And thou their natures know'ft, and gav'ft them names, The ferpent subtleft beaft of all the field, Not noxious, but obedient at thy call. Now Heav'n in all her glory fhone, and roll'd Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand Paris 1744. wherein the curious author has collected all that Swammerdam and others have written upon the fubject. He fays that in a hive there is commonly one queen, and perhaps a thousand males called drones, and near 20000 working bees of no fex that can be diftinguifh'd. The queen or mother bee is longer than the rest, and will produce one year with another from thirty to forty thoufand bees. The drones or husbands of this queen, except when they are paying their duty to her, live idly and luxurioufly upon the finest honey, whereas the common bees live in great measure upon wax; and the queen herself will condescend to wait upon the drones, and bring them honey; and fo, as Milton expreffes it, feeds her busband drone deliciously. 495 500 First First wheel'd their courfe; earth in her rich attire With fanctity, Speech, reafon. I agree with him that Milton had Ovid in view, when he compos'd thefe verfes. Let us fee then what are the Doctor's objections against them. Prone, fays he, barely put, does not express what Milton aim'd at from Ovid, viz. Pronaque cum fpectent animalia cætera terram. It is true, that Ovid fays more than prone: but Milton, who was perfectly skill'd in the force of Latin words, knew that pronus in Latin fufficiently express'd what Ovid thro' a redun 505 His dancy of ftile had exprefs'd by two more words fpetent terram. Any good Latin dictionary will furnish the reader with examples of pronus as'd in this fenfe without any additional word; and Milton himfelf uses it fo again in VIII. 433. Why, as other creatures? fays the Doctor, when the Angels are creatures néither prone, nor brute. But does not Ovid's animalia cætera and Cicero's cæteras animantes in his De Leg. L. 1. warrant Milton's faying as other creatures? Thole other creatures can be none but fuch as Ra phael had been defcribing the creation of; and therefore Angels are excluded fufficiently from being understood here. [And Milton, I fuprofe, made ufe of the word creatures as creature went before; a creature not as other creatures.] With fanctity of reafon: what does of do here? fays the Doctor; he would have as read With fanctity and reafon. Ovid's words are these, San&tius his animal, mentifque capacius altæ. And op 510 His ftature, and upright with front ferene And worship God fupreme, who made him chief 515 Of all his works: therefore th' Omnipotent Eternal Father (for where is not he Prefent?) thus to his Son audibly fpake. Let us make now Man in our image, Man In our fimilitude, and let them rule Over the fish and fowl of fea and air, And this verse our poet had in his mind, no doubt. But instead of merely copying from it, he has improv'd it by expreffing Ovid's meaning in clearer and fewer words; for in Ovid the fanctity of the creature confifts in its having reason, and this Milton better expreffes by fanctity of reafon. When the Doctor upon fecond thoughts propofes to read, With fanctity, speech, reafon, he adds a circumftance not to be found in the Heathen poet, and therefore not intended (I prefume) by Milton. 520 And keeps clofely to Scripture in his account of the formation of Man as well as of the other creatures. And God. faid, Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the fea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattel, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created Man in his own image, in the image. of God created he him: male and female created be them. And God bleed them, and God faid unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and re519. Let us make now Man in our plenifh the earth, and fubdue it: and image, &c.] The author have dominion over the fish of the. Pearce. fea, And every creeping thing that creeps the ground. Duft of the ground, and in thy noftrils breath'd 525 Express, and thou becam'ft a living foul. Female for race; then blefs'd mankind, and faid, 530 And every living thing that moves on th' earth. Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know'ft, fea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen. I. 26, 27, 28. I have fet down the paffage at length, that the reader may compare the divine hiftorian and the poet together. There are fcarce any alterations, but what were requifite for the verse, or were occafion'd by the change of the perfon, as the Angel is fpeaking to Adam. And what additions are made, are plainly of the fame original, as the reader may fee by comparing both together. And the Lord God formed Man of the duft of the ground, and breath'd into bis noftrils the breath of 535 He life, and Man became a living foul. Gen II. 7. 535. Wherever thus created, &c.] The facred text fays that the Lord God planted a garden caftward in Eden; and there be put the Man whom he had formed, Gen. II. 8.. And afterwards, ver. 15. And the Lord God took the Man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. This seems to imply that Man was created in fome other place, and was afterwards brought into the garden of Eden; and therefore Milton fays, Wherever thus created, for no place He brought thee into this delicious grove, This garden, planted with the trees of God, And freely all their pleasant fruit for food 540 Gave thee; all forts are here that all th' earth yields Variety without end; but of the tree, Which tafted works knowledge of good and evil, Thou may'st not; in the day thou eat'ft, thou dy'ft; Death is the penalty impos'd, beware, 545 And govern well thy appetite, left Sin Is yet diftinct by name, thence, as He brought thee into this delicious Yet to every living thing, whereas it fhould be join'd in conftruction with He brought thee; Wherever thus created, thence he brought thee &c. 548. Here finifb'd be, and all that be had made View'd,] The pause is very remarkable, and admirably expreffes the Creator furveying and contemplating his work, Dr. Bentley and Mr. Fenton in their editions have pointed the paffage wrong, and contrary to Milton's own editions, by putting a full ftop before thence, where fhould be only a comma, and by putting a comma after this verfe, where fhould be a full ftop, And every living thing that moves He finishes the account of the creaon th' earth, tion, in the fame manner as Mofes, and fo referring wherever thus created Gen. I. 31. And God faw every and behold all was entirely good; So ev'n and morn accomplish'd the fixth day. |