college in Cambridge; and all these copies and e "ditions have been carefully collated and compared "together. The manufcript hath been of tin" gular service in rectifying several passages, and e " specially in the fonnets, fome of which were not " printed till many years after Milton's death, and " were then printed imperfect and deficient both in " sense and metre; but are now, by the help of the " manuscript, restored to their just harmony and ori-"ginal perfection." There are several peculiarities in MILTON'S poetry; fuch as elision of vowels at the end of words, contraction or abbreviation of fyllables, and pronouncing the fame word with a different accent in different places. Dr. Newton has taken care to diftinguith these peculiarities; and in regard we have adopted them, it is necessary to inform the reader how these diftinctions are made. As to the elisions and abbreviations, Newton says, in a note on lin. 39. book 1. of Paradise Lost, To fet himself in glory' above his peers, " Befides the other methods which MILTON has em 66 ployed to diverfify and improve his numbers, he " takes the fame liberties as Shakespeare and others " of our old poets, and, in imitation of the Greeks " and Latins, often cuts off the vowel at the end of " a word, when the next word begins with a vowel; " though he does not, like the Greeks, wholly drop "the vowel, but still retains it in writing, like the "Latins. Another liberty that he takes likewife for "the greater improvement and variety of his versifi"cation, is pronouncing the fame word sometimes as two syllables, and sometimes as only one fyllable or two short ones. We have frequent instances in "Spirit, ruin, riot, reason, highest, and several other "words. But then these excellencies in MILTON'S "verse are attended with this inconvenience, that his "numbers seem imbarrassed to fuch readers as know not, or know not readily, where fuch elision or ab" breviation of vowels is to take place; and there" fore, "fore, for their fakes, we have taken care through " out this edition to mark fuch vowels as are to be cut off, and fuch as are to be contracted and ab" breviated, thus." And as to the different way of pronouncing the fame word, he says, in a note on lin. 209. book I. of Paradise Loft, : So ftretch'd out huge in length the ar'ch-fiend lay, " The tone is upon the first fyllable in this line, the ar'ch fiend lay; whereas it was upon the last fyllable " of the word in verse 156. th arch fiend reply'd; a liberty that Milton sometimes takes to pronounce "the fame word with a different accent in different. places. We have marked such words as are to be pronounced with an accent different from the coinmon ufe." " Such being the general plan of Newton's edition of our author's poems, we have literally followed his corrected text, though we have taken care to compare it with that of other editions. We have likewise paid the greatest regard to his pointing, which is generally that of MILTON himself, though we faw no good reason to follow it implicitly in every particular. As to the orthography, Newton retained feveral peculiarities of his author, which had been difcarded in former editions, and likewise introduced *fome of his own. But we have rejected all fuch peculiarities, preferring the orthography now almost universally established: And we are countenanced in our method of spelling, in most words, by the authority of Mr. Johnson's excellent dictionary of the English language. This ingenious gentleman obferves, that, in the time of Charles I. there was a very prevalent inclination to change the orthography; as appears, among other books, in fuch editions of the works of Milton. as were published by himself. He afterwards adds, "We have fince had no general reformers: But fome " ingenious men have endeavoured to deserve well of " their country, by writing honor and labor for honour " and * and labour, red for read in the preter-tense, sais for fays, repete for repeat, explane for explain, or de"clame for declaim. Of these it may be said, that " as they have done no good; they have done little " harm; both because they have innovated little, "and because few have followed them." In Milton's poems there are to be found many an. tiquated and obsolete words, and several words invented by himself. As these words may occafion some inconvenience to unlearned readers, and to such as are not well versed in the writings of the ancient English poets, of whom Milton is faid to have been a great imitator; for their fakes therefore we have annexed to the second volume a copious glossary, explaining fuch words; which glossary has been chiefly taken from Dr. Newton's notes, and Mr. Johnfon's dictionary. A few notes