the GREEKS and TROJANS (d); though thefe Arguments employed the Pens of the two great Poets HOMER and VIRGIL: If I might but obtain of Heaven a Stile, answerable to what I have to treat of; or might be vifited by that Spirit, that often dictates when I am flumbering, and infpires me unpremeditated on fuch high Matters; on which I have had long Intention to write, beginning late, and being long in Choice of a Subject; not taking Delight in writing of Wars, which have hitherto been the only Arguments held in Eftimation; to relate tedious and feigned Battles, fought by feigned Knights; (at the fame Time leaving unmentioned the better Fortitude of Patience and heroic Martyrdom) or to defcribe Races and Games, Tilting (e) Furniture, and Tinfel Trappings of gorgeous Knights at Jouft and Tournament (f); then defcribing Feafts, ferved up in Voluptuoufnefs and Hence Nephtuchim, a Colony of the Egyptians defcended from Mizraim, who fettled upon the Coatts of the Mediterranean Sea, Gen. x. 13. Whence the Greeks feigned the Fable of Neptune, the God of the Sea: And under this Fable is included Japhet, the eldest Son of Noah; becaufe the Iflands and Continent of Europe, lying upon the Mediterranean Sea, fell to his Share. So the Antients preserved the Memory of Japhet, under this and other Diguifes. (d) Troy; from Tros, one of its Kings, who enlarged it; an actient City of Phrygia in the Leffer Afia, three Miles from the Egean Sea, on the River Xantbus, near M. Ida. It was founded by Dardanus, A. M. 2574. Troy had only fieven Kings, viz. Teucer, Dardanus, Erectbonius, Tros, Ilus, Laomedon, and Priamus, under whom it was burnt and razed by the Grecians, after a Siege of ten Years; about A. M. 2766, four hundred and thir. ty-two Years before the Building of Rome, three hundred and feventeen Years after its firft Founding, and eleven hundred and eighty-three before Chrift. There were no Monuments to be feen in Strabo's Time, and he lived in the Reign of Tiberius the Emperor. The Trojans made divers Colonies upon the Mediterranean Sea. (c) Tilting; Sax. O. E. The Running of armed Men on Horfeback, one against another, with Spears. A Diverfion much practifed among the Antients, and first used at the old Nemean Games in Greece. (f) Tournament, Fr. Ital. i. e. A Turning Round; a Concourfe. A Milit. Diverfion. Turning, joufting and fighting on Horieback. State which are Things too mean to merit the Name of heroic. Neither fkilled nor ftudious concerning fuch Things, I leave them for this higher Argument, which is of itself fufficient to lay Claim to that Name; unless the World be in its Decay, or Years, or Coldnefs of Climate hinder me from being raifed high enough to treat of it properly; nor could I attempt it without the Affiftance of the divine Spirit. Ir was not dark Night, when SATAN, who but lately fled out of EDEN before the Threats of the Angel GABRIEL, now having meditated more Fraud and Malice, and being bent on the Deftruction of MAN, (not regarding what might happen to fall heavier on himself) returned again without Fear about Midnight from compaffing the Earth; fearful of being discovered, if he appeared by Day, ever fince URIEL the Angel, who was Regent of the Sun, difcovered his Entrance, and forewarned the Cherubim that kept their Watch. When he was driven from thence full of Anguish, he kept in Darkness the Space of feven fucceffive Nights; three Times he went round the Equinoctial Line; four Times he croffed towards the Poles obliquely, ftill to avoid the Sun; in which Time he had traverfed the whole Globe: On the eighth Night he returned to EDEN, and on the Side, where the Entrance feemed moft difficult and therefore was left unwatched, by Stealth found an unfuspected Way. There was a Place, which now is not, nor has been fince the Fall of ADAM, where the River TIGRIS (g) fhot into a Gulph under Ground to the (2) Tigris. A Perfian and Median Word; from the Heb. i. e. An Arrow or Dart; becaufe of the Rapidity of its. Course: Therefore Dionyfius calls it the moft rapid of all Rivers in the World; Per. i. Line 778. It rifeth in Mount Ararat or Niphates in Armenia, parts Mefopotamia and fyria, runs by Babylon, and a little below Bagdad joins the Euphrates. In Holy ་ ག the Foot of PARADISE, 'till Part of it rofe a Fountain near the Tree of Life: SATAN threw himself into the River, and rofe up (involved in a Mift) with the Fountain into PARADISE, then thought where to conceal himself: He had searched Sea and Land, from EDEN over to PONTUS, and from MÆOTIS (b) up beyond the River OBY (1), downward as far as the South Pole; and in Length Weft, from ORONTES to the Lithmus of DARIEN (k) that ftops the SOUTHSEA, and joins the North and South AMERICA, and from thence he had journied as far as INDIA. Thus he roamed over all the World, with strict Search and deep Infpection, confidering every Creature, which of them might beft ferve his wily Pur Writ it is called Hiddekel, or (b) Mæotis; Lat. Gr. i. e. The Lake on the Coaft