and spirit in his preternatural agency. Dante before him had bravely encountered this perplexity; and, though not in one instance has he succeeded in disentangling the knot, yet it neither fettered nor hindered him from pursuing his resolute course through a Hell, a Purgatory, and a Heaven, of his own creation, in which impossibilities on earth were the events of every day in his new universe. Milton, in the battle of angels especially, has achieved prodigies of invention, and his triumph, though far from being complete, sufficiently proves that he came short only from the absolute impracticability of any attempt to symbolize eternal realities by temporal things. The close of the conflict, by the interposition of the Messiah, is, beyond comparison, great as the record of what might have might have been, in such a case:-"So spake the Son, and into terror changed his countenance, too severe to be beheld," to the end of Raphael's narrative. The whole power of the poet's mind, and the whole strength of the English language, are here summoned to describe the one act of the conqueror, routing, expelling, and pursuing the enemy, till, from the precipice into the infernal gulf, “headlong themselves they threw, Down from the verge of heaven; eternal wrath PARADISE LOST, Book VI. Much criticism has been expended to prove that the allegorical parts of this poem are faults which no law of epic poetry can absolve. But not one of the censors has ventured to demand that execution should be done upon "Sin and Death," ""Chaos and ancient Night," nor even the phantasms that people "the Limbo of Vanity." Offences if these be, what poet would not wish to have committed them; or would not go and do likewise, if he could, at his peril? The burthen of Paradise Regained is our Saviour's temptation by the devil in the wilderness. This production has been unworthily disparaged; a sober judgment will, probably, pronounce it inferior to its predecessor only in proportion as the action, passion, and moral of the subject are necessarily inferior. Our Lord's obedience, in that hour and power of darkness, was but one step in his suffering life, and towards his atoning death, by which, at his glorious resurrection and ascension, "he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers." The following extracts from this neglected poem will sufficiently show, that where the theme admitted of noble expressions, there was no falling-off of genius in the author to give utterance to such. The tempter plays his part, with consummate address, under the various disguises which he assumes. Through all of these, however, Jesus discerns him, and defeats his devices; confuting his arguments, and confounding his sophistries, though both are set forth with all the splendour of eloquence, and the subtlety of perverted logic; while the Redeemer's replies are in the plainest language that human invention could put into the mouth of Him, of whom it was said, never man spake like this man." The narrative and descriptive portions of the work are of the richest materials and the rarest workmanship. 66 is When Satan, from "the specular mount," showing to our Saviour all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory, the discovery of the Parthian armies in motion affords a magnificent spectacle: "Now the Parthian king In Ctesiphon, hath gather'd all his host He marches now in haste: see, though from far, They issue forth, steel bows and shafts their arms, All horsemen, in which fight they most excel; In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings.' In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong, * * * He saw them in their forms of battle ranged, How quick they wheel'd, and, flying, behind them shot Our mighty poet here marshals the words of the English language like disciplined troops, and makes them move, advance, shift, and perform all the feats and manœuvres which, in this marvellous paragraph, he represents the Parthian armies as performing. So perfectly do the sounds, the turns, and the pauses of the verse, though addressed to the ear, convey to the eye the images which they are intended to depict. The greater part of Book IV. is equal to anything corresponding with the subjects in the former poem. The vision of Athens excels in beauty and splendour all that her own poets, historians, and orators have said in her praise. But another scene will be as seasonable here, to exhibit the undiminished talents of the author of Paradise Lost in Paradise Regained. "Darkness now rose, As daylight sunk, and brought in lowering night, Whose branching arms thick intertwined might shield, The tempter watch'd, and soon with ugly dreams And either tropic now 'Gan thunder, and both ends of heaven; the clouds, From many a horrid rift, abortive pour'd Fierce rain with lightning mix'd, water with fire Within their stony caves, but rush'd abroad Ill wast thou shrouded thcn, Environ'd thee; some howl'd, some yell'd, some shriek'd, Clear'd up their choicest notes in bush and spray, The exquisitely touching apostrophe "Ill wast thou shrouded then, O patient Son of God!" 66 offers an example of the most delicate skill, in turning the description of the horrible effects of the storm into a realization of it to the reader himself, who feels as though he were standing by the poet, looking on and listening, while the latter repeats, in tones of tenderest sympathy, to the divine sufferer, the hideous phenomena as they occur in succession, to scare him with visions, and terrify him through dreams," as Job, the type of our tempted Redeemer, describes himself to be haunted withal. Then, what can be more sweet, reviving, and delicious than the breath, the brightness, and the beauty of the "morning fair," who, with the single motion of "her radiant finger," stills the storm, dispels the gloom, chases the clouds, and lays the winds and grisly spectres which the fiend had raised; while the birds, |