...not have excelled in dramatick writing; he knew human nature only in the gross, and had never studied shades of character, nor the combinations of concurring...had read much and knew what books could teach; but he had mingled little in the world, and was def1cient in the knowledge which experience must offer"...

...he valued in Shakespeare's drama, and of which others variously partake. In contrast to Shakespeare, Milton “knew human nature only in the gross, and had never studied shades of character, nor the combinations of concurring or the perplexity of contending passions”...

...Like Irving, Hawthorne's literary creativity derives from books. 42 As Samuel Johnson said of Milton: “He had read much and knew what books could teach;...in the knowledge which experience must confer.” 43 In “The May-Pole of Merry Mount,” it is facts taken from the pages of New England annalists...