Skip to main content

Full text of "Some account of the life and writings of John Milton, derived principally from documents in His Majesty's State-paper office, now first published"

See other formats 


Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http: //books .google .com/I 



4 




Illllllllll 

600003344K 



■J^A- 



4 



SOME ACCOUNT 



LIFE AND WRITINGS 



JOHN MILTON, 



NOfr f/ASr PUBLISHED. 



REV. H. J. TODD, M.A.F.S.A. & R.S.L. 



^. 



LONDON: V^^-^KV 



1826. 
74-4. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY R. GILBERT, 
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. 



PREFACE. 



An Account of the Life and Writings of Mil- 
ton, brief indeed, and with no other pretension 
than that of being drawn from authentick 
sources, has accompanied two editions which I 
have published of Milton's Poetical Works. To 
a third edition, now in circulation, some of that 
account is prefixed, greatly augmented with ori^ 
ginal documents illustrating the private and pub- 
lick character of Milton, which have long been 
hidden among other literary curiosities^ and till 
now have never been published. It is believed, 
that to many readers of the poet this enlarged 
biography might be acceptable in a separate 
volume. Of the important materials, therefore, 
which compose it, further information shall here 
be given. 

In his Majesty's State-Paper Office they are 
preserved ; and my knowledge of them, in the 
first instance, I owe to the friendly commu- 
nication of Mr. Evans, bookseller, in Pali- 
Mall. It occurred some time since to the 

A 2 



deputy keeper of the State-Papers, Robert Le- 
mon, Esq., that as the official hfe of Milton was 
known only as to the fact of his having been 
Latin Secretary to the Council of State during 
the Usurpation, an investigation of the Orders 
of Council might discover new facts relating 
to the secretary. His searches were repaid 
with ample success. And his Extracts from the 
Council-Books were transmitted to me, with 
the kind approbation of the Right Hon. Mr. 
Secretary Peel, early in 1825. These Books, 
from which so much curious information is de- 
rived, contain the daily transactions of the Exe- 
cutive Government in England from February 
1648-9 to September l658, in uninterrupted 
succession ; and are particularly valuable from 
the dissolution of the Long Parliament in l653 
to the death of Cromwell, as, during the greater 
part of that period, the Council of State com- 
bined the executive and legislative functions 
of government; and these Order- Books, Mr, 
Lemon adds, are the authentick but hitherto 
unknown records of their proceedings. But 
besides these, in the same Office there exist 
other documents, entitled Royalists Composi- 
tion-Papers. They comprehend, Mr. Lemon 
says, two distinct series ; the first consisting of 
petitions of Royalists to the Commissioners for 




PREFACE. r 

Sequestration, of the orders of those Commis- 
sioners respecting the sequestration of Estates, 
of the reports of their subordinate officers, and 
of the correspondence with sub-commissioners 
and other agents in every part of the kingdom : 
The second series exhibits the original parti- 
culars of property and estates, for which 
Royalists were permitted to compound on the 
payment of a fine. These papers are peculi- 
arly valuable in illustrating the family history 
as well as the various property of individuals, 
throughout the kingdom, during the time of 
the Great Rebellion. Of these, by the continued 
industry and accurate attention of Mr. Lemon, 
no less than one hundred and sixty seven folio 
volumes had been recovered and arranged, 
when (in 1825 also) he transmitted to me from 
this invaluable collection, the sequestration-pa- 
pers relating to Mr. Powell, the father of Mil- 
ton's first wife, in which Milton himself is par- 
ticularly concerned ; and to Sir Christopher 
Milton, the brother of the poet. Other papers 
and letters, from the same office, alike unknown 
till now, and of the greatest service to the bio- 
graphy of Milton, have since, at various times, 
been sent to me by this gentleman ; empowered 
as he was at all times so to do, from the very 
first exertion of his kindness, by the permission 



ti PREFACE. 

of Mr. Secretary Peel : to whom, and to Mr. 
Under-Secretary Hobhouse, I acknowledge the 
greatest obligations, as well as to Mr. Lemon ; 
and to whose friendly and condescending in- 
stfumentality the publick is indebted for what 
is now told of the poet, of his family, and of 
some of his works, which never was before in 
print. What has been thus liberally supplied, 
might indeed by others have been arranged with 
elegance, and illustrated with taste ; but not with 
greater fidelity than the following pages exhibit. 
This with other anecdotes relating to the his- 
toiy of Milton's friends, of his works, and of his 
times, wiU plead for attention to an unadorned 
narration. A fac-simile of the poet's hand- 
writing is also given from one of the documents 
in the State-Paper Office ; and to the biography 
I have now added, as Hayley did to his Life of 
Milton, an Inquiry, into the Origin of Paradise 
Lost. 



SETTRINGTON, 
Jfoy 1, 1896. 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION I. 



PAGE 

From the Birth of Milton to the time of his Marriage • • • • 1 

SECTION II. 

From his Marriage to the time of his being appointed 
Secretary for Foreign Tongues* •••• ••••• 57 

SECTION III, 

From his appointment as Secretary for Foreign Tongues 
to the Restoration of King Charles the Second 107 

SECTION IV. 

From the Restoration of King Charles the Second to the 
Death of Milton 183 

SECTION V. 

Of political and other publications ascribed to Milton ; 
with reference to his genuine Prose- Works, and their 
general character •••.. • 221 

SECTION VI. 

Of the personal and general character of Milton ; of his 
circumstances ; and of his family 235 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION VII. 

PAGE 

The Nuncupative Will of Milton : with Notes by the late 
Rev. Thomas Warton, and other observations .«•>•••• 263 

SECTION VIII. 

Of Compositions left by Milton in Manuscript, and parti- 
cularly of his Treatise of Theology lately discovered • • • • 291 

SECTION IX. 
Recapitulation and Conclusion ••..• 365 

APPENDIX. 
Inquiry into the Origin of Paradise Lost* • ••••*.•••••••• 371 



SOME ACCOUNT 



OF THE 



LIFE AND WRITINGS 



OP 



MILTON. 



SECTION I. 
From the Birth of MiUon to the time of his Marriage. 

