825

A thing not undefirable, fometime
Superiour; for, inferiour, who is free?
This
may
be well: But what if God have seen,
And death enfue? then I fhall be no more!
And Adam, wedded to another Eve,
Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;

A death to think! Confirm'd then I refolve, 830
Adam shall share with me in blifs or woe:
So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could endure, without him live no life.

So faying, from the tree her step she turn'd; But firft low reverence done, as to the Power835 That dwelt within, whofe prefence had infus'd Into the plant fciential sap, deriv'd

From nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while,

Ver. 832. So dear I love him, that with him all deaths

I could endure, without him live no life.] How much stronger and more pathetick is this than that of Horace, Od. III. ix. 24.

"Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens." NEWTON. Ver. 835. But firft low reverence done, as to the Power That dwelt within,] Eve falling into idolatry upon the taste of the forbidden tree, as the first fruit of disobedience, is finely imagined. RICHARDSON.

There is in this paffage a reference to the poet's earlier production of Arcades, v. 37.

"Whom with low reverence I adore as mine." TODD.

Ver. 838! Adam the while, &c.] Andromache is thus defcribed as amufing herfelf, and preparing for the return of Hector; not knowing that he was already flain by Achilles, Iliad xxii. 440. NEWTON.

840

Waiting defirous her return, had wove
Of choiceft flowers a garland, to adorn
Her treffes, and her rural labours crown;
As reapers oft are wont their harvest-queen.
Great joy he promis'd to his thoughts, and new
Solace in her return, so long delay'd:

845

Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill,
Misgave him; he the faltering measure felt;
And forth to meet her went, the way fhe took
That morn when first they parted: by the tree
Of knowledge he must pass; there he her met,
Scarce from the tree returning; in her hand 850
A bough of fairest fruit, that downy fmil'd,

Ver. 839.

had wove

Of choiceft flowers a garland, &c.] Milton had probably Spenfer in mind, F. Q. iii. vii. 17.

"Girlands of flowres fometimes for her faire head
"He fine would dight." TODD.

Ver. 845.

divine of] Foreboding fomething ill;

a Latin phrase, says doctor Newton, as in Horace, Od. III. xxvik 10. "Imbrium divina avis imminentum." But compare Euripides, Androm. v. 1075. "

Αἶ, «. ΠΡΟΜΑΝΤΙΣ θυμὸς ὡς τι προσδοκᾷ.

And Virgil," præfaga mali mens," En. x. 843. See also B. x. 357. "In my heart divin'd &c." TODD.

Ver. 846.

he the faltering meafure felt;] He found his heart kept not true time, he felt the false and intermitting measure; the natural defcription of our minds foreboding ill, by the unequal beatings of the heart and pulfe. HUME.

Ver. 851.

that downy fmil'd,

New gather'd, and ambrofial smell diffus'd.]. So, in v. 579, "from the boughs a favoury odour blows." But the very words here, as Hume obferves, are Virgil's, Georg. iv. 415.

New gather'd, and ambrofial smell diffus'd.
To him the hafted; in her face excufe

Came prologue, and apology too prompt; Which, with bland words at will, fhe thus addrefs'd.

855

Haft thou not wonder'd, Adam, at my stay? Thee I have mifs'd, and thought it long, depriv'd Thy prefence; agony of love till now

Not felt, nor fhall be twice; for never more
Mean I to try, what rash untried I fought, 860
The pain of abfence from thy fight. But strange
Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear:
This tree is not, as we are told, a tree
Of danger tafted, nor to evil unknown
Opening the way, but of divine effect
To open eyes, and make them Gods who taste;

"et liquidum ambrofiæ diffudit odorem :"

865

And that downy fmil'd, that covered with soft down looked fweetly, may refer, as he notes, to Ecl. ii. 51.

66

Ipfe ego cana legam tenerâ lanugine mala." TODD. Ver. 854. apology too prompt;] This is Fenton's emendation. It was before, in all the editions, " apology to prompt," which Dr. Newton prefumes to have been an errour of the prefs. 1 follow the emendation, although it is not impoffible that the poet might intend "to prompt" as a continuation of the imagery, drawn from the stage:

"Came prologue, and apology to prompt."

I am ftrengthened in my opinion by the following paffage in Rome and Juliet, where the mafkers enter, and Romeo says,

"What, fhall this fpeech be fpoke for our excufe,

"Or shall we on without apology?" TODD.

Ver. 866,

and make them Gods who taste;

And hath been tafted fuch: The ferpent wife,
Or not restrain'd as we, or not obeying,

Hath eaten of the fruit; and is become,

Not dead, as we are threaten'd, but thenceforth
Endued with human voice and human fense, 871
Reasoning to admiration; and with me
Persuasively hath so prevail'd, that I
Have also tasted, and have also found
The effects to correfpond; opener mine

eyes, 875

And hath been tafted fuch:] See Eve's fpeech to

Adam, in the Adamo of Andreini, ed. 1617, p. 74.
"Eccoti Adamo il Pomo.

"Che fai dir? lo guftai, nè fon già morta.
"Ah, che viuer douraffi,

"Anzi farfi nel ciel fimili à Dio;

"Ma pria conuien, che 'l Pomo

"Tutto frà noi si gufti,

"Indi pofcia guftato

"A bel trono di rai trono stellato

"Ne condurran gli Angeli lieti à volo." TODD.

Ver. 875.

opener mine eyes,

Dim erft, dilated spirits, ampler heart,

And growing up to Godhead;] Milton, in the manner of expreffion, here seems pretty plainly to allude to what Thirfis, in Taffo's Aminta, fays of himself, upon his feeing Phoebus and the Mufes, A. i. S. ii.

"Sentii mè far di mé fteffo maggiore
"Pien di noua virtu, piena di noua

"Deitade." THYER.

The manners here are finely in character. For Eve has eaten the forbidden fruit; and the talks, in confequence, as one hightened with wine, josund and boon, v. 793. She repeats, with fimilar volubility and gaiety, the fancied effects of her bold deed, v. 984.

Dim erft, dilated fpirits, ampler heart,
And growing up to Godhead; which for thee
Chiefly I fought, without thee can despise.
For blifs, as thou haft part, to me is bliss;
Tedious, unfhar'd with thee, and odious foon. 880
Thou therefore also tafte, that equal lot
May join us, equal joy, as equal love;
Left, thou not tafting, different degree
Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce
Deity for thee, when Fate will not permit.
Thus Eve with countenance blithe her story

told;

But in her cheek diftemper flushing glow'd.
On the other fide Adam, soon as he heard

"not death, but life

"Augmented, open'd eyes, new hopes, new joys,
"Tafte fo divine, that what of fweet before

885

"Hath touch'd my sense, flat seems to this, and harsh."

TODD.

Ver. 888. On the other fide Adam, foon as he heard &c.] In reading this verfe, it is abfolutely neceffary to make a long paufe, after Adam; which gives time, as it were, for the poet, and for the reader alfo, to contemplate or imagine Adam's extreme horrour, before the defcription of it is entered upon: Or we may Suppose the poet paufing himself, as it were, to confider in what language he shall adequately describe such extreme horrour:

"On the other fide Adam,

"foon as he heard &c."

In fhort it is a paufe, which the imagination of the poetical reader will not fail to avail itfelf of, and to turn to good effect. Let us only vary the pofition of the words:

"Adam, on the other fide, foon as he heard &c."

and we shall be more fenfible of the kind of effect, which it is now fo peculiarly calculated to produce. DUNSTER.