he stage,
seems to have been originally intended as a mere poetical prolusion; for
Dryden, who was above affecting such a circumstance, tells us, that it
was only made public, because, in consequence of several hundred copies,
every one gathering new faults, having been dispersed without his
knowledge, it became at length a libel on the author, who was forced to
print a correct edition in his own defence. As the incidents and
language were ready composed by Milton, we are not surprised when
informed, that the composition and revision were completed in a single
month. The critics having assailed the poem even before publication, the
author has prefixed an "Essay upon Heroic Poetry and Poetic Licence;" in
which he treats chiefly of the use of metaphors, and of the legitimacy
of machinery.

The Dedication of the "State of Innocence," addressed to Mary of Este,
Duchess of York, is a singular specimen of what has been since termed
the _celestial_ style of inscription. It is a strain of flattery in the
language of adoration; and the elated station of the princess is
declared so suited to her excellence, that Providence has only done
justice to its own works in placing the most perfect work of heaven
where it may be admired by all beholders. Even this flight is surpassed
by the following:--"Tis true, you are above all mortal wishes; no man
desires impossibilities, because they are beyond the reach of nature. To
hope to be a god is folly exalted into madness; but, by the laws of our
creation, we are obliged to adore him, and are permitted to love him too
at human distance. 'Tis the nature of perfection to be attractive; but
the excellency of the object refines the nature of the love. It strikes
an impression of awful reverence; 'tis indeed that love which is more
properly a zeal than passion. 'Tis the rapture which anchorites find in
prayer, when a beam of the divinity shines upon them; that which makes
them despise all worldly objects; and yet 'tis all but contemplation.
They are seldom visited from above; but a single vision so transports
them, that it makes up the happiness of their lives. Mortality cannot
bear it often: it finds them in the eagerness and height of their
devotion; they are speechless for the time that it continues, and
prostrate and dead when it departs." Such eulogy was the taste of the
days of Charles, when ladies were deified in dedications and painted as
Venus or Diana upon canvas. In our time, the elega