John Milton^ son of John and Sarah Milton^ was 
bom on the 9th of December ' 1608, at the house 
of his father, who was then an eminent scrivener in 
London, and lived at the sign of the Spread Eagle 
(which was the armorial ensign of the family) in 
Bread-street. The ancestry of the poet was highly 
respectable. His father was educated as a gentleman^ 
and became a member of Christ-Church, Oxford ; 
in which society, as it may be presumed, he imbibed 
his attachment to the doctrines of the ReformatioUj 
and abjured the errours of Popery ; in consequence 
of which, his father, who was a bigotted papist, dis- 

• " The xx*** daye of December 1608 was baptized John, the 
Sonne of John Mylton, scrivenor." Extract from the Register 
of Allhallows, Bread-street. 

B 



Z SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

inherited him. The student therefore chose, for his 
support, the profession already mentioned; in the 
practice of which he became so successful as to be 
enabled to give his children the advantages of a po- 
lite education, and at length to retire with comfort 
into the country. 

The grandfather of the poet was under-ranger or 
keeper of the forest of Shotover, near Halton, in 
Oxfordshire ; and probably resided at the village of 
Milton in that neighbourhood, ^ where the family of 
Milton, in remoter times, were distinguished for their 
opulence ; till, one of them having taken the un- 
fortunate side in the civil wars of York and Lancas- 
ter, the estate was sequestered ; and the proprietor 
wai? left with nothing' but what he "" held by his 
wyfe. There is a tradition ^ that the poet had once 
resided in this village, while he was Secretary to 
the Council of State. 



- ** In the Registers of Milton, as I have been obligingly in- 
fonned by letter from the Rev. Mr. Jones, there are however no 
entries of the name of Milton. Phillips, Milton's nephew, says 
that the family resided at Milton v^ar Abingdon in Oxfordshire, 
as appeared by the monuments then to be seen in Milton church. 
But that Milton is in Berkshire ; and Dr. Newton searched in 
vain for the monuments said to exist in that church. The in- 
formation of Wood is most probably correct, that they lived at 
Milton near Halton and Thame. I find in R. Willeii Poematum 
Liber, 1573, among the Winchester scholars therein named of 
that period, a John Milton ; probably one of this family. 
^ « Phillips's Life of Milton, 1694, p. iv. 
^ Communicated to me by letter from Milton. 



ANP WRITINGS OF MfLTON. o 

The niother of MUton is aaid by * Wood, from 
Aubrey, to have be^i a Bradshaw ; descended from 
a family of that name in Lajieashire. Peck relates^ 
(that he was ^ informed isihe was a Haughton of 
HaughtonHtower in the same county. But Phillips, 
her grandson, whose authority it is most reasonable 
to admit, ^ affirms, in his Life of Milton, that she 
was a Caston, of a genteel family derived originally 
from Wales. Milton himself has ^ recorded, with 
becoming reference to the respectability o{ his de-^ 
ficent, the great esteem in which she was fadld for her 
virtues^ especidly her charity. 

His father was particularly distinguished for his 
musical abilities. He is said to have been a ' volu- 
minous composer, and equal in science, if not in 
genius, to the best musicians of his age. Sir John 
Hawkins and Dr. Bumey, in tibeir Histcwies of Mu- 
sick, have each selected a specimen d his skill. He 
has been mentioned also by Mr. Warton, as the 
author of A sixe-^old Politician ; together with 
a sixe-f old precept of Policy. Lond. 1609. But 
Mr. Hayley agrees with Dr. Farmer and Mr. Reed 

' Fasti Otl. vol. i. p. 262, &c. chiefly taken, as Mr. Warton 
has observed, from Aubrey's manuscript Life of Milton, preserved 
in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 

' Memoirs of Milton, 1740, p. 1. 

» Life of Milton, p. v. 

^ " Londini sum natus, genere honesto, patr« viro integerrimo, 
matre probatissim^, et eleemosynis per viciniam potissimilm nota." 
Befens. Sec* vol. iii. p. 95. edit fol. 1698. 

* Dr. Burney's Hist, of Musick, vol, iii. p. 134. 

b2 



4 SOME ACCOUNT OF TI^E LIFE 

in assigning that work rather to John Melton, au- 
thor of the Astrologaster, than to the father of our 
poet. Of his attachment to literature, however, the 
Latin verses of his son, addressed to him ivith no 
less elegance than gratitude, are an unequivocal 
proof. Perhaps it may again be confounding him 
with the author of the Astrologaster, in noticing the 
person who signs himself John Melton, citizen of 
London, at the close of a very indifferent Sonnet of 
fourteen lines, addressed to John Lane on his Guy 
of Warwick, which is preserved in the British Mu- 
seum, and bears the date of licence for being printed 
in July 1617. This John Lane is the person whom 
Milton's nephew calls ^ '' a fine old queen Elizabeth 
gentleman, who was living within his remembrance," 
and of whose poems he gives a very flattering charac- 
ter. The Sonnet is entitled " In Poesis Laudem^ 
and is not worth citing. But a little poem, to which 
the musick of the elder Milton's Madrigal is adapted, 
(whether the poetical as well as the musical compo- 
sition be his or not,) is given ^ below, on account of 

^ Phillips's Theatnim Poetarum, 1675, p. 111. 

^ See Madrigales, viz. The Triumphes of Oriana, to 5 and 6 
voices^ composed by diuers seuerall aucthors. Newly published 
by Thomas Morley, Batcheler of Musick, &c. 4to. Lond. 1601. 

'* For 6. Voices. Mad. XVIII. 

" Fayre Orian in the morne, 

" Before the day was borne, 

" With velvet steps on ground, 

". Which made nor print nor sound, 

" Would see hir nymphs abed, 

" What lives those ladies led : 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 5 

the circumstance which occasioned it, (that of flat- 
tering a maiden queen on the verge of seventy,) as 
a curiosity. ♦ 

The care, with which Milton was educated, shows 
the " discernment of his father. The bloom of genius 
was fondly noticed, and wisely encouraged. He was 
so happy, bishop Newton says, as to share the ad- 
vantages both of private and publick education. He 
was at first instructed, by private tuition, under 
" Thomas Young, whom Aubrey calls '' a puritan in 
Essex who cutt his haire short ;" who, having quitted 

" The roses blushing sayd, 

" O stay thou shepherd's mayd : 

** And on a sodain all 
They rose and heard hir call. 
Then sang those shepherds and nymphs of Diana^ 

" Long live faire Oriana !*' 
" The Annual Register of 1762 very erroneously refers to 
Milton's poem Ad Patremy in order to support the following 
mistaken assertion : '* Ariosto often lamented, as Ovid and Pe- 
trarch did biefore him, and our own Milton since, that his father 
banished him from the Muses J" Characters, Life of Ariosto, p. 
23. Milton's verses to his father prove exactly the reverse. 

