Close in a cottage low together got,
Their unexpected loss and plaints out breath'd.
Alas, from what high hope to what relapse
Unlook'd for are we fall'n! our eyes beheld
Messiah certainly now come, so long
Expected of our fathers; we have heard

His words, his wisdom full of grace and truth;
Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand,
The kingdom shall to Israel be restor❜d :
Thus we rejoic'd, but soon our joy is turn'd
Into perplexity and new amaze :
For whither is he gone, what accident
Hath rapt him from us? will he now retire
After appearance, and again prolong
Our expectation? God of Israël,
Send thy Messiah forth, the time is come;

30. Alas, from what high hope &c.] So we read in the first edition; in most of the others it is absurdly printed

30

35

40

as it is surprising: and the prayer itself is conceived very much in the spirit of the Psalms, and almost in the words of some of

Alas, from that high hope to what them. relapse

spe

Væ misero mihi, quanta de decidi! Terence Heaut. ii. iii. 9. 34.-full of grace and truth; John i. 14. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us-full of grace and truth.

36. The kingdom shall to Israel be restor❜d:] They are properly made to talk in the language, and according to the expectations of the Jews. Lord, wilt thou at

this time restore again the king

dom to Israel? Acts i. 6.

42. God of Israël, &c.] This sudden turn, and breaking forth into prayer to God, is beautiful

42. Milton probably had in mind the hymn of the disciples, (Acts iv. 27.) who cite from the second Psalm, The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. Mr. Dunster thinks it possible that some allusion might be here intended to the situation of Milton's party at the Restoration. E.

51. pointed at and shown] Should it not be pointed out?

But perhaps Milton had Persius
in his mind, Sat. i. 28.

-Digito monstrari, et dicier hic est.
Dunster.

Behold the kings of th' earth how they oppress
Thy chosen, to what height their pow'r unjust
They have exalted, and behind them cast
All fear of thee; arise and vindicate
Thy glory, free thy people from their yoke.
But let us wait; thus far he hath perform'd,
Sent his Anointed, and to us reveal'd him,
By his great Prophet, pointed at and shown
In public, and with him we have convers'd;
Let us be glad of this, and all our fears
Lay on his providence; he will not fail,

Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall,

55

Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence; Soon we shall see our hope, our joy return.

Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume

To find whom at the first they found unsought:
But to his mother Mary, when she saw
Others return'd from baptism, not her son,
Nor left at Jordan, tidings of him none,

60

Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure,

56. Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence;] Virgil, Æn. i. 407.

-falsis

Ludis imaginibus.

Æn. vi. 870.

guages delight in brevity. Mil ton certainly is fond of it in ours. His style is exceedingly elliptical, and sometimes cramped by an unnatural conciseness. Calton. The construction is, But to his mother-within her breast

Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, motherly cares and fears got head,

neque ultra

Esse sinent.

Jortin.

60. But to his mother Mary] The meaning must be, ad matrem quod attinet-as for or as to his mother Mary-for her part. Sanctius observes, that all lan

and raised some troubled thoughts: and if the words were brought thus near together, there would not perhaps be thought that difficulty and perplexity in the syntax.

63. Within her breast, though calm, her breast though pure,

Motherly cares and fears got head, and rais'd

66

Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs thus clad.
O what avails me now that honour high
To have conceiv'd of God, or that salute
Hail highly favour'd, among women blest!
While I to sorrows am no less advanc'd,
And fears as eminent, above the lot
Of other women, by the birth I bore,

In such a season born when scarce a shed

Could be obtain'd to shelter him or me

From the bleak air; a stable was our warmth,

70

Motherly cares and fears got plainly trace him to Mary's

head,]

A sentiment much of the same kind with that in the Paradise Lost, x. 23.

-dim sadness did not spare That time celestial visages, yet mix'd With pity, violated not their bliss: and may also serve to confirm what has been observed in the note upon that place. Thyer.

