Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,
Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
And found no end, in wandering mazes lost."

like the Puritans of Milton's

Meanwhile Satan sets out on his great mission and reaches the Gates of Hell. Two horrid shapes rise at his approach, the ghastly keepers of Hell-Gate Sin and Death, the former a foul monster half woman half serpent, the latter a terrible creature which would have daunted the bravest being;— ;,black it stood as night,

Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as hell,

And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head,

The likeness of a kingly crown had on."

But Sin easily recognises in Satan her father, for she had sprung from his head, like Pallas out of the head of Zeus all armed, when Satan first conceived that envy of God's divine Son which was the original cause of his revolt. And in the grisly terror by her side she acknowledges her With a greedy ear they listen son, the offspring of the incestuous love of Satan for his daughter.

to Satan's flattering words, who promises to them a wide empire on Earth, where Sin shall reign And Sin taking the fatal keys opens. supreme and the hungry maw of Death shall be filled.

wide the gates of Hell never again to be shut until the last and final doom of Satan. And now Chaos is revealed to them

,,a dark

Illimitable ocean without bound,

Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height,

And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night

And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

Of endless wars, and by confusion stand."

Across this wide, dreary, and desolate gulf Satan wings his flight, a perilous journey, until at last this our world throws its light far into Chaos, and he sees

,,hanging in a golden chain,

This pendent world, in bigness as a star
Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon.
Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accursed, and in a cursed hour, he hies."

With the opening of the third book the Poet emerges from the regions of darkness and greets the heavenly light with a rapturous outburst of painfraught joy:

,,Hail, holy light! offspring of heaven first-born."

With touching pathos Milton here bewails his own blindness

,,but thou

Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain

To find thy piercing ray and find no dawn."

The following passage reminds the German reader of the wild outcry of young Melchthal on hearing of his father's blindness:

,,Thus with the year

Seasons return, but not to me returns

Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,

Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,

Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine."

And now we are in Heaven in the presence of the divine Maker who sits enthroned in splendor,

and bands of shining angels surround them.

The Lord sees Satan flying towards this world and points him out to his Son; adding that Satan will indeed succeed in his mission. Then God justifies his own course; he has created Man

,,sufficient to have stood, though free to fall,"

he must be free, for there is no virtue, no righteousness where there is no temptation and no conscious choice. But there is no excuse for Man, if he chooses wrong, for God has forwarned him. However he may find pardon in the end, for when he falls, he falls deceived by the archenemy; but Satan who fell ,,self-tempted, self-depraved" shall be eternally lost. And divine grace will help Man to rise after the fall,

,,for I will place within them, as a guide,

My umpire conscience, whom if they will hear,
Light after light, well used, they shall attain,
And to the end persisting, safe arrive."

But justice must be done; the disloyal vassal who breaks his fealty to Heaven's Lord must die with his whole posterity, unless some intercessor redeem him and atone for his guilt by his death. Then Christ offers his life as a ransom for Man:

,,Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace;

And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,

The speediest of thy winged messengers,

To visit all thy creatures, and to all

Comes unprevented, unimplored, unsought?"

And God accepts the sacrifice prompted by love, but at the same time he proclaims his will that Christ shall rise again to resume his power and shall return in judgment to close the gates of hell for ever and to restore Paradise that is about to be lost through Man's transgression, an announcement received by the heavenly choir,,with jubilee and loud hosannas“, and

,,lowly reverent

Toward either throne they bow, and to the ground

With solemn adoration down they cast

Their crowns inwove with amaranth and gold."

In the fourth book Satan reaches the Earth and alighting on a high mountain he sees Eden spread out at his feet in all its beauty, and fierce passion and despair seize him that he is excluded from such a blissful abode and doomed to dwell in hell. In the deep night that surrounds him the poet now conjures up a landscape of most picturesque contour and richest colouring. The sweet and idyllic beauty of English scenery with its green slopes, the thick and glossy foliage of its trees, its winding silver streams, its herds of browsing cattle and flocks of frisking lambs, combines with the wild and bold grandeur of Alpine rocks and precipices and with the luxuriance of Italian vegetation with its festoons of vines trailing from tree to tree, with its golden fruits and flowers of brightest hue, the blazing sun of noon alternating with darkest, coolest shade, the moon pouring down on the peaceful scene floods of silver light, the stars globing themselves like golden balls in the deep blue vault at night, to produce a fairy scene such as we sometimes see in a dream, more beautiful than the most lovely landscapes of a Claude or a Turner. The genuine love of nature which forms so important a feature in the English character and which has made the English

Luisenschule 1886.

