That detriment, if such it be to lose
Self-lost, and in a moment will create

Another world, out of one man a race
Of men innumerable, there to dwell,
Not here, till by degrees of merit rais'd

They open to themselves at length the way
Up hither, under long obedience tried,

155

And earth be chang'd to heav'n, and heav'n to earth, One kingdom, joy and union without end.

Mean while inhabit lax, ye pow'rs of heaven,

And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee
This I perform, speak thou, and be it done :
My overshadowing Spi'rit and might with thee
I send along; ride forth, and bid the deep

154. and in a moment] Our author seems to favour the opinion of some divines, that God's creation was instantaneous, but the effects of it were made visible and appeared in six days in condescension to the capacities of angels; and is so related by Moses in condescension to the capacities of men.

160. And earth be chang'd to heav'n, and heav'n to earth,] Milton's meaning seems to have been this, that earth would be so happy in being inhabited by obedient creatures, that it would be changed to, i. e. resemble, heaven; and heaven by receiving those creatures would in this resemble earth, that it would be stocked with men for its inhabitants. Pearce.

Or thus in short, the angels frequently visiting earth, and men being translated to heaven,

161

165

162. Mean while inhabit lax,] Dwell more at large, there being more room now than there was before the rebel angels were expelled, or than there will be after men are translated to heaven. If this be the meaning, we cannot much commend the beauty of the sentiment, as it intimates that the angels might be straitened for room in hea

ven.

165. My overshadowing Spirit] As God's Spirit is said to do, Luke i. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee and we read Gen. i. 2. that the Spirit of God moved, or rather brooded, upon the face of the waters. The Spirit of God co-operated in the creation, and therefore is said to be sent along with the Son.

Within appointed bounds be heav'n and earth,
Boundless the deep, because I am who fill
Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.
Though I uncircumscrib'd myself retire,
And put not forth my goodness which is free
To act or not, necessity and chance
Approach not me, and what I will is fate.

So spake th' Almighty, and to what he spake
His Word, the filial Godhead, gave effect.
Immediate are the acts of God, more swift
Than time or motion, but to human ears
Cannot without procéss of speech be told,
So told as earthly notion can receive.

Great triumph and rejoicing was in heaven,
When such was heard declar'd th' Almighty's will;
Glory they sung to the Most High, good will

168. Boundless the deep, &c.] The sense is, the deep is boundless, but the space contained in it is not vacuous and empty, because there is an infinitude and I fill it. Though I, who am myself uncircumscribed, set bounds to my goodness, and do not exert it every where, yet neither necessity nor chance influence my actions, &c. Pearce. 173. —and what I will is fate.] From Lucan, v. 91.

Deus magnusque potensque
Sive canit fatum, seu quod jubet ipse

canendo

Fit fatum.

170

175

180

An expression borrowed from
Tasso, where Satan, mimicking
the Deity, says to his followers,
Sia destin ciò, ch' io voglio-
Gier, Lib. cant. iv. st. 17.

Or rather from Claudian, De
Rapt. Pros. ii. 306.

Sit fatum quodcunque voles.

Thyer.

182. Glory they sung to the Most High, &c.] The angels are very properly made to sing the same divine song to usher in the creation, that they did to usher in the second creation by Jesus Christ, Luke ii. 14. And we cannot but approve_Dr. Bentley's emendation, Glory they sung to God most high, instead of to the Most High, as it improves the measure of the Jortin. verse, is more opposed to men

Bentley.

Or from Statius, Theb. i. 212.

-

grave et immutabile sanctis Pondus adest verbis, et vocem fata sequuntur.

To future men, and in their dwellings peace:
Glory to him, whose just avenging ire
Had driven out th' ungodly from his sight
And th' habitations of the just; to him
Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd
Good out of evil to create, instead

Of Spirits malign a better race to bring
Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse
His good to worlds and ages infinite.

So sang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son

Glory and praise,] It may be worth remarking how he turns the words, ver. 184. Glory to him, &c. and here, to him glory and praise One would wonder how it could ever have been objected to Milton that there were no turns of the words in him, when there are more beautiful repetitions and turns of the words in him than in almost any poet. A bare repetition of the words often gives great force and beauty to the sentence, as in Iliad. xx. 371.

185

190

But Milton seldom repeats the words without the additional beauty of turning them too, as in this place; and in this book before,

-though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n and evil tongues;

and I know not whether the English verse has not in this respect the advantage of the Greek and Latin.

192. Mean while the Son, &c.] The Messiah, by whom, as we are told in Scripture, the worlds were made, comes forth in the power of his Father, surrounded with an host of angels, and clothed with such a majesty as becomes his entering upon a work, which according to our conceptions appears the utmost exertion of Omnipotence. What a beautiful description has our author raised upon that hint in one of the prophets! And behold there came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the

C

On his great expedition now appear'd,
Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd
Of majesty divine; sapience and love
Immense, and all his Father in him shone.
About his chariot numberless were pour'd
Cherub and Seraph, potentates and thrones,
And virtues, winged Spi'rits, and chariots wing'd
From th' armoury of God, where stand of old
Myriads between two brazen mountains lodg'd
Against a solemn day, harness'd at hand,
Celestial equipage; and now came forth
Spontaneous, for within them Spirit liv'd,
Attendant on their Lord: heav'n open'd wide
Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound

mountains were mountains of brass. (Zech. vi. 1.) I have before taken notice of these cha

riots of God, and of the gates of heaven; and shall here only add, that Homer gives us the same idea of the latter, as opening of themselves; though he afterwards takes off from it by telling us, that the hours first of all removed those prodigious heaps of clouds which lay as a barrier before them. Addison.

197. About his chariot num

berless were pour'd Cherub and Seraph,] Dr. Bentley calls cherub pour'd an awkward expression: but yet we read in ii. 997.

195

200

205

-and saw what numbers numberless

The city gates out pour'd. And so in Virg. Æn. i. 214. Fusi per herbam, and vii. 812. agris effusa juventus, and frequently elsewhere. But the word poured has still more propriety here, as it shews the readiness and forwardness of the angels to attend the Messiah's expedition: they were so earnest as not to stay to form themselves into regular order, but were poured numberless about his chariot. Pearce.

206. Her ever-during gates,] So in Par. Reg. i. 281.

Heaven opened her eternal doors. As in Psal. xxiv. 7, 9. everlasting doors. Dunster.

On golden hinges moving, to let forth
The King of Glory in his pow'rful Word

And Spirit coming to create new worlds.

On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore 210
They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds
And surging waves, as mountains, to assault

So iii. 37. Thoughts move harmonious numbers. Horace expresses it in the same manner, Ep. ii. ii. 86.

Verba lyræ motura sonum conne

ctere digner?

The infernal doors had no such harmony; they grated harsh thunder that shook Erebus, ii. 881. Richardson.

210. On heav'nly ground they stood, &c.] I do not know any thing in the whole poem more sublime than the description which follows, where the Messiah is represented at the head of his angels, as looking down into the chaos, calming its confusion, riding into the midst of it, and drawing the first outline of the creation. Addison.

211. They view'd &c.] Milton's description of God the Son and his attendant angels view ing the vast unmeasurable abyss, &c. has a great resemblance to the following passage in Vida. Christ. lib. i.

Hic superům sator informem speculatus acervum,

Eternam noctemque, indigestumque profundum,