" If Milton imbibed from this instructor, as Mr. Warton sup- 
poses, the principles of puritanism, it may be curious to re- 
mark that he never adopted from him the outward symbol of the 
sect. Milton preserved his " clustering locks" throughout the 
reign of the round-heads. Wood, describing the Seekers who 
came to preach at Oxford in 1647, affords a proper commentary 
on Young's cutting his hair short. " The generality of them had 
mortified countenances, puling voices, and eyes commonly, when 
in discourse, lifted up, with hands lying on their breasts. They 
mostly had short hair, which at this time was commonly called 
the Committee cut,' &c. Fasti. Ox. vol. 11. p. 61. 






6 SOMI^ ACCOUNT OF THE LIF& 

his country oh account of his refigious opinions^ be- 
Cdme Chaplain to the English merchants at Ham- 
burgh; but afterwards returned, and during the 
usurpation of Cromwell was master of Jesus College, 
Cambridge. Of the pupil^s affectkm for his early 
tutor, hid fourth elegy, and two Latin ^pistl^, &r6 
j)ublick testimonies. Mf. Hayley considers the por^ 
trait of Milton by Cornelius Jansesn^ drawn when he 
Was only ten years old, at which age Aubrey affirmsr 
" he was a poet,'' as having been executed in order 
io operate as a powerful incentive to the future ex- 
ertion of the infant author. This suppo^tion is very 
probable: And, as the portrait was drawn by a 
painter "^ then rising into fame, and whose price for a 
head was five broad pieces, the mark of encourage- 
ment was rendered more handsome and more con- 
spicuous. 

From the tuition of Mr. Young, Milton was re- 
moved to St. Paul's School, tinder the care of Alex- 
ander Gill, who at that time was the master ; to 
whose son, who was then usher and afterwards 
master, and vrith whom Milton was a favourite 
Scholar, are addressed, in friendship, three of the 
poet's Latin epistles. There is ** no register of ad- 



® Jansen's fiist works in England are said to be dated about 
1618; the year, in which the young poet's portrait was drawn. 
See Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, Works, vol. iii. p. 149. 
edit. 1798. 

p As I found, upon inquiry of the Rev. Dr. Roberts, the late 
Head Master. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 7 

missions into St. Paul's School so far back as the 
beginning of the serenteenth century. But, as Mil- 
ton's domestick preceptor quitted England in 1623, 
it is probable that he was then admitted into that 
seminary ; at which time he was in his fifteenth year. 
He had already studied with uncommon avidity ; but 
at the same time with such inattention to his health, 
seldom retiring from his books before midnight, that 
the source of his blindness may be traced to his early 
passion for letters. In his twelfth year, as "* he tells 
us, this Uterary devotion began ; from which he was 
not to be deterred either by the natural debility of 
his eyes, or by his frequent head-aches. The union 
of genius and application in the same person was 
never more conspicuous. 

In 1623 he produced his first poetical attempts, 
the Translations of the ll^th and IZQth Psalms, 
to which, as to some other juvenile productions, he 

** " Pater me puenilum humaniorum literanim studiis desti- 
navit ; quas ita avid^ arripni, ut ab anno cetatis duodecimo vix 
iinquam ante mediam noctem k lucubrationibus cubitum disce- 
derem ; quae prima oculorum pemicies fuit, quorum ad naturalem 
debilitatem accesserant et crebri capitis dolores; quse omnia cAm 
discendi impetum non retardarent, et in ludo literario, et sub aliis 
domi magistris erudiendum quotidi^ curavit." Def. Sec. ut supr. 
Aubrey also relates, that " when Milton went to schoole, and 
when he was very younge, he studied very hard, and sate up 
very late, commonly til twelve or one o'clock; and his father 
ordered the maid to sitt up for him." MS. AshmoL Mas, ut 
supr. His early reading was in poetical books. Humphry Lownes, 
a printer, living in the same street with his father, supplied him aft 
least with Spenser and ^Ivester's Du Bartas. 



« SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

has annexed the date of his age. It has been un- 
candidly supposed, that he intended, by this method, 
to obtrude the earhness of his own proficiency on the 
notice of posterity. Dr. Johnson calls it " a boast, 
of which Politian has given him an example." Mil- 
ton and Politian have followed classical authority. 
Lucan' thus speaks of himself: 

" Est mihi, crede, mcis animus constaDtior antiis, 
" Quamvis nunc juvenile decus mihi pingere raalas 
" Coeperit, et nondum vicesima venerit Eestas." 

But who will deny, that in these Translations the 
dawning of real genius may be discerned ; or that 
his Ode, On the Death of a fair Infant, written 
soon after, displays, as a poetical composition, the 
vigour and judgement of maturer life? The verses 
also. At a Vacation Exercise in the College, 
written at the age of nineteen, have been repeatedly 
and justly noticed as containing indications of the 
future bard, " whose genius was equal to a subject 
that carried him beyond the limits of the world." 



Few readers will be inclined to admit that Cowley 
and other poets have surpassed, in " products of ver- 
nal fertihty," the eflfbrts of iVIilton. Nor will many 
regard, without aversion, the unfair ' comparison of 
Milton's juvenile effusions with those of Chatterton. 
Milton, as he is the most learned of modem poets, 

'Lucanuade seipso, in Panegyrico ad Calpumium Pisonera, 
Epigr. et Poem. Vet. Paris, 1590, p. 131. 
' 111 the Bi<^apb. Brit. vol. iv. p. 591j edit. Kippis. 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. » 

may perhaps retain his princely rank also in the Ust 
of those who have written valuable pieces at as early 
or an earlier age ; and Politian, Tasso, Cowley, Me- 
tastasio, Voltaire, and Pope, may bow to him, '^ as 
to superiour Spirits is due.** 

