The glaring picture of Paradife is not, in my opinion, so strong an evidence of Milton's force of imagination, as his representation of Adam and Eve when they left it, and of the passions with which they were agitated on that event. Against his battle of the angels, I have the fame objections as against his garden of Eden. He has endeavoured to elevate his combatants, by giving them enormous stature of giants in romances, books of which he was known to be fond; and the prowess and behaviour of Michael, as much resemble the feats of Ariosto's Knight, as his two handed sword does the weapons of chivalry: I think the fublimity of his genius much more visible in the first appearance of the fallen angels; the debates of the infernal peers; the passage of Satan through the dominions of Chaos, and his adventure with Sin and Death; the mission of Raphael to Adam; the conversations between Adam and his wife; the creation; the account which Adam gives of his first sensations, and of the approach of Eve from the hand of her CREATOR; the whole behaviour of Adam and Eve after the first tranfgreffion; and the prospect of the various states of the world, and history of man exhibited in a vision to Adam. In this vifion, Milton judiciously represents Adam, as ignorant of what disaster had befallen Abel, when he was murdered by his brother; but during his conversation with Raphael, the poet seems to have forgotten this necessary and natural ignorance of the first man. How was it poffible for Adam to difcern what the Angel meant by "cubic phalanxes, by planets of aspect malign, by encamping on the foughten field, " by van and rear, by standards, and gonfalons, and glit K. 2 : " glittering tissues, by the girding sword, by embat"tled squadrons, chariots, and flaming arms, and fiery "steeds?" And although Adam possefsed a superior degree of knowledge, yet doubtless he had not skill enough in chemistry to understand Raphael, who informed him, that -Sulphurous and nitrous foam They found, they mingled, and with fubtle art, And, surely, the nature of cannon was not much explained to Adam, who neither knew, or wanted the use of iron tools, by telling him, that they resembled the hollow bodies of oak or fir, With branches lopt, in wood or mountain fell'd. He that never beheld the brute creation but in its paftimes and sports, must have greatly wondered, when the Angel expressed the flight of the Satanic host, by saying, that they fled As a herd Of goats, or Timorous flock, together throng'd. But as there are many exuberances in this poem, there appears to be also some defects. As the ferpent was the instrument of the temptation, Milton minute. ly describes its beauty and alurements: and I have frequently wondered, that he did not, for the same reason, give a more elaborate description of the tree of life; especially as he was remarkable for his knowledge and imitation of the Sacred Writings, and as the following passage in the Revelations, afforded him a hint, from which his creative fancy might have worked up a striking picture: "In the midst of the street of it, and " of either fide of the river, was there the tree of life; " which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her " fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were " for the healing of the nations." 7 At the end of the fourth book, suspence and attention are excited to the utmost; a combat between Satan and the guardians of Eden is eagerly expected, and curiosity is impatient for the action and the cataf. trophe: but this horrid fray is prevented, expectation is cut off, and curiosity disappointed, by an expedient, which, though applauded by Addison and Pope, and imitated from Homer and Virgil, will be deemed fri. gid and inartificial, by all who judge from their own sensations, and are not content to echo the decifions of others. The golden balances are held forth, " which," fays the poet, "are yet seen between Aftrea and the Scorpion;" Satan looks up, and perceiving that his scale mounted aloft, departs with the shades of night. To make such a use, at so critical a time, of Libra, a mere imaginary fign of the Zodiac, is scarcely justifiable in a poem founded on religious truth. Among innumerable beauties in the Paradise Loft, I think the most transcendent is the speech of Satan at the beginning of the ninth book: in which his unextinguishable pride, and fierce indignation against God, and his envy towards Man, are so blended with an involuntary approbation of goodness, and disdain of the meanness and baseness of his present undertaking, as to render K 3 render it on account of the propriety of its sentiments and its turns of paffion, the most natural, most spirited, and truly dramatic speech, that is, perhaps, to be found in any writer, whether ancient or modern: and yet Mr. Addison has passed it over, unpraised and unnoticed. If any apology should be deemed neceffary for the freedom here used with our inimitable bard, let me conclude in the words of Longinus: "Whoever was " carefully to collect the blemishes of Homer, Demof"thenes, Plato, and of other celebrated writers of the " fame rank, would find they bore not the least pro" portion to the fublimities and excellencies with " which their works abound." No. CII. Saturday, October 27. 1753. -Quid tam dextro pede concipis, ut te Juv What in the conduct of our life appears DRYDEN, SIR, To the ADVENTURER. I HAVE been for many years a trader in London. My beginning was narrow, and my stock small; I was, therefore, a long time brow-beaten and despised by those who, having more money, thought they had more merit than myself. I did not, however, fuffer my resentment to instigate me to any mean arts of supplantation, nor my eagerness of riches to betray me to any indirect methods of gain; I pursued my business with K 4 |