Eve gave to Adam in his birthday suit—"
and some critic were to call it nonsense, would that critic be laughing at Milton? Payne Knight,[[436]] in his Taste, translated part of Gray's Bard into Greek. Some of his lines are
θερμὰ δ' ὁ τὲγγων δάκρυα στοναχαῖς
οὖλον μέλος φοβερᾷ
ηἔιδε φωνᾷ.
Literally thus:
"Wetting warm tears with groans,
Continuous chant with fearful
Voice he sang."
On which Hallam remarks: "The twelfth line [our first] is nonsense." And so it is, a poet can no more wet his tears with his groans than wet his ale with his whistle. Now this first line is from Pindar, but is only part of the sense; in full it is: