ABSTRACT
In 1639, Milton clearly expressed his choice of an Arthurian subject; when he came to write his History of Britain, it is evident that his whole attitude toward both Arthur and the British had changed. In the Epitaphium Damonis he plans to begin his epic with the settlement of England by the Trojans, to tell of the colonization of Armorica and of the birth of Arthur. Milton's skepticism is undoubtedly in part attributable to growing skepticism of seventeenth century. In writing on the subject of Paradise Lost, Milton gave the most complete expression of his own age which his genius could devise. Unlike Milton, Dryden gave up his Arthurian epic from no sense of conviction but purely because of financial inability to devote the time to it. It was necessary for him to continue the more profitable occupation of writing plays. The study of Blackmore's epics and their political and religious significance brings us to the close of the century.
