Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl'd
Th' imperial ensign, which full high advanc'd
Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind,
With gems and golden lustre rich emblaz'd,
Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while
Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds:
At which the universal host up sent

A shout, that tore hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
All in a moment through the gloom were seen
Ten thousand banners rise into the air

535

540

545

535. Who forthwith &c.] There are several other strokes in the first book wonderfully poetical, and instances of that sublime genius so peculiar to the author. Such is the description of Azazel's stature, and of the infernal standard which he unfurls; as also of that ghastly light, by which the fiends appear to one another in their place of torments: the shout of the whole host of fallen angels when drawn up in battle array: the review which the leader makes of his infernal army: the flash of light which appeared upon the drawing of their swords: the sudden production of the Pandemonium: and the artificial illuminations made in it. Addison.

587. Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind] Gray and Campbell have imitated this passage, but neither of them seems to have perceived that the comparison of the ensign to the streaming meteor depends mainly upon this, that it was "with

gems and golden lustre rich emblaz'd."

Loose his beard and hoary hair Stream'd like a meteor to the trou bled air. Gray's Bard. -Andes, giant of the western star,

His meteor standard to the winds unfurl'd

Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world. Pleasures of Hope.

E.

543. Frighted the reign of Chaos like the Latin regnum for kingand old Night.] Reign is used dom: and so in Spenser's Faery Queen, b. ii. cant. 7. st. 21.

That strait did lead to Pluto's grisly reign.

545. Ten thousand banners rise
into the air.
With orient colours waving:
with them rose

A forest huge of spears;]
So Tasso describing the Chris-
tian and Pagan armies preparing
to engage, cant. xx. st. 28.

BOOK I.

With orient colours waving; with them rose
A forest huge of spears; and thronging helms
Appear'd, and serried shields in thick array
Of depth immeasurable: anon they move
In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood

550

Sparse al vento ondeggiando ir le confused. There seem to have

bandiere,

E ventolar su i gran çimier le penne:
Habiti, fregi, imprese, arme, e colori,
D'oro, e di ferro al sol, lampi, e ful.
gori.

29.

Sembra d'alberi densi alta foresta

abbonda.

been three principal modes or measures among them, the Lydian, the Phrygian, and the Dorian. The Lydian was the most doleful, the Phrygian the most

and majestic. And L'un campo, e l'altro, di tant' haste sprightly, and the Dorian the most grave Milton in another part of his works uses grave and Doric almost as synonymous terms.

28. Loose in the wind waved their en

signs light, Trembled the plumes that on their crests were set;

Their arms, impresses, colours, gold
and stone,

'Gainst the sun beams smil'd, flamed,
sparkled, shone.
29.

Of dry topt oaks they seem'd two
forests thick;

So did each host with spears and
spikes abound. Fairfax.

Thyer.

546. With orient colours waving:] Richly bright, from the radiance of the East. It was a very common description of colour, and had long ago become literal even in the plainest prose. In old agreements of glass painters for churches, they bargain to execute their work in orient colours. T. Warton.

548. -serried shields] Locked one within another, linked and clasped together, from the French serrer, to lock, to shut close. Hume.

550. to the Dorian mood &c.] All accounts of the music of the ancients are very uncertain and

66

"If

we think to regulate printing, thereby to rectify manners, we "must. regulate all recreations "and pastimes, all that is deNo music lightful to man. "must be heard, no song be set or sung, but what is grave and "Doric." (See his Speech for the liberty of unlicensed Printing, vol. i. p. 149. edit. 1738.) This therefore was the measure best adapted to the fallen angels at this juncture; and their instruments were flutes and pipes and soft recorders, for the same reason that Thucydides and other ancient historians assign for the Lacedemonians making use of these instruments, because they inspired them with a more cool and deliberate courage, whereas trumpets and other martial music incited and inflamed them See Aulus Gelmore to rage.

lius, lib. i. cap. 11. and Thucyd. lib. 5.

