Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

that which Mr. Dryden has made on the famé Occafion in a Scene of his Fall of Man, he will be sensible of the great Care which Milton took to avoid all Thoughts on fo delicate a Subject, that might be offenfive to Religion or Good-manners. The Sentiments are chaste, but not cold, and convey to the Mind Ideas of the most transporting Paffion, and of the greatest Purity. What a noble Mixture of Rapture and Innocence has the Author joined together, in the Reflection which Adam makes on the Pleasures of Love, compared to thofe of Senfe.

Thus have I told thee all my State, and brought
My Story to the Sum of earthly blifs
Which I enjoy, and must confefs to find
In all things elfe delight indeed, but fuch
As us'd or not, works in the mind no change,
Nor vehement defire; thefe delicacies

I mean of taste, fight, fmell, herbs, fruits and flowers.
Walks, and the melody of Birds; but here
Far otherwife, tranfported I behold,
Tranfported touch; here paffion first I felt,
Commotion ftrange, in all enjoyments elfe
Superiour and unmov'd, here only weak
Against the Charm of beauties powerfull glance.
Or nature fail'd in me, and left fome part
Not proof enough fuch object to fuftain,
Or from my fide fubducting, took perhaps
More than enough; at least on her beflow'd
Too much of ornament, in outward fhew
Elaborate, of inward lefs exact.

When I approach
Her lovelinefs, fo abfolute she feems
And in herfelf compleat, fo well to know
Her own, that what he wills to do or fay,
Seems wifeft, virtuoufeft, difcreeteft, beft:
All higher knowledge in her prefence falls
Degraded: Wifdom in difcourfe with her
Lofes difcountenanc'd, and like folly fhews;

Authority and reafon on her wait,
As one intended first, not after made
Occafionally; and to confummate all,
Greatnefs of mind and nobleness their Seat
Build in her lovelieft, and create an awe
About her, as a guard Angelick plac'd.

Thefe Sentiments of Love, in our first Parent, gave the Angel fuch an Infight into Humane Nature, that he feems apprehenfive of the Evils which might befall the Species in general, as well as Adam in particular, from the Excefs of this Paffion. He therefore fortifies him against it by timely Admonitions; which very artfully prepare the Mind of the Reader for the Occurrences of the next Book, where the Weakness of which Adam Here gives fuch diftant discoveries, brings about that fatal Event which is the Subject of the Poem. Discourse, which follows the gentle Rebuke he receiv'd from the Angel, fhews that his Love, however violent it might appear, was still founded in Reason, and confequently not improper for Paradife.

Neither her outfide form fo fair, nor ought
In procreation common to all kinds
(Though higher of the genial bed by far,
And with myflerious reverence I deem)
So much delights me as thofe graceful acts,
Thofe thoufand decencies that daily flow
From all her words and actions mixt with love
And fweet compliance, which declare unfeign'd
Union of mind, or in us both one Soul;
Harmony to behold in wedded pair.

His

Adam's Speech, 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 Greatness, suitable to the Father of Mankind in his State of Innocence.

The SPECTATOR.

-In te omnis domus inclinata recumbit.

{On thee the Fortunes of our Houfe depend.}

Saturday, April 12. 1712.

Virg.

F we look into the three great Heroic Poems which have appear'd in the World, we may observe that they are built upon very flight Foundations. Homer lived

near 300 Years after the Trojan War, and, as the Writing of History was not then in use among the Greeks, we may very well suppose, that the Tradition of Achilles and Ulyffes had brought down but very few Particulars to his Knowledge, tho' there is no question but he has wrought into his two Poems fuch of their remarkable Adventures as were still talked of among his Contemporaries.

The Story of Æneas, on which Virgil founded his Poem, was likewise very bare of Circumftances, and by that means afforded him an Opportunity of embellishing it with Fiction, and giving a full Range to his own Invention. We find, however, that he has interwoven, in the course of his Fable, the principal Particulars, which were generally believed among the Romans, of Eneas his Voyage and Settlement in Italy.

The Reader may find an Abridgment of the whole Story, as collected out of the Ancient Hiftorians, and as it was received among the Romans, in Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus.

Since none of the Criticks have confidered Virgil's Fable, with relation to this Hiftory of Æneas, it may

not, perhaps, be amifs to examine it in this Light, fo far as regards my prefent Purpose. Whoever looks into the Abridgment abovementioned, will find that the Character of Eneas is filled with Piety to the Gods, and a fuperftitious Obfervation of Prodigies, Oracles, and Predictions. Virgil has not only preferved this Character in the Perfon of Æneas, but has given a place in his Poem to those particular Prophecies which he found recorded of him in History and Tradition. The Poet took the matters of Fact as they came down to him, and circumstanced them after his own manner, to make them appear the more natural, agreeable or surprising. I believe very many

Readers have been fhocked at that ludicrous Prophecy, which one of the Harpyes pronounces to the Trojans in the Third Book, namely, that before they had built their Intended City, they should be reduced by Hunger to eat their very Tables. But, when they heard that this was one of the Circumftances that had been transmitted to the Romans in the History of Eneas, they will think the Poet did very well in taking notice of it. The Hiftorian abovementioned, acquaints us that a Prophetess had foretold Eneas, that he should take his Voyage Weftward, till his Companions should eat their Tables, and that accordingly, upon his landing in Italy, as they were eating their Flesh upon Cakes of Bread, for want of other Conveniences, they afterwards fed on the Cakes themselves, upon which one of the Company said merrily, 'We are eating our Tables.' They immediately took the Hint, fays the Historian, and concluded the Prophecy to be fulfilled. As Virgil did not think it proper to omit fo material a Particular in the Hiftory of Æneas, it may be worth while to confider with how much Judgment he has qualified it, and taken off every thing that might have appeared improper for a Paffage in an Heroic Poem. The Prophetess who foretells it is an hungry Harpy, as the Perfon who discovers it is young Afcanius.

Heus etiam menfas confumimus inquit Iulius!

Such an Obfervation, which is beautiful in the mouth of a Boy, would have been ridiculous from any other of the Company. I am apt to think that the changing of the Trojan Fleet into Water-Nymphs, which is the most violent Machine of the whole Eneid, and has given Offence to several Critics, may be accounted for the fame way. Virgil himself, before he begins that Relation, premises that what he was going to tell appeared incredible, but that it was justified by Tradition. What further confirms me that this change of the Fleet was a celebrated Circumftance in the History of Æneas, is, that Ovid has given a place to the fame Metamorphofis in his account of the Heathen Mythology.

None of the Criticks, I have met with, having considered the Fable of the Æneid in this Light, and taken notice how the Tradition, on which it was founded, authorizes those Parts in it which appear the most Exceptionable; I hope the Length of this Reflection will not make it unacceptable to the curious Part of my Readers.

The History, which was the Bafis of Milton's Poem, is ftill fhorter than either that of the Iliad or Æneid. The Poet has likewife taken care to infert every Circumstance of it in the Body of his Fable. The Ninth Book, which we are here to confider, is raised upon that brief Account in Scripture, wherein we are told that the Serpent was more fubtile than any Beast of the Field, that he tempted the Woman to eat of the Forbidden Fruit, that he was overcome by this Temptation, and that Adam followed her Example. From these few Particulars Milton has formed one of the most Entertaining Fables that Invention ever produced. He has difpofed of these several Circumstances among fo many beautiful and natural Fictions of his own, that his whole Story looks only like a Comment upon facred Writ, or rather feems to be a full

« PoprzedniaDalej »