POETICAL WORKS or JOHN MILTON: WITH A Life of the Author; PRELIMINARY DISSERTATIONS ON EACH POEM; NOTES CRITICAL PARADISE LOST; AND A Verbal Index to all the Poems. BY CHARLES DEXTER CLEVELAND, AUTHOR OF THE COMPENDIUMS OF ENGLISH, AMERICAN AND CLASSICAL LITERATURE. "It will not be too much to say, that of all uninspired writings, (if these be uninspired,) "That fervid Genius, which has cast a sort of shade upon all the other works of A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO. 1873. LITERATURE AND BELLES LETTRES. PROFESSOR CLEVELAND'S WORKS. A WHOLE LIBRARY IN FOUR VOLUMES. OF ENGLISH OF 19th CENT'Y COMPENDIUM LITERATURE OF AMERICAN OF CLASSICAL CLEVELAND'S COMPLETE MILTON, WITH VERBAL INDEX. One Hundred and Twenty Thousand of these Volumes have been sold, and they are the acknowledged Standard wherever this refining study is pursued. PROF. JAMES R. BOYD'S WORKS. EMBRACING COMPOSITION, LOGIC, LITERATURE, RHETORIC, CRITICISM, BIOGRAPHY;-POETRY, AND PROSE. BOYD'S COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC. Remarkable for the space and attention given to grammatical principles, to afford a substantial groundwork; also for the admirable treatment of synonyms, figurative language, and the sources of argument and illustration, with notable exercises for preparing the way to poetic composition. BOYD'S ELEMENTS OF LOGIC explains, first, the conditions and processes by which the mind receives ideas, and then unfolds the art of reasoning, with clear directions for the establishment and confirmation of sound judgment. A thoroughly practical treatise, being a systematic and philosophical condensation of all that is known of the subject. BOYD'S KAMES' CRITICISM. This standard work, as is well known, treats of the faculty of perception, and the result of its exercise upon the tastes and emotions. It may therefore be termed a Compendium of Aesthetics and Natural Morals; and its use in refining the mind and heart has made it a standard text-book. BOYD'S ANNOTATED ENGLISH CLASSICS. Thomson's Seasons. In six cheap volumes. The service done to literature, by Prof. Boyd's Annota tions upon these standard writers, can with difficulty be estimated. Line by line their expressions and ideas are analyzed and discussed, until the best comprehension of the powerful use of language is obtained by the leamer. C'S MILTON. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1864, by CHARLES DEXTER CLEVELAND, In the Clerk's Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PREFACE. ANY attempt, however humble, to make the Poems of Milton more widely circulated, intelligently read, and wisely appreciated, needs no apology. I may state, however, the simple incident to which the present edition owes its origin. Five years ago, when preparing my "Compendium of English Literature," I had occasion to look at Todd's "Verbal Index" to Milton, in connection with "Lycidas," and found the first two references to which I turned, to be wrong. Surprised at this, I soon after, at my leisure, compared every word in "Lycidas" with this Index, and found, in its references to that short poem of one hundred and ninety-three lines, SIXTY-THREE mistakes! This discovery made me resolve to prepare, as early as my numerous engagements would permit, an edition of Milton's Poems, with an Index subjoined on which some reliance for accuracy might be placed. But though I began the examination of Todd's Index more than three years ago, so laborious has been the work that I have been able but recently to bring it to a close. The result is, that, after two careful examinations, (in the first of which I was assisted, in some portions, by two or three literary friends,) there have been found THREE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO mistakes! This I could scarcely believe, had I not marked the number on each page at its foot, and had not 'he careful addition of the figures brought about the astounding result; so that, on the whole, the work of examining and comparing Todd's Index has been about equivalent to that of making out, independently, an entirely new one. I need hardly say how richly I have been repaid for my labour, in my constant communings, day by day, with the mind of the immortal bard, whose astonishing learning and genius have continually excited in me fresh admiration and delight. No work could more amply bring with it its own rich reward. ει 2859 ༢༣ "While I sit with thee, I seem in Heaven; Par. Lost, viii. 210. Great pains have also been taken to present a correct text. Sir Egerton Brydges' London edition, in six volumes, was put into the hands of the printer to "set up" from; but the proofs have, from the outset, been read and compared with three other editions, namely, Todd's, 7 vols., London, 1809; Mitford's "Aldine," 3 vols., London, 1845; and "Milton's own," as reprinted by Pickering, 6 vols., London, 1851. It was well that this care was taken, for numerous errors were found throughout in the text of Brydges. I claim not, of course, that my edition is immaculate: but I can truly say that great and unwearied pains have been taken to avoid errors both in the text and in the Index. The notes, with the preliminary and subsequent "Remarks" to each poem, have mainly been selected from the numerous preceding annotators, with such discrimination, and I hope it may be thought with such taste, as a work like this demands. It would have been easy to swell these to any extent; but a book is not always valuable in proportion to its size, and my great aim in preparing this edition of Milton was, to have one that, while it would be critical enough for the scholar, full enough for the general reader, and beautiful enough for the table of the opulent, should, above all, be cheap enough for the school-room and for the dwellings of those whose limited means prevent them from buying expensive books. In both the latter I hope, especially, that this edition may be frequently seen,-for scarcely any higher blessing could we desire for our land, than that the minds and hearts of the people and the people's children should be imbued with the pure morality, the manly truth, the lofty sentiments, the profound wisdom, and the sublime imagery of these deeply spiritual and soul-stirring poems. Having thus aimed, not at originality, but simply to make the MOST USEFUL edition of England's and the world's greatest poet, I now commit it to an intelligent public to decide how far I have succeeded. Philadelphia, January 1, 1853. CHARLES DEXTER CLEVELAND, |