III. Say, heav'nly Mufe, fhall not thy facred vein Now while the heav'n by the fun's team untrod, 15 Hath took no print of the approaching light, 20 And all the fpangled hoft keep watch in fquadrons bright? IV. See how from far upon the eastern road The ftar-led wifards hafte with odours fweet: Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet, I THE T was the winter wild, HYM N. I. While the heav'n-born child All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies; Nature in awe to him Had dofft her gaudy trim, 25 30 23. The ftar-led wifards hafte with odours feet.] Wife-men. So Spenfer calls the antient philofophers, the "antique wisards.' F. Q. iv. xii. 2. And he fays that Lucifera's kingdom was upheld by the policy, And ftrong advizement of fix WISARDS old. That is, fix wife counsellors. Ibid. i. iv. 12. 18. Proteus is styled the "Carpathian WISARD," COMUS, v. 872. See also what is faid of the river Dee, in LYCIDAS, v. 55. 24. Prevent them.-]" Come thither, before them.", 32. Nature With her great Master so to sympathize: It was no feafon then for her To wanton with the fun, her lufty paramour. Only with speeches fair She wooes the gentle air II. To hide her guilty front with innocent fnow; And on her naked fhame,' Pollute with finful blame, The faintly veil of maiden white to throw; Confounded that her Maker's eyes Should look fo near upon her foul deformities. III. But he her fears to cease, Sent down the meek-ey'd Peace; 35. 40 45 She crown'd with olive green, came foftly fliding Down through the turning fphere, His ready harbinger, With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing; 50 And waving wide her myrtle wand, She strikes an univerfal peace through fea and land. 32. Nature in awe to him, &c.] The author of the ESSAY on THE GENIUS AND WRITINGS OF POPE has observed, that here is an imitation of Petrarch's third Sonnet. Era l' giorno, ch'al fol fi fcoloraro Per la pieta del fuo fattore i. rai ; 52. She frikes an univerfal peace through sea and land.] Doctor Newton perhaps too nicely remarks, that for PEACE to ftrike a peace is an inaccuracy. Yet he allows that fadus ferire is claffical. But Roman phrafeology is here quite out of the queftion. It is not a league, or agreement of peace between two parties, that is intended. A quick and univerfal diffufion is the idea. It was done as with a ftroke. IV. No war, or battel's found Was heard the world around: The idle fpear and shield were high up hung, The hooked chariot stood Unftain'd with hoftile blood, The trumpet spake not to the armed throng; And kings fat ftill with awful eye, As if they furely knew their fovran Lord was by. V. But peaceful was the night, Wherein the Prince of light His reign of peace upon the world began: The winds with wonder whift Smoothly the waters kist, Whifp'ring new joys to the mild ocean, Who now hath quite forgot to rave, 61 65 While birds of calm fit brooding on the charmed wave. VI. The ftars with deep amaze Stand fix'd in ftedfast gaze, Bending one way their precious influence, 70 55. The idle spear and shield were high up hung.] So Propertius, ii. xxv. 8. Et vetus in templo bellica parma vacat. But chivalry and Gothic manners were here in Milton's mind. 64. The winds, &c.] Ovid. METAM. II. Ibid. 745. Perque dies placidos hyberno tempore feptem Whit.] Silenced. In Stanyhurft's Virgil, Intentique ora tenebant, is tranflated, They wHISTED all. B. ii. i. And And will not take their flight, For all the morning light, Or Lucifer that often warn'd them thence; But in their glimmering orbs did glow, 75 Until their Lord himself befpake, and bid them go. VII. And though the shady gloom Had given day her room, The fun himself withheld his wonted speed, And hid his head for fhame, As his inferiour flame 80 The new inlighten'd world no more should need; He faw a greater fun appear Than his bright throne, or burning axletree could bear. VIII. The shepherds on the lawn Or e'er the point of dawn, Sat fimply chatting in a rustic row; Full little thought they then, That the mighty Pan Was kindly come to live with them below; 85 77. And though the fhady gloom, &c.] Mr. Bowle faw with me, that this stanza is a copy of one in Spenfer's APRILL. I faw Phoebus thruft out his golden hed Vpon her to gaze : But when he faw, how broad her beames did spred, He blusht to fee another fun belowe: Ne durft againe his fierie face outfhowe, &c., So alfo G. Fletcher on a fimilar fubject, in his CHRIST'S VICTORIE, p. i. ft. 78. -Heaven awakened all his eyes To fee ANOTHER SUNNE at midnight rise. And Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, Was all that did their filly thoughts fo bufy keep. When fuch mufic fweet IX. Their hearts and ears did greet, As never was by mortal finger ftrook, Divinely-warbled voice Answering the ftringed noise, As all their fouls in blifsful rapture took: 95 And afterwards, he adds "the curfed oracles were strucken "dumb." 89. That the mighty Pan, Was kindly come to live with them below.] That is, with the fhepherds on the lawn. So in Spenfer's MAY, which Milton imitates in LYCIDAS. Again, I mufe what account both thefe will make ; When great PAN account of Shepheards shall aske, For PAN himself was their inheritance. Again, in JULY. The brethren twelve that kept yfere The flocks of MIGHTY PAN. And in SEPTEMBER, Marry that great PAN bought with great borrowe We should recollect, that Chrift is ftyled a fhepherd in the facred writings. Mr. Bowle obferves, that Dante calls him Jupiter. PURGAT. C. vi. v. 118. O fommo. GIOVE, Che fofti'n terra per nos crucififfo. And that this paffage is literally adopted by Pulci, MORGANT, MAGG. C. ii. v. 2. 96. Rather, divinely-warbling. ] But fee Note on CoмUS. v. 854. 98. As all their fouls in blissful rapture took.] So in PARAD. L. B. i. 554. Of the mufic of the milder angels. -Took |