175 Moon, that Now meet'ft the Orient Sun, Now fli'ft

With the fixt Stars

This Account of the Moon has Some Difficulty, and accordingly Tranflators, Latin, French and Italian, have left it Obfcure, or Rather Seem to have Miftaken it. to Underftand it Aright, it will be Neceffary to Obferve; that in whatever Senfe the Moon may be faid to Meet or Fly from the Sun, we are Only Concern'd with her as in relation to the Orient, the Rifing Sun;

'tis fit alfo Here to Confider what Space of Time Milton Allows from the Creation to the Fall. Some have thought Both were on the Same Day, or at most that the State of Innocence was but of very Short Duration. Our Author is Not of This Opinion; Satan was but on his Journey, after the Creation was Finish'd, III. 70. 'twas Some time before he got Thither, found Entrance, and was Driven from Paradife by Gabriel, IV. Ult. it was a Week e'er he return'd; How long it was after That before he Prevail'd is not determin'd, though it Seems to have been foon done; however as 'tis not faid how long Our First Parents had Enjoy'd Being and Happinefs before Satan was feen by God making Hitherward, we are not ftreightned in Time, Adam might have had all that was Neceffary

to

to make his Obfervations. See IV. 449, 680, 685. V. 31, 32. VIII. 25. IX. 63, &c.

We Now come to Confider the Text as it is pointed in the Best Editions. Milton's Own. the Moon may be faid to Fly from the Eaftern Sun when She Vanishes, Over-power'd by His Brighter Beam; and to Meet him whilft fhe Suftains That Superiour Brightnefs. This Adam may very well be Suppos'd to have Observ'd, and as 'tis a very Poetical Senfe, 'tis what Milton could not fail to have thought of; and 'tis the Senfe that Seems to have been That in which Moft have underftood this Paffage. but Why Fly'fst With the Stars? Unless that by Flying With them is Interpreted to be Following them, flying After them; for They are gone Long Before Her. and the Fix'd Stars Longeft; the Planet Venus in Particular ftays a Confiderable time after them.

Another Senfe in Which the Meeting and Flying We are speaking of may be Underftood is This. Every day from the New to the Full, the Moon Rifes within Twelve Hours After the Sun, and from Thence to the New within Twelve Hours Before her. May She not be faid to be Flying from Him when He, Rifing, finds Her gone Before, and that She Meets Him when She is Making towards Him in his Early Progrefs? but 'twould be a great Impropriety to Say She Then Flies with

the Stars.

Again. the Moon Meets the Sun when, Rifing, he finds her in the Heavens, as he does One Half of the Month; the Other She is Abfent when he Afcends his Diurnal Throne, Rifing After Him, She Seems to Shun, to Fly his Company There. but Neither are the Stars concern'd in This Cafe. the Fix'd Stars and the Others are Equally Improperly brought

In Here.

Let us try if we can have More Success with the Moon's Monthly Motion. and Here indeed She Approaches the Rifing Sun, and Recedes by Turns. Every Day after the Full when She is Seen in the Heavens, 'tis more Eastwardly than on the Day before; as from the New to the Full we know fhe is more and More Remote from the Sun (though not Seen by Us) at His Rifing. Thus in Her Monthly Progrefs from Weft to Eaft, (which is the Only Motion that can be given to the Moon as Diftinguifh'd from the Sun in the Ptolemaic System, (Milton's) the Diurnal being no Motion Diftinctly of Hers but of the Primum Mobile Carrying all the Celestial Bodies in it) the Moon Meets, and Flyes from the Sun: but not with the Stars, not with the Fix'd Stars, This Menftrual Motion has no Particular relation to Them.

But a Greater Objection to All These Meanings is yet Behind; as will be feen presently.

Every way These Stars Perplex us, and Meerly for want of a Comma after Flyft, for

Then

Then the Syntax of the Intire Paffage would be. Moon, together with the Fix'd Stars, and ye Planets, Praife, &c. a like Syntax and manner of Expreffion follows foon after, v. 194. Thus All Difficulties Vanish, at least so far as Concern the Stars, and the Moon's Meeting and Flying from the Sun may be understood in the Senfe as Best Describes Her, for All Who are Call'd upon are at the fame time mark'd with their Peculiar Characteristicks. Now Though Milton's Own Editions are as Correctly Printed as Almoft Any Books Ever were, 'twould be Abfurd to Contend for the Pointing, Even of These as Infallible; 'tis Certain there are Some Few Overfights, and that This is One, is Exceeding Probable, not only by the Difficulties with which the Text is Incumber'd this Comma being Omitted, but Thus the Fix'd Stars are Call'd upon with all the Other Luminous Bodies, beginning with Hesperus, v. 166. and Concluding with v. 179. which Intimates the Intention was to fpecify All which gave Light to the World, and Milton has made These too Confiderable to give us the leaft reason to imagine he Purposely Omitted them. As v. 268. IV. 656, 664. VII. 382, &c. Indeed This Hymn would be Defective without them, nor would it Answer to What is faid, v. 164. Joyn All ye Creatures to Extol Him; Him First, Laft, Midft, and without End. God, Bleffed for Ever!

We

We have Offer'd the feveral ways which Occur to Us in which This Paffage May be Understood; the Reader is at Liberty to make Ufe of Any he Likes Beft. Or if he is not yet Satisfy'd, he may perhaps find a Better; in That Cafe We fhall be Thankful, if he is fo Good as to Communicate it to Us.

176 with the Fix'd Stars, Fix'd in their Orb that flyes;

Fix'd, in Oppofition to the Planets who are Wandring, as in the Next Line.

the Fix'd Stars, with respect to Us, are all in the fame Motion as if the Heavens in which we behold them were one Vaft Globe, and They fix'd in it as Studs of Gold; which Globe, or Orb flyes; Flyes, not as oppos'd to Meeting, as in the Precedent line, but as Swiftly Whirling round. Flying, as Moving with the Utmoft Rapidity; So Adam Conceiv'd they did, VIII. 21. though Now 'tis Certainly known that the Fix'd Stars, as they are (the Nearest of them) at an Amazing Distance even from the Planets, which are Comparatively Our Neighbours, they are Variously Remote from Them and Us; and Many, Millions, are Loft to Our Sight, though Affifted with the Best Tellescopes, So that though an Eye were plac'd in any of them, the Distant View would be much the Same as That We have, Whatever Alteration there