...Johnson remarks of the Paradise Lost, " its perusal is rather a duty than a pleasure ; it is one of those books which the reader admires, and lays down and forgets to take up again." To one excellence of Milton, -however, the great critic, whom I 'have cited, •is blind. Milton was...

...inconsistent with each other, would only be to imitate Mr. Stockdale in his trifling and prolixity. That " Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader...admires, and lays down, and forgets to take up again," is a sentence of which the justice is too irresistibly and universally felt, to be censured as absurd,...

...But original deficience cannot be fupplied. The want of human intereft is always felt. Paradife Loft is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. Its perufal is a duty rather than a pleafure. We read Milton for inftruftion, retire harafled and overburdened,...

...poetical worth, would be told that his "- Paradise Lost" is an object of forced admiration ; that " it is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again." It is true, that the critique on the " Paradise Lost," is one of the most splendid and eloquent passages...

...poetical worth, would be told that his " Paradise Lost" is an object of forced admiration ; that " it is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again." It is true, that the critique on the " Paradise Lost," is one of the most splendid and eloquent passages...

...poetical worth, would be told that his " Paradise Lost" is an object of forced admiration ; that " it is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again." It i? true, that the critique on the " Paradise Lost," is one of the most splendid and eloquent passages...

...Johnson remarks of the Paradise Lost, "its perusal is rather a duty than a pleasure ; it is one of those books which the reader admires, and lays down and forgets to take up ag.iin." To one excellence of Milton, however, the great critic, whom I have cited, is blind. Milton...

...universal knowledge. But original deficience cannot be supplied. The want of human interest is always felt. Paradise Lost • is one of the books which the reader...admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton...

...After displaying, in the noblest manner, many of the peculiar excellencies in the poem, he says, " its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure ; we read Milton for instruction, retire harrassed and overburthened, and look elsewhere for recreation ; we desert our master, and seek for...

...universal knowledge. But original deficience cannot be supplied. The want of human interest is always felt. Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader...admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton...