Subject of the tenth book. Judgment on the guilty pair. The Way of Death; Trivia. Meeting of Satan with his offspring. Quadrature. Entrance of Sin and Death into the World. Satan's return to Pandemonium; the disclosure of his presence to his followers; his speech; its effect. Final view of the rebellious spirits; the last and previous transformations. The beginning of the work of Sin and Death on Earth. Origin of the Seasons. Adam's despair; his bitter words to Eve; her Penitence; reconciliation; hope; art PAGE . 211 A STUDY OF MILTON'S PARADISE LOST. CHAPTER I. ON THE FIRST BOOK. THE pioneer in a new and fertile country often, without intending it, fixes the site of a future city and the aspect of a whole landscape for hundreds of years after his death. Where he determines to till the ground, the land is forever denuded of its forests. The place where he builds his rude hut, though decided by the merest accident, becomes, after a while, the centre of a village, and the village enlarges into a metropolis. Half a score of places near by might have proved more convenient for commerce, for healthfulness, for beauty, but the choice of the backwoodsman gives direction to the course of future civilization. The successful inventor in mechanics stimulates invention in the same direction as his own thoughts have taken, but to the same extent discourages the working out of ideas, different and perhaps better. 13 |