tis viribus excitari, et quafi divino quodam fpiritu afflari—if poetical powers may ever deserve to be regarded as heavenly infpiration, fuch undoubtedly were those of Milton, and the ufe to which he applied them was worthy of the fountain whence they flowed. He is pre-eminent in that class of poets, very happily described in the two following verfes by the amiable lord Falkland; Who, while of heav'n the glories they recite, Find it within, and feel the joys they write. It is by the epic compofitions of Milton alone that England may esteem herself as a rival to antiquity in the highest province of literature; and it appears therefore juft, that the memory of the man, to whom she is indebted for the purest, the most extensive, and permanent glory, should for ever excite her affectionate veneration. CONJECTURES, &c. CONJECTURES, FANCIES BUILT ON NOTHING FIRM! MILTON. Τ O write an Epic Poem was the prime object of MILTON's ambition at an early period of life; a paffionate, attachment to his country made him first think of celebrating its ancient heroes; but in the long interval between the dawn of fuch a project in his thoughts, and the commencement of his work, a new train of images got poffeffion of his fancy; Arthur yielded to Adam, and England to Paradise. To confider what various causes might conspire to pro, duce this revolution in the ideas of the great poet may be a pleasing speculation, if it is pursued with due refpect to the noble mind that it aspires to examine. An investigation of a fimilar nature was undertaken fome years ago, upon very different principles, when a fingular attempt was made to annihilate the poetical glory of Milton, by proving him a plagiary. This attempt was fo extraordinary in its nature, and in its end fo honourable to the poet and his country, that a brief account of it fhould, I think, be annexed to the Life of Milton, whofe admirers may fay, on that occafion, to the flanderers of genius, "Difcite juftitiam moniti, & non temnere divos." I fhall give, therefore, a sketch of the literary transactions to which I allude, as an introduction to thofe conjectures, that a long and affectionate attachment to Milton has led me to form, concerning the origin of his greatest work. In 1746, William Lauder, an unfortunate adventurer, whom a furious temper, confiderable learning, and greater indigence, converted into an audacious impoftor, attacked the originality of the chief English poet. Having afferted, in a periodical mifcellany, that Milton had borrowed all his ideas from the juvenile work of Grotius, or from other lefs known writers of Latin verfe, and finding the novelty of his charge attract the attention of the public, he endeavoured to enforce it in a pamphlet, intitled, "An Effay on Milton's Ufe and Imitation of the "Moderns," printed in 1750, and addreffed to the two univerfities of Oxford and Cambridge. In the clofe of this effay he fcrupled not to fay of Milton: "His industrious concealment of his helps, his pe"remptory disclaiming all manner of assistance, is highly ungenerous, nay criminal to the last degree, and absolutely unworthy of any man of common probity and " honour. |