Well manag'd; of that skill the more thou know'st, The more she will acknowledge thee her head, Made so adorn for thy delight the more, 575 So awful, that with honour thou may'st love Thy mate, who sees when thou art seen least wise. To cattle and each beast; which would not be 576. Made so adorn &c.] These verses contain a beautiful and instructive account of the end for which God bestowed on Eve so much of ornament and awfulness. But two such participles as made adorned would have sounded very oddly together; and therefore he has coined an adjective adorn, as the Italians have adonno for adornato. And in like manner he uses fledge for fledged, iii. 627. vii. 420. And derole for devoted, ix. 901. And there are other instances of his changing the participle into an adjective. 579. But if the sense of touch &c.] Answering to what Adam had said before, transported I behold, Transported touch. 580 585 589. -love refines The thoughts, and heart enlarges, &c.] So Spenser, to whom our author seems to allude by his manner of expression. Such is the pow'r of that sweet passion, That it all sordid baseness doth expel, And the refined mind doth newly fashion Unto a fairer form. Spenser's Hymn of Love. Ne suffereth it thought of ungentle ness Ever to creep into his noble breast; The thoughts, and heart enlarges, hath his seat But to the highest and the worthiest Lifteth it up that else would lowly fall. 590 595 "spaces of philosophy; but "chiefly to the divine volumes "of Plato, and his equal Xeno phon: where if I should tell "ye what I learnt of chastity " and love, I mean that which "is truly so," &c. Apol. for Smectymn. p. 111. vol. i. edit. 1738. Thyer. Fuery Queen, b. iii. cant. 5. st. 2. See also b. iii. cant. 1. st. 1. But there is no doubt, I think, to be made, that both these admired poets had in view the refined theory of love of the divine Plato, and that Milton in 591. and is judicious,] To particular in what he says here be judicious means here to choose had his eye more especially upon proper qualities in Eve for the the following passage, where the object of love; to love her only scale, by which we must ascend to for what is truly amiable: not heavenly love, is both mentioned for the sense of touch whereby and described. Τέτο di 151 mankind is propagated, ver. 579, το ορθώς επι τα ερωτικά είναι, η υπ &c.; but for what Adam found αλλά άγεσθαι, αρχομένον απο των δε higher in her society, human and των καλων EXEIVOU ÉVEXα TOU nahov, rational, ver. 586. &c. Pearce. at επανιέναι ώσπερ επαναβαθμοις χρωμένον απο ενος επι δυο, και απο δύειν επί παντα τα καλά σώματα, και απο των καλών σωμάτων επί τα καλα επιτηδευματα, και απο TWY καλων επιτηδευματων επι τα καλα μαθηματα εξ' αν απο των μαθημάτων επ' εκείνο το μαθημα τελευτηση, ό εσιν εκ αλλά η αυτε εκείνο το καλό μα θημα, και γνω αυτο τελευτων ο επι naλov. Plat. Conviv. p. 211. tom. 3. Edit. Serrani. This is the more probable from what Milton says in the account which he gives of himself. "Thus "from the laureat fraternity of poets, riper years, and the "ceaseless round of study and reading, led me to the shady 595. To whom thus half abash'd Adam replied.] Adam's discourse, which follows the gentle rebuke he received from the angel, shews that his love, however violent it might appear, was still founded in reason, and consequently not improper for Paradise. Addison. To whom thus half abash'd Adam replied. This verse might have been turned otherwise, To whom thus Adam half abash'd replied, and many perhaps will think that it runs smoother thus. But let the reader consider again, Neither her outside form'd so fair, nor ought So much delights me, as those graceful acts, More grateful than harmonious sound to th' ear. To love thou blam'st me not, for love thou say'st Love not the heav'nly spi'rits, and how their love 600 605 610 whether the verse as it is in Milton does not better express the shame and modest confusion of Adam. 598. Though higher of the genial bed by far,] The genial bed, so Horace, Ep. i. i. 87. lectus genialis. And with mysterious reverence I deem. He had applied this epithet to marriage before in iv. 750. Hail wedded love, mysterious law. 615. Love not the heav'nly spirits, &c.] By studying the reveries of the Platonic writers, Milton contracted a theory concerning chastity and the purity of love, in the contemplation of which, like other visionaries, he indulged his imagination with ideal refinements, and with pleasing but unmeaning notions of excellence and perfection. Plato's sentimental or metaphysical love he seems to have ap Express they, by looks only', or do they mix To whom the angel with a smile that glow'd Answer'd. Let it suffice thee that thou know'st In eminence, and obstacle find none Of membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive bars ; pure Desiring; nor restrain'd conveyance need plied to the natural love between the sexes. This very philosophical dialogue of the angel and Adam altogether proceeds on this doctrine. But when Adam asks his celestial guest whether angels are susceptible of love, whether they express their passion by looks only, or by a mixture of irradiation, by virtual or immediate contact, our author seems to have overleaped the Platonic pale, and to have lost his way among the solemn conceits of Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas. It is no wonder that the angel blushed, as well as smiled, at some of these questions. T. Wurton. 618. To whom the angel with a smile that glow'd Celestial rosy red,] 620 625 630 Does not our author here mean Nel viso s'arrossì l'Angelo beato, Orl. Fur. cant. 27. st. 35. Loaden with fruit and apples rosy red. Spenser, Faery Queen, b. i. cant. 11. st. 46. Thyer. 630. But I can now no more; the parting sun &c.] The conversation was now become of such a nature that it was proper to put an end to it: and now the parting sun beyond the earth's green Cape, beyond Cape de Verd the most western point of Africa, Beyond the earth's green Cape and verdant isles Be strong, live happy', and love, but first of all His great command; take heed lest passion sway 635 And all the blest: stand fast; to stand or fall and verdant isles, the islands of Cape de Verd, a knot of small islands lying off Cape de Verd, subject to the Portuguese, Hesperian sets, sets westward, from Hesperus the evening star appearing there, my signal to depart, for he was only to stay till the evening, v. 376. 640 God, that we keep his commandments, 1 John v. 3. His great command every body will readily understand to be the command not to eat of the forbidden tree, which was to be the trial of Adam's obedience. 637. Would not admit;] Admit is used in the Latin sense, as in Terence, Heaut. v. ii. 3. Quid -for these mid hours, till evening ego tantum sceleris admisi miser? rise, I have at will. And he very properly closes his discourse with those moral instructions, which should make the most lasting impression on the mind of Adam, and to deliver which was the principal end and design of the angel's coming. 634. Him whom to love is to obey,] For this is the love of What great wickedness have I committed? 637. thine and of all thy sons &c.] In te omnis domus inclinata recumbit. Virg. Æn. xii. 59. 644. -whom Adam thus] Adam's speech at parting with the angel has in it a deference and gratitude agreeable to an inferior nature, and at the same time a certain dignity and great |