—­Then shall this Mount
  Of Paradise by might of Waves be mov’d
  Out of his Place, pushed by the horned Flood
  With all his Verdure spoil’d, and Trees adrift
  Down the great River to the opning Gulf,
  And there take root, an Island salt and bare,
  The haunt of Seals and Orcs and Sea-Mews clang.

The Transition which the Poet makes from the Vision of the Deluge, to the Concern it occasioned in Adam, is exquisitely graceful, and copied after Virgil, though the first Thought it introduces is rather in the Spirit of Ovid.

  How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold
  The End of all thy Offspring, End so sad,
  Depopulation! thee another Flood
  Of Tears and Sorrow, a Flood thee also drowned,
  And sunk thee as thy Sons; till gently rear’d
  By th’ Angel, on thy Feet thou stoodst at last,
  Tho’ comfortless, as when a Father mourns
  His Children, all in view destroyed at once.

I have been the more particular in my Quotations out of the eleventh Book of Paradise Lost, because it is not generally reckoned among the most shining Books of this Poem; for which Reason the Reader might be apt to overlook those many Passages in it which deserve our Admiration.  The eleventh and twelfth are indeed built upon that single Circumstance of the Removal of our first Parents from Paradise; but tho’ this is not in itself so great a Subject as that in most of the foregoing Books, it is extended and diversified with so many surprising Incidents and pleasing Episodes, that these two last Books can by no means be looked upon as unequal Parts of this Divine Poem.  I must further add, that had not Milton represented our first Parents as driven out of Paradise, his Fall of Man would not have been compleat, and consequently his Action would have been imperfect.

L.

[Footnote 1:  Nat.  Quaest.  Bk.  III.  Sec.27.]

[Footnote 2:  [this]]

* * * * *

No. 364.  Monday, April 28, 1712.  Steele.

  ’[—­Navibus [1]] atque
  Quadrigis petimus bene vivere.’

  Hor.

  Mr. SPECTATOR, [2]

A Lady of my Acquaintance, for whom I have too much Respect to be easy while she is doing an indiscreet Action, has given occasion to this Trouble:  She is a Widow, to whom the Indulgence of a tender Husband has entrusted the Management of a very great Fortune, and a Son about sixteen, both which she is extremely fond of.  The Boy has Parts of the middle Size, neither shining nor despicable, and has passed the common Exercises of his Years with tolerable Advantage; but is withal what you would call a forward Youth:  By the Help of this last Qualification, which serves as a Varnish to all the rest, he is enabled to make the best Use of his Learning, and display it at full length upon all Occasions.  Last Summer he distinguished himself