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Mine both in heav'n and earth to do thy will
Supreme, that thou in me thy Son belov'd
May'st ever rest well pleas’d. I go to judge
On earth these thy transgressors, but thou know'st,
Whoever judg'd, the worst on me must light,
When time shall be, for so I undertook
Before thee'; and not repenting, this obtain

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Of right, that I may mitigate their doom
On me deriv'd, yet I shall temper so
Justice with mercy', as may illustrate most
Them fully satisfied, and thee appease.
Attendance none shall need, nor train, where none 80
Are to behold the judgment, but the judg'd,
Those two; the third best absent is condemn'd,
Convict by flight, and rebel to all law;
Conviction to the serpent none belongs.

71. --I go to judge &c.] and confusion of our first parents, The same divine Person, who in standing naked before their the foregoing parts of this poem Judge, is touched with great interceded for our first parents beauty. Addison. before their fall, overthrew the 74. --for so I undertook] See rebel angels, and created the book iii. 236. &c. world, is now represented as 80. Attendance none shall need,] descending to Paradise, and pro- This is either an elliptical way nouncing sentence upon the three of speaking for I shall need no offenders. The cool of the even attendance : or rather the word ing being a circumstance with need, though commonly used as which holy writ introduces this a verb active, is here used as a great scene, it is poetically de- verb neuter, and means no atscribed by our author, who has tendance shall be wunting ; and also kept religiously to the form so it is used likewise in iii. 340. of words, in which the three

Then thou thy regal sceptre shalt several sentences were passed lay by, upon Adam, Eve, and the Ser For regal sceptre then no more shall pent. He has rather chosen to necd, neglect the numerousness of his verse, than to deviate from those 84. Conviction to the serpent speeches which are recorded on none belongs.] No proof is needthis great occasion. The guilt ful against the serpent, com

God shall be all in all.

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Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose Of high collateral glory’: him thrones and powers, Princedoms, and dominations ministrant Accompanied to heaven gate, from whence Eden and all the coast in prospect lay. Down he descended straight; the speed of Gods 90 Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes wing’d. Now was the sun in western cadence low From noon, and gentle airs due at their hour To fan the earth now wak’d, and usher in The evening cool, when he from wrath more cool 95 Came the mild judge and intercessor both To sentence man: the voice of God they heard Now walking in the garden, by soft winds Brought to their ears, while day declin’d; they heard, And from his presence hid themselves among The thickest trees, both man and wife, till God Approaching, thus to Adam call’d aloud.

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pelled by Satan to be the igno- that is, in other words, iv. 485. rant instrument of his malice against mankind, now mute and

-to have thee by my side

Henceforth an individual solace dear, unable to answer for himself. Hume.

92. Now was the sun in west, 86. of high collateral glory :)

ern cadence loro He uses collateral, as he does From noon, and gentle airs &c.] most other words, in a sense This beautiful description is agreeable to the etymology, side founded upon this verse, Gen. by side. The Son sat at the iii. 8. And they heard the voice of right hand of the Father, and the Lord God walking in the rising from thence he may pro- garden in the cool of the day: perly be said to rise from his sèat and Adam and his wife hid themof high collateral glory, or as it selves from the presence of the is elsewhere expressed, vi. 747. Lord God amongst the trees of the from the right hand of glory where garden. he sat. The word was used

102. -to Adam call d aloud. before in viïi. 426.

Where art thou Adam ?] Collateral love, and dearest amity,

Gen. iii. 9. And the Lord God

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Where art thou Adam, wont with joy to meet
My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,
Not pleas'd, thus entertain’d with solitude,
Where obvious duty ere while appear'd unsought :
Or come I less conspicuous, or what change
Absents thee, or what chance detains ? Come forth.