In the 17th year of his age, distinguished as a 
classical scholar, and conversant in several languages, 
he was sent, from St. Paul's School, to Cambridge ; 
and was * admitted a Pensioner at Christ College on 
the 12th of February, 1624-5, under the tuition of 
Mr. William Chappel, afterwards Bishop of Cork 
and Ross in Ireland. Here he attracted particular 
notice by his academical exercises, as well as by 
several copies of verses, both Latin and English, 
upon occasional subjects. He neglected indeed no 
part of literature, although his chief object seems to 
have been the cultivation of his poetical abilities. 
'^ This good hap I had from a careful education/* 
he says ; '' to be inured and seasoned betimes with 
the best and elegantest authors of the learned 
tongues; and thereto brought an ear that could 
measure a just cadence, and scan without articu- 
lating; rather nice and humourous in what was 
tolerable, than patient to read every drawling ver- 
sifier.*' 

* " Johannes Milton, Londinensis, filius Johannis, institutu* 
fuit in Literarum elementis sub Mag"'. Gill, Gymnasii Paulini 
Praefecto, admissus est Pensionarius Minor Feb. 12°. 1624, sub 
M^. Chappell, solvitque pro Ingr. 0. 10. 8." Extract from tke 
College Register. 



10 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

To his eminent skill, at this time, in the Xatin 
tongue Dr. Johnson affords his tribute of conmien^ 
dation. '' Many of his elegit appear to have been 
written in his eighteenth year ; by which it appears 
that he had then read the Roman authors with nice 
discernment. I once heard Mr. Hampton, the trans- 
lator of Polybius, remark, what I think is true, that 
Milton was the first Englishman who, after the re- 
vival of letters, wrote Latin verses with dassick ele- 
gance/' Milton's Latin exercises, which he recited 
publickly, are also marked with characteristick ani- 
mation. From some remarkable passages in these, 
as Mr. Hayley observes, it appears '^ that he was 
first an object of partial severity, and afterwards 
of general admiration, in his college. He had dif- 
fered in opinion concerning a plan of academical 
studies with some persons of authority in his Col- 
lege, and thus excited their displeasure. He speaks 
of them as highly incensed against him ; but ex- 
presses, with the most Uberal sensibility, his surprise, 
delight, and gratitude, in finding that his enemies 
forgot their animosity to honour him with unexpected 

applause." 

« 

But incidents unfavourable to the character of 
Milton, while a student at Cambridge, have been 
positively asserted to be contained in his own words ; 
and the poet has been summoned to prove his own 
flagellation and banishment in the following verses, 
in his first elegy : 



ft 

it 



AKD WRITINGS OF MILTON. 11 

" Jam nee arundiferum mlhi cura revises Camum, 
" Nee dudum vetiti me hiris angit amor. — 

*' Nee dtiri libet usque minas perferre Magistri^ 
C^steraque ingenio rum subeunda meo" 
Si sit hoc exilium patrias adiise penates^ 
** Et vaeuum curis otia grata sequi, 
Non ego velprofugi nomen sort^mve recuso, 
" Laetus et exilii eonditione fraor.** 

On these lines I must introduce Mr. Warton's ob- 
setvation. 

** The words vetiti laris, and afterwards exilium, 
will not suffer us to determine otherwise, than that 
Milton was sentenced to undergo a temporary re* 
moval or rustication from Cambridge. I will not 
suppose for any immoral irregularity. Dr. Bain-^ 
bridge, the Master, is reported to have been a very 
active disciplinarian : and this lover of liberty, we 
may presume, was as little disposed to submission 
and conformity in a college as in a state. When 
reprimanded and admonished, the pride of his tem- 
per, impatient of any sort of reproof, naturally broke 
forth into expressions of contumely and contempt 
against his governour. Hence he was punished. * He 
is also said to have been whipped at Cambridge. 
See Life of Bathursty p. 153. This has been re- 
probated and discredited, as a most extraordinary 
and improbable piece of severity. But in those days 
of simplicity and subordination, of roughness and 
rigour, this sort of punishment was much more com- 
mon, and consequently by no means so disgraceful 



12 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

and unseemly for a young man at tKe university, as 
, it would be thought at present. We learn from 
Wood, that Henry Stubbe, a Student of Christ 
Church, Oxford, afterwards a partisan of Sir Henry 
Vane, ' shewing himself too forward, pragmatical, 
and conceited,' was publickly whipped by the Censor 
in the college-hall, Ath. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 560. See 
also Life of Bathurst, p. 202. I learn from some 
manuscript papers of Aubrey the antiquary, who was 
a student of Trinity college Oxford, four years from 
1642, ' that at Oxford, and, I beheve, at Cambridge, 
the rod was frequently used by the tutors and 
deans : and Dr. Potter, while a tutor of Trinity col- 
lege, I knew right well, whipt his pupil with his 
sword by his side, when he came to take his leave 
of him to go to the inns of court.' In the Statutes 
of the said college, given in 1556, the Scholars of 
the foundation are ordered to be whipped by the 
Deans, or Censors, even to their twentieth year. In 
the University Statutes at Oxford, compiled in 1635, 
ten years after Milton's admission at Cambridge, 
corporal punishment is to be inflicted on boys imder 
sixteen. We are to recollect, that Milton, when he 
went to Cambridge, was only a boy of fifteen \ 
The author of an old pamphlet. Regicides no 
Saints nor Martyrs, says that Hugh Peters, while 
at Trinity college, Cambridge, was publickly and 



" Mr. Warton is mistaken in this assertion. Milton, when he 
went to Cambridge, was in his seventeenth year. But this will 
presently be more largely considered. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 13 

officially whipped in the Regent^walk for his inso- 
lence, p. 81. 

*^ The anecdote of Milton's whipping at Cam- 
bridge, is told by Aubrey. MS. Mtis. Ashm. Oxon. 
Num. X. P. iii. From which, by the way. Wood's 
Life of Milton in the Fasti OxonienseSy the first 
and the ground-work of all the lives of Milton, was 
compiled. Wood says, that he draws his account of 
Milton * from his own mouth to my Friend, who was 
well acquainted with and had from him, and from 
his relations after his death, most of this account of 
his life and writings following.' Ath. Oxon. vol. i. 
Fasti, p. 262. This Friend is Aubrey; whom 
Wood, in another place, calls credulous, ' roving 
and magotie-headed, and sometimes little better 
than erased.' Life of A. Woody p. 577. edit* 
Heame, Th. Caii Vind. &c. vol. ii. This was after 
a quarrel. I know not that Aubrey is ever fantas- 
tical, except on the subjects of chemistry and ghosts. 
Nor do I remember that his veracity was ever im- 
peached. I believe he had much less credulity than 
Wood. Aubrey's Monumenta Britannica is a very 
solid and rational work, and its judicious conjectures 
and observations have been approved and adopted 
by the best modem antiquaries. Aubrey's manu- 
script Life contains some anecdotes of Milton yet 
unpublished. [[Since published in 1815 by Mr. 
Godwin in his Lives of Milton's Nephews.]] 

