XXIII. And fullen Moloch fled, Hath left in shadows dread His burning idol all of blackest hue; In vain with cymbals ring They call the grifly king, 205 In difmal dance about the furnace blue, 210 The brutish Gods of Nile as fast, Ifis and Orus, and the dog Anubis hafte. 205. And fullen Moloch fled, Hath left in fhadows dread His burning idol all of blackeft bue; In vain with cymbals ring They call the grisly king, In difmal dance about the furnace blue.] A book, popular in Milton's time, thus describes the dreadful facrifices of the worship of the idol Moloch. "Wherein [the valley of Tophet] the Hebrews "facrificed their children to Moloch; an idol of brafs, having the "head of a calf, the reft of a kingly figure with arms extended to re"ceive the miferable facrifice, feared to death with his burning em"bracements. For the idol was hollow within, and filled with fire. "And left their lamentable fhrieks fhould fad the hearts of their pa"rents, the priests of Moloch did deaf their cars with the continual "clangs of trumpets and timbrels." Sandys's TRAVELS, p. 186. edit. 1615. fol. This imagery, but with less effect, was afterwards tranfferred into the PARADISE LOST, B. i. 392. First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, Thefe dreadful circumftances, of themfelves fufficiently ftriking to the imagination, are here only related: in our Ode, they are endued with life and action, they are put in motion before our eyes, and made fubfervient to a new purpose of the poet by the fuperinduction of a poetical fiction, to which they give occafion. "The fullen fpirit "is fled of a fudden, and has left his black burning image in dark " nefs Nor is Ofiris seen XXIV, In Memphian grove or green, Trampling the unfhowr'd grafs with lowings loud: Nor can he be at rest Within his facred cheft, 216 Nought but profoundest Hell can be his shroud; In vain with timbrel'd anthems dark The fable-stoled forcerers bear his worshipt ark. "nefs and folitude. The priefts, dancing in horrid gefticulations "about the blue furnace from which his idol was fed with fire, in "vain attempt to call back their griefly king with the din of cymbals, "with which they once used to overwhelm the fhrieks of the facrifi"ced infants." A new ufe is made of the cymbals of the difappointed priests. He does not fay, "Moloch's idol was removed, to which in"fants were facrificed; while their cries were fuppreffed by the found " of cymbals." In Burnet's treatife DE STATU MORTUORUM ET RESURGENTIUM, there is a fine picture of the rites of Moloch. Milton, like a true poet, in defcribing the Syrian fuperftitions, fe lects fuch as were moft fufceptible of poetical enlargement; and which, from the wildness of their ceremonies, were most interefting to the fancy. Nn 2 Our Our babe to fhow his Godhead true, Can in his fwadling bands controll the damned crew. 229. So when the fun in bed, &c.] Our author has here beautifully applied the vulgar fuperftition of fpirits difappearing at the break of the applied theound-work of a comparifon. All the falfe gods of e fpecies of heathen religion depart at the birth of Chrift, as fpectres and demons vanifh when the morning dawns See L'ALLEGRO, V. 114. Under the fame fyftem, Milton makes the fiends retire, who had been affembled in the night to terrify our Saviour, when the morning arofe. PARAD. REG. B. iv. 426. Thus pafs'd the night fo foul, till morning fair Of thunder, chas'd the clouds, and laid the winds, To tempt the Son of God with terrours dire. The moment of the evanefcence of Spirits was fupposed to be limited to the crowing of the cock. This belief is mentioned fo early as by Prudentius, CATHEM. HYMN. i. v. 38. But fome of his commentators, and thofe not eafily to be found, prove it to be of much higher antiquity. It is a most inimitable circumftance in Shakespeare, fo to have managed this popular idea, as to make the ghoft in HAMLET, which has been fo long obftinately filent, and of courfe must be dismissed by the morning, begin or rather prepare to fpeak, and to be interrupted, at the very critical time of the crowing of a cock. The interruption is thus finely touched. HAML. A. i. S. i. Ber. It was about to fpeak, when the cock crew: Another poet, according to cuftom, would have fuffered his ghost tamely to vanish, without contriving this ftart, which is like a start of guilt. To fay nothing of the aggravation of the future fufpence, occafioned by this preparation to speak, and to impart fome myfterious fecret. Lefs would have been expected, had nothing been promifed. Pillows Pillows his chin upon an orient wave, The flocking shadows pale Troop to th' infernal jail, Each fetter'd ghoft flips to his feveral grave, And the yellow-fkirted Fayes 235 Fly after the night-fteeds, leaving their moon-lov'd Time is our tedious fong fhould here have ending: Heav'n's youngest teemed star Hath fix'd her polish'd car, 240 Her fleeping Lord with handmaid lamp attending: And all about the courtly stable Bright-harneft Angels fit in order ferviceable *. 231. Pillows his chin upon an orient wave.] The words pillows and thin, throw an air of burlefque and familiarity over a comparison most exquifitely conceived and adapted. 232. The flocking shadows pale Troop to th' infernal jail, Each fetter'd gloft flips to his several grave.] Mr. Bowle here directs us to the MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, A. iii. S. ult. And yonder fhines Aurora's harbinger; At whofe approach, ghofts wandering here and there, That in crofs-ways and floods have burial, Already to their wormy beds are gone. 235. And the yellow-fkirted Fayes Fly after the night-feeds, leaving their moon-lov'd_maze,] It is a very poetical mode of expreffing the departure of the fairies at the approach of morning, to fay that they "fly after the fteeds of Night." *PARADISE The PASSION. I. Rewhile of mufic, and ethereal mirth, ER Wherewith the stage of air and earth did ring, And joyous news of heav'nly Infant's birth, My Mufe with Angels did divide to fing; But headlong joy is ever on the wing, 5 * PARADISE REGAINED was tranflated into French, and printed at Paris 1730. To which the tranflator has added LYCIDAS, L'ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO, and this ODE ON THE NATIVITY. But the French have no conception of the nature and complexion of Milton's imagery. A great critic, in speaking of Milton's fmaller poems, paffes over this Ode in filence, and obferves "All that fhort compofitions can com"monly attain, is neatness and elegance." But ODES are short compofitions, and they can often attain fublimity, which is even a characteristic of that fpecies of poetry. We have the proof before us. He adds, "Milton never learned the art of doing little things with "grace." If by little things we are to understand short poems, Milton had the art of giving them another fort of excellence. 1. Erewhile of mufic, and ethereal mirth.] Hence we may conjecture that this Ode was probably compofed foon after that on the NATIVITY. And this was perhaps a college exercise at Eafter, as the last at Christmas. 4. My Mufe with Angels did divide to fing.] See Spenfer, F. Q. iii. i. 40. And all the while fweet mufic did DIVIDE Her loofer notes with Lydian harmony. As Horace, "Imbelli cithara carmina DIVIDES," OD. i. XV. 15. And Seneca, HERCUL. OET. V. 1080. "Orpheus carmina DIVIDENS." Another paffage in Spenfer might be mentioned, i. v. 17. And all the while most heavenly melody About the bed fweet muficke did DIVIDE. 5. But beadlong joy is ever on the wing.] An elegant and expreffive line. But Drayton more poetically calls joy, -The fwallow-winged Joy. |