Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell 670 That I may find him, and with secret gaze, On whom the great Creator hath bestowed Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured: 675 Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes 680 By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth: 685 Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill In his uprightness, answer thus returned. "Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to know The works of God, thereby to glorify iv. 10. "Those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth." 667-669. Brightest seraph, tell, fc.] There is a slight grammatical impropriety in these lines. Were the question put directly, it would be right to say, "In which of these orbs hath man his seat?" But when the question is put indirectly, it ought to be, "Tell me in which of these orbs man hath his seat." "What o'clock is it ?" is correct English; but "Would you be so kind as tell me what o'clock is it?" is not idiomatic English. We ought to say 'Would you be so kind as tell me what o'clock it is?" 690 695 682. For neither Man nor Angel can discern hypocrisy.] "What man so wise, what earthly witt so As to descry the crafty cunning traine, And cast her coulours died deepe in graine, And fitting gestures to her purpose frame, The guiltlesse man with guilt to entertaine?"-SPENSER. 694. Thy desire, which tends to know, &c.] i.e. which inclines, aims, or strives to know. Milton was far in anticipation of his age, when he makes a good angel speak thus in favour of the diffusion of knowledge, and espe cially is it worthy of note that he The great Work-Master, leads to no excess places the active search for truth above its passive reception. It would have been a mark of nobility of mind, had it been true, that the inquiring angel had come from Heaven to witness with his eyes-i. e. to see for himselfwhat others were contented to hear of in heaven. The general praise of knowledge is now a rather hackneyed subject, yet the following extracts are worth a careful perusal:-"Neither is it any quantity of knowledge, how great soever, that can make the mind of man to swell; for nothing can fill, much less extend the soul of man, but God and the contemplation of God; and therefore Solomon, speaking of the two principal senses of inquisition-the eye and the ear-affirmeth that the eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing, and if there be no fulness, then is the continent greater than the content. * * * For that nothing parcel [no part] of the world is denied to man's inquiry and invention, he doth in another place rule over [settle, decide or determine,] when he saith "The spirit of man is as the lamp of God, wherewith he searcheth the inwardness of all secrets.""-BACON. And again: "Let no man, upon a weak conceit of sobriety,, or an ill-applied moderation, think or maintain, that a man can search too far, or be too well studied in the book of God's word, or in the book of God's works; divinity or philosophy; but rather let men endeavour an endless progress, or proficience in both; only let men beware that they apply both to charity, and not to swelling; to use, and not to ostentation; and again, that they do not unwisely mingle, or confound these learnings together." The Father of modern philosophy has much more to the same purpose, but the limits of this work compel 700 me to restrain my hand in transcribing. I must, however, add one short extract from another of the great lights and landmarks of English literature: "There is in the world no kind of knowledge, whereby any part of truth is seen, but we justly account it precious; yea, that principal truth, in comparison whereof all other knowledge is vile, may receive from it some kind of light; whether it be that Egyptian and Chaldean wisdoin mathematical, wherewith Moses and Daniel were furnished; or that natural, moral, and civil wisdom wherein Solomon excelled all men; or that rational and oratorical wisdom of the Grecians which the Apostle Paul brought from Tarsus; or that Judaical, which he learned in Jerusalem, sitting at the feet of Gamaliel, to detract from the dignity thereof were to injure God himself, who, being that light which none can approach unto, hath sent out these lights whereof we are capable, even as so many sparkles resembling the bright fountain from which they rise."-HOOKER. 696. The great Work-Master.] God assigns to every man his work, or, as Jeremy Taylor says, "God is the master of the scenes; we must not choose which part we shall act; it concerns us only to be careful that we do it well, always saying 'If this please God, let it be as it is;' and we, who pray that God's will may be done in earth as it is done in heaven, must remember that the angels do whatsoever is commanded them, and go wherever they are sent, and refuse no circumstances." Milton, in one of his sonnets, uses à slightly different word, but to the same purpose: "All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great Task-master's eye." Contented with report hear only in Heaven; 705 That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep? I saw, when at his word the formless mass, This world's material mould, came to a heap: 707. But hid their causes deep.] In a beautiful sermon founded on the words, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing," which of itself illustrates and justifies the language of the text, Robert Hall says: "The Divine Being observes the same method of concealment, in a great variety of respects, with regard to the structure and constitution of his works. The scenes of nature lie open to our view; they solicit our senses, and are adapted to impress themselves in a most lively manner upon our minds. