An essay on Milton's use and imitation of the moderns, in his Paradise lost. Things unattempted yet in prose or rhime. Milton

8vo. ff. [2] (blank), pp. [24], 164, [4], ff. [2] (blank). Signatures: a⁸ b⁴ B-L⁸ M⁴. Calf, double gilt filets on boards, gilded spine on 5 bars with red panel. Edges spread in red. Includes head- and tailpieces.

First edition, first issue, of which an earlier form appeared in the June and August 1747 issues of ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine (see Bib# 4103312/Fr# 601 in this collection). The preface and postscript to this notoriously forgery-laced essay, in which William Lauder “proves” that Milton had plagiarized large sections of Paradise Lost from various neo-Latin sources, are by Samuel Johnson. In this issue there is no viii p., 'A new preface by the booksellers', as William Lauder's fraud had not been found out then. See also J. D. Fleeman, A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson. Oxford, 2000, 49.12LEM/1a; ESTC, T222357.

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