| [No. 297] | Saturday, February 9, 1712 | Addison |
—velut si
Egregio inspersos reprendas corpore nævos.
Hor.
After what I have said in my last Saturday's Paper, I shall enter on the Subject of this without further Preface, and remark the several Defects which appear in the Fable, the Characters, the Sentiments, and the Language of Milton's
Paradise Lost
; not doubting but the Reader will pardon me, if I alledge at the same time whatever may be said for the Extenuation of such Defects. The first Imperfection which I shall observe in the Fable is that the Event of it is unhappy.
Fable of every Poem is, according to Aristotle's Division, either Simple or Implex