atry Throng
Wave rowling after Wave, where way they found,
If steep, with Torrent rapture, if through plain
Soft Ebbing.--

How is the Verse extended where the Whale lies at length upon the
Ocean!

"--There Leviathan
Hugest of living Creatures, on the Deep
Stretch'd like a Promontory sleeps.--

How does the Line labour when the Elephant is working himself through
the stiff Clay, whilst the lesser Animals sprout up as it were in an
Instant!

"--Scarce thro' his Mould
_Behemoth_, biggest born of Earth, upheav'd
His Vastness.--

And,

"--Fleec'd the Flocks and bleating, rose
As Plants.--

But I shall have occasion to take notice of this Subject hereafter.

IV. The fourth thing to be enquir'd into is, _The mixing of singular
and plural Numbers_, in which _Milton_ excels.

"--Flowers were the Couch
Pansies, and Violets, and _Asphodel_,
And _Hyacinth_, Earth's freshest softest Lap.

Again,

"--Through many a dark and dreary Vale
They pass'd, and many a Region dolorous,
O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp,
Rocks, Caves, Lakes, Fens, Bogs, Dens, and
Shades of Death.

Again,

"Sporting the _Lion_ ramp'd, and in his Paw
Dandled the _Kid_; Bears, Tigers, Ounces, Pards,
Gambol'd before them.--

Again,

"--Sweet Interchange
Of Hill and Valley, Rivers, Woods and Plains,
Now Land, now Sea, and Shores with Forest crown'd
Rocks, Dens and Caves.

Again,

"The glittering Guard he pass'd, and now is come
Into the blissful Field, thro' Groves of Myrrh,
And flow'ry Odours, _Cassia_, _Nard_, and _Balm_.

V. As to the fifth Remark upon _Virgil_, which relates to his using
the Particles _Que_ and _Et_ in his Verse, there can be nothing of
that nature in _Milton_. So that I proceed to

VI. The sixth thing to be observed, which is, _The Collocatio
Verborum_.

_Milton_ often places the Adjective after the Substantive, which very
much raises the Stile.

"Strait he commands that at the warlike Sound
Of Trumpets _loud_, and Clarions, be uprear'd
His mighty Standard. That proud Honour claim'd
_Azazel_, as his Right; a Cherub _tall_.--

Again,

"Thy Goodness beyond Thought and Pow'r _Divine_.--

And again,

"Then from the Mountain hewing Timber _tall_.

But the utmost of his Art in this respect consists in his removing the
Adjective, the Substantive, and even the Verb, from the Line or Verse
in which the Sense is previously cont