Afcending by degrees magnificent

505

Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich, appear'd
The work as of a kingly palace-gate,
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Embellish'd; thick with fparkling orient gems
The portal fhone, inimitable on earth
By model, or by fhading pencil, drawn.
The ftairs were fuch as whereon Jacob faw 510

creating and compofing their travail'd fpirits with the folemn and divine harmonies of mufick heard or learnt." And fee Harington's Orl. Fur. B. viii. 70. "Gives to his travel'd bodie due repose." TODD.

Ver. 502. Afcending by degrees magnificent

Up to the wall of Heaven a ftructure high ;] Heaven is locally reprefented with fimilar brilliancy, in Milton's earlier Poems. See Mr. Warton's note, In Obit. Præf. El. v. 62. Milton had perhaps been ftruck with the fplendid description of the new Jerufalem, in Tobit xiii. 16. "Jerufalem shall be built up with Sapphires, and emeralds, and precious ftones; thy walls, and towers, and battlements, with pure gold." See also Rev. xxi. 12. And compare B. ii. 1049. TODD.

Ver. 506. With frontispiece] So Sylvefter, fpeaking of a kingly palace, Du Bart. 1621, p. 445.

"th' uniform, fair, ftately frontispiece.",

See alfo ibid, p. 876. DUNSTER.

Ver. 507. with Sparkling orient gems] So, in Petrarch's Trionf. della Morte, cap. ii. "Di gemme orientali incoronata;" who alfo ufes the fame expreffion in a Sonnet. But Dr. Bentley would here fubftitute "ardent" for "orient gems," when the latter word was common, even in our own language, as denoting richly bright; and the whole phrafe exifting in the poetry of Milton's favourite, Petrarch. See note on B. 1. 546. TODD. Ver. 510. The ftairs] The degrees mentioned before, v. 502,

514

Angels afcending and defcending, bands
Of guardians bright, when he from Efau fled
To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz
Dreaming by night under the open sky,
And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven.
Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There always, but drawn up to Heaven fometimes
Viewless; and underneath a bright fea flow'd
Of jafper, or of liquid pearl, whereon

Who after came from earth, failing arriv'd 520
Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake
Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
The Fiend by eafy afcent, or aggravate

were fuch as whereon Jacob faw &c.; a comparison drawn from Genefis, xxviii. 12, 13. NEWTON.

Compare alfo Dante, Paradif. C. xxii. "Infin laffù la vide it. patriarca Jacob &c." TODD.

Ver. 513. To Padan-Aram, &c.] This paffage was wrong pointed in all the editions. For there fhould be no comma after Luz: The comma hould be after Pudan-Aram; and in the field of Luz fhould be joined to dreaming in the next verfe. NEWTON. Ver. 518. and underneath a bright fea flow'd] The author himself explains this, in the argument of this book, to be meant of the water above the firmament. He mentions it again, B. vii. 619. HEYLIN.

Ver. 521. Wafted] As Lazarus was carried by Angels, Lukę NEWTON.

xvi. 22.

Ver. 522.

Kings, i. 11;

Il Penf. v. 40.

Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery feeds.] See 2

and note on Paradife Regained, B. ii. 16, and on TODD.

His fad exclufion from the doors of blifs: -525 Direct against which open'd from beneath, Juft o'er the blissful feat of Paradise,

A paffage down to the Earth, a paffage wide, Wider by far than that of after-times

Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,.

Over the Promis'd Land to God fo dear;

531

By which, to vifit oft those happy tribes,
On high behefts his Angels to and fro
Pafs'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard

Ver. 525.

the doors] Rev. iv. 1. « After

this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in Heaven." See alfo Milton's poem, In Obitum Præfulis El. v. 62.

"Donec nitentes ad fores

"Ventum eft Olympi." TODD.

Ver. 528. A passage down to the Earth,] Compare Apollonius Rhodius, lib. iii. 160.

Ver. 533. On high behefts his Angels to and fro

Pafs'd frequent,] So Spenfer, Faer. Qu. i. x. 36.

"As he thereon ftood gazing, he might fee

"The blessed Angels to and fro defcend

"From highest Heaven &c." STILLINGFLEET.

Ver. 534.

and his eye with choice regard] Dr. Pearce thinks that, after regard, a verfe feems to be wanting to defcribe what his eye did with choice regard: But it may be understood thus; his eye pafs'd frequent, as well as his Angels to and fro on high behefts or commands, and furveyed from Pancas, a city at the foot of a mountain of the fame name, part of mount Libanus where the river Jordan has its fource, to Beerjabu or Beersheba, that is, the whole extent of the Promifed

From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood, 535 To Beërfaba, where the Holy Land

Borders on Egypt and the Arabian fhore;

So wide the opening feem'd, where bounds were

To darkness, fuch as bound the ocean wave. Satan from hence, now on the lower ftair, 540 That fcal'd by steps of gold to Heaven-gate, Looks down with wonder at the fudden view Of all this world at once. As when a fcout, Through dark and defart ways with peril gone All night, at laft by break of cheerful dawn 545 Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,

Land from Paneas in the north to Beërfaba in the fouth, where the Holy Land is bounded by Egypt and Arabia. The limits of the Holy Land are thus expreffed in Scripture, from Dan even unto Beersheba, Dan at the northern and Beersheba at the fouthern extremity; and the city that was called Dan was afterwards named Paneas. NEWTON.

If we here adopt Milton's own expreffion, applied to the archangel Uriel, ver. 660, "as his eye;" or the expreffion, applied to the angels in general, ver. 650, "are his eyes;" perhaps it will not be lefs intelligible to read and point this paffage thus: "On high behefts his Angels to and fro

"Pafs'd frequent, as his eyes, with &c." TODD...

Ver. 538.

where bounds were jet

To darkness,] Job xxviii. 3. "He fetteth an end to darknefs." GILLIES.

Ver. 546. of fome high-climbing hill,] The attribute of the agent given to the subject upon which it operates. LORD KAIMES.

Compare a fimilar mode of expreffion in Drayton's Burons Werres, 1627. C. ii. ft. 147

Which to his eye difcovers unaware
The goodly profpect of fome foreign land
First seen, or fome renown'd metropolis
With glistering spires and pinnacles adorn'd, 550
Which now the rifing fun gilds with his beams:
Such wonder feis'd, though after Heaven seen,
The Spirit malign, but much more envy feis'd,
At fight of all this world beheld so fair.
Round he furveys (and well might, where he
ftood

So high above the circling canopy

555

Of night's extended fhade,) from eastern point Of Libra to the fleecy ftar that bears Andromeda far off Atlantick feas

Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole 560 He views in breadth, and without longer pause Down right into the world's first region throws

"Upon the Eaft, from bufhie Needwood's fide,

"There rifeth vp an eafie-climbing hill." TODD,

Ver. 555. Round he furveys &c.] He furveys the whole creation from eaft to weft, and from north to fouth. But poetry delights to fay the most common things in an uncommon manner. It is fine, as it is natural, to reprefent Satan taking a view of the world, before he threw himself into it. NEWTON.

Ver. 556.

the circling canopy

Of night's extended shade,)] "The night began to caft her dark canopy over them." Sidney's Arcadia, 13th edit. p. 443. TODD.

Ver. 562. Down right into the world's &c.]. Satan, after having furveyed the whole creation, immediately without longer paufe throws himself into it, and is defcribed as making two different motions." At first he drops down perpendicularly fome