and in the chief Epifodes. Paganifm could not furnish out a real Action for a Fable greater than that of the Iliad or Eneid, and therefore an Heathen could not form a higher Notion of a Poem than one of that Kind which they call an Heroic. Whether Milton's

is not of a fublimer Nature I will not prefume to determine: It is fufficient, that I fhew there is in the Pa radife Loft all the Greatnefs of Plan, Regularity of Defign, and masterly Beauties which we discover in Homer and Virgil.

I must in the next Place observe, that Milton has interwoven in the Texture of his Fable some Particulars which do not feem to have Probability enough for an Epic Poem, particularly in the Actions which he afcribes to Sin and Death, and the Picture which he draws of the Limbo of Vanity, with other Paffages in the fecond Book. Such Allegories rather favour of the Spirit of Spenfer and Ariofto, than of Homer and Virgil.

IN the Structure of his Poem he has likewife admitted too many Digreffions. It is finely observed by Ariftotle, that the Author of an Heroic Poem fhould feldom fpeak himself, but throw as much of his Work as he can into the Mouths of thofe who are his principal Actors. Ariftotle has given no Reason for this Precept; but I prefume it is because the Mind of the Reader is more awed and elevated when he hears Æneas or Achilles fpeak, than when Virgil or Homer talk in their own Perfons. Befides that affuming the Character of an eminent Man is apt to fire the Imagination, and raise the Ideas of the Author. Tully tells us, mentioning his Dialogue of Old-age, in which Cato is the chief Speaker, that upon a Review of it he was agreeably impofed upon, and fancied that it was Cato, and not he himself, who uttered his Thoughts on that Subject.

IF the Reader would be at the Pains to fee how the Story of the Iliad and Eneid is delivered by those Perfons who act in it, he will be furprised to find how little in either of these Poems proceeds from

the

the Authors. Milton has, in the general Difpofition of his Fable, very finely obferved this great Rule; infomuch that there is fcarce a third Part of it which comes from the Poet; the reft is spoken either by Adam and Eve, or by fome Good or Evil Spirit who is engaged either in their Destruction or Defence.

FROM what has been here obferved, it appears, that Digreffions are by no means to be allowed of in an Epic Poem. If the Poet, even in the ordinary Course of his Narration, fhould fpeak as little as poffible, he fhould certainly never let his Narration fleep for the fake of any Reflexions of his own. I have often obferved, with a fecret Admiration, that the longest Reflexion in the Eneid is in that Paffage of the Tenth Book, where Turnus is reprefented as dreffing himself in the Spoils of Pallas, whom he had flain. Virgil here lets his Fable ftand ftill for the fake of the following Remark. How is the Mind of Man ignorant of Futurity, and unable to bear profperous Fortune with Moderation? The Time will come when Turnus shall wish that he had left the Body of Pallas untouched, and curfe the Day on which he dreffed himself in these Spoils. As the great Event of the Eneid, and the Death of Turnus, whom Eneas flew, because he faw him adorned with the Spoils of Pallas, turns upon this Incident, Virgil went out of his Way to make this Reflexion upon it, without which fo fmall a Circumftance might poffibly have flipped out of his Reader's Memory. Lucan, who was an Injudicious Poet, lets drop his Story very frequently for the fake of his unneceffary Digreffions, or his Diverticula, as Scaliger calls them. If he gives us an Account of the Prodigies which preceded the Civil War, he declaims upon the Occafion, and fhews how much happier it would be for Man, if he did not feel his evil Fortune before it comes to pafs, and fuffer not only by its real Weight, but by the Apprehenfion of it. Milton's Complaint for his Blindness, his Panegyric on Marriage, his Reflexions on Adam and Eve's going naked, of the Angels eat

C 5

ing

ing, and feveral other Paffages in his Poem, are liable to the fame Exception, though I muft confefs there is fo great a Beauty in thefe very Digreffons that I would not wish them out of his Poem.

