Snakes in Tradition. 63 



divine miracle a grove of trees resembling the " dread pro- 

 bationary Tree" of Eden, heavy with luscious fruit; and 

 the scaly multitude, " rolling in heaps," scale the boughs, 

 hoping to eat But the fruit turns to "bitter ashes" in 

 their mouths; yet goaded on by thirst and hunger, they 

 attempt to eat again and again; "with hatefullest disrelish 

 writhed their jaws, with soot and cinders filled ; " then worn 

 out with famine and with "ceaseless hissing," they are 

 temporarily respited and resume their proper shapes ; to 

 which Milton adds this legend : 



" Yearly enjoined, some say, to undergo 

 This annual humbling certain numbered days, 

 To dash their pride, and joy for man seduced." 



Such is the demoniacal serpent of Milton, and it is assuredly 

 a fine creation the foremost reptile in poetry. 



How pitifully inadequate, after such a dignified flight, is 

 Cowper's "flittermouse wing" attempting the same lofty 

 theme. Here, for instance, is his curse, a travesty upon 

 the original : 



" Prone on thy belly, serpent, thou shalt grovel, 

 As if to man suggesting, 

 Dark as the riddling God, man is of clay ; 

 And clay shalt thou be, destitute of soul, 

 As destitute of soul each other reptile." 



It is the "Stygian," the "cruel" serpent, recognised by 

 both Adam and Eve as " empoisoned." Yet she admires 

 it, the monstrous hybrid : 



" A human breast it has, 

 The rest is serpent all ; 

 Oh ! how the sun, emblazing with its rays 

 These gorgeous scales with glowing colours bright, 

 O'erwhelms my dazzled eyes." 



And Adam specially points it out to her as a solace in 

 occasional solitude : 



