And saw the ravens with their horny beaks Though ravenous, taught t' abstain from what they brought : He saw the prophet also how he fled Into the desert, and how there he slept He found his supper on the coals prepar'd, The strength whereof suffic'd him forty days; 270 275 Et quoi quisque ferè studio devinctus adhæret, Aut quibus in rebus multum sumus antè morati, Atque in qua ratione fuit contenta magis mens, In somnis eadem plerumque videmur obire. 278. Or as a guest with Daniel at his pulse.] Mr. Sympson proposes to read, Or was a guest &c. 279. and now the herald lark] This is a beautiful thought, which modern wit hath added to the stock of antiquity. We may see it rising though out of a low hint of Theocritus, like the bird from his thatched pallat. Idyll. x. 50. Αρχεσθαι δ' αμωντας, εγειρομένῳ κορυ δαλλω. Chaucer leads the way to the song: Left his ground nest, high tow'ring to descry As lightly from his grassy couch up rose Our Saviour. 279. Browne, in his Britannia's Pastorals, b. i. s. 3. had termed the lark the herald of the day: The mounting lark, day's herald, got on wing, Bidding each bird choose out his bough and sing. Add to the extracts from Chaucer and Spenser, the following from Fletcher, in his Purple Island, c. ix. st. 2. The cheerful lark, mounting from early bed, With sweet salutes awakes the drowsy light; The earth she left, and up to heaven is fed; There chants her Maker's praises out of sight. And Drayton, Polyolb. s. iii. speaks of the lark 280 285 See also Comus, 315, and L'Alle- To hear the lark begin his flight, 282. As lightly from his grassy Thyer. 287. If cottage were in view, sheep-cote, or herd; But cottage, herd, or sheep-cote none he saw,] This mode of repetition our poet is fond of, and has frequently used with singular effect. See Comus, 221. "Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud, &c." and Par. Lost, iv. 640-656. Dunster. 289. Only in a bottom saw a pleasant grove, &c.] The Tempter -climbing up to heaven, her high- here is the Magician of the Italian pitch'd hymn to sing Unto the springing day. These early poets should be compared with Milton in this description of the lark -high tow'ring to descry The morn's approach, and greet her with his song. poets. This pleasant grove is a magical creation in the desert, designed as a scene suited for the ensuing temptation. Thus Tasso (c. x.) lays the scene of Armida's banquet, Under the curtain of the greenwood shade, &c. With chaunt of tuneful birds resounding loud; The whole of Milton's description here is very beautiful. Lord Orford indeed, in his Observations on Modern Gardening, ascribes to our author the having foreseen with "the prophetic eye of taste" our modern style of gardening. It may however be questioned whether his idea of a garden was much, if at all, elevated above that of his contemporaries. In the Comus, the gardens of the Hesperides have their cedarn alleys, crisped shades and bowers; and in Il Penseroso, "retired leisure" is made to please itself in trim gardens. Mr. Warton indeed observes, that Milton had changed his ideas of a garden when he wrote his Paradise Lost. But the paradise which he there describes is not a garden, either ancient or modern. It is a country in its natural unornamented state, only rendered beautiful, and adapted to give pleasure in a hot climate. On the adaptation of landscape-gardening to different climates, see Dr. Falconer's Historical view of the taste for Gardening and laying out Grounds among the nations of Antiquity. Dunster. 290. With chaunt of tuneful birds resounding loud;] Virgil, Georg. ii. 328. Avia tum resonant avibus virgulta canoris. 290 295 Spenser, Faery Qu. b. ii. c. v. 31. And on the other side a pleasant grove Therein the merry birds, of every Chanted aloud their cheerful harmony. idea our author derived from 293. and alleys brown,] This Italy and the Italian poets. He had expressed it before, Paradise Lost, ix. 1088. -where highest woods impenetrable To star or sun-light, spread their umbrage broad And brown as evening. And the reader may see the word explained in Mr. Thyer's note upon Paradise Lost, iv. 246. Imbrown'd the noontide bow'rs. 295. Nature's own work it seem'd (nature taught art)] Thus Spenser, in his description of the gardens of Acrasia, And that, which all fair works doth most aggrace The Art, which all that wrought, appeared in no place. Faery Qu. b. ii. c. xii. 58, 59. And before him Tasso, describing the garden of Armida, and to whom indeed Spenser is here not a little indebted. E