N° 309. Saturday, February 23.

I

Dî, quibus imperium eft animarum, umbraque filentes,
Et Chaos, & Phlegethon, loca notte filentia late
Sit mihi fas audita loqui! fit numine veftro
Pandare res alta terra & caligine mersas.

Virg.

Have before obferved in general, that the Perfon3 whom Milton introduces into his Poem always difcover fuch Sentiments and Behaviour, as are in a pecuJiar manner conformable to their respective Characters. Every Circumftance in their Speeches and Actions is with great Juftnefs and Delicacy adapted to the Perfons who fpeak and act. As the Poet very much excels in this Confiftency of his Characters, I fhall beg Leave to confider feveral Paffages of the Second Book in this Light. That fuperior Greatnefs and Mock-Majefty, which is afcribed to the Prince of the fallen Angels, is admirably preferved in the Beginning of this Book. His opening and clofing the Debate; his taking on himself that great Enterprize at the Thought of which the whole Infernal Affembly trembled; his encountering the hideous Phantom who guarded the Gates of Hell, and appeared to him in all his Terrors, are Inftances of that proud and daring Mind which could not brook Submission even to Omnipotence.

Satan was now at hand, and from his Seat
The Monfier moving onward came as faft
With horrid ftrides, Hell trembled as he frode,
Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd,
Admir'd, not fear'd

THE fame Boldness and Intrepidity of Behaviour dif covers it felf in the feveral Adventures which he meets with during his Paffage through the Regions of unformed Matter, and particularly in his Addrefs to thofe tremendous Powers who are defcribed as prefiding over it.

THE

THE Part of Moloch is likewife in all its Circum-ftances full of that Fire and Fury which diftinguish this Spirit from the reft of the fallen Angels. He is defcribed! in the first Book as besmeared with the Blood of Human Sacrifices, and delighted with the Tears of Parents and the Cries of Children. In the Second Book he is marked out as the fierceft Spirit that fought in Heaven: and if we confider the Figure which he makes in the Sixth Book, where the Battle of the Angels is defcribed, we find it every way answerable to the fame furious enraged Cha racter.

Where the might of Gabriel fought,

And with fierce Enfigns pierc'd the deep array.
of Moloc, furious King, who him defy'd,
And at his chariot wheels to drag him bound
Threaten'd, nor from the Holy one of Heav'n
Refrain'd his tongue blafphemous; but anon
Down cloven to the wafte, with shatter'd arms
And uncouth pain fled bellowing.-

IT may be worth while to obferve, that Milton has reprefented this violent impetuous Spirit, who is Hurried on by fuch precipitate Paffions, as the first that rifes in that Affembly, to give his Opinion upon their present Pofture of Affairs. Accordingly he declares himself abrupt ly for War, and appears incenfed at his Companions, for lofing fo much Time as even to deliberate upon it. All his Sentiments are Rafh, Audacious and Desperate. Such is that of arming themselves with their Tortures, and turning their Punishments upon him who inflicted them.

No, let us rather chufe,

Arm'd with Hell flames and fury, all at once.
O'er Heavens high tow'rs to force refiftless way,
Turning our tortures into horrid arms

Against the Tort'rer; when to meet the Noife
Of his almighty Engine he fhall hear
Infernal Thunder, and for Lightning fee
Black fire and horror shot with equal rage
Among his Angels; and his throne it felf
Mixt with Tartarean Sulphur, and ftrange Fire,
His own invented Torments-

HIS preferring Annihilation to Shame or Mifery, is alfo highly fuitable to his Character; as the Comfort he draws from their disturbing the Peace of Heaven, that if it be not Victory it is Revenge, is a Sentiment truly Diabolical, and becoming the Bitterness of this implacable Spirit.

BELIAL is described in the first Book, as the Idol of the Lewd and Luxurious. He is in the Second Book, pursuant to that Description, characterised as timorous and flothful; and if we look in the Sixth Book, we find him celebrated in the Battel of Angels for nothing but that fcoffing Speech which he makes to Satan, on their fuppofed Advantage over the Enemy. As his Appearance is uniform, and of a Piece, in these three feveral Views, we find his Sentiments in the Infernal Affembly every way conformable to his Character. Such are his Apprehenfions of a fecond Battel, his Horrors of Annihilation, his preferring to be miferable rather than not to be. I need not obferve, that the Contraft of Thought in this Speech, and that which precedes, gives an agreeable Variety to the Debate.

