weight of misfortune and age. Michael these words:

He attributes to

So mayst thou live, till like ripe fruit thou drop
Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease

Gathered, not harshly pluck'd, for death mature:
This is old age; but then thou must outlive

Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change
To withered, weak, and grey; thy senses, then,
Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forego

To what thou hast; and for the air of youth,
Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign
A melancholy damp of cold and dry

To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume
The balm of life.

A commentator, speaking of Milton's genius, in these two last books of "Paradise Lost," says, "It is the same ocean, but at the ebb of tide; the same sun, but at the moment of its setting."

Be it so. The sea appears most lovely to my eye when it permits me to wander over its deserted strand, while it retreats towards the horizon with the setting sun.

CHARACTERS OF THE PERSONS IN

PARADISE LOST.

ADAM AND EVE.

Milton has given, in the first Man and Woman, the original type of their sons and daughters upon earth.

The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure;
(Severe, but in true filial freedom plac'd,)
Whence true authority in men; though both r
Not equal, as their sex not equal seem'd;
For contemplation he and valour form'd;
For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in him :
His fair large front and eye sublime declar'd
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clust'ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
She as a veil down to the slender waist
Her unadorned golden tresses wore

Dishevel'd, but in wanton ringlets wav'd,

As the vine curls her tendrils, which imply'd
Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway;
And by her yielded, by him best receiv'd,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet reluctant amorous delay.

So pass'd they naked on, nor shunn'd the sight
Of God or angel, for they thought no ill;
So hand in hand they pass'd, the loveliest pair
That ever since in love's embraces met;
Adam the goodliest man of men since born
His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.

Adam, simple and sublime, instructed by Heaven, and drawing his experience from God, has but one weakness, and it is evident that this weakness will be his ruin. After having recounted his own creation to Raphael, and his conversations with God on solitude, he describes his transports at the first sight of his fair companion :

Methought I saw,

Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape
Still glorious before whom awake I stood;
Who, stooping, opened my left side, and took'
From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm,

And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound,
But suddenly with flesh filled up and heal'd :
The rib he form'd and fashion'd with his hands;
Under his forming hands a creature grew
Man-like, but different sex, so lovely fair,

That what seem'd fair in all the world, seem'd now
Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contain'd
And in her looks, which from that time infusedTM*

Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,
And into all things from her air inspired
The spirit of love and amorous delight.
She disappear'd, and left me dark; I wak'd
To find her, or for ever to deplore

Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure:
When out of hope, behold her, not far off,
Such as I saw her in my dream, adorn'd
With what all earth or heaven could bestow
To make her amiable: on she came,
Led by her heavenly Maker, tho' unseen,
And guided by his voice, not uninform'd
Of nuptial sanctity and marriage rites.
Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,
In ev'ry gesture dignity and love.

I, overjoyed, could not forbear aloud:

'This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfill'd

Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,

Giver of all things fair, but fairest this

Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself
Before me; Woman is her name, of Man
Extracted; for this cause he shall forego
Father and mother, and to his wife adhere;
And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul.'
She heard me thus; and, though divinely brought,
Yet innocence and virgin modesty,

Her virtue and the conscience of her worth,

Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought,
Wrought in her so, that, seeing me, she turned;
I followed her; she what was honour'd knew,
And with obsequious majesty approv❜d
My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower
I led her blushing like the morn: all heaven,

And happy constellations on that hour
Shed their selected influence; the earth
Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;
Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs
Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings
Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub,
Disporting till the amorous bird of night
Sung spousal, and bid haste the evening star
On his hill top, to light the bridal lamp.

Thus have I told thee all my state, and brought
My story to the sum of earthly bliss
Which I enjoy, and must confess to find

In all things else delight indeed, but such

As us'd, or not, works in the mind no change,
Nor vehement desire. ;

but here,

Far otherwise, transported I behold,

Transported touch; here passion first I felt,
Commotion strange, in all enjoyments else
Superior and unmoved, here only weak
Against the charm of Beauty's powerful glance.
Or nature fail'd in me, or left some part
Not proof enough such object to sustain;
Or, from my side subducting, took perhaps
More than enough; at least on her bestow'd
Too much of ornament-

When I approach
Her loveliness, so absolute she seems,
And in herself complete, so well to know
Her own, that what she wills to do or say
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best;
All higher knowledge in her presence falls
Degraded. Wisdom in discourse with her
Loses, discountenanc'd, and like Folly shows;
Authority and Reason on her wait,

As one intended first not after made