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Freem. What indeed can it be but the Plain Dealer? Beaum. I find, then, that you do not dissent from Mr. R in every thing.

Freem. No, I should be very sorry if I should do that; 5 for his Censures of Shakespear in most of the particulars are very sensible and very just. But it does not follow, because Shakespear has Faults, that therefore he has no Beauties, as the next time we meet I shall shew you.

Beaum. Well, till then, your Servant.

IO Freem. Honest Ned, Adieu.

SIR,

CHARLES GILDON

VINDICATION OF PARADISE LOST

1694

To Mr. T. S. in Vindication of Mr. Milton's
Paradise lost.

You will pardon me, I am confident, tho' in Opposition

to your Thoughts I positively declare my self extreamly well pleas'd with that part of Mr. Milton's most excellent Poem, to which you discover the least Inclination. Those Antient and consequently less Intelligible Words, Phrases, 5 and Similies, by which he frequently and purposedly affects to express his Meaning, in my Opinion do well suit with the Venerable Antiquity and Sublime Grandeur of his Subject. And how much soever some Unthinking have Condemn'd this his Choice, You, who have Maturely weigh'd how much 10 deeper an Impression less us'd (so they be what you will grant his always are) Significant words make on a Readers fancy than such as are more common,-you, I say, must pay a vast deference to Mr. Milton's great Judiciousness in this particular no less than to his entire Manage of every 15 part of that Charming Poem, in which upon every Occasion he discovers himself a perfect, unimitable Master of Language. Here are you forc'd to give a profound Attention to the Universal Creator, speaking like that Almighty who by the Fiat of his Mouth made all things, and yet so 20 Gracious are All his Expressions, as if he valued himselt more on his Good Will to Man than on his Prerogative over him. There shall you read Man, addressing himself Submissively like a Creature who owes his Being to a better,

wiser, and higher power, and yet not so Abjectly but you will easily perceive him to be Lord of the whole Creation. Elsewhere you may see an Angel discovering himself not a Little Man's Superior by Creation, in Place and Power 5 more, but in Knowledge most of all. In another place, behold Woman appearing Inferiour to both these, and yet more Ambitious than either, but then softer much in her Make and Manners than her rougher Spouse, whom down right Sincerity and unaffected plainness seem mostly to 10 Delight. Nor can I now forget with what vast complacency we have oft together read the most Natural, Lively, yet (as their Sexes) different Descriptions our first Parents separately make of their own Apprehensions of themselves at their first finding themselves Living Creatures. Nay, the 15 very fallen Angels are much Honour'd above the best of their deserts by the Amazing Relation we there meet with of their Ambition, Malice, Inveteracy, and Cunning; and never was Scene so livelily shown as that of his Pandamonium in the first Book. Once more, and you are no 20 less astonisht at his Description than he makes the Angels to be at the Report of their Adversaries Thund'ring Fireworks. And yet, if his Matter requires a Meaner Style, how much soever he speaks Loftily at one time, at another he does even to a Miracle suit his Speech to his Subject. 25 This, I well know, has been rashly or maliciously censur'd in him for Servile creeping; but if 'tis well consider'd upon what proper Occasion he thus humbles his Style, 'twill be Accounted (as really it is) his Great Commendation. But in praise of Mr. Milton's admirable Dexterity in this his Match30 less Performance, since All I can say must come exceeding short of his due Merit, that I bring not my self under the Correction of that known saying, Præstat de Carthagine tacere quam pauca dicere, I shall venture to add no more but this tho' the Composing such a compleat Poem on 35 such a no less Obscure than weighty Subject was a Task

to be perform'd by Mr. Milton only, yet 'tis not out of doubt whether himself had ever been able so to Sing of Unrevealed Heavenly Mysteries, had he not been altogether depriv'd of his Outward Sight, and thereby made capable of such continued Strenuous Inward Speculations as he who 5 has the use of his Bodily Eyes cannot possibly become possest with. This, however, must be Granted as indubitably true: The bountiful Powers above did more than make him amends for their taking away his Sight, by so Illumining his Mind as to enable him most compleatly to sing of 10 Matchless Beings, Matchless Things, before unknown to, and even unthought of, by the whole Race of Men, thus rewarding him for a Temporary Loss with an Eternal Fame, of which Envy it self shall not be able ever to deprive this best of Poems or its most Judicious Author.

In this Faith I Subscribe my self,

SIR,

15

Yours, &c., I. I.

WILLIAM WOTTON

FROM REFLECTIONS UPON ANCIENT AND
MODERN LEARNING

1694

CHAP. III.

Of Ancient and Modern Eloquence and Poesie. T is acknowledged by most Men, that he who has studied any Subject is a better Judge of that Subject than another Man who did never purposely bend his Thoughts that way, provided they be both Men of equal 5 Parts. Yet we see there are many Things whereof Men will, at first sight, pass their Judgment, and obstinately adhere to it, though they not only know nothing of those Matters, but will confess that it requires Parts, and Skill, and Exercise, to be excellent in them. This is remarkably 10 visible in the Censures which are passed upon Pieces of Oratory and Poesie every Day by those who have very little, or none, of that sort of Learning themselves, and to whom all that is said of Skill in those Things, and of a true Relish of what is really fine, is Jargon and Cant. 15 And in the mean time these Men do in other Things shew great Accuracy and Judgment, even in Subjects which require quick Apprehension, nice Observation, and frequent Meditation. If one should ask why such Men so frequently mistake and differ in those other Matters, the 20 Answer, I think, is this: (1) The Foundations of Eloquence of all sorts lying in Common Sence, of which every Man is in some degree a Master, most ingenious

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