of Crim-Tar- In the (i) Oby, by a Fig. of Gram. In Lat. Obba, or Obius; Perf. Tatar. Extenfion, Wilderness; be cause it is a broad River. A valt River, which parts Siberia and Tatary from Ruffia. It rifes from the Lake Ojeroy Telefkoy, or Al tan Nor, bears at firit the Name of By, and does not take that of Oby, till after it has received the Waters of the River Chatun, twenty Leagues from Telefkoy; then it runs dire&ly North, and empties itself about the fixty-fifth Degree of North Latit. in to the uba Tafa Koya, from thence into the Icy Sea in fix Months, over-againit Nova Zembla, after a Courle of five hundred Ger. man Leagues. The Ruffians, fince they conquered Siberia, have built about twelve fine Towns or Forts upon it, to overawe the Tatars. About one hundred and fifty Leagues from the Source it is half a League broad, and conftantly increases in Depth and Breadth, and aboundeth with Plenty of all Manner of Fish. (k) Darien; American. A Neck of Land eighteen and in fome Places no more than twelve Leagues over from East to West, upon the River Darien, between the Gulph of Mexico and the South Sea: Therefore the Spaniards attempted to cut it, but they could not perfe&t it. It joineth North and South America. pofes; Kk 2 pofes; and he found the Serpent to be the subtleft Beast of all the Field. After much Irrefolution and Confideration, he at laft chofe him; thinking him a fit Inftrument of Fraud, in whom he might enter, and hide his dark Defigns from the moft piercing Sight for in the fubtle Serpent, whatever appeared might pafs without Remark, and be thought to proceed from his natural Wit and Cunning; which obferved in other Beafts, might raife a Sufpicion of diabolical Power, acting within beyond the Senfe of Brutes. Therefore he made this Refolution, but first ftung with inward Grief, he burft out into this paffionate Complaint: O EARTH, how like art thou to Heaven! if not more juftly preferred to it; a Seat worthier of Gods, as being built with fecond Thoughts, improving upon the old Plan! for what God would build worfe than he had done befor? 'Tis a terreftrial Heaven, attended only by other Heavens, that move round it and fhine; yet bear their bright Lights above Lights for that alone, as feeming there to center the Influence of all their precious Beams: As GOD is Centre in Heaven, and yet extends to all; fo that being as in the Centre, receives Virtue from all thofe Orbs; for here, and not in themselves, appear all their known Efficacy, productive of Herb, Plant, and the nobler Birth of Creatures, animated with vegetative, fenfitive, and rational Life, which all are fummed up and meet in MAN! With what Delight (if I could have Joy in any Thing) could I inhabit here? Where there is a fweet Change of Hill and Valley, Rivers, Woods, and Plains, with Land and Sea, and Foreft, and Rocks, and Caves: But I can find no Place of Ease or Refuge in any of thefe; and the more I fee of Pleasures about me, fo much the more Torment I feel within me, that by Comparifon makes Hell appear more intolerable: All Good to me becomes a Curfe, and and my State would be ftill much worse, were I in Heaven. But I neither feek to dwell here, nor in Heaven, except I could overcome him, who is now fupreme there; Nor have I any Hope to make myfelf lefs miferable by what I feek, but only to make others as I am, though worfe fhould be multiplied and heaped upon me: For I find no Eafe to my relentless Thoughts but in Deftruction: If I can deftroy him, or win him (for whom all this was made) to do what may cause his own Deftruction, all this will follow with him of Course, as being linked to him in Joy or Mifery: In Mifery be it then, that Deftruction may spread over all. Among the Infernal Powers, Glory fhall be given to me alone, to have marred what he, who is tiled ALMIGHTY, continued fix Days and Nights in making; and who knows how long before he had been contriving it? Though perhaps it has been fince I in one Night, fet almoft half the Angels free from inglorious Servitude, and left the Throng of his Worshippers fomething thinner. He to be avenged, and to repair his Numbers, which I had thus leffened, determined to advance into our Room, a Creature formed of the Earth, and endow him (though raifed from fuch a bafe Original) with those heavenly Perfections, which once were ours: This he has done, either in great Spite to us, advancing fuch low Creatures to fuch high Dignity; or elfe his Power, which he had of old, to create Angels is fpent (if at least he ever did create them, which who knows?) What he decreed, that he effected; he made MAN, and built for him this magnificent World, gave him the Earth for his Seat, and pronounced him Lord; and (Oh! what an Indignity was that!) fubjected Angels to be his Servants, and to watch and tend upon an Earth-born Charge. I dread the Vigilance of thofe who keep Guard over them, and to avoid it, thus wrapped up in an obfcure Mift of Midnight Vapours, I glide and pry in every Bush and |