hero, both in the principal action, and in the chief episodes. Paganism could not furnish out a real action for a fable greater than that of the Iliad or Æneid, 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 presume to determine: it is fufficient that I show there is in the Paradise Loft all the great→ nefs of plan, regularity of design, and masterly beauties which we discover in Homer and Virgil.

I muft, in the next place, obferve that Milton has interwoven in the texture of his Fable fome 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 passages in the Second Book. Suchallegories rather favour of the spirit of Spenser and Ariosto, than of Homer and Virgil.

In the ftructure of this Poem he has likewise admitted of too many digreffions. It is finely observed by Ariftotle, that the author of an heroic poem should feldom fpeak himself, but throw as much of his work as he can into the mouths of those who are his principal actors. Aristotle 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 speak, than when Virgil or Homer talk Volume L

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in their own perfons: besides 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 imposed upon, and fancied that it was Cato, and not he himself, who uttered his thoughts on that fubject.

If the reader would be at the pains to see how the ftory of the Iliad and Æneid is delivered by those perfons who act in it, he will be surprised to find how little in either of these poems proceeds from the authors: Milton has, in the general disposition 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 fpoken either by Adam and Eve, or by fome good or evil spirit who is engaged either in their deftruction or defense."

From what has been here observed 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 reflections of his own. I have often obferved, with a fecret admiration, that the longest reflection in the Æneid is in that paffage of the Tenth Book, where Turnus is represented as dreffing himself in the fpoils of Pallas whom he had flain. Virgil here lets his fable stand still for the sake of the following

remark; 'How is the mind of men ignorant of fu'turity, and unable to bear prosperous fortune with 'moderation? The time will come when Turnus fhall 'with that he had left the body of Pallas untouched, and curfe the day on which he dressed himself in 'these spoils.' As the great event of the Æneid, and the death of Turnus, whom Æneas flew, because he faw him adorned with the spoils of Pallas, turns upon this incident, Virgil went out of his way to make this reflection upon it, without which so small a circumstance might possibly 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 shows how much happier it would be for man if he did not feel his evil fortune before it comes to pass, and fuffer not only by its real weight, but by the apprehension of it. Milton's complaint of his blindness, his panegyric on marriage, his reflections on Adam and Eve's going naked, of the angels' eating, and several other paffages in his poem, are liable to the fame exception, though, I must confess, there is fo great a beauty in these very digreffions, that I would not wish them out of his Poem.

I have, in a former paper, spoken of the Characters of Milton's Paradise Loft, and declared my opinion as to the allegorical perfons who are introduced in it.

If we look into the Sentiments, I think they are fometimes defective under the following heads. First, as there are feveral 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

------the fmall infantry

Warr'd on by cranes-----

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 fubject of which he treats. I do not find fault with these allusions, where the Poet himself reprefents 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 masters of all the learning of their times, but it fhows itself in their works after an indirect and concealed manner. Milton seems ambitious of letting us know, by his excurfions on free will and predestination, and his many glances upon history, astronomy, geography, and the like, as well as by the terms and phrafes he fometimes makes ufe of, that he was acquainted with the whole circle of arts and sciences.

If, in the last place, we consider the Language of this great Poet, we must allow what I have hinted in a former paper, that it is often too much laboured, and sometimes obscured by old words, transpofitions, and foreign idioms. Seneca's objection to the style 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, so I have already apologized for it in another paper; to which I may farther add, that Milton's fentiments and ideas were fo 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 greatness of foul which furnished him with such glorious conceptions.

A second fault in his Language is, that he often affects a kind of jingle in his words, as in the following paffages, and many others:

That brought into this world a world of woe.

Begirt th' almighty throne,

Befeeching or befieging......

This tempted our attempt......

At one flight bound high overleap'd all bound.

I know there are figures for this kind of speech; that some of the greatest Ancients have been guilty of it; and that Aristotle 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