Which that falfe fruit that promis'd clearer fight
Had bred; then purg'd with euphrafy and rue
The visual nerve, for he had much to fee;
And from the well of life three drops inftill'd.
So deep the pow'r of these ingredients pierc'd,
E'en to the inmoft feat of mental fight,
That Adam now enforc'd to close his eyes,

Sunk down, and all his fpi'rits became intranc'd;
But him the gentle Angel by the hand

Soon rais'd, and his attention thus recall'd.
Adam, now ope thine eyes, and firft behold

The facred armies, how they muf-
tred be,

That cloud of flesh in which for
times of old
All mankind wrapped is, I take
from thee,

And from thy fenses their thick
mist unfold,

That face to face thou mayft thefe
Spirits fee,

And for a little space right-well
sustain

Their glorious light, and view

thofe Angels plain. Fairfax.

These paffages the poet has imitated and improv'd; as in what follows of Adam's finking down overpower'd, and then being rais'd again by the hand gently by the Angel, he has copied from Daniel X. 8, &c. I faw this great vifion, and there remained no ftrength in me I was in a deep

421

Th' ef

fleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. And behold a hand touched mi, which fet me upon my knees: or from Rev. I. 17. And when I faw bin, I fell at his feet as dead; and be laid his right hand upon me, saying it me, Fear not.

414.purg'd with euphrafy and rue] Cleared the organs of his fight with rue and cupbraha eye-bright, fo named of its clearing virtue. Hume.

Rue was ufed in exorcifms, and is therefore called herb of grace. Shakefpear, Richard II. Act 3. Scene 7. See too Hamlet, Act 4. Scene 7.

427. Nor finn'd thy fin,] So in Exod. XXXII. 30. Ye have find a great fin. 1 John V. 16. If y man fee his brother fin a fin. And the fame manner of speaking has prevail'd among the best claffic authors as well as in Scripture. T

from

425

' effects which thy original crime hath wrought fome to fpring from thee, who never touch'd n' excepted tree, nor with the Snake confpir'd, or finn'd thy fin, yet from that fin derive orruption to bring forth more violent deeds.

His eyes

he open'd, and beheld a field,

rt arable and tilth, whereon were fheaves

430

ew reap'd, the other part fheep-walks and folds; th' midst an altar as the land-mark ftood, ftic, of graffy ford; thither anon fweaty reaper from his tillage brought

n that fin derive. The word fin by mistake omitted in Milton's ond edition, by which the verfe comes lame and defective.

29. His eyes be open'd, and beheld

a field, &c.] In this great iew which Adam takes of all his s and daughters, the first objects is prefented with exhibit to him ftory of Cain and Abel, which drawn together with much closeEs and propriety of expreffion. at curiofity and natural horror, ich arifes in Adam at the fight of firft dying man, is touched with at beauty. Addifon.

First

mifprinted for fod, turf, of the Belgic fode, Italian terra foda of folidum or folume and Mr. Fenton has caufed it to be printed fod, as Dr. Bentley has very affectedly swer.

434. Afweaty reaper from his til

lage brought &c.] It may be proper to compare this account with the facred hiftory, to which it alludes, Gen. IV. 2. &c. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firflings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. The poet adds, that Cain took the fruits uncull'd, as came to hand, whereas Abel felected the choiceft and best of his flock; and in this fome interpreters have conceiv'd the guilt of Cain to confift. The poet too makes

them

43

Firft fruits, the green ear, and the yellow fheaf,
Uncull'd, as came to hand; a fhepherd next
More meek came with the firstlings of his flock
Choicest and best; then facrificing, laid
The inwards and their fat, with incenfe ftrow'd,
On the cleft wood, and all due rites perform'd. 440
His offering foon propitious fire from Heaven
Confum'd with nimble glance, and grateful steam;
The other's not, for his was not fincere;
Whereat he inly rag'd, and as they talk'd,
Smote him into the midriff with a stone
That beat out life; he fell, and deadly pale
Groan'd out his foul with gushing blood effus'd.
Much at that fight was Adam in his heart

them offer both upon the fame altar, for the word brought in Scripture (which Milton likewife retains) is understood of their bringing their offerings to fome common place of worship: and this altar he makes of turf, of graffy ford, as the firft altars are reprefented to be, and describes the facrifice fomewhat in the manner of Homer. The Scripture fays only that the Lord had refpect unto Abel, and to his offering; but unto Cain and to bis offering he had not refpect: The poet makes this refpect unto Abel's offering to be a fire from Heaven confuming it; and herein he is juftified by the authority of the

44

Di

And Com

best commentators Jewish and Ch
ftian; and there are feveral inftance
of fuch acceptance in Scripture.
Cain's was not fo accepted, for in
the poet) his was not fincert.
Cain was very wroth
talked with Abel his brother, mit
came to pass when they were in t
field, that Cain rofe up against
his brother, and flew him. The po
makes Cain to fmite him into the
riff or diaphragm, a nervous mcke
feparating the breaft from the bel
with a fione, fuppofing it the mat
natural and the inoft ready infr
ment at hand, and fo Cowley, Da
vid. I. and in his note 16: but how

Difmay'd, and thus in hafte to th' Angel cry'd.

353

O Teacher, fome great mischief hath befall'n 450 To that meek man, who well had facrific'd; Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?

T' whom Michael thus, he also mov'd, reply'd. These two are brethren, Adam, and to come Out of thy loins; th' unjust the juft hath flain, 455 For envy that his brother's offering found From Heav'n acceptance; but the bloody fact Will be aveng'd, and th' other's faith approv'd ofe no reward, though here thou fee him die, Rolling in duft and gore. To which our fire. 460 Alas, both for the deed and for the cause! But have I now feen Death? Is this the way

Hebrews, who bears this teftimony to it, XI. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent facrifice nefs, that be was righteous, God than Cain, by which he obtained witteftifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead, yet fpeaketh.

462. But have I now feen Death?

Is this the way &c.] Our author, in making Adam fo ignorant of what death was and the way to it, feems to have forgot what he had put in the mouth of Eve in the preceding book, ver. 1001. Let us seek Death, or he not found, supply With

354

I must return to native duft? O fight
Of terror, foul and ugly to behold,
Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!

476

To whom thus Michaël. Death thou haft feen In his first shape on man; but many shapes Of Death, and many are the ways that lead To his grim cave, all difmal; yet to sense More terrible at th' entrance than within. Some, as thou faw'ft, by violent stroke fhall die, By fire, flood, famin, by intemp'rance more In meats and drinks, which on the earth fhall bring Difeafes dire, of which a monftrous crew Before thee fhall appear; that thou mayst know 475 What mifery th' inabftinence of Eve

Shall

mille ad hanc aditus patent.

477.- Immediately a plau & The fecond vifion fets before he the image of death in a great variety of appearances. The Angel, to ge him a general idea of thofe efte which his guilt had brought p his pofterity, places before him a large hofpital or lazar-houfe, with perfons lying under all kin of mortal difeafes. How finely the poet told us that the fick peri languifh'd under lingring and curable diftempers, by an apt a judicious ufe of fuch imaginary be ings as thofe I mention'd in my l

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