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In naked majesty, seemed lords of all,
And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure -
Severe, but in true filial freedom placed.1

2 For contemplation he and valor formed,
For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in him.
His fair large front and eye sublime declared
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks

Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
She, as a veil down to the slender waist,
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved.1

4 So passed they naked on, nor shunned the sight
Of God or Angel; for they thought no ill :

So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair
That ever since in love's embraces met.

There is a fine spirit of poetry in the lines which follow, wherein they are described as sitting on a bed of flowers by the side of a fountain, amidst a mixed assembly of animals.

The speeches of these two first lovers flow equally from 25 passion and sincerity. The professions they make to one another are full of warmth, but at the same time founded on truth. In a word, they are the gallantries of Paradise:

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:

1. But let us ever praise him, and extol

His bounty, following our delightful task,

To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers;
Which, were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.'
To whom thus Eve replied: 'O thou for whom
And from whom I was formed flesh of thy flesh,
And without whom am to no end, my guide
And head! what thou hast said is just and right.
For we to him, indeed, all praises owe,

And daily thanks - I chiefly, who enjoy
So far the happier lot, enjoying thee
Pre-eminent by so much odds, while thou

Like consort to thyself canst nowhere find,' etc.

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The remaining part of Eve's speech, in which she gives an account of herself upon her first creation, and the 15 manner in which she was brought to Adam, is, I think, as beautiful a passage as any in Milton, or perhaps in any other poet whatsoever. These passages are all worked off with so much art that they are capable of pleasing the most delicate reader, without offending the most 20

severe :

2 That day I oft remember when from sleep, etc.

A poet of less judgment and invention than this great author would have found it very difficult to have filled these tender parts of the poem with sentiments proper 25 for a state of innocence; to have described the warmth of love, and the professions of it, without artifice or hyperbole; to have made the man speak the most endearing things without descending from his natural dignity, and the woman receiving them without depart- 30 ing from the modesty of her character; in a word, to adjust the prerogatives of wisdom and beauty, and make each appear to the other in its proper force and loveliness. This mutual subordination of the two sexes is wonderfully

1

4. 436-448.

2

4. 449.

3 First edition, 'those.'

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kept up in the whole poem, as particularly in the speech of Eve I have before mentioned, and upon the conclusion of it in the following lines: —

1 So spake our general mother, and, with eyes
Of conjugal attraction unreproved,

And meek surrender, half-embracing leaned
On our first father; half her swelling breast
Naked met his, under the flowing gold

Of her loose tresses hid. He, in delight

Both of her beauty and submissive charms,
Smiled with superior love.

The poet adds that the devil turned away with envy at the sight of so much happiness.

We have another view of our first parents in their 15 evening discourses, which is full of pleasing images and sentiments suitable to their condition and characters. The speech of Eve, in particular, is dressed up in such a soft and natural turn of words and sentiments as cannot be sufficiently admired.

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I shall close my reflections upon this book with observing the masterly transition which the poet makes to their evening worship, in the following lines:

2 Thus at their shady lodge arrived, both stood,

Both turned, and under open sky adored

The God that made both Sky, Air, Earth, and Heaven,
Which they beheld, the Moon's resplendent globe,
And starry Pole: - - 'Thou also madest the Night,
Maker Omnipotent, and thou the Day,' etc.

Most of the modern heroic poets have imitated the 30 ancients in beginning a speech without premising that the person said thus or thus; but as it is easy to imitate

1 4. 492-499.

24. 720-725.

the ancients in the omission of two or three words, it requires judgment to do it in such a manner as they shall not be missed, and that the speech may begin naturally without them. There is a fine instance of this kind out of Homer, in the twenty-third chapter of Longinus.

II.1

BOOK V.

Major rerum mihi nascitur ordo. — VIRG. Æn. 7, 44.

A larger scene of action is displayed.· - DRYDEN.

WE were told in the foregoing book how the evil

spirit practised upon Eve as she lay asleep, in order to inspire her with thoughts of vanity, pride, and ambition. The author, who shows a wonderful art 5 throughout his whole poem in preparing the reader for the several occurrences that arise in it, founds upon the above-mentioned circumstance the first part of the Fifth Book. Adam, upon his awaking, finds Eve still asleep, with an unusual discomposure in her looks. The posture 10 in which he regards her is described with a tenderness not to be expressed, as the whisper with which he awakens her is the softest that ever was conveyed to a lover's ear.

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3. His wonder was to find unwakened Eve,

With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,
As though unquiet rest. He, on his side
Leaning half raised, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamored, and beheld
Beauty which, whether waking or asleep,

Shot forth peculiar graces; then, with voice

1 Spectator, No. 327, March 15, 1712.

2 Not... expressed' added in second edition; 'wonderful' before' tenderness,' first edition (Arber).

35. 9-30.