Under this head may be reckoned the placing the adjective after the substantive, the transposition of words, the turning the adjective into a substantive, with feveral other foreign modes of fpeech which this poet has naturalized to give his verse the greater found, and throw it out of profe.

The third method, mentioned by Aristotle, is what agrees with the genius of the Greek language more than with that of any other tongue, and is therefore more used by Homer than by any other poet. I mean the lengthening of a phrafe by the addition of words, which. may either be inferted or omitted, as alfo by the extending or contracting of particular words by the infertion or omiffion of certain fyllables. Milton has put in practice this method of raifing his language, as far as the nature of our tongue will permit ; as, in the paffage before mentioned, eremite, for what is hermit, in common difcourfe. If you obferve the measure of his verfe, he has with great judgement fuppreffed a fyllable in several words, and shortened thofe of two fyllables into one; by which method, befides the above mentioned advantage, he has given a greater variety to his numbers. But this practice is more particularly remarkable in the names of perfons and of countries, as Beelzebub, Heffebon, and in many other particulars, wherein he has either changed

the name, or made ufe of that which is not the most commonly known, that he might the better depart from the language of the vulgar.

The fame reason recommended to him several old words; which alfo makes his Poem appear the more venerable, and gives it a greater air of antiquity.

I must likewise take notice, that there are in Milton feveral words of his own coining, as Cerberean, mifcreated, hell-doomed, embryon, and many others. If the reader is offended at this liberty in our English poet, I would recommend him to a difcourfe in Plutarch, which shows us how frequently Homer has made use of the same liberty.

Milton, by the above-mentioned helps, and by the choice of the nobleft words and phrases which our tongue would afford him, has carried our language to a greater height than any of the English poets have ever done before or after him; and made the fublimity of his ftyle equal to that of his fentiments.

I have been the more particular in these observations on Milton's style, because it is in that part of him in which he appears the most fingular. The remarks I have here made upon the practice

of his own coining, &c.] This is not exactly the cafe, in the words here cited. See the Notes on B. ii. 683, 900. Eremite alfo was common in Milton's time. See the Note on Par. Reg. B. i. 8.

of other poets, with

my obfervations out of Ariftotle, will perhaps alleviate the prejudice which fome have taken to his Poem upon this account; though, after all, I must confefs that I think his ftyle, though admirable in general, is in fome places too much stiffened and obfcured by the frequent ufe of thofe methods, which Ariftotle has prefcribed for the raifing of it.

This redundancy of thofe feveral ways of fpeech, which Ariftotle calls "foreign language," and with which Milton has fo very much enriched, and in fome places darkened, the language of his Poem, was the more proper for his use, because his Poem is written in blank verfe. Rhyme, without any other affiftance, throws the language off from profe, and very often makes an indifferent phrafe pafs unregarded; but where the verse is not built upon rhymes, there pomp of found, and energy of expreffion, are indifpenfably neceffary to fupport the ftyle, and keep it from falling into the flatnefs of prose.

Thofe, who have not a taste for this elevation of style, and are apt to ridicule a poet when he departs from the common forms of expreffion, would do well to fee how Ariftotle has treated an ancient author called Euclid, for his infipid mirth upon this occafion. Mr. Dryden used to call this fort of men his profe-criticks,

I fhould, under this head of the language, confider Milton's NUMBERS, in which he has made

ufe of feveral elifions that are not cuftomary among other English poets, as may be particularly obferved by his cutting off the letter y, when it precedes a vowel. This, and fome other innovations in the meafure of his verfe, have varied his numbers in fuch a manner, as makes them incapable of fatiating the ear, and cloying the reader, which the fame uniform measure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual returns of rhyme never fail to do in long narrative poems. I fhall clofe these reflections upon the language of Paradife Loft, with obferving that Milton has copied after Homer rather than Virgil in the length of his periods, the copiousness of his phrases, and the running of his verfes into one another.

I have now confidered the Paradife Loft under those four great heads of the FABLE, the CHARACTERS, the SENTIMENTS, and the LANGUAGE; and have shown that he excels, in general, under

by his cutting off the letter y, &c.] Thefe elifions existed long before Milton wrote. See the Efay or the Verfification,

h has copied after Homer rather than Virgil &c.] It is obferved by Lord Monboddo alfo, that Homer was Milton's model for the plan and conduct of his Poem, and for the defcriptions, fimilies, and other ornaments of ftyle: "And I will venture to say," continues this profound critick, "there is much more of Homer in his ftyle than even in Virgil's, though Virgil has very often imitated closely and even tranflated Homer.-Demofthenes was Milton's model for the fpeeches; and it is not eafy to fay which of their manners he has beft copied."

each of these heads. I hope that I have made several discoveries which may appear new, even to those who are verfed in critical learning. Were I indeed to choose my readers, by whose judgement I would stand or fall, they should not be fuch as are acquainted only with the French and Italian criticks, but alfo with the ancient and modern who have written in either of the learned languages. Above all, I would have them well versed in the Greek and Latin poets, without which a man very often fancies that he underftands a critick, when in reality he does not comprehend his meaning.

It is in criticism, as in all other sciences and speculations; one who brings with him any implicit notions and obfervations, which he has made in his reading of the poets, will find his own reflections methodised and explained, and perhaps feveral little hints, that had paffed in his mind, perfected and improved, in the works of a good critick; whereas one, who has not these previous lights, is very often an utter ftranger to what he reads, and apt to put a wrong interpretation upon it.

Nor is it fufficient, that a man, who fets up for a judge in criticism, fhould have perused the authors above mentioned, unless he has also a clear and logical head. Without this talent, he is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his