XV. Yea, Truth and Justice then Will down return to men, Orb'd in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing, Mercy will fit between, Thron'd in celeftial fheen, Ver. 143. Orb'd in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing, 145 Mercy will fit between,] Here is an emendation of Milton's riper genius. The paffage is thus printed in the first edition, 1645. "The enamell'd arras of the rainbow wearing; "And Mercy fet between, &c." The rich and variegated colours of tapestry were now familiar to the eye. T. WARTON. "To Milton's defcription is here fuppofed by Mr. Dunster to have originated from a picture: I fubjoin his acute remark. Sylvefter's Tranflation of Du Bartas's Triumph of Faith, there is a Frontispiece, that might have furnished it. The fubject is from Rev. ii. 10. "Be thou faithful unto death; and I will give thee a crown of life." The design is, Chrift descending to judgement, and the Faithful appearing before the judgementfeat of Christ, and receiving their rewards. The judge is feated, "amidst a blaze of light," on a fmall rainbow; and is completely encircled by another "orbicular," or rather oval, one. Under him are fome wreathed or "tiffued" clouds; which he may be imagined in the act of propelling, or "directing with his feet." Juft beneath thefe clouds, a large rainbow extends over the Holy City; in front of which the dead are feen rifing out of the grave." See Conjectures on Milton's early reading, &c. p. 47. But perhaps the following impreffive paffage in Drummond's Shadow of the Judgement might have been here in the young poet's mind: "Millions of Angels in the lofty height, "Clad in pure gold, and the electre bright, With radiant feet the tiffued clouds down fteering; And Heaven, as at fome feftival, Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall. XVI. But wifeft Fate fays no, This must not yet be fo, The Babe yet lies in fmiling infancy, That on the bitter cross Muft redeem our lofs; So both himself and us to glorify: Yet firft, to thofe ychain'd in fleep, 150 155 The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep; XVII. With fuch a horrid clang "Ufhering the way ftill where the judge fhould move, "Which quickly open, like a curtain driven, The verb orb, I must add, is used by our author, Reafon of Ch. Gov. B. i. Ch. 1. “Our happiness may orb itself into a thousand vagancies of glory and delight." TODD. Ver. 146. With radiant feet] Ifaiah, lii. 7. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings -that publisheth falvation, that faith unto Sion, Thy God reigneth." Dunster. Ver. 156. The wakeful trump of doom muft thunder through the deep] A line of great energy, elegant and fublime. T. WARTON. Ver. 157. With fuch a horrid clang] Clang is clangour. So of a multitude of birds, Par. Loft, B. vii. 422. As on mount Sinai rang, While the red fire and fmouldring clouds out brake: The aged earth aghaft, With terrour of that blaft, 160 Shall from the furface to the center fhake; When, at the world's laft feffion, The dreadful Judge in middle air fhall fpread his throne. XVIII. And then at laft our blifs Full and perfect is, 165 But now begins; for, from this happy day, The old Dragon, under ground In ftraiter limits bound, Not half fo far cafts his ufurped fway; And, wroth to fee his kingdom fail, - "Soaring the air fublime "With clang defpis'd the ground." 170 But fee Steevens's Note, Tam. Shr. vol. iii. Johnf. Steev. ShakSpeare, p. 435. T. WARTON. Ver. 159. Faer. Qu. i. viii. 9. and fmouldring clouds] So, in Spenfer, "Enrol'd in flames and mouldring dreriment." And in Fairfax's Tasso, B. xiii. ft. 61. "And in each vein a smouldring fire there dwelt.” NEWTON. Add to doctor Newton's inftances, Faer. Qu. i. vii. 13. "Through mouldry cloud of duskish ftincking smoke." Smouldring, or mouldry, hot, fweltering. Perhaps from the Anglo-Saxon, Smolt, hot weather. T. WARTON. Ver. 172. Swindges the Scaly horrour of his folded tail.] This ftrong image is copied from the defcriptions of ferpents and dragons in the old Romances and Ariofto. There is a fine picture by Guido, reprefenting Michael the Arch-Angel, treading on Satan, who has fuch a tail as is here defcribed. Jos. WARTON. The old ferpent finding his power confined and his dominion contracted, vents his indignation and revenge, in brandishing the horrid folds of his fcaly tail. Compare Sylvefter's Du Bartas, (p. 205. 4to.) of a Lion beating his fides with his tail. "Then often fwindging with his finewie traine, &c.” But fee Chapman's Cæfar and Pompey, 1607, of a lion enraged : "And then his fides he fwinges with his fterne." Waller defcribes the "tail's impetuous fwinge" of the whale, Batt. Summ. I. c. iii. Milton's defcription of the dragon's venting his rage is certainly masterly and ftriking. Cowley, in his Davideis, B. i. feebly fays that the devil, exasperated, "with his long tail lash'd his breaft." And Marino paints him "biting," in his fury, "his twisted tail." See Strage de gli Innocenti, edit. 1633, li. i. ft. xviii. TODD. Ver. 173. The oracles &c.] Attention is irresistibly awakened, and engaged, by the air of folemnity and enthusiasm that reigns in this stanza and some that follow. Such is the power of true poetry, that one is almoft inclined to believe the fuperftitions real. Jos. WARTON. With hollow fhriek the fteep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance, or breathed fpell, Infpires the pale-ey'd priest from the prophetick cell. XX. The lonely mountains o'er, 180 Ver. 180. Infpires the pale-ey'd prieft] Milton was impreffed with reading Euripides's tragedy of Ion, which fuggested thefe ideas. T. WARTON. This paffage of Milton, it should be added, fuggefted a beautiful line to Pope, Eloifa, v. 21. "Shrines, where their vigils pale-ey'd virgins keep." TODD. Ver. 181. The lonely mountains o'er, And the refounding fhore, A voice of weeping heard and loud lament;] Although Milton was well acquainted with all the Greek writers in their original languages, and might have seen the groundwork of this tradition of a voice proclaiming the death of the great Pan, and ceffation of Oracles, in Plutarch on the Defect of Oracles, and the fifth book of Eufebius's Præparatio Euangelica, yet it is most probable, that the whole allufion was fuggested to his imagination by a Note of the old commentator on Spenfer's Paftorals in May, who copied Lavaterus's treatife De Lemuribus, newly tranflalted into English. "About the time that our Lord fuffered his moft bitter Paffion, certaine perfons fayling from Italie to Cyprus, and paffing by certaine iles called Paxa, heard a voyce calling aloud Thamus, Thamus, the pylot of the ship; who, giuing eare to the cry, was bidden when he came to Palodas to tell, that the great god Pan was dead: which he doubting to doe, yet for that when he came to Palodas, there was such a calme of wind, that the fhip ftood still in the fea vnmoored, he was forced to cry aloud, that Pan was dead: Wherewithall, there was heard fuch piteous outcries and dreadful fhrieking, as |