IF Clearness and Perfpicuity were only to be confulted, the Poet would have nothing elfe to do but to clothe his Thoughts in the most plain and natural Expreffions. But fince it often happens that the moft obvious Phrases, and those which are used in ordinary Converfation, become too familiar to the Ear, and contract a kind of Meannefs, by paffing through the Mouths of the Vulgar, a Poet fhould take particular Care to guard himself against Idiomatic Ways of fpeaking. Ovid and Lucan have many Poorneffes of Expreffion upon this Account, as taking up with the firft Phrases that offered, without putting themselves to the Trouble of looking after fuch as would not only be natural, but also elevated and fublime. Milton has but a few Failings in this kind, of which, however, you may meet with fome Inftances, as in the following Paffages.

Embrios and Idiots, Eremites and Friars,

White, Black and Gray, with all their Trumpery, Here Pilgrims roam

-A while Difcourfe they hold,

No Fear left Dinner cool; when thus began

Our Author

Who of all Ages to fucceed, but feeling

The Evil on him brought by me, will curfe
My Had, Illfare our Ancestor impure,
For this we may thank Adam-

THE great Masters in Composition know very well that many an elegant Phrafe becomes improper for a Poet or an Orator, when it has been debased by common Ufe. For this Reafon the Works of Ancient Authors, which are written in dead Languages, have a great Advantage over those which are written in Languages that are now fpoken. Were there any Mean Phrases or Idioms in Virgil and Homer, they would not fhock the Ear of the moft delicate Modern Reader, fo much as they would have done that of an old Greek or Roman, because we never hear

them

them pronounced in our Streets, or in ordinary Converfation.

IT is not therefore fufficient that the Language of an Epic Poem be Perfpicuous, unless it be allo Sublime. To this End it ought to deviate from the common Forms and ordinary Phrafes of Speech. The Judgment of a Poet very much difcovers itself in fhunning the common Roads of Expreffion, without falling into fuch ways of Speech as may feem ftiff and unnatural; he must not fwell into a falfe Sublime, by endeavouring to avoid the other Extreme. Among the Greeks, Efchylus, and fometimes Sophocles, were guilty of this Fault; among the Latins, Claudian and Statius; and among our own Countrymen, Shakespear and Lee. In thefe Authors the Affectation of Greatnefs often hurts the Perfpicuity of the Stile, as in many others the Endeavour after Perfpicuity prejudices its Greatness.

ARISTOTLE has obferved, that the Idiomatic Stile may be avoided, and the Sublime formed by the following Methods. Firft, by the Ufe of Metaphors: fuch are thofe of Milton.

Imparadifed in one another's Arms.

And in his Hand a Reed

Stood waving tipt with Fire.-
The graffy Clods now calv'd..
Spangled with Eyes.

IN thefe and innumerable other Inftances, the Metaphors are very bold but juft; I muft however obferve, that the Metaphors are not thick fown in Milton, which always favours too much of Wit; that they never clash with one another, which, as Ariftotle obferves, turns a Sentence into a kind of an Enigma or Riddle; and that he feldom has Recourse to them where the proper and natural Words will do as well.

ANOTHER' way of raising the Language, and giving it a Poetical Turn, is to make ufe of the Idioms of other Tongues. Virgil is full of the Greek

Forms

Forms of Speech, which the Critics call Hellenisms, as Horace in his Odes abounds with them much more than Virgil. I need not mention the feveral Dialects which Homer has made ufe of for this End. Milton, in Conformity with the Practice of the Ancient Poets, and with Ariftotle's Rule, has infused a great many Latinifms as well as Græcifms, and fometimes Hebra fms, into the Language of his Poem; as towards the Beginning of it.

Nor did they not perceive the evil Plight

In which they were, or the fierce Pains not feel.
Yet to their Gen'ral's Voice they foon obey'd.

-Who fhall tempt with wand'ring Feet

The dark unbottom'd infinite Abyss,

And through the palpable Obfcure find out
His uncouth way, or Spread his airy Flight
Upborne with indefatigable Wings

Over the vast Abrupt!

