lton, madam, was a
genius that could cut a colossus from a rock, but could not carve heads
upon cherry-stones." And it would not be surprising if this
generation, which has access to the almost infinite quantity of lighter
compositions which have been produced since Johnson's time, were to
echo his sentence. In some degree, perhaps, the popular taste does so.
"Comus" has no longer the peculiar exceptional popularity which it used
to have: we can talk without general odium of its defects; its
characters are nothing, its sentiments are tedious, its story is not
interesting. But it is only when we have realized the magnitude of its
deficiencies that we comprehend the peculiarity of its greatness. Its
power is in its style. A grave and firm music pervades it; it is soft,
without a thought of weakness; harmonious and yet strong; impressive as
few such poems are, yet covered with a bloom of beauty and a complexity
of charm that few poems have either. We have perhaps light literature
in itself better, that we read oftener and more easily, that lingers
more in our memories; but we have not any, we question if there ever
will be any, which gives so true a conception of the capacity and the
dignity of the mind by which it was produced. The breath of solemnity
which hovers round the music attaches us to the writer. Every line,
here as elsewhere, in Milton excites the idea of indefinite power.

And so we must draw to a close. The subject is an infinite one, and if
we pursued it, we should lose ourselves in miscellaneous commentary,
and run on far beyond the patience of our readers. What we have said
has at least a defined intention: we have wished to state the
impression which the character of Milton and the greatest of Milton's
works are likely to produce on readers of the present generation,--a
generation different from his own almost more than any other.

[1] The Life of John Milton, narrated in connection with the Political,
Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of his time. By David Masson, M.
A., Professor of English Literature in University College, London,
Cambridge: Macmillan.

An Account of the Life, Opinions, and Writings of John Milton. By
Thomas Keightley; with an Introduction to "Paradise Lost." London:
Chapman & Hall.

The Poems of Milton, with Notes by Thomas Keightley. London; Chapman &
Hall.

[2] Review of Lockhart's Scott.

[3] "L'Allegro."

[4] "Life of Milton."

[5] Sonnet xix.

[6