Summe Deus! sobolesque Dei! consorsque duorum, Spiritus! æternas retines, bone rector! habenas, Per mare, per terras, cœlosque, atque unus Jehova Existens, celebrabo tuas, memorique sonabo Organico plectro laudes. Te pectore amabo, Te primum, & medium, & summum, sed fine carentem, O miris mirande modis ! ter maxime rerum! Collustrat terras dum lumine Titan Eoo! Interpolation in Fox. Essay, page 116. Hypocrisis esto, hoc sub Francisci pallio. Altered thus, Tu Psychephone! Hypocrisis esto; hoc sub Francisci pallio, Interpolation in Quintianus. Essay, page 117. Habitare nunquam curet alienas domos. Interpolation in Beza. Essay, page 19. Stygemque testor, & profunda Tartari, For facile, the word volupe was substituted in the Essay. Odia supremum numen, atque hominum genus, Possem parenti condolere & filio, Quasi exuissem omnem malitiam ex pectore. Interpolation in Fletcher. Essay, page 124. Ne dubita, nunquam fractis hæc pectora, nunquam In promptu caussa est: superest invicta voluntas, Interpolations in Taubman. Essay, page 132. Et cogar æternum duplici servire tyranno ? Essay, page 152. Throni dominationes, principatus, virtutes, potestates, is said to be a line borrowed by MILTON from the title page of HEYWOOD's Hierarchy of Angels. But there are more words in Heywood's title; and, according to his own arrangement of his subjects, they should read thus-Seraphim, cherubim, throni, potestates, angeli, archangeli, principatus, dominationes. These are my interpolations, minutely traced without any arts of evasion. Whether from the passages that yet remain, any reader will be convinced of my general assertion, and allow that Milton had recourse for assistance to any of the authors whose names I have mentioned, I shall not now be very diligent to inquire, for I had no particular pleasure in subverting the reputation of Milton, which I had myself once endeavoured to exalt ;* and of which the foundation had * Virorum maximus-JoANNES MILTONUS-Poeta celeberrimus-non Angliæ modo, soli natalis, verum generis humani ornamentum-cujus eximius liber, Anglicanis versibus conscriptus, vulgo PARADISUS AMISSus, immortalis illud ingenii monumentum, cum ipsa ferè æternitate perennaturum est opus !-Hujus memoriam Anglorum primus, post tantum, pro dolor! ab tanti excessu poetæ intervallum, statua eleganti in loco celeberrimo, cœnobio Westmonasteriensi, posita, regum, principum, antistitum, illustriumque Angliæ viorum cæmeterio, vir ornatissimus, Gulielmus Benson prosecutus est. Poetarum Scotorum Muse Sacræ in præfatione, Edinb. 1739. always remained untouched by me, had not my credit and my interest been blasted, or thought to be blasted, by the shade which it cast from its boundless elevation. About ten years ago, I published an edition of Dr. Johnston's translation of the Psalms, and having procured from the general assembly of the church of Scotland, a recommendation of its use to the lower classes of grammar-schools, into which I had begun to introduce it, though not without much controversy and opposition; I thought it likely that I should, by annual publications, improve my little fortune, and be enabled to support myself in freedom from the miseries of indigence. But Mr. Pope, in his malevolence to Mr. Benson, who had distinguished himself by his fondness for the same version, destroyed all my hopes by a distich, in which he places Johnston in a contemptuous comparison with the author of Paradise Lost.* A character as high and honourable as ever was bestowed upon him by the most sanguine of his admirers! and as this was my cool and sincere opinion of that wonderful man formerly, so I declare it to be the same still, and ever will be, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary, occasioned merely by passion and resentment; which appear, however, by the Postscript to the Essay, to be so far from extending to the posterity of Milton, that I recommend his only remaining descendant, in the warmest terms, to the public. * On two unequal crutches prop'd, he *came, MILTON'S on this, on that one JOHNSTON's name. Dunciad. Book IV. *Benson.] This man endeavoured to raise himself to fame, by erecting monuments, striking coins, and procuring translations of Milton; and afterwards by a great passion for Arthur Johnston, a Scots physician's version of the Psalms, of which he printed many fine editions. Notes on the Dunciad. No fewer than six different editions of that useful and valua ble book, two in quarto, two in octavo, and two in a lesser From this time, all my praises of Johnston became ridiculous, and I was censured with great freedom, for forcing upon the schools an author whom Mr. Pofie had mentioned only as a foil to a better poet. On this occasion, it was natural not to be pleased, and my resentment, seeking to discharge itself somewhere, was unhappily directed against Milton. I resolved to attack his fame, and found some passages in cursory reading which gave me hopes of stigmatising him as a plagiary. The farther I carried my search, the more eager I grew for the discovery, and the more my hypothesis was opposed, the more I was heated with rage. The consequence of my blind passion, I need not relate; it has, by your detection, become apparent to mankind. Nor do I mention this provocation as adequate to the fury which I have shown, but as a cause of anger, less shameful and reproachful than fractious malice, personal envy, or national jealousy. But, for the violation of truth, I offer no excuse, because I well know that nothing can excuse it: nor will I aggravate my crime by disingenuous palliations. I confess it, I repent it, and resolve that my first offence shall be my last. More I cannot perform, and more, therefore, cannot be required. I intreat the par form, now lie like lumber in the hand of Mr. Vaillant, bookseller, the effects of Mr. Pope's ill-natured criticism, One of these editions in quarto, illustrated with an interpretation and notes, after the manner of the classic authors in usum Delphini, was, by the worthy editor, anno 1741, inscribed to his Royal Highness Prince George, as a proper book for his instruction in principles of piety, as well as knowledge of the Latin tongue, when he should arrive at due maturity of age. To restore this book to credit was the cause that induced me to engage in this disagreeable controversy, rather than any design to depreciate the just reputation of Milton |