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attracting notice by advertisements were then very few; the means of proclaiming the publication of new books have been produced by that general literature which now pervades the nation through all its ranks."

In answer to what Johnson has advanced, let us ask in his own words, "Has the case been truly stated?" The century that was satisfied with but two editions of Shakspeare in forty-one years, called for three of Paradise Lost in ter, and three of Prince Arthur in two. "That Prince Arthur found readers," says Johnson," is certain; for in two years it had three editions; a very uncommon instance of favourable reception, at a time when literary curiosity was yet confined to particular classes of the nation." But it was no uncommon instance, for the same age demanded edition after edition of Cowley, of Waller, of Flatman, and of Sprat. There was no paucity of readers: the

sale of Paradise Lost was slow because it was not to the taste of the times: our very plays were in rhyme; and the public looked with wonder on Shakspeare when improved by Shadwell, Ravenscroft, and Tate. Dryden, who wrote when Cowley was in the full blaze of his reputation, and Milton neglected and unknown, lived long enough to see and tell of a distinct change in public opinion, and Milton stand where Cowley had stood.

That the sale of thirteen hundred copies of a three-shilling book in two years was an uncommon example of the prevalence of genius, Mr. Wordsworth was among the first to disprove. Yet so difficult is it to eradicate an error insinuatingly advanced by a popular author, that Johnson's overthrown statement has been printed without contradiction in every edition of his Lives, and has found an additional stronghold for its perpetuity in the Works of Lord Byron. "Milton's politics kept him down," says Byron; "but the epigram of Dryden, and the very sale of his work, in proportion to the less reading time of its publication, prove him to have been honoured by his contemporaries*."

But Blackmore, who wrote when literary curiosity was yet confined, if we may believe Johnson, to particular classes of the nation, has told us in an acknowledged work that Paradise Lost lay many years unspoken of and entirely disregarded. No better testimony could possibly be wished for; and as the passage has hitherto passed without extract or allusion, we shall quote it at length "It must be acknowledged," says Sir Richard Blackmore," that till about forty years ago Great Britain was barren of critical learning, though fertile in excellent writers; and in particular had so little taste for epic Poetry, and were so unacquainted with the essential properties and peculiar beauties of it, that Paradise Lost, an admirable work of that kind, published by Mr. Milton, the great ornament of his age and country, lay many years unspoken of and entirely disregarded, till at

* Works, vol. v. p. 15.

length it happened that some persons of greater delicacy and judgment found out the merit of that excellent poem, and by communicating their sentiments to their friends, propagated the esteem of || the author, who soon acquired universal applause +."

To strengthen Blackmore in a position which is the very reverse of Johnson, there are other authorities and circumstances, less curious, it is true, but still of interest. "Never any poet," writes Dennis, "left a greater reputation behind him than Mr. Cowley, while Milton remained obscure, and known but to few.” "When Milton first published his famous poem," Swift writes to Sir Charles Wogan, "the first edition was long going off; few either read, liked, or understood it, and it gained ground merely by its merit."

But it had other assistance: "It was your lordship's encouraging," writes Hughes to Lord Somers, "a beautiful edition of Paradise Lost that first brought that incomparable poem to be generally known and esteemed §." This was in 1688; and such, if we may judge the present by the past, was then the influence of Lord Somers, that in a dedication of Swift's Tale of a Tub to the same great man, the bookseller says with ill-concealed satisfaction and in a very grateful strain, “Your Lordship's name on the front, in capital letters, will at any time get off one edition." Whatever Somers did, the poem had made no great way till Philips published his Splendid Shilling, Addison his translation from Virgil, and his delightful papers in The Spectator, that seem to have written it into reputation.