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-work." We cannot look around us without beholding, not only the works themselves, but evident traces of that matchless wisdom, power, and goodness, whence they sprang. Still the mysteries of nature, with regard to the essences of things, and indeed to a multitude of subtle operations, are kept in a kind of sacred reserve, and elude the utmost efforts of philosophy to surprise them in their concealments and bring them to light. 710 715 720 While science goes on from step to step in the march of her discoveries, it seems as if her grandest result was the conviction how much remains undiscovered; and, while nations in a ruder state of science, have been ready to repose on their ignorance and error, or to confound familiarity with knowledge, the most enlightened of men have always been the first to perceive and acknowledge the remaining obscurity which hung around them; just as, in the night, the farther a light extends, the wider the surrounding sphere of darkness appears." 717. Spirited with various forms.] "The elements before are said to be cumbrous. Now, a more pure matter is described as in motion, and said to be spirited, in distinction to what was gross and heavy. This etherial quintessence divided itself into various forms, which in their motion turned orbicular, and at length turned to stars all that served to "wall this universe." -RICHARDSON. 721. The rest in circuit walls this 725 Look downward on that globe, whose hither side Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heaven, universe.] i. e. the rest of this quintessence the etherial quintessence of Heaven, of which the stars were formed, walls the universe. 730. Her countenance triform.] The triform face of the moon is: (1), her increase when her horns are turned towards the east; (2), her full; and (3), when the horns are turned to the west. There is also, perhaps, an allusion to the goddess Diana, who was called Triformis, from her three-fold character as goddess of the moon or month, of the chase, and of the lower regions. 732. In her pale dominion checks the night.] i e. prevents night or darkness from having so much rule as otherwise it would have. 735. Me mine requires.] My way requires me. I must go on my way, and execute the business on which I am bound. 736. Thus said.] There is a slight grammatical error here. It ought to be either "having thus said;" or "this said," in the nominative absolute. 730 735 740 739. Where honour due, &c.] It suits the purposes of some parties to represent Milton as a democrat and a leveller, but nothing can be further from the truth. Authority that seemed to him well founded, he was always ready to respect and loyally obey; but he was not the man to bow to every thing that gave itself a respectable name, even if all around him did it homage. He must be convinced in his own mind that it was respectable, before he would show it respect. To use the phraseology of Carlyle, there was no flunkeyism, baseness, or unveracity in his nature. He could not, therefore, bow and cringe to every thing that promised to clothe and feed him, and furnish him with so much pocket-money; but to those who were really his betters he was always ready to show respect. 741. Throws his steep flight, &c.] Observe once more the correspondence between the thought and the expression of it. The whole line comes trippingly off the tongue. The expression "many an aery wheel," is Nor stayed, till on Niphates' top he lights. descriptive of the fiend's joyous and sportive state of mind on nearing the object of his journey; and "steep flight" represents very graphically the speed with which he hastened to finish it. Milton is very happy or very skilful in the flow of metre harmonizing with the sentiment and description. Besides this line, "Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel." 4. Anon, out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet." Other lines, by the dozen, might readily be quoted. Some of them I have pointed out as they occur. They all prove, that for euphony and expressiveness, for sweetness and sublimity, our author may challenge comparison with the ancient classics of Greece and Rome. 742. Niphates is a mountain of Asia, dividing Armenia from Assyria. It is from it that the Tigris takes its rise. The poet lands Satan on this mountain, because it borders on Mesopotamia, the most probable seat of Paradise. END OF THE THIRD BOOK. |