Dr. Greenwood of Warwick, (whom I have the pleasure to E 4

Of flutes and soft recorder; such as rais'd
To heighth of noblest temper heroes old
Arming to battle, and instead of rage
Deliberate valour breath'd, firm and unmov'd
With dread of death to flight or foul retreat;
Nor wanting pow'r to mitigate and swage
With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase
Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow' and pain
From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they
Breathing united force with fixed thought
Mov'd on in silence to soft pipes, that charm'd
Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil; and now
Advanc'd in view they stand, a horrid front
Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise
Of warriors old with order'd spear and shield,
Awaiting what command their mighty chief
Had to impose: he through the armed files
Darts his experienc'd eye, and soon traverse

call my friend as well as my re-
lation) hath sent me the fol-
lowing addition to this note.
"Hence is to be observed the
"exactness of Milton's judg-
"ment in appropriating the se-
"veral instruments to the seve-
"ral purposes which they were
"to serve, and the different
"effects they produced. Thus,
"when a doubtful hue was cast

upon the countenance of Sa"tan and his associates, and "they were but little above de"spair; in order to raise their "fainting courage and dispel their

fears he commanded his stand"ard to be upreared at the war"like sound of trumpets and cla"rions; which immediately in

555

560

565

spired them with such a flow "of spirits, that they are repre"sented as sending up a shout "that tore hell's concave. But "when this ardour was once "blown up, and they were to

move in perfect phalanx, then "the instruments are changed "for flutes and recorders to the "Dorian mood, which composed "them into a more cool and de"liberate valour, so that they "marched on with silence and "resolution."

560. Breathing united force with fixed thought Mov'd on in silence] Thus Homer. Iliad iii. 8. Οι δ' αρ ισαν σιγη μένεα πνείοντες Αχαιοι, Εν θυμῳ κ. τ. λ.

BOOK I.

The whole battalion views, their order due,
Their visages and stature as of Gods,

Their number last he sums.

And now his heart

Distends with pride, and hard'ning in his strength
Glories: for never since created man,

Met such embodied force, as nam'd with these
Could merit more than that small infantry

575. that small infantry Warr'd on by cranes;] All the heroes and armies that ever were assembled were no more than pygmies in comparison with these angels; though all the giant brood of Phlegra, a city of Macedonia, where the giants fought with the gods, with the heroic race were join'd that fought at Thebes, a city in Boeotia, famous for the war between the sons of Edipus, celebrated by Statius in his Thebaid, and Ilium made still more famous by Homer's Iliad, where on each side the heroes were assisted by the gods, therefore called auxiliar gods; and what resounds even in fable or romance of Uther's son, king Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, whose exploits are romanticly extolled by Geoffry of Monmouth, begirt with British and Armoric knights, for he was often in alliance with the king of Armorica, since called Bretagne, of the Britons who settled there; and all who since jousted in Aspramont or Montalban, romantic names of places mentioned in Orlando Furioso, the latter perhaps Montaubon in France, Damasco or Marocco, Damascus or Morocco, but he calls them as they are called in

570

575

romances, or Trebisond, a city
of Cappadocia in the lesser Asia,
all these places are famous in
romances, for joustings between
the baptized and infidels; or whom
Biserta, formerly called Utica,
sent from Afric shore, that is the
Saracens who passed from Bi-
serta in Africa to Spain, when
Charlemain with all his peerage
fell by Fontarabbia. Charlemain
king of France and emperor of
Germany about the year 800
undertook a war against the Sa-
racens in Spain, and Mariana
and the Spanish historians are
Milton's authors for saying that
he and his army were routed
in this manner at Fontarabbia,
(which is a strong town in Bis-
cay at the very entrance into
Spain, and esteemed the key of
the kingdom;) but Mezeray and
the French writers give a quite
different and more probable ac-
count of him, that he was at last
victorious over his enemies, and
died in peace. And though we
cannot agree with Dr. Bentley
in rejecting some of these lines
as spurious, yet it is much to be
wished that our poet had not so
far indulged his taste for ro-
mances, of which he professes
himself to have been fond in his
younger years, and had not been

Warr'd on by cranes; though all the giant brood
Of Phlegra with th' heroic race were join'd
That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side
Mix'd with auxiliar Gods; and what resounds
In fable or romance of Uther's son

n

Begirt with British and Armoric knights;
And all who since, baptiz'd or infidel,
Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban,
Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,
Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore,
When Charlemain with all his peerage fell
By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond
Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd
Their dread commander: he above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent

Stood like a tow'r; his form had yet not lost
All her original brightness, nor appear'd
Less than Arch-Angel ruin'd, and th' excess
Of glory' obscur'd; as when the sun new risen
Looks through the horizontal misty air
Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon
In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds

580

585

590

595

ostentatious of such reading, as perhaps had better never have been read.

589. -he above the rest &c.] What a noble description is here of Satan's person! and how different from the common and ridiculous representations of him, with horns and a tail and cloven feet! and yet Tasso hath so described him, cant. iv. The

greatest masters in painting had
not such sublime ideas as Milton,
and
among all their devils have
drawn no portrait comparable
to this; as every body must
allow who hath seen the pictures
or the prints of Michael and the
devil by Raphael, and of the
same by Guido, and of the last
judgment by Michael Angelo.