Melt, as I do, yet public reason just,
Honour and empire, with revenge enlarged,
By conquering this new world, compels me now
To do what else, though damned, I should abhor."
So spake the fiend, and with necessity,
The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds.
Then from his lofty stand on that high tree
Down he alights among the sportful herd
Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one,
Now other, as their shape served best his end
Nearer to view his prey; and unespied

390

395

To mark what of their state he more might learn

400

By word or action marked; about them round
A lion now he stalks with fiery glare;
Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spied
In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play,
Straight couches close, then rising, changes oft
His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
Whence rushing he might surest seize them both
Griped in each paw: when Adam, first of men,
To first of women, Eve, thus moving speech,
Turned him, all ear to hear new utterance flow.
"Sole partner, and sole part, of all these joys,
Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power
That made us, and for us this ample world,
Be infinitely good, and of his good

As liberal and free as infinite;

405

410

415

That raised us from the dust, and placed us here
In all this happiness, who at his hand
Have nothing merited, nor can perform

Aught whereof he hath need; he who requires
From us no other service than to keep

420

6

This one, this easy charge, of all the trees
In Paradise that bear delicious fruit

So various, not to taste that only tree
Of knowledge, planted by the tree of life;

So near grows death to life, whate'er death is;

404. In some purlieu.] "Purlieu," from the French pur, pure, and lieu, place; originally meant a place pure or free from the forest laws. From meaning the grounds near a royal forest, it came to denote the grounds surrounding anything, and hence it means a limit or district.

425

425. Whatever death is, some dreadful thing no doubt.] Compare Shakspeare:

"Ay, but to die, and go we know not where ;
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;

.

Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou knowest
God hath pronounced it death to taste that tree,
The only sign of our obedience left

Among so many signs of power and rule
Conferred upon us, and dominion given
Over all other creatures that possess

Earth, air, and sea.

Then let us not think hard

One easy prohibition, who enjoy

Free leave so large to all things else, and choice
Unlimited of manifold delights:

But let us ever praise him, and extol

His bounty, following our delightful task

To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers,

Which, were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.”

To whom thus Eve replied. "O thou for whom

And from whom I was formed, flesh of thy flesh,
And without whom am to no end, my guide

And head! what thou hast said is just and right.
For we to him indeed all praises owe,
And daily thanks; I chiefly, who enjoy
So far the happier lot, enjoying thee
Preeminent by so much odds, while thou
Like consort to thyself canst no where find.
That day I oft remember, when from sleep
I first awaked, and found myself reposed
Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where

To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about

430

435

440

445

450

diligent husbandman for the toils of the

The pendent world; or to be worse than worst spring. *** In both instances [the

Of those, that lawless and incertain thoughts
Imagine howling!-'t is too horrible!
The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ach, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradise
To what we fear of death."

Measure for Measure.

Whoever wishes to see the opposite side of the question argued (and most questions have two sides), may consult BACON'S Essay on Death.

437. Delightful task.] Thomson, whose mind was saturated with the works of Milton, has reproduced these words, referring to infant or home education; nor in this has he done amiss, if we are to acquiesce in the judgment of Lord Bacon," who repeatedly compares the effects of early culture on the understanding and the heart to the abundant harvest which rewards the

encouragement of agricultural industry, and the care of national instruction] the legislator exerts a power which is literally productive or creative; compelling, in the one case, the unprofitable desert to pour forth its latent riches; and in the other, vivifying the dormant seeds of genius and virtue, and redeeming from the neglected waste of human nature, a new and unexpected accession to the common inheritance of mankind." DUGALD STEWART.

The passage from Thomson is as follows:

Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot,
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,
To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpose in the glowing breast."

And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
Of waters issued from a cave, and spread
Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved
Pure as the expanse of Heaven; I thither went
With unexperienced thought, and laid me down
On the green bank, to look into the clear
Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.
As I bent down to look, just opposite

A shape within the watery gleam appeared
Bending to look on me: I started back,
It started back; but pleased I soon returned,
Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks
Of sympathy and love: there I had fixed

Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,

Had not a voice thus warned me: 'What thou seest,
What there thou seest, fair Creature, is thyself;
With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
Thy coming, and thy soft embraces; he
Whose image thou art; him thou shalt enjoy
Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear
Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called
Mother of human race.' What could I do,
But follow straight, invisibly thus led?
Till I espied thee, fair indeed, and tall,
Under a platan; yet methought less fair,
Less winning soft, less amiably mild,

Than that smooth watery image: back I turned;
Thou following, criedst aloud, 'Return, fair Eve,
Whom fliest thou? whom thou fliest, of him thou art,

458. To look into the clean smooth lake.] "This account that Eve gives of her coming to a lake, and there falling in love with her own image, when she had seen no other human creature, is much more probable and natural, as well as more delicate and beautiful, than the famous story of Narcissus in Ovid; from whom Milton manifestly took the hint, and has expressly imitated some passages." NEWTON. AS Milton imitated Ovid,

455

460

465

470

475

480

The hasty rivulet where it lay becalmed
In a deep pool, by happy chance we saw
A two-fold image; on a grassy bank
A snow-white ram, and in the crystal flood
Another and the same! Most beautiful,
On the green turf, with his imperial front
Shaggy and bold, and wreathéd horns superb
The breathing creature stood; as beautiful,
Beneath him, showed his shadowy counter-
part.

