been made with a view to securing unity of subject and continuity of narrative, while exhibiting as adequately as possible Milton's widely varied powers of poetic composition. They treat of the principal events in the career of Satan, and include, besides the events immediately following his expulsion from Heaven (as narrated in Books I. and II.), the War in Heaven which caused his fall, the Creation of the World to serve as an abode for his destined successors in God's favor, his Adventures while in search of the Earth, and his Ultimate Punishment in Hell. It is recommended that those using the book first devote some time to a rapid study of the introductory matter, as a preparation for the study of the work as literature, and as an historical survey of the characteristic ideas of Milton and the literary traditions of his times. When by this means the pupil has prepared himself to approach the poem with a mental equipment not unlike that of the readers to whom Milton originally addressed himself, let him make the poem itself the sole object of his study (thenceforth referring to the explanatory matter only where his memory fails him), striving ever to contemplate it as the imaginative and impassioned expression of noble thought, enriched with melody, and inspired by a consecrated purpose. BOSTON, August, 1897. A. P. W. |