short scene of our Saviour's life upon earth, and not rather extend it to his agony, crucifixion, &c. but the reason no doubt was, that Paradise, regained by our Saviour's resisting the temptations of Satan, might be a better contrast to Paradise, lost by our first parents too easily yielding to the same seducing Spirit. Besides, he might, very probably, and indeed very reasonably, be apprehensive, that a subject, so extensive as well as sublime, might be too great a burden for his declining constitution, and a task too long for the short term of years he could then hope for. Even in his 'Paradise Lost,' he expresses his fears, lest he had begun too late, and lest "an age too late, or cold climate, or years, should have damped his intended wing;" and surely he had much greater cause to dread the same now, and to be very cautious of launching out too far.—THYER. 4 Ver. 7. And Eden raised in the waste wilderness. There is, I think, a particular beauty in this line, when one considers the fine allusion in it to the curse brought upon the paradisiacal earth by the fall of Adam: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake: thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee."-THYER. See Isaiah, li. 3. 5 Ver. 8. Thou Spirit. This invocation is so supremely beautiful, that it is hardly possible to give the preference even to that in the opening of the Paradise Lost.' This has the merit of more conciseness. Diffuseness may be considered as lessening the dignity of invocations on such subjects.-DUNster. Ver. 9. Into the desert. It is said, Mat. iv. 1:-"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." And from the Greek original pnμos, the desert, and pnμlτns, an inhabitant of the desert, is rightly formed the word eremite; which was used before by Milton in his 'Paradise Lost,' b. iii. 474: and by Fairfax, in his translation of Tasso, c. xi. st. 4: and in Italian, as well as Latin, there is eremita, which the French, and we after them, contract into hermite, hermit.-NEWTON. 7 Ver. 11. As thou art wont. Inspire, See the very fine opening of the ninth book of the 'Paradise Lost,' and also his invocation of Urania, at the beginning of the seventh book: and in the introduction to the second book of the Reason of Church Government urged against Prelacy,' where he promises to undertake something, he yet knows not what, that may be of use and honour to his country, he adds: "This is not to be obtained but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his seraphim, with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify whom he pleases." Here then we see, that Milton's invocations of the Divine Spirit were not merely exordia pro forma. Indeed his prose works are not without their invocations. Compare also Tasso, 'Il Mondo Creato,' Giorn. prim. e langue Se non m' inspiri tu, la voce, e 'l suono. DUNSTER. • Ver. 12. My prompted song, else mute. Milton's third wife, who survived him many years, related of him, that he used to compose his poetry chiefly in winter; and on his waking in a morning, would make her write down sometimes twenty or thirty verses. Being asked, whether he did not often read Homer and Virgil, she understood it as an imputation upon him for stealing from those authors, and answered with eagerness, "he stole from nobody but the Muse who inspired him :" and, being asked by a lady present who the Muse was, replied, "it was God's grace, and the Holy Spirit, that visited him nightly."-Newton's Life of Milton. Mr. Richardson also says, that “Milton would sometimes lie awake whole nights, but not a verse could he make; and on a sudden his poetical fancy would rush upon him with an impetus or astrum.”—Johnson's Life of Milton. "Else mute" might have been suggested by a passage of Horace's most beautiful ode to the Muse, Iv. iii : O testudinis aureæ Dulcem quæ strepitum, Pieri, temperas ! Donatura cygni, si libeat, sonum ! or from Quinctilian:-" Ipsam igitur orandi majestatem, qua nihil Dii immortales melius homini dederunt, et qua remota muta sunt omnia, et luce præsenti et memoria posteritatis carent, toto animo petamus," 1. xii. 11.DUNSTER. 9 Ver. 18. With a voice More awful than the sound of trumpet. "Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions," Isaiah lviii. 1: and see Heb. xii. 18, 19.-DUNSTER. 10 Ver. 25. But him the Baptist soon Descried, divinely warn'd. John the Baptist had notice given him before, that he might certainly know the Messiah by the Holy Ghost descending and abiding upon him: "And I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost," John i. 33. But it appears from St. Matthew, that the Baptist knew him, and acknowledged him before he was baptized, and before the Holy Ghost descended upon him, Mat. iii. 14. "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" To account for which we must admit with Milton, that another divine revelation was made to him at this very time, signifying that this was the person, of whom he had such notice before.-NEWTON. The Baptist John carries us with the best effect in medias res.-DUNSTER. 11 Ver. 33. About the world. Who, roving still "And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." Job i. 7. See also 1 Pet. v. 8.-DUNSTER. 12 Ver. 36. The exalted man, to whom The description how Satan is affected by this divine attestation of Jesus is admirable: his involuntary admiration is consistent with his knowledge of what is good and amiable; (see ver. 379.) his envy and rage are truly Satanic, and becoming his character of the enemy of all good. -DUNSTER. 13 Ver. 41. Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved. Milton, in making Satan's residence to be "in mid air, within thick clouds and dark," seems to have St. Austin in his eye; who, speaking of the region of clouds, storms, thunder, &c., says, "ad ista caliginosa, id est, ad hunc aërem, tanquam ad carcerem, damnatus est diabolus," &c. 'Enarr. in Ps.' 148. s. 9. tom. 5. p. 1677. edit. Bened.THYER. 14 Ver. 42. A gloomy consistory. This is an imitation of Virgil, Æn. iii. 677 :— Cernimus astantes nequicquam lumine torvo Ætnæos fratres, cœlo capita alta ferentes, By the word "consistory," I suppose Milton intends to glance at the meeting of the pope and cardinals so named, or perhaps at the episcopal tribunal, to all which sorts of courts or assemblies he was an avowed enemy. The phrase, concilium horrendum, Vida makes use of upon a like occasion of assembling the infernal powers, Christ.' lib. 1. Protinus acciri diros ad regia fratres And Tasso also, in the very same manner, Gier. Lib.' c. iv. st. 2: Che sia commanda il popol suo raccolto THYER. 15 Ver. 44. O ancient powers of air, and this wide world. So the devil is called in Scripture "the prince of the power of the air," Eph. ii. 2; and evil spirits are termed the "rulers of the darkness of this world," Eph. vi. 12. Satan here summons a council, and opens it as he did in the 'Paradise Lost:' but here is not that copiousness and variety which is in the other; here are not different speeches and sentiments adapted to the different characters; it is a council without a debate; Satan is the only speaker: and the author, as if conscious of this defect, has artfully endeavoured to obviate the objection, by saying that their danger Admits no long debate, But must with something sudden be opposed: and afterwards, No time was then For long indulgence to their fears or grief. The true reason is, he found it impossible to exceed or equal the speeches in his former council, and therefore has assigned the best reason he could for not making any in this.-NEWTON. They who have been taught to think, by the cant of |