" But let us examine if the context will admit 



14 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

some other interpretatioiu Ci^teraque, the most 
indefinite and comprehensive of descriptions, may be 
thought to inean literary tasks called impositions, 
or frequent compulsive attendances on tedious and 
unimproving exercises in a college-hall. But altera 
follows minas, and perferre seems to imply some- 
what more than these inconveniences, scnnething that 
was mfferedy and severely felt. It has been sug- 
gested, that his father's economy prevented his con- 
stant residence at Cambridge ; and that this made 
the college lar dudum vetitusy and his absence from 
the university an exilium. But it was no unpleas- 
ing or involuntary banishment. He hated the place. 
He was not only offended at the college-discipline, 
but had even conceived a dislike to the face of the 
country, the fields about Cambridge. He peevishly 
complains, that the fields have no soft shades to at- 
tract the Muse ; and there is something pointed in 
his exclamation, that Cambridge was a place quite 
incompatible with the votaries of Phoebus. Here a 
^father's prohibition had nothing to do. He resolves, 
however, to forget aU these disagreeable circum- 
stances, and to return in due time. The dismission, 
if any, was not to be perpetuaL In those lines,, in- 
genivm is to be rendered temper, nature, disposi* 
tion, rather than genius. 

" Aubrey says, from the information of our au- 
thor's brother Christopher, that Milton's ^ first tutor 
there [[at Christ's college]] was Mr. Chappell, from 
whom receiving some unkindnesse, (lie whipt hi?n) 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 15 

he was afterwards, though it seemed against the 
rules of the college, transferred to the tuition of one 
Mr. Tovell% who dyed parson of Lutterworth.' MS. 
MtM. Ashm. ut supr. This information, which stands 
detached from the hody of Aubrey's uarratiye, seems 
to have been communicated to Aubrey, after Wood 
had seen his papers ; it therefore does not appear in 
Wood, who never would otherwise have suppressed 
to anecdote which contributed in the least degree to 
expose the character of Milton. I must here ofaservey 
that Mr. ChappeU, from his original Letters, many 
rf which I have seen, written while he was a fellow 
and tutor of Christ's College, and while Milton was 
there, and which are now in the possession of Mr. 
Moreton of Westerham in Kent, by whom they have 
been politely communicated, appears to have been a 
man of uncommon mildness and liberality of manners." 

To the authority of the preceding remarks Dr. 
Johnson has implicitly subscribed ; not without add- 
ing, however, that it may be conjectured, from the 
willingness with which the poet has perpetuated the 
memory of his exile, that its cause was such as gave 
him no shame. 

That flagellation might be performed upon of- 
fenders at Cambridge, (as well as at Oxford,) the 
Statutes of that university will show : That Milton 

^ It should be Tovey. I have seen the signature of his name 
to some resolutions of his college. 



16 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



suffered this publick indignity, rests solely upon the 
testimony of Aubrey, which I am unable to con- 
trovert : But it is remarkable that it never should 
have been noticed by those who would have rejoiced 
in such an opportunity of exposing Milton to a little 
ridicule. Yet further. It is related by Mr. Warton, 
that, " in the University Statutes at Oxford, com- 
piled in 1635, ten years after Milton's admission at 
Cambridge, corporal punishment is to be inflicted on 
boys under sixteen. We are to recollect, that Milton, 
when he went to Cambridge, was only a boy of jif- 
teen." This is a mistake. Milton was in his seven- 
teenth ' year, when he was admitted at Christ's 
College. And if the same exemption was granted 
to boys of sixteen at Cambridge, as to those of the 
same age at Oxford, the flagellation of Milton be- 
comes still less entitled to credit. One of the statutes 
of Christ's College, entitled Cap. 37. De Lectoris 
Authoritate in Discipulos, seems to countenance 
the supposition of similar exemption ; After prescrib- 
ing that they, who absent themselves from certain 
Lectures, shall h& fined, the Statute subjoins the fol- 
lowing reservation ; " si tamen adultus fuerit ; 
alioquin, virgd corrigatur." 

The application also of ceetera may be perhaps •! 
more general than Mr. Warton and Dr. Johnson 
have been pleased to consider it ; instead of corporal 
punishment, it may suggest the idea of academical 



' See tlie Extrdct from the College Register, p. 9. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTOV. 1 7 

restrictions, to which a youth of Milton's genius 
could not submit; or merely of threats perhaps, 
which he thought he did not deserve; and, if he 
therefore acquiesced in a short exUe from Cambridge, 
as some biographers suppose, it should seem that, by 
his admission to the degree -of Bachelor of Arts in 
1628, he had incurred no loss of terms ; which rus- 
tication however must have occasioned, and which 
the Register of his College, or of the University, 
would probably have noticed. His reply to an enemy, 
who in the violence of controversy had asserted that 
he was expelled, may here be cited. ^'^ I must be 
thought if this UbeUer (for now he shews himself to 
be so) can find belief, after an inordinate and riotous 
youth spent at the University, to have been at 
length vomited out thence. For which commodious 
lye, that he may be encouraged in the trade another 
time, I thank him ; for it hath given me an apt oc- 
casion to acknowledge publickly, with all grateftiU 
mind, that more than ordinary fa^^our and respect 
which I found above any of my equals at the hands 
of those courteous and learned men, the fellows of 
the College wherein I spent some years ; who at my 
parting, after I had taken two degrees, as the manner 
is, signified many ways, how much better it would 
content them that I would stay ; as by many letters, 
full of kindness and loving respect, both before that 
tinie, and long after, I was assured of their singular 



•Apology for Smectymnuus. Prose- Works, vol. i. p. 174, 
edit. 1698. 

