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"/Transform'd: but he my inbred enemy

"Forth iffued, brandishing his fatal dart "Made to destroy. I fled, and cried out, Death; "Hell trembled at the hideous name, and figh'd "From all her caves, and back refounded, Death. "I fled; but he purfu'd, (tho' more, it seems, "Inflam'd with luft than rage) and swifter far, "Me overtook, his mother, all difmay'd, “And in embraces forcible and foul, "Ingend'ring with me, of that rape begot "Thefe yelling monfters, that with ceaseless cry "Surround me, as thou faw'ft, hourly conceiv'd "And hourly born, with forrow infinite "To me; for when they lift, into the womb "That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw "My bowels, their repast! then bursting forth "Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round, "That reft or intermiffion none I find. "Before mine eyes in oppofition fits

"Grim Death, my fon and foe, who sets them on, "And me his parent would full foon devour, "For want of other prey, but that he knows "His end with mine involv'd; and knows that I "Should prove a bitter morfel, and his bane, "Whenever that shall be; fo fate pronounc'd. "But thou, O father, I forewarn thee, fhun "His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope "To be invulnerable in those bright arms, "Tho' temper'd heavenly; for that mortal dint, "Save he who reigns above, none can refift.”

You

You must, in all long tpeeches, or poems, give as much variety in the utterance as you poffibly can, in order to prevent them hanging upon the ear. Take care, however, in the change, to keep up the general effect intended by the poet.

She finifh'd; and the fubtle fiend his lore

Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus anfwer'd fmooth:

Now Satan leffens confiderably his former aufterity, fo that you must mark the alteration by your manner of reading the following.

"Dear daughter, fince thou claim'ft me for thy fire,
"And my
fair fon here show'ft me, the dear pledge
"Of dalliance had with thee in heav'n, and joys
"Then fweet, now fad to mention, thro' dire change
"Befall'n us, unforeseen, unthought of; know
"I come no enemy, but to set free,

"From out this dark and dismal house of pain,
"Both him and thee; and all the heavenly hoft
"Of fpirits, that, in our juft pretences arm'd,
"Fell with us from on high: from them I go
"This uncouth errand fole, and one for all

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Myself expose, with lonely fteps to tread "Th'unfounded deep, and thro' the void immense "To fearch with wand'ring queft a place foretold "Should be, and by concurring figns, ere now "Created vaft and round; a place of bliss "In the purlieus of heaven, and therein plac'd "A race of upftart creatures; to supply 66 Perhaps our vacant room; tho' more remov'd,

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"Left heav'n, furcharg'd with potent multitude,
"Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or aught
"Than this more fecret, now defign'd, I haste

"To know; and this once known fhall foon re-
"turn,

"And bring ye to the place where thou and Death "Shall dwell at eafe, and up and down unfeen

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Wing filently the buxom air, embalmı'd
"With odours; there ye fhall be fed and fill'd
"Immeafurably, all things fhall be your prey."

Now lower your voice.

He ceas'd; for both feem'd highly pleas'd, and
Death

Grinn'd horrible a ghaftly finile, to hear

His famine fhould be fill'd; and blefs'd his maw
Deftin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd

1

His mother bad, and thus befpake her fire:
"The key of this infernal pit by due,
"And by command of heaven's all-powerful King,
"I keep, by him forbidden to unlock
"These adamantine gates; against all force
"Death ready ftands to interpose his dart,
"Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might.
"But what owe I to his commands above,
"Who hates me, and hath hither thrust ine down
"Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
"To fit in hateful office here confin'd,
"Inhabitant of heaven, and heavenly born,
"Here in perpetual agony and pain,

" With

"With terrors and with clamours compass'd round
"Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
"Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
"My being gav'ft me, whom fhould I obey
"But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me foon
"To that new world of light and blifs, among
"The gods who live at ease, where I fhall reign
"At thy right-hand voluptuous, as befeems
"Thy daughter and thy darling, without end."

Be very forcible and imprefive in the following defcription.

Thus faying, from her fide the fatal key,
Sad inftrument of all our woe, fhe took;
And towards the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew;
Which, but herfelf, not all the Stygian powers
Could once have mov'd! then in the key-hole turns
Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
Of maffy iron or folid rock with ease
Unfaftens: on a fudden, open fly,

With impetuous recoil and jarring found,
Th'infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Har thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus.

Many words here must be particularly marked, to give full energy to the foregoing lines-"rolling her beftial train," "huge portcullis," "th' intricate wards," "maffy iron," "folid rock," "impetuous recoil," jarring "found,"

I 3

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" found," "infernal doors,"

hinges grate," " harja

thunder," and "loweft bottom shook of Erebus."

She open'd, but to fhut

Excell'd her pow'r: the gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd hoft,
Under fpread enfigns marching, might pass thro'
With horse and chariots rank'd in loose array;
So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth
Caft forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame.
Before their eyes, in fudden view, appear
The fecrets of the hoary deep, a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound,

Without dimenfion, where length, breadth, and
height,

And time and place are loft; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

Of endless wars, and by confufion stand.

MILTON'S ADDRESS TO LIGHT.

BEGIN this in a full, clear, and regular tone: there ought to be great folemnity in your look.

Hail, holy Light. offspring of Heav'n firft-born,
Or of th' Eternal co-eternal beam,

May I exprefs thee unblam'd? fince God is light,
And never but in unapproached light

Dwelt

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