LUSION TO HEATHEN FABLES, OSTENTATION OF LEARNING. 47 of his Blindness, his Panegyrick 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, tho' I must confefs there is fo great a Beauty in thefe 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 Paradife Loft, and declared my Opinion, as to the Allegorical Perfons who are introduced in it. 5. If we look into the Sentiments, I think they are fometimes defective under the following Heads; First, a. as there are fome [feveral] of them too much pointed, and fome that degenerate even into Punns. Of this last kind I am afraid is that in the First Book, where, speaking 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, b. 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 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 easily remark them in his Perufal of the Poem. A Third Fault in his Sentiments, is an unneceffary COftentation 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 fhews it felf 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, Aftronomy, 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. い If, in the last place, we confider the, Language of this great Poet, we must allow what I have hinted in aa former Paper, that it is [often] too much laboured, and fometimes obfcured by old Words, Tranfpofitions, and Foreign Idioms. Seneca's Objection to the Stile of a great Author, Riget ejus oratio, nihil in eâ placidum, nihil lene, is what many Criticks 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 Sublime, that it would have been impoffible for him to have represented them in their full Strength and Beauty, without having recourfe to thefe 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 afbfects a kind of Jingle in his Words, as in the following Paffages, and many others: And brought into the World a World of woe. Beseeching or besieging This tempted our attempt At one Slight bound high overleapt all bound. I know there are Figures of this kind of Speech, that some of the greatest Ancients have been guilty of it, and that Ariftotle himself has given it a place in his Rhetorick among the Beauties of that Art. But as it is in itsfelf poor and trifling, it is I think at prefent univerfally exploded by all the Masters of polite Writing. The laft Fault which I fhall take notice of in Milton's Stile, is the frequent use of what the Learned call Technical Words, or Terms of Art. It is one of the great Beauties of Poetry, to make hard things intelligible, and to deliver what is abftruse of it self in fuch easy Language as may be understood by ordinary Readers: Befides that the Knowledge of a Poet fhould rather feem born with him, or infpired, than OBSCURE, JINGLING, AND TECHNICAL. 49 drawn from Books and Systems. I have often wondered how Mr. Dryden could tranflate a Paffage of Virgil after the following manner. Tack to the Larboard, and fland 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 Eccliptick, and Eccen tric, the trepidation, Stars dropping from the Zenith, Rays culminating from the Equator. To which might be added many Inftances of the like kind in feveral other Arts and Sciences. I shall in my next Saturday's Paper [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 Criticifm. The SPECTATOR. -volet hæc fub luce videri, Fudicis argutum quæ non formidat acumen. {-Some choofe the clearest Light, Hor. And boldly challenge the most piercing Eye. Rofcommon.} Nature. Saturday, February 16. 1712. Have feen in the Works of a Modern be confider'd as a Piece of the fame To pursue the Allufion: As it is obferv'd, that among the bright parts of the Luminous Body above-mentioned, there are some which glow more intensely, and dart a stronger Light than others; fo, notwithstanding I have already fhewn Milton's Poem to be very beautiful in general, I shall now proceed to take notice of fuch Beauties as appear to me more exquifite than the reft. Milton has propofed the Subject of his Poem in the following Verses. Of Mans firft difobedience, and the fruit Thefe Lines are perhaps as plain, fimple and unadorned as any of the whole Poem, in which particular the Author has conform'd himself to the Example of Homer, and the Precept of Horace. His Invocation to a Work which turns in a great measure upon the Creation of the World, is very properly made to the Muse who inspired Mofes in those Books from whence our Author drew his Subject, and to the Holy Spirit who is therein represented as operating after a particular manner in the first Production of Nature. This whole Exordium rifes very happily into noble Language and Sentiment, as I think the Transition to the Fable is exquifitely beautiful and natural. The nine Days Astonishment, in which the Angels lay entranced after their dreadful Overthrow and Fall from Heaven, before they could recover either the ufe of Thought or Speech, is a noble Circumstance, and very finely imagined. The Divifion of Hell into Seas of Fire, and into firm Ground impregnated with the fame furious Element, with that particular_Circumftance of the exclufion of Hope from thofe Infernal Regions, are Inftances of the fame great and fruitful Invention. The Thoughts in the first Speech and Description of Satan, who is one of the principal Actors in this Poem, are wonderfully proper to give us a full Idea of him. His Pride, Envy and Revenge, Obstinacy, Despair and Impenitence, are all of them very artfully interwoven. In fhort, his first Speech is a Complica tion of all thofe Paffions which difcover themselves separately in feveral other of his Speeches in the Poem. The whole part of this great Enemy of Mankind is filled with fuch Incidents as are very apt to raise and terrifie the Reader's Imagination. Of this Nature, in the Book now before us, is his being the first that awakens out of the general Trance, with his Pofture on the burning Lake, his rifing from it, and the Description of his Shield and Spear. Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate, |