I could not think it sufficient to have celebrated this Poem in the whole, without descending to Particulars. I have therefore bestowed a
upon each Book, and endeavoured not only to
prove
that the Poem is beautiful in general, but to point out its Particular Beauties, and to determine wherein they consist. I have endeavoured to shew how some Passages are beautiful by being Sublime, others by being Soft, others by being Natural; which of them are recommended by the Passion, which by the Moral, which by the Sentiment, and which by the Expression. I have likewise endeavoured to shew how the Genius of the Poet shines by a happy Invention, a distant Allusion, or a judicious Imitation; how he has copied or improved
Homer
or
Virgil
, and raised his own Imaginations by the Use which he has made of several Poetical Passages in Scripture. I might have