Likeft the feem'd, Pomona when the fled
Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime,
Yet virgin of Proferpina from Jove.
Her long with ardent look his eye purfu'd
Delighted, but defiring more her stay.
Oft he to her his charge of quick return

Vertumnus made his addreffes to her, that is when she was in all her perfection of beauty, as defcrib'd by Ovid in the place above-cited. But the Doctor's greatest quarrel is with the latter part of these four verses: Ceres in her prime, fays he? What? have Goddeffes the decays of old age, and do they grow paft their prime? And yet it is very frequent with the old poets to defcribe their Gods as paffing from youth to old age. Juvenal fays in Sat. VI. 15.

395

Repeated,

the word from, when other words are to be fupply'd in the sense, fee II. 542. and VIII. 213. I have met with fome gentlemen, who thought that the laft of these verses ought to be read thus,

-or to Ceres in her prime Yet virgin, or Proferpina from Jove. And this reading at first fight is very apt to please and perfuade one of its genuinness, because it frees the text from that hard expreffion, virgin of Proferpina: but when we confider the matter farther, it will be found that Milton could never have intended to compare Eve with Proferpina, because the had nothing to do with husbandry or gard'ning, on account of which only this comparifon is introduc'd. Pearce.

Yet virginof Proferpina from fove,] This feems to be a Grecifm, and tranflated from Theocritus (Idyl. II.

Repeated, she to him as oft engag'd
To be return'd by noon amid the bower,
And all things in best order to invite
Noontide repast, or afternoon's repose.
O much deceiv'd, much failing, hapless Eve,
Of thy prefum'd return! event perverse!

401. To be return'd by noon amid the bower,

And all things in beft order to invite &c.] Here seems to be 2 want of a verb before all things &c. Dr. Bentley therefore reads

To be return'd by noon, and at the bower

Have all things in beft order to invite.

But if it be neceffary to infert the
word bave, I would read thus with
lefs alteration,

And all things in beft order have
Pearce.

to' invite.

There feems to be no neceffity for any alteration. If the bower had been mention'd alone, he would

400

405 Thou

hardly have faid amid the bower, but rather at the bower or in the bower; but amid the bower and all things is right.

404. O much deceiv'd, much failing, baplefs Eve,

Of thy prefum'd return!] That is, much failing of thy prefum'd return. Thefe beautiful apostrophes and anticipations are frequent in the poets, who affect to speak in the character of prophets, and like men infpir'd with the knowledge of futurity. Thus Virgil to Turnus Æn. X. 501.

Nefcia mens hominum fati fortifque futuræ,

Et fervare modum rebus fublata
fecundis.

Turno tempus erit, magno cum op-
taverit emptum
Intactum Pallanta, et cum fpolia ifta
diemque
Oderit.

O mortals! blind in fate, who never
know

To bear high fortune, or indure
the low.

The time shall come, when Turnus,
but in vain,
Shall with untouch'd the trophies of
the flain;

Shall

Thou never from that hour in Paradife

Found'ft either sweet repaft, or found repose; Such ambush hid among sweet flow'rs and shades Waited with hellish rancor imminent

410

To intercept thy way, or fend thee back
Defpoil'd of innocence, of faith, of bliss.
For now, and fince first break of dawn the Fiend,
Mere ferpent in appearance, forth was come,
And on his queft, where likeliest he might find
The only two of mankind, but in them
The whole included race, his purpos'd prey.
In bow'r and field he fought, where any tuft
Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay,
Their tendence or plantation for delight;

By fountain or by shady rivulet

415

420

He fought them both, but wish'd his hap might find

Eve

Shall wifh the fatal belt were far how little events anfwer our ex

Eve feparate, he wish'd, but not with hope
Of what fo feldom chanc'd, when to his wish,
Beyond his hope, Eve feparate he spies,

Veil'd in a cloud of fragance, where the ftood, 425
Half spy'd, fo thick the roses bufhing round
About her glow'd, oft ftooping to support
Each flow'r of flender stalk, whose head though gay
Carnation, purple', azure, or fpeck'd with gold,
Hung drooping unfuftain'd; them fhe upftays 430
Gently with myrtle band, mindlefs the while
Herself, though faireft unfupported flower,
From her best prop fo far, and ftorm fo nigh.
Nearer he drew, and many a walk travérs'd
Of statelieft covert, cedar, pine, or palm,
Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen
Among thick-woven arborets and flowers

435

Imborder'd on each bank, the hand of Eve:
Spot more delicious than those gardens feign'd
Or of reviv'd Adonis, or renown'd
Alcinous, host of old Laertes fon,
Or that, not mystic, where the fapient king
Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian fpoufe.

43S. Imborder'd on each bank,] Dr. Bentley believes that Milton gave it Imbroider'd, proper to thick-woven. But imborder'd is the right word ac

440

Much

dens of Adonis or Alcinous are feign'd to be. Of reviv'd Adonis; for after he was kill'd by the wild boar, it is faid that at Venus's request he was in to And we learn from

cording to Bishop Kennet, who St. Jerom, Cyril, and other writers,

to Parochial Antiquities in the word Bordarii fays, Some derive it from the old Gallic bords, the limits or extremes of any extent: as the borders of a county and the borderers or inhabitants in thofe parts. Whence the bordure of a garment, and to imborder which we corrupt to imbroider. See alfo Furetiere's French Dictionary on the words Brodeur and Embordurer.

Pearce.

Imborder'd on each bank, the banks
were border'd with the flowers, the
band of Eve, the handiwork of Eve,
as we fay of a picture that it is
the hand of fuch or fuch a mafter.
And thus Virgil, Æn. I. 455.
Artificumque manus inter fe operum-
que laborem
Miratur.

439. Spot more delicious &c.] He is not fpeaking here of Paradife in general, but of this particular spot, the handiwork of Eve; and he fays it was more delicious than the gar

that his anniversary festival was open'd with forrow and mourning for his death, and concluded with finging and rejoicing for his revival. It is very true, as Dr. Bentley says, that Ko Adavid, the gardens of Adonis, fo frequently mention'd by Greek writers, Plato, Plutarch & were nothing but portable earthen pots with fome lettice or fene! growing in them, and thrown away of Adonis: whence the gardens of the next day after the yearly festival Adonis grew to be a proverb of contempt for any fruitless, fading, perishable affair. But, as Dr. Pearce replies, Why did the Grecians on Adonis's feftival carry these small earthen gardens about in honor of him? was it not because they had a tradition, that when he was alive he delighted in gardens, and had a magnificent one? Pliny mentions the gardens of Adonis and Alcinags together as Milton does. There is nothing that the Ancients admir`d more than the gardens of the Hefpe