"of Virgil and Tasso are a dif"fuse, and the book of Job a "brief model: or whether the "rules of Aristotle herein are strictly to be kept, or nature "to be followed, which in them "that know art, and use judg"ment, is no transgression, but "an enriching of art." We see that he looked upon the book of Job, as a brief model of an epic poem: and the subject of Paradise Regained is much the same as that of the book of Job, a good man triumphing over temptation: and the greatest part of it is in dialogue as well as the book of Job, and abounds with moral arguments and reflections, which were more natural to that season of life, and better suited Milton's age and infirmities than gay florid descriptions. For by Mr. Elwood's account, he had not thought of the Paradise Regained, till after he had finished the Paradise Lost: (see the Life of Milton:) the first hint of it was suggested by Elwood, while Milton resided at St. Giles Chalfont in Buckinghamshire during the plague in London; and afterwards when Elwood visited him in London, he shewed him the poem finished, so that he was not long in conceiving, or long in writing it: and this is the reason why in the Paradise Regained there are much fewer imitations of, and allusions to, other authors, than in the Paradise Lost. The Paradise Lost he was long in meditating, and had laid in a large stock of materials, which he had collected from all authors ancient and modern: but in the Paradise Regained he composed more from memory, and with no other help from

books, than such as naturally occurred to a mind so thoroughly tinctured and seasoned, as his was, with all kinds of learning. Mr. Thyer makes the same observation, particularly with regard to the Italian poets. From the very few allusions, says he, to the Italian poets in this poem one may draw, I think, a pretty conclusive argument for the reality of those pointed out in the notes upon Paradise Lost, and shew that they are not, as some may imagine, mere accidental coincidences of great geniuses writing upon similar subjects. Admitting them to be such only, no tolerable reason can be assigned why the same should not occur in the same manner in the Paradise Regained: whereas upon the other supposition of their being real, the difference of the two poems in this respect is easily accounted for. It is very certain, that Milton formed his first design of writing an epic poem very soon after his return from Italy, if not before, and highly probable that he then intended it after the Italian model, as he says, speaking of this design in his. Reason of Church-Government, that "he

66

applied himself to that resolu"tion which Ariosto followed "against the persuasions of Bembo, to fix all the art and industry he could unite to the

66

66

"frey's expedition against the Infidels, or Belisarius against "the Goths, or Charlemagne "against the Lombards." This would naturally lead him to a frequent perusal of the choicest wits of that country; and although he dropt his first scheme, and was some considerable time before he executed the present work, yet still the impressions he had first received would be fresh in his imagination, and he would of course be drawn to imitate their particular beauties, though he avoided following them in his general plan. The case was far otherwise when the Paradise Regained was composed. As Mr. Elwood informs us, Milton did not so much as think of it till he was advanced in years, and it is not very likely, considering the troubles and infirmities he had long laboured under, that his studies had been much employed about that time among the sprightly Italians, or indeed any writers of that turn. Consistent with this supposition we find it of a quite different stamp, and instead of allusions to poets either ancient or modern, it is full of moral and philosophical reasonings, to which sort of thoughts an afflicted old age must have turned our author's mind.

639. It has been observed of almost all the great Epic poems, that they fall off, and become languid, in the conclusion. The six last books of the Æneid, and the twelve last of the Odyssey, are inferior to the preceding parts of those poems. In the Paradise Lost the two last books fall short of the majesty and sublimity of the rest: and so, ob

serves Bp. Newton, do the two last books of the Iliad. " With "the fall of our first parents," says Dr. Blair, "Milton's genius seems to decline:" and, though he admits the angel's shewing Adam the fate of his posterity to be happily imagined, "the exe"cution," he adds, " is languid." Mr. Addison observes, that though the two last books of the Paradise Lost were not looked upon as the most shining books of the poem, they ought not to be considered as unequal parts of it. Perhaps they might be defended by other arguments, and justified in a more effectual manner, than has been done by Mr. Addison; but it is certainly fortunate when the subject and plan of an epic poem are such, that in the conclusion it may rise in dignity and sublimity, so as to excite to the very last the attention and admiration of the reader. This last book of the Paradise Regained is one of the finest conclusions of a poem that can be produced. The Book of Job, which has been supposed to have been our author's model, materially resembles it in this respect, and is perhaps the only instance that can be put in competition with it. It has been remarked, that there is not a single simile in the First Iliad: neither do we meet with one in the three first books of the Paradise Regained. In the beginning of the fourth book the poet introduces an Homeric cluster of similies; which seems to mark an intention of bestowing more poetical decoration on the conclusion of the poem than on the preceding parts of it. They who talk of our author's genius being on the