3

the first gardeners and the most indefatigable travelers of Europe, has never been more beautifully expressed than by Milton in these descriptions of Paradise, in which he surpasses his great model Spenser and leaves an unattainable ideal to his successors in the art of the faithful representation of Nature, Thomson and Tennyson. But the truest echo of Milton's masterly descriptions is to be found in the sweet and fresh strains of Haydn's Creation, which took its inspiration from the English poem.

Satan leaps over the thick hedge that encloses Paradise like

struction

,,so clomb the first grand thief into God's fold,

So since into his church lew'd hirelings climb."

prowling wolf bent on de

Then he beholds the happy creatures whom the Lord made in order to repair the loss Heaven sustained through his defection.

,,Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,

Godlike erect, with native honour clad,

In naked majesty, seem'd lords of all."

What noble conceptions of the poet's genius they are! how beautiful, how majestic in their innocence, yet how different from one another!

,,For contemplation He and valour formed,

For softness She, and sweet attractive grace;

He for God only, She for God in him."

The poet no doubt holds the Old Testament view of the mutual position of Man and Woman. Adam alone seems to have been made in the likeness of God and to bear the impress of his hand. His lofty thoughts, his open look, his free and manly speech make him no unworthy companion of the angels with whom he converses modestly indeed, but without shyness or feeling of inferiority. He would be a perfect being but for his one weakness, his passionate love for Eve, the love which causes his fall; and even in this we cannot help admiring the tenderness and chivalrous feeling that prompts him to be loyal also in adversity to his companion in happiness. Milton's Eve is certainly what Tennyson calls ,,the lesser man." Yet how lovely, how bewitching in her weakness! As the graceful ivy round the sturdy oak she winds herself fondly and tenderly round Adam; her very weakness is her strength,

,,So hand in hand they pass'd, the loveliest pair

That ever since in love's embraces met."

At the sight of so much beauty and innocence even Satan relents for a moment, but soon the recollection of his own misery rouses his wilder passions. Hidden in the bushes he listens to their conversation and overhears Adam repeat to his fair partner the Lord's stern prohibition to touch the Tree of Knowledge and the terrible threat of death in case of disobedience. On this prohibition he resolves to build his plan of revenge. Whilst the destroyer is thus lurking in ambush close at hand the unsuspecting pair indulge in sweetest talk and dalliance, a striking contrast! Eve tells Adam of her first awaking to life; how she found herself reposing among flowers on a green bank near a limpid lake,

,,that to me seem'd another sky.

As I bent down to look, just opposite

A shape within the watery gleam appear'd,
Bending to look on me: I started back,

It started back; but pleased I soon return'd;
Pleased it return'd as soon with answering looks
Of sympathy and love."

Ah, how supremely happy they are, the guiltless pair

,,Imparadis'd in one another's arms,"

how hateful a sight to the envious demon by their side!

And now evening comes on and a solemn stillness prevails all around interrupted only by the sweet singing of the nightingale;

,,Silence was pleased, now glowed the firmament

With living saphires; Hesperus, that led

The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length,
Apparent queen, unveil'd her peerless light,

And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw."

Thereupon they retire to their bower, a grotto studded and inlaid with richest flowers and shaded with thickest foliage, reminding the reader of the charming retreat where Calypso kept Odysseus for seven years. But before they go to rest, they lift their eyes and hands to their Maker in childlike prayer.

Whilst they sleep their guardian angels watch for them. Gabriel has been sent down to thwart Satan's plans, with an armed band he scours Paradise in search of the foe; at last he discovers him, squatting like a toad near Eve's ear, endeavouring to taint her pure imaginations with strange dreams; they arrest the Tempter and force him for once to quit Paradise.

The fifth book opens with the description of morning in Paradise. Eve starts from her troubled sleep with flushed checks. She dreamt, that she had eaten of the forbidden fruit and felt exalted, flying through the heavens. Adam comforts her with soothing words. They rise and standing up in the lovely morning scene they pour forth an unpremeditated prayer. God has compassion on their weakness and innocence and resolving to warn them once more of the impending danger, he sends the archangel Raphael down to them. Adam receives him humbly and joyfully. We are reminded of the intercourse of gods and men in Homer. Raphael does not disdain Adam's hospitable board which Eve loads with choicest fruit,

,,and their flowing cups

With pleasant liquors crown'd."

