Inexorably, and the torturing hour, 96 Calls us to penance? More deftroy'd than thus, 100 veffels of fury: Their prince is Beliall." But the true reading of Milton is certainly vauls. For thus also, in his Prose-W. i. 274. ed. 1698. "The most underfoot and down-trodden VASSALS of perdition." TODD. Ver. 91. and the torturing hour Calls us to penance?] To punishment. Milton here fuppofes the fufferings of the damned fpirits not to be always alike intenfe, but that they have fome intermiffions. HUME. Poffibly Milton had in view the intermiffion which the Ghoft in Hamlet describes : My hour is almoft come, "When I to fulphurous and tormenting flames Ver. 94. xv. 509. what doubt we to incense His utmost ire? which, to the highth enrag'd, Ημῖν δ ̓ ἔτις τέδε νέος καὶ μῆτις ἀμείνων, Ἢ αὑτοσχεδίην μίξαι χεῖράς τε μένος τε. Ωδ' αὕτως παρὰ νηυσὶν, ὑπ' ἀνδράσι χειροτέροισιν. STILLINGFLEET. Our power fufficient to disturb his Heaven, And with perpetual inroads to alarm, Though inacceffible, his fatal throne: Which, if not victory, is yet revenge. 105 He ended frowning, and his look denounc'd Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous To lefs than Gods. On the other fide up-rofe Belial, in act more graceful and humane : But all was falfe and hollow; though his tongue Ver. 104. his fatal throne:] That is, upheld by fute, as he expreffes it, B. i. 133. NEWTON. Ver. 106. He ended frowning, &c.] Nobody of any taste or understanding will deny the beauty of the following paragraph; in the whole of which there is not one metaphorical or figurative word. In what then does the beauty of it confift? In the justnefs of the thought, in the propriety of the expreffion, in the art of the compofition, and in the variety of the verfification. LORD MON BOddo. Ver. 108. To less than Gods.] He gave it "To lefs than God." For it was dangerous to the Angels. BENTLEY. This emendation appears very probable at first view: But the Angels, though often called Gods, yet sometimes are only com pared or faid to be like the Gods, as in B. i. 570. " Their visages and ftature as of Gods; and of the two chief, Michael and Satan, it is faid, B. vi. 301, that "likeft Gods they seemed;" and of two others, ibid. 366. "Two potent thrones, that to be less than Gods And, in B. ix. 937, a manifeft diftinction is made between Gods and Angels who are called Demi-Gods. The prefent reading, therefore, "To lefs than Gods," may be juftified. NEWTON. Ver. 112. But all was falfe and hollow;] After these words Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear The better reafon, to perplex and dash Matureft counfels: for his thoughts were low; To vice induftrious, but to nobler deeds Timorous and flothful: yet he pleas'd the ear, And with perfuafive accent thus began. I should be much for open war, O Peers, As not behind in hate; if what was urg'd Main reason to perfuade immediate war, Did not diffuade me moft, and feem to caft Ominous conjecture on the whole fuccefs; When he, who moft excels in fact of arms, 116 120 a parenthefis commences, which comes down to the words, "for his thoughts were low," which can only connect with the words, "But all was falfe and hollow." LORD MON BODDO. Ver. 113. Dropt manna,] The fame expreffion, but applied differently, in Shakspeare's Merch. of Venice, A. v. S. ult. "Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way Sidney, in his Arcadia, has a phrafe derived from the fcriptural account of manna; "her heavenly-dewed tongue," 13th edit. p. 140. Lifle, in his tranflation of part of Du Bartas, 1625, p. 34. has the following expreffion: "The manna-dropping woods of happy Arabie." Milton's application of the phrafe. to Belial, is fuitable to his ancient character. See my note on Addison's Criticism, p. 55. TODD. Ibid. and could make the worfe appear &c.] Word for word from the known profeffion of the ancient Sophifts, Τὸν λόγον τὸν ἥτλω κρείτ7ω ποιεῖν. BENTLEY. Ver. 124. excels in fact of arms,] From the Italian, fatto d' arme, a battle. HEYLIN. The phrafe is a fimple Gallicifm; en fait d'armes ; as, "maitre In what he counfels, and in what excels, Of all his aim, after fome dire revenge. 125 First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are fill'd 130 With armed watch, that render all accefs Her mifchief, and purge off the bafer fire, 140 en fait d'armes." See Curfory Remarks on fome of our ancient poets, particularly Milton, 1789, p. 126. The "fayt of armes and chivalry," is the title of a work, printed in 1489. See also ver. 537. of the present book. TODD. Ver, 132. or, with óbfcure wing,] There are feveral inftances, in our elder writers, of this accentuation. Thus, in the Cobler's Prophecie, 1594; "O what is fauour in an óbfcure place." And in Shakspeare more than once. Ver. 138. TODD. would on his throne Sit unpolluted;] This is a reply to that part of Moloch's fpeech, where he had threatened to mix the throne itself of God with infernal fulphur and ftrauge fire. NEWTON. rage, 144 Victorious. Thus repuls'd, our final hope 150 Devoid of fenfe and motion? And who knows, Let this be good, whether our angry Foe Ver. 142. Thus repuls'd, our final hope Is flat defpair:] Shakspeare, K. Hen. VI. "Our hap is lofs, our hope but fad defpair." MALONE. Ver. 151. Devoid of fenfe and motion?] Dr. Bentley reads, "Devoid of fenfe and action :" but motion includes action. Dr. Warburton and Mr. Upton think, that it should be “notion:” but the common reading feems better, as it is ftronger and expreffes more; that is, they fhould be deprived not only of all fenfe but of all motion, not only of all the intellectual but of all vital functions. NEWTON. Mr. Upton would have us read notion. This is certainly better reading than Bentley's. But I fee no neceffity for changing the text. Senfe and notion is a tautology; the one including the other. But fenfe and motion are two different things. CALLANDER. Milton evidently alluded to Shakspeare, in regard to the very expreffion as well as the fentiments before us, Meaf. for Meaf. A. iii. S. i. "Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; |