he deformity of Satan is only in
the depravity of his will; he has no bodily deformity to excite our
loathing or disgust. The horns and tail are not there, poor emblems of the
unbending, unconquered spirit, of the writhing agonies within. Milton was
too magnanimous and open an antagonist to support his argument by the
bye-tricks of a hump and cloven foot; to bring into the fair field of
controversy the good old catholic prejudices of which Tasso and Dante have
availed themselves, and which the mystic German critics would restore. He
relied on the justice of his cause, and did not scruple to give the devil
his due. Some persons may think that he has carried his liberality too
far, and injured the cause he professed to espouse by making him the chief
person in his poem. Considering the nature of his subject, he would be
equally in danger of running into this fault, from his faith in religion,
and his love of rebellion; and perhaps each of these motives had its full
share in determining the choice of his subject.

Not only the figure of Satan, but his speeches in council, his
soliloquies, his address to Eve, his share in the war in heaven; or in the
fall of man, show the same decided superiority of character. To give only
one instance, almost the first speech he makes:

"Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,
Said then the lost archangel, this the seat
That we must change for Heaven; this mournful gloom
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he
Who now is sov'rain can dispose and bid
What shall be right: farthest from him is best,
Whom reason hath equal'd, force hath made supreme
Above his equals. Farewell happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell,
Receive thy new possessor; one who brings
A mind not to be chang'd by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice,
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."

The whole of the speeches and debates in Pandemonium are well worthy of
the place and the occasion--with Gods for speakers, and angels