And on that high authority had believ'd, 5 And with him talk'd, and with him lodg'd, I mean With others though in holy writ not nam'd, And He founded upon the firft chapter of 13. Sometimes they thought he might And as the days increas'd, increas'd their doubt: For of Thisbe or Tifhbe, a city of the country of Gilead, beyond Jordan. Yet once again to come. it hath been the opinion of the church, that there would be an Elias before Chrift's fecond coming, as well as before his firft: and this opinion the learned Mr. Mede fupports from the prophecy of Malachi IV. 5. Behold I will Jend you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, &c. and from what our Saviour fays Mat. XVII. 11. Elias truly fall first come, and reftore all things. Thefe words our Saviour fpake when John Baptift was beheaded, and yet fpeaks as of a thing future, axaτ5n08ala, and fhall reftore all things. But as it was not Elias in perfon, but only in fpirit, who appeared before our Saviour's first coming, fo will it also be before his fecond. The reader may fee the arguments at large in Mr. Mede's Difcourfe XXV. which no doubt Milton had read, not only on account of the fame and excellence of the 15 Sought writer, but as he was also his fellow-collegian. 18. Therefore as thofe young prophets then with care Sought loft Elijah, &c.] 2 Kings II. 17. They fent fifty men, and they fought three days, but found him not. So in each place thefe nigh to Bethabara: fuch elleipfes, as Mr. Sympfon obferves, are frequent, and efpecially in our author. In Jericho the city of palms, fo it is called Deut. XXXIV. 3. and Jofephus, Strabo, Pliny, and all writers defcribe it as abounding with thofe trees. Ænon, mentioned John III. 23. as is likewife Salim or Salem. And John also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim. But there appears to be no particular reafon for our author's calling it Salem old, unless he takes it to be the fame with the Shalem mentioned Gen. XXXIII. 18, or confounds it with the Salem where Melchizedek was king. Macharus, a caitle in the mountainous part of Perea, or the country beyond Jordan, which river is well known to run thro' E 3 the Sought loft Elijah, fo in each place these The city' of palms, Ænon, and Salem old, Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek, 20 25 Where winds with reeds and ofiers whisp'ring play, Their unexpected lofs and plaints out breath'd. the lake of Genezareth, or the fea of Tiberias, or the fea of Galilee, as it is otherwife called. So that they fearched in each place on this fide Jordan, or in Peraa, wepay Topdare, beyond it. 27. Plain fishermen, no greater men them call,] Imitated from the beginning of Spenfer's Shepherd's Calendar. 39 35 The The kingdom fhall to Ifrael be restor❜d; Thus we rejoic'd, but foon our joy is turn'd For whither is he gone, what accident Hath wrapt him from us? will he now retire Send thy Meffiah forth, the time is come; Væ mifero mihi, quanta de fpe decidi! Terence Heaut. II. III. 9. 34.full of grace and truth;] Quoted from John I. 14. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. 36. The kingdom fall to Ifrael be reftor'd:] They are properly made to talk in the language, and according to the expectations of 40 45 50 Let Let us be glad of this, and all our fears Lay on his providence; he will not fail, 55 Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall, 60 Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume To find whom at the first they found unfought: But to his mother Mary, when she saw Others return'd from baptifm, not her son, Nor left at Jordan, tidings of him none, Within her breast though calm, her breaft though pure, Motherly cares and fears got head, and rais'd Some troubled thoughts, which she in fighs thus clad, O what -But [to come] to his mother Mary--to [come next to fpeak of his mother. Sanctius obferves, that all languages delight in brevity. Milton certainly is fond of it in ours. His ftile is exceedingly elleiptical, and fometimes crampt by an unnatural concifenefs. This might be the cafe here; but I would rather believe, that the poet dictated But O! his mother Mary, See the happy effect of a very small alteration! the tranfition to the great mother is freed from an aukward elleipfis; and the poet brings her upon the fcene, with a com paffionate |