fiafm; hence, inftead of being impreffed with the fanctity of his fubject, they fometimes glanced upon it in a ludicrous point of view. Hence they fometimes fpeak of him as the very prince of poets, and fometimes as a misguided genius, who has failed to obtain the rank he afpired to in the poetical world. But neither the caprices of conceit, nor the cold austerity of reason, can reduce the glory of this pre-eminent bard.—It was in an hour propitious to his renown, that he relinquished Arthur and Merlin for Adam and the Angels; and he might say on the occafion, in the words of his admired Petrarch: Io benedico il luogo, il tempo, e l' hora I bless the spot, the season, and the hour, To say that his poem wants human intereft, is only to that he who finds that defect wants the proper fenprove, fibility of man. A work that displays at full length, and in the strongest light, the delicious tranquillity of innocence, the tormenting turbulence of guilt, and the confolatory fatisfaction of repentance, has furely abundance of attraction to awaken fympathy. The images and fentiments that belong to these varying fituations are fo fuited to our mortal existence, that they cannot cease to intereft, while human nature endures. The human heart, indeed, indeed, may be too much depraved, and the human mind may be too licentious, or too gloomy, to have a perfect relish for Milton; but, in honour of his poetry, we may observe, that it has a peculiar tendency to delight and to meliorate those characters, in which the feeds of taste and pięty have been happily fown by nature. In proportion as the admiration of mankind fhall grow more and more valuable from the progreffive increafe of intelligence, of virtue, and of religion, this incomparable poet will be more affectionately ftudied, and more univerfally admired. APPENDIX, Al benigno LETTORE. AZIO e ftanco (lettor difcreto) d'haver con l'occhio della fronte troppo fiso rimirate queste terrene cofe; quel della mente una volta inabzando a piu belle confiderazioni, e alle tante meraviglie fparfe dal fummo Dio a benefizio dell' huomo per l' univerfo; fentii paffarmi il cuore da certo stimolo, et da, non fo che, christiano compungimento, vedendo come offefa in ogni tempo da noi gravemente, quella inneffabile bonta, benigna ad ogni modo ci fi mostraffe, quelle in un continuo ftato di benificenza ad ufo noftro confervando; e come una fol volta provocata a vendetta, oltre i fuo vasti confini non allargaffe il mare, al fole non ofcuraffe la lúce, fterile non faceffe la terra, per abiffarci per acciécarfi, e per distruggerfi finalmente. E tutto internato in quefti divini affetti, me fentij rapire a me fteffo, e traportare da dolce violenza là nel terreftre paradifo, ove pur di veder mi parea l'huomo primiero Adamo, fattura cara di Dio, amico de gli angeli, herede del cielo, familiar delle ftelle, compendio delle cofe create, ornamento del tutto, miracolo della natura, imperador de gli animali, unico albergatore dell' univerfo, et fruitore di tante maraviglie e grandezze. Quindi invag hito To the courteous READER. ATIATED and fatigued (gentle reader) by having SA looked on these earthly objects with eyes too intent, and raising therefore the eye of my mind to higher contemplations, to the wonders diffused by the fupreme Being, for the benefit of man, through the universe, I felt my heart penetrated by a certain christian compunction in reflecting how his inexpreffible goodness, though perpetually and grievously offended by us, ftill fhews itself in the highest degree indulgent towards us, in preserving those wonders with a continued influence to our advantage; and how, on the first provocation to vengeance, Almighty Power does not enlarge the ocean to pass its immenfe boundary, does not obfcure the light of the fun, does not imprefs fterility on the earth, to engulph us, to blind us, and finally to destroy us. Softened and absorbed in these divine emotions, I felt myself transported and hurried, by a delightful violence, into a terrestrial paradife, where I feemed to behold the first man, Adam, a creature dear to God, the friend of angels, the heir of heaven, familiar with the ftars, a compendium of all created things, the ornament of all, the miracle of nature, lord of the animals, the only inhabitant of the univerfe, and enjoyer of a scene fo wonderfully grand. Whence, charmed |