SAMS. Wherever fountain or fresh current flow'd SAMS. But what avail'd this temperance, not complete 550 555 What boots it at one gate to make defence, Effeminately vanquish'd? by which means, Now blind, dishearten'd, shamed, dishonour'd, quell'd, My nation, and the work from Heaven imposed, But to sit idle on the household hearth, A burdenous drone; to visitants a gaze, Or pitied object; these redundant locks, Robustious to no purpose, clustering down, Vain monument of strength; till length of years To a contemptible old age obscure? 560 565 570 Here rather let me drudge and earn my bread; Till vermin, or the draff of servile food, Consume me, and oft-invocated death 575 Hasten the welcome end of all my pains. MAN. Wilt thou then serve the Philistines with that gift Which was expressly given thee to annoy them? Better at home lie bed-rid, not only idle, Inglorious, unemployed, with age outworn. 580 But God, who caused a fountain at thy prayer From the dry ground to spring, thy thirst to allay 553. O, madness, &c. Milton exemplified, in his life, the truth of these noble lines, being a singular example of teinperance and abstemiousness. 557. Whose drink. Judges xiii. 7. 581. Caused a fountain. See Judges xv. 18, 19. Milton differs from our translation, which says that "God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw;" Milton, 585 590 that "he caused a fountain from the dry ground to spring;" and herein he follows the Chaldee paraphrase and the best commentators, who understand it that God made a cleft in some part of the ground or rock, in the place called Lehi: this word signifying both a jaw and a place so called.-NEWTON. That these dark orbs no more shall treat with light, 595 MAN. Believe not these suggestions, which proceed From anguish of the mind and humours black, 600 To prosecute the means of thy deliverance By ransom, or how else: meanwhile be calm, And healing words from these thy friends admit. SAMS. O, that torment should not be confined With maladies innumerable In heart, head, breast, and reins; But must secret passage find To the inmost mind, There exercise all his fierce accidents, And on her purest spirits prey, As on entrails, joints, and limbs, With answerable pains, but more intense, Though void of corporal sense. My griefs not only pain me As a lingering disease, But, finding no redress, ferment and rage; Rankle, and fester, and gangrene, To black mortification. 605 [Exit. Thoughts, my tormentors, arm'd with deadly stings, Exasperate, exulcerate, and raise Dire inflammation, which no cooling herb Or med'cinal liquor can asswage, Nor breath of vernal air from snowy Alp. To death's benumming opium as my only cure: 594. So much I feel, &c. Here Milton, in the person of Samson, describes exactly his own case-what he felt and what he thought in some of his melancholy hours: he could not have written 80 well, but from his own feeling and experience; and the very flow of the verses is melancholy, and excellently adapted to the subject. As Mr. Thyer expresses it, There is a remarkable solemnity and air of melancholy in the very sound of these 610 ུ་ ཧྥེ་ སྤྱི་ ཕྱི verses; and the reader will find it very difficult to pronounce them without that grave and serious tone of voice which is proper for the occasion.-NEWTON. 627. Med'cinal, for medicinal, as Milton spells it also in his prose works. 628. Alp, from the Greek alpos, "white," means any mountain "white" with snow. It is now particularly appropriated to the celebrated mountains of Switzerland. I was his nursling once, and choice delight, His destined from the womb, Promised by heavenly message twice descending: Abstemious I grew up, and thriv'd amain : Above the nerve of mortal arm, Against the uncircumcised, our enemies: But now hath cast me off as never known, Whom I by his appointment had provoked, The close of all my miseries, and the balm. With studied argument, and much persuasion sought, Lenient of grief and anxious thought: 635 640 645 650* 655 But with the afflicted in his pangs their sound 660 Little prevails, or rather seems a tune Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint; Temper'st thy providence through his short course, 670 The angelick orders, and inferiour creatures mute, Irrational and brute. Nor do I name of men the common rout, That, wandering loose about, 675 Grow up and perish, as the summer-fly, Heads without name, no more remember'd; And people's safety, which in part they effect: 658. Sought: Collected studiously or with pains. 680 Amidst their highth of noon, Changest thy countenance, and thy hand, with no regard From thee on them, or them to thee of service. Nor only dost degrade them, or remit To life obscured, which were a fair dismission; 685 But throw'st them lower than thou didst exalt them high; Too grievous for the trespass or omission; Oft leavest them to the hostile sword Of heathen and profane, their carcasses To dogs and fowls a prey, or else captiv'd; 690 Or to the unjust tribunals, under change of times, 695 And condemnation of the ingrateful multitude. With sickness and disease thou bow'st them down, In crude old age; Though not disordinate, yet causeless suffering The punishment of dissolute days: in fine, Just or unjust, alike seem miserable, For oft alike both come to evil end. 700 So deal not with this once thy glorious champion, But who is this, what thing of sea or land? That so bedeck'd, ornate, and gay, Like a stately ship Of Tarsus, bound for the isles Of Javan or Gadire With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, 695. Or to the unjust tribunals. Here, no doubt, Milton reflected upon the trials and sufferings of his party after the Restoration; and probably he might have had in mind particularly the case of Sir Harry Vane, whom he has so highly celebrated in one of his sonuets. 697. If these they 'scape, &c. This was his own case: he escaped with life, but lived in poverty; and though he was always strictly sober and temperate, yet he was much afflicted with the gout and other "painful diseases in crude old age," when he was not yet a very old man. Crude is used for premature, and coming before his time. 708. Behold him in this state, &c. The concluding verses of this beautiful Chorus appear to me particularly affecting, from the persuasion that Milton, in com 705 710 715 posing them, addressed the last two immediately to Heaven, as a prayer for himself. If the conjecture of this appli cation be just, we may add, that never was the prevalence of a righteous prayer more happily conspicuous: and let me here remark, that however various the opinions of men may be concerning Milton's political character, the integrity of his heart appears to have secured to him the favour of Providence; since it pleased the Giver of all good not only to turn his labours to a peaceful end, but to irradiate his declining life with the most abundant portion of those pure and sublime mental powers, for which he had constantly and fervently prayed, as the choicest bounty of Heaven.-HAYLEY. 715. Isles of Javan: Greece. Gadire: Gadez, Cadiz. Courted by all the winds that hold them play, 720 724 SAMS. My wife! my traitress: let her not come near me. But now again she makes address to speak. Enter DALILA. DAL. With doubtful feet and wavering resolution Which to have merited, without excuse, 730 I came, still dreading thy displeasure, Samson; I cannot but acknowledge; yet, if tears May expiate, (though the fact more evil drew In the perverse event than I foresaw,) My penance hath not slacken'd, though my pardon No way assured. But conjugal affection, Prevailing over fear and timorous doubt, Once more thy face, and know of thy estate, 735 740 To lighten what thou suffer'st, and appease 745 My rash, but more unfortunate misdeed. SAMS. Out, out, hyæna! these are thy wonted arts, And arts of every woman false like thee, To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray, 750 And reconcilement move with feign'd remorse, Her husband, how far urged his patience bears, 732. With doubtful feet. The scene be- | tween Samson and Dalila is drawn up with great judgment and particular beauty. One cannot conceive a more artful, soft, and persuasive eloquence, than that which is put into the mouth of Dalila; nor is the part of Samson less to be admired for that stern and resolute firmness which runs through it. What also gives both parts a great additional 755 beauty, is their forming so fine a contrast to each other.-THYER. 748. The Hyana is a creature somewhat like a wolf, and is said to imitate a human voice so aptly as to draw people to it, and then devour them.-NEWTON. 759. That wisest and best men, &c. Milton had reason to lament that excess of indulgence with which he forgave and received again his disobedient and long |