to wish that Milton had been a rhymer; for I cannot wish his work to
be other than it is; yet like other heroes, he is to be admired
rather than imitated. He that thinks himself capable of astonishing
may write blank verse; but those that hope only to please must
condescend to rhyme.

The highest praise of genius is original invention. Milton cannot
be said to have contrived the structure of an epic poem, and
therefore owes reverence to that vigour and amplitude of mind to
which all generations must be indebted for the art of poetical
narration, for the texture of the fable, the variation of incidents,
the interposition of dialogue, and all the stratagems that surprise
and enchain attention. But, of all the borrowers from Homer, Milton
is perhaps the least indebted. He was naturally a thinker for
himself, confident of his own abilities, and disdainful of help or
hindrance: he did not refuse admission to the thoughts or images of
his predecessors, but he did not seek them. From his contemporaries
he neither courted nor received support; there is in his writings
nothing by which the pride of other authors might be gratified, or
favour gained; no exchange of praise, nor solicitation of support.
His great works were performed under discountenance and in
blindness; but difficulties vanished at his touch; he was born for
whatever is arduous; and his work is not the greatest of heroic
poems, only because it is not the first.



COWLEY.