Ir is a noteworthy fact that among the books written in the reign of Charles the Second, the two works which outstripped the rest in genius, as much as they have surpassed them in popularity, should have been produced by men whose opportunities, mode of life, and literary antecedents were in direct and complete opposition. These two works are Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," and Milton's Paradise Lost." No two careers can have been separated by a wider distance than that which intervened between the "blind bard" and him whom criticism, half sneering, half in wonder, has dubbed the |