175

Provokes my envy, this new favourite
Of Heaven, this man of clay, fon of despite,
Whom, us the more to fpite, his Maker rais'd
From duft: Spite then with spite is best repaid.

So faying, through each thicket dank or dry,
Like a black mift low-creeping, he held on 180
His midnight-fearch, where fooneft he might find
The serpent; him fast-sleeping soon he found
In labyrinth of many a round self-roll'd,
His head the midft, well ftor'd with fubtile wiles:
Not yet in horrid fhade or dismal den,
Nor nocent yet; but, on the graffy herb,
Fearless unfear'd he slept in at his mouth
The Devil enter'd; and his brutal sense,

:

185

Ver. 176. fon of defpite,] "Tis a Hebraifm by which wicked men are termed fons of Belial, Deut. xiii. 13; valiant men, fons of courage, 11 Sam. ii. 7; untameable beafts, fons of pride, Job xli; the difciples, fons of light, Luke xvi. 8. So Satan calls man the fon of defpite, the offspring of hatred and envy, created to increase his punishment by feeing this man of clay fübftituted into that glorious ftation of him forlorn, outcast of Heaven. HUME.

Virgil, "graminis herbam," Ecl. v. 26. NEWTON.

Ver. 187.

grafy herb,] So we have in

- in at his mouth

The Devil enter'd; &c.] Homer, Il. xvii, 210.

190

In heart or head, poffeffing, soon inspir'd
With act intelligential; but his fleep
Disturb'd not, waiting close the approach of morn.
Now, when as facred light began to dawn
In Eden on the humid flowers, that breath'd
Their morning incense, when all things, that
breathe,

194

Ver. 192. Now, when as facred light &c.] This is the morn ing of the ninth day, as far we can reckon the time in this poem; a great part of the action lying out of the fphere of day. The first day we reckon that wherein Satan came to the earth; the fpace of feven days after that he was coafting round the earth; he comes into Paradife again by night, and this is the beginning of the ninth day, and the last of man's innocence and happiness. The morning is often called facred by the poets, because that time is ufually alloted to facrifice and devotion, as Euftathius fays in his remarks on Homer. NEWTON.

Ver. 193. In Eden on the humid flowers, that breath'd

Their morning incenfe, &c.] Here Milton gives to the English word breathe, which is generally used in a more confined sense, the extenfive fignification of the Latin Spirare; imitating perhaps Spenfer, Faer. Qu. i. iv. 38.

"With pleafance of the breathing fields yfed." THYER. This beautiful paffage in Milton has been the parent of two elegant imitations. For thus Pope, in his Messiah,

"See, Nature haftes her earliest wreaths to bring,
"With all the incenfe of the breathing fpring.'"

And Gray, in his Elegy,

"The breezy call of incenfe-breathing morn."

Compare Sir Richard Tempeft's Entertainment of Solitarinesse, 1649, p. 10. "Morning Thoughts.-The flowers draw forth their

From the Earth's great altar fend up

filent praise

To the Creator, and his noftrils fill
With grateful fmell, forth came the human pair,
And join'd their vocal worship to the quire

Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake
The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs: 200
Then commune, how that day they best may ply
Their growing work: for much their work out-
grew

The hands' dispatch of two gardening so wide, And Eve firft to her husband thus began.

Adam, well may we labour ftill to dress 205 This garden, still to tend plant, herb, and flower, Our pleasant task enjoin'd; but, till more hands Aid us, the work under our labour grows, Luxurious by restraint; what we by day Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind, 210 One night or two with wanton growth derides Tending to wild, Thou therefore now advise, Or bear what to my mind first thoughts present:

feverall flames and beauties, offering fweet incenfe from their fragrant bofomes." TODD.

Ver. 197. With grateful smell,] This is in the ftyle of the Eastern poetry. So it is faid, " The Lord finelled a sweet savour," Gen. viii. 21. NEWTON.

Ver. 211. One night or two with wanton growth derides

Tending to wild.] This is an improvement upon

Virgil, Georg. ii. 20.

“Et quantum longis carpent armenta diebus,

Exiguâ tantum gelidus ros nocte reponet," TODD.

Ver, 213. Or bear] So it is in the fecond edition; but in

Let us divide our labours; thou, where choice Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind

The woodbine round this arbour, or direct
The clafping ivy where to climb; while I,
In yonder spring of roses intermix'd
With myrtle, find what to redress till noon:
For, while fo near each other thus all day
Our task we choose, what wonder if so near
Looks intervene and fmiles, or object new

215

220

the firft, "Or hear." Either will do; and we find fometimes the one, and fometimes the other, in the following editions.

NEWTON.

Ver. 218. In yonder fpring of rofes &c.] Mr. Dunfter here obferves that, in Fairfax's tranflation of Taffo, the enchanted wood is called "the dreadful spring" as well as the charmed grove;" and that, in the gloffary to the tranflation, Spring is explained as fignifying a grove. This interpretation is alfo countenanced by the poet's reprefenting Eve, after her converfation with Adam is clofed, as betaking herfelf to the groves, ver. 388. At the fame time I must not omit Barret's expofition of this fubftantive as more fuitable to rofes and woodbines than the application of grove. See Barret's Alvearie, fol. 1580, V. To fpring: "To fpring in stalkes, to bring forth Springs, shootes, or fhrubbes." TODD. what wonder if fo near

Ver. 221.

Looks intervene and fmiles,] The repetition, so near, is extremely beautiful; and naturally comes in here, as the chief intent of Eve's fpeech was to perfuade Adam to let her go from him: She therefore dwells on fo near, as the great obftacle to their working to any purpofe;

"For, while fo near each other thus all day
"Our tafk we choofe, what wonder if fo near

"Looks intervene and fmiles, &c. STILLINGFLEET.

Cafual discourse draw on; which intermits
Our days work, brought to little, though begun
Early, and the hour of fupper comes unearn'd ?225

To whom mild answer Adam thus return'd.
Sole Eve, affociate fole, to me beyond
Compare above all living creatures dear!
Well haft thou motion'd, well thy thoughts em-
ploy'd,

229

How we might best fulfil the work which here
God hath affign'd us; nor of me shalt pass
Unprais'd: for nothing lovelier can be found
In woman, than to study houshold good,
And good works in her husband to promote.
Yet not fo ftrictly hath our Lord impos'd
Labour, as to debar us when we need
Refreshment, whether food, or talk between,
Food of the mind, or this fweet intercourse

235

Ver. 227. Sole Eve, associate fole,] As fhe had the name of Eve, upon account of her being the mother of all living, Gen. iii. 20; the epithet fole is as properly applied to Eve, as to associate. PEARCE.

Compare] Dr. Newton here fays, that Milton has converted the verb compare into a noun. But compare had been employed for comparison by preceding poets; and therefore Milton often ufes it. Many inftances occur in this poem. See alfo his Samfon Agonistes, v. 556. Thus in Britain's Ida, formerly attributed to Spenfer, B. v. ver. 67.

"Beyond compare fuch nothing is terrestrial." And Shakspeare, Troil, and Cref. A. iii. S. ii,

"Full of proteft, and oath, and big compare." TODD.