c 



18 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

good afFettion towards me." And still more point* ^ 
edly ill another place : ' " Pater me —^Cantahri-' i 
giam misit : Illic diseiplinis atque artibus tradi solitis 
septenniura studui; procul omniflagitio, bonis om- 
nibus probatus, usquedum magistri, quern vocant, 
gradum," &c 

To oblige one of the fellows, his friends so affec- 
tionately noticed, he wrote, in 1628, the comitial 
verses, entitled Naturnm non pati senium. I men- 
tion this in order to obviate a remark made by Dr. 
Johnson, that the poet countenanced an opinion, 
prevalent in his time, " that the world was in its 
decay, and that we had the misfortune to be pro- 
duced in the decrepitude of nature." In the pre- 
ceding year the following very learned work had 
been published, " An Apologie or Declaration of 
the Power and Providence of God in the Govern- 
ment of the World, by George HakewiU, D.D. and 
Archdeacon of Surrey, 1627." The young poet, I 
conceive, had been much pleased with this excellent 
work, which refutes, with particular felicity of argu- 
ment, the absurdity of supposing nature impaired. 
This forgotten folio has found an able advocate in 
modern days. " They," says Dr. Warton, '' " whom 
envy, malevolence, discontent, or disappointment, 
have induced to think that the world is totally dege- 
nerated, and that it is daily growing worse and 



» Defens. Sec. Prose- Works, vol. iii, p. 95, edit, 1698. 
>> Pope'3 Works, edit. 1797. vol. iv, p. 31 9. 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 19 

worse, would do well to read a sensible, but too 
much neglected, treatise of an old Divine, written in 
*" 1630, Hakewill's Apology &c." This work was 
commended too by Archbishop ^ Usher. A truly ami- 
able and learned author, it may here be added, to 
whom the literature of this country is peculiarly in- 
debted, has closed his Philological Inquiries with 
a chapter, well calculated, like the animated lines of 
Milton, to banish the timid and unbenevolent idea 
of nature's decrepitude. 

Milton was design^ by his parents, and once in 
his own resolutions, for the Church. But his subse- 
quent unwillingness to engage in the office of a mi- 
nister was conmiunicated to a friend in a letter ; (of 
which two draughts exist in * manuscript ;) with 
which he sent hk impressive Sonnet, On his being 
arrived at the age of twenty-three. The truth is. 
Dr. Newton says, he had conceived early prejudices 
against the doctrine and disdpline of the Church. 
This, no doubt, was a disappointment ta his friends, 
who though in comfortable were yet by no means 
in great circumstances. Nor does he seem to have 



^ This is the second edition of the work, which Dr. Warton 
seems not to have known. 

^ See a Lett^ from Dr. Hakewill to Archbishop Usher^ in 
the Life and Letters of Usher by R. Parr, D,D. foL 1686. 
Letters, p. 398. 

* See Birch's Life of Milton, Dr. Newton's edit, of Milton^ 
Sonnet vii. General Dictionary, 1738, vol. vii. And Biograph. 
Brit. 1760, vol. V. Art. Milton, where they are printed. 

c2 



20 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

been disposed to any profession. It is certain that 
he also declined the ^ Law. He had probably read, 
with no slight attention, the conduct of Tasso, as 
described by the noble biographer to whom he has 
addressed his admired eclogue : 

'^ ^ II qual poema Ql Rinaldo] mando egli fuori 
per voler del Cardinal Luigi da Este ; e con poco 
piacer di suo padre; il quale non haurebbe ci6 per 
due ragioni desiderato. Primieramente percioche 
Bernardo non rimaneua appagato, che Tanimo del 
giouanetto s'appigliasse alia piaceuolezza della po- 
esia, perche non deuiasse (come aduienne) dallo 
studio delle leggi' dal quaV egli speraua maggiori 
comodi con Fessempio in contrario di se medesimo, 
che per molto, e per bene c' hauesse, et in versi, et in 
prosa saputo scriuere, non potette giammai pero 
auanzare la mezzanita della sua fortuna ne difen- 
dersi dalla rea : nella qual cosa malageuolmente Tor- 
quato r obediua, tirato altroue dal proprio genio, 
come ne' versi che seguono dietro a que' che detti 
habbiamo, si }egge : 



' His contempt of the Law, as well as of the Church, is rather 
strongly marked, as in his Verses Ad Patrem, ver. 71, &c. To 
the ecclesiastical lawyers he has shown no mercy ; but alludes to 
" chancellours and sufFragans, delegates and officials, with all 
the hell-pestering rabble of sumners and apparitors," in the very 
spirit of Quevedo. See his Animadversions, &c. Prose- Works, 
vol. i. p. 159, edit. 1698. 

«f Vita di Torq. Tasso, scritta da G. B. Manso, 12"*°. Venet. 
162^1, p. 32, 33. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 21 

Ad altri studi, onde poi speme hauea 
Di ristorar d'auuersa sorte i danni, 
Ingrati studi^ dal cui pondo oppresso, 
Giaccio ignoto ad altrui graue a me stesso." 

Rinaldo, Canto xii. st. 90. 

Dr. Newton thinks that he had too free a spirit to 
be limited and confined ; that he was for compre- 
hending all sciences, but professing none. His con- 
duct, however, on these occasions is a proof of the 
sincerity with which he had resolved to deliver his 
sentiments. " ^ For me, I have determined to lay 
up as the best treasure and solace of a good old age, 
if God vouchsafe it me, the honest liberty of free 
speech from my youth." 

Having taken the degree of * M.A. in 1632, he 
left the university, and retired to his father's house 
in the country ; who had now quitted business, and 
lived at an estate which he had purchased at Horton 
near Colnebrooke, in Buckinghamshire. Here he 
resided five years ; in which time he not only, as he 
himself informs us, read over the Greek and Latin 
authors, particularly the historians, but is also be- 
lieved to have written his Arcades, Comus, VAlle- 
groy II PenserosOy and Lycidas. The pleasant 
retreat in the country excited his most poetick feel- 
ings ; and he has proved himself able, in his pictures 

"" Prose-Works, vol. i. p. 220, edit. 1698. 
' He was admitted to the same degree at Oxford in 1635. 
See Wood, Fasti^ vol. i. p. 262. ^ 



22 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

of rural life, to rival the works of Nature which he 
contemplated with delight. In the neighbourhood 
of Horton the Countess Dowager of Derby resided ; 
and the Arcades was performed by her grand- 
children at this seat, called Harefield-place. It seems 
to me, that Milton intended a compliment to his fair 
neighbour in his U Allegro ; 

" Towers ^id battlements it sees 
Bosom'd high in tailed trees. 
Where perhaps some Beauty lies, 
The Cynosure of neighbouring eyes." 



