Images de page
PDF
ePub

Defert and bare, unfightly, unadorn'd,

Brought forth the tender grafs, whose verdure clad 315 Her univerfal face with pleasant green,

Then herbs of every leaf, that fudden flow'rd

Opening their various colors, and made

gay

Her bofom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown,
Forth florifh'd thick the cluftring vine, forth crept 320
The smelling gourd, up ftood the corny reed
Imbattel'd in her field, and th' humble shrub,
And bush with frizled hair implicit: last
Rofe as in dance the ftately trees, and fpread 324
Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemm'd

321. The Smelling gourd,] A mere miftake of the printer: the author gave it The Swelling gourd; as Propertius, IV. II. 43.

Cæruleus cucumis tumidoque cucurbita ventre.

Thofe, that ftifly maintain that Smel ling was Milton's word and interpret it the melon, feem not to attend, that he had the word fmelling two lines before, and would not have doubled it fo foon again: and that he does not name here any particular plant, but whole tribes and fpecies; the vine, the gourd, the reed, the shrub, the bush, the tree. Gourds are as numerous a family, as most of the other, and include the melon within the general name; which tho' it fmelis, it fwells likewife. Bentley.

Their

Dr. Bentley very justly reads here The fwelling gourd: and to the reafons which he gives, may be added, that Milton here affigns to each of the which fuits with all of the fame fpecies: other tribes or fpecies, an epithet but Smelling, tho' it fuits with fome kinds of the gourd, does not fuit with all the particulars of that tribe, as favelling does. Pearce. The mistake was ealy of w for m: and Dr. Bentley's emendation is certainly right; and to the authority which he has brought from Propertius we may add another from Virgil, Georg. IV. 121.

tortufque per herbam

Crefceret in ventrem cucumis. But we have not alter'd the text, as the common reading makes fenfe, tho' not fuch good fente as the other. 321.- the

Their bloffoms: with high woods the hills were

crown'd,

With tufts the valleys, and each fountain fide,

With borders long the rivers: that earth now

Seem'd like to Heav'n, a feat where Gods might dwell, Or wander with delight, and love to haunt

330
Her facred fhades: though God had yet not rain'd
Upon the earth, and man to till the ground
None was, but from the earth a dewy mist

Went up and water'd all the ground, and each
Plant of the field, which ere it was in th' earth 335
God made, and every herb, before it grew

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

On

Dr. Bentley thinks it plain that Milton gave it or gemm'd with blossoms; taking gemm'd for a participle as hung is. But gemm'd may be a verb, as spread is. And to gem their bloffoms is an expreffion of the fame poetical caft with that in IV. 219. blooming ambrofial fruit.

-

Pearce. 331. though God had yet not rain'd &c.] This is not taken, as the reft, from the first, but from the fecond chapter of Genefis; but the poet was ftudious to weave in all that Mofes had written of the creation. Gen. II. 4, 5, 6. In the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caufed it to rain upon the earth, and there C 2

GWAS

On the green stem; God faw that it was good:
So ev❜n and morn recorded the third day.
Again th' Almighty fpake, Let there be lights
High in th' expanse of Heaven to divide
The day from night; and let them be for figns,
For feasons, and for days, and circling years,
And let them be for lights as I ordain
Their office in the firmament of Heaven

340

To give light on the earth; and it was fo.

345

And God made two great lights, great for their use To Man, the greater to have rule by day,

was not a man to till the ground: but there went up a mist from the earth, and water'd the whole face of the ground.

338. So ev'n and morn recorded the third day.] Recorded, celebrated, caus'd to be remember'd. This was done by the even and morning chorus (ver. 275) with evening harps and matin (ver. 450.) What is done by the voices and infiruments is poetically afcrib'd to the time in which they were employ'd.

Richardfon. 339. Again th Almighty pake, Let there be lights &c.] Gen. I. 14, 15. And God faid, Let there be lights in the firmament of the Hea ven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for figns, and for fcafons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the Heaven, to give light upon the

The

earth: and it was fo. We fee, when he makes the divine Perfon speak, he ftill keeps clofe to Scripture; but afterwards he indulges a greater latitude of thought, and gives freer fcope to his imagination.

