and as Dr. Johnson justly observes, the purpose of the poem was the most useful and arduous that could be chosen; “to vindicate the works of God to mar, His subject is the fate of worlds, the revolution of heaven and earth ; rebellion against the supreme King, raised by the highest order of created beings; the overthrow of' tlieir host, and the punishinent of their enemies, the creation of a new race of reasonable creatures; their original bappiness and innos cence; their forfeiture of immortality; and their restoration to hope and peace. Here is a full display of the united furce of study and genius, of a greater accumulation of materials, with judgment to digest and fancy to combine then.- His large works were performed under discountenance, and in blindness; but difficulties vanish at his touch: he was boru for whatever is arduous, and his work is not the greatest of heroic poems only because it is not the first.” Great as is this praise bestowed by the elegant critic above named, it does not go beyond tbe just vounds of truth and justice. Milton with Sbakspeare will descend to ages yet to come, as stars who bave brightened and adorned the literature of their country, CONTENTS POEMS. L'Allegro, The Hymn, 407 Page 430 An Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester, 432 SONNETS. On his being arrived at the age of Twenty-three, writing certain Treatises, . . Page 454 ib. 455 ib. 556 In his deceased Wife, 459 PSALMS. |