310 Out-caft Nebaioth, yet found here relief the wilderness, fie caft the child from her to die. This moment of diftrefs is the exact moment of Milton's defcription. DUNSTER. Ver. 309. -found here relief] In Milton's own edition it is "found he relief;" perhaps an unnoticed errour of the prefs. The editions, fince the folio of 1688 which continues this reading, give "here relief." TODD. Ver. 312. and that Prophet bold,] In the character of Elijah, as it ftands pourtrayed in Scripture, we trace a spirit and refolution of the most dignified kind. Hence it is faid, 1 Maccab. ii. 58, that " he was taken up into Heaven for being fervent and zealous for the law." The twelve firft verfes of the 48th chapter of Ecclefiafticus are entirely occupied with a panegyrick upon him; in which it is faid, that he stood up like fire, and that his words burned like a lamp; which expreffions must be understood to imply a peculiar fervour of zeal and fpirit. Milton feems to have been much struck with the character of this " Prophet bold," as he here terms him. He had before, ver. 16, of this Book, called him the "Great Thifbite," and has mentioned him no less than four times in this Poem, and three times in his juvenile Latin Poems. El. iv. In Prodit. Bombard. and In obit. Præful. Eliens. But it may be observed, (and I hope without impropriety,) that poffibly he had a political predilection for this eminent Prophet, to whofe lot it fell to refift the tyranny of wicked kings, and to denounce the judgements of God against them. In this part of his office he particularly manifefted his undaunted fpirit; on which account he might be a favourite fcripture-character with our author. Compare Sylvefter's Du Bartas, ed. 1621. p. 480. "Thebite Elijah "Who, burning bold in fpirit and speech, cries out "O impious Ahab!" DUNSTER. Native of Thebez, wandering here was fed To whom thus Jefus. What conclud'ft thou hence? They all had need; I, as thou feeft, have none. How haft thou hunger then? Satan replied. Tell me, if food were now before thee fet, 320 Would'ft thou not eat?-Thereafter as I like The giver, anfwer'd Jefus.-Why should that Ver. 313. wandering here was fed] It appears that Milton conceived the wilderness, where Hagar wandered with her fon, and where the Ifraelites were fed with manna, and where Elijah retreated from the rage of Jezebel, to be the fame with the wilderness, where our Saviour was tempted. And yet it is certain, that they were very different places; for the wildernefs, where Hagar wandered, was the wilderness of Beer-fheba, Gen. xxi. 14; and where the Ifraelites were fed with manna was the wilderness of Sin, Exod. xvi. 1; and where Elijah retreated was in the wilderness, a day's journey from BeerSheba, 1 Kings, xix. 4: and where our Saviour was tempted was the wilderness near Jordan. But our author confiders all that tract of country as one and the fame wilderness, though distinguished by different names from the different places adjoining. NEWton. Ver. 321. Would't thou not eat?-Thereafter as I like The giver, anfwer'd Jejus.] Thus in Comus, when the Enchanter offers the cup to the Lady, and preffes her to drink of it, she tells him, "Were it a draught for Juno when the banquets, "I would not taste thy treasonous offer; none "But fuch as are good men can give good things; &c." DUNSTER. Cause thy refufal? faid the subtle Fiend. From all the elements her choiceft ftore, 330 To treat thee, as befeems, and as her Lord, 335 With honour; only deign to fit and eat, Ver. 324. Haft thou not right to all created things? Owe not all creatures by just right to thee Duty and fervice, &c. &c.] This part of the Tempter's fpeech alludes to the heavenly declaration which he had heard at Jordan, This is my beloved Son, &c. One may obferve too, that it is much the fame fort of flattering addrefs with that which he had before made ufe of to feduce Eve, Paradife Loft, B. ix. 539; "Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine, Ver. 333. hath purvey'd From all the elements her choiceft flore,] The Latin Poets have fimilar paffages, defcriptive of that unbounded luxury, which ranfacked all the elements to furnish out the requifite delicacies of their banquets. Thus Juv. Sat. xi. 14. "Interea guftus elementa per omnia quærunt." DUNSTER. He fpake no dream; for, as his words had end, Our Saviour lifting up his eyes beheld, In ample space under the broadeft fhade, A table richly spread, in regal mode, 340 Ver 337. He spake no dream ;] This was no dream, as before ver. 264, but a reality. NEWTON. Ver. 340. A table richly Spread, &c.] This temptation is not recorded in Scripture, but is however invented with great confiftency, and very aptly fitted to the prefent condition of our Saviour. This way of embellifhing his fubject is a privilege which every poet has a juft right to, provided he obferves harmony and decorum in his hero's character; and one may further add, that Milton had in this particular place still a stronger claim to an indulgence of this kind, fince it was a pretty general opinion among the Fathers, that our Saviour underwent many more temptations than those which are mentioned by the Evangelifts; nay, Origen goes fo far as to fay, that he was every day, whilst he continued in the wilderness, attacked by a fresh one. The beauties of this defcription are too obvious to escape any reader of tafte. It is copious, and yet expreffed with a very elegant concifenefs. Every proper circumftance is mentioned, and yet it is not at all clogged or incumbered, as is often the cafe, with too tedious a detail of particulars. It was a scene entirely fresh to our author's imagination, and nothing like it had before occurred in his Paradife Loft, for which reafon he has been the more diffufe, and laboured it with greater care, with the fame good judgment that makes him in other places avoid expatiating on fcenes which he had before defcribed. In a word, it is in my opinion worked up with great art and beauty, and plainly fhews the crudity of that notion which fo much prevails among fuperficial readers, that Milton's genius was upon the decay when he wrote his Paradife Regained. THYER. The banquet, as Dr. Newton obferves, is like that prepared by Armida for her lovers. Taffo, Gier. Lib. c. x. ft. 64. Temptations of this kind are indeed common in romances. In the third act of an old drama, entitled The Wisdome of Dr. Dodypoll, 4to. 1600, there is alfo a fimilar fcene. See my note on Comus, v. 659. TODD. With dishes pil'd, and meats of nobleft fort 345 Ver. 340. -richly Spread, in regal mode,] Regal mode was probably intended to glance at the luxury and expence of the Court at that time: it is however well covered by claffical authority. Thus Sil. Ital. xi. 272. "Inftituunt de more epulas, feftamque per urbem And Virgil, En. vi. 604. Ver. 343. In pastry built,] The pastry in the beginning of the last century, was frequently of confiderable magnitude and folidity. Of fuch kind must have been the pye in which Jeoffrey Hudfon, afterwards King James's Dwarf, when eight years old, was ferved up to table at an entertainment given by the Duke of Buckingham. We may fuppofe this pye was not confiderably larger than was ufual on fuch occafions, otherwife the joke would have loft much of its effect from fomething extraordinary being expected. A fpecies of mural paftry feems to have prevailed in fome of the preceding centuries, when artificial reprefentations of caftles, towers, &c. were very common at all great feasts, and were called futtleties, fubtilties, or fotilties.-Leland, in his account of the entertainment at the inthronization of Archbishop Warham in 1504, (Collectanea, vol. 6,) mentions "a futtlety of three ftages, with vanes and towres embattled," and 66 warner with eight towres embattled, and made with flowres;" which poflibly meant made in pastry.-In the catalogue of the expences at this feaft, there is a charge for wax and fugar, in operatione de le fotiltics. Probably the wax and fugar were employed to render the paste of flour more adhesive and tenacious, the better to fupport itself when moulded into fuch a variety of forms. DUNSTER. a Ver. 345. Frefhet or purling brook,] Frefhet, a stream of |