infirmity, fince the compofition must remain deprived of those poetic ornaments fo dear to the mufes; deprived of the power to draw comparifons from implements of art, introduced in the course of years, fince in the time of the first man there was no fuch thing; deprived alfo of naming (at least while Adam speaks, or difcourfe is held with him) for example, bows, arrows, hatchets, urns, knives, fwords, fpears, trumpets, drums, trophies, banners, lifts, hammers, torches, bellows, funeral piles, theatres, exchequers, infinite things of a like nature, introduced by the neceffities of fin; they ought not to pass through the mind, or through the lips of Adam, although he had knowledge infused into him, as one who lived most happy in a state of innocence; deprived, moreover, of introducing points of history, facred or profane, of relating fictions of fabulous deities, of rehearfing loves, furies, arms, fports of hunting, or fishing, triumphs, fhipwrecks, conflagrations, inchantments, and things of a like nature, that are in truth the ornament and the foul of poetry; difficult from not knowing in what ftile Adam ought to speak, fince, in respect to his know. ledge, it might be proper to affign to him verfes of a high, majestic, and flowing ftile; but confidering him as a fhepherd, and an inhabitant of the woods, it appears that he fhould be fimple and fweet in his discourse, and I endeavoured on that account, to render it fuch, as much as I could, by variety of verfification; and here, taking courage in my greatest doubt, I formed, I know not how, a beginning; I advanced, if I may fay fo, without any determined

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fenza mezo feguendo: e guinfi al fine nè me ne avvide. Onde ho da credere che la bonta di Dio, rifguardando piu tofto l'affetto bono che i miei diffetti, (fi come retira fpeffo il cuor dell' huomo dall' opre male, cofi l' induce infenfibilemente ancora alle buone) foffe quella che mi moveffe la mano, e che l'opera mi terminaffe. Dunque a lei fola debbo le grazie de quella poca che peraventura fi trova nella presente fatica: fapendo che l' omnipotenza fua, avezza a trarre maraviglie dal rozo e informe chaos, cofi da quello molto piu rozo e informe della mia mente, habbia anche tratto quefto parto, fi non per altro, per effer facro, e perche, per cofi dire, parlaffe un mutolo in perfona mia, per la poverta dell' ingegno come fuole al incontro far amutire le piu felici lingue quando s' impiegano in cofe brutte e profane. Vedafi dunque con l'occhio de la difcrezione, ne fi biafimi peravventura la poverta dello stile, la poca gravita nel portar delle cofe, la fterilita de concetti, la debolenzza de gli fpiriti, gli infipidi, fali, gli ftravaganti epifodii, come a dire (per lafciare una infinita d' altre cofe) che il mondo, la carne, e 'l diavolo per tentare Adamo, in forma humana gli s' apprefentino, poi ch' altro huomo né altra donna non v'era al mondo, poiche il ferpente fi moftrò pure ad Eva con parte humana; oltre che fi fa quefto, perche le cofe fieno piu intefe dall' intelletto con que mezi, che a fenfi s' afpettano : pofcia che in altra guifa come le tante tentazioni che in un punto foftennero Adamo ed Eva, furono

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termined plan, and arrived at the end before I was aware. Whence I am inclined to believe, that the favour of God, regarding rather my good intentions than my defects (for as he often withdraws the heart of man from evil, fo he conducts it infenfibly to good) gave direction to my hand, and completed my work. Wherefore to that alone I am indebted for the little grace that may perhaps be found in the prefent labour; knowing that as omnipotence is accustomed to produce wonders from the rude and unformed chaos, fo from the ftill ruder chaos of my mind it may have called forth this production, if not for any other purpose, yet to be facred, and to make, as it were, a mute speak in my perfon, in defpight of poverty of genius, as on the other hand it is accustomed to strike mute the most eloquent tongues, when they employ themfelves on fubjects low and profane. Let it be furveyed, therefore, with an eye of indulgence, and blame not the poverty of ftile, the want of dignity in the conduct of the circumstances, fterility of conceits, weakness of fpirit, infipid pleafantries, and extravagant epifodes; to mention, without fpeaking of an infinitude of other things, that the world, the flesh, and the devil, present themselves in human shapes to tempt Adam, fince there was then in the univerfe no other man or woman, and the ferpent difcovered himfelf to Eve with a human fimilitude; moreover, this is done that the fubject may be better comprehended by the understanding, through the medium of the fenses; fince the great temptations that Adam and

nell' interno della lor mente, cofi non ben capir lo spettalor le poteva, Ne fi de credere che paffaffe il ferpente con Eva difputa lunga poiché la tentò in un punto piu nella mente che con la lingua dicendo quelle parole; "Nequaquam moriemini et eritis ficut Dii," &c. et pur fara di mestieri, per efprimere quegli interni contrasti, meditar qualche cofe per di fuori rappresentarli. Ma fe al pittor poeta muto, è permeffo con carratteri di colore l' efprimer l'antichita di Dio in perfona d' huomo tutto canuto, e dimostrare in bianca colomba la purita dello spirito, e figurare i divini meffaggi che fono gli angeli in perfona de giovani alati; perche non è permeffo al poeta, pittor parlante, portar nella tela del theatro altra huomo, altra donna, ch' Adamo ed Eva e rapprefentare quegli interni contrasti per mezo d' immagini, e voci pur tutte humane? Oltre che par piu tolerabile l'introdurre in quest' opera il demonio in humana figura, di quel che fia l'introdur nell' ifteffa il Padre eterno et l'an, gelo fteffo; e pur fe quefto e permesso, e fi vede tutto giorno efpreffo nelle rapprezentazioni' sacré, perche non fi ha da permettere nella prefente dove fe il maggior fi concede, fi dè conceder parimente il minor male; rimira dunque lettor benigno piu la foftanza, che l' accidente, per cofi dire, contemplando nell' opera il fine di portar nel theatro dell anima la miferia, ed il pianto d' Adamo, e farne spettatore

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Eve at once fuftained, were indeed in the interior of their own mind, but could not be fo comprehended by the spectator; nor is it to be believed that the serpent held a long difpute with Eve, fince he tempted her rather by a fuggeftion to her mind, than by conference, faying these words, Nequaquam moriemini, et eritis ficut Dii, fcientes bonum et malum;" and yet it will be neceffary, in order to express those internal contentions, to find some expedient to give them an outward representation; but if it is permitted to the painter, who is a dumb poet, to exprefs by colours God the Father, under the person of a man filvered by age; to defcribe, under the image of a white dove, the purity of the fpirit; and to figure the divine meffengers, or angels, under the fhape of winged youths, why is it not permitted to the poet, who is a speaking painter, to reprefent, in his theatrical production, another man and another woman befides Adam and Eve, and to represent their internal conflicts through the medium of images and voices entirely human, not to mention that it appears more allowable to introduce in this work the devil under a human fhape, than it is to introduce into it the eternal Father and an angel; and if this is permitted, and feen every day exhibited in facred representations, why should it not be allowed in the present, where, if the greater evil is allowable, furely the lefs fhould be allowed: attend therefore, gentle reader, more to the substance than to the accident, considering in the work the great end of introducing into the theatre of the foul the mifery and lamentation of

Adam,