Whilst listening to the murmuring leaves he stood-- More than a mile immers’d within the wood-- At once the wind was laid.|--The whispering sound Was dumb.|--A rising earthquake rock’d the ground. With deeper brown the grove was overspread-- } A sudden horror seiz’d his giddy head-- } And his ears tinkled--and his colour fled. } Nature was in alarm.--Some danger nigh Seem’d threaten’d--though unseen to mortal eye. Unus’d to fear--he summon’d all his soul, And stood collected in himself--and whole: Not long.-- But for a crowning specimen of variety of pause and accent, apart from emotion, nothing can surpass the account, in _Paradise Lost_, of the Devil’s search for an accomplice: There was a plàce, Nòw nòt--though Sìn--not Tìme--fìrst wroùght the chànge, Where Tìgris--at the foot of Pàradise, Into a gùlf--shòt under ground--till pàrt Ròse up a foùntain by the Trèe of Lìfe. _In_ with the river sunk--and _wìth_ it _ròse_ Sàtan--invòlv’d in rìsing mìst--then soùght Whère to lie hìd.--Sèa he had search’d--and lànd From Eden over Pòntus--and the pòol Maeòtis--_ùp_ beyond the river _Ob_; Dòwnward as fàr antàrctic;--and in lèngth Wèst from Oròntes--to the òcean bàrr’d At Dàriën--thènce to the lànd whère flòws Gànges and Indus.--Thùs the òrb he ròam’d With nàrrow sèarch;--and with inspèction dèep Consìder’d èvery crèature--whìch of àll Mòst opportùne mìght sèrve his wìles--and foùnd The sèrpent--sùbtlest bèast of all the fièld. If the reader cast his eye again over this passage, he will not find a verse in it which is not varied and harmonized in the most remarkable manner. Let him notice in particular that curious balancing of the lines in the sixth and tenth verses: _In_ with the river sunk, &c. and _Up_ beyond the river _Ob_. It might, indeed, be objected to the versification of Milton, that it exhibits too constant a perfection of this kind. It sometimes forces upon us too great a sense of consciousness on the part of the composer. We miss the first sprightly runnings of verse,--the ease and sweetness of spontaneity. Milton, I think, also too often condenses weight into heaviness.