True it is, we must add, that it had been called by Dryden in 1674, when its author was but newly in his grave, "one of the greatest, most noble, and most sublime poems, which either the age or nation has produced |;" that The State of Innocence was suggested by it; that Dryden, the most popular of living poets, and the great critic of our nation, had repeatedly published his high approval, and, better still, had turned his glorious epigram in its praise; nay more, that the Earl of Roscommon, who was dead in 1684, had written in

Milton's measure and manner T. Yet Johnson would have us believe that its admirers did not dare to publish their opinions! But all were not of his way of thinking; and Rymer, who was in poetry what his name would denote, could speak of it in 1678, as "that Paradise Lost of Milton's, which some are pleased to call a poem **;" and Prior and Montague, of its author, in 1687, as “a

+ Essays, 8vo. 1716. Familiar Letters.

§ Spenser's Works, 12mo. 1715. Dedication. Pr. Works by Malone, vol. ii. p. 397. In another place (vol. ii. p. 403), he puts Milton on the same footing with Homer, Virgil, and Tasso. This was in 1675.

See page 280 of this volume. **Letter to Fleetwood Shepherd on the Tragedies of the Last Age, p. 143.

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rough unhewn fellow, that a man must sweat to read him *."

This was the general feeling of the age; and the truth is, as Sir Walter Scott has observed †, that the coldness with which Milton's mighty epic was received upon the first publication, is traceable to the character of its author, so obnoxious for his share in the government of Cromwell, to the turn of the language, so different from that of the age, and the seriousness of a subject so discordant with its lively frivolities. A Christian poem, that should have found its greatest admirers and received its warmest advancement from the Established Church, met there with open and avowed opposition. Milton, hateful as he was to the churchmen for the violence of his political tenets,

The Hind and the Panther Tranversed, &c. Bayes says after quoting a liquid line, "I writ this line r the ladies, I hate such a rough unhewn fellow as Milton," &c. Misc. Pr. Works, vol. i. p. 141,

encountered in the whole collected body of established clergy, that dislike which Sprat when Dean of Westminster professed to feel at the mention of his name,-a name too odious, as he said, to be engraven on the walls of a Christian church. What the clergy should have read, honoured, and encouraged for their cloth, if not for their conscience' sake, was left in the same disregarded state by the laity, who did not profess or wish for once to be wiser than those whose duty it was to direct their minds to good and holy books, and Milton worked his way against every obstacle slowly but surely. No poem ever appeared in an age less fitted or less inclined to read, like, or understand it than did Paradise Lost 1.

Yet Mr. Hallam is inclined to think that the sale was great for the time, and adds, "I have some few doubts, whether Paradise Lost, published eleven years since, would have met with a greater demand."-Lit. Hist. vol. iv. p. 427.

C.

ANNE COUNTESS OF WINCHELSEA,

[Died 1720,]

Was the daughter of Sir William Kingsmill of Sidmonton in the county of Southampton, maid of honour to the duchess of York, and wife to Heneage earl of Winchelsea. A collection of her poems was printed in 1713; several still remain unpublished.

"It is remarkable," says Wordsworth, "that excepting the Nocturnal Reverie, and a passage or two in the Windsor Forest of Pope, the poetry of the period intervening between the publication of Paradise Lost and The Seasons does not contain a single new image of external nature."

A NOCTURNAL REVERIE.

In such a night, when every louder wind
Is to its distant cavern safe confined;
And only gentle Zephyr fans his wings,
And lonely Philomel still waking sings;
Or from some tree, famed for the owl's delight,
She, hollowing clear, directs the wanderer right:
In such a night, when passing clouds give place,
Or thinly vail the heavens' mysterious face;
When in some river, overhung with green,
The waving moon and trembling leaves are seen;
When freshen'd grass now bears itself upright,
And makes cool banks to pleasing rest invite,
Whence springs the woodbine, and the bramble-rose,
And where the sleepy cowslip shelter'd grows;
Whilst now a paler hue the foxglove takes,
Yet chequers still with red the dusky brakes;
When scatter'd glow-worms, but in twilight fine,
Show trivial beauties watch their hour to shine;
Whilst Salisb'ry stands the test of every light,
In perfect charms and perfect virtue bright:
When odours which declined repelling day,
Through temperate air uninterrupted stray;
When darken'd groves their softest shadows wear,
And falling waters we distinctly hear;

