X. Nature, that heard such sound, Beneath the hollow round Of Cynthia's seat, the airy region thrilling, To think her part was done, And that her reign had here its last fulfilling. She knew such harmony alone Could hold all Heaven and Earth in happier uniön. XI. At last surrounds their sight A globe of circular light, 110 That with long beams the shame-faced Night arrayed. The helmed Cherubim, And sworded Seraphim, Are seen, in glittering ranks with wings displayed, With unexpressive notes to Heaven's new-born Heir. XII. Such music- -as 't is said Before was never made, But when of old the Sons of Morning sung; While the Creator great His constellations set, And the well-balanced World on hinges hung, 102. the hollow round, etc., i.e. the lunar sphere. 120 106. its. See Life of Milton, p. 439. This and Par. Lost, i. 254 are the only places in his poetry, or even, we believe, in his prose, where Milton uses this then rather unusual term. For Par. Lost, iv. 814, see the note on that place. 107. alone, i.e. without any aid from her. 108. in happier union, sc. than had hitherto prevailed. 109. surrounds. This seems to mean that it entirely occupied their sight, let them look which way they would. 110. globe. He uses this word (Par. Lost, ii. 512) of a body or troop: comp. Par. Reg. iv. 581. 116. unexpressive, i.e. inexpressible, that cannot be expressed,"The fair, the chaste, the unexpressive She." As You Like it, iii. 2.—W. 117 seq. The whole of this stanza is founded on Job, xxxviii. 4-11. And cast the dark foundations deep, And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep. XIII. Ring out, ye crystal spheres! Once bless our human ears, If ye have power to touch our senses so And let your silver-chime Move in melodious time, And let the base of heaven's deep organ blow; Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. 130 XIV. For if such holy song Enwrap our fancy long, Time will run back, and fetch the Age of Gold; Will sicken soon and die, And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould; And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. 140 124. weltering, i.e. rolling to and fro: see on Lycidas, v. 13. 125. Ring out, etc. Alluding to the supposed music of the spheres, which was inaudible to mortal ear: see Arcades, v. 72 seq. On the whole of this stanza see the Ptolemaic Astronomy in Life of Milton. 126. Once, etc., i.e. if it be possible, let this music be heard this one time. 130. And let, etc. It is difficult to know what he means by 'the base of heaven's deep organ.' It can hardly be the Primum Mobile or ninth sphere. Perhaps it is the winds, etc., of the atmosphere or lowest heaven. As Warton observes, the idea was evidently suggested by the service in St. Paul's. 132. consort. See on At Solemn Music, v. 27. , 136. speckled Vanity. This, T. Warton says, may be Vanity clad in a variety of colours; but the 'leprous Sin' of v. 138 seems to indicate that J. Warton was right in referring it to the maculosum nefas of Horace, Carm. iv. 5, 22. "For the creature was made subject to vanity." Rom. viii. 20. 139. And Hell, etc. Warton refers to En. viii. 245; we may add Il. xx. 64. Another source perhaps was the Apocalypse, where "Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire" (xx. 14); and "the first heaven and the first earth were passed away" (xxi. 1). 140. peering, i.e. appearing, from which it is formed by the apheresis so XV. Yea Truth and Justice then Will down return to men, Orbed in a rainbow, and like glories wearing; Throned in celestial sheen, With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering; Will open wide the gates of her high palace-hall. XVI. But wisest Fate says No, This must not yet be so, The Babe lies yet in smiling infancy, 150 common in the English language. "Peering," says Warton, "that is, overlooking or prying, is frequent in Spenser and Shakespeare. I will give one instance from the latter, Coriolan. ii. 3 :— And mountainous Error be too deeply piled For Truth to overpeer.” "I cannot," says Dunster, "accede to Mr. Warton's idea of peering. The morning, when dawning, is commonly described by the old poets as peering; to peer is to make its first appearance." Neither, it is plain, clearly understood the word; and some of our Shakespearean critics are in like case. Peer is now generally used as equivalent to peep. It was also another form of pore, as in Merchant of Venice, i. 1. 