in one word, by its Puritanism. But by race and descent, by dramatic seriousness and literary manner, by the imaginative force with which it is conceived, by the peculiarity of the classical colouring and the metrical forms, by the English and the construction of the English, by its allegorical turn, by the spirit which fills its poetry, and above all, by its note of passion, however grave that passion be, Samson Agonistes is the last expression, born out of due time, of the Elizabethan Tragedy. In its relation, alike to the Drama that preceded and surrounded it, it resembles one of those fortress-rocks which, the expiring effort of the energy of the Alpine chain, stands apart in the plain of Lombardy, and frowns upon a world in which it is a stranger. Like it, too, Milton and his work remain apart in lonely grandeur. In one aspect, he had no predecessor and no follower. And we, who attempt, at so vast a distance, to look up to the height on which he sits with Homer and Dante, feel we may paint the life, but hardly dare to analyse the work, of the great Singer and Maker whose name shines only less brightly than Shakspere's on the long and splendid roll of the poets of England.

MILTON! THOU SHOULDST BE LIVING AT THIS HOUR;
ENGLAND HATH NEED OF THEE: SHE IS A FEN
OF STAGNANT WATERS: ALTAR, SWORD, AND PEN,
FIRESIDE, THE HEROIC WEALTH OF HALL AND BOWER,
HAVE FORFEITED THEIR ANCIENT, ENGLISH DOWER
OF INWARD HAPPINESS. WE ARE SELFISH MEN:

OH! RAISE US UP, RETURN TO US AGAIN;

AND GIVE US MANNERS, FREEDOM, VIRTUE, POWER.

THY SOUL WAS LIKE A STAR AND DWELT APART:

THOU HADST A VOICE WHOSE SOUND WAS LIKE THE SEA,
PURE AS THE NAKED HEAVENS, MAJESTIC, FREE,
SO DIDST THOU TRAVEL ON LIFE'S COMMON WAY
IN CHEERFUL GODLINESS; AND YET THY HEART
THE LOWLIEST DUTIES ON HERSELF DID LAY.

Edited by JOHN RICHARD GREEN.

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