Over some wide-water'd shore, Swinging slow with sullen roar; Or if the air will not permit, Some still removed place will fit, Where glowing embers through the room 75 80 again, Meas. for Meas. "How 80. Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,] Statius, Theb. iv. 424. pallet mala lucis imago. Compare Shakespeare, Mids. N. Dr. a. v. s. 2. Through this house give glimmering By the dead and drowsy fire. 82. Save the cricket on the hearth.] Shakespeare, the universal and accurate observer of real nature, was the first who introduced the crying of the cricket, and with the finest effect, into our poetry. Or the bell man's drowsy charm, &c. Compare Or the bellman's drowsy charm, To bless the doors from nightly harm: What worlds, or what vast regions hold tow'r.] The extraneous circumstance be seen gives poetry to the passage; and thus a picture is created which fills the imagination. T. Warton. 87. Where I may oft outwatch the Bear,] The constellation so called, that never sets. Virg. Georg. i. 246. Arctos oceani metuentes æquore tingi. 88. With thrice great Hermes,] Hermes Trismegistus, the Egyptian philosopher, flourished a little after Moses. He maintained the truth of one God against the idolatry and polytheism of his countrymen. Peck. 88. or unsphere The spirit of Platoto unfold &c.] 85 90 The spirit of Plato is rightly summoned to unfold these particular notions, for he has treated more largely than any of the philosophers, concerning the separate state of the soul after death, and concerning demons residing in the elements, and influencing the planets, and directing the course of nature. The English reader may see a summary of his doctrines at the end of Stanley's Life of that philosopher. And as Mr. Thyer observes, the word unsphere alludes to the Platonic notion of different spheres or regions being assigned to spirits of different degrees of perfection or impurity. The same term is used in the Mask, ver. 2. -where those immortal shapes Of bright aerial spirits live inspher'd In regions mild of calm and serene air. 89. This shews what sort of contemplation he was fond of. Milton's imagination made him as much a mystic as his good sense would give leave. Hurd. 91. The immortal mind that hath forsook] Compare P. R. iv. 598. and see the note on the And of those Demons that are found Or the tale of Troy divine, 95 100 Demons of the Elements, P. R. These four Latin verses form honesta Eschylus 98. But Horace, I humbly apprehend, only means, that Eschylus introduced masks and better dresses. Palla honesta is simply a decent robe. Milton means something more. By clothing Tragedy in her sceptred pall, he intended. specifically to point out regal stories the proper arguments of the higher drama. And this more expressly appears, from the subjects immediately mentioned in the subsequent couplet. Our author has also personified Tragedy, in the same meaning, where he gives her a bloody sceptre, implying the distresses of kings, El. i. 37. Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragoedia sceptrum Quassat, et effusis crinibus ora rotat. He then illustrates or exemplifies his personification. Seu maret Pelopea domus, seu nobilis Ili, Seu luit incestos aula Creontis avos. the context now before us. Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy In Paradise Regained, he particularises the lofty grave tragedians of Athens. B. iv. 266. And these are they, who display the vicissitudes of human life by examples of Great Misfortune, High actions and high passions best describing. In the Tractate of Education, he recommends " Attic Tragedies of "stateliest and most regal argu"ment." Edit. 1673. p. 109. Ovid, whom Milton in some of his prose pieces prefers to all the Roman poets besides, has also marked the true, at least original, province of Tragedy, by giving her a sceptre. Amor. 1. lii. i. 11. And we there trace Milton's pall also. Venit et ingenti violenta Tragoedia passu, Fronte come torva, Palla jacebat humi: Læva manus Sceptrum late regale tenebat, &c. T. Warton. 99. Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line, Or the tale of Troy divine,] Or what (though rare) of later age These were the principal subjects of the ancient tragedies; and he seems to allude particularly to the Septem contra Thebas of Eschylus, and the Phænissa of Euripides, and the Antigone of Sophocles, and the Thebais of Seneca, which present Thebes; and to the Thyestes of Seneca, and the Agamemnon of Eschylus, which present Pelops' line; and to the Troades of Euripides and of Seneca, and other tragedies which present the tale of Troy divine, therefore called divine because built by the gods; for I think with Mr. Thyer, that divine is not to be joined with tale, as many understand it: and as Mr. Jortin notes, it is called in Homer Ιλιος ίρη. 100.-though rare] Just glancing at Shakespeare. Hurd. 104. Might raise Musaus from his bower,] The poet Musaus makes the most distinguished figure in Virgil's Elysium. Æn. vi. 667. Musæum ante omnes, medium nam plurima turba Hunc habet, atque humeris extantem suspicit altis. 105. Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing &c.] It is a property of music, that the same strains have 105 a power to excite pain or pleasure, as the state is in which it finds the hearer. Hence Milton makes the self-same strains of Orpheus proper to excite both the affections of mirth and melancholy, just as the mind is then disposed. If to mirth, he calls for such music, That Orpheus' self may heave his head &c. If to melancholy— See Warburton's Shakespeare, 105. To Orpheus or his harp Milton has frequent allusions in other places. As in P. L. iii. 17. and in the Tractate on Education, "Melodious sounds on every side that the harp of Orpheus was "not more charming." We have the same allusion in the Preface to Philips's Theatrum Poetarum, in which are more manifest marks of Milton's hand, than in the book itself. Education is that harp of Orpheus, &c. T. Warton. P. 3. 107. Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,] Our author here very strongly expresses the sense of the following line of Seneca's upon the same occasion, which I Or call up him that left half told The story of Cambuscan bold, 110 Of Camball, and of Algarsife, And who had Canace to wife, That own'd the virtuous ring and glass, suppose he had in view. Herc. Deflent et lacrymis difficiles Dei. means Chaucer and his Squire's Tale, wherein Cambuscan is king of Sarra in Tartary, and has two sons Algarsife and Camball, and a daughter named Canace. This Tartar king receives a present from the king of Araby and Ind, of a wondrous horse of brass that could transport him through the air to any place, and a sword of rare qualities; and at the same time his daughter Canace is presented with a virtuous ring and glass, a glass by which she could discover secrets and future events, and a ring by which she could understand the language of birds. This tale was either never finished by Chaucer, or part of it is lost: but Spenser has endeavoured to supply the defect in his Faery Queen. See b. iv. cant. ii. s. 32. &c. 109. Hence it appears that Milton, among Chaucer's pieces, was most struck with his Squier's 115 Tale. It best suited our author's predilection for romantic poetry. Chaucer is here ranked with the sublime poets: his comic vein Hist. Eng. Poetr. i. 398. The is forgotten and overlooked. See virtuous ring and glass. So Boiardo, Orl. Inam. 1. i. c. xiv. st. 49. Of Angelica's magic ring. In bocca avea quell ancl virtuoso. And in the Faerie Queene, a sword tempered by Merlin is called "the vertuous steele." And the Palmer has " a vertuous staffe." T. Warton. 116. And if ought else great bards beside &c.] Ariosto, and Spenser more particularly, of whose allegorical poetry it may be said with great truth and propriety, that more is meant than meets the ear. And thus in these two little poems Milton makes his compliments to our greatest English poets, Jonson and Shakespeare, Chaucer and Spen ser. 116. Tasso also pretends to an allegorical and mysterious meaning. And his inchanted forest, the most conspicuous fiction of the kind, might have been here intended. Berni allows, that his incantations, giants, magic gardens, &c. may amuse the igno |