RECENTLY PUBLISHED, BY SEPTIMUS PROWETT. 62, PATERNOSTER ROW. MILTON'S PARADISE LOST: ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN MARTIN, ESQ. (DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO THE KING.) THE chief object and distinctive charm of this publication are the exquisite productions of Art by which it is embellished: these consist of Twenty-four illustrative Engravings, designed and executed in mezzotinto, by Mr. MARTIN, in a style of sublimity and beauty, to which, it may be confidently said, that the Arts have hitherto produced nothing equal. Those only who have seen the grand Scriptural Paintings of this Artist (his BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST, and many others), can be duly impressed with the peculiar adaptation of his powers to the lofty undertaking of embodying the stupendous and preternatural imagery of the PARADISE LOST; in which the sublime genius of MILTON has given those wonderful descriptions of HEAVEN, and HELL, and PARADISE, and CHAOS, and CREATION: these, it may be said, without wishing to derogate from the merits of the eminent Artists who have already employed their pencils to illustrate this Poem, have not yet been treated with a boldness and grandeur kindred to the mighty imagination which created them. It is a circumstance also which cannot fail to be highly appreciated by the Connoisseur, that Mr. MARTIN, by a rare effort of art, has wholly composed and designed his subjects on the Plates themselves; the Engravings therefore possess, as originals, the charm of being the first conceptions of the Artist, and have all the spirit and finish of the Painter's touch. The Publisher, therefore, presumes that this Poem, (unquestionably one of the greatest productions of human mind, and which more than any other single work has tended to raise the literary glory of the country,) will be presented to the world with a splendor and appropriateness of style calculated to gratify the proud national feelings with which our great Poet is regarded by his own countrymen; and the enthusiastic admiration in which he is held by all persons capable of estimating his transcendent genius. The Passages following are illustrated by Mr. Martin :— THE FALL OF THE REBEL ANGELS, "Him the Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, To bottomless perdition." SATAN ON THE BURNING LAKE. "Thus Satan talking to bis nearest mate Prone on the flood, extended long and large, Lay floating many a rood." SATAN AROUSING THE FALLEN ANGELS. Book 1. Line 314. "He called so loud, that all the hollow deep Of Hell resounded!" Book 2. Line 1. "High on a throne of royal state, which far Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand SIN PREVENTING THE COMBAT BETWEEN SATAN AND DEATH. "O Father! what intends thy hand, she cried, Against thy only Son?" HEAVEN.RIVERS OF BLISS. Book 8. Line 365. "Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took SATAN VIEWING THE ASCENT TO HEAVEN. Book 8. Line 501. "Far distant he decries Ascending by degrees magnificent Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high; By model, or by shading pencil drawn. The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw Angels ascending and descending." EVE AT THE FOUNTAIN. Book 4. Line 453. "Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issued from a cave, and spread Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved Pure as the expanse of Heaven; &c." SATAN CONTEMPLATING ADAM AND EVE IN PARADISE. "Aside the Devil turned For envy; yet with jealous leer malign Eyed them askance." SATAN AROUSED. Book 4. Line 813. "" Up he starts Discovered and surprised, &c." THE ANGELS GUARDING PARADISE BY NIGHT. Book 4. Line 866. "O friends! I hear the tread of nimble feet Hasting this way, and now by glimpse discern Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade." ADAM AND EVE.