secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows than another does in the possession. It gives him, indeed, a kind of property in every thing he sees, and makes the most rude, uncultivated parts f nature administer to his pleasures; so that he looks pon the world, as it were, in another light, and disovers in it a multitude of charms that conceal themselves from the generality of mankind." CRITICISM. All this is very beautiful. The illustration is happy. The style runs with the greatest ease and harmony. But there is some negligence. The first instance is in the sentence beginning with, "It gives him, indeed," &c. To this it there is no proper antecedent in the whole paragraph, and to find one we must look back to the third sentence before this. The phrase polite imagination is the only antecedent to which this it can refer; and even that is an improper antecedent, as it stands in the genitive (possessive) case, as the qualification only of a man. The other instance of negligence begins with, "so that he looks upon the world, as it were, in another light." By another light the author means, a light different from that in which other men view the world, but this meaning is conveyed very indistinctly to other minds. As it were is a phrase that should scarcely ever be used, and here there was no occasion for it. The whole of this last member, beginning with "so that he looks," &c., might with advantage be omitted altogether, as the ideas are conveyed in what goes before it. Dr. Blair has devoted four entire lectures to a critical examina tion of the style of Addison's Spectator, Nos. 411-414, which form an exceedingly valuable part of his work on Rhetoric. It would be well for teachers of the work in hand to write upon a blackboard, or (what is better) they night require their students to write upon slates or on paper, the passages from the Spectator, and then deliberately read to their classes the elaborate, judicious, and tasteful criticisms of Dr. Blair. Occasionally, however, it may be remarked, Dr. Blair's own language stands open to criti ciam. CHAPTER III. CRITICAL NOTES UPON A PORTION OF PARADISE LOST. This chapter is derived from an anonymous London work, and is proposed as a model of criticism where figurative language is concerned, particularly in poetic composition.] SATAN'S SPEECH.-Paradise Lost, Book ii., 1. 11. THE debate is opened by Satan, and his speech should naturally turn, in the first place, on vindicating his right to preside; and, in the second place, on the subject for which they are met, that is, how they are to regain their lost inheritance. This division is extremely simple, but it is very oratorical, as it affords Milton the opportunity of characterizing Satan by his known vice, PRIDE, which he displays while he asserts his right to pre-eminence Pow'rs and dominions, deities of heav'n; For, since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigor, though oppress'd and fall'n, I give not heav'n for lost. From this descent Celestial virtues rising, will appear More glorious and more dread than from no fall, Me, though just right, and the fix'd laws of heaven, 15 Book II., 1. 11.-Satan's character is seen in the very first line of his address. It is all pomp, but the climax is masterly: first, he compliments them with strength, then with strength added to dominion; and lastly, strength and dominion crowned with godhead. In the last word of this line there is artful encouragement, which he proves in the three following lines. L. 12. Here you may observe a bold Pleonasm, used by Milton to paint the dreadful profundity of hell; for saying a deep holds within its gulf, is the same thing as a deep holds within its deep; but the poet felt the force of the imagery, and ventured the figure. L. 15.-Celestial virtues. Here the cause is elegantly used for the effect, for virtue inspires confidence on the knowledge of its own rectitude, and vigor and exertion are the result. The demons are therefore called Celestial Virtues, alluding to the immortal vigor which Satan bestows upon them, in order to encour age them to reascend to heaven. L. 18.-Here, and in two or three of the following lines, he enumerates his reasons for supremacy: (1) just right, suggested by pride; (2) fate, here called the fixed laws of heaven; (3) free choice of his subjects; (4, 5) merit in council, and merit in fight, are only glanced at. Did first create your leader, next free choice, The happier state 20 25 30 L. 26 presents a sixth reason (i. e.), none will dispute precedence in sufferings with him. This is not barely hinted at, but introduced by a bold INTERROGATION: "Who here will envy?" L. 27.