Discourse on Criticism and of PoetryFrom Poems On Several Occasions (1707)
his Name salute each distant Shore.Milton.

Milton.

    Then You, like Glorious Milton had been known To Lands which Conquest has insur'd our Own. Milton! whose Muse Kisses th' embroider'd Skies, While Earth below grows little, as She Flies. Thro' trackless Air she bends her winding Flight, Far as the Confines of retreating Light. Tells the sindg'd Moor, how scepter'd Death began His Lengthning Empire o'er offending Man. Unteaches conquer'd Nations to Rebel, By Singing how their Stubborn Parents fell.

    Now Seraphs crown'd with Helmets I behold, Helmets of Substance more refin'd than Gold:   The Skies with an united Lustre shine, And Face to Face th' Immortal Armies joyn. God's plated Son, Majestically gay, Urges his Chariot thro' the Chrystal-Way Breaks down their Ranks, and Thunders, as he Flies, Arms in his Hands, and Terrour in his Eyes. O'er Heav'ns wide Arch the routed Squadrons Rore, And transfix d Angels groan upon the Diamond-Floor. Then, wheeling from Olympus Snowy top, Thro' the scorch'd Air the giddy Leaders drop Down to th' Abyss of their allotted Hell, And gaze on the lost Skies from whence they Fell.

    I see the Fiend, who tumbled from his Sphere Once by the Victor God, begins to fear New Lightning, and a Second Thunderer. I hear him Yell, and argue with the Skies, Was't not enough, Relentless Power! he cries, Despair of better state, and loss of Light Irreparable? Was not loathsom Night And ever-during Dark sufficient Pain, But Man must Triumph, by our Fall to Reign, And Register the Fate which we Sustain? Hence Hell is doubly Ours: Almighty Name Hence, after Thine, we feel the Poet's Flame And in Immortal Song renew Reviving shame.

  O Soul Seraphick, teach us how we may Thy Praise adapted to thy Worth display, For who can Merit more? or who enough can Pay? Earth was unworthy Your aspiring View, Sublimer Objects were reserv'd for You. Thence Nothing mean obtrudes on Your Design, Your Style is equal to Your Theme Divine, All Heavenly great, and more than Masculine. Tho' neither Vernal Bloom, nor Summer's Rose Their op'ning Beauties could to Thee disclose. Tho' Nature's curious Characters, which we Exactly view, were all eras'd to Thee. Yet Heav'n stood Witness to Thy piercing sight, Below was Darkness, but Above was Light:   Thy Soul was Brightness all; nor would it stay In nether Night, and such a want of Day. But wing'd aloft from sordid Earth retires To upper Glory, and its kindred-Fires:   Like an 
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