The found of blustering winds, which all night

long

Had rous'd the fea, now with hoarfe cadence lull Sea-faring men o'er-watch'd, whofe bark by chance,

Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay
After the tempeft: Such applause was heard 290
As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleas'd,
Advifing peace: for fuch another field
They dreaded worse than Hell: So much the fear
Of thunder and the fword of Michaël
Wrought ftill within them; and no lefs defire 295
To found this nether empire, which might rife
By policy, and long procéfs of time,
In emulation opposite to Heaven.

Which when Beelzebub perceiv'd, than whom
Satan except, none higher fat, with grave
Afpéct he rofe, and in his rifing feem'd
A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven

300

Pietas Jefuitica, and his Locufts or Apollyonifts, published at Cambridge in 1627, difplays fimilar fcenery. See note, B. i. 795. Of Fletcher's Latin poem fee further mention in the Inquiry into the Origin of Paradife Loft, in the notes on Paradife Regained, B. i. 42, and on the beautiful poem In Quintum Novembris. TODD.

Ver. 301. Afpéct] So Milton always accents this word, agreeably to the practice of our elder poets. It began to be accented, however, on the firft fyllable, in Milton's time. See Baron's Cyprian Academy, 1648. B. ii. 72.

"I' the comely afpect of the Paphian Queene." TODD. Ver. 302. A pillar of state;] The fame expreffion is in Shakfpeare, Hen. VI. P. ii. A. i. "Brave peers of England, pillars of the State!" NEWTON.

Deliberation fat, and publick care;
And princely counsel in his face yet shone,
Majestick, though in ruin: fage he stood
With Atlantean fhoulders fit to bear
The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look
Drew audience and attention ftill as night
Or fummer's noon-tide air, while thus he spake.
Thrones and Imperial Powers, Offspring of
Heaven,

310

305

Ethereal Virtues! or thefe titles now
Must we renounce, and, changing style, be call'd
Princes of Hell? for fo the popular vote
Inclines, here to continue, and build up here 314
A growing empire; doubtlefs! while we dream,
And know not that the King of Heaven hath
doom'd

And in Gafcoigne's Poems, 1587. p. 116. Thus alfo Milton, in his Tractate on Education, recommends the study of Politicks to Youth, that they may become "stedfaft pillars of the ftate." TODD.

Ver. 305. Majestick, though in ruin:] Thefe words are to be joined in conftruction with his face, and not with princely counfel, as Dr. Bentley imagined. NEWTON.

Ver. 306. With Atlanteun fhoulders] A metaphor to exprefs his vaft capacity. Atlas was fo great an aftronomer, that he is faid to have borne Heaven on his fhoulders. The whole picture from ver. 299, to the end of the paragraph, is admirable!

RICHARDSON.

Ver. 309. Or fummer's noon-tide air,] Noon-tide is the fame as noon-time, when in hot countries there is hardly a breath of wind stirring, and men and beafts, by reason of the intense heat, retire to fhade and reft. This is the custom of Italy particularly, where our author lived fome time. NEWTON.

This place our dungeon; not our fafe retreat
Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt
From Heaven's high jurifdiction, in new league
Banded against his throne, but to remain
In ftricteft bondage, though thus far remov'd
Under the inevitable curb, referv'd
His captive multitude: For he, be fure,

320

In highth or depth, still first and last will reign
Sole king, and of his kingdom lofe no part 325
By our revolt; but over Hell extend
His empire, and with iron fcepter rule

Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven.
What fit we then projecting peace and war?
War hath determin'd us, and foil'd with lofs 330
Irreparable; terms of peace yet none
Vouchfaf'd or fought; for what peace will be
given

To us enflav'd, but cuftody fevere,
And ftripes, and arbitrary punishment
Inflicted? and what peace can we return, 335
But to our power hoftility and hate,

and with iron fcepter rule

Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven.] The iron fcepter is an allufion to Pfalm ii. 9, as the golden is to Efther v. 2.

HUME.

Ver. 332.

Ver. 327.

for what peace will be given

To us enflav'd, but cuftody fevere,

and what peace can we return,

But to our power hoftility and hate,] In both thefe paffages there is an unufual conftruction of the particle but; it

Untam❜d reluctance, and revenge though flow,
Yet ever plotting how the conquerour least
May reap
his conqueft, and may leaft rejoice
In doing what we most in fuffering feel?
Nor will occafion want, nor fhall we need
With dangerous expedition to invade
Heaven, whofe high walls fear no affault or fiege,
Or ambush from the deep. What if we find
Some easier enterprife? There is a place,
(If ancient and prophetick fame in Heaven
Err not,) another world, the happy feat
Of fome new race call'd Man, about this time
To be created like to us, though lefs

345

In power and excellence, but favour'd more 350 Of Him who rules above; fo was his will Pronounc'd among the Gods, and by an oath, That fhook Heaven's whole circumference, confirm'd.

Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn

340

feems to put "cuftody fevere &c." in the one, and "hoftility and hate &c." in the other, on the foot of peace. There are fome very few inftances where the Latins have used nifi (except, or but) in a like conftruction. One is in Plautus's Menæchmi, Prol. v. 59. "Ei liberorum, niji divitiæ, nihil erat." Lambinus fays, this expreffion feems too unufual; for the particle nifi can except none but things like, or of a like kind.

RICHARDSON.

Ver. 352.

and by an oath,

That hook Heaven's whole circumference, confirm'd.] "He confirmed it by an oath," are the very words of St. Paul,

What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, 355
Or fubftance, how endued, and what their power,
And where their weakness, how attempted beft,
By force or fubtlety. Though Heaven be fhut,
And Heaven's high Arbitrator fit fecure
In his own ftrength, this place may lie expos'd,
The utmost border of his kingdom, left

361

Heb. vi. 17. And this oath is faid to shake Heaven's whole circumference, in allufion to Jupiter's oath in Virgil, En. ix. 104, &c.; as Virgil had imitated Homer, Iliad i. 528-530.

Ver. 360.

this place may lie expos'd, The utmost border of his kingdom, left

To their defence who hold it :] It has been objected, that there is a contradiction between this part of Beelzebub'sfpeech, and what he fays afterwards, fpeaking of the fame thing. and of a meffenger proper to be fent in fearch of this new world, ver. 410.

"What strength, what art can then "Suffice, or what evafion bear him safe

NEWTON.

Through the ftri&t fenteries and stations thick "Of Angels watching round?"

How can this earth be faid to lie expofed &c. and yet to be ftrictly guarded by ftationed Angels? The objection is very ingenious but it is not faid that the earth doth lie expofed, but only that it may lie expofed: and it may be confidered, that the defign of Beelzebub is different in thefe different fpeeches; in the former, where he is encouraging the affembly to undertake an expedition againft this world, he fays things to lefen the difficulty and danger; but in the latter, when they have determined upon the expedition, and are confulting of a proper perfon to employ in it, then he fays things to magnify the difficulty and danger, to make them more cautious in their choice.

NEWTON.