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brought into Danger the perpetual King of Heaven, and put his high Supremacy to the Proof; whether he be upheld by Strength, by Chance, or by Fate, I fee too well and am griev'd for the forrowful Event, that with foul Defeat and fad Destruction hath loft us Heaven, and with horrible Overthrow, thus low, laid all this mighty Hoft, as far as Gods, and heavenly Beings can perifh; for the Mind and Spirit remain invincible, and Vigour foon returns; tho' all our Glory is extinct, and our happy Eftate here fwallow'd up in endless Mifery. But what if our Conqueror (whom I now by Force believe to be almighty, fince nothing fhort of Omnipotence could have overcome fuch Force as ours) hath left us this our Spirit, and this our Strength intire, only to enable us to endure our Pains; that fo we may afford Satiffaction to his Wrath, or do him greater Service, as his Captives by Right of War; whatever his Business may be, either to work in Fire, here in the Midst of Hell, or do his Errands in the dark and gloomy Deep? Then what can it avail, that we feel no Decay of our Strength; or is eternal Being a Good, only to undergo eternal Punishment? Whereto SATAN, breaking in upon his Difcourfe, reply'd :

FALLEN Cherub! (o) to be weak is to be miferable, either acting or fuffering; but be certain of this, that to do any Thing good will never be our Business, but our only Delight always to do Ill, as being directly contrary to his high Will, whom we oppose: So that if his Providence feeks out of our Evil to bring forth any Good, it must be our Labour to pervert that End, and ftill to find Means of Evil out of Good; which

(a) Cherub, in the Singular Number, and Cherubim in the Plural, Heb. i. e. Fullness of Knowledge, Angels of the I. Order first mentioned, Gen. 3. 24.

They were reprefented in the
Tabernacle and Temple in hu-
man Shape, with two Wings,
Exod. 25. 18. 2. Chron. 3. 10.

which may often fucceed, fo as perhaps fhall moleft him, (if I fail not) and hinder his moft fecret Designs and Councils from their intended Aim. But look, the angry Conqueror hath recall'd his (p) Minifters of Purfuit and Vengeance back to Heaven; the fiery Hail, that was fhot after us in a Storm, is now blown over, and hath laid the burning Flood, which from the Precipice of Heaven receiv'd us as we fell, and the Thunder which broke on us, following red Lightning with violent Force, perhaps hath spent its Shafts; for now it ceases to bellow through the great and boundless Deep: Then let us not flip the Opportunity, whether Scorn or fatisfied Fury yield it us from our Enemy. Doft thou fee yonder dismal Plain, wild and comfortless, a Seat of Defolation and without Light, except what the glimmering of thefe livid Flames cafts pale and very dreadful? Thither let us repair from off the violent and painful Toffing of these Waves of Fire; there let us reft, if any Reft can be had there, and affembling our afflicted Powers again, confult how we may henceforward moft annoy our great Foe, how repair our own Lofs, how overcome this doleful Calamity, what new Strength and Courage we may gain from Hope, and if none from thence, what Refolution we may gain from Despair.

THUS SATAN kept talking to BEELZEBUB, with his Head lifted up above the Waves, and glancing his Eyes from Side to Side: As for his other Parts, he lay extended in a melancholy Condition, floating in Length and Breadth over a vast Space of the Abyfs; as large in Bulk as thofe, whom Fables have nam'd of prodigious Size, as TITANIAN, (9) or Earth-born,

(p) Minifters; Fr. Lat. Servants. Here, the Executioners of God's Vengeance upon thefe Rebels; the Holy Angels. See Pfalm 103. 20.

who

(q) Titanian, like to Titan, Lat. Gr. from the Heb. i. e.

Earth

who is faid to have made War on JovE; BRIAREUS, or TYPHON, (r) who was buried in a Cave by antient TARSUS; (s) or LEVIATHAN, (t) which GoD created

Earth or Mud. The Fable is thus, Titan was the elder Brother of Saturn, he gave the Right of Inheritance to him, upon Condition that none of his Male Children should live; fo the Government fhould return to him and his Iffue. But finding that Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto were brought up fecretly, he with his Sons made War upon Saturn; took him, his Wife and Children Prisoners, until Jupiter came to Age, who defeated Titan with his Thunder-bolts, and punifh'd the Titans in Hell and other Places. The Truth of this Story is taken from the old Giants, the Builders of Babel, Gen. xi. 2. The Giants War is defcribed by the Poets with all Might, Terror and Greatness; but our Author has beautifully improv'd it here and in his fixth Book, in the fuppofed War of the Fallen Angels against God.

(r) Typhon or Typheus; Heb. and Phanic. i. e. An Inundation, Gr. i. e. An Inflammation or Smaaking; because he was Thunder-ftruck by Jupiter. A monfirous Giant, half Man, half Serpent. His Head, they fay, reached to Heaven, his Hands from one End of the Earth to the other, and he blew Fire out of his Mouth. These two were the chief of the Giants. In the War with the Gods they heaped Mountains upon Mountains, and batter'd Heaven with huge Rocks

and Inlands pluck'd out of the Sea: Jupiter truck him with Thunder-bolts and laid him under Mount Etna. By this Fable they meant the Winds which blow from one End of Heaven to the other, and from it to the Earth; Jupiter's conquering him fignifies, that the Sun moderates and tempers the Winds.

