T Could merit more than that fall infantry.Ɔ ng Or whom Biferta fent from Afric shore, doo 5850 When unlike that in Shakespear, Anth. fide the heroes were affifted by the & Cleop. A& I. thofe his goodly eyes" That o'er the files and mufters of the war Have glow'd like plated Mars. V rt Gods, therefore call'd auxiliar Godss and what refounds even in fable anis romance of Uther's fon, king Arthur, fon of Uther Pendragon, whofe exploits are romanticly extoll'd by bot Geoffry of Monmouth, begirt with -575 that small infantry ...British and Armoric knights, for he Warr'd on by crayes;] All the he was often in alliance with the king roes and armies that ever were af, of Armorica, fince called Bretagne, fembled were no more than pyg- of the Britons who fettled there mies in comparison with thefe An- and all who fince joufted in Afpragels; though all the giant brood of mont or Montalban, romantic names Phlegra, a city of Macedonia, of places mention'd in Orlando Fuwhere the giants fought with the riofo, the latter perhaps MontauGods, with th' heroic race were ban in France, Damafco or Marocco, join'd that fought at Thebes, a city Damafcus or Morocco, but he calls in Baotia, famous for the war be- them as they are call'd in romances, tween, the fons of Edipus, cele- or Trebifond, a city of Cappadocia brated by Statius in his Thebaid, in the leffer Afia, all thefe places and Ilium made ftill more famous are famous in romances, for jouftby Homer's Iliad, where on each ings between the baptiz'd and infr. dels: When Charlemain with all his peerage fell any Of glory' obfcur'd; as when the fun new risen T dels' or aubom Biferta, formerly call'd Utica, fent prom Afric shore, that is the Saracens who pafs'd from Biferta in Africa to Spain, when Charlemain with all his peers age fell by Fontarabbia, Charlemain kings of France and emperor of Germany about the year 800 undertook a war against the Saracens in Spain, and Mariana and the Spanish hiftorians are Milton's authors for faying that he and his army were routed in this manner at Fontarabbia (which is a ftrong town in Bifcay at the very entrance into Spain, and efteem'd the key of the kingdom): but Mezeray and the French writers give a quite different and more proBable account of him, that he was at laft victorious over his enemies and died in peace. And tho' we 595 In cannot agree with Dr. Bentley int rejecting fome of thefe lines as fpurious, yet it is much to be wish'd' that our poet had not so far indulged his tafte for romances, of which he profeffes himself to have been fond in his younger years, and had not been oftentatious of fuch reading, as perhaps had better never have been read. 589. he above the reft &c.] What a noble defcription is here of Satan's perfon! and how different from the common and ridiculous reprefentations of him, with horns and a tail and cloven feet! and yet Taffo hath fo defcrib'd him, Cant. IV. The greatest mafters in painting had not fuch fublime! ideas as Milton, and among all their Devils have drawn no por trait comparable to this; as every body In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds ! On half the nations, and with fear of change The fellows of his crime, the followers rather body must allow who hath feen the pictures or the prints of Michael and the Devil by Raphael, and of the fame by Guido, and of the laft judgment by Michael Angelo. 598.- and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.] It is faid that this noble poem was in danger of being fupprefs'd by the Licencer on account of this fimile, as if it contain'd fome latent treafon in it: but it is faying little more than poets have faid under the most abfolute monarchies; as Virgil Georg. I. 464. -Ille etiam cæcos inftare tumultus Sæpe monet, fraudemque, et operta tumefcere bella. 605 Millions of Spirits for his fault amerc'd Of Heav'n, and from eternal fplendors flung 610 Their glory wither'd: as when Heaven's fire. but gave him the faculty of finging fweetly. Odyff. VIII. 64. And I very well remember to have read the word ufed in the fame fenfe fomewhere in Spenfer, but cannot at prefent turn to the place. -611yet faithful bow they flood,] To fee the true conftruction of this we must go back to ver. 605 for the verb. The fenfe then is this, to behold the fellows of his crime, condemned &c, yet how they stood faithful. Richardfon. Words wither'd glory of the Angels; and the laft with great propriety, fince their luftre was impair'd by thunder, as well as that of the trees in the fimile: and befides, the blafted heath gives us fome idea of that finged burning foil, on which the Angels were ftanding. Homer and Virgil frequently ufe comparisons from trees, to express the ftature, or falling of a hero, but none of them are apply'd with fuch variety and propriety of circumftances as this of Milton. See An Efay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, p. 24. 612 as when Heaven's fire Had fcatlid &c.] Hath hurt, hath damag'd; a word frequently ufed in Chaucer, Spenfer, Shakespear, 619. Thrice he affay'd, and thriceand our old writers. This is a very Tears burft forth] He had beautiful and clofe fimile; it re- Ovid in his thought, Metam. XI. prefents the majestic ftature, and 419. Ter Words interwove with fighs found out their way. O Myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers Matchlefs, but with th' Almighty, and that ftrife Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire, 625 Hateful to utter: but what pow'r of mind? As ftood like thefe, could ever know repulfe? 6301 6352 If Ter conata loqui, ter fletibus ora and to the intended deftruction of སྐྱུ * rigavit. Bentley. the greatest people in the world, to gratify his own vain glory. Tears fuch as Angels sweep, Like Homer's Ichor of the Gods which was different from the blood of mortals. This weeping of Satan and that frife Was not inglorious,] Ovid. Met. IX. 6. 9.1 nec tam diffe decorum eft. on furveying his numerous hoft, Turpe fuit vinci, quam contenand the thoughts of their wretched ftate, puts one in mind of the ftory of Xerxes weeping on feeing his vaft army, and reflecting that they were mortal, at the time that he was chaft'ning them to their fate, 633. Hath emptied Heav'n,] It is conceiv'd that a third part of the Angels fell with Satan, according to Řev. XII. 4. And his tail drew the |