46 DEFECTS. THE SENTIMENTS: PUNS, TOO FREQUENT AL Persons who act in it, he will be furprized to find how little in either of these Poems proceeds from the Authors. Milton has, in the general difpofition of his Fable, very finely observed this great Rule; infomuch, that there is scarce a third part of it which comes from the Poet; the rest is spoken either by Adam and Eve, or by fome Good or Evil Spirit who is engaged either in their Destruction or Defence. From what has been here observed it appears, that Digreffions are by no means to be allowed of in an Epic Poem. If the Poet, even in the ordinary course of his Narration, should speak as little as poffible, he should certainly never let his Narration fleep for the fake of any Reflections of his own. I have often observed, with a fecret Admiration, that the longest Reflection in the Æneid is in that Paffage of the Tenth Book, where Turnus is represent[ed] as dreffing himself in the Spoils of Pallas, whom he had flain. Virgil here lets his Fable ftand ftill for the fake of the following Remark. How is the Mind of Man ignorant of Futurity, and unable to bear profperous Fortune with Moderation? The time will come when Turnus hall wish that he had left the Body of Pallas untouched, and curfe the Day on which he dreffed himself in thefe Spoils. As the great Event of the Eneid, and the Death of Turnus, whom Æneas flew because he saw him adorned with the Spoils of Pallas, turns upon this Incident, Virgil went out of his way to make this Reflection upon it, without which so small a Circumstance might poffibly have flipped out of his Reader's Memory. Lucan, who was an Injudicious Poet, lets drop his Story very frequently for the fake of [his] unneceffary Digreffions or his Diverticula, as Scaliger calls them. If he gives us an Account of the Prodigies which preceded the Civil War, he declaims upon the Occasion, and fhews how much happier it would be for Man, if he did not feel his Evil Fortune before it comes to pass, and suffer not only by its real Weight, but by the Apprehension of it. Milton's Complaint LUSION TO HEATHEN FABLES, OSTENTATION OF LEARNING. 47 of his Blindness, his Panegyrick on Marriage, his Reflections on Adam and Eve's going naked, of the Angels eating, and several other Paffages in his Poem, are liable to the fame Exception, tho' I must confess there is fo great a Beauty in these very Digreffions, that I would not wish thern out of his Poem. I have, in a former Paper, fpoken of the Characters of Milton's Paradife Loft, and declared my Opinion, as to the Allegorical Persons who are introduced in it. If we look into the Sentiments, I think they are fometimes defective under the following Heads; First, as there are fome [feveral] of them too much pointed, and fome that degenerate even into Punns. Of this last kind I am afraid is that in the First Book, where, speaking of the Pigmies, he calls them.. Warr'd on by Cranes -The fmall Infantry Another Blemish that appears in fome of his Thoughts, is his frequent Allusion to Heathen Fables, which are not certainly of a Piece with the Divine Subject, of which he treats. I do not find fault with these Allusions, where the Poet himself represents them as fabulous, as he does in fome Places, but where he mentions them as Truths and Matters of Fact. The Limits of my Paper will not give me leave to be particular in Inftances of this kind: The Reader will easily remark them in his Perusal of the Poem. A Third Fault in his Sentiments, is an unneceffary Oftentation of Learning, which likewise occurs very frequently. It is certain that both Homer and Virgil were Masters of all the Learning of their Times, but it shews it self in their Works after an indirect and concealed manner. Milton feems ambitious of letting us know, by his Excurfions on Free-will and Predestination, and his many Glances upon History, Astronomy, Geography and the like, as well as by the Terms and Phrases he fometimes makes use of, that he was acquainted with the whole Circle of Arts and Sciences. 48 DEFECTS. THE LANGUAGE IS OFTEN TOO If, in the last place, we confider the Language of this great Poet, we must allow what I have hinted in a former Paper, that it is [often] too much laboured, and fometimes obfcured by old Words, Tranfpofitions, and Foreign Idioms. Seneca's Objection to the Stile of a great Author, Reget ejus oratio, nihil in eâ placidum, nihil lene, is what many Criticks make to Milton : as I cannot wholly refute it, fo I have already apologized for it in another Paper; to which I may further add, that Milton's Sentiments and Ideas were so wonderfully Sublime, that it would have been impoffible for him to have represented them in their full Strength and Beauty, without having recourse to these Foreign Affistances. Our Language funk under him, and was unequal to that greatnefs of Soul, which furnished him with fuch glorious Conceptions. A fecond Fault in his Language is, that he often af fects a kind of Jingle in his Words, as in the following. Paffages, and many others: And brought into the World a World of woe. Befeeching or besieging This tempted our attempt At one Slight bound high overleapt all bound. I know there are Figures of this kind of Speech, that some of the greatest Ancients have been guilty of it, and that Aristotle himself has given it a place in his Rhetorick among the Beauties of that Art. But as it is in itsself poor and trifling, it is I think at present univerfally exploded by all the Masters of polite Writing. The laft Fault which I fhall take notice of in Milton's Stile, is the frequent ufe of what the Learned. call Technical Words, or Terms of Art. It is one of the great Beauties of Poetry, to make hard things intelligible, and to deliver what is abftruse of it self in fuch easy Language as may be understood by ordinary Readers: Befides that the Knowledge of a Poet should rather feem born with him, or inspired, than OBSCURE, JINGLING, AND TECHNICAL. 49 drawn from Books and Systems. I have often wondered how Mr. Dryden could tranflate a Paffage of Virgil after the following manner. Tack to the Larboard, and fland off to Sea, Veer Star-board Sea and Land Milton makes ufe of Larboard in the fame manner. When he is upon Building, he mentions Doric Pillars, Pilafters, Cornice, Freeze, Architrave. When he talks of Heavenly Bodies, you meet with Eccliptick, and Eccentric, the trepidation, Stars dropping from the Zenith, Rays culminating from the Equator. To which might be added many Inftances of the like kind in feveral other Arts and Sciences. I fhall in my next Saturday's Paper [Papers] give an Account of the many particular Beauties in Milton, which would have been too long to infert under thofe general Heads I have already treated of, and with which I intend to conclude this Piece of Criticism. The SPECTATOR. -volet hæc fub luce videri, Fudicis argutum quæ non formidat acumen. Hor. { Some choofe the cleareft Light, And boldly challenge the moft piercing Eye. Rofcommon.} Saturday, February 16. 1712. Have feen in the Works of a Modern Philofopher, a Map of the Spots in the Sun. My laft Paper of the Faults and Blemishes in Milton's Paradife Loft, may be confider'd as a Piece of the fame Nature. To pursue the Allusion: As it is obferv'd, that among the bright parts of the Luminous Body above-mentioned, there are some which glow more intensely, and dart a stronger Light than others; fo, notwithstanding I have already fhewn Milton's Poem to be very beautiful in general, I shall now proceed to take notice of such Beauties as appear to me more exquisite than the rest. Milton has propofed the Subject of his Poem in the following Verses. Of Mans firft difobedience, and the fruit These Lines are perhaps as plain, fimple and unadorned as any of the whole Poem, in which particular the Author has conform'd himself to the Example of Homer, and the Precept of Horace. His Invocation to a Work which turns in a great |