Others, with vast Typhoean rage, more fell [fierce), 539 The course of the subject is, 'Others rend up rocks and hills [like] as when Alcides tore up,' &c. ; but compare the following, which is the universal reading, where a block is placed at "uproar," line 541 : Others, with vast Typhoean rage, more fell 541 On bold adventure to discover-wide [from] 571 Strange to say, the simplest form of a sentenee, as well as the most subtle and involved passages, have perplexed or embarrassed the editors, of which numerous instances like this may be seen in these pages : BOOK 11.] THE EMENDED PUNCTUATION. and there to pine Immovable, infixed, and frozen, round Periods of time-thence hurried back to fire! lxxxiii 601 The following is accepted by the best editions as the true reading : and there to pine Immovable, infixed, and frozen round, Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire. "Round periods of time are full, complete, determined periods; so that "frozen round," is extremely ludicrous -but to the sensitive and intelligent reader it is exasperating. O'er many a frozen many a fiery Alp 620 Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs-dens and shades of death, Compare this with the following: O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death, A universe of death, which God by curse The former exhibits Milton's inspiration-the latter does not. Hell-bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof, And thrice threefold the gates (three folds were brass, Impenetrable), impaled with circling fire, Compare this with Vaughan's treatment as follows:— Hell-bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof, And thrice threefold the gates. Three folds were brass, Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire, 644 Most plainly "the gates were impaled with fire," yet the subject and its object are cut off in the disastrous manner here seen. The other editions are as insufferable, for they place a semicolon at " gates," and are innocent of parentheses. Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when called 662 "When called she comes to dance"-this scems to me to be the obvious flow of the passage; but the reading of the other editions is this: Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when, called This is tame, shambling, and faulty to a degree. My introduction of parentheses here again materially assists the development of the subject. Hast thou forgot me, then? and do I seem Of all the Seraphim, with thee combined 747 This passage is presented in the most scholarly editions thus, Keightley putting a semicolon at "Heaven": Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem Here the whole force of the withering rebuke, and the exquisite antithesis of the second question, are completely sacrificed the passage is in ruin. Me overtook his mother, all dismayed!— And in embraces forcible and foul, The horror here manifested is hardly to be traced in the treatment these lines receive in the other editions, which is torpid and inane, as here shown: and, swifter far, Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed, The Clarendon has this wild gallop-"Me overtook his BOOK M.] THE EMENDED PUNCTUATION. a place foretold Should be-and by concurring signs ere now- lxxxv 830 A simple sentence such as this cannot escape perversest treatment, as here exhibited : a place foretold Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now Grinned horrible a ghastly smile to hear His famine should be filled and blessed his maw, A plain sentence, again, such as this is must be maltreated. Vaughan does violence to it by placing a strong point after "filled," the other editors putting a comma, where it is not wanted, instead of at the end : Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear His famine should be filled; and blessed his maw And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal anarchy! Amidst the noise Of endless wars hard by Confusion stands; This is another pitfall into which all have fallen. The preposterous punctuation of all the editions is here shown: -where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or slow, 902 Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil), Levied to side with warring winds and poise Bradshaw has mistakenly closed the parentheses after "wings." They swarm populous, are in immense numbers, levied to side,' &c.; this is the plain reading. As in a cloudy chair ascending, rides Audacious; but that seat soon failing (meeting A vast vacuity all unawares), Fluttering his pennons vain plumb down he drops 930 The following punctuation is Vaughan's and Keightley's, from which others differ only by substituting a semicolon after "vacuity," which lends no aid in solving the difficulty: As in a cloudy chair ascending, rides Audacious; but that seat soon failing, meets A vast vacuity. All unawares, Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops This is pronounced confusion. Again the importance of parentheses is manifest. That fury stayed— Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea Nor good dry land-nigh foundered, on he fares; Compare the following: that fury stayed, Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea, Nor good dry land; nigh foundered on he fares, 938 This is the worst form of confusion (Vaughan's) in |