CONJECTURES, &c. CONJECTURES, FANCIES BUILT ON NOTHING FIRM! MILTON. To write an Epic Poem was the prime object of Milton's ambition at an early period of life; a passionate attachment to his country made him first think of celebrating its antient heroes; but in the long interval between the dawn of such a project in his thoughts, and the commencement of his work, a new train of images got possession of his fancy; Arthur yielded to Adam, and England to Paradise. To consider what various causes might conspire to produce this revolution in the ideas of the great poet, may be a pleasing speculation, if it is pursued with due respect to the noble mind that it aspires to examine. An investigation of a similar nature was undertaken some years ago, upon very different principles, when a singular attempt was made to annihilate the poetical glory of Milton, by proving him a plagiary. This attempt was so extraordinary in its nature, and in its end so honorable to the poet and his country, that a brief account of it should I think, be annexed to the Life of Milton, whose admirers may say, on that occasion, to the slanderers of genius, "Descite justitiam moniti, & non temnere divos." I shall give, therefore, a sketch of the literary transactions to which I allude; as an introduction to those 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 unfor |