-So both afcend

In the Vifions of God

B. 2.

UNDER this Head may be reckoned the placing the Adjective after the Subftantive, the Tranfpofition of Words, the turning the Adjective into a Subftantive, with feveral other Foreign Modes of Speech, which this Poet has naturalized to give his Verfe the greater Sound, and throw it out of Profe.

THE third Method mentioned by Ariftotle, is what agrees with the Genius of the Greek Language more than that of any other Tongue, and is therefore more fed by Homer than by any other Poet. I mean the lengthening of a Phrafe by the Addition of Words, which may either be inferted or omitted, as alfo by the extending or contracting of particular Words by the Infertion or Omiffion of certain Syllables. Milton has put in practice this Method of raifing his Language, as far as the Nature of our Tongue will permit, as in the Paffage above

mentioned,

mentioned, Eremite for what is Hermite in common Difcourfe. If you observe the Measure of his Verse, he has with great Judgment fuppreffed a Syllable in feveral Words, and shortned those of two Syllables into one, by which Method, befides the above-mentioned Advantage, he has given a greater Variety to his Numbers. But this Practice is more particularly remarkable in the Names of Perfons and Countries, as Beelzebub, Heffebon, and in many other Particulars, wherein he has either changed the Name, or made use of that which is not the most commonly known, that he might the better depart from the Language of the Vulgar.

THE fame Reason recommended to him several old Words, which also makes his Poem appear the more venerable, and gives it a greater Air of Antiquity.

I must likewife take notice, that there are in Milton feveral Words of his own coining, as Cerberean, mifcreated, bell-doom'd, Embryon Atoms, and many others. If the Reader is offended at this Liberty in our English Poet, I would recommend him to a Discourse in Plutarch, which fhews us how frequently Homer has made ufe of the fame Liberty.

MILTON by the above-mentioned. Helps, and by the Choice of the noblest Words and Phrases which our Tongue would afford him, has carried our Language to a greater Height than any of the English Poets have ever done before or after him, and made the Sublimity of his Stile equal to that of his Sentiments.

I have been the more particular in thefe Obfervations on Milton's Stile, becaufe it is that Part of him in which he appears the moft fingular. The Remarks I have here made upon the Practice of other Poets, with my Obfervations out of Ariftotle, will perhaps alleviate the Prejudice which fome have taken to his Poem upon this Account; though after all I must confefs, that I think his Stile, though admirable in general,

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is in fome Places too much stiffened and obfcured by the frequent Ufe of those Methods, which Ariftotle has prefcribed for the raising of it.

THIS Redundancy of thofe feveral Ways of Speech which Ariftotle calls foreign Language, and with which Milton has fo very much enriched, and in some places darkned the Language of his Poem, was the more proper for his use, because his Poem is written in Blank Verfe. Rhyme, without any other Affistance, throws the Language off from Profe, and very often makes an indifferent Phrase pass unregarded; but where the Verfe is not built upon Rhymes, there Pomp of Sound, and Energy of Expreffion are indifpenfably neceffary to fupport the Stile, and keep it from falling into the Flatnefs of Profe.

THOSE who have not a Tafte for this Elevation of Stile, and are apt to ridicule a Poet when he goes out of the common Forms of Expreffion, would do well to fee how Ariftotle has treated an ancient Author, called Euclid, for his infipid Mirth upon this Occafion. Mr. Dryden ufed to call this fort of Men his Profe-Critics.

I should, under this Head of the Language, confider Milton's Numbers, in which he has made ufe of feveral Elifions, that are not cuftomary among other English Poets, as may be particularly obferved in his cutting off the Letter Y, when it precedes a Vowel. This, and fome other Innovations in the Measure of his Verfe, has varied his Numbers, in fuch a manner, as makes them incapable of fatiating the Ear and cloying the Reader, which the fame uniform Measure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual Returns of Rhyme never fail to do in long Narrative Poems. I fhall clofe thefe Reflexions upon the Language of Paradife Loft, with obferving, that Milton has copied after Homer, rather than Virgil, in the Length of his Periods, the Copioufnefs of his Phrafes, and the running of his Verfes into one another.