“ So far the happier lot, enjoying thee “ Pre-eminent by so much odds, while thou “ Like confort to thyself canst no where find, &c."

The remaining part of Eve's fpeech; in which she gives an account of herself upon her first creation, and the manner in which he 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 fo much art, that they are capable of pleafing the most delicate reader, without offending the most fevere:

“ That day I oft remember, when from sleep, &c.”

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 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 departing 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 lovelinefs. This mutual subordination of the two sexes is wonderfully kept up in the whole poem, as particularly in the speech of Eve I have before mentioned, and upon the conclufion of it in the following lines.

“ So spake our general mother, and with eyes
“ Of conjugal attraction unreprov'd,
** And meek surrender, half embracing lean'da
" On our first father: half her fwelling breast:
"« Naked met his under the flowing gold
“ Of her loose tresses hid; he in delight
“ Both of her beauty and fubmissive charms
" Smild with superior love."

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

We have another view of our first parents in their evering discourses, which is full of pleasing images and fentiments suitable to their condition and characters. The

speech

speech of Eve, in particular, is dressed up in fuck a fost and natural turn of words and sentiments, as cannot be sufficiently admired.

I shall close my reflexions upon this book, with observing the masterly tranfition which the poet makes to their evening worship in the following lines.

" Thus at their shady lodge arriv’d, both ftood, “ Both turn’d, and under open sky, ador'd “ 'The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heav'n, “ Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe, “ And starry pole: thou also mad's the night, " Maker omnipotents and thou the day, &c."

Most of the modern heroic poets have imitated the anicients in beginning a speech without premising, that the person said thus or thus; but as it is easy to imitate 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 miffed, and that the speech may begin naturally without them. There is a fie instance of this kind out of Homer, in the twenty-third chapter of Longinus.

тн Е.

N. 255

A.,
A Cademy for politics

, Number 305. The regulations -

&
Admiration, short-liv’d, N. 256.
Age. A comfortable. old age, the reward of a well-spent-

youth, N. 260.
Agreeable man, who, N. 280.
Ambition, never satisfy'd, N. 256. The end of it,

The effects of. it in the mind, N. 256.
Subjects us to many troubles, N. 257.

The true:
object of a laudable ambition, ibid.
Appetites the incumbrances of old age, N. 260.
Aristotle, his definition of an intire action of epic poe-

try, N. 267. His sense of the greatness of the action
in a poem, his method of examining, an epic poem,

An observation of that critic's, ibid. One
of the best logicians in the world, N. 291. His divi ..
fion of a poem, N. 297.

Another of his obfervations,
ibid. His observation on the fable of an epic poem,

315
Art of criticism, the Spectator's account of that poem, .
Audiences, at present void of common sense, N. 290.
Auguftus, his requeit to his friends at his death, N.

317

N. 273.

N. 253

B.

, of
Beauty in a virtuous woman makes her more virtu-
ous, N. 302.
Bills of mortality, the use of them, N. 289.
Boccalini, his animadversions upon critics, N. 201.

Cæfar,

C.
Æfar (Julius) a frequent saying of his, N. 256..

Calamities, the merit of suffering patiently under
them, N. 312.
Camillus, his deportment to his son, N. 263.
Canidia, an antiquated beauty described, N. 301.
Capacities of children not duly regarded in their educa-

tion, N. 307 Censor of marriages, N. 30.8. Charity-schools, great initances of a public spirit, N.

294. Clavius, proving incapable of any other studies, became

a celebrated mathematician, N. 307. Comparisons in Homer and Milton, defended by Monsieur

Boileau against Monsieur Perrault, N. 303. Coquette's heart dissected, N. 281. Coverley (Sir Roger de) his return to town, and conver

sation with the Spectator in Gray's-Inn walks, N. 269.

His intended generosity to his widow, N. 295. Courtship, the pleasantest part of a man's life, N. 261. Credit undone with a whisper, N. 320. Criminal love, some account of the itate of it, N. 274. Critic, the qualities requisite to a good one, N. 291.

D.
Eath: deaths of eminent persons, the most improva

ing passages in history, N. 289.
Decency, nearly related to virtue, N. 292.
Decency of behaviour, generally tranfgreffed, N. 292.
Delicacy; the difference betwixt a true and false der

cacy, N. 286. The standard of it, ibid. Dependents, objects of compassion, N. 282. Distreft Mother, a new tragedy, recommended by the Spectator, N. 290.

E. E Ating, drinking, and sleeping, with the generality of

people, the three important articles of life, N. 317: Education ; whether the education at a public school, or

under a private tutor, be to be preferred, N. 313. The advantage of a public education, ibid.

Elizabeth,

Elizabeth, (Queen) her medal on the defeat of the Spanish

Armada, N. 293.
Emilia, an excellent woman, her character, N.

302. Envy; the abhorrence of envy, a certain note of a great

mind, N. 253; Eyes; the prevailing influence of the eye instanced in

feveral particulars, N. 252.

F.
'Able of a drop of water, N. 293.

Fame, the difficulty of obtaining and preserving it, N. 255. The inconveniencies attending the desire of

it, ibid. Fop, what sort of perfons deserve that character, N. 280. Fortune often unjustly complained of, N. 282. To be

controlled by nothing but infinite wisdom, N. 293. Fortune-stealers, who they are that set up for fuch,

N. 311. Distinguished from fortune-hunters, ibid. Fribblers, who, N. 288.

G.
Ifts of fortune, more valued than they ought to be,

N. 294.

Government, what form of it the most reasonable, N. 287. Gracefulness of action, the excellency of it, N. 292. Greeks and Romans, the different methods observed by them in the education of their children, N. 313.

H. Homer's excellence in the multitude and variety of

his characters, N. 273. He degnerates sometimes into burlesque, N. 279. Honeycomb (Will) his great insight into gallantry, N.

265. His application to rich widow's, N. 311. Hoods, coloured, a new invention, N. 265.

1. JANI

ANE (Mrs.) a great pickthank, N. 272.

Idlenefs, a great distemper, 316. Jesuits their great fagacity in discovering the talent of a

young ftudent, N. 307. Indolence an enemy to virtue, N. 306.

Journal,