Milton's is not of a
sublimer
Nature I will not presume to determine: It is sufficient that I shew there is in the
Paradise Lost
all the Greatness of Plan, Regularity of Design, and masterly Beauties which we discover in Homer and Virgil.
I must in the next Place observe, that Milton has interwoven in the Texture of his Fable some Particulars which do not seem to have Probability enough for an Epic Poem, particularly in the Actions which he ascribes to Sin and Death, and the Picture which he draws of the Limbo of Vanity, with other Passages in the second Book. Such Allegories rather savour of the Spirit of Spenser and Ariosto, than of Homer and Virgil.
In the Structure of his Poem he has likewise admitted of too many Digressions. It is
observed by Aristotle, that the Author of an Heroic Poem should seldom speak himself, but throw as much of his Work as he can into the Mouths of those who are his Principal Actors