Have found him, view'd him, tafted him, but find Far other labor to be undergone Than when I dealt with Adam firft of Men, Though Adam by his wife's allurement fell, 135 If he be man by mother's fide at least, And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds. Of my fuccefs with Eve in Paradise Tell Athens, in the frequence of 136. If he be man by mother's fide at least, The Tempter, had no doubt of Chrift's being a man by the mother's fide: but the want of a comma in its due place after man, hath puzzled both the fenfe and the conftruction. He is muft be understood at the end of the verie, to fupport the fyntax. If he be man, by mother's fide at leaft [he is]. We have ftill preferved the pointing of Milton's own edition; for fome perhaps may choofe to join the whole together, and underftand it thus. Satan had heard him de 140 Deceive clar'd from Heaven, and knew him to be the Son of God; and now after the trial that he had made of him, he queftions whether he be man even by the mother's fide, If he be man by mother's fide at least. And it is the purport of Satan in this fpeech not to fay any thing to the evil Spirits that may leffen, but every thing that may raise their idea of his antagonist. 139. And amplitude of mind to greateft deeds. There is a great deal of dignity as well as fignificancy in this expreffion, and none certainly could have been better felected to exprefs the idea which the poet intended to convey. He borrowed it very probably from the Deceive ye to perfuafion over-fure 145 So fpake th' old Serpent doubting, and from all With clamor was affur'd their utmost aid At his command; when from amidst them rofe Belial, the diffoluteft Spirit that fell, The fenfualleft, and after Afmodai 159 The fleshlieft Incubus, and thus advis'd. the following paffage in Tully's Tufc.Difp. II. 25. Hoc igitur tibi propone, amplitudinem et quafiquandam exaggerationem quam altiffimam animi, quæ maxime eminet contemnendis et defpiciendis doloribus, unam effe omnium rem pulcherrimam. Milton had a very happy talent in the choice of words, and indeed it is a very confiderable part of the poet's art. Let the reader but try to fubftitute any other word of the fame fignification in the place of amplitude in this verfe, and he will foon be convinc'd, that none can be found to fill it up with equal beauty and propriety. Thyer. 150. Belial, the diffoluteft &c]I have heard these three lines ob Set jected to as harsh and inharmonious, but in my opinion the very objection points out a remarkable. beauty in them. It is true, they don't run very smoothly off the tongue, but then they are with much better judgment fo contriv'd, that the reader is obliged to lay a particular emphafis, and to dweil as it were for fome time upon that word in each verfe which mott ftrongly expreffes the character defcrib'd, viz. diffoluteft, fenfualleft, fleblieft. This has a very good effect by impreffing the idea more strongly upon the mind, and contributes even in fome meafure to increase our averfion to the odious character of Belial by giving an air of deteftation to the very Set women in his eye, and in his walk, very tone of voice with which 155 160 Skill'd of Raguel, and deftroyed her feven hufbands, as we read in the book of Tobit. 155.paffing fair] Our author had feveral times met with this phrafe in his beloved Spenfer and Shakespear; and particularly in Romeo's commendations of his miftrefs. Act 1. Scene 2. -Show me a mistress, that is paffing fair; What doth her beauty serve, but as a note, Where I may read, who pass'd that paffing fair? 161. Skill'd to retire, and in retiring draw Hearts after them] In the fame manner Milton in his defcription of Eve. Paradife Loft. VIII. 504. Not obvious, not obtrufive, but retir'd, The more defirable. Hearts after them tangled in amoraus nets. Milton feems to use the word amorous Skill'd to retire, and in retiring draw Hearts after them tangled in amorous nets. Women, mile in his Imagines Vol. 2. p. 2. Ed. Græv. E de xanen @pooβλέψετε σε, τις εςαι μηχανη αποςηναι αυτης; απάξει γαρ σε αναδησαμενή ένθα αν εθέλῃ, ὅπερ και ἡ λιθα ἡ ηρακλεια δρα τον σιδηρον. But if the fair one once look upon you, what is it that can get you from her? She will draw you after her at pleasure, bound hand and foot, juft as the loadstone draws iron. We may obferve that Milton, by reftraining the comparifon to the power of beauty over the wifeft men and the moft ftoical tempers, hath given it a propriety, which is loft in a more general application. See a little poem of Claudian's on the Magnet. It is the 5th of his Eidyllia. Calton. As the magnetic, It fhould be the magnet, or the magnetic ftone: but Milton often converts the adjec tive, and uses it as the substantive, Mr. Thyer wishes fome authority could be found to justify the omitting of this line, which in his opinion 170 Women, when nothing elfe, beguil'd the heart Thou thyself doat'dft on womankind, admiring 175 opinion is very low and mean; and appears too the more fo, as it immediately follows fome of the fineft and moft masterly verfes in the whole poem. The fimile is in itfelf trite and common, and the conceit implied in the word hardeft boyish to the last degree. This fhows that all Milton's learning and genius could not entirely preferve him from being infected with that fanciful fort of wit, which too much prevailed in the age, in which he firft form'd his tafte. 177. None are, thou think't, but taken awith fuch toys.] The Line would be clearer, if it run thus, None are, thou think'st, taken but with fuch toys. Sympon. 178. Before the flood &c] It is to be lamented that our author has fo often adopted the vulgar notion of Falfe the Angels having commerce with women, founded upon that miftaken text of Scripture, Gen. VI. 2. The fons of God faw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chofe. See Paradife Loft III. 463. and V. 447. But tho' he feems to favour that opinion, as we may fuppofe, to embellish his poetry, yet he flows elfewhere that he underflood the text rightly, of the fons of Seth, who were the worshippers of the true God, intermarrying with the daughters of wicked Cain. Paradife Loft XI. 621. To thefe that fober race of men, Religious titled them the fons of Shall yield up all their virtue, Ignobly, |