fentiment, as I think the transition to the fable is exquifitely beautiful and natural.

The nine days aftonishment, in which the Angels lay entranced after their dreadful overthrow and fall from Heaven, before they could recover either the use of thought or fpeech, is a noble circumstance, and very finely imagined. The divifion of Hell into feas of fire, and into firm ground impregnated with the fame furious element, with that particular circumftance of the exclufion of Hope from thofe infernal regions, are inftances of the fame great and fruitful invention.

The thoughts in the firft fpeech and defcription of Satan, who is one of the principal actors in this Poem, are wonderfully proper to give us a full idea of him. His pride, envy, and revenge, obftinacy, defpair, and impenitence, are all of them very artfully interwoven. In fhort, his first speech is a complication of all thofe paffions, which difcover themselves feparately in feveral other of his

are all of them very artfully interwoven.] Richardfon judiciously notices alfo the change and confufion of the fallen Angels, moft artfully expreffed in the abruptnefs of the beginning of Satan's fpeech: "If thou beeft he; that Beelzebub!--He ftops; and falls into a bitter reflection on their prefent condition, compared with that in which they lately were. He attempts again to open his mind; cannot proceed on what he intends to say, but returns to thofe fad thoughts; ftill doubting whether 'tis really his affociate in the revolt, as now in mifery and ruin; by that time he had expatiated on this (his heart was oppreffed with it) he is affured to whom he speaks, and goes on to declare his proud unrelenting mind." See alfo the Notes on B. i. 105, 110.

TODD.

fpeeches in the Poem. The whole part of this great enemy of mankind is filled with fuch incidents as are very apt to raife and terrify the reader's imagination. Of this nature, in the book now before us, is his being the firft that awakens out of the general trance, with his pofture on the burning lake, his rifing from it, and the defcription of his fhield and fpear: To which we may add his call to the fallen Angels that lay plunged and ftupified in the fea of fire.

But there is no fingle paffage in the whole Poem worked up to a greater fublimity, than that wherein his person is described in those celebrated lines :

"He, above the reft

"In fhape and gesture proudly eminent,
"Stood like a tower, &c."

His fentiments are every way anfwerable to his character, and suitable to a created Being of the moft exalted and moft depraved nature. Such is that in which he takes poffeffion of his place of

torments:

"Hail, Horrours! hail,

"Infernal world! and thou, profoundeft Hell,
"Receive thy new poffeffour; one who brings
"A mind not to be chang'd by place or time.”

And afterwards,

"Here at leaft

"We fhall be free: &c."

1

Amidst thofe impieties, which this enraged Spirit utters in other places of the Poem, the author has taken care to introduce. none that is not big with

abfurdity, and incapable of fhocking a religious reader; his words, as the poet himself defcribes them, bearing only a "femblance of worth, not fubftance." He is likewife, with great art, defcribed as owning his adverfary to be Almighty. Whatever perverse interpretation he puts on the juftice, mercy, and other attributes, of the Supreme Being, he frequently confeffes his Omnipotence; that being the perfection he was forced to allow him, and the only confideration which could fupport his pride under the fhame of his defeat.

Nor muft I here omit that beautiful circumftance of his bursting out in tears, upon his furvey of those innumerable Spirits whom he had involved in the fame guilt and ruin with himself.

m

The catalogue of evil Spirits has abundance of learning in it, and a very agreeable turn of poetry, which rises in a great meafure from its defcribing the places where they were worshipped,

a very agreeable turn of poetry,] Dr. Warburton has conceived this to be the finest part of the Poem, in the design and drawing, if not in the colouring; " for," he fays, " the Paradife Loft being a religious Epick, nothing could be more artful than thus deducing the original of fuperftition. This gives it a great advantage over the catalogues Milton has imitated; for Milton's becomes thereby a neceffary part of the work; as the original of fuperftition, an essential part of a religious Epick, could not have been shown without it. Had Virgil's or Homer's been omitted, their poems would not have fuffered materially; becaufe, in their relations of the following actions, we find the foldiers who were before catalogued: But, by no following history of superstition that Milton could have brought in, could we find out these devils' agency; it was therefore neceffary he fhould inform us of the fact." See alfo the remark of Gibbon, in the Note on B. i. 376. TODD.

by thofe beautiful marks of rivers fo frequent among the ancient poets. The author had doubtlefs in this place Homer's catalogue of fhips, and Virgil's lift of warriours, in his view. The characters of Moloch and Belial prepare the reader's mind for their refpective speeches and behaviour in the fecond and fixth books. The account of Thammuz is finely romantick, and fuitable to what we read among the ancients of the worship which was paid to that idol.

The reader will pardon me if I infert as a note on that beautiful paffage, the account given us by the late ingenious Mr. Maundrell of this ancient piece of worship, and probably the firft occafion of fuch a fuperftition. "We came to a fair large river-doubtlefs the ancient river Adonis, fo famous for the idolatrous rites performed here in lamentation of Adonis. We had the fortune to see what may be supposed to be the occafion of that opinion which Lucian relates concerning this river, viz. That this stream, at certain feafons of the year, especially about the feaft of Adonis, is of a bloody colour; which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of fympathy in the river for the death of Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains, out of which this ftream rifes. Something like this we faw actually come to pafs; for the water was ftained to furprifing rednefs; and, as we observed travelling, had difcoloured the fea a great way into a reddifh hue, occafioned doubtlefs by a fort of minium, or red earth, washed into the river by the violence of the rain, and not by any ftain from Adonis's blood."

VOL. II.

E

The paffage in the catalogue, explaining the manner how Spirits transform themfelves by contraction or enlargement of their dimenfions, is introduced with great judgement, to make way for feveral furprifing accidents in the fequel of the Poem. There follows one, at the very end of the FIRST BOOK, which is what the French criticks call marvellous, but at the fame time probable by reafon of the paffage laft mentioned. As foon as the infernal palace is finifhed, we are told the mul. titude and rabble of Spirits immediately fhrunk themselves into a finall compafs, that there night be room for fuch a numberless affembly in this capacious hall. But it is the poet's refinement upon this thought which I moft admire, and which is indeed very noble in itfelf. For he tells us, that, notwithstanding the vulgar, among the fallen Spirits, contracted their forms, thofe of the firft rank and dignity ftill preferved their natural dimensions.

The character of Mammon, and the defcription of the Pandemonium, are full of beauties.

There are feveral other ftrokes in the first book wonderfully poetical, and inftances of that fublime genius fo peculiar to the author. Such is the defcription of Azazel's ftature, and the infernal ftandard which he unfurls; as alfo of that ghaftly light, by which the fiends appear to one another in their place of torments, The fhout of the whole hoft of fallen Angels when drawn up in battle array: The review, which the Leader makes of his infernal army: The flash of light which ap peared upon the drawing of their words: The