PREFACE. xllli 



in fo far as reafon is overcome by the irrational part, tliey are vices ; 

 but in fo far as they gratify the paffions v\4th pain and relu6lance, 

 knowing that they do wrong, fo that the eye of the mind is ftill 

 found, they are not vices *. 



There cannot, I think, be founder philofophy than this ; for it 

 not only agrees perfedly with experience and obfervation, but it is 

 deduced from the inward ftrudure of the mind, and therefore may 

 be faid to be demonftrated a priori. It gives that preference in the 

 matter which is due to the governing principle of the mind, that is, 

 the rational and intelledual part, which, of necelTity, mufl determine 

 whether the man be virtuous or vicious ; for if the governing prin- 

 ciple approves of vice, and the man applauds himfelf for his vicious 

 adions, then is he truly vicious : On the other hand, if the govern- 



g 2 ing 



of it is finely varied by fhort and long verfes, blank and rhiming, and the fvveetefl; 

 fongs that ever were compofed ; nor do I know any thing in Englifii poetry compa- 

 rable to it in this rcfpec^, except Dryden's ode on St. Cecilia j which, for the length 

 of the piece, has all the variety of verfification that can well be imagined. As to the 

 ftyle of the Comus, it is more elevated, I think, than that of any of his writings, and 

 io much above what is written at prefent, that I am inclined to make the fame di Unc- 

 tion in the Englifh language, that Homer made of the Greek in his time ; and to fay, 

 that Milton's language is the language of the gods; whereas we of this age fpeak 

 and write the language of mere mortal men. If the Comus was to be properly repre- 

 fented, with all the decorations which it requires, of machinery, fccnery, drefs, muficj 

 and dancing, it would be the fineft exhibition that ever was {^cn upon any modern ftage. 

 But I am afraid, with all thefe, the principal part would be ftill wanting; I mean, 

 players that could wield the language of Milton, and pronounce thofc fine periods of 

 his, by which he has contrived to give his poetry the beauty of the finefi: profc com- 

 pofition, and without which there can be nothing great or noble in compofition of any 

 kind. Or if we could find players who had breath and organs (for tliefc, as well as 

 other things, begin to fail in this generation), and fenfe and tafte enough, properly to 

 pronounce fuch periods, I doubt it would not be eafy to find an audience that could 

 relifh them, or perhaps they would not have attention and comprehenfion fufficient to 

 conne61: the fenfe of them, being accuftomed to that trim, fpruce, ftiort cut of a ftyle, 

 which Tacitus, and his modern imitators, French and Englifh, have made fafhionable^ 



* Gale's Colledion, p. 691, 692, 



