Gabriel's discovering his approach at a distance, is drawn with great strength and liveliness of Imagination.

O Friends, I hear the tread of nimble Feet
Haftening this way, and now by glimps difcern
Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade;
And with them comes a third of Regal Port,
But faded fplendor wan; who by his gait
And fierce demeanour feems the Prince of Hell,
Not likely to part hence without contest;
Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.

The Conference between Gabriel and Satan abounds with Sentiments proper for the Occafion, and suitable to the Perfons of the two Speakers. Satan's cloathing himself with Terror when he prepares for the Combat is truly fublime, and at least equal to Homer's Defcription of Difcord celebrated by Longinus, or to that of Fame in Virgil, who are both represented with their Feet standing upon the Earth, and their Heads reaching above the Clouds.

While thus he fpake, th' Angelic Squadron bright
Turn'd fiery red, Sharpning in mooned Horns
Their Phalanx, and began to hem him round
With ported Spears, &c.

-On th' other Side, Satan alarm'd,

Collecting all his might dilated flood

Like Teneriff or Atlas unremov'd.

His Stature reach'd the Sky, and on his Crefl
Sat horrour plum'd;

I must here take notice, that Milton is every where full of Hints, and sometimes literal Translations, taken from the greatest of the Greek and Latin Poets. But this I fhall [may] referve for a Discourse by it self, because I would not break the Thread of these Speculations that are designed for English Readers, with such Reflections as would be of no use but to the Learned.

I must however observe in this Place, that the breaking off the Combat between Gabriel and Satan, by the

hanging out of the Golden Scales in Heaven, is a Re finement upon Homer's Thought, who tells us, that before the Battel between Hector and Achilles, Jupiter weighed the Event of it in a pair of Scales. The Reader may see the whole Passage in the 22d Iliad.

Virgil, before the last decifive Combat, describes Jupiter in the fame manner, as weighing the Fates of Turnus and Eneas. Milton, though he fetched this beautiful Circumstance from the Iliad and Eneid, does not only infert it as a Poetical Embellishment, like the Authors above-mentioned; but makes an artful use of it for the proper carrying on of his Fable, and for the breaking off the Combat between the two Warriors, who were upon the point of engaging. [To this we may further add, that Milton is the more juftified in this Paffage, as we find the fame noble Allegory in Holy Writ, where a wicked Prince, {fome few Hours before he was affaulted and flain,} is faid to have been weigh'd in the Scales and to have been found wanting.]

I must here take Notice under the Head of the Machines, that Uriel's gliding down to the Earth upon a Sun-beam, with the Poet's Device to make him defcend, as well in his return to the Sun, as in his coming from it, is a Prettiness that might have been admired in a little fanciful Poet, but seems below the Genius of Milton. The Description of the Hoft of armed Angels walking their nightly Round in Paradife, is of another Spirit.

So faying, on he led his radiant files,
Dazling the Moon;-

As that Account of the Hymns which our first Parents used to hear them Sing in these their Midnight Walks, is altogether Divine, and inexpreffibly amusing to the Imagination.

We are, in the last place, to confider the Parts which Adam and Eve act in the Fourth Book. The Description of them as they first appear'd to Satan, is

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 majesty feem'd lords of all,
And worthy feem'd, for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shon,
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
Cluftring, 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 shun'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 firft 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 firft 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 these 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 canf no where find, &c.

The remaining part of Eve's Speech, in which the gives an Account of her self upon her first 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 Paffages 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 [these] 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 Modesty 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 Loveliness. 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 Con clufion 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 firfl 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
Smii'd with Superionr Love,--

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

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

I shall 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 Perfon faid 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 fhall not be miss'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.