(( 



The woody scenery of ^ Harefield, and the personal 
accomplishments of the Countess, are not unfavour- 
able to this supposition ; which, if admitted, tends to 
confirm the opinion, that L Allegro and // Pense- 
roso were composed at Horton. 

The Mask of Camus, and Lycidas, were certainly 
produced under the roof of his father. It may be 
observed that, after his retirement to private study, 
he paid great attention, like his master Spenser, to 
the Italian school of poetry. Dr. Johnson remarks, 
that his acquaintance with the Italian writers may 
be discovered by the mixture of longer and shorter 
verses in Lycidas, according to the rules of Tuscan 
poetry. In Comus also the sweet rhythm and ca- 
dence of the Italian language are no less observable. 
I must here mention that the house, in which Milton 

•^ See Lysons's Middlesex, 1800. Harefield, ^i, 108. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 23 

drew such enchanting scenes, was about * the year 
1798 pulled down; and that, during his residence at 
Uorton, he had occasionally taken lodgings in Lon- 
don, in order to cultivate musick and mathematicks, 
to meet his friends from Cambridge, and to indulge 
his passion for books. 

It seems to have been the notion, however, of the 
late Sir William Jones, that we are indebted, not to 
Horton, but to Forest Hill, for Milton's descriptive 
pictures of the country. That accomplished scholar 
has thus delivered his opinion in a letter to Lady 
Spencer, dated from Oxford, Sept. 7, 1769. 

" "" The necessary trouble of correcting the first 
printed sheets of my history, prevented me to-day 
from paying a proper respect to the memory of 
Shakspeare, by attending his jubilee. But I was 
resolved to do all the honour in my power to as 
great a poet ; and set out in the morning in com- 
pany with a friend to visit a place, where Milton 
spent some part of his life, and where, in all prcn 
hahilityy he composed several of his earliest pro^ 
ductions. It is a small village on a pleasant hill, 
about three miles, from Oxford, called Forest Hill, 
because it formerly lay contiguous to a forest, which 
has since been cut down. The poet chose this place 
of retirement after his first marriage, and he describes 

' As I was obligingly informed by letter in 1808 from the Rec- 
tor of Horton. 

^ Lord Teignmouth's Life of Sir William Jones, 8vo. edit. p. 83. 



it 



(i 



€« 



24 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the beauties of his retreat^ in that fine passage of his 
L'Allegro : 

" Sometime walking, not unseen, 

" By hedge-row ehns^ on hillocks green, — 

While the plowman near at hand. 

Whistles o'er the furrow'd land, 
" And the milk-maid singeth blithe. 

And the mower whets his sithe ; 

And every shepherd tells his tale 
" Under the hawthorn in the dale. 

Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, 

Whilst the landskip round it measures; 
" Russet lawns,, and fallows gray, 
" Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; 
*' Mountains, on whose barren breast 
** The labouring clouds do often rest ; 
" Meadows trim with daisies pide, 
" Shallow brooks, and rivers wide : 
" Towers and battlements it sees 

Bosom'd high in tufted trees — 

Hard by, a cottage chimney smoaks, 
" From betwixt two aged oaks, &c. 

" It was neither the proper season of the year, nor 
time of the day^ to hear all the rural sounds^ and see 
all the objects mentioned in this description ; but, by 
a pleasing concurrence of circumstances, we were sa- 
luted, on our approach to the village, with the musick 
of the mower and his scythe ; we saw the ploughman 
intent upon his labour, and the milk-maid returning 
from her country emplo)rment 

'' As we ascended the hill, the variety of beautiful 
ol]jects, the agreeable stillness and natural simplicity' 






« AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 25 

of the whole scene, gave us the highest pleasure. We 
at length reached the spot, whence Milton undonbU 
edly took most of his images ; it is on the top of 
the hill, from which there is a most extensive pros- 
pect on all sides : the distant mountains that seemed 
to support the clouds, the villages and turrets, partly 
shaded with trees of the finest verdure, and partly 
raised above the groves that surrounded them, the 
dark plains and meadows of a greyish colour, where 
the sheep were feeding at large, in short, the view of 
the streams and rivers, convinced us that there was 
not a single useless or idle word in the above-men- 
tioned description, but that it was a most exact and 
lively representation of nature. Thus will this fine 
passage, which has always been admired for its ele- 
gance, receive an additional beauty from its exact- 
ness. After we had walked, with a kind of poetical 
enthusiasm, over this enchanted groimd> we returned 
to the village. 

'^ The poet's house was close to the church ; the 
greatest part of it has been pulled down ; and what 
remains, belongs to an adjacent farm. I am informed 
that several papers in Milton's own hand were found 
by the gentleman who was last in possession of the 
estate. The tradition of his having lived there is 
current among the villagers : one of them shewed us 
a ruinous wall that made part of his chamber, and 
I was much pleased with another who had forgotten 
the name of Milton, but recollected him by the title 
of The Poet. 



26 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" It must not be omitted, that the groves near 
this village are famous for nightingales, which are so 
elegantly described in the Penseroso. Most of the 
cottage windows are overgrown with sweet-briars, 
vines, and honey'-suckles ; and, that Milton's habita- 
tion had the same rustick ornament, we may conclude 
from his diescription of the lark bidding him good- 
morrow, 

" Through the sweet-briar or the vine, 
" Or the twisted eglantine ; 

for it is evident, that he meant a sort of honey-suckle 
by the eglantine; though that word is commonly 
used for the sweet-briar, which he could not mention 
twice in the same couplet 

^' If ever I pass a month or six weeks at Oxford 
in the summer, I shall be inclined to hire and repair 
this venerable mansion, and to make a festival for a 
circle of friends, in honour of Milton, the most per- 
fect scholar, as well as the sublimest poet, that our 
country ever produced. Such an honour will be less 
splendid, but more sincere and respectful, than all 
the pomp and ceremony on the banks of the Avon/' 

