1. 28, with notice of their vanity, with notice that they were (unlike the Scriptural similes) fictitious. p. 69, 1. 1, the shield of Satan. "Paradise Lost," i. 284, seq. "The broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, On the similes of Milton see the "Spectator," No. 303. 1. 17, Ariosto's pravity. "Pravity" here means vice, depravity. Ariosto (1475-1533), the Italian poet, whose great epic the "Orlando Furioso," in forty cantos, was published in 1516, and in an enlarged form in 1532. It became one of the most popular poems in Europe; above sixty editions were published in the sixteenth century. Its subject is the wars of Charlemain and his paladins with the Saracens. See Hallam, "Literature of Europe," i. 309, seq. 1. 18," Deliverance of Jerusalem." The subject of Tasso's great epic, "La Gerusalemme Liberata," completed 1575 and published 1581. Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), who also wrote a pastoral play," Aminta," and other works, is considered among the Italian poets second only to Dante. See Hallam, "Literature of Europe," ii. 193, seq. p. 70, 1. 8, the port of mean suitors. “Paradise Lost,” xi. 8, 9. "Yet their port Not of mean suitors." 1. 20, sometimes argumentative, sometimes exhibited in the arguments held by the different persons in the poem. 1. 24, to discover, to exhibit, set forth. 1. 32, Bentley. Richard Bentley (1662-1742), the greatest classical scholar England has produced. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1700 till his death. His chief works are his "Dissertation on the Epistles of Philasis," his editions of Horace and Terence, and his lamentable edition of Milton (1732), which suggests doubts as to the validity of the methods of classical textual criticism. 1. 34, sometimes made them, sometimes only imagined they were there. 1. 35, obtrusions, intrusions, the thrusting of himself forward. p. 71, 1. 5, human manners. See p. 67, 1. 1, and note, p. 142. 1. 18, surely, certainly, inevitably. 1. 29, their association, their being brought into one company, before their attention. p. 72, 1. 1, too ponderous for the wings of wit, too mighty for mere intelligence to deal with. 1. 7, pregnancy, inventive force. 1. 8, radical positions, statements lying at the root, and forming a basis for the poem. 1. 12, licentiousness, licence, improper freedom. 1. 23, deficience. Obsolete; we say "deficiency." p. 73, 1. 9, burning marle. "Paradise Lost," i. 295, seq. Marl is a mixture of clay and chalk; but the word is perhaps here used to mean simply sticky soil, unpleasant to walk on. 1. 12, when he animates the toad. "Paradise Lost," iv. 800. 1. 14, he starts up in his own steps. "Paradise Lost," iv. 819. 1. 16, a spear and a shield. "Paradise Lost," iv. 989-990. "Nor wanted in his grasp What seemed both spear and shield." 1. 19, Pandæmonium, the palace of the demons in hell. "Unarmed they might Have easily, as spirits, evaded swift By quick contraction or remove." 1. 31, when he rides on a sunbeam. Ib., iv. 589-591. 1. 32, when he is afraid. Ib., ix. 481-485. p. 74, 1. 1, in which it is related. Bk. vi. 1. 16, "Prometheus" of Æschylus. Eschylus (525-456, B.C.), first of the great Athenian tragic poets, is said to have written seventy tragedies. The "Prometheus Vinctus," which is one of the seven which have come down to us, was produced between 470 and 458 B.C. 1. 17, "Alcestis" of Euripides. On Euripides, see p. 132. The "Alcestis was produced in 438, B.C. 1. 18, as active persons in the drama. The old "Moralities'' were acted allegories, in which nearly all the characters were L Virtues and Vices. In early plays, Bishop Bale's "King John for instance, allegorical characters were frequently introduced side by side with actual persons. See Addison in the "Spectator," No. 273. 1. 20, allegory of Sin and Death. See "Paradise Lost," ii. 648-814. Compare Addison, "Spectator," No. 309. 1. 34, aggravated soil. So all editions of Johnson's "Lives"; but Milton wrote "aggregated": "The aggregated soil Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry, asphaltus, bitumen. 1. 35, ideal, imaginary, unreal. "Paradise Lost," x. 293-298. p. 75, 1. 5, with great expectation, a great deal of care and elaboration is given to the account, so that the reader is led to expect that something important is about to be described. See "Paradise Lost," iv. 877-1015. 1. 9, rife in heaven. "Paradise Lost," i. 650. 1. 12, something of anticipation. Adam and Eve are some times drawn as though they had already the knowledge which would come from experience. 1. 13, discovered, disclosed. discourse of dreams. "Paradise Lost," viii. "Paradise Lost," v. 95, seq. 1. 15, answer to the angel's reproof. 179, seq. · 1. 20, timorous deer. According to Prendergast's "Concordance," no mention is made of deer in "Paradise Lost." Johnson was probably thinking of the "timorous flock" in vi. 857. Sin had not yet blighted the earth with death and fear, which, as the Bible says, came in with the Fall of Man. Cf. x. 706, seq., xi. 182, seg. 1. 