Imatges de pàgina
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To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,
And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life,

And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven
Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream ;
With these that never fade the spirits elect

360

Bind their resplendent locks inwreath'd with beams;
Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone,
Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

Then, crown'd again, their golden harps they took, 365

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357. The abundant happiness and immortal joys of Heaven are in Scripture generally expressed by the fountain of life' and rivers of pleasure.' So: Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures, for with thee is the fountain of life,' Psalm xxxvi. 8. 9. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters,' Rey. vii. 17. He showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal,' xxii. 1.' HUME.

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359. Propertius mentions Elysian roses: El. iv. 7. 'Mulcet ubi Elysias aura beata rosas." MASON.

ib. amber stream: on account of its clearness and transparency, not its color. The clearness of amber was proverbial among the ancients: Callimachus in his Hymn to Ceres v. 29. has åλékтpivov oup and in like manner Virgil says of a river, Geo. iii. 522. 'Purior electro campum petit amnis." N.

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363. Jasper, jaspe Fr. iaspis Lat. A hard stone of a bright beautiful green color, sometimes clouded with white, found in masses of various sizes and shapes. It is capable of a very elegant polish, and is found in many parts of the East Indies, and in Egypt, Africa, Tartary, and China.' TODD's Johnson. So marmor for the sea in Latin: Virg. G. i. 254. &λa μapuapény, Hom. II. E. 273. 'glassy wave,' Gray.

364. impurpled: made red: so Hor. Od. iii. 15. 'flos purpureus

rosæ.'

ib. smiled, looked joyous: iv. 164. pleased with the grateful smell old Ocean smiled.' See Blomfield's Glossary on the expression in Æsch. Prom. 90. ποντίων τε κυμάτων ̓Ανήριθμον γέλασμα.

Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
Of charming symphony they introduce
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high:
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join
Melodious part, such concord is in heaven.
Thee, Father, first they sung, Omnipotent,
Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,

Eternal King; thee, Author of all being,
Fountain of light, thyself invisible

Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt'st
Throned inaccessible, but when thou shadest
The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud
Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,
Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,
Yet dazzle heaven, that brightest seraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.
Thee next they sang of all creation first,

370

375

380

377. The word but is here the same as except, unless; inaccessible but when thou shadest, i. e. then only accessible when thou shadest. Perhaps Milton had in view what Ovid says of Phoebus when his son Phaethon came to him: Met. ii. 39.

'circum caput omne micantes

Deposuit radios, propiusque accedere jussit." PEARCE. See Exod. xxxiii. 20.

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Isaiah vi. 2. Above the throne stood the Seraphims; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face,' &c.' N.

Over all.

383. of all creation first: before all created beings; or supreme 'So in Col. i. 15. the first-born of every creature,' or of all creation, wάσns Kтiσews: and Rev. iii. 14. 'the beginning of the creation of God." N.

Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,

In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud 385
Made visible, the Almighty Father shines,

Whom else no creature can behold; on thee
Impress'd the effulgence of his glory abides,
Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests.

He heaven of heavens and all the powers therein 390
By thee created: and by thee threw down
The aspiring dominations; thou that day

Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare,
Nor stop thy flaming chariot wheels, that shook
Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks 395
Thou drovest of warring angels disarray'd.

Back from pursuit thy powers with loud acclaim
Thee only extoll'd, Son of thy Father's might,
To execute fierce vengeance on his foes;

Not so on man him, through their malice fall'n, 400
Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom
So strictly, but much more to pity incline;
No sooner did thy dear and only Son
Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail man
So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,

405

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387. John i. 18. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him:' xiv. 9. he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." N.

396. disarrayed: discomfited, routed, overthrown.

398. Thy Powers extolled thee returning from pursuit, and thee only; for he was the sole victor; all the rest stood silent eyewitnesses of his almighty acts: vi. 880.' NEWTON.

405. A repetition in imitation of Homer.

He, to appease thy wrath, and end the strife
Of mercy and justice in thy face discern'd,
Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat
Second to thee, offer'd himself to die
For man's offence. O unexampled love,
Love no where to be found less than divine!
Hail, Son of God, Saviour of men! Thy name
Shall be the copious matter of my song
Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise
Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin.

Thus they in heaven, above the starry sphere,
Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.
Meanwhile upon the firm opacous globe

410

415

Of this round world, whose first convex divides
The luminous inferior orbs, enclosed.

420

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From Chaos, and the inroad of darkness old,
Satan alighted walks: a globe far off
It seem'd, now seems a boundless continent
Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of night
Starless exposed, and ever-threatening storms
Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky;

425

406. Understand than or but to connect the passage with the preceding part, no sooner.

412. So in the conclusion of the Hymn to Hercules, Virg. Æn. viii. 301. Salve vera Jovis proles, decus addite Divis."N.

413. The ending of this hymn is in imitation of the hymns of Homer and Callimachus, who always promise to return in future hymns.' RICHARDSON.

419. of this round world: not our earth, but the solid, lightless globe which the Poet imagines to contain the whole new creation, whose shell separates the luminous orbs that are under it, and thus encloses them from chaos and ancient night, as he elsewhere (ii. 970.) calls this darkness old." RICHARDSON.

Save on that side which from the wall of heaven,
Though distant far, some small reflection gains
Of glimmering air, less vex'd with tempest loud:
Here walk'd the fiend at large in spacious field.
As when a vulture on Imaüs bred,
Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,
Dislodging from a region scarce of prey,
To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids,

430

On hills where flocks are fed, flies towards the springs Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams:

436

But in his way lights on the barren plains
Of Sericana, where Chineses drive

With sails and wind their cany waggons light:
So, on this windy sea of land, the fiend
Walk'd up and down alone, bent on his prey;

440

431. Imaus is a celebrated mountain in Asia; its name signifies 'spowy' in the language of the inhabitants, according to Pliny, 1. vi. c. 21. incolarum lingua nivosum significante;' and therefore it is said here, whose snowy ridge." It is the boundary to the East of the Western Tartars, who are called roving, as they live chiefly in tents, and remove from place to place for the convenience of pasturage, their herds of cattle and what they take in hunting being their principal subsistence. Ganges and Hydaspes are famous rivers of India; and Serica is a region betwixt China to the east and the mountain Imaus to the west; and what our author says of the Chineses, he seems to have taken from Heylin's Cosmography, p. 867. where it is said, 'Agreeable unto the observation of modern writers, the country is so plain a level, that they have carts and coaches driven with sails, as ordinarily as drawn with horses in these parts.'' N. Todd has shown that Milton is correct, from Sir G. Staunton's Embassy to China, who states that these cany waggons are small carts or double barrows of bamboo, with one large wheel between them; and that they are assisted in their progress when the wind is favorable by a sail, consisting of a mat fixed between two poles arising from the opposite sides of the cart. 438. Sericana, or Serica, a large plain lying between China on the East, and the mountain Imaus on the West.

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