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alfo I chearfully granted, for fear of being Father to an Indian Pagod. Hitherto I found her Demands rofe upon every Conceffion; and had she gone on, I had been ruined: But by good Fortune, with her third, which was Peggy, the Height of her Imagination came down to the • Corner of a Venison Pasty, and brought her once even · upon her Knees to gnaw off the Ears of a Pig from the Spit. The Gratifications of her Palate were eafily pre⚫ferred to thofe of her Vanity ; and fometimes a Partridge or a Quail, a Wheat- Ear, or the Pestle of a Lark, were chearfully purchased; nay, I could be contented tho' I were to feed her with green Pease in April, or Cherries in May. But with the Babe she now goes, fhe is turned • Girl again, and fallen to eating of Chalk, pretending • 'twill make the Child's Skin white; and nothing will • ferve her but I must bear her Company, to prevent its having a Shade of my Brawn: In this however I have • ventur'd to deny her. No longer ago than yesterday, as we were coming to Town, the faw a parcel of Crows fo heartily at Breakfast upon a piece of Horse-flesh, that ⚫ she had an invincible Defire to partake with them, and (to my infinite Surprife) begged the Coachman to cut her off a Slice as if it were for himself, which the Fellow did; and as soon as fhe came home fhe fell to it with fuch an Appetite, that she seemed rather to devour than eat it. What her next Sally will be, I cannot guess: but in ⚫ the mean time my Request to you is, that if there be any way to come at thefe wild unaccountable Rovings of Imagination by Reason and Argument, you'd fpeedily afford us your Affiftance. This exceeds the Grievance of Pin-money, and I think in every Settlement there ought to be a Clause inferted, that the Father fhould be anfwerable for the Longings of his Daughter. But I ⚫ fhall impatiently expect your Thoughts in this Matter; and am, SIR,

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Your most obliged, and

moft faithful humble Servant,

T. B.

LET me know whether you think the next Child

⚫ will love Horfes as much as Molly does China- Ware.

T

Saturday,

N° 327. Saturday, March 15.

Major rerum mihi nafcitur ordo.

Virg.

E were told in the foregoing Book how the evil

W Spirit practifed upon Eve as the lay afleep, in

order to infpire her with Thoughts of Vanity, Pride, and Ambition. The Author, who fhews a wonderful Art throughout his whole Poem, in preparing the Reader for the feveral Occurrences that arife in it, founds, upon the above-mention'd Circumftance, the first Part of the fifth Book. Adam upon his awaking finds Eve ftill afleep, with an unusual Difcompofure in her Looks. The Pofture in which he regards her, is defcrib'd with a Tenderness not to be exprefs'd, as the Whifper with which he awakens her, is the fofteft that ever was convey'd to a Lover's Ear.

His wonder was, to find unwaken'd Eve
With Treffes difcompos'd, and glowing Check,
As through unquiet Ref: he on his fide
Leaning balf-rais'd, with Looks of cordial Love
Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld
Beauty, which whether waking or asleep,
Shot forth peculiar Graces: then, with Voice
Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
Her Hand foft touching, whisper'd thus: Awake
My Faireft, my Efpous'd, my latest found,
Heaven's laft beft Gift, my ever-new Delight!
Awake: the Morning fhines, and the fresh Field
Calls us, we lofe the Prime, to mark how Spring
Our tended Plants, how blows the Citron Grove,
What drops the Myrrh, and what the balmy Reed,
How Nature paints her Colours, how the Bee
Sits on the Bloom, extracting liquid Sweet.

Such whiff'ring wak'd her, but with ftartled Eye On Adam, whom embracing, thus fhe spake: VOL. V.

B

O Sole, in whom my Thoughts find all Repofe, My Glory, my Perfection! glad I fee

Thy Face, and Morn return'd

I cannot but take notice, that Milton, in the Confe rences between Adam and Eve, had his Eye very frequently upon the Book of Canticles, in which there is a noble Spirit of Eastern Poetry; and very often not unlike what we meet with in Homer, who is generally placed near the Age of Solomon. I think there is no question but the Poet in the preceding Speech remember'd those two Paffages which are spoken on the like Occafion, and fill'd with the fame pleasing Images of Nature.

My beloved fpake, and faid unto me, Rife up, my Love, my Fair one, and come away; for lo the Winter is paß, the Rain is over and gone, the Flowers appear on the Earth, the Time of the finging of Birds is come, and the Voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land. The Fig-tree putteth forth her green Figs, and the Vines with the tender Grape give a good Smell. Arife my Love, my Fair one, and come away.

Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the Field; let us get up early to the Vineyards, let us fee if the Vine flourish, whether the tender Grape appear, and the Pomegranates bud forth.

