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PARADISE LOST.

HIGH

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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.

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Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted fat, by merit rais'd

To that bad eminence; and from defpair

Thus high uplifted beyond hope, afpires
Beyond thus high, infatiate to pursue

Vain war with Heav'n, and by fuccefs untaught
His proud imaginations thus display'd.

Pow'rs and Dominions, Deities of Heaven,
For fince no deep within her gulf can hold
Immortal vigor, though opprefs'd and fall'n,
I give not Heav'n for loft. From this descent
Celestial virtues rifing, will appear

More glorious and more dread than from no fall,
And trust themselves to fear no fecond fate.

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.

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Me

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Me though juft right, and the fix'd laws of Heaven
Did first create your leader, next free choice,
With what befides, in counfel or in fight,

Hath been achiev'd of merit, yet this lofs
Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more
Eftablish'd in a fafe unenvied throne

Yielded with full confent. The happier state
In Heav'n, which follows dignity, might draw
Envy from each inferior; but who here

Will envy
whom the higheft place expofes
Foremost to stand against the Thund'rer's aim
Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share
Of endless pain? where there is then no good
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

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

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From faction; for none fure will clame in Hell
Precedence, none, whofe portion is fo fmall
Of present pain, that with ambitious mind
Will covet more. With this advantage then
To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,
More than can be in Heav'n, we now return
To clame our juft inheritance of old,

Surer to profper than profperity

Could have affur'd us; and by what best way,

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way, - 46

We now debate; who can advise, may speak.
He ceas'd and next him Moloch, fcepter'd king,

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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

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Stood up, the strongest and the fierceft Spirit
That fought in Heav'n, now fiercer by defpair: 45
His truft was with th' Eternal to be deem'd
Equal in ftrength, and rather than be lefs

Car'd not to be at all; with that care loft
Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worfe
He reck'd not, and these words thereafter spake. 50
My fentence is for open war: of wiles,

More unexpert, I boast not: them let those
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now.
For while they fit contriving, fhall the rest,
Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait

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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.

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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

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