Note 183 — Chapter IV · THE PILGRIMAGE ON THE FOREST-MOUNTAIN.
Reading edition
Had Milton viewed a scene like this? or was his sublime simile for the fallen Angels a pure creation of his imagination?
‘Yet faithful how they stood Their glory withered; as when heaven’s fire Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines, With singed top their stately growth, though bare, Stands on the blasted heath.’—Par. Lost, i. 612.