[In the following transcription, the "long s" has been replaced by the "sigmoid s"]
To the Reader.
Of all the poems which have hitherto appeared in the World, in whatever Age or Nation, the Preference has generally been given by impartial judges, to Milton's Paradise Lost. But this inimitable Work amidst all its Beauties, is unintelligible to abundance of Readers: The immense Learning which he has every where crowded together, making it quite obscure to persons of a common Education.
This Difficulty, almost insuperable as it appears, I have endeavoured to remove in the following Extract: First, By omitting those Lines, which I despaired of explaining to the unlearned, without using abundance of Words: And, Secondly, by adding short and easy Notes, such as I trust will make the Main of this excellent Poem, clear and intelligible to any uneducated Person, of a tolerable good understanding.
To those Passages which I apprehend to be peculiarly Excellent, either with regard to Sentiment or Expression, I have prefixed a Star: And these, I believe, it would be worth while to read over and over, and even to commit to Memory.
