suffered to go away unmolested. The creation of man is represented
as the consequence of the vacuity left in heaven by the expulsion of
the rebels; yet Satan mentions it as a report "rife in Heaven"
before his departure.

To find sentiments for the state of innocence was very difficult;
and something of anticipation perhaps is now and then discovered.
Adam's discourse of dreams seems not to be the speculation of a new-
created being. I know not whether his answer to the angel's reproof
for curiosity does not want something of propriety; it is the speech
of a man acquainted with many other men. Some philosophical
notions, especially when the philosophy is false, might have been
better omitted. The angel, in a comparison, speaks of "timorous
deer," before deer were yet timorous, and before Adam could
understand the comparison.

Dryden remarks, that Milton has some flats among his elevations.
This is only to say, that all the parts are not equal. In every
work, one part must be for the sake of others; a palace must have
passages; a poem must have transitions. It is no more to be
required that wit should always be blazing, than that the sun should
always stand at noon. In a great work there is a vicissitude of
luminous and opaque parts, as there is in the world a succession of
day and night. Milton, when he has expatiated in the sky, may be
allowed sometimes to revisit earth; for what other author ever
soared so high, or sustained his flight so long?

Milton, being well versed in the Italian poets, appears to have
borrowed often from them; and, as every man catches something from
his companions, his desire of imitating Ariosto's levity has