are put at the bottom of several poems and fonnets in the second volume, which are chiefly taken or abridged from Newton. Mr. Addison's Spectators upon the Paradise Lost, are faid to have contributed greatly to the reputation of the poem; and they are generally much esteemed. Dr. Newton tells us, that it was recommended to him to print them entire, as they had been formerly added to fome editions. Accordingly this gentleman has prefixed those papers which treat of the poem in general, in the form of a preliminary discourse; and those which are written upon each book separately, he has inferted under each book, and interwoven in their proper places. But, as we suppose most of our readers are possessed of the Spectator, and confequently of those much esteemed papers of Mr. Addison's, we refer them to his quotations, when necessary to elucidate the criticisms; and do not, like former editors, prefix them to the Paradise Loft, preferable to the Life of our admired author. Yet it may be no difagreeable entertainment to the reader, to be presented with a few of the many criti cisms and encomiums passed upon Milton's poems by men of diftinguished character among the critics. "Three 1 "Three poets in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. "Every greatly amiable muse Dryden. " Of elder ages in thy Milton met. " Unlimited, and various, as his theme; Aftonishing as Chaos; as the bloom " Of blowing Eden fair; foft as the talk "Of our grand parents, and as heaven fublime." Thomson. "Though the Paradife Loft be the flower of epic "poefy, yet the other poems are no less excellent in "their kind; and if they have not that fublimity and "majesty, are at least equally beautiful, and pleasing "to the imagination." Newton. "It is commonly reported, that Milton himfelf "preferred Paradise Regain'd to the Paradise Lost. "But all that we can affert upon good authority, is, "that he could not endure to hear the former cried "down so much as it was, in comparison with the " latter. For certainly it is very worthy of the au"thor; and, contrary to what Mr. Toland relates, "Milton may be seen in Paradise Regain'd as well as " in Paradise Lost. If it is inferior in poetry, I know "not whether it is not fuperior in fentiment; if it is " less descriptive, it is more argumentative; if it " doth not fometimes rise fo high, neither doth it e"ver fink so low; and it has not met with the ap" probation it deserves, only because it has not been " more read and confidered. His subject indeed is "confined, and he has a narrow foundation to build upon; but he has raised as noble a superstructure, " as fuch little room and fuch scanty materials would allowa 86 "allow. The great beauty of it is the contrast be"tween the two characters of the Tempter and our "Saviour, the artful fophistry and specious infinua" tions of the one refuted by the strong sense and " manly eloquence of the other. And indeed this poem, to be more admired, needs only to be bet" ter known." Newton. "Milton's Paradise Regain'd has not met with the " approbation that it deserves. It has not the har : mony of numbers, the fublimity of thought, and "the beauties of diction, which are in Paradife Loft. "It is composed in a lower and less striking style, a style suited to the subject. Artful fophistry, false "reasoning, fet off in the most specious manner, and " refuted by the Son of God with strong unaffected " eloquence, is the peculiar excellence of this poem." Fortin. "The greatest, and indeed justest objection to Pa"radise Regain'd, is the narrowness of its plan, which " being confined to that single scene of our Saviour's "life on earth, his temptation in the defert, has too " much sameness in it, too much of the reasoning and " too little of the descriptive part; a defect most certainly in an epic poem, which ought to confift of a proper and happy mixture of the instructive and the delightful. Milton was himself, no doubt, fenfi"ble of this imperfection, and has therefore very judicioufly contrived and introduced all the little digreffions that could with any fort of propriety con"nect with his subject, in order to relieve and refresh the reader's attention. The conversation betwixt "Andrew and Simon, upon the missing our Saviour "so long, with the virgin's reflections on the fame occafion, and the council of the devils how beft to "attack their enemy, are instances of this fort, and both very happily executed in their respective ways. The language of the former is not glaring and impaffioned, but cool and unaffected, corresponding " most exactly to the humble pious character of the speakers. That of the latter is full of energy and majesty, and not a whit inferior to their most spi" rited " |