What does this sam johnson sentence mean in plain language

[tomishere]

"...he who has mazed his imagination, in following the phantoms which other writers raise up before him, may here be cured of his delirious extasies, by reading human sentiments in human language"

Heres the context.
"This therefore is the praise of Shakespeare, that his drama is the mirrour of life; that he who has mazed his imagination, in following the phantoms which other writers raise up before him, may here be cured of his delirious extasies, by reading human sentiments in human language; by scenes from which a hermit may estimate the transactions of the world, and a confessor predict the progress of the passions."

I get the general idea of what he's saying, but I am not following his exact train of thought: for example, is "he"he reader? .. what does he mean by "mazed his imagination"? and what do the phantoms represent ?
thanks for any help.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

"...he who has mazed his imagination, in following the phantoms which other writers raise up before him, may here be cured of his delirious extasies, by reading human sentiments in human language".

In this case, maze means bewilder. The rest of the passage is straightforward. Shakespeare writes about real human sentiments, whereas other authors do not. If you are bewildered by the phantom sentiments of other authors, reading Shakespeare will cure you of it.

 

[tomishere]

thanks for the answer makes sense now.. btut how did you know that maze means bewilder? (derived from amaze?)

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

thanks for the answer makes sense now.. btut how did you know that maze means bewilder? (derived from amaze?)

I googled it. It was the first hit.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I googled it. It was the first hit.

My first hit was:

A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single through-route with twists and turns but without branches, and is not designed to be as difficult to navigate.[1] The pathways and walls in a maze or labyrinth are fixed (pre-determined) – puzzles where the walls and paths can change during the game are categorised as tour puzzles. The Cretan labyrinth is the oldest known maze.[2]

-Wiki

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

My first hit was:



-Wiki

maze verb

 

[lisab]

maze verb

Amazing, Jimmy.