-THE MORNING HYMN. Book 5. Line 186. "So all was cleared, and to the field they haste. RAPHAEL CONVERSING WITH ADAM AND EVE. "To whom the Angel. Son of Heaven and Earth A List of some of the Subscribers to this Work, HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY GEORGE THE FOURTH, Proof Copies of Euch Edition. HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE LEOPOLD OF SAXE COBURG, (Folio, Preofs.) THE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY. Sets of Proofs may be had without the letter-press, at Eighteen Guineas the Set. Prints may be had separate for framing or Portfolio, price 10s. 6d. each. JUST COMPLETED IN TWELVE VOLUMES, Beautifully printed, upon yellow laid paper, crown octavo, price 98.; and large paper, uniform with Gifford's Ben Jonson, price 14s. each Volume, A SELECT COLLECTION OF OLD PLAYS, with additional Notes and Corrections, by the late ISAAC REED, OCTAVIUS GILCHRIST, and the EDITOR. This Edition contains all the knowledge regarding the ancient Drama of England, collected during the last forty-five years, the former reprint having been made under the superintendence of the late Mr. Isaac Reed, in the year 1780. The Editor of the present Edition has been furnished with the results of all the subsequent reading of Mr. Reed, in new annotations to every Play, together with the antiquarian research of the late Mr. Octavius Gilchrist, who ten years since, accumulated materials for such an undertaking. The Plays by Shirley and Ford are excluded, and the space is supplied by Comedies and Tragedies by Greene, Nash, Lodge, and Peele, whose productions have hitherto been wholly omitted. CONTENTS : Prefaces; Historia Histrionica. God's Promises; by John Bale. The Four P's; by John Heywood. Ferrex and Pollux; by Lord Buckhurst. Damon and Pithias; by Richard Edwards. New Costume; Anonymous. Gammer Gurton's Needle; by John Still Alexander and Campaspe; by John Lyly. Tanered and Gismunda; by Robert Wilmot, and others. Cornelia; by Thomas Kyd. Edward II.; by Christopher Marlow. George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield; by Robert Greene. The First Part of Jeronymo; by Thomas Kyd-The Spanish Tragedy; by the same. The Honest Whore, Parts I. and II.; by Thomas Dekkar. The Malcontent; by John Marston. All Fools; by George Chapman. Eastward Hoe; by Ben Jonson, Marston, and Chapman. The Revenger's Tragedy; by Cyril Tourneur. The Dumb Knight; by Lewes Machin. The Miseries of Inforced Marriage; by George Wilkins. Lingua; by Anthony Brewer. The Merry Devil of Edmonton; by Michael Drayton. A Mad World, my Masters; by Thomas Middleton. Ram Alley; or, Merry Tricks; by Lodowick Barry. The Roaring Girl; by T. Middleton and T. Dekkar-The Widow's Tears; by Geo. Chapman-The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona; by John Webster-The Hog hath lost his Pearl; by Robert Taylor-The Four Prentices of London; by Thomas Heywood. The Wounds of Civil War; by Robert Lodge. The Heir; by Thomas May. Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay; by Robert Greene. The Jew of Malta; by Christopher Marlow. The Wits; by Sir William Davenant. Green's Tu Quoqne; or, The City Gallant; by John Cook. Albumazar; by John Tomkins. A Woman killed with Kindness; by Thomas Heywood. A Match at Midnight; by William Rowley. Fuimus Troes, the True Trojans; by Dr. Jaspar Fisher. Summer's Last Will and Testament, by Thomas Nash. Microcosmus; by Thomas Nabbes. The Muse's Looking Glass; by Thomas Randolph. The City Match; by Jaspar Mayne. The Queen of Arragon; by William Habington. The Antiquary; by Shakerley Marmion. The Goblins; by Sir John Suckling. The Ordinary; by William Cartwright A Jovial Crew; or, the Merry Beggars; by Richard Broome. The Chronicle of Edward the First: by George Peele. The Mayor of Queenborough; by Thomas Middleton. Grim, The Collier of Croydon; by 1. T. The City Night-Cap; by Robert Davenport. The Parson's Wedding; by Thomas Killegrew. The Adventures of Five Hours; by Tuke. Elvira by the Earl of Bristol. The Widow; by Jonson, Fletcher, and Middleton. Appius and Virginia; by R. B. Interlude of the Worlde and the Chylde; printed by Wynkyn de Worde. Chichevache and Bycorne by Lidgate. |