4 ss it by in despair, some taking consolation in the weak that "a line is missing here." They all print the line thus― 'Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars." hite, black, and grey, with all their trumpery— ere [as] pilgrims roam.' ake in the punctuation alone I unfold a clear and indisI unravel the puzzle that it has been to every editor, and ulous suggestion that any line or lines had dropped out. Review is now committed to a judgment upon my verbal is characterized by frivolity and trifling; but the writer y emended punctuation, the significance of which silence I e vital importance of my changes to a right understanding ly be denied where there is incapacity to comprehend the of punctuation, or by a predetermined purpose that my much-needed changes shall not be recognized-as far, at ring reviewer can arrest such recognition. I have not, ntact with the spirit of Milton to be cowed or craven-hearted actice," his stratagems. to mention, that at the time I turned to read my reviewer elf with the paper of the late Mr. G. H. Lewes, in which he e principal emendations of Shakespeare that had been put I need hardly say, that in every line of his criticisms critic is manifest, anxiety to weigh and discriminate is t may be pronounced of him, "Thou canst not be false to this picture and on that! me. PREFACE. It is not my intention to offer any apology for undertaking the restoration of the Text of Paradise Lost-either I have accomplished this responsible task successfully, or my temerity has led me into flat treason against its author. If the former, there will be cause for much satisfaction-if the latter, I shall have done a lamentable wrong to an immortal production, sacred to our intellectual life. I at once take up this attitude because I have been warned, by no unkindly monitors, of the dangers besetting such an enterprise, and because of the incredulity that is prevalent as to whether Milton's text requires any restoration whatever. An eminent and revered scholar wrote to me recently, "I am disposed to think that any considerable emendations are not possible." It is the remembrance of Dr. Bentley's egregious failure in this direction-which so clouded his great reputation -that is at the root, I am inclined to think, of this extraordinary belief, and that has given birth to the notion that none but a profane hand would now enter upon a similar enterprise-Milton's text being regarded as too sacred, or at least too settled, to admit of any emendation. That great scholar doubtless worked mischief to it, but his failure seems to have done the further harm of scaring off subsequent editors and scholars from all serious attempt at the much-needed work of restoration. We have, consequently, a text reproduced, in edition after edition, which is in such "admired disorder," that Milton's own words may partially be applied to it-"Where all life dies, death lives," and where "perverse, monstrous, and prodigious things" have crept in. Manifold proofs of my grievous statement I furnishgrievous, I repeat, for the discovery that much of the charm and splendour of the lofty Epic of the Englishspeaking race has been buried under a farrago of unmeaning verbiage, is as though some great artistic production, the admiration of the world, had been bedaubed and defaced, or some fair creation of Nature had been despoiled of its beauty. It may be asked, however, whether it is reasonable to expect that the text should have come down to us otherwise than it has-maimed and corrupt-when it is remembered that it was dictated by the blind poet to incompetent scribes, who had neither the capacity to apprehend nor that sympathy with the lofty subject treated which were absolutely necessary to secure accuracy. It has been suggested that Milton doubtless had the MS. read to him after he had dictated it for the purpose of detecting possible errors, and so would have ensured its correctness thus far: I can only reply, that this precaution may have been adopted by him, but that would only lead us into presuming that either the PREFACE. handwriting may have been so indifferent as to mislead the early printer, or that he-like many of his race, especially in that age-botched and blundered solely of his own ignorance or carelessness. Be this as it may, however, I assert that much of the text as received cannot be what Milton dictated, some of it being sheer nonsense and some palpably ludicrous. "A thick suffusion veils it," and that in some of its most lofty and exquisite passages-hardly a suspicion being entertained (except by Bentley) that there lurks a single intrusive and destroying element (like Satan secreted in the Garden of Eden), or that it is not all "as the poet himself would have desired" to have left it! Let it not, however, be supposed for one moment that I have despised friendly warnings, or have been unduly confident of my own powers to accomplish so onerous a task, or have entered upon it with a light and unwary heart. The measure of my responsibility has weighed heavily with me, and that not, primarily, from any unpleasant consequences that would result to myself in the event of failure, but because I recognise the sin of touching the sacred ark of Milton's text except in reverence and in honour of it. That reverential spirit I have trusted to be a guardian and guiding influence to save me from danger and help me to success. If that has been attained, if I have succeeded in "clearing the mud off" (to quote the expressive phrase approvingly written to me by another scholar) that priceless legacy, that "precious life-blood of a master-spirit," bequeathed to the country and the race Milton loved so well, then I shall modestly "rejoice with those who rejoice." Some restorations which will be regarded, I think, with special interest, I here prominently produce. The heavenly host are magnifying the valour of the Son of God in his contest with Satan and his forces, and thus they express themselves (Book III., lines 397-399): Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim To execute fierce vengeance on his foes. My reading is this, Sword of thy Father's might To execute fierce vengeance on his foes! Observe the removal of the obnoxious comma I have made at the end of the second line, which so heightens the force of my verbal alteration (though self-convincing), and contributes to the proof that my change is indisputable. "Sword" is the rightful word as personifying the "Father's might "-"Son" is not. "My almighty arms gird on " (VI., 713), and see VI., 737. The following may, perhaps, be accepted as of equal value. The received reading is this (Book II., line 108): He [Satan] ended frowning, and his look denounced To less than gods. Several commentators have buffeted and fretted over |