When through the gloom more venerable shows
Some ancient fabric, awful in repose;
While sunburnt hills their swarthy looks conceal,
And swelling haycocks thicken up the vale:
When the loosed horse now, as his pasture leads,
Comes slowly grazing through th' adjoining meads,
Whose stealing pace and lengthen'd shade we fear,
Till torn-up forage in his teeth we hear;
When nibbling sheep at large pursue their food,
And unmolested kine rechew the cud;
When curlews cry beneath the village-walls,
And to her straggling brood the partridge calls;
Their short-lived jubilee the creatures keep,
Which but endures whilst tyrant man does sleep;
When a sedate content the spirit feels,
And no fierce light disturbs, whilst it reveals;
But silent musings urge the mind to seek
Something too high for syllables to speak;
Till the free soul to a composedness charm'd,
Finding the elements of rage disarm'd,

O'er all below a solemn quiet grown,

Joys in the inferior world and thinks it like her own:
In such a night let me abroad remain,

Till morning breaks, and all 's confused again;
Our cares, our toils, our clamours are renew'd,
Or pleasures, seldom reach'd, again pursued.

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GENERAL INDEX.

The Roman numerals refer to the Essay;-the Arabic figures, to the body of the Book.

ABSENCE. Jago, 565.

ADDISON (Joseph), specimens of, 338, 339.

Elegy on the Death of. Tickell, 367.

Agrippina, a Fragment. Gray, 508.

AKENSIDE (Mark), notice of, 488; allusion to, 548.

Specimens of, 489-494.

ALEXANDER (William). See STERLINE (Earl of).
Ambition, reflections on. Anon., 211.

America, discovery and happiness of, predicted. Dwight,

617.

Anacreontics, by Oldmixon, 370.

Angler's wish. Walton, 279.

Anglo-Saxon Language, influence of the Norman Conquest
on, xxix.

When it began to be English, xxx.

ANONYMOUS Poets, specimens of, 186, 210, 286, 320, 516,
542, 544.

ANSTEY (Christopher), notices of, 291, 695.

Specimen of his Bath Guide, 695–697.

Argalia, adventures of. Chamberlayn, 202–208.
Argentile and Curan, a tale. Warner, lxvi, 71.
ARMSTRONG (Dr. John), notice of, 546-548.
Specimens of, 548-550.

Athens described. Milton, 259.
AYRES (Philip), specimens of, 287.
AYTON (Sir Robert), Songs by, 210, 321.

Poem said to have been written by, 77.

Bale (Bishop), an early dramatic author, lvii.
BALLADS.

Robene and Makyne. Henrysone, 20.
Dowsabel. Drayton, 118.

On a Wedding. Sir J. Suckling, 181.
The Chronicle. Cowley, 234.
Colin's Complaint. Rowe, 334.

From the What-d'ye-call-it. Gay, 356.
Colin and Lucy. Tickell, 369.
Sally in our Alley. Carey, 453.
William and Margaret. Mallet, 464.

Sir Charles Bawden. Chatterton, 498.

May-Eve, or Kate of Aberdeen. Cunningham, 517.
Owen of Carron. Langhorne, 555.
Hosier's Ghost. Glover, 598.

BAMPFYLDE (John), Sonnets by, 639, 640.
Barbour (John), his Bruce, 17.

BARKLAY (Alexander), critical notice of, xlix.

Bateson's Madrigals, specimens from, 61.

Bath, public breakfast at, described. Anstey, 695-697.

Baucis and Philemon, a Tale. Swift, 383.

BEATTIE (Dr. James), account of, 687.
Specimens of, 689-694.

His admiration of Thomson, 403.

