at the Thought of which the whole infernal Affembly trembled; his encountring the hideous Phantom who guarded the Gates of Hell, and appeared to him in all his Terrors, are Inftances of that proud and daring Mind which could not brook Submiffion even to Omnipotence.

SATAN was now at hand, and from his Seat
The Monfier moving onward came as faft

With horrid Strides. Hell trembled as he strode,
Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd,
Admir'd, not fear'd-

THE fame Boldnefs and Intrepidity of Behaviour discovers itself in the feveral Adventures which he meets with during his Paffage through the Regions of unformed Matter, and particularly in his Address to thofe tremendous Powers who are described as prefiding

over it.

THE Part of Moloch is likewife in all its Circumftances full of that Fire and Fury, which diftinguish this Spirit from the reft of the fallen Angels. He is defcribed in the firft Book as befmeared with the Blood of human Sacrifices, and delighted with the Tears of Parents and the Cries of Children. In the fecond Book he is marked out as the fierceft Spirit that fought in Heaven; and if we confider the Figure which he makes in the fixth Book, where the Battle of the Angels is defcribed, we find it every way anfwerable to the fame furious enraged Character.

-

Where the might of Gabriel fought,

And with fierce Enfigns pierc'd the deep array
Of Moloc, furious King who him defy'd,
And at his Chariot wheels to drag him bound
Threaten'd, nor from the holy one of Heav'n
Refrain'd bis Tongue blafphemous; but anon

Down

Down cloven to the wafte, with fhatter'd arms
And uncouth pain fled bellowing.-

IT may be worth while to obferve, that Milton has reprefented this violent impetuous Spirit, who is hurried on by fuch precipitate Paffions, as the first that rifes in that Affembly, to give his Opinion upon their prefent Pofture of Affair. Accordingly he declares himfelf abruptly for War, and appears incenfed at his Companions for lofing fo much Time as even to deliberate upon it. All his Sentiments are rafh, audacious and defperate. Such is that of arming themselves with their Tortures, and turning their Punishments upon him who inflicted them.

-No, let us rather chufe,

Arm'd with Hell-flames and Fury, all at once
O'er Heav'ns high tow'rs to force refiflefs Way,
Turning our Tortures into horrid Arms
Against the Tort'rer; when to meet the Noife
Of his almighty engine he shall hear

Infernal Thunder, and for Lightning fee
Black fire and horror, shot with equal Rage
Among his Angels: and his Throne itself
Mixt with Tartarean Sulphur, and firange Fire,
His own invented Torments-

HIS preferring Annihilation to Shame or Mifery is alfo highly fuitable to his Character, as the Comfort he draws from their difturbing 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.

BELI AL is described, in the firft Book, as the Idol of the lewd and luxurious. He is in the fecond Book, purfuant to that Defcription, characterised as timorous and flothful; and if we look into the fixth

Book,

Book, we find him celebrated in the Battle of Angels for nothing but that Scoffing Speech which he makes to Satan, on their fuppofed Advantage over the Enemy. As his Appearance is uniform, and of a piece in these three feveral Views, we find his Sentiments in the infernal Affembly every way conformable to his Character. Such are his Apprehenfions of a fecond Battle, his Horrors of Annihilation, his preferring to be miferable rather than not to be. I need not obferve, that the Contraft of Thought in this Speech, and that which precedes it, gives an agreeable Variety to the Debate.

MAMMON's Character is fo fully drawn in the first Book, that the Poet adds nothing to it in the Second. We were before told, that he was the first who taught Mankind to ranfack the Earth for Gold and Silver, and that he was the Architect of Pandemonium, or the infernal Palace, where the evil Spirits were to meet in Council. His Speech in this Book is every where fuitable to fo depraved a Character. How proper is that Reflexion of their being unable to taste the Happiness of Heaven, were they actually there, in the Mouth of one, who, while he was in Heaven, is faid to have his Mind dazzled with the outward Pomps and Glories of the Place, and to have been more intent on the Riches of the Pavement, than on the Beatific Vision. I fhall alfo leave the Reader to judge how agreeable the following Sentiments are to the fame Character.

This deep World

Of Darkness do we dread? How oft amidst
Thick Cloud and dark doth Heav'n's all-ruling Sire

Chufe to refide, his Glory unobscur'd,

And with the Majefty of Darkness round

Covers his Throne; from whence deep Thunders roar
Muft'ring their Rage, and Heav'n resembles Hell?
As he our Darkness, cannot we his Light
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Imitate

Imitate when we please? This defert Soil
Wants not her hidden Luftre, Gems and Gold ;
Nor want we Skill or Art from whence to raise
Magnificence, and what can Heav'n fhew more!

BEELZEBUB, who is reckoned the fecond in Dignity that fell, and is, in the first Book, the fecond that awakens out of the Trance, and confers with Satan upon the Situation of their Affairs, maintains his Rank in the Book now before us. There is a wonder

ful Majefty described in his rifing up to fpeak. He acts as a Kind of Moderator between the two oppofite Parties, and proposes a third Undertaking which the whofe Affembly gives into. The Motion he makes of detaching one of their Body in search of a new World is grounded upon a Project devifed by Satan, and curforily proposed by him in the following Lines of the first Book.

·Space may produce new Worlds, whereof so rife
There went a Fame in Heav'n, that he ere long
Intended to create, and therein plant

A Generation, whom his choice regard
Should favour equal to the Sons of Heav'n:
Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps
Our firft Eruption, thither or elsewhere:
For this infernal Pit fhall never hold
Celeftial Spirits in bondage, nor th' Abyss
Long under Darkness cover.
Full Counfel muft mature :

But thefe Thoughts

IT is on this Project that Beelzebub grounds his Propofal.

-What if we find

Some eafier Enterprize? There is a Place (If antient and prophetic Fame in Heav'n

Err

Err not) another World, the happy Seat

Of Some new Race call'd MAN, about this Time
To be created like to us, though less

In Power and Excellence, but favour'd more
Of him who rules above; so was his Will
Pronounc'd among the Gods, and by an Oath,
That book Heav'n's whole Circumference, confirm'd.

THE Reader may obferve how juft it was, not to omit in the first Book the Project upon which the whole Poem turns: As alfo that the Prince of the fallen Angels was the only proper Perfon to give it Birth, and that the next to him in Dignity was the fittest to fecond and support it.

THERE is befides, I think, fomething wonderfully beautiful, and very apt to affect the Reader's Imagination, in this antient Prophefy or Report in Heaven, concerning the Creation of Man. Nothing could fhew more the Dignity of the Species, than this Tradition which ran of them before their Existence. They are reprefented to have been the Talk of Heaven, before they were created. Virgil, in compliment to the Romon Commonwealth, makes the Heroes of it appear in their State of Pre-existence; but Milton does a far greater Honour to Mankind in general, as he gives us a Glimpse of them even before they are in Being.

THE rifing of this great Affembly is described in a very fublime and poetical Manner.

Their rifing all at once was as the Sound
Of Thunder heard remote-

THE Diverfions of the fallen Angels, with the particular Account of their Place of Habitation, are described with great Pregnancy of Thought, and Copioufnefs of Invention. The Diverfions are every way fuitable to Beings who had nothing left them but Strength and Knowledge mifapplied. Such are their Conten

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tions