HIS preferring the Garden of Eden to that

Where the Sapient King

Held Dalliance with his fair Egyptian Spouse, fhews that the Poet had this delightful Scene in his Mind. EVE's Dream is full of thofe high Conceits engendring Pride, which, we are told, the Devil endeavoured to inftil into her. Of this kind is that Part of it where fhe fanfies herself awaken'd by Adam in the following beautiful Lines.

Why fleep't thou Eve? now is the pleasant Time,
The cool, the filent, fave where Silence yields
To the night warbling Bird, that now awake
Tunes fweeteft his love-labour'd Song; now reigns
Full orb'd the Moon, and with more pleafing Light

Shadorey

Shadowy fets off the Face of things: In vain,

If none regard. Heav'n wakes with all his Eyes,
Whom to behold but thee, Nature's Defire,

In whofe fight all things joy, with Ravishment,
Attracted by thy Beauty ftill to gaze!

AN injudicious Poet would have made Adam talk thro the whole work in fuch Sentiments as thefe: But Flattery and Falfhood are not the Courtship of Milton's Adam, and could not be heard by Eve in her State of Innocence, excepting only in a Dream produc'd on purpose to taint her Imagination. Other vain Sentiments of the fame kind in this Relation of her Dream, will be obvious to every Reader. Tho' the Catastrophe of the Poem is finely prefaged on this Occafion, the Particulars of it are fo artfully fhadow'd, that they do not anticipate the Story which fol lows in the ninth Book. I fhall only add, that tho' the Vifion it felf is founded upon Truth, the Circumstances of it are full of that Wildnefs and Inconfiftency which are natural to a Dream. Adam, conformable to his fuperior Character for Wisdom, inftru&ts and comforts Eve upon this occafion.

So chear'd be his fair Spouse, and she was chear'd,
But filently a gentle Tear let fall

From either Eye, and wiped them with her hair ;
Two other precious Drops, that ready flood
Each in their cryftal Sluice, he ere they fell
Kifs'd, as the gracious Signs of feweet Remorfe
And pious Awe, that fear'd to have offended.

THE Morning Hymn is written in Imitation of one of those Pfalms, where, in the overflowings of Gratitude and Praise, the Pfalmift calls not only upon the Angels, but upon the moft confpicuous Parts of the inanimate Creation, to join with him in extolling their common Maker. Invocations of this nature fill the Mind with glorious Ideas of God's Works, and awaken that Divine Enthufiafm, which is fo natural to Devotion. But if this calling upon the dead Parts of Nature, is at all times a proper kind of Worship, it was in a particular manner fuitable to our firft Parents, who had the Creation fresh upon their Minds, and had not seen the various Difpen

B 2

fations

fations of Providence, nor confequently could be acquainted with those many Topicks of Praise which might afford Matter to the Devotions of their Pofterity. I need not remark the beautiful Spirit of Poetry, which runs through this whole Hymn, nor the Holiness of that Refolution with which it concludes.

HAVING already mentioned those Speeches which are affigned to the Perfons in this Poem, I proceed to the Description which the Poet gives of Raphael. His Departure from before the Throne, and his Flight thro' the Choirs of Angels, is finely imaged. As Milton every where fills his Poem with Circumftances that are marvellous and aftonishing, he defcribes the Gate of Heaven as framed after fuch a manner, that it open'd of it felf upon the Approach of the Angel who was to pass through it.

'Till at the Gate

Of Hear'n arriv'd, the Gate felf-open'd wide,
On golden Hinges turning, as by Work
Divine, the Sovereign Architect had framed.

THE Poet here feems to have regarded two or three Paffages in the 18th Iliad, as that in particular, where fpeaking of Vulcan, Homer fays, that he had made twenty Tripodes running on Golden Wheels; which, upon occafion, might go of themfelves to the Affembly of the Gods, and, when there was no more Ufe for them, return again after the fame manner. Scaliger has rallied Homer very feverely upon this Point, as M. Dacier has endeavoured to defend it. I will not pretend to determine, whether in this particular of Homer, the Marvellous does not lose fight of the Probable. As the miraculous Workmanship of Milton's Gates is not fo extraordinary as this of the Tripodes, fo I am perfuaded he would not have mentioned it, had not he been fupported in it by a Paffage in the Scripture, which speaks of Wheels in Heaven that had Life in them, and moved of themselves, or stood ftill, in conformity with the Cherubims, whom they accompanied.

THERE is no queftion but Milton had this Circumstance in his Thoughts, becaufe in the following Book he defcribes the Chariot of the Meffiah with living Wheels, according to the Plan in Ezekiel's Vifion.

Forth

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