I have, in a former Paper, fpoken of the Characters of Milton's Paradife Loft, and declared my Opinion, as to the Allegorical Perfons who are introduced in it.

If we look unto the Sentiments, I think they are fometimes defective under the following Heads; First, as there are several of them too much pointed, and fome that degenerate even into Puns. Of this laft Kind, I am afraid, is that in the First Book, where, fpeaking of the Pigmies, he calls them

Warr'd on by Cranes

-The fmall Infantry

ANOTHER Blemish that appears in fome of his Thoughts, is his frequent Allufion to Heathen Fables, which are not certainly of a Piece with the Divine Subject, of which he treats. I do not find fault with thefe Allufions, where the Poet himself represents them as fabulous, as he does in fome Places, but where he mentions them as Truths and Matters of Fact. The Limits of my Paper will not give me leave to be particular in Inftances of this Kind: The Reader will eafily remark them in his Perufal of the Poem.

A Third Fault in his Sentiments, is an unneceffary Oftentation of Learning, which likewife occurs very frequently. It is certain, that both Homer and Virgil were Mafters of all the Learning in their Times, but it fhews itself in their Works after an indirect and concealed Manner. Milton feems ambitious of letting us know, by his Excurfions on Free-will and Predeftination, and his many Glances upon Hiftory, Astronomy, Geography and the like, as well as by the Terms and Phrafes he fometimes makes ufe of, that

he

he was acquainted with the whole Circle of Arts and Sciences.

IF, in the laft Place, we confider the Language of this great Poet, we muft allow what I have hinted in a former Paper, that it is often too much laboured, and fometimes obfcured by old Words, Tranfpofitions, and Foreign Idioms. Sene a's Objection to the Stile of a great Author, Riget ejus oratio, nihil in ea placidum, nihil lene, is what many Critics make to Milton: As I cannot wholly refute it, fo I have already apologized for it in another Paper; to which I may further add, that Milton's Sentiments and Ideas were so wonderfully fublime, that it would have been impoffible for him to have reprefented them in their full Strength and Beauty, without having Recourse to these Foreign Affiftances. Our Language funk under him, and was unequal to that Greatnefs of Soul, which furnished him with fuch glorious Conceptions.

A fecond Fault in his Language is, that he often affects a kind of Jingle in his Words, as in the following Paffages, and many others.

And brought into the World a World of Woe.
Begirt th' Almighty Throne

Befeeching or befieging

This tempted our Attempt

At one flight Bound high overleapt all Bound.

I know there are Figures of this Kind of Speech, that fome of the greatest Ancients have been guilty of it, and that Ariftotle himself has given it a Place in his Rhetoric among the Beauties of that Art. But as it is in itself poor and trifling, it is, I think, at prefent univerfally exploded by all the Mafters of polite Writing.

THE laft Fault which I fhall take notice of in Milton's Stile, is the frequent Ufe of what the Learned call Technical Words, or Terms of Art. It is one of the greatest Beauties of Poetry, to make hard Things in

telligible, and to deliver what is abftruse of itself in fuch eafy Language as may be understood by ordinary Readers: Befides, that the Knowledge of a Poet fhould rather seem born with him, or infpired, than drawn from Books and Syftems. I have often wondered, how Mr. Dryden could translate a Passage out of Virgil, after the following Manner.

Tack to the Larboard, and ftand off to Sea,
Veer Star-board Sea and Land.

Milton makes ufe of Larboard in the fame Manner. When he is upon Building, he mentions Doric Pillars, Pilafters, Cornice, Freeze, Architrave. When he talks of Heavenly Bodies, you meet with Ecliptic and Eccentric, the Trepidation, Stars dropping from the Zenith, Rays culminating from the Equator. To which might be added many Instances of the like Kind in feveral other Arts and Sciences.

I fhall in my next Papers give an Account of the many particular Beauties in Milton, which would have been too long to infert under thofe general Heads I have already treated of, and with which I intend to conclude this Piece of Criticism.