exquifitely drawn, and fufficient to make the fallen.
Angel gaze upon them with all that Astonishment, and
thofe Emotions of Envy, in which he is represented.
Two of far nobler Shape erect and tall
God-like erect, with native honour clad
In naked majefty feem'd lords of all,
And worthy feem'd, for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker fhon,
Truth, Wifdom, Sanctitude fevere and pure;
Severe, but in true filial freedom plac'd:
For contemplation he and valour form'd,
For softnefs fhe and fweet attractive Grace;
He for God only, fhe for God in him:
His fair large front, and eye fublime declar'd
Abfolute rule, and Hyacinthin Locks
Round from his parted forelock many hung
Clufiring, but not beneath his Shoulders broad:
She as a Vail down to her flender wafte
Her unadorned golden treffes wore
Diffhevel'd, but in wanton ringlets wav'd.
So pafs'd they naked on, nor fhun'd the Sight
Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill:
So hand in hand they pafs'd, the loveliest pair
That ever fince in loves embraces met.

There is a fine Spirit of Poetry in the Lines which follow, wherein they are defcrib'd as fitting on a Bed of Flowers by the side of a Fountain, amidst a mixed Affembly of Animals.

The Speeches of these two first Lovers flow equally from Paffion and Sincerity. The Profeffions they make to one another are full of Warmth; but at the fame time founded on Truth. In a Word, they are the Gallantries of Paradife.

When Adam first of Men

Sole Partner and fole part of all thefe joys,
Dearer thy felf than all;-

But let us ever praife him, and extol

His bounty, following our delightful task,

F

To prune thofe growing plants, and tend thefe flowers,
Which were it toilfome, yet with thee were fweet.
To whom thus Eve repli'd: 0 thou for whom
And from whom I was form'd, flesh of thy flesh,
And without whom am to no end, my Guide
And head, what thou haft faid is juft and right.
For we to him indeed all praifes owe,
And daily thanks, I chiefly who enjoy
So far the happier Lot, enjoying thee
Preeminent by fo much odds, while thou
Like confort to thy felf canst no where find, &c.

The remaining part of Eve's Speech, in which she gives an Account of her felf upon her firft Creation, and the manner in which she was brought to Adam, is I think as beautiful a Paffage as any in Milton, or perhaps in any other Poet whatsoever. These Passages are all work'd off with fo much Art, that they are capable of pleasing the most delicate Reader, without offending the most severe.

That day I oft remember, when from Sleep, &c.

A Poet of lefs Judgment and Invention than this great Author, would have found it very difficult to have filled thofe [thefe] tender parts of the Poem with Sentiments proper for a State of Innocence; to have described the warmth of Love, and the Profeffions of it, without Artifice or Hyperbole ; to have made the Man speak the most endearing things, without defcending from his natural Dignity, and the Woman receiving them without departing from the Modefty of her Character; in a word, to adjust the Prerogatives of Wisdom and Beauty, and make each appear to the other in its proper Force and Lovelinefs. This mutual Subordination of the two Sexes is wonderfully kept up in the whole Poem, as particularly in the Speech of Eve I have before-mentioned, and upon the Conclufion of it in the following Lines:

So fpake our general Mother, and with eyes
Of Conjugal attraction unreprov'd,

And meek surrender, half embracing lean'd
On our first father, half her fwelling breaft
Naked met his under the flowing Gold
Of her loofe treffes hid; he in delight
Both of her beauty and fubmiffive charms
Smil'd with Superionr Love,--

The Poet adds, that the Devil turn'd away with Envy at the fight of fo much Happiness.

We have another View of our First Parents in their Evening Difcourfes, which is full of pleafing Images and Sentiments fuitable to their Condition and Characters. The Speech of Eve, in particular, is drefs'd up in such a foft and natural Turn of Words and Sentiments, as cannot be fufficiently admired.

I fhall close my Reflections upon this Book, with obferving the Masterly Transition which the Poet makes to their Evening Worship, in the following Lines :

Thus at their fhadie lodge arriv'd, both flood,
Both turn'd, and under open Sky ador'd

The God that made both Sky, Air, Earth and Heav'n,
Which they beheld, the Moons refplendent Globe,
And Starry Pole: Thou also mad'st the night,
Maker omnipotent and thou the Day, &c.

Moft of the Modern Heroic Poets have imitated the Ancients, in beginning a Speech without premising, that the Person said thus or thus; but as it is easie to imitate the Ancients in the Omiffion of two or three Words, it requires Judgment to do it in fuch a manner as they shall not be mifs'd, and that the Speech may begin naturally without them. There is a fine Inftance of this Kind out of Homer, in the TwentyThird Chapter of Longinus.

The SPECTATOR.

-major rerum mihi nafcitur ordo. {A larger Scene of Action is difplay'd.

Saturday, March 15, 1712.

Virg.

Dryden.}

E were told in the foregoing Book how the Evil Spirit practifed upon Eve as the lay afleep, in order to infpire her with Thoughts of Vanity, Pride and Ambition. The Author, who fhews a wonderful Art throughout his whole Poem, in preparing the Reader for the several Occurrences that arise in it, founds upon the above-mentioned Circumflance the first part of the Fifth Book. Adam upon his awaking, finds Eve ftill asleep, with an unusual Difcomposure in her Looks. The Pofture in which he regards her, is described with a wonderful Tenderness [not to be expreffed*]†, as the Whisper with which he awakens her, is the softest that ever was conveyed to a Lover's Ear.

His wonder was to find unwaken'd Eve
With Treffes difcompos'd and glowing cheek
As through unquiet reft: he on his side
Leaning half rais'd, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld
Beauty, which whether waking or afleep,
Shot forth peculiar Graces; then with voice
Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
Her hand foft touching, whisper'd thus. Awake
My faireft, my efpous'd, my latest found,
Heav'ns laft beft gift, my ever new delight,
Awake, the morning fhines, and the fresh field

+ See Errata, at the end of No. 369, in the original issue.

Calls us, we lofe the prime, to mark how fpring
Our tended plants, how blows the Citron Grove,
What drops the Myrrhe, and what the balmie Reed,
How Nature paints her colours, how the Bee
Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid fweet.
Such whifpring wak'd her, but with flartled Eye,
On Adam, whom embracing thus fhe fpake.

O Sole in whom my thoughts find all repoje,
My Glory, my perfection, glad I fee

Thy face, and morn return'd

I cannot but take notice that Milton, in his Conferences between Adam and Eve, had his Eye very frequently upon the Book of Canticles, in which there is a noble Spirit of Eastern Poetry, and very often not unlike what we meet with in Homer, who is generally placed near the Age of Solomon. I think there is no queftion but the Poet in the preceding Speech remembred those two Paffages which are spoken on the like occafion, and fill'd with the fame pleasing Images of Nature.

My beloved fpake, and faid unto me, Rife up, my love, my fair one, and come away; For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the Flowers appear on the earth; the time of the finging of birds is come, and the Voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land. The Fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the Vines with the tender grape give a good fmell. Arife, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the Field; let us get up early to the Vineyards, let us fee if the Vine flourish, whether the tender Grape appear, and the Pomegranates bud forth.

His preferring the Garden of Eden to that

Where the Sapient King

Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian Spouse,

fhews that the Poet had this delightful Scene in his Mind.