But when the banquet is over, the Angel begins to execute his mission, to prepare Adam for the coming struggle.

Here then begins the first great episode, the tale of Raphael, which comes to an end in the 8th book.

You will continue happy, if you continue obedient, thus Raphael opens his speech; and your obedience will be tested, for there is no virtue that is not put to trial. And greater creatures than you have fallen. To warn you, to beware of mischief I will tell you of the Fall of the Angels.

And he begins to tell of the origin of envy and fierce passion in Heaven, when God anointed his only Son and proclaimed him vicegerent; exacting obedience to him from all the heavenly host. Then it was that one of the great archangels conceived envy against the Son of God, then Sin was born; Lucifer's pride was offended and he stirred up rebellion among the angels, calling away the third part of the divine host to the extreme north. With scorn God saw their vain preparations and not without irony he charged his Son:

,,Nearly it now concerns us to be sure
Of our omnipotence, and with what arms
We mean to hold what anciently we claim
Of deity or empire."

Lucifer, henceforth called Satan, appealed to the pride of his comrades; shall they now pay kneetribute to two? In vain Abdiel, repenting of his desertion, dissuades the revolt and advises

obedience to their Maker; Satan acknowledges no Maker; who knows if they were not selfbegotten ,,the birth mature

Of this our native heaven, ethereal sons,

Our puissance all our own!"

Then Abdiel, the prototype of Klopstocks Abadonna, leaves the rebellious crew and returns to the father.

The sixth book tells of the great war in heaven between the rebel angels and God's faithful servants. On the first day Michael and Gabriel put the rebellious host to the rout; but in the following night Satan devises hellish engines of war, monstrous cannons, with the help of which he throws the faithful angels into disorder, until they tear up mountains and overwhelm these terrible machines; but as the battle is not yet decided, on the third day God sends forth his Son in all his glory with his flaming chariot and his rolling thunder; he drives into the midst of the enemies and strikes dismay into their ranks; they turn to flight towards the walls of heaven, which open displaying before them a tremendous gulf. Seized with horror and despair they throw themselves headlong into the abyss. And whilst the rebels lie prostrate in the bottomless pit, the Messiah returns triumphant to his father.

Adam has listened with rapt attention to the tale of the angel fraught with so terrible a lesson for him; his desire to know more of the eternal problem is roused, and he entreats the angel to tell him of the origin of the world. In the seventh book the Angel relates the story of the Creation.

After the fall of the apostate angels God wishes to fill up the gap in heaven by creating a new race of beings who may in time supply the vacant place. The will of the Father is accomplished by the Son. He rides forth in his glory and halts on the edge of the abyss of Chaos, and out of Chaos he creates this world. Here follows a beautiful description of the six days' work following as close as possible the narrative of Genesis, embellishing it however with many beautiful touches and rich detail. These descriptions have become familiar to Germans through the recitatives of Haydn's oratorio.

The episode is continued in the eighth book. Adam longs for higher knowledge; he wishes to be enlightened why it is that this small earth lies fast and is served by seemingly far more important, innumerable bodies. When the conversation begins to turn on these abstruse questions, Eve retires to fulfil her household duties. The poet here launches into a digression on the movement of the heavenly bodies. The Copernican theory which placed the sun in the centre of our system, had at Milton's time already been accepted by all the more enlightened thinkers, while the Ptolomaic system which explained the phenomena on the hypothesis of nine transparent hollow spheres rotating round the stationary earth, was still the received astronomy of ordinary people. It is very curious to see the two theories displayed side by side in Milton's poem, his ordinary mode of speaking of celestial phenomena being Ptolomaic, whilst the conscious, or doctrinal, exposition of the same phenomena is Copernican. But he seems to attribute little importance to such questions; as he represented the reconcilement of fixed-fate and free-will as the sport and pastime of the Fallen Angels in Hell, so here Raphael warns Adam against such speculations which the Lord Hath left to their (men's) disputes, perhaps to move

His laughter at their quaint opinions wide.

Fulfil the duty that lies nearest before thee,

-

serve and fear God, be ,,lowly wise", and above

all obey, such is the burden of Raphael's warning speech.

And now it is Adam's turn to entertain his heavenly visitor with ,,sweet converse". And he tells him of his first waking when he found himself laid soft on the flowery herb and

,,Straight toward heaven my wondering eyes I turn'd,

And gazed awhile the ample sky."

And then he looks about him and sees this fair earth, feels and enjoys his quick sense and