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By converfation with his like to help,

Or folace his defects. No need that thou
Shouldft propagate, already infinite,

And through all numbers abfolute, though one;
But Man by number is to manifeft
His fingle imperfection, and beget
Like of his like, his image multiply'd,
In unity defective, which requires
Collateral love, and deareft amity.
Thou in thy fecrefy although alone,

Beft with thyself accompanied, feek'st not

Social communication, yet fo pleas'd,

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Canft raise thy creature to what highth thou wilt 430 of union or communion, deify'd;

I by converfing cannot these erect

From prone, nor in their ways complacence find. Thus I imbolden'd fpake, and freedom us'd Permiffive, and acceptance found, which gain'd 435 This anfwer from the gracious voice divine.

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Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleas'd,
And find thee knowing not of beafts alone,
Which thou haft rightly nam'd, but of thyself,
Expreffing well the fpi'rit within thee free,
My image, not imparted to the brute,
Whofe fellowship therefore unmeet for thee
Good reason was thou freely fhouldst dislike,
And be fo minded ftill; I, ere thou spak'ft,
Knew it not good for Man to be alone,

And no fuch company as then thou saw'st
Intended thee, for trial only brought,

To see how thou could'st judge of fit and meet:

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My image.] Milton is upon all occasions a ftrenuous advocate for the freedom of the human mind against the narrow and rigid notions of the Calvinists of that age, and here in the fame fpirit fuppofes the very image of God in which man was made to confit in this liberty. The fentiment is very grand, and this fenfe of the words is, in my opinion, full as probable as any of thofe many which the commentators have put upon them, in as much as no property of the foul of man diftinguishes him better from the brutes, or affimilates him more to his Creator. This notion, tho' uncommon, is not peculiar to Milton; for I find Clarius, in his remark upon this paf

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What

fage of Scripture, referring to St. Bafil the great for the fame interpretation See Clarius amongst the Critici Sacri. Thyer.

444.

1, ere thou fpak' fo Knew it not good for Man to be alone,] For we read Gen H. 18. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the Man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for bim. And then ver. 19. & zo. God brings the beafts and birds before Adam, and Adam gives them names, but for Adam there was not found an belp meet for him; as if Adam had now discover'd it himself likewife: and from this little hint our author has rais'd this dialogue between Adam and his Maker. And then follows both in Moses and in Milton the

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What next I bring fhall please thee, be affur'd,
Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self,
Thy with exactly to thy heart's defire.

He ended, or I heard no more, for now

My earthly by his heav'nly overpower'd,

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Which it had long stood under, ftrain'd to th' highth In that celestial colloquy fublime,

As with an object that excels the sense

Dazled and spent, funk down, and fought repair
Of fleep, which inftantly fell on me, call'd
By nature as in aid, and clos'd mine eyes.
Mine eyes he clos'd, but open left the cell

account of the formation of Eve and
inftitution of marriage.
453. My earthly by his heav'nly
overpower'd,] The Scripture
fays only, that the Lord God caufed
a deep fleep to fall upon Adam, Gen.
II. 21. and our author endevors to
give fome account how it was ef-
fected: Adam was overpower'd by
converfing with fo fuperior a being,
his faculties having been all ftrain'd
and exerted to the highth, and now
he funk down quite dazled and fpent,
and fought repair of fleep, which
inftantly fell on him, and clos'd his
eyes. Mine eyes he clos'd, fays he
again, turning the words, and mak-
ing fleep a perfon as the ancient
poets often do.

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460

Of

his fecond fleep, and of the dream in which he beheld the formation of Eve. The new paffion that was awaken'd in him at the fight of her is touch'd very finely. Adam's diftrefs upon lofing fight of this beautiful phantom, with his exclamations of joy and gratitude at the discovery of a real creature, who refembled the apparition which had been prefented to him in his dream; the approaches he makes to her, and his manner of courtship, are all laid together in a moft exquifite propriety of fentiments. Tho' this part of the poem is work'd up with great warmth and fpirit, the love which is defcribed in it is every way fuitable to a state of innocence. If 460. Mine eyes be clos'd, &c.] Adam the reader compares the defcription then proceeds to give an account of which Adam here gives of his lead

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Of fancy my internal fight, by which
Abitract as in a trance methought I faw,
Though sleeping, where I by, and faw the shape
Still glorious before whom awake I ftood;
Who floozing open'd my left fide, and took
From thence a rb, with cordial spirits warm,

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402. 15 tra3 as is a trance] For the word, that we trake za Ay. Gea. IL . The Lord Gid când a ang hot a fat upon him. the Greek interpreters render by tramos or a fall, in which the perion is ebrei, a withdrawn at t were from home, and thres thegs tho' his ec as are all lock`d up. So that Adam sees his wife, as he did Paracue, Brit in vulon.

455. — spen'i mi Frim thence a rik,—s

fie and

was the

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and cramp than he, and equally to in all places: Whereas it fhould that he is not lavish of his exotic "have been observed of Milton « words and paraits every where alike, but employs them much "more where the ikject is mar

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velous, vat and frange, as in the "scenes of Heaven, Hell, Chaos, “&c. than where it is turned to

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the natural and agreeable, as in beal de) Gen. 11. 21. And re "the pictures of Paradise, the loves tock one of bis rios, and card up the "of our first parents, the entertainfalo inhead there f. The Scripture “ments of Angels and the like. In fays only an of his ribs, but Milton general, this unnfual tile better follows thole interpreters who up." ferves to awaken our ideas in the

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And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound,
But fuddenly with flesh fill'd up and heal'd:

The rib he form'd and fafhon'd with his hands;
Under his forming hands a creature grew,

Manlike, but different fex, fo lovely fair,

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That what seem'd fair in all the world, feem'd now

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"descriptions and in the imaging "and picturesque parts, than it agrees with the lower fort of nar"rations, the character of which "is fimplicity and purity. Milton "has feveral of the latter, where we find not an antiquated, af. "fected, or uncouth word, for fome "hundred lines together; as in his "fifth book, the latter part of the "eighth, the former of the tenth "and eleventh books, and in the "narration of Michael in the twelfth. "I wonder indeed that he, who "ventur'd (contrary to the practice "of all other epic poets) to imitate "Homer's lowneffes in the narra"tive, should not alfo have copied "his plainnefs and perfpicuity in "the dramatic parts: fince in his "fpeeches (where clearness above "all is neceflary) there is frequently "fuch tranfpofition and forced con"ftruction, that the very fenfe is "not to be difcover'd without a "fecond or third reading: and in "this certainly he ought to be no example."

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471. fo lovely fair That what feem'd fair in all the <world, feem'd now Mean,] The polition of the words, with the paufe in the first fyllable of

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The placing of the word ingens is admirable, and makes one almost hear the loud dismal voice groaning thro' the groves.

471.
fo lovely fair
That what feem'd fair in all the
world, feem'd no-w

Mean, or in her fumm'd up, in her
contain'd

And in her looks,] This is the fame with that which Marino makes Venus fay to Paris in the picture fhe is giving him of Helen. Adon. Cant. 2. St. 173.

Si ben d'ogni bellezza in quel bel volto

Epilogato il cumulo s'unifce,
E sì perfettamente infieme accolto
Quanto hà di bel la terra, in lei
fiorifce.

G 4

Thyer.

476. And

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