89 PARADISE LOST. HIGH IGH on a throne of royal ftate, which far Outfhone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous eaft with richest hand 1. High on a throne &c.] I have before obferved in general, that the perfons, whom Milton introduces into his poem, always difcover fuch fentiments and behaviour, as are in a peculiar manner conformable to their refpective characters. Every circumftance in their Speeches and actions is with great juftness and delicacy adapted to the perfons who speak and act. As the poet very much excels in this confiftency of his characters, I fhall beg leave to confider several paffages of the fecond book in this light. That fuperior greatness and mock-majefty, which is afcribed to the prince of the fallen Angels, is admirably preferved in the beginning of this book. His opening and closing the debate; his taking on himself that great enterprise at the thought of which the whole infernal affembly trembled; his encountering the hideous phantom, who guarded the gates of Hell and appeared to him in all his terrors, are inftances of that proud and daring mind, which could not brook VOL. I. Show'rs fubmiffion even to omnipotence. The fame boldnefs and intrepedity of behaviour discovers itself in the feveral adventures which he meets with during his paffage through the regions of unformed matter, and particularly in his address to those tremendous Powers who are defcribed as prefiding over it. Addifon. 2.- the wealth of Ormus and of Ind] That is diamonds, a principal part of the wealth of India where they are found, and of the iland Ormus (in the Perfian gulf) which is the mart for them. Pearce. 3. Or where the gorgeous eaft &c.] Not that Ormus and Ind were in the weft, but the fense is that the throne of Satan outfhone diamonds, or pearl and gold, the choiceft whereof are produced in the eaft. Spenfer expreffes the fame thought thus, Fairy Queen, B. 3. C. 4. St. 23. that it did pass The wealth of th' east, and pomp of Perfian kings. Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, To that bad eminence; and from defpair Thus high uplifted beyond hope, afpires Vain war with Heav'n, and by fuccefs untaught Pow'rs and Dominions, Deities of Heaven, More glorious and more dread than from no fall, And the eaft is faid to how'r them with richeft hand by an excellent metaphor to exprefs the great plenty and abundance of them, and to fhow'r them on her kings, because there the kings have the principal fhare of property; or this might be faid, as Dr. Pearce conceives, in allufion to the cuftom us'd at the coronation of fome kings in the eaft, of fhow'ring gold and precious ftones upon their heads. And the fame fort of metaphor is ufed in Shakespear, Ant. and Cleop. A& II. I'll fet thee in a fhow'r of gold, and hail Rich pearls upon thee. 5 IO 15 Me Me though juft right, and the fix'd laws of Heaven Hath been achiev'd of merit, yet this lofs Yielded with full confent. The happier state Will envy adds) adopts this word into the Italian language in a description fimilar to this, Cant. 17. St. 10. E ricco di barbarico ornamento, In habito regal fplender fi vede. 11. Pow'rs and Dominions,] As St. Paul calls the Angels, Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers, Col. I. 16. 18. Me though just right, &c.] Me is rightly placed firft in the fentence, being the emphatical word and the accufative cafe govern'd by the two verbs which follow, create and establish'd. Me though just right, &e did firft create your 20 25 30 From faction; for none fure will clame in Hell Surer to profper than profperity Could have affur'd us; and by what best way, 35 way, - 46 We now debate; who can advise, may speak. Stood fury which diftinguish this Spirit from the reft of the fallen Angels: He is defcrib'd in the first book, as befmeared with the blood of human facrifices, and delighted with the tears of parents and the cries of children. In the fecond book he is marked out as the fiercest Spirit that fought in Heaven: and if we confider the figure he makes in the fixth book, where the battel of Angels is defcribed, we find it every way anfwerable to the fame furious enraged character. It may be worth while to obferve, that Milton has represented this violent impetuous Spirit, who is hurried on by fuch precipitate paffions, as the firft that rifes in that affembly, to give his opinion upon their prefent pofture of affairs. Accordingly he declares 1 Stood up, the strongest and the fierceft Spirit Car'd not to be at all; with that care loft More unexpert, I boast not: them let those declares himself abruptly for war, and appears incenfed at his companions, for lofing fo much time as even to deliberate upon it. All his fentiments are rafh, audacious and defperate. Such is that of arming themselves with their tortures, and turning their punishments upon him who inflicted them. His preferring annihilation to fhame or mifery is alfo highly fuitable to his character; as the comfort he draws from their disturbing the peace of Heaven, that if it be not victory it is revenge, is a fentiment truly diabolical, and becoming the bitterness of this implacable Spirit, Addison. 43 55 The 47. and rather than be less Car'd not to be at all;] Dr. Bentley reads He rather than &c. becaufe at prefent the conftruction is and his truft car'd not &c. But fuch fmall faults are not only to be pardon'd but overlook'd in great geniufes. Fabius VIII. 3. fays of Cicero, In vitium fæpe incidit fecurus tam parvæ obfervationis: and in X. 1. Neque id ftatim legenti perfuafum fit omnia, quæ magni auctores dixerint, effe perfecta; nam et labuntur aliquando, et oneri cedunt &c. Pearce. 50. He reck'd not,] He made no account of. To reck much the fame as to reckon. And spake thereScepter'd king,] As Ho-after, that is accordingly, as one Barnes. who made no account of God or mer fays en Hiad, I, 2794 Hell or any thing. P 3 56-fil |