Interpreted; which not long after, he,
Affecting all equality with God,
In imitation of that mount, whereon
Messiah was declar'd in sight of Heaven,
The Mountain of the Congregation call'd,' &c.
"Here is a mixture of Ariosto and Isaiah. Because Lucifer is simply said by the prophet 'to sit upon the Mount of the Congregation on the sides of the North,' Milton builds him a palace on this mountain, equal in magnificence and brilliancy to the most superb and romantic castle. In the text, by the utmost parts of the Gangetic land, we are to understand the north; the river Ganges, which separates India from Scythia, arising from the mountain Taurus."
Some of your learned correspondents will, I doubt not, be both able and willing to throw some light upon a difficulty which may possibly have an indirect connexion with other difficulties also.
RT.
Warmington, Nov. 7. 1851.