Ill 



That the mythological decoratious in the " Paradise Lost " are unde- 

 niable blemishes of that sublime poem, is, I believe, conceded on all 

 sides. But various attempts have been made by the unqualified 

 admirers of Milton to justif}^ the poet, or at least to palliate his fault. 

 It has been said, and with truth, that the fable of the " Paradise Lost"' 

 is too devoid of incidents and variety to be deprived of the imagery 

 which the rich mythology of Greece affords.* If this plea holds good, 

 it is a very strong argument to prove my first position, viz. that the 

 subject of the poem is far from being, as Mr. Hallam has said, " tbe 

 finest that has ever been chosen for heroic poetry ;" it is a defence of 

 the poet's taste at the expense of his judgment; for his judgment 

 should have led him to select a subject which would not compel him to 

 offend against the rules of the highest poetic beauty which is inseparable 

 from truth.f However, this defence is utterly futile. The employment 

 of mythological allusions is quite independent of the subject of 

 the "Paradise Lost." The Comus and Lycidas are quite as full 

 of them. I The fact is, Milton's classical learning had communicated 



* Hallam, Lit. of Europe, vol. IV. ch. v. s. 32. 



+ I can hardly uuderstand the serious meanini^ of a passage in R. Chambers's Life of 

 Miltou, Cyclop, of Kng Literature, I. p. 331. " The theme of ' Paradise Lost' was in its 

 nature connected with everything importaut in the circumstances of human history ; and 

 amidst these circumstances Milton saw that the fables of paganism were too important aud 

 poetical to be omitted." 



t Even the Hymn on the Nativity, Milton's earliest production, written when he was 

 still at college, is not free from these mythological allusions, though the subject is purely 

 Christian and devotional. The long list of Heathen Gods that are there mentioned as being 

 hurled from their altars, are endowed with the reality of life: — 

 " Apollo from his shrine 

 Can no more divine 

 With hollow shriek, the sleep of Delphos leaviug." 



"From hannted spring and dale. 

 Edged with poplar pale, 

 The parting genius is with sighing sent 



Wilh flower-inwoven tresses torn, 

 Tha nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thicliels mourn." 

 We have also Fate introduced — 



" But wisest Fate says no, &c." 

 It may be pleaded, that Milton had a right to speak of the Heathen Goils as real beings, 

 OS in doing so he adopted the views of venerable Fathers. This is his justilication f(ir tlie 

 same view taken in Paradise Lost. But independently of this we find a meiely ornamental 

 figure in the following lines : — 



" Nature that heard such sound 

 Beneath the hollow round 

 Of Cynthia's seal, the airy region thrilling. 

 Now was almost won, &c." 