143. The enamelled arras of the rainbow wearing, And Mercy sat between." (ed. 1645.) "Orbed in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing Orbed, etc. "And a rainbow was upon bis head." Rev. x. 1.-K.—like glories, 145. sheen (A.-S. rcín), light, brightness, i.q. shine, as sun-shine, moonshine. Hence Sheen (still remaining in East-Sheen), the original name of Richmond. 146. the tissued clouds, i.e. the clouds formed, as it were, out of rich brilliant tissue of varied hues: for the right meaning of tissue see final note on Comus. The rich cloths laid down for persons of rank to walk on may have been in the poet's mind.--down-steering, i.e. directing down their course: comp. Sam. Agon. v. 111. 147. "Panditur interea domus omnipotentis Olympi." Æn. x. 1.—K. That, on the bitter cross, Must redeem our loss; So both himself and us to glorify: Yet first, to those ychained in sleep, The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep. XVII. With such a horrid clang As on mount Sinai rang, While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbrake. The aged earth aghast, With terror of that blast, Shall from the surface to the centre shake; When, at the world's last sessiön, The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne. XVIII. And then at last our bliss Full and perfect is, But now begins; for from this happy day In straiter limits bound, Not half so far casts his usurped sway, And, wroth to see his kingdom fail, Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail. 160 170 154. So both, etc. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them." John xvii. 22.-K. 155. Yet first, etc. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise." 1 Thes. iv. 16.-K. 156. The wakeful, etc. "A line of great energy, elegant and sublime.”— W. -deep, i.e. the depths of air. 159. smouldering. A Spenserian term. Smoulder is to yield gradually and almost imperceptibly to the effect of heat. It is probably connected with smelt, melt. In this line we should perhaps read from for and. 165. And then, etc. i.e. After the final judgement our bliss will be perfect; it has however already begun. 168. The Old Dragon, etc. "The dragon, the old serpent." Rev. xx. 2. "His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven." Ib. xii. 4. 172. Swinges, i.e. lashes or waves to and fro. A.-S. rpingan, to lash or to XIX. The oracles are dumb, No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving. Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell. 180 XX. The lonely mountains o'er, And the resounding shore, A voice of weeping heard and loud lament; Edged with poplar pale, The parting Genius is with sighing sent; With flower-inwoven tresses torn The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn. swing; of which last swinge is only another form; for like k and ch, the hard and soft g were commutable. Thus ridge is in lowland Scotch, rig; bridge, brig. T. "Then often swindging with his sinewy train." Sil. Dubartas.—W. "And then his sides he swinges with his stern." Chapman, Cæs. and Pomp.Both are speaking of the lion, and train and stern are i.q. tail. 173. The oracles, etc. This was a frequent assertion of the Fathers, who ascribed to the coming of Christ what was the effect of time. They regarded the ancient oracles as having been the inspiration of the Devil. 174. No voice, etc. i.e. there was neither to be heard distinct articulate words, nor a low, indistinct, awe-inspiring murmur. "From camp to camp through the foul womb of night, The hum of either army stilly sounds." Hen. V. iv. Chorus.-K. 181. The lonely, etc. He here evidently alludes to the tale told by Plutarch (De Defect. Or.) of the voice heard by the master of a vessel bound for Cyprus, as he sailed by an island named Paxa, bidding him tell when he arrived at Palodas, that the great god Pan was dead; and when he reached that port and made the proclamation, loud shrieks and outcries were heard. This is related in the notes on Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar; so that Milton, even if he had not read Plutarch at the time, might easily have known it. 183. "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping." Jer. xxxi. 15.-W.-weeping. Perhaps he wrote weeping's. 185. poplar pale, i.e. the white poplar. 187. inwoven. In both of the original editions inwov'n, which makes the line a syllable short. |