Each had his glowing mountains, each his
sky,

And each seemed centre of his own fair
world:

Antipodes unconscious of each other,
Yet, in partition, with their several spheres,
Blended in perfect stillness, to our sight!
WORDSWORTH's Excursion.
474. And thence be called "mother

so a great poet of our day has imitated of human race."] "And Adam called

Milton.

"Thus having reached a bridge, that overarched

H

his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living."- Gen. iii. 20.

His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent
Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,
Substantial life, to have thee by my side
Henceforth an individual solace dear;
Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim
My other half.' With that thy gentle hand
Seized mine; I yielded, and from that time see
How beauty is excelled by manly grace
And wisdom, which alone is truly fair."

So spake our general mother, and with eyes
Of conjugal attraction, unreproved,
And meek surrender, half embracing leaned
On our first father; half her swelling breast
Naked met his, under the flowing gold
Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight
Both of her beauty and submissive charms
Smiled with superior love, as Jupiter

On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds

That shed May flowers; and pressed her matron lip
With kisses pure: aside the Devil turned

For envy, yet with jealous leer malign

Eyed them askance, and to himself thus 'plained.
"Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two
Imparadised in one another's arms,

The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss; while I to Hell am thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,

486. An individual solace dear.] "Individual" is apparently used in the Latin sense of "not to be separated," not to be shared in by another. As the poet says at 1. 411., she was the "sole partner and the sole part" of his joys.

499. As Jupiter or Juno smiles.] Æther, or the air, is poetically typified by Jupiter, and the earth by Juno. The fecundation of the earth by rain is therefore represented as a marriage:"Vere tument terræ, et genitalia semina poscunt.

-

Tum pater omnipotens fæcundis imbribus

Æther

Conjugis in gremium descendit, et omnes Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, fœtus.-VIRGIL'S Georg. ii. 323.

502. Aside the Devil turned for

envy.]
"The malevolent affection with
which some unfortunate minds are
ever disposed to view those whom they

consider as competitors, is denominated jealousy, when the competitor, or supposed competitor, is one who has not yet attained their height, and when it is the future that is dreaded. It is denominated envy, when it regards some actual attainment of another. But the emotion, varying with this mere difference of the present and the future, is the same in every other aspect.

In both cases the wish is a wish of evil, a wish of evil to the excellent, and a wish which, by a sort of anticipated retribution, is itself evil to the heart that has conceived it."BROWN'S Philosophy.

508. Of bliss on bliss.] i. e. as being in Eden, and then in each other's arms, which was a second or "happier" Eden.

Amongst our other torments not the least,
Still unfulfilled, with pain of longing pines.
Yet let me not forget what I have gained
From their own mouths: all is not theirs it seems;
One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called,
Forbidden them to taste. Knowledge forbidden?
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? can it be sin to know?
Can it be death? and do they only stand
By ignorance? is that their happy state,
The proof of their obedience and their faith?
O fair foundation laid whereon to build
Their ruin! Hence I will excite their minds
With more desire to know and to reject
Envious commands, invented with design

510

515

520

To keep them low, whom knowledge might exalt
Equal with Gods: aspiring to be such,

meet

They taste and die; what likelier can ensue?
But first with narrow search I must walk round
This garden, and no corner leave unspied;
A chance but chance may lead where I may
Some wandering Spirit of Heaven by fountain side,
Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw
What further would be learned. Live while ye may,
Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return,

Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed."

So saying, his proud step he scornful turned,

But with sly circumspection, and began,

525

530

535

Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his roam.

Meanwhile in utmost longitude, where Heaven

With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun

540

Slowly descended, and with right aspéct
Against the eastern gate of Paradise
Levelled his evening rays: it was a rock
Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds,
Conspicuous far, winding with one ascent
Accessible from earth, one entrance high:
The rest was craggy cliff, that overhung

530. A chance but chance, &c.] The second "chance" is personified; and the meaning is, "there is a chance or possibility that chance-unknown causes- will lead me, &c. This gingle of words has been objected to as unworthy of a great poet, and certainly

545

its too frequent repetition would have a disagreeable effect. Used in moderation it cannot be objected to. Dryden says,

""Tis all thy business, business how to shun, To bask thy naked body in the sun."