(Vol. ii., p. 246.; Vol. vi., p. 143.)
Your correspondent JARLTZBERG, at the first reference, asks for the sense
of the passage,--
"Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw
Daily devours apace, and nothing sed:
But that two-handed engine at the door
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more."
My own view of this passage strongly testifies against the interpretation
of another passage at the second reference.
The _two-handed engine_, I am positive, is St. Michael's sword. Farther on
in the poem the bard addresses the angel St. Michael (according to Warton),
who is conceived as guarding the Mount from enemies with a drawn sword, for
in this form I apprehend does tradition state the vision to have been seen;
and he bids him to desist from looking out for enemies towards the coast of
Spain, and to "look homeward," at one of his own shepherds who is being
washed ashore, in all probability upon this very promontory. Milton
elsewhere (_Par. Lost_, book vi. 251.) speaks of the "huge two-handed sway"
of this sword of St. Michael; and here, in _Lycidas_ he repeats the epithet
to identify the instrument which is to accomplish the destruction of the
wolf. St. Michael's sword is to smite off the head of Satan, who at the
door of Christ's fold is, "with privy paw," daily devouring the hungry
sheep. Note here that, according to some theologians, the archangel
Michael, in prophecy, means Christ himself. (See the authorities quoted by
Heber, _Bampton Lectures_, iv. note _l_, p. 242.) Hence it is His business
to preserve _His own_ sheep. In the Apocalypse the final blow of St.
Michael's (or Christ's) two-edged sword, which {498} is to cleave the
serpent's head, is made a distinct subject of prophecy. (See Rev. xii.
7-10.)
While on this subject allow me to ask, Can a dolphin waft? Can a shore
wash?