a Silly Question; (878.) Gabriel replies, He was a Fit Perfon indeed to accufe Them of Folly who demanded of him How he Durft break Prison; and yet boafted his Own Wifdom, not as having fled from Pain, for That, Singly confider'd, had been Right, but for daring to do fo at all Adventures, at the Hazard of Seven-fold Vengeance for So doing.

937 Thy Fierceft,

very Concife, but very Intelligible and Strong; Enemy, Opponent is Understood. Abundant Inftances of This are perpetually found, a remarkable One we lately pafs'd by, v.852.

928 The Blafting

Thus 'tis in the First Edition, the Second has it Thy, but 'tis Wrong no doubt, not only that the Word occurs very often Thereabouts, and probably Occafion'd the Mistake, but the Senfe requires it to be The.

944

with Songs to Hymne his Throne,

and Practis'd Distances to Cringe,

to Hymn his Throne with Songs, and to Cringe Practis'd, Studied, Accustomed Distances.

962 arreede

tis Thus Spelt in the Best Editions. Advise, Direct, Order, Decree.

ibid. Avant;

On, Forward. the Beauty of the Word Here is, that it gives the Idea of One Driven before Another as a Beaft is driven; it implies Contempt; Satan had before Obferv'd That in him, v. 926. and with Reason, v. 903.

965

I drag thee

I will drag thee, the Present for the Future; a Latinifm, and very Emphatical. Que prima pericula Vito. Virg. Æn. III. 367. Cui famula trador? quem Dominum Voco? Senec. Troad. 473.

971 Proud Limitarie Cherube,

Limitary, Set to Guard the Bounds, as v.878. a Taunt, Infulting the Good Angel as one Employ'd on a Little, Mean Office.

979 Phalanx,

a very Large Square Body of Foot.

980

Ported Spears

held Sloping towards the Enemy, the Right hand Before, and the Other Behind. a Defenfive Pofture, ready alfo to Attack.

a Field of Corn, or a Corn-field, but These had been Un-poetical, Low wayes of Saying

it; Ceres was the Goddess of Corn, 'tis therefore a Field of Ceres.

987

Teneriff or Atlas

Teneriff is faid to be one of the Highest Mountains in the World, 45 Miles Perpendicular, and is feen, by the help of Perspectives, 50, 60, and when the Weather is very Clear fourscore and ten Leagues off. 'tis in an Ifland of the fame Name, the Biggest of the Canaries. Atlas is a long Chain of Mountains in Africa, divided into the Greater and Leffer Atlas; 'tis the Greater which must be Here

Horror is Perfoniz'd, and is made to fit on the Cone of the Helmet, as the Ancients plac'd Sphynxes, Dragons,&c. there Horror fits fhaded with a Plume of Feathers, as the Chimara on the Helmet of Turnus, Æn.VIII.785. Feathers have always been a Military Ornament, and several together is call'd a Plume, Corruptly a Plum of Feathers.

989

in bis Grafp

Finely Exprefs'd, Concife. he not only Held the Spear and Shield, but held them Firmly, he Grafp'd them.

990

What Seem'd both Spear and Shield Milton was Here under fome Difficulty. Satan could not be Suppos'd to have brought Arms with him, nor was it proper to imagine he had Stollen any of thofe belonging to the Good Angels; to have Dis-arm'd Any of them had been Worfe; he has therefore given him what only Seem'd to be Spear and Shield. nor yet is the Poet quite Extricated, the Reader must Affist him by Suppofing Satan's Power Exceeding Great, who even with Such could Defend himself So as to Endanger, not only Paradife, but the whole New Creation, as it follows; and This gives a Vaft Idea of his Power, though Impair'd by Sin.

997

bis Golden Scales, Yet feen Betwixt Aftrea and the Scorpion Sign, Libra, or the Scales, is one of the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, as Aftrea (or Virgo) the Virgin and Scorpio alfo are. This does, as it were, Reallize the Fiction, and gives Consequently a Greater Force to it.

999 Wherein All things Created firft he weigh'd, the Pendulous roundEarth with Ballanc'd Air in Counterpoife, Now ponders All Events, Battles and Realms:

a Short and Noble Account of the Divine Wif dom in Creation and Providence! In the Beginning he Fitted All the Parts of the Great

Work,

Work, All was Contriv'd with refpect to Each as relating to the Reft, and to the Whole; for Inftance, the Round Earth which was to be Sufpended in the Air, was confider'd, as that Air also was, Each Weigh'd against the Other as refpecting it's Place and Office. and Thus Now, (for 'tis the Poet fpeaks) Now, and at all times, He, the fame Eternal Wifdom, Ponders all Events; for Example, Battels, Which Side shall prevail, and What shall be the Confequences; So Realms, States, Monarchies, These alfo he Weighs; Which fhall Subfift, which Decay, which Subdue, and Swallow up Which, &c. as Job xxviii. 25. xxxvii. 16. Ifa. xl. 12. Matt. x. 30. Ephef. i. 4. 2 Theff. i. 9. &c. All This and More is comprehended in these three Lines and a half. the Reader has the Clue put into his Hand, he may go on with Delight, Admiration, and Praise.

1002

two Weights

the Sequel Each of Parting and of Fight; the Question is, whether a Battle or Not. This is to be Determin'd by Weighing Both in the Ballance, the Weights, whatever they were, may then be faid to be This One and That the Other, what they Represent being Virtually contain'd in them. Not content with This, Milton has Nobly extended the Thought, not only Parting and Fight, but all their Train

of