

270

Strait knew me, and with loudest voice proclam'd 275 Me him (for it was shown him fo from Heaven)

Me him whofe harbinger he was; and first