249 Celeftial Ardors, the Hierarchies. Ardor in Latin implies Fervency, Exceeding Love, Eager Defire, Fiery Nature, all included in the Idea of an Angel. Milton alfo calls them Splendours. I. 610. 257 From Hence, no Cloud, or, to Obftruct his Sight, Starr interpos'd, However Small be fees, from Hence, no Cloud or Star interpofing, he fees, though in Little, the Earth (Shining as the Other Globes, and Like Them when at no Greater diftance than he was Now from It) and even the Garden Crown'd with it's Lofty Cedars; His Angel Eye faw what We could not have feen by the Help of our Best Telescopes; He faw as Aftronomers fee Lands and particular Regions in the Moon, or Imagine them to be So; Or as a Pilot fees the Largeft of the Cyclades when it first appears to the Naked Eye as a Cloudy Spot. the Angel Saw, but Better, with Greater Certainty, and more Diftin&tly. Galileo firft us'd the Telefcope in Celeftial Obfervations. the Cyclades are Iflands in the Archipelago or gean Sea (as it was Anciently call'd) there are about 53 of them; Delos and Samos of the Chief. 265 Imagin'd Lands and Regions not only they Imagin'd a Habitable World, but Aftronomers divided it into Regions. to which they have given Names. 267 Ethereal Skie by This is generally meant Heaven, as I. 45. but Here 'tis Our Sky, That of the New Creation, and call'd Ethereal becaufe thofe Luminous Bodies plac'd in it were of Ether. III. 716. VII. 354. 268 Worlds and Worlds, the Stars are Now call'd Worlds, 'tis the Poet that speaks, and he is at liberty Here, directing his Difcourfe to his Reader only, to talk according to the New Philofophy, tho' 'tis not Agreeable to his General Syftem, which is the Ptolemaic; not but that he Sometimes Intimates he knows the Other, as VII. 620. VIII. 122. Or perhaps he only means to call them Worlds, as Seeming to be So upon account of their Magnitude Now Seen Near, as III. 566. When Satan was upon His Journey Hitherward. 269 Now on the Polar Winds, then with Quick Fann Winnows the Buxom Air; the Poles of the Earth and of the whole Created World must be the fame, fuppofing the P 4 Earth Earth to be the Centre (which is Milton's System) Our Polar Winds then must be the Polar Winds where the Angel is Now on his Journey; These are North and South, or Up and Down, as has been obferv'd on III. 574, &c. the Angel is Now Coming Down (266.) if Thefe Winds Blow For him he Sails as it were upon them without Moving his Wings, or he Works with them, Winnowing, Fanning the Calm, Yielding Air. for the Words Fan and Buxom, See the Notes on II. 842, 927. What Winnows fignifies every body knows, and how Aptly That is Here us'd. the Picture of the Angel in his Journey to Adam is Amazing. 'tis from u. 247. to 311. Inclufive. 'tis Partly Owing to what Tallo, Vida and Sannazarius have done on like Occafions. 276 to his proper Shape returns. it having been faid just before that he Seem'd a Phenix, and Now that he Return'd to his Own Shape, 'tis no Wonder if Some Readers imagine he Affum'd That of a Bird when he was Flying. the Birds might fancy Him One, That is all Milton fays. and when he tells us he Return'd to his Proper Shape, he Means that Now that he was Alighted he return'd to the form in which he appear'd when God gave him his Orders to Vifit Adam; he then food vail'd with his Gorgeous Wings, v. 250. 277 Six Wings he wore the Seraphim seen by Ifaiah, vi. 2. had This number of Wings, but Differently Difpos'd, Two only were for Flight. a Moft Gay Figure! Efpecially when Flying, and his Divine Lineaments were feen together with those 'Gaudy Wings, and All in the Brightness of the Sun-beams. 281 Zone a Girdle. 284 with Feather'd Mail, Sky Tinctur'd Grain. Feathers lie One Short of Another resembling the Plates of Metal of which Coats of Mail are compos'd. Sky Colour'd, Dy'd in Grain, to exprefs Beauty and Durablenefs. 285 Maia's Son Mercury was the Son of Jupiter and Maia, 292 through Groves of Myrrhe, and Flouring Odours, Caffia, Nard, and Balme; through Groves of Myrrh, Caffia, Spikenard, and Balm, and Flow'ring Odours: through the Sweet Smells arifing from the Bloffoms of thofe Odoriferous Plants. Or through those Scents not yet Mature, but in their Bloom, and more Delicate therefore, as IX. 629. Trees Trees in Bloffom may be call'd Flow'ring Odours; the Effect for the Caufe, and the Cause for the Effect is very Elegant, and Common with the Beft Poets; Milton in Particular. More Sweet, 296 Sweet in great Abundance, More, and More upon That. 297 Wilde above Rule or Art; Enormous Blifs. the whole force of this Line is in the First Word, Wild, the rest is Explanatory of That: Regular Nature, or the Utmoft Art comes Short of it, 'tis an Enormous, what shall I call it? a Monftrous Blifs! it was before faid Nature Here Wanton'd as a Girl; Now she is Stark Wild, So Profufe is fhe of her Beauties. Words cannot carry an Idea beyond This. This Brightness compar'd to the Meridian Glory Then Shining in Paradife, is the Morning compar'd to Night. the Sun's Fervid Raies (v. 301) as the Misty Dawn. Who's This that comes Circled in Rayes that Acquaintance with the Sun? What Second Morn at |