follow that such an abundance of it as would give to a work a sort of heathenish aspect, could be admissible: and with respect to the Egyptian gold, it must be obvious to remark, that such a product could be much more easily worked up so as to lose its profane aspect, than the stories of the gods could be made to accord with the sobriety of religion. The pious commentator, Mr. Scott, in one of his notes on the 23d chapter of Exodus, suggests whether the familiar acquaintance with the heathen mythology which generally accompanies a clas sical education, is not unfavourable to genuine Christianity. But though I should not readily admit that it is so, yet I can more easily believe, that the heathen mythology in a near and studied connexion with the sacred truths of the Bible, is not precisely what it would be in its proper place.

2. It may be suggested whether some of the sentiments and expressions put in the mouths more especially of the evil spirits, do not in a degree offend against the sacredness of religion, the awe with which holy subjects should be approach ed. These sentiments and expressions may perhaps be necessary in order to preserve consistency of character: but it seems unhappy that any circumstance should make it necessary for such depraved creatures to give utterance to all their malignity, and, I may say also, to all their folly. They talk of dethroning, circumventing, disappointing, and vexing the universal Sovereign; as if, even in the view of the most limited understanding, he were no more than the creature of chance, or the sport of destiny. And they detail their malicious and inipotent plans with such a fearlessness of front, and in language of such insult and defiance, as a good man hardly knows how to dwell upon long enough to admit into his mind the representation.

It is true they make some proper concessions respecting the Divine

The

perfections, and speak, at times, the language of self-reproach. reader, however, more than keeps pace with them in these relentings of nature; and he cannot but feel conscious what a tremendous defeat they must at length experience from the exertions of sleepless intelligence and almighty power. This is so much the case, that it seems not altogether natural that beings so purely intellectual should be made to possess such confidence in their ill-concerted designs, and exult so much in only the appearance of success. Their partial concessions, moreover, do not destroy, so much as might be desired, the effects of their contumelious and insulting language. The effusions of their depravity are master-pieces of eloquence in their kind. They are emphatically to the purpose, as addressed to the ear, and to the feelings of consummate impiety; and they come to the heart of man with an energy which it would require some piety to resist. Would not the soul delighted with war, sympathize a little, and mingle while it hastens its movements with the strong and frantic tide of feeling in Moloch the "homicide," and with him fondly brood over its schemes of revenge, even in the face of utter ruin? And would not satan's famous apophthegm speak, and almost elicit, the congenial language of the illimitable heart of ambition,

To reign is worth ambition, tho' in hell.” "In my choice

If there is danger that our corrupt propensities may be roused into greater efficiency by such represen tations, they should be either altogether spared, or more lightly touched upon. At least the remedy should be at hand, and be made to bear upon the evil. I am not certain but that in the conduct and issue of the story is to be found all the corrective that justice demanded of the poet; although it can hardly have escaped observation,

sentations, from the nature of the case, be not pardonable, as supposing the reader will make the proper allowances and reservations, I will not undertake positively to say; yet I would suggest that every thing within the skill of the poet to counteract the effect should be brought forward. It is due to Milton to observe, that he has done much in the latter way, although, in one species of representation, his design is not fully answered. Satan is made at times to defend himself with such amazing art, and to offer such plausible reasons for his conduct, without an adequate counterbalancing representation, that the depraved mind of man, which takes at least as much pains to find excuses for its wickedness as to admit the force of considerations against it, would easily take sides with the foe of God and man. One would think that the following words were put into the mouth of that evil agent almost on purpose to have them appear, as every sneer does, irrefutable. Satan, after his success in circumventing man, says to his comrades ;

"Him by fraud I have seduc'd From his Creator; and (the more to in

giv'n up

Both his beloved man, and all his world, To sin, and death, a prey; and so to us."

The cause of scepticism, it may be feared, is often aided by such perhaps inadvertent touches.

4. Our moral associations and feelings must be considered as in some danger of being injured, from the grossness and materialism which enter into some of the poet's representations of spiritual subjects. It is to be remarked that the Scriptures, in aid of our weak conceptions, sometimes employ on these subjects a language similar to that used by the poet. But representations of this nature are there mostly made in the way of comparison;

and besides are very concise. They are merely slight touches, or circumstantial strokes, and do not form the ground-work of the picture. In Paradise Lost the description is extended. The comparison constitutes the entire representation. The scene, in every part, is invested with the attributes of materiality. The pure spiritual world of the Bible becomes the palpable world of our senses, though more delicately touched. Hence we seem to be conveyed into a sort of unaccustomed region of mere fancied existence. This is so much the case, that the temporary suspicion of Andrew Marvell, expressed in the following lines, is not without foundation.

"Heaven, hell, earth, chaos, all! the

Who but must feel, that the sacred truths of the Bible worked up into a story, told in the language, and after the manner, of men, with the necessary extended representations, as to scenery, plot, incidents, characters, speeches, and the like, would, more or less, wear the garb of fable and old song, especially when the representations of certain high and mysterious subjects must be looked upon not only as inadequate in themselves, but as unlike to the reality? These subjects, or rather the truths connected with them, would, in this case, appear with an unlikelihood and a weakness which they by no means inherently possess. The mighty results, particularly concerning man's redemption, must have been connected with some previous supernatural agency: but what created intellect can suitably conceive and trace its various steps? In what manner are we to imagine angels as holding intercourse with one another? What is the form of communication between them and the Deity? And what

is the process by which the Three Persons in the Godhead, consulting from eternity, take their appropriate parts in the works of creation and redemption? We almost shudder at the temerity of any mortal, who, entering into this pure spiritual world, shall mark it with earthly stains, or present it to us in the darkness and materiality of his own native abode. The poet here would be too apt to mix heaven with earth, spirit with body, God with nature, and to bring every thing down to the form and measure of created objects. That power of the mind by which he gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name," would be rather incautiously and perversely employed, in giving to eternal realities the evanescent form of illu

stances, the representation is carried. How far the poet here offends, it is left to the reader to decide. To some minds it would undoubtedly be desirable, that the taint and corruption of earth should, as far as possible, be removed from these pure and spiritual beings. In the attempt to describe the Supreme Being, and to rehearse dialogues between the Father and Son, the poet has been considered as failing in poetical effect. If from this we deduct a little on the score of the debasing, influence of unnecessary earthly associations; and if we make the same deduction, on the same account, in regard to certain representations of heaven and the state of things there, of the employment and circumstances of angels, and of a few other things occasionally appearing in the work; nothing, it is believed, would be lost as to desirable moral influence. I would not however proscribe the following noble description of the Deity, since it so nearly imitates the modesty of Scripture.

"Fountain of light! thyself invisible Amidst the glorious brightness where

thou sitt'st,