last above a line or two; but the poet runs on with the hint till he has raised out of it some glorious image or sentiment, proper to inflame the mind of the reader, and to give it that sublime kind of entertainment which is 5 suitable to the nature of an heroic poem. Those who are acquainted with Homer's and Virgil's way of writing cannot but be pleased with this kind of structure in Milton's similitudes. I am the more particular on this head because ignorant readers, who have formed their taste upon To the quaint similes and little turns of wit which are so much in vogue among modern poets, cannot relish these beauties, which are of a much higher nature, and are therefore apt to censure Milton's comparisons, in which they do not see any surprising points of likeness. Mon15 sieur Perrault was a man of this vitiated relish, and for that very reason has endeavored to turn into ridicule several of Homer's similitudes, which he calls 'comparaisons à longue queue'-'long-tailed comparisons.' I shall conclude this paper on the First Book of Milton with the answer which Monsieur Boileau makes to Perrault on this occasion: Comparisons,' says he, 'in odes and epic poems, are not introduced only to illustrate and embellish the discourse, but to amuse and relax the mind of the reader, by frequently disengaging him from too 25 painful an attention to the principal subject, and by leading him into other agreeable images. Homer,' says he, 'excelled in this particular, whose comparisons abound with such images of nature as are proper to relieve and diversify his subjects. He continually instructs the reader, 30 and makes him take notice, even in objects which are every day before his eyes, of such circumstances as we should not otherwise have observed.' To this he adds, as a maxim universally acknowledged, that it is not necessary in poetry for the points of the comparison to 35 correspond with one another exactly, but that a general 20 resemblance is sufficient, and that too much nicety in this particular savors of the rhetorician and epigrammatist.' In short, if we look into the conduct of Homer, Virgil, and Milton, as the great fable is the soul of each poem, so, 5 to give their works an agreeable variety, their episodes are so many short fables, and their similes so many short episodes; to which you may add, if you please, that their metaphors are so many short similes. If the reader considers the comparisons in the First Book of Milton- of 10 the sun in an eclipse, of the sleeping leviathan, of the bees swarming about their hive, of the fairy dance the view wherein I have here placed them, he will easily discover the great beauties that are in each of those passages. - in 15 5 I 8.1 BOOK II. Di, quibus imperium est animarum, Umbræque silentes, - VIRG. Æn. 6. 264-267. Ye realms, yet unrevealed to human sight! Ye gods, who rule the regions of the night! Ye gliding ghosts! permit me to relate The mystic wonders of your silent state. DRYDEN. HAVE before observed in general that the persons whom Milton introduces into his poem always discover such sentiments and behavior as are in a peculiar manner conformable to their respective characters. Every circumstance in their speeches and actions is, with great justice and delicacy, adapted to the persons who speak and act. As the poet very much excels in this consistency of his characters, I shall beg leave to consider several passages of the Second Book in this light. That superior To greatness and mock-majesty which is ascribed to the prince of the fallen angels, is admirably preserved in the beginning of this book. His opening and closing the debate ; his taking on himself that great enterprise, at the thought of which the whole infernal assembly trembled; his 15 encountering the hideous phantom who guarded the gates of hell, and appeared to him in all his terrors are 1 Spectator, No. 309, Feb. 23, 1712. instances of that proud and daring mind which could not brook submission, even to Omnipotence ! 1 Satan was now at hand, and from his seat The monster moving onward came as fast, With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode. 5 The same boldness and intrepidity of behavior discovers itself in the several adventures which he meets with during his passage through the regions of unformed 10 matter, and particularly in his address to those tremendous powers who are described as presiding over it. ΙΟ The part of Moloch is likewise, in all its circumstances, full of that fire and fury which distinguish this. spirit from the rest of the fallen angels. He is described 15 in the First Book as besmeared with the blood of human sacrifices, and delighted with the tears of parents and the cries of children. In the Second Book he is marked out as the fiercest spirit that fought in heaven; and if we consider the figure which he makes in the Sixth Book, where the battle of the angels is described, we find it every way answerable to the same furious, enraged character: 2 Where the might of Gabriel fought, It may be worth while to observe that Milton has represented this violent, impetuous spirit, who is hurried. 1 2. 674-678. 2 6.355-362. 20 25 30 20 25 on by such precipitate passions, as the first that rises in the assembly to give his opinion upon their present posture of affairs. Accordingly he declares himself abruptly for war, and appears incensed at his companions for losing so much time as even to deliberate upon it. All his sentiments are rash, audacious, and desperate; such is that of arming themselves with tortures, and turning their punishments upon Him who inflicted them :— 1 No! let us rather choose, Armed with Hell-flames and fury, all at once O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way, Against the Torturer; when, to meet the noise His own invented torments. His preferring annihilation to shame or misery is also highly suitable to his character, as the comfort he draws from their disturbing the peace of heaven, that if it be not victory it is revenge, is a sentiment truly diabolical, and becoming the bitterness of this implacable spirit. Belial is described in the First Book as the idol of the lewd and luxurious. He is, in the Second Book, pursuant to that description, characterized as timorous and slothful; and if we look in the Sixth Book, we find him celebrated in the battle of angels for nothing but that 30 scoffing speech which he makes to Satan on their supposed advantage over the enemy. As his appearance is uniform and of a piece in these three several views, we find his sentiments in the infernal assembly every way conformable to his character: such are his apprehensions 1 2. 60-70. 2 First edition, 'into' (Arber). |