distinguished by the former attributes, is due, perhaps, to the heroic prejudice of a mind thoroughly imbued with the spirit of pagan writers, and of the Hebrew Scriptures.

As to invention and art, if a poem does not commend itself by the interest it excites, the author, except in writing it, could not worse bestow his tediousness than in its defence and exposition. I may be permitted to say, however, that while a conviction that the character of my own performance must necessarily bring it into comparison with greater works, could not deter me from undertaking what seemed of sufficient promise to justify some degree of daring, I am well aware that, compared with these, it is but a symphony to a strain-an urn to a temple; and as such let it be judged. The reverence for great poets which, after them, would give no hearing to one using what we may call, for convenience' sake, the Christian mythology, is a prejudice as fatal to creative art, and as certainly tending to the poverty of letters, as would have been a simi

lar notion among the Greeks and Romans with. respect to the mythology to which Homer in like manner, and to a still greater degree, gave form and expression. The question in such cases is not whether the later poet uses associations established in the minds of men by earlier poets,-if it were, even Milton, and perhaps Homer, would stand convicted of obligation to greater inventive genius, but whether he combines, for an original purpose, newly discovered with existing materials; whether the impression produced is that of invention and novelty;-not whether he originated the entire mass of materials, some of which, at least, are, with all writers who endure the test of time, as old as history and nature :—in a word, it is whether character and incident are taken from existing works, or are the result of new combinations, which flow naturally from an original design, working itself out in intelligible poetic forms.

EASTRIDGE, Dec. 8, 1850.

ARGUMENT.

BOOK I.

DISCOVERS Satan seated in despair among the infernal powers, upon his return to hell after his defeat in the Temptation of Christ.

Baal, an angel and one of the ethnic deities, rising in his place among the dejected fiends, denounces Satan; accusing him of imbecility, on account of his defeat in his recent trial of the divine pretensions of Christ, and the despair into which he is thrown by his failure. He advises that some other take the throne, which Satan, not ascending, scems voluntarily to have abdicated, as the former intimates, in view of the predicted descent of his Victor into that world. He complains that they have been disappointed in their hopes of relief from the pains of their present condition through the agency of Satan, and inveighs against the human race in hell, and their elevation by Satan to equal dignity and power.

Astarte, a female angel and one of the Sidonian divinities,

replies; accusing Baal of disloyalty to his natural sovereign, and defending Satan from his imputations. She is followed by Cain, who, as the oldest of his race in hell, and as their natural head, has been elevated by Satan to the place next himself. He retorts the taunts of Baal, on behalf of himself and his kind, defies and denounces him and his faction. In consequence, the human and the angelic powers separate, and draw off under their respective leaders, leaving Satan, where the opening of the book discovers him, buried in apathy and despair.

BOOK II.

The inferior paradise and its inhabitants described.

Abel narrates to Adam and the Saints a vision, in which the death of his Antitype, Christ, is revealed, and its relation to them, and to mankind in general, indicated. At the conclusion of the narration, the Saints break forth into a hymn, in which they adore the Word in His threefold aspect of Creator, Enlightener, and Redeemer of the world, and implore His immediate presence and revelation among them, in their world of banishment and privation-banishment from Him, and privation of His light. Christ descends. The meeting of Christ with Adam, and His reception by the Saints.

BOOK III.

In the infernal Hades the human and the angelic powers meet in the field to test their comparative strength, and decide

the dominion of hell.

nated, through divine whelms both.

The conflict, yet undecided, is termiinterference, by a tempest that over

BOOK IV.

Christ in Paradise declares to the Saints the purpose of His descent; explains why it has been so long delayed; announces His intention of passing over into the Tartarean Hades; and informs them of what is there performing, viz., the convening, through their contentions and rivalries, of the infernal powers, by their own act, but in the divine intention, in anticipation of His appearance among them.

BOOK V.

In Tartarus the angelic forces, withdrawn from the field, take counsel how to retrieve the disaster suffered in their first conflict with the human powers. Baal accuses the tyranny of fate, and advises another trial of their fortune, but unavailingly. Asmod rises and refutes the doctrine of fate, and denies that their defeat is to be attributed to its influence-concedes the equal power of the human spirits, and advises a secret and sudden assault; which they prepare to put in execution.

The human powers, convened upon similar occasion, are addressed by Cecrops: he congratulates them upon their partial success, but argues the necessity of strengthening themselves by alliance with all the races in hell of a common origin-intimates that the Titans, conceived to be the Antediluvian or Archaic