BEAUMONT (Francis), and FLETCHER (John), notices of,

86, 87.

Specimens of their dramatic productions, 88-99.
Critical observations on them, lxxiv.

BEAUMONT (Sir John), notice of, 105.

Specimen of his Poems, 105.

Further Extracts from, 701.

Beauty, vanity of. Gascoigne, 39.

Final cause of our pleasure in. Akenside, 491.

Mental. Akenside, 492.

Bedford (Lucy, Countess of), epigram on. Ben Jonson, 146.
BEHN (Aphra), specimens of, 286, 301.

Bird's Collection of Songs, specimens from, 60.

BISHOP (Rev. Samuel), specimens of, 638, 639.
BLACKLOCK (Thomas), notice of, 626.

Specimens of, 627.

BLACKSTONE (Sir Wm.), specimen of, 563.
BLAIR (Robert), notice of, 399.

Specimens of, 400-402.

BOOTH (Barton), specimen of, 357.

Bowles (Rev. Mr.), his strictures on Pope, remarks on,

lxxxvi-xc, 375.

BRATHWAITE (Richard), specimen of, 256.

BRAMSTON (James), specimen of, 389-392.

BRERETON (Jane), Poem attributed to Lord Chesterfield,

written by, 521.

BRETON (Nicholas), lxv, 84.

Specimens of his Poems, 85.
BROME (Alexander), notice of, 230.

Specimens of his Poems, 230, 231.
BROOKE (Lord). See GREVILLE,
BROOKE (Henry), notice of, 566.
Specimen of, 567-569.

BROWN (Dr. John), notice of, 473.
Specimens of his Poems, 474.

BROWN (Thomas), specimens of, 315, 316.
BROWNE (Isaac Hawkins), specimens of, 443–445.
BROWNE (William), notices of, lxvi, 189.

Extracts from, 189, 190.

BRUCE (Michael), notices of, 476, 604.
Specimens of his Poems, 476, 477.

BULTEEL (John), specimen of the Poetry of, 246.
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, remarks on, lvi.
BURNS (Robert), account of, 640-644; notice of, 439.
Specimens of, 645-652.

Thought borrowed from Dr. Young, 467, note.
Anecdote of, 553, note.

His opinion of Cowper's Task, 676, note.

BUTLER (Samuel), specimens of, 269-279; alluded to, lxxxii.
BYROM (John), Pastoral by, 445.

Epigram by, 516.

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CHURCHILL (Charles), notice of, 454; alluded to, 583, 584.
Specimens of, 456–460.

CIBBER (Colley), specimen of, 433.

Ode on a Pipe of Tobacco, in imitation of. I. H.
Browne,

Cleveland (John), his knotted deformities, Ixxii.
Coleridge (S. T.), opinion of Thomson and Cowper com-
pared, 403 note.

Of Beaumont and Fletcher, lxxvii, note.

Collier (John Payne), his character of Brathwaite's Strap-
pado, 256, note.

COLLINS (William), notice of, 429.

Specimens of, 430–433.

A Sonnet by, 663, note.

His Poems, 664.

His History of the Revival of Learning, 666, nole.
CONGREVE (William), specimens of, 346-349.

CONSTABLE (Henry), 84.

Sonnet by, 84.

Content, a pastoral. Cunningham, 516.

Contentment, hymn to. Parnell, 331.

Ode on. Harte, 541.

COOPER (John Gilbert),

Song attributed to, 479.

Song by, 479.

Cooper's Hill described. Sir J. Denham, 242.

CORBET (Bishop),

Notice of and Extract from, 1xvi, 134-136.

Commendatory Poems, their importance in biography,

87, note.

COTTON (Charles), notice of, 291.

Specimens of, 292–297.

COTTON (Nathaniel), specimen of, 615.

Country Justice, duties of. Langhorne, 552.

Country Life described. Herrick, 233.

