As thus he fpake, each bird and beast behold I found not what methought I wanted still; O by what name, for thou above all these, 353. with fuch knowledge God indued &c.] Wonderful was the knowledge God beftow'd on Adam, nor that part of it leaft, which concerned the naming things aright; as Cicero agrees with Py. thagoras; Qui primus, quod fummæ fapientiæ Pythagoræ vifum eft, omnibus rebus nomina impofuit. Tufc. Difp. lib. 1. fect. 25. Hume. but in thefe 354 I found not what methought I wanted ftill;] The account given by Mofes is very fhort here, as in all the reft. Gen. II. 19, 20 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beaft of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to fee what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was I 355 360 And And Adam gave the name thereof. 357. O by what name, &c.] Adam in the next place defcribes a conference which he held with his Maker upon the fubject of folitude The poet here reprefents the Supreme Being, as making an effay of his own work, and putting to the trial that reafoning faculty, with which he had indued his creature. Adam urges in this divine colloquy the impoffibility of his being happy, tho' he was the inhabitant of Para dife, And all this good to man? for whose well being Thou haft provided all things: but with me What happiness, who can enjoy alone, 365 370 To come and play before thee? know'st thou not dife, and lord of the whole creation, without the conversation and fociety of fome rational creature, who fhould partake those bleffings with him. This dialogue, which is fupported chiefly by the beauty of the thoughts, without other poetical ornaments, is as fine a part as any in the whole poem. The more the reader examins the juftnefs and delicacy of its fentiments, the more he will find. himfelf pleased with it. The poet has wonderfully preferved the character of majesty and condefcenfion in the Creator, and at the fame time that of humility and adoration in the creature. Addifon. Their 357. O by &c] It is an unreafonable as well as untheological fuppofition, that God gave man the infpir'd knowledge of the natures of his fellow-creatures before the nature of his creator; yet this our poet fuppofes. What seems to have mifled him was that in the ordinary way of acquiring knowledge we rise from the creature to the creator. 372. Warburton. know'st thou not Their language and their ways?] That brutes have a kind of language among themselves is evident and undeniable. There is a treatife in French of the language of brutes: and our author fuppofes that Adam understood this language and was of knowledge fuperior to any of his Virg. Æn. I. 327. defcendents, and befides was aflifted O by what name, by Their language and their ways? they also know, Find pastime, and bear rule;, thy realm is large. 375 So ord'ring. I with leave of speech implor'd, Let not my words offend thee, heav'nly Power, My Maker, be propitious while I speak. Haft thou not made me here thy fubftitute, And these inferior far beneath me fet? Can fort, what harmony or true delight? by inspiration, with fuch knowledge God indued bis fudden apprebenfion. He is faid by the School Divines to have exceeded Solomon himself in knowlege. 379. Let not my words offend thee,] Abraham thus implores leave to fpeak, and makes interceffion for Sodom with the like humble deprecation. Gen. XVIII. 30. Ob let not the Lord be angry, and I will Speak. 386. but in disparity &c.] But in inequality, fuch as is between brute and rational; the one intenfe, man high, wound up, and ftrain'd to nobler understanding, and of more lofty faculty; the other ftill remifs, 380 385 Giv'n the animal, let down, and flacker, 395. Much lefs can bird with beast, So well converfe, nor with the ox the ape; Worfe then can man with beaft,&c.] Much lefs can bird with beaft, or But Giv'n and receiv'd; but in difparity The one intenfe, the other still remifs Cannot well fuit with either, but foon prove Such as I feek, fit to participate 390 All rational delight, wherein the brute ; Each with their kind, lion with lioness A But this reading is faulty in the dic- man confort in rational delight, i. c. tion; for it names or and ape with- cannot converfe with man in that out the article the before them. When way: and then he adds here Much Milton fpeaks of general things as fs can bird well converse so with bird, beaft and fub, he drops the ar- beaft &c. i. e. lefs ftill can one irraticle; but he always ufes it when tional animal converfe in this way particular kinds are mention'd; and with another irrational animal; not this grammar requires. Well, but only if they be of a different fpecies, what is the fault of the common as bird and beast, fish and fowl are; reading? The Doctor fays that the but even if they be of the fame ex is nearer to the ape than bird is fpecies, as the ox and ape are; the to beeft &c; fo that the disharmony most widely different creatures of diminishes by the order of the any which are of the fame fpecies. phrafe, inftead of increafing. This But leaft of all can man converse objection will be remov'd by con- in a rational way with any of the fidering the fenfe of the whole beafts or irrational creatures. Is not paffage, which the Doctor feems not here a very proper gradation? to have confider'd aright. The brute (fays Milton ver. 391.) cannot be huVOL. II. G 406. Pearce, A nice and subtle happiness I fee Thou to thyself propofest, in the choice Of thy affociates, Adam, and wilt taste 400 No pleasure, though in pleasure, folitary. Of happiness, or not? who am alone Second to me or like, equal much less. How have I then with whom to hold converfe Beneath what other creatures are to thee? 405 410 He ceas'd, I lowly anfwer'd. To attain The highth and depth of thy eternal ways All human thoughts come short, Supreme of things; Thou in thyself art perfect, and in thee Is no deficience found; not fo is Man, 406. none I know Second to me or like,] Nec viget quicquam fimile aut fecundum. Hor. Ôd. Î. XII. 18. 413. The bighth and depth of thy eternal ways &c.] Rom. XI. 415 By 33. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! bow unfearchable are bis judgments, and his ways paft finding out! 421. And through all numbers abfolute,] A Latin expreffion, om.ibus |