So parted they, the Angel up to Heaven From the thick fshade, and Adam to his bower. From the thick fhade, and Adam to So to the fylvan lodge They came. bis bower.] It is very true, as Dr. Bentley fays, that this converfation between Adam and the Angel was held in the bower. For thither Adam had invited him. V.367. Vouchsafe with us in yonder hady 644. Adam follow'd him into this bower To reft. But by bower in this place is meant his inmoft bower, as it is call'd in IV. 738. his place of reft. There was a shady walk that led to Adam's bower. When the Angel arose ver. fhady walk and it was from this thick fhade that they parted, and And the Angel had accepted the the Angel went up to Heaven, and invitation, ver. 375. Adam to his bower. The end of the Eighth Book. Free in thine own arbitrement it lies. So faying, he arofe; whom Adam thus 645 650 So this fenfe therefore it is not improper to be used towards fuperiors. But what ftile is that (fays the Doctor) Since to part? It means, Since we are to part. If the expreffion is abbreviated, fo was the time of Raphael's ftay with Adam. He was just upon the point of going, and therefore Adam might choose brevity of fpeech, that he might exprefs all he had to fay before the ArchAngel withdrew himself. No need then for Dr. Bentley's emendation of this fort, 644.whom Adam thus] Adam's fpeech at parting with the Angel has in it a deference and gratitude agreeable to an inferior nature, and at the fame time a certain dignity and greatnefs fuitable to the father of mankind in his state of innocence. Addifon. 645. Follow'd with benediction. Since to part,] What's here? fays Dr. Bentley: Adam give benediction, his bleffing to an Arch Angel, when the lefs is bleffed of the better? But benediction does not fignify bleffing here in the fenfe which the Doctor gives to the word. Benedicere Domino, to blefs God is a common phrase in religious offices. Benediction here is not bleffing, as 'tis And fo in a lower fenfe men may ufually understood, but well speakbe faid to biefs Angels; for bene-ing, thanks. So Milton has explain'd diction is (properly speaking) only the word Parad. Reg. III. 127. giving them good words, or withing Glory and benediction, that is them well. See Pial. CIX. 17. In Rickardfon. 652. Sa Follow'd with valediction, loath to part. thanks. So parted they, the Angel up to Heaven From the thick shade, and Adam to his bower. From the thick fhade, and Adam to So to the fylvan lodge They came. his bower.] It is very true, as Dr. Bentley fays, that this converfation between Adam and the Angel was held in the bower. For thither Adam had invited him. V. 367. Vouchsafe with us in yonder bady 644. Adam follow'd him into this bower To reft. But by bower in this place is meant his inmoft bower, as it is call'd in IV. 738. his place of reft. There was a fhady walk that led to Adam's bower. When the Angel arofe ver. fhady walk: and it was from this thick fhade that they parted, and 5: And the Angel had accepted the the Angel went up to Heaven, and invitation, ver. 375. Adam to his bower. The end of the Eighth Book. Satan having compafs'd the Earth, with meditated guile returns as a mist by night into Paradise, enters into the serpent fleeping. Adam and Eve in the morning go forth to their labors, which Eve proposes to divide in several places, each laboring apart: Adam consents not, alledging the danger, left that enemy, of whom they were forewarn'd, fhould attempt her found alone: Eve loath to be thought not circumfpect or firm enough, urges her going apart, the rather defirous to make trial of her ftrength; Adam at laft yields: The Serpent finds her alone; his fubtle approach, first gazing, then speaking, with much flattery extolling Eve above all other creatures. Eve wond'ring to hear the Serpent speak, asks how he attain'd to human speech and fuch understanding not till now; the Serpent anfwers, that by tafting of a certain tree in the garden he attain'd both to speech and reason, till then void of both: Eve requires him to bring her to that tree, and finds it to be the tree of knowledge forbidden: The Serpent now grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments induces her at length to eat; fhe pleas'd with the taste deliberates a while whether to impart thereof to Adam or not, at laft brings him of the fruit, relates what perfuaded her to eat thereof: Adam at first amaz'd, but perceiving her loft, refolves through vehemence of love to perifh with her; and extenuating the trefpafs cats alfo of the fruit: The effects thereof in them both; they feek to cover their nakedness; then fall to variance and accufation of one another. 123 PARADISE LOST. N воок BOOK IX. more of talk where God or Angel guest With Man, as with his friend, familiar us'd To But as Mr. Thyer adds, however fome critics and Monfieur Voltaire may condemn a poet's fometimes digreffing from his fubject to speak of himself, it is very certain that Milton was of a very different opinion long before he thought of writing this poem. For in his difcourfe of the Reason of Church-Government &c. apologizing for saying so much of himself as he there does, he adds, "For although a poet, foaring in the "high region of his fancies, with "bis garland and finging robes about him, might, without apology, Speak more of himself than I mean to do; yet for me fitting here below in "the cool element of profe, a mor"tal thing among many readers of "no empyreal conceit, to venture "and divulge unusual things of my"felf, I fhall petition to the gentler "fort, it may not be envy to me." Vol. 1. p. 59. Edit. 1738. 66 1. No more of talk &c.] Thefe prologues or prefaces of Milton to fome of his books, fpeaking of his own perfon, lamenting his blindness, and preferring his fubject to those of Homer and Virgil and the greatest poets before him, are condemn'd by fome critics and it must be allow'd that we find no fuch digreffion in the Iliad or Æneid; it is a liberty that can be taken only by fuch a genius as Milton, and I queftion whether it would have fucceeded in any hands but his. As Monfieur Voltaire fays upon the occafion, I cannot but own that an author is generally guilty of an unpardonable felf-" love, when he lays afide his fubject to defcant upon his own perfon: but that human frailty is to be forgiven in Milton; nay I am pleafed with it. He gratifies the curiofity he has raised in me about his perfon; when I admire the author, I defire to know fomething of the man; and he, whom all readers would be glad to know, is allow'd to speak of himelf. But this however is a very dangerous example for a genius of an inferior order, and is only to be juftifed by fuccefs. See Voltaire's Effay on epic poetry, p. 111. 1. where God or Angel gueft] Dr. Bentley fays that God did not partake rural repaft with Adam, and therefore he thinks that the author gave it where facial Angel gueft &c. But social is useless here, because familiar follows in the next verfe. The fense seems to be this; Where God, or |