IN the following Part of the Speech, he points out the Earth with such Circumstances, that the Reader can fcarce forbear fancying himself employed on the fame diftant View of it.

Look downward on the Globe, whofe hither Side
With Light from hence, tho' but reflected, shines;
That Place is Earth, the Seat of Man, that Light
His Day, &c.

I must not conclude my Reflexions upon this third Book of Paradife Loft, without taking notice of that celebrated Complaint of Milton with which it opens, and which certainly deferves all the Praifes that have been given it; tho', as I have before hinted, it may rather be looked upon as an Excrefcence, than as an ef fential Part of the Poem. The fame Obfervation might be applied to that beautiful Digreffion upon Hypocrify,

in the fame Book.

SPEC

XXXXX
XXXXXXXXX

SPECTATOR, N° 321.

Nec fatis eft pulchra esse poemata, dulcia funto.

HOR.

'Tis not enough a Poem's finely writ ;

It muft affect and captivate the Soul.

THOSE

HOSE who know how many Volumes have been written on the Poems of Homer and Virgil, will eafily pardon the Length of my Difcourfe upon Milton. The Paradife Loft is looked upon, by the beft Judges, as the greateft Production, or at leaft the nobleft Work of Genius in our Language, and therefore deserves to be fet before an English Reader in its full Beauty. For this Reafon, though I have endeavoured to give a general Idea of its Graces and Imperfections in my fix firft Papers, I thought myfelf obliged to bestow one upon every Book in particular. The three firft Books I have already difpatched, and am now entring upon the Fourth. I need not acquaint my Reader, that there are Multitudes of Beauties in this great Author, efpecially in the defcriptive Parts of his Poem, which I have not touched upon; it being my Intention to point out those only, which appear to me the most exquifite, or thofe which are not fo obvious to ordinary Readers. Every one that has read the Critics, who have written upon the Od fey, the Iliad, and the Eneid, knows very well, that though they agree in their Opinions of the great Beauties in those Poems, they have nevertheless each of them difcovered several Matter-ftrokes, which have escaped the Obfervation of the rest. In the fame Manner, I question not, but any Writer, who fhall treat of this Subject after me, may find feveral Beauties in Mil

ton,

ton, which I have not taken notice of. I must likewise observe, that as the greatest Masters of critical Learning differ from one another, as to fome particular Points in an Epic Poem, I have not bound myself fcrupulously to the Rules which any one of them has laid down upon that Art, but have taken the Liberty fometimes to join with one, and fometimes with another, and fometimes to differ from all of them, when I have thought that the Reason of the Thing was on my Side.

WE may confider the Beauties of the Fourth Book under three Heads. In the firft are thofe Pictures of Still-life, which we meet with in the Defcriptions of Eden, Paradife, Adam's Bower, &c. In the next are the Machines, which comprehend the Speeches and Behaviour of the good and bad Angels. In the last is the Conduct of Adam and Eve, who are the principal Actors in the Poem.

IN the Defcription of Paradife, the Poet has obferved Ariftotle's Rule of lavishing all the Ornaments of Diction on the weak unactive Parts of the Fable, which are not fupported by the Beauty of Sentiments and Characters. Accordingly the Reader may obferve, that the Expreffions are more florid and elaborate in these Descriptions, than in most other Parts of the Poem. I must further add, that though the Drawings of Gardens, Rivers, Rainbows, and the like dead Pieces of Nature, are juftly cenfured in an Heroic Poem, when they run out into an unneceflary Length; the Defcription of Paradife would have been faulty, had not the Poet been very particular in it, not only as it is the Scene of the principal Action, but as it is requifite to give us an Idea of that happiness from which our firft Parents fell. The Plan of it is wonderfully beautiful, and formed upon the fhort Sketch which we have of it in Holy Writ. Milton's Exuberance of Imagination has poured forth fuch a Redundancy of Ornaments on this Seat of Happiness and Innocence, that it would be endless to point out each Particular.

I'muft

1

I must not quit this Head, without farther obferving, that there is fcarce a Speech of Adam or Eve in the whole Poem, wherein the Sentiments and Allufions are not taken from this their delightful Habitation. The Reader, during their whole Courfe of Action, always finds himself in the Walks of Paradife. In fhort, as the Critics have remarked, that in thofe Poems, wherein Shepherds are Actors, the Thoughts ought always to take a Tin&ture from the Woods, Fields and Rivers; fo we may obferve, that our first Parents feldom lofe Sight of their happy Station in any Thing they fpeak or do; and, if the Reader will give me leave to ufe the Expreffion, that their Thoughts are always, Paradifiacal.

WE are in the next Place to confider the Machines of the Fourth Book Satan being now within Profpect of Eden, and looking round upon the Glories of the Creation, is filled with Sentiments different from those which he difcovered whilft he was in Hell. The Place infpires him with Thoughts more adapted to it: He reflects upon the happy Condition from hence he fell, and breaks forth into a Speech that is softned with feveral tranfient Touches of kemorfe and Self-accufation: But, at length, he confirms himself in Impenitence, and in his Defign of drawing Men' into his own State of Guilt and Mifery. This Conflict of Paffions is raised with a great deal of Art, as the Opening of his Speech to the Sun is very bold and noble.

O thou that with furpaffing Glory crown'd
Look'ft from thy jole Dominion like the God
Of this new World, at whofe Sight all the Stars
Hide their diminish'd Heads, to thee I call,
But with no friendly Voice, and add thy Name,
O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy Beams,
That bring to my Remembrance from what State
I fell, how glorious once above thy Sphere.

THIS

THIS Speech, is, I think, the finest that is afcribed to Satan in the whole Poem. The Evil Spirit afterwards proceeds to make his Discoveries concerning our firft Parents, and to learn after what Manner they may be beft attacked. His bounding over the Walls of Paradife; his fitting in the Shape of á Cormorant upon the Tree of Life, which flood in the Center of it, and overtopped all the other Trees of the Garden; his alighting among the Herd of Animals, which are fo beautifully reprefented as playing about Adam and Eve; together with his transforming himself into different Shapes, in order to hear their Converfation; are Circumftances that give an agreeable Surprize to the Reader, and devised with great Art, to connect that Series of Adventures, in which the Poet has engaged this great Artificer of Fraud.

THE Thought of Satan's Transformation into a Cormorant, and placing himfelf on the Tree of Life, feems raised upon that Paffage in the Iliad, where two Deities are defcribed, as perching on the Top of an Oak in the Shape of Vultures.

HIS planting himself at the Ear of Eve under the Form of a Toad, in order to produce vain Dreams and Imaginations, is a Circumftance of the fame Nature; as his ftarting up in his own Form is wonderfully fine, both in the literal Defcription, and in the Moral which is concealed under it. His Answer upon his being difcovered, and demanded to give an Account of himself, is conformable to the Pride and Intrepidity of his Character.

Know ye not then, faid Satan, fill'd with Scorn,

Know

ye

not me?

ye

knew me once no Mate

For you, there fitting where you durft not fear;
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of your Throng ;·

ZEPHON's Rebuke, with the Influence it had op Satan, is exquifitely graceful and moral. Satan is

7

afterwards