quel che il bello, e il caro accresce And to a superstitious eye the haunt Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs; he view'd it round, When suddenly a man before him stood, Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad, As one in city', or court, or palace bred, And with fair speech these words to him address'd. With granted leave officious I return, But much more wonder that the Son of God In this wild solitude so long should bide Of all things destitute, and well I know, 300 305 And that which beauty most, most wonder brought, No where appear'd the art which all this wrought. Fairfax. With the two following lines, -to a superstitious eye, the haunt Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs. Compare Lucretius, speaking of places remarkable for their echo, iv. 584. and appears as a wealthy citizen, or a courtier: and here with fair speech he addresses his words, there it was only with words thus utter'd spake. These lesser particulars have a grace and propriety in them, which is well worthy of the reader's observation. 302. With granted leave] It is true that Satan at parting, in the conclusion of the former book, Hæc loca capripedes Satyros Nymphas had asked leave to come again, que tenere Finitimi fingunt. Haunt is a favourite word with Milton in similar descriptions in the Paradise Lost, iii. 26. iv. 706. viii. 330. ii. 273. Dunster. 299. Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad,] The Tempter is very properly made to change his appearance and habit with the temptation. In the former book, when he came to tempt our Saviour to turn the stones into bread to satisfy their hunger, he appeared as a poor old man in rural weeds; but now when he comes to offer a magnificent entertainment, he is seemlier clad, but all the answer that our Saviour returned was, Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope, I bid not or forbid; do as thou find'st But it was perfectly in character 302.-officious] Adopted here from the Latin, and used in the same sense as by Cicero, In Verr. i. 24. -ipsi Lampsaceni summe in omnes cives Romanos officiosi. Dunster. Perhaps from the French, officieux, obliging; see the note on b. i. 53. Ē. Not without hunger. Others of some note, Of Israel here had famish'd, had not God Rain'd from heav'n manna; and that prophet bold Native of Thebez wand'ring here was fed 308. The fugitive bond-woman &c.] Hagar, who fled from the face of her mistress, Gen. xvi. 6. and is therefore called a fugitive; and her name by interpretation (says Ainsworth) is a fugitive or stranger: but her son was not a fugitive, but an outcast; so exact was our author in the use of his epithets. But then what shall we say to the words following, Outcast Nebaioth? For as Mr. Meadowcourt and others have observed, Nebaioth was the eldest son of Ishmael, (Gen. xxv. 13.) and grandson of Abraham and Hagar. He seems here to be put by mistake for Ishmael. At least it is not usual to call the father by the name of the son. 308. There is no immediate instance of a grandson being substituted for a son in Scripture: and yet the curse is addressed to Canaan, (Gen. ix. 25.) though it was Ham, his father, who had offended Noah; and (2 Sam. xix. 24.) Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, is called the son of Saul. Dunster. Mr. Dunster allows that his instances of substituted names are not quite parallel cases; and perhaps, if we consider the unusual accumulation of errors in 810 this speech, (see the two following notes,) we shall think it not improbable that Milton might designedly attribute mistakes to Satan with respect to Scriptural persons and places; as in Matt. iv. 6. Satan endeavours to tempt our Lord with a passage from Scripture misapplied and misunderstood. E. 313. Native of Thebez] In the first edition it was falsely printed Thebes; but Thebes (says Mr. Meadowcourt) was the birthplace of no prophet except blind Tiresias. However this reading hath prevailed throughout the editions, though in the table of Errata at the end of the first edition we are desired to correct and read Thebez, the same as Thesbe, or Thisbe, or Tishbe, the birth-place of the prophet Elijah. There is a Thebez mentioned, Judges ix. 50. where Abimelech was slain: and it looks as if our author took that and this to be the same place. He had before called Elijah the great Thisbite, ver. 16. and he might here more consistently have said Native of Thisbe: but he seems to write sometimes, as if he had a mind to make work for commentators, |