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SUPPLEMENT

TO

LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE,

OR,

Well's

COURT AND FASHIONABLE

MAGAZINE;

FOR THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE NEW SERIES.

The Seventh Pumber.

CONTAINING

PARADISE LOST, BY MILTON.

EMBELLISHED WITH AN ELEGANT PORTRAIT OF MILTON.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY AND FOR JOHN BELL, PROPRIETOR OF THE WEEKLY MESSENGER,

SOUTHAMPTON-STREET, STRAND, JULY 1,

1810.

[graphic][merged small][merged small]

Engraven from an original Picture, for the 7th being the supplimental Number to the

New Series of La Belle Assemblée.

Published July 1.1810, by J. Bell, Southampton Street, Strand, London.

A POEM IN TWELVE BOOKS.

BY

JOHN MILTON.

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

This first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole subject, Man's disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was placed: then touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the Serpent; whe revolting from God, and drawing to his side many legions of Angels, was by the command of God driven out of heaven with all his crew into the great deep. Which action passed over, the poem hastens into the midst of things, pissenting Satan with his Angels now falling into hell described here, not in the centre (for heaven and earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly not yet accursed) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest called Chaos. Here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning lake, thunder-struck and astonished, after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in order and dignity lay by him; they confer of their miserable fall, Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then confounded. They rise, their numbers, array of battle, their chief leaders named, according to the idols knowu afterwards in Canaan and the countries adjoining. To these Satan directshis speech, comforts them with the hope of regaining heaven, but tells them lastly of a new world and new kind of creature to be created, according to an ancient prophecy or report in heaven; for that Angels were long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he refers to a fuli council. What his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium the palace of Satan rises, suddenly built out of the deep. The infernal peers there sit in council.

Or Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the Chosen
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
[flow'd
Rose out of chaos: or if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that
Fast by the oracle of God; I thence

[Seed,

the first

Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from
[spread
Wast present, and with mighty wings out-
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast abyss,
And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support!
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.

[view,

Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy
Nor the deep tract of hell, say first what cause
Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state,
Favour'd of Heav'u so highly, to fall off
From their Creator, and transgress his will
For one restraint, lords of the world besides?
Who first reduc'd them to that foul revolt?
Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile,
Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd
No. I.

The mother of mankind, what time his pride
Had cast him out from heav'n, with all his host
Of rebel augels, by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers,
He trusted to lave equall'd the Most Higb,
If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God
Rais'd impious war in heav'n and battle proud
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurl'd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky
With hideous ruin and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.
Nine times the space that measures day and

night

To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf
Confounded, though immortal: but his doom
Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the
thought

Both of lost happiness and lasting pain [eyes,
Torments him; round he throws his baleful
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay
Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:
At once, as far as angels' ken, he views
The dismal situation waste and wild;
A dungeon horrible on all sides round
As one great furnace flam'd, yet from those
flames

No light, but rather darkness visible,
Serv'd only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where Peace
And Rest can never dwell, Hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

B

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