22, Dryden remarks. “Milton's 'Paradise Lost' is admirable; but am I therefore bound to maintain that there are no flats among his elevations, when it is evident he creeps along sometimes for a hundred lines together?" (Preface to "Tonson's Second Miscellany," 1685). And again, “It is true he runs into a flat of thought, sometimes for a hundred lines together, but it is when he is got into a tract of scripture" ("Discourse on Satire," 1692; Cassell's Nat. Lib. edit., p. 22). 1. 30, expatiated, wandered freely. The Lat., expatiari, to wander, is for ex-spatiari, from ex and spatium. p. 76, 1. 1, Ariosto's levity. On Ariosto, see note to p. 69, 1. 17. "It has been sometimes hinted as an objection to Ariosto, that he is not sufficiently in earnest, and leaves a little suspicion of laughing at his subject. I do not perceive that he does this in a greater degree than good sense and taste permit. . . . It is the light carelessness of his manner which constitutes a great part of its charm" (Hallam, "Literature of Europe," i. 310). Addison says, "Such allegories [as the Limbo of Vanity] rather savour of the spirit of Spenser and Ariosto, than of Homer and Virgil" ("Spectator," No. 297). 1. 2, "Paradise of Fools." "Paradise Lost," iii. 440-497. There is an allusion to Ariosto ("Orlando Furioso,” xxxiv. 70) in line 459; and Milton had already alluded to Ariosto's treatment of the subject, in his pamphlet "Of Reformation in England" ("Prose Works," Bohn, ii. 383-384). The notion that somewhere beyond the grave there was a resting-place for fools and idiots and the trifles which amuse them, is to be found in many early poets, and is based on the scholastic doctrine of a limbus fatuorum. 1. 4, play on words. For instances and criticism, see Addison, "Spectator," No. 279 (end), 297. Amongst Addison's in stances are: "Begirt th' Almighty throne, Beseeching or besieging." "This tempted our attempt." 66 “At one slight bound high overleapt all bound." 66 1. 5, Bentley endeavours to defend. Bentley on the contrary speaks of them as deservedly censured," but attributes some of them to the imaginary editor, whom he made responsible for all he disapproved. See Bentley's note to i. 642. 1. 7, terms of art, technical terms. Here also Johnson follows Addison, "Spectator," No. 297: "The last fault," he says, “I shall take notice of in Milton's style is the frequent use of what the learned call technical terms, or terms of art." 1. 13, nice, delicate, refined. 66 1. 30, a chorus. The chorus was an essential feature of the Greek drama; it explains the plot, moralizes on it, and sometimes actually takes part in the action. "The chorus," says Aristotle, "Poetics," II. xxi., "should be considered as one of the persons in the drama; should be a part of the whole, and a sharer in the action." p. 77, 1. 1, particular beauties. Beauties of detail as opposed to those of general form. 1. 6, in the gross, as a whole. 1. 13, peculiarity of Diction. On this, see Addison, "Spectator," No. 285 and No. 297. Addison, on the whole, defends Milton's use of foreign words and idioms. Compare Richardson on "Paradise Lost,' p. cxlii.: "Milton's language is English, but 'tis Milton's English: 'tis Latin, 'tis Greek English; not only the words, the phraseology, the transpositions, but the ancient idiom, is seen in all he wrote." 1. 21, says Addison. "Our language sunk under him, and was unequal to that greatness of soul which furnished him with such glorious conceptions" ("Spectator," No. 297). Richardson had said practically the same thing (p. cxlii.). 1. 24, English words with a foreign idiom. Compare the following from a letter of John Keats: "The Paradise Lost,' so fine in itself, is a corruption of our language-a beautiful and grand curiosity-a Northern dialect accommodating itself to Greek and Latin inversions and intonations." 1. 34, the Tuscan poets. The poets of Italy, Dante, Ariosto, Tasso, etc. disposition, arrangement. p. 78, 1. 2, what Jonson says of Spenser. "Spenser, in affecting the ancients, wrote no language; yet would I have him read for his matter as Virgil read Ennius" (Ben Jonson, "Discoveries," Cassell's National Library edition, pp. 106-107; compare p. 113). 1. 4, what Butler calls. Samuel Butler, "Hudibras," Part I., tanto i.: 66 But, when he pleas'd to shew't, his speech In loftiness of sound was rich; A Babylonish dialect, Which learned pedants much affect; It was a party-colour'd dress Of patch'd and piebald languages: 'Twas English cut on Greek and Latin Like fustian heretofore on satin." Babylon and Babel appear to be in origin the same word. Compare Genesis xi. 66 Mrs. Napier quotes Hallam's remark, that out of Milton's love of verbal melody arose one of his trifling faults, the excessive passion he displays for stringing together sonorous names, sometimes so obscure that the reader associates nothing with them" (Hallam, " Literature of Europe,” iv. 241). 1. 13, his versification. On versification, compare Johnson, 66 Rambler," Nos. 86, 88, 90, 94. A modern authority on Milton's verse is Mr. Robert Bridges. |