The air fuch pleasure loath to lose,

99

With thousand echos ftill prolongs each heavenly

clofe.

X.

Nature that heard fuch found,

Beneath the hollow round

Of Cynthia's feat, the aery region thrilling,

Now was almost won

To think her part was done,

And that her reign had here its laft fulfilling ;

She knew fuch harmony alone

105

Could hold all heav'n and earth in happier union.

Took with RAVISH MEMT

The thronging audience.

I obferve by the way, that RAVISHMENT is a favourite word with Milton. So again in PARAD. L. B. v. 46.

66

Breathe fuch divine inchanting RAVISHMENT.

Again in TETRACHORDON, "A kind of RAVISHMENT and erring fondness in the entertainment of wedded leisures." PR. W. i. 222.

Spenfer has this word in ASTROPHEL, ft. vii.

That all mens hearts with fecret RAUISHMENT

He ftole away.

Compare PARAD. L, ix. 461.

100. V. 548.

-With RAPINE fweet bereav'd

His fierceness of the fierce intent is brought.

Prolongs each beavenly clofe.] See Note on Coмus,

At

Are seen in glittering ranks with wings difplay'd, Harping in loud and folemn quire,

115 With unexpreffive notes to Heaven's new-born Heir.

Such mufic (as 'tis faid)

Before was never made,

XII.

But when of old the fons of morning fung, While the Creator great

His conftellations fet,

And the well-balanc'd world on hinges hung;

And caft the dark foundations deep,

120

And bid the weltring waves their oozy channel keep.

XIII.

Ring out, ye crystal spheres,

Once blefs our human ears,

112. -Helmed.-PARAD. L. vi. 840.

Drayton has

-O'er helms and HELMED heads he rode.

125

helmed head." PoLYOLB. S. viii. vol. ii. P. 800.

116. With unexpressive notes to heaven's new-born heir.] So in LYCIDAS, V. 176.

And hears the UNEXPRESSIVE nuptial fong.

The word, which is the object of this Note, was perhaps coined by Shakespeare, AS YOU LIKE IT, A. iii. S. ii.

The fair, the chafte, and UNEXPRESSIVE She.

117. Such mufic as 'tis faid.] See this mufic described, PARAD. L. B. vii. 558. feq.

If ye

have pow'r to touch our fenfes fo;

And let your filver chime

Move in melodious time,

And let the base of heav'n's deep organ blow; And with your ninefold harmony

Make

up full confort to th' angelic fymphony.

For if fuch holy fong

XIV.

Inwrap our fancy long,

129

Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold;

And speckled Vanity

Will ficken foon and die,

And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mold; And Hell itself will pafs away,

136

139

And leave her dolorous manfions to the peering day.

130. And let the bafe of heav'n's deep organ blow.] Here is another idea catched by Milton from Saint Paul's cathedral while he was a school-boy. Milton was not yet a puritan. Afterwards, he and his friends the fanatics would not have allowed of fo papistical an establishment as an Organ and Choir, even in Heaven.

131. And with your ninefold harmony.] See ARCADES, v. 63. Where the Sirens are'fuppofed to "fit upon the NINE-ENFOLDED spheres."

66

136. And Speckled Vanity

Will ficken foon and die.] Plainly taken from the maculofum nefas of Horace. OD. v. 4. 23. Dr. J. WARTON.

VANITY dreffed in a variety of gaudy colours. Unless he means fpots, the marks of difeafe and corruption, and the symptoms of approaching death.

139.

And hell itself will pass away,

And leave her dolorous manfions to the peering day.] The image is in Virgil, N. viii. 245.

-Regna recludat

Pallida, diis invifa; fuperque immane barathrum

Cernatur, trepidentque immiffo lumine Manes.

PEERING, that is, overlooking or prying, is frequent in Spenfer and Shakespeare. I will give one inftance from the latter. CoRIOLAN. A. ii. S. iii.

VOL. I.

M m

And

XV.

Yea Truth and Justice then

Will down return to men,

Orb'd in a rainbow; and like glories wearing

Mercy will fit between,

Thron'd in celestial sheen,

145

With radiant feet the tiffued clouds down fteering:

And heav'n, as at some festival,

Will open

wide the gates of her high palace hall.

But wifeft Fate fays no,

XVI.

This must not yet be fo,

The babe yet lies in fmiling infancy, That on the bitter cross

Muft redeem our lofs;

So both himself and us to glorify:

Yet first to those ychain'd in fleep,

150

155

The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through

the deep;

And mountainous Errour be too deeply pil'd

For Truth to over-PEER.

143. Orb'd in a rainbow; and like glories wearing

Mercy will fit between.] Here is an emendation of Milton's riper genius. The paffage is thus printed in the first edition, 1645.

Th' enamel'd arras of the rainbow wearing;

And Mercy fet between, &c.

The rich and variegated colours of tapestry were now familiar to the eye. The present reading appeared first, in the second edition, 1673. See Note on Coмus, v. 83.

156. The wakeful trump of doom muft thunder through the derp.] A line of great energy, elegant and sublime.

XVII.

With fuch a horrid clang

As on mount Sinai rang,

While the red fire, and fmouldring clouds out brake: The aged earth aghaft,

With terrour of that blaft,

Shall from the furface to the center shake;

When at the world's laft feffion,

160

The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his

throne.

XVIII.

And then at last our blifs

Full and perfect is,

But now begins; for from this happy day

Th' old Dragon under ground

In ftraiter limits bound,

Not half fo far cafts his ufurped fway,

And wroth to fee his kingdom fail,

Swindges the scaly horrour of his folded tail.

165

170

157. With fuch a horrid clang.] CLANG is clangour. So of a multitude of birds, PARAD. L. B. vii. 422.

Soaring the air fublime

With CLANG defpis'd the ground.

But fee Steevens's Note, TAM. SHR. vol. iii. Johnf. Steev. SHAKESPEARE, P. 435.

159.Smouldring clouds out brake.] Add to Doctor Newton's inftances, F. Q. i. vii. 13.

Through SMOULDRY cloud of duskish stinking smoke.]

Again, iii. xi. 21.

A flaming fire ymixt with SMOULDRY Smoke

And stinking fulphure.

SMOULDRING, or SMOULDRY, bot, fweltring. Perhaps from the Anglo-Saxon Smolt, hot weather.

172. Swindges the fcaly borrour of his folded tail.] This strong

M m 2

image