"She ceast; already brooding in her heart A curious wish, that will her weal subvert. "As a false louer, that thick snares hath laid "T' intrap the honour of a fair young maid, "When she (though little) listning ear affords "To his sweet, courting, deep-affected words, "Feels some asswaging of his freezing flame, "And sooths himself with hope to gain his game; 66 And, rapt with joy, vpon this point persists, "That parleing city never long resists : Perceiving Eve his flattering gloze digest, "He prosecutes; and, jocund, doth not rest, Vpon the breach of this new-battered wall. "No, Fair, (quoth he) beleeve not that the care "God hath, mankinde from spoyling death to spare, "Makes him forbid you (on so strict condition) "This purest, fairest, rarest fruit's fruition. "A double fear, an envie, and a hate, "His iealous heart for euer cruciate; "Sith the suspected vertue of this tree "Shall soon disperse the cloud of idiocy, "Which dims your eyes; and, further, make (Excelling vs) even equall gods to him. you seem "O World's rare glory! reach thy happy hand, "Reach, reach, I say; why dost thou stop or stand? 66 Begin thy bliss, and do not fear the threat "Of an vncertain God-head, onely great " Through self-aw'd zeal: Put on the glistering pall "Of immortality; Do not forestall (As envious stepdame) thy posteritie The soverain honour of Divinitie." Sylvester's Du Bartas, edit. 1621, pp. 192, 193. As Milton has been supposed to have been much obliged to other poets in describing the unsubdued spirit of Satan, especially where he says, "Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven;" I am tempted to make an extract or two from Stafford's Niobe, a prose-work already mentioned, in which Satan speaks the following words; not dissimilar to passages in Fletcher and Crashaw, which have been cited, on the same subject. "They say, forsooth, that pride was the cause of my fall; and that I dwell where there is nothing but weeping, howling, and gnashing of teeth; of which that falsehood was the authour, I will make you plainelie perceiue. True it is, Sir, that I (storming at the name of supremacie) sought to depose my Creatour; which the watchful, all-seeing eye of Prouidence finding, degraded me of my angelicall dignitie, dispossessed me of all pleasures; and the Seraphin, and Cherubin, Throni, Dominationes, Virtutes, Potestates, Principatus, Arch-angeli, Angeli, and all the celestiall Hierarchyes, (with a shout of applause,) sung my departure out of heauen: my Alleluia was turned into an Ehu; and too soone I found, that I was corruptibilis ab alio, though not in alio; and that he, that gaue me my being, could againe take it from mee. Now, for as much as I was once an Angell of light, it was the will of Wisedome to confine me to darknes, and to create me Prince thereof: that so I, WHO COULD NOT OBEY IN HEAVEN, MIGHT COMMAUND IN HELL. And, belieue mee, Sir, I had rather controule within my dark diocese, than to reinhabite cœlum empyrium, and there liue in subjection, vnder check." Edit. 1611, pp. 16—18, part the second. Stafford calls Satan the "grim-visag'd Goblin," ibid. p. 85. And, in the first part of the book, he See the Note ", p. 386. describes the devil as having "committed incest with his daughter, the World." p. 3. I have thus brought together opinions, delivered at different periods, respecting the Origin of Paradise Lost; and have humbly endeavoured to trace, in part, the reading of the great poet, subservient to his plan. More successful discoveries will probably arise from the pursuits of those, who are devoted to patient and liberal investigation. "Videlicet hoc illud est præcipuè studiorum genus, quod vigiliis augescat; ut cui subinde ceu fluminibus ex decursu, sic accedit ex lectione minutatìm quo fiat uberius.” To such persons may be recommended the masterly observations of him, who was once so far imposed upon as to believe Lauder an honest man, and Milton a plagiary; but who expressed, when " a Douglas and Truth appeared," the strongest indignation against the envious impostor: for they are observations resulting from a wish not to depreciate, but zealously to praise, the Paradise Lost. Among the inquiries, to which this ardour of criticism has naturally given occasion, none is more obscure in itself, or more worthy of rational curiosity, than a retrospect of the progress of this mighty genius, in 2 Politian. Miscellaneorum Præf. 66 C • The Progress of Envy, an excellent poem occasioned by Lauder's attack on the character of Milton. See Lloyd's Poems, 1762, p. 221. So bishop Douglas told the affectionate biographer of Dr. Johnson. See Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 197, edit. e See Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 199. the construction of his work; a view of the fabrick gradually rising, perhaps, from small beginnings, till its foundation rests in the center, and its turrets sparkle in the skies; to trace back the structure, through all its varieties, to the simplicity of its first plan; to find what was first projected, whence the scheme was taken, how it was improved, by what assistance it was executed, and from what stores the materials were collected; whether its founder dug them from the quarries of Nature, or demolished other buildings to embellish his own." may venture to add that, in such inquiries, patience will be invigorated rather than dispirited; and every new discovery will teach us more and more to admire the genius, the erudition, and the memory, of the inimitable Milton. TODD. THE END. 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