roduction. Had the subject been of a nature which admitted its being
actually represented, we might conceive, that Dryden, who was under
engagements to the theatre, with which it was not always easy to
comply, might have been desirous to shorten his own labour, by
adopting the story sentiments, and language of a poem, which he so
highly esteemed and which might probably have been new to the
generality of his audience. But the _costume_ of our first parents,
had there been no other objection, must have excluded the "State of
Innocence" from the stage, and accordingly it was certainly never
intended for representation. The probable motive, therefore, of this
alteration, was the wish, so common to genius, to exert itself upon a
subject in which another had already attained brilliant success, or,
as Dryden has termed a similar attempt, the desire to shoot in the bow
of Ulysses. Some circumstances in the history of Milton's immortal
poem may have suggested to Dryden the precise form of the present
attempt. It is reported by Voltaire, and seems at length to be
admitted, that the original idea of the "Paradise Lost" was supplied
by an Italian Mystery, or religious play, which Milton witnessed when
abroad[1]; and it is certain, that he intended at first to mould his
poem into a dramatic form[2]. It seems, therefore, likely, that
Dryden, conscious of his own powers, and enthusiastically admiring
those of Milton, was induced to make an experiment upon the forsaken
plan of the blind bard, which, with his usual rapidity of conception
and execution, he completed in the short space of one month. The
spurious copies which got abroad, and perhaps the desire of testifying
his respect for his beautiful patroness, the Duchess of York, form his
own apology for the publication. It is reported by Mr Aubrey that the
step was not taken without Dryden's reverence to Milton being
testified by a personal application for his permission. The aged poet,
conscious that the might of his versification could receive no
addition even from the flowing numbers of Dryden, is stated to have
answered with indifference--"Ay, you may _tag_ my verses, if you
will."

The structure and diction of this opera, as it is somewhat improperly
termed, being rather a dramatic poem, strongly indicate the taste of
Charles the Second's reign, for what was ingenious, acute, and
polished, in preference to the simplicity of the true sublime. The
judgment of that age, as has be