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765 Defy'd the best of Panim chivalry. Heathenish champions or horse soldiers.

7.80

when the sun with Taurus rides.

Taurus, the second sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters in April. The twelve signs of the zodiac may not here be inapplicable to our young friends, whom we particularly address.

The ram, the bull, the heavenly twins,
And next the crab, the lion shines,

The virgin and the scales,
The scorpion, archer, and sea-goat,
The man that holds the water-pot,
And fish with glittering tails.

like that pygmean race.

The race of Pygmæi, said to be a nation of dwarfs in the most extreme parts of India. 794 The great seraphic lords and cherubin,

Belonging to the highest order of angels, cherubim to the second.

795 In close recess and secret conclave sat.

A council chamber; a secret hall, appointed for

the election of popes. Conclave

here means a

council chamber within the Pandemonian.

796 A thousand demi-gods on golden seats.

Those gods, among the heathen, who partook of human nature, as Hercules, &c.

END OF FIRST BOOK.

BOOK II.

2 Out-shone the wealth of Ormus.

2

3

43

An island in Asia, in the Gulf of Persia. Asia may be esteemed the richest and most fruitful part of the world: it supplies us with the richest spices, drugs, diamonds and other precious stones; with silks, muslins, coffee, tea, &c.

and of Ind.

The Indus, called by the natives Sindek, is the boundary of India to the west, and gives name to the country. It derives its origin from ten streams, springing remote from each other, out of the Persian and Tartarian mountains, one of which originates in Cashmere. In its course to the Indian Sea, it receives five great rivers: the Behut, the ancient Hydaspes; the Chunab or ancient Acesinas; the Rauvee, or Hydrastes; the Setlege, or Hesudrus; and a river on the ancient Hyphasis. These rivers form the Panjah, or country of the five rivers. The Indus is also called the Nilab or Blue river and the Attock. Its whole course is one thousand miles.

Or where the gorgeous east.

The eastern peninsula of India, Hindoostan, &c. He ceas'd; and next him Moloch, scepter'd king. A king, the god of the Amorites; to whom

F

113

they sacrificed their children, in the Valley of Tophet.

dropt Manna.

though his tongue

The miraculous and delicate bread, wherewith God fed his people in the wilderness of Arabia, forty years: it was a little round hard grain, that fell every morning in plenty; that it was sufficient to feed more than a million of people, allowing every one three quarts a day: it suited every one's taste; always good,' as the widow's meal in the days of Elija; and, therefore, it was called angels' food, and the bread of heaven.

170 What if the breath.

Tophet is ordained of old. He hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood, the breath of Jehovah, like a stream, doth kindle it. Isaiah, xxx. 33.

191 All these our motions vain sees and derides.

He that sitteth in the heavens, shall laugh; Jehovah shall have them in derision. Psalms, ii. 4.

226 Thus Belial.

228

233

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and Chaos judge the strife.

Chaos was deemed, by some, as one of the oldest of the gods; and invoked as one of the infernal deities.

how oft amidst

Thick cloud and dark, doth heaven's all-ruling sire.

He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion

293

round about him, were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Jehovah also thundered in the heavens; and the Highest gave his voice, hail-stones and coals of fire. Psalms, xviii. 11, 13.

so much the fear

Of thunder and the sword of Michael.

One of the chiefs of the celestial army, against the revolting angels. An archangel.

299 Which when Beelzebub.

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A fallen angel, the next to Satan in power.
sage he stood

With Atlantean shoulders.

Atlas, a king of Mauritania, who, for his great skill in astronomy, was feigned, by the poets, to bear heaven on his shoulders; whence a book of universal geography, containing maps of the world, is called an atlas.

and with iron sceptre rule,

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for an inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth, for a possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings: be intructed, ye judges of the earth. Ps. ii. 8,9,10. and by an oath,

That shook heav'n's whole circumference, confirmed.

For when God made promise to. Abraham, because he could not swear by a greater, he sware by himself:

Saying, surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee;

483

499.

For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath of confirmation, is to them an end of strife.

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew, unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

That, by two immutable things, in which it were impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the oath set before us.

vi. 13, 14, 16, 17, 18.

Hebrews,

lest bad men should boast." By grace are ye saved through faith: not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph. ii. 8, 9. and God proclaiming peace.

He came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. Eph. xi. 17. 505 That day and night for his destruction wait,

Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour;

Whom resist, stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren, that are in the world. 1 Peter, v. 8, 9. 506 The Stygian counsel thus dissolv'd.

Belonging to the river Styx, which the poets feign to be a river in the infernal regions, by which the gods swore.

518 By herald's voice explained.

An officer at arms, whose duty it is to denounce war; to proclaim peace; or to be employed by the king in martial messages: they are judges and examiners of gentlemen's coats of

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