(s) Tarfus; In a Cave near this City Typhon was buried, according to fome Authors, whom ourAuthor follows; but others fay it was under Mount Etna. Strabo says, that Anchiale and Tarfus were built by Sardanapalus, the laft Emperor of the Affyrian Monarchy, about A. M. 3242, both in one Day: And that Tarfus excell'd Athens, Alexandria, and Rome for polite Literature.

Tarfus; Lat. Gr. from the Heb. i. e. Searched or found out. The chief City of Cilicia, in the leffer Afia upon the River Cydnus, founded by Tarshish the fecond Son of Javan, Gen. x. 4. now called Terafle and Tarfis, about 304 Miles from Jerufalem towards the North. It is famous for the Flight of Jonas the Prophet, for being the Birth-Place of St. Paul, and many other learned Men.

(t) Leviathan; Lat. Gr. from the Heb. i. e. A Heap of Serpents; as if many Serpents were gathered together into one, to make up that one huge Creature: fome take it to be the Whale,

but

ted the largest of all the Creatures that fwim in the Ocean; (who fometimes fleeping on the GERMAN Sea, which washes NORWAY, (u) GREENLAND, and ICELAND, the Pilot of fome fmall Skiff, ready to fink in the Night, mistakes for some Island, and, as Mariners relate, fixes Anchor into his Scales, and moors by his Side under the Lee, while Night covers the Sea with Darkness, and keeps off the defir'd Morning) in fuch Manner lay SATAN, prodigiously stretch'd out and huge in Length, chain'd upon the burning Lake; nor had he ever rifen, or lifted his Head from thence, but that the Will and high Permiffion of the all-ruling Power, left him at large to his own dark Purposes and Designs; that with repeated Crimes he might heap upon himself Damnation, at the fame Time that he fought to bring Evil upon others; and might be mortify'd to fee, how all his Malice only ferv'd to bring forth Grace, infinite Goodness and Mercy, fhewn to MAN, who should be feduc'd by him, but upon himfelf Wrath, Vengeance pour'd out, and threefold Confufion.

THUS permitted, he raifes up his mighty Stature from off the Pool, and driving the Flames backward on each Hand, they roll in pointed Spires, and leave in the Middle an horrid Vale: Then with out-ftretch'd Wings he flies upward, floating along upon the dusky Air, that never before had born fuch a Weight; at length he alighted upon dry Land, if that may be pro

but the Whale hath no Scales; others the Crocodile or Alligator. It is beautifully described, Job 41. 15.

(x) Norway; Sax. i. e. The North Way. A Country on the North of Europe, about 1300 Miles in Length, and 260 in Breadth. Here the German Oce an, which wafheth Norway,

perly

Greenland, and Iceland: The Whales live in these cold Northern Seas, and also in the cold Coaft of Patagonia, near the Straits of Magellan, in great Abundance; but rarely in the warm, because of their exceffive Fatnefs; for they would melt and be parboiled in hot Waters.

perly call'd fo, that ever burn'd with folid, as the Lake did with liquid Fire; the Colour of which was as when the Force of pent-up fubterranean Wind, removes a Hill torn from PELORUS, (x) or the fhatter'd Sides of thundering Mount ETNA; (y) whofe combuftible and bituminous Entrails from thence catching Fire, working with mineral Force, affifts the Winds, and leaves a parch'd and fing'd-up Bottom, mix'd with Stench and Smoak. No better Refting-place than this was found by the unblefs'd Feet of SATAN, who was immediately follow'd by BEELZEBUB; both of them glorying to have efcap'd from the burning Lake, which they imputed to their own natural and recover'd Strength, and not to the Permiffion of GoD..

(x) Pelorus; Lat. Gr. Heb. and Phan. A Pilot; or Gr. from Pelorus an African Pilot whom they fay Hannibal flew and buried, fuppofing he had betray'd him; but finding his Miftake, he erected a Statue for him in a high Place near the Sea, which he call'd Peloris. It is one of the three Promontories of Sicily, on the North Side, about a Mile and a half from Italy, now call'd Capo di Faro, Ital. i. e. The Cape of the Light-Houfe. But here it is taken for the whole Ifland of Sicily, which is very fubject to Earthquakes.

(y) Etna; Lat. Gr. from the Heb. Attuna, i. e. A Furnace, á Chimney, or Etuna, i. e. A Mift; because of the perpetual Smoak afcending from the Top of it. Pindar, an antient Greek Poet, calls it a celeftial Column, from its Height, being the higheft Mountain there; on the Top of it one may fee all the lfland,

Is

and to Africa. A Vulcano, or
burning Mountain on the East
Side of Sicily, about 60 Miles in
Compafs, 100 Feet perpendicu-
lar, and a Mile of Afcent
which always cafts up Smoak,
Flames, Afhes, and fometimes
great Stones, liquid Metal and
Sulphur, which devour all Things
before it. This Mountain has
burnt above 3000 Years paft, but
is not in the leaft confumed; it
hath Snow upon the Top, Vine-
yards and fruitful Paftures on the
Sides, and at the Bottom.
hath had nine terrible Eruptions
that we know of; the most

It

dreadful were in A. D. 1538, 1669, and 1693. It is now called Gibello by the Arabs, i. e. The Mountain, by Way of Eminence. Befides this there are divers other Vulcanoes in Europe, Afia, Africa, and America, which are caufed by the Abundance of Su phur in their Bowels.

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