Dismay'd, and thus in haste to th' Angel cried.

O Teacher, some great mischief hath befall'n
To that meek man, who well had sacrific'd ;
Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?

T' whom Michael thus, he also mov'd, replied.
These two are brethren, Adam, and to come
Out of thy loins; th' unjust the just hath slain,
For envy that his brother's offering found
From Heav'n acceptance; but the bloody fact
Will be aveng'd, and th' other's faith approv'd
Lose no reward, tho' here thou see him die,
Rolling in dust and gore. To which our sire.
Alas, both for the deed and for the cause!
But have I now seen Death? Is this the way
I must return to native dust? O sight
Of terror, foul and ugly to behold,

Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!

To whom thus Michaël. Death thou hast seen

In his first shape on man; but many shapes

458. and th' other's faith approv'd] It was, according to the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who bears this testimony to it, xi. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead, yet speaketh.

462. But have I now seen Death? Is this the way &c.] Our author, in making Adam so ignorant of what death was and the way to it, seems to have forgot what he had put in the

VOL. II.

450

455

460

465

Of Death, and many are the ways that lead
To his grim cave, all dismal; yet to sense
More terrible at th' entrance than within.
Some, as thou saw'st, by violent stroke shall die,
By fire, flood, famine, by intemp❜rance more
In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring
Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew
Before thee shall appear; that thou may'st know
What misery th' inabstinence of Eve
Shall bring on men. Immediately a place.
Before his eyes appear'd, sad, noisome, dark,
A lazar-house it seem'd, wherein were laid
Numbers of all diseas'd, all maladies
Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms

470

475

480

δικαται, και τυραννοι, c. 17. Dun

To his grim cave,] Senec. Phoenissæ, act i. 151, ster. 153.

Ubique mors est

-mille ad hanc aditus patent. 467. Milton in this passage seems to have had in his mind that part of the Charon, or ExXOTOVITES of Lucian, in which Mercury having noticed to Charon, conqueror Death, ( BEλTI50s bavaros,) putting a sudden stop to the ardent hopes and vain schemes of man, proceeds to point out and describe the satellites or ministers of this great power, in the many and various modes of death. He specifies first diseases dire ; Αγγελοι δε αυτό και ύπηρεται μαλα πολλοι, ὡς όρας, ηπιαλοι, και πυρετοι, και φθοαι, και Egiμonar to which he humorously adds, suicide, robbers, public executions, and tyrants, ξιφη, και ληστηρια, και κωνεία, και

477. -Immediately a place &c.] The second vision sets before him the image of death in a great variety of appearances. The angel, to give him a general idea of those effects which his guilt had brought upon his posterity, places before him a large hospital or lazar-house, filled with persons lying under all kinds of mortal diseases. How finely has the poet told us, that the sick persons languished under lingering and incurable distempers, by an apt and judicious use of such imaginary beings as those I mentioned in my last paper! The passion, which likewise rises in Adam on this occasion, is very natural. The discourse between the angel and Adam which follows, abounds with noble morals. Addison.

Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,
Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,
Intestine stone and ulcer, colic pangs,
Demoniac phrenzy, moping melancholy,
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.
Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair

And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,

Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,

were not in the first, but were added by the author in the second edition, to swell the horror of the description. Dr. Bentley is for striking them out again, but Mr. Pope says they are three admirable lines.

489. Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair &c.] This is entirely in the picturesque manner of Spenser, and seems to allude particularly to that beautiful passage, where describing the way to Pluto's grisly reign, he represents Pain, Strife, Revenge, &c. as so many persons assembled, and over them sat Horror soaring with grim hue, and beating his iron wings. Faery Queen, book ii. cant. vii.

st. 21. to st. 24.

485

Shook, but delay'd to strike. As the image is wonderfully fine, so it is excellently expressed with the pause upon the first syllable of the verse, shook. One thinks one almost sees the dart shaking. How much better is this than Virgil's, Æn. xi. 767.

-et certam quatit improbus hastam!

If the line was to be altered, as thus,

And o'er them death triumphant shook his dart, much of the fire and spirit

Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch;
And over them triumphant Death his dart
Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invok'd
With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.
Sight so deform what heart of rock could long
Dry-ey'd behold? Adam could not, but wept,
Though not of woman born; compassion quell'd
His best of man, and gave him up to tears
A space, till firmer thoughts restrain'd excess ;
And scarce recovering words his plaint renew'd.
O miserable mankind, to what fall
Degraded, to what wretched state reserv'd!
Better end here unborn. Why is life given
To be thus wrested from us? rather why
Obtruded on us thus? who if we knew
What we receive, would either not accept
Life offer'd, or soon beg to lay it down,
Glad to be so dismiss'd in peace. Can thus
Th' image of God in man created once
So goodly and erect, though faulty since,
To such unsightly sufferings be debas'd
Under inhuman pains? Why should not man,

would be lost. The reader may
see other beauties of the same
kind in the note upon iv. 351.
And there are several examples
of it in Homer, but the Latin
language seems hardly capable
of it; at least I cannot recollect
an instance in Virgil, who is the
great master of versification.
495.
Adam wept
Though not of woman born;
compassion quell'd

490

495

500

505

510

His best of man, and gave him

up to tears]

This thought (as Mr. Whalley
observes) is certainly from Shake-
speare, whose words Milton has
preserved at the close of the sen-
tence.

I had not so much of man about me,
But all my mother came into my
eyes,
And gave me up to tears.
Henry V. act iv.

Retaining still divine similitude

In part, from such deformities be free,

And for his Maker's image sake exempt ?

Their Maker's image, answer'd Michael, then
Forsook them, when themselves they vilified
To serve ungovern'd appetite, and took
His image whom they serv'd, a brutish vice,
Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve.
Therefore so abject is their punishment,
Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own,
Or if his likeness, by themselves defac'd,
While they pervert pure nature's healthful rules
To loathsome sickness, worthily, since they
God's image did not reverence in themselves.

I yield it just, said Adam, and submit.
But is there yet no other way, besides
These painful passages, how we may come
To death, and mix with our connatural dust?

515

520

525

530

There is, said Michael, if thou well observe The rule of not too much, by temp'rance taught, In what thou eat'st and drink'st, seeking from thence Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,

Till many years over thy head return :

So may'st thou live, till like ripe fruit thou drop

517. To serve ungovern'd appetite,] Appetite here is made a person: and took his image whom they served, that is, ungoverned appetite's, a brutish vice, that was the principal occasion of the sin of Eve, inductive mainly to the sin of Eve. How different is this image from God's

535

image, when (as we read in iv. 291.)

-in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone,

Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure!

531. The rule of not too much,] Ne quid nimis.