"dramatic conftitutions, wherein Sophocles and Euripides reign, fhall be found more doctrinal " and exemplary to a nation- Or, if occafion "fhall lead, to imitate thofe magnific odes and 66 hymns, wherein Pindarus and Callimachus are "in moft things worthy. But thofe frequent fongs throughout the law and prophets, beyond "all thefe, not in their divine argument alone, "but in the very critical art of compofition, 66 66 66 may be easily made appear over all the kinds "of lyric poefy to be incomparable. These abi"lities, wherefoever they be found, are the inspired gift of God, rarely bestowed, but yet to fome (though most abuse) in every nation; "and are of power, befides the office of a pulpit, to inbreed and cherish in a great people the feeds of virtue and public civility, to allay the perturbations of the mind, and "fet the affections in right tune; to celebrate "in glorious and lofty hymns the throne and equipage of God's almightiness, and what he 66 works, and what he suffers to be wrought "with high providence in his church; to fing "victorious agonies of martyrs and faints, the "deeds and triumphs of just and pious nations doing valiantly through faith againft the ene"mies of Chrift; to deplore the general relapses "of kingdoms and ftates from juftice and God's true worship. Laftly, whatfoever in religion is 66 66 holy and fublime, in virtue amiable or grave, "whatsoever hath paffion or admiration in all the changes of that, which is called fortune "from without, or the wily fubtleties and re"fluxes of man's thoughts from within; all "these things, with a folid and treatable smooth"nefs to paint out and defcribe, defcribe, teaching "over the whole book of fanétity and virtue, through all the inftances of example, with "fuch delight, to those especially of foft and "delicious temper, who will not fo much as "look upon truth herself, unless they see her 66 66 elegantly dreft; that whereas the paths of "honefty and good life appear now rugged "and difficult, though they be indeed eafy "and pleasant, they will then appear to all men both eafy and pleafant, though they "were rugged and difficult indeed. " 66 66 66 66 "The thing which I had to say, and thofe "intentions, which have lived within me ever "fince I could conceive myfelf any thing worth 66 to my country, I return to crave excufe that urgent reafon hath pluckt from me by an "abortive and fore-dated discovery; and the accomplishment of them lies not but in a power above man's to promife; but that none "hath by more ftudious ways endeavoured, and "with more unwearied fpirit that none fhall, "that I dare almoft aver of myself, as far as "life and free leisure will extend. Neither do "I think it fhame to covenant with any knowing "reader that for fome few years yet I may go 66 on truft with him toward the payment of what "I am now indebted, as being a work not to "be raised from the heat of youth, or the va 46 66 pours of wine, like that which flows at waste "from the pen of fome vulgar amourist, or the "trencher fury of a rhyming parafite; nor to be "obtained by the invocation of dame Memory "and her firen daughters; but by devout prayer to that eternal spirit, who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and fends out his Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his altar to "touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases; (6 to this must be added induftrious and select reading, fteady obfervation, infight into all · "feemly and generous arts and affairs; till which "in fome measure be compaffed at mine own 66 66 peril and coft I refuse not to fuftain this ex"pectation from as many as are not loth to "hazard fo much credulity upon the best pledges "that I can give them. Although it nothing (6 content me to have difclofed thus much before hand; but that I truft hereby to make it ma"nifeft with what fmall willingness I endure to interrupt the pursuit of no less hopes than these, " and leave a calm and pleafing folitariness, fed "with chearful and confident thoughts, to em"bark in a troubled fea of noife and hoarfe difputes, put from beholding the bright coun"tenance of truth, in the quiet and ftill air of delightful ftudies." 66 Mr. Warton, who has cited the laft fentence of this very interefting paffage, as a proof that 66 66 Milton, then engaged in controversy, fighed for his more congenial purfuits, laments, "that the vigorous portion of his life, that those years "in which imagination is on the wing, were unworthily and unprofitably wafted on tem"porary topics." Many lovers of poetry will fympathize with this amiable writer in his regret ; but others may ftill entertain very different fenfations on the fubject. Allowing for a moment that the controverfial writings of Milton deferve to be neglected and forgotten, reafons may yet be found to rejoice, rather than lament, that he exerted his faculties in compofing them. The occupation, however it might fufpend his poetical enterprises, cherifhed the ardor and energy of his mind, and above all, confirmed in him that well founded and upright felf-esteem, to which we are principally indebted for his fublimeft production. The works I allude to were, in his own eftimation, indifpenfible and meritorious; had he not written them, as he frankly informs us, "he would have heard within him"felf, all his life after, of difcourage and re"proach." Nothing, perhaps, but this retrofpect on a life paffed, as his own confcience affured him, in the faithful discharge of arduous and irksome duties, could have afforded to the declining days of Milton that confident vigor of mind, that intenfe and inextinguishable fire of imagination, which gave existence and perfection to his Paradise Loft. He appears to have thought with a celebrated ancient, that perfect morality is neceflary to the perfection of genius; and that fublimity in com. pofition may be expected only from the man, who has attained the fublime in the fteady practice of virtue. These noble, and animating ideas feem to have had great influence on his conduct very early in life; for in fpeaking of the ftudies and fentiments of his youth, he says, "I was confirmed in this opinion, that he who "would not be fruftrate of his hope to write "well hereafter in laudable things, ought himself 66 to be a true poem; that is, a composition "and pattern of the honourableft things; not prefuming to fing high praises of heroic men, or "famous cities, unless he have in himself the experience and the practice of all that which is "praise worthy." In reply to the abfurd charge of his leading a diffolute life, he gives an engaging and fpirited account of his domeftic conduct. "Thofe morn"ing haunts are where they should be, at home; "not fleeping or concocting the furfeits of an ir"regular feast, but up and ftirring; in winter "often ere the found of any bell awake men to "labor or to devotion; in fummer, as oft with "the bird that firft roufes, or not much tar"dier, to read good authors, or cause them to "be read, till the attention be weary; or me 66 mory have its full fraught; then with useful |