He came, and with him Eve, more loath, though first
To'offend, discount'nanc'd both, and discompos'd; 110
Love was not in their looks, either to God
Or to each other, but apparent guilt,
And shame, and perturbation, and despair,
Anger, and obstinacy', and hate, and guile.
Whence Adam falt'ring long, thus answer'd brief. 115
I heard thee in the gard’n, and of thy voice
Afraid, being naked, hid myself. To whom
The gracious Judge without revile replied.
My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not fear'd,
But still rejoic'd; how is it now become
So dreadful to thee? that thou art naked, who
Hath told thee? hast thou eaten of the tree,
Whereof I gave thee charge thou should’st not eat ?

To whom thus Adam sore beset replied.

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called unto Adam, and said unto 121. that thou' art naked, him, Where art thou? It is cu

who rious to observe how the poet Hath told thee? hast thou eaten paraphrases and enlarges upon

of the tree, the divine historian.

Whereof I gave thee charge 116. I heard thee in the gard'n,

thou should'st not eat ?) and of thy voice

Gen. iii. 11. And he said, who Afraid, being naked, hid myself.) told thee that thou wast naked ? Gen. iii. 10. Ănd he said, I heard hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof lhy voice in the garden, and I was I commanded thee that thou should. afraid, because I was naked; and est not eat? I hid myself.

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O heav'n! in evil strait this day I stand
Before my Judge, either to undergo
Myself the total crime, or to accuse
My other self, the partner of my life ;
Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,
I should conceal, and not expose to blame
By my complaint ; but strict necessity
Subdues me, and calamitous constraint,
Lest on my head both sin and punishment,
However insupportable, be all
Devolv'd ; though should I hold my peace, yet thou 135
Would'st easily detect what I conceal.
This Woman, whom thou mad'st to be my help,
And gav’st me as thy perfect gift, so good,
So fit, so acceptable, so divine,
That from her hand I could suspect no ill,
And what she did, whatever in itself,
Her doing seem'd to justify the deed;
She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

To whom the sovran Presence thus replied.
Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey
Before his voice, or was she made thy guide,

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137. 'This Woman, whom thou other things which were likely

mad'st to be my help, enough to have been said and And gav'st me as thy perfect done. Adam speaks of Eve gift

much in the same strain as he She gave me of the tree, and I had done before to the angel, viii. did eat.]

549. Gen. ii. 12. And the man said, - what she wills to do or say. The woman, whom thou gavest to Seems wisest &c. be with me, she gave me of the And his unwillingness to accuse tree, and I did eat. We see that his wife, and yet the necessity he still preserves all that is of his doing it, are finely imaScripture, though he intermixes gined.

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Superior, or but equal, that to her

Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place
Wherein God sat thee' above her made of thee,
And for thee, whose perfection far excell’d

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Hers in all real dignity ? Adorn'd
She was indeed, and lovely to attract
Thy love, not thy subjection ; and her gifts
Were such as under government well seem'd,
Unseemly to bear rúle, which was thy part
And person, hadst thou known thyself aright: .
| So having said, he thus to Eve in few.
Say Woman, what is this which thou hast done?

To whom sad Eve with shame nigh overwhelm’d, Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge Bold or loquacious, thus abash'd replied, The Serpent me beguild, and I did eat.

Which when the Lord God heard, without delay To judgment he proceeded on th' accus'd

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151. -Adorn'd

c. 2. Has partes lenitatis et miShe was indeed, and lovely to sericordiæ, quas me natura ipsa attract

docuit, semper ago libonter, ilThy love, not thy subjection ;] lam vero gravitatis, severitatis The same sort of sentiment as

personam non appetivi. Milton the angel had inculcated, viii. in his History of England, p. 37. 568.

edit. Tol. uses the word thus, -fair no doubt, and worthy well

If it were an 'honour to that Thy cherishing, thy honouring, and “ person which he sustained." thy love,

Richardson. Not thy subjection.

158. Say Woman, what is this And in other parts of his works which thou hast done ?] Gen. our author seems to have been 'iii. 13. And the Lord God said a strenuous advocate for keeping unto the Woman, What is this that up the authority of the husband. thou hast done ? 155. arthy part

162. The Serpent me beguild, And person,]

and I did eat.] And the Woman A pure Latinism. The personæ said, The Serpent beguiled me, dramatis. So Cicero, pro Muren. und 1 did eat.