65. —in sighs thus clad.] Thus Cicero; Sententias reconditas exquisitasque mollis et pellucens vestiebat oratio. De Clar. Orator. 274. Ed. Proust. And again, 327. And thus our author in the Vacation Exercise, "clothe my fancy in fit sound." Drummond of Hawthornden has a similar figure of speech in that beautiful sonnet, beginning, "Sweet bird, that sing'st away the early hours." Dunster.

66. O what avails me now that honour high, &c.] In several parts of this speech Milton appears to have had Vida in his mind. In this opening of it, at v. 77. and from v. 87 to 92, we VOL. III.

lamentation under the cross;
Christiad. v. 870.

At non certe olim præpes demissus
Olympo

Nuntius hæc pavidæ dederat promissa
puellæ.

Sic una ante alias felix ego, sic ego cæli

Incedo regina? mea est hæc gloria

A manger his; yet soon enforc'd to fly

Thence into Egypt, till the murd'rous king
Were dead, who sought his life, and missing fill'd
With infant blood the streets of Bethlehem ;
From Egypt home return'd, in Nazareth
Hath been our dwelling many years; his life
Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,
Little suspicious to any king; but now
Full grown to man, acknowledg'd, as I hear,
By John the Baptist, and in public shown,
Son own'd from heaven by his Father's voice;
I look'd for some great change; to honour? no,
But trouble, as old Simeon plain foretold,

That to the fall and rising he should be
Of many in Israel, and to a sign

Spoken against, that through my very soul

A sword shall pierce; this is my favour'd lot,

79. -in Nazareth
Hath been our dwelling many

years;]
She mentions this as part of
their distress, because the coun-
try of Galilee, whereof Naza-
reth was a city, was the most
despised part of Palestine, de-
spised by the Jews themselves:
and therefore Nathaniel asketh
Philip, John i. 46. Can there any
good thing come out of Nazareth?

79. I rather think this description of the early private life of our Saviour designed to give effect to the expectations of Mary, where she says,

75

80

85

90

Private, unactive, calm, con

templative,

Little suspicious to any king;] Possibly not without an intended reference to Milton's own way of life after the Restoration. Dunster.

88. That to the fall and rising he should be Of many in Israel, &c.] And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Luke ii. 34, 35. Dunster.

My exaltation to afflictions high;

Afflicted I may be, it seems, and blest ;
I will not argue that, nor will repine.

95

But where delays he now? some great intent
Conceals him when twelve years he scarce had seen,
I lost him, but so found, as well I saw

He could not lose himself; but went about
His Father's business; what he meant I mus'd,
Since understand; much more his absence now
Thus long to some great purpose he obscures.
But I to wait with patience am inur'd ;

93. Afflicted I may be, it seems,

and blest;

I will not argue that, nor will
repine.

But where delays he now? some
great intent
Conceals him:]

How charmingly does Milton
here verify the character he had
before given of the blessed Vir-
gin in the lines above!

Within her breast though calm, her

breast though pure, Motherly cares and fears got head. We see at one view the piety of the saint, and the tenderness of the mother; and I think nothing can be conceived more beautiful and moving than that sudden start of fond impatience in the third line, But where delays he now? breaking in so abruptly upon the composed resignation expressed in the two preceding ones. The same beauty is continued in her suddenly checking herself, and resuming her calm and resigned character again in these words, some great intent conceals him. Thyer.

94. I will not argue that,]

100

Seemingly with a view to the
sense of arguo in Latin, to blame,
reprehend, accuse. Dunster.
97. I lost him, but so found,
as well I saw

He could not lose himself;] This is one of the sentiments so expressed, as, according to Mr. Addison, to degenerate into a pun. This poem (even considering its proportionate length,) is less censurable in this respect than the Paradise Lost. though these blemishes are rare, they are, when they occur, extremely offensive. Dunster.

But

98. but went about His Father's business ;] And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? Luke ii. 49. what he meant I mused. The verb muse is thus used in our translation of the Scriptures. All men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not; Luke iii. 15. Thus also Spenser, Faery Queen, b. iii. c. xi. 54. And Shakespeare, Tempest, act iii. sc. 2. Dunster.