month after their first return from Aylesbury gaol (i.e., about the
middle of September); and he again sent to the same prison_], and had set
myself to read it; I found it was that excellent poem, which he entitled,
_Paradise Lost_.

After I had, with the best attention, read it through: I made him another
visit, and returned him his book; with due acknowledgment of the favour he
had done me, in communicating it to me.

He asked me, "How I liked it? And what I thought of it?" Which I,
modestly but freely, told him.

And, after some further discourse about it, I pleasantly said to him,
"Thou hast said much, here, of _Paradise lost_: but what hast thou to say
of _Paradise found_?"

He made me no answer; but sate some time in a muse: then brake off that
discourse, and fell upon another subject.

After the sickness [_Plague_] was over; and the City well cleansed, and
become safely habitable again: he returned thither.

And when, afterwards [_probably in 1668 or 1669_], I went to wait on him
there (which I seldom failed of doing, whenever my occasions drew me to
London), he showed me his second poem, called _Paradise Regained_: and,
in a pleasant tone, said to me, "This is owing to you! For you put it
into my head, by the question you put to me at Chalfont! which, before, I
had not thought of."

[_Paradise Regained_ was licensed for publication on 2nd July, 1670.]

ADVICE TO A YOUNG REVIEWER, WITH A SPECIMEN OF THE ART.

1807.

ADVICE TO A YOUNG REVIEWER, &c.

You are now about to enter on a Profession which has the means of doing
much good to society, and scarcely any temptation to do harm. You may
encourage Genius, you may chastise superficial Arrogance, expose
Falsehood, correct Error, and guide the Taste and Opinions of the Age in
no small degree by the books you praise and recommend. And this too may
be done without running the risk of making any enemies; or subjecting
yourself to be called to account for your criticism, however severe.
While your name is unknown, your person is invulnerable: at the same time
your aim is sure, for you may take it at your leisure; and your blows fall
heavier than those of any Writer whose name is given, or who is simply
anonymous. There is a mysterious authority in the plural, _We_, which no
single name, whatever may be its reputation, can acquire; and, under the
sanction of this imposing style, your strictures, your praises, and your
dogmas, will command universal a