MAMMON's Character is fo fully drawn in the First Book, that the Poet adds nothing to it in the Second. We were before told, that he was the firft who taught Mankind to ranfack the Earth for Gold and Silver, and that he was the Architect of Pandamonium, or the Infernal Place, where the Evil Spirits were to meet in Council. His Speech in this Book is every way fuitable to fo depraved a Character. How proper is that Reflection, of their being unable to tafte the Happiness of Heaven were they actually there, in the Mouth of one, who while he was in Heaven, is faid to have had his Mind dazled with the outward Pomps and Glories of the Place, and to have been more intent on the Riches of the Pavement, than on the Beatifick Vision. I fhall alfo leave the Reader to judge how agreeable the following Sentiments are to the fame Character.

This deep World

Of Darkness do we dread? How oft amidst
Thick cloud and dark doth, Heav'ns all-ruling Sire
Chufe to refide, his Glory unobfcured,

And

And with the Majefty of Darkness round

Covers his Throne; from whence deep Thunders roar
Mufering their Rage, and Heav'n resembles Hell?
As be our Darkness, cannot we his Light
Imitate when we please? This defart Soil
Wants not her hidden Luftre, Gems and Gold;
Nor want we Skill or Art, from whence to raise
Magnificence; and what can Heav'n fhew more?

BEELZEBUB, who is reckoned the fecond in Dignity that fell, and is, in the First Book, the fecond that awakens out of the Trance, and confers with Satan upon the Situation of their Affairs, maintains his Rank in the Book now before us. There is a wonderful Majefty defcribed in his rifing up to fpeak. He acts as a kind of Moderator between the two oppofite Parties, and propofes a third Undertaking, which the whole Affembly gives into. The Motion he makes of detaching one of their Body in fearch of a new World is grounded upon a Project devifed by Satan, and curforily propofed by hin in the following Lines of the firft Book."

Space may produce new Worlds, whereof fo rife
There went a Fame in Heav'n, that he ere-long
Intended to create, and therein plant
A Generation, whom his choice Regard
Should favour equal to the Sons of Heav'n;
Thither, if but to pry, fhall be perhaps
Our first Eruption, thither or elsewhere:
For this Infernal Pit fhall never hold
Celestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th' Abyss
Long under Darkness cover. But thefe Thoughts
Full Counfel must mature:

IT is on this Project that Beelzebub grounds his Pro pofal.

-What if we find

Some ea fier Enterprize? There is a Place
(If ancient and prophetick Fame in Heav'n
Err not) another World, the happy Seat

of fome new Race call'd MA N, about this Time
To be created like to us, though less

In Power and Excellence, but favour'd more
Of him who rules above; fo was his Will
Pronounc'd among the Gods, and by an Oath,
That Shook Heav'n's whole Circumference, confirm'd.

THE Reader may obferve how juft it was not to omit in the First Book the Project upon which the whole Foem turns: As alfo that the Prince of the fallen Angels was the only proper Perfon to give it Birth, and that the next to him in Dignity was the fitteft to fecond and fupport it.

THERE is befides, I think, fomething wonderfully Beautiful, and very apt to affect the Reader's Imagination in this ancient Prophecy or Report in Heaven, con. cerning the Creation of Man. Nothing could fhew more the Dignity of the Species, than this Tradition which ran of them before their Existence. They are reprefented to have been the Talk of Heaven, before they were created. Virgil, in compliment to the Roman Commonwealth, makes the Heroes of it appear in their State of Pre-existence; but Milton does a far greater Honour to Mankind in general, as he gives us a Glimpse of them. even before they are in Being.

THE rifing of this great Affembly is defcribed in a ves ry Sublime and Poetical Manner.

Their rifing all at once was as the Sound.

Of Thunder heard remote

THE Diversions of the fallen Angels, with the parti cular Account of their Place of Habitation, are described with great Pregnancy of Thought, and Copioufness of Invention. The Diverfions are every way fuitable to Beings who had nothing left them but Strength and Knowledge mifapplied. Such are their Contentions at the Race, and in Feats of Arms, with their Entertainment in the following Lines,

Others with vaft Typhæan rage more fell...

Rend up both Rocks and Hills, and ride the Air
In Whirlwind, Hell scarce holds the wild Uproar,-