-Whom the highest place exposes, &c. This is one of those bold strokes of imagery for which Milton is distinguished. L. 28. Thunderer. SYNECDOCHE; that is, a part for the whole, for he that can do all things can likewise thunder; and as this exertion of his power is peculiarly alarming, we borrow from it the appellation of the author. L. 29.-Your bulwark. A METAPHOR. A mound raised to withstand the impetuosity of the sea is a bulwark. conveys an idea of the evils Satan will have to support, to save his infernal associates from the wrath of the Divinity. L. 30.-Here is an instance of a beautiful oratorical Sorites, a kind of argument in which, generally, the predicate of one proposition is made the subject of the one that follows, and the subject of the first is also the subject of the last proposition, or conclusion, as when Themistocles argued in regard to his son, a boy of three years old, "My son commands his mother; his mother commands me; I command the Athenians; the Athenians command Greece; Greece commands Europe; Europe commands the whole earth: therefore my son commands the whole earth." The example before us is not quite so complete, or strictly logical : Where there is no good to be gained there can be no strife: And where there is no faction there must be union. This sorites ends in 1. 36. L. 31.-No strife can grow up there from faction. A metaphor, so much the more just, as it may be applied to a noxious weed. L 32, 33-A persuasive repetition of none. Of present pain, that with ambitious mind Could have assured us; and by what best way, We now debate: who can advise, may speak. MOLOCH'S SPEECH 35 40 If the former speech is characteristic, this is not Less so. It paints the fierce spirit, who is now fiercer by despair, as Milton beautifully expresses it: the four lines he gives us on this subject are inimitable. His trust was with the Eternal to be deem'd My sentence is for open war of wiles 51 55 Here one passion L. 34, 35.-Ambitious mind will covet more. borrows an expression from another, that is, ambition has recourse to avarice for the term covet, in order to strengthen the idea. L. 37. More than can be in heaven. This is an artful oratorica. consequence, from the supposition that there must be envy in heaven on account of dignity, and none in hell on account of pain. L. 39, 40.-A rational antithesis and jeu de mots: surer to prosper than prosperity could have assured us. L. 41.-Open war or covert guile. A second antithesis, concise and simple. L. 51.-An abrupt exordium, well suiting the stern spirit who utters it. The contrast and alliteration of war and wiles owe much of their beauty to their conciseness. L. 55.-A grand image. Millions that stand in arms. Sullenness generally proposes its arguments in disdainful interrogations. "Shall the rest sit lingering here," &c. Accept this dark, opprobrious den of shame, The prison of his tyranny who reigns By our delay? No, let us rather choose, 60 Arm'd with hell-flames and fury, all at once O'er heav'n's high towers to force resistless way, Turning our tortures into horrid arms Against the Torturer; when to meet the noise Of his infernal engine he shall hear 65 Infernal thunder, and for lightning see Black fire and horror shot with equal rage Among his angels, and his throne itself Mix'd with Tartarean sulphur, and strange fire, 70 75 L. 58.-Den of shame. Shame is here personified. The prison of his tyranny, that is, which his tyranny has made: an example of ellipsis. L. 61.-Arm'd with hell-flames and fury. A bold catachresis. p. 103. See L. 63.-The idea of turning his tortures into arms is nobly diabolical. Here the effect is put for the cause by metonymy. L. 67.-See black fire and horror shot. There is a catachresis in the sense of the word black, as it is here applied to fire, there being an allusion to the revolving smoke with which the fire is enveloped. To shoot horror is a metonymy, as it gives the effect for the cause. L. 69.-Tartarean. Allusion to the hell of the Gentiles. See ch. xxxvii., pt. ii. Strange fire. Allusion to the Sacred Scriptures. They offered strange fire before the Lord.-Levit. L. 71, 72.-To scale with upright wing. A striking image. The metaphor is taken from fortification. L. 73.-The sleepy drench of that forgetful lake. Allusion to the River Lethe. L. 75.-There is a beautiful simile in these words artfully conveyed to the mind without expressing it; we conceive the infernal spirits to resemble pyramids of fire, whose proper motion is to ascend. |