COWLEY (Abraham), notices of, lxxii, lxxix, 233, 234.
Specimens of his Poetry, 234-238.

Critical remarks on it,

Note upon, 238.

Line in imitated by Cowper, 675, note; his country-
loving spirit, 447.

COWPER (William), account of, 669-676.

Specimens of, 676-684.

Compared with Thomson, 402, 403.
His character of Thomson, 403, note.
I. H. Browne, 443, note.

Notes on Milton by, lxxx, lxxxi.

Of similes, lxxxvii, note.
Passage in his Homer, lxxxix, note.

CRASHAW (Richard), notice of, 198.

Specimen of his Poems, 192-200.

CRAWFURD (William), Songs by, 424.

Croker (J. W.), note on Dr. Young by, 387.

On the identity of Thales with Savage, 572.

Cromwell's Conspiracy, a Tragi-Comedy, extract from, 210.
Cuckoo, ode to. Logan, 604.

Cunningham (Allan), notes by, 345, 661, 663.

Life of Burns by, characterised, 643.

CUNNINGHAM (John), specimens of, 516.
Custom, influence of. Pomfret, 314.
Cymon and Iphigenia. Dryden, 310.

DANIEL (Samuel), notice and specimen of, lxiii, lxv, lxvi,
79, 80.

DARWIN (Dr. Erasmus), notice of, 684-687.
Specimens of,

Brooke's "Universal Beauty" the prototype of his
Botanic Garden, 566.

DAVENANT (Sir William), notices of, lxxxiii, 239.

Specimens of Gondibert, 240–242.

Davie (Adam), an early English poet, notice of, xli.
DAVIES (Sir John), notice of, lxx, 100.

Specimen of his Poems, 100-102.
Critical remarks on them,

Davison's Rhapsody, specimen from, 58.
De Brunne. See MANNYNG.
DEKKER (Thomas), notice of, 160.

Specimens of his Poems, 160, 161.
DENHAM (Sir John), notice of, 242.

Specimens of his Poetry, 242-246.
Alterations in his Cooper's Hill, 244, note.
Influence of his numbers upon English versification,
Appendix A.

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Description of such a one as he would love. Sir T.
Wyat, 29.

Spring described. Earl of Surrey, 33.

A prisoner's reflections on his past happiness. The
same, 32.

A lover's request for comfort. Rich. Edwards, 34.
Allegorical personages described in hell. Tho. Sack-
ville, 36.

Arraignment of a lover. Gascoigne, 38.

Una followed by the lion. Spenser, 47.

Description of the witch Duessa's journey to the in-
fernal regions. The same, 48.

The Bower of Bliss. The same, 52.

Glauce and Britomart exploring the Cave of Merlin.
The same, 54.

Belphœbe finding Timias wounded. Spenser, 55.
Successive appearances of nature during a summer's
day. A. Hume, 63.

Mercy dwelling in heaven, and pleading for the
guilty. Giles Fletcher, 81.
Justice addressing the Creator. The same, 82.
Mercy brightening the rainbow. The same, 82.
The palace of Presumption. The same, 82.
Nymphidia, the court of Fairy. Drayton, 109.
The Poet's Elysium. The same, lxv.

Morning, birds, and hunting of the deer. The same,
117.

The priestess of Diana. Chalkhill, Ixvii.

The image of jealousy. The same, Ixvii.
Abode of the witch Orandra. The same, lxvii.
Address to his native soil. W. Browne, 190.

Evening. The same, 190.

Death of Rosamond. May, 197.

Soliloquy of Satan, Crashaw, 198.

To Meadows. Herrick, 232.

To Daffodils. The same, 232.

To Blossoms. The same, 232.

The Country Life. The same, 233.

The Complaint. Cowley, 235.

The Waiting-Maid. The same, 236.

Honour. The same, 237.

Wit. The same, 237.

The father of Rhodalind offering her to Duke Gondi-

bert. Davenant, 240.

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