346. And God made two great

lights,] The feveral glories of the Heavens make their appearance on the fourth day. Addifon. The very words of Mofes, And God made two great lights; not that they were greater than all other ftars and planets, but are only greater lights with reference to Man, and therefore Milton judiciously adds,

great for their use To Man, the greater to have rule by day,

The lefs by night altern; that is alternate, a word added to Mofes his account, as in their vicif

The lefs by night altern; and made the stars,
And fet them in the firmament of Heaven

To' illuminate the earth, and rule the day
In their viciffitude, and rule the night,

350

And light from darkness to divide. God faw,
Surveying his great work, that it was good:
For of celeftial bodies firft the fun

A mighty sphere he fram'd, unlightsome first, 355
Though of ethereal mold: then form'd the moon
Globofe, and every magnitude of stars,

And fow'd with ftars the Heav'n thick as a field:

fitude is afterwards; the greater light ta rule the day, and the leffer light to rule the night: he made the ftars alfo. And God fet them in the firmament of the Heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God faw that it was good. Gen. I. 16, 17, 18. So far, we fee, he keeps close to Scripture, but then he lanches out, and fays that of celestial bodies the fun was firft fram'd, and then the moon and fars, obferving this order of creation, we fuppofe, according to the degrees of usefulness to men. The fun, he fays, was unlightfome firft; and it is most probable, that the bodies of the fun and moon &c were formed at the fame time as the body of the earth on the first day, but they were not made thofe complete luminous bodies, they did not thine

Of

out in their full luftre and glory till the fourth day, the air perhaps or atmosphere not being fufficiently clear'd before to tranfmit their rays to the earth. Milton's hypothefis is different. He fays that the light was tranfplanted from her cloudy forine or tabernacle, wherein fhe had fojourn'd the three first days, and on the fourth day was plac'd in the fun's orb, which was become now the great palace of light. But let it be remember'd that this is all hypothefis, and that the Scripture determins nothing one way or another.

358. And fow'd with flars the Heav'n thick as a field:] This allufion is extremely elegant, Manil. V. 726.

Tunc conferta licet cœli fulgentia templa

[blocks in formation]

Of light by far the greater part he took,

Tranfplanted from her cloudy fhrine, and plac'd 360
In the fun's orb, made porous to receive

And drink the liquid light, firm to retain
Her gather'd beams, great palace now of light,
Hither as to their fountain other stars

Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,

365

And

Cernere feminibus denfis, totifque quently repeated, than to vary it by

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

retain

Her gather'd beams,] Porous yet

firm. Milton feems to have taken this thought from what is faid of the Bologna itone, which being plac'd in the light will imbibe, and for fome time retain it fo as to inlighten a dark place. Richardfon.

362. And drink the liquid light, Dr Bentley finds fault with the word light being repeated so often, and in two places fubftitutes fome other expreffion in the room of it; but when Milton was defcribing the creation of light, it was better (as Dr. Pearce judicioufly obferves) to keep ftrictly to the word, tho' fre

phrafes and circumlocutions.

364. Hither as to their fountain

other ftars] So the fun is called by Lucretius, V. 282. the fountain of light, of liquid light.

Largus item liquidi fons luminis, æthereus fol

Irrigat affidue cœlum candore recenti:

and by other fars are meant the planets, as appears by mentioning particularly the morning planet Venus. And hence the morning planet gilds

her horns;

In the first edition it was his horns,
but the author in the fecond edition
foften'd it into her horns, which is cer-

tainly properer
tainly properer for the planet Venus,
tho' Dr. Bentley and Mr. Fenton
have ftill printed it his borns.

370. Firft in his eaft the glorious

lamp was feen,] It is indeed a little inaccurate to make this as well as the former verse conclude with the word feen; but this is not fo bad as when both verfes rime together, as in II. 220.

This

« PrécédentContinuer »