If MQton resided at Forest Hill, it must have 
been at a time far distant from the composition of 
V Allegro and II Penseroso. The tradition that 
he did reside at this beautiful and beautifully de- 
scribed village, is indeed ° general ; though none of 

" Madame du Bocage, in her entertaining Letters concerning 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON, 27 

his biographers assert the circumstance. But Sir 
William Jones represents him to have chosen this 
place of retirement, after his first marriage. Now 
Milton, we find, was not married before 1643, at 
which time he was in his thirty-fifth year; when, 
about Whitsuntide or a little after, " he "* took a 
journey," says his nephew Phillips, '* into the comv- 
try ; nobody about him certainly knowing the reason, 
or that it was more than a journey of recreation : 
after a month's stay, home he returns a married man 
that went out a batchelor ; his wife being Mary, the 
eldest daughter of Mr. Richard Powell, then a justice 
x>f peace, oiForesthil, near Shotover, in Oxfordshire." 
Anthony Wood relates also, that Milton courted, mar- 
ried, and brought his wife to his house in London, in 
one month's time ; and that she was very young. She 
continued, however, but a few weeks with her hus- 
band, and P returned to Forest Hill. Milton, as we 
shall presently see, disdained to follow her thither. 
After their reconciliation, it is possible that he might 
revisit the dwelling from which he had brought her, 
even before the seizure of it by the rebels in 1646. 

England^ &c. relates that, visiting, in June 1750, Baron Schutz 
and Lady at their house near Shotover Hill, '* they shewed me 
from a small eminence Milton's house^ to which I bowed with 
all the reverence with which that poet's memory inspires me." 

** Life of Milton, p. xxii. 

p See Mr. Warton's note on the Nuncupative Will of Milton, in 
this account of the poet*s Life, relating to Forest Hill ; and also 
the documents in regard to Mr. Powell's property there, and in 
the neighbourhood, now first given, in a subsequent portion of 
these pages, from his Majesty's State-Paper-Office. 



28 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Then too, in order to some arrangement of her loyal 
father's affairs, (for in those affairs he will soon be 
found to have been concerned with the ruling party,) 
it is indeed probable, that thither he might go for a 
short period. However, this concedes nothing to the 
assertion of L' Allegro being composed at Forest 
Hill. The early poems of Milton were written, I ap- 
prehend, long before the date of his first marriage ; 
and, as I have already stated, most probably at 
Horton ; a point in which Mr. Hayley concurs with 
me, at least in respect to U Allegro and // Pense^ 
roso. In the collection of these poems into a volume, 
which was published by Moseley in 1645, and of which 
more will presently be said, L Allegro and // Pen- 
seroso precede both Lycidds and Comtis in the ar- 
rangement ; both of which refer to matters of a much 
earlier date than 1640. But, not to insist on this 
circumstance, Moseley in his Address to the Reader, 
says, " ** The author's more pecuUar excellency in 
these studies was too well known to conceal his 
' papers, or to keep me from attempting to sollicit 
them from him!* So that Milton, we see, had con- 
cealed these papers, till he was solicited to permit 
them, with Lycidas and Comus already printed, to 
appear in one volume. I must observe also that 
Milton tells his friend Rouse, in presenting to him 
this collection of his poems, that they were the pro- 
ductions of his ^ early youth. 

1 Milton's Poems, ed. 1645, 12"". sign. a. 4. 
"■ " Gemelle cultu simplici gaudens liber, 
" Fronde licet gem ina. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 29 

Milton, however, might compose at Forest Hill, 
or in the neighbourhood of it, as some have thought, 
part of his later productions. But sufficient autho- 
rity is wanting, upon which to assert a fact so in- 
teresting. Mr. Warton indeed tells us, that he had 
seen in Mr. Powell's house at Forest Hill, many 
papers, which showed the active part he had taken 
in favour of the Royalists ; but that Mr. Mickle, 
the ingenious translator of the Lusiad, had there 
searched in vain for any of Milton's papers or 
letters. 

A pretended romantick circumstance in Milton's 
younger days has been publickly mentioned, as having 
formed the first impulse of his Italian journey, and 
as the parent too of some of his poetry ! In the 
General Evening Post of 1789 it is believed to 
have appeared; in which, or in any other journal, 
however, I had liot, before the first edition of this 
account was pubKshed, discovered it. The marvel- 
lous anecdote was afterwards obligingly transmitted 
to me, exactly as it appeared in a Newspaper, (the 
Italian citation only being here corrected,) of which 
the date does not appear ; and for which I was in- 
debted, through the late Mr. Bindley, to M. Whish, 
Esq. 

" Munditieque nitens non operosd ; 

'' Quern mamis attulit 

** Juvenilis olim, 

" Sedula tamen baud nimii poetae," &c. 



30 



SOME ACCOUN'T OP THE LIFE 



" Believing that the followinj? real circumstance 
has been but little noticed, we submit the particulars 
of it, as not uninteresting, to the attention of our 
readers: — 'It is well known that, in the bloom of 
youth, and when he pursued his studies at Cam- 
bridge, this poet was extremely beautiful. Wander- 
ing, one day, during the summer, far beyond the 
precincts of the University, into the country, he be- 
came so heated and fatigued, that, reclining himself 
at the foot of a tree to rest, he shortly fell asleep. 
Before he awoke, two Wlies, who were foreigners, 
passed by in a carriage. Agreeably astonished at 
the loveliness of his appearance, they alighted, and 
having admired him (as they thought) unperceived, 
for some time, the youngest, who was very hand- 
some, drew a pencil from her pocket, and having 
written some lines upon a piece of paper, put it with 
her trembling hand into his own. Immediately 
afterwards they proceeded on their journey. Some 
of his acqumntances, who were in search of him, 
had observed tliis silent adventure, but at too great 
a distance to discover that the highly-favoured party 
in it was our illustrious bard. Approaeliing nearer, 
they saw their friend, to whom, being awakened. 



* This oajTative is not singular : an exact and older coun> 
terpart may be found, as the late J. C. Walker, Esq. pointed 
out to me, in the Preface to Poesies de Marguerite- Eleanore 
Clotilde, depuis Madame de Surviile, Poele Francois du xv. 
Sieck. Par. 1803. The anecdote has been elegantly versified 
in the Original Sonnets, &c. of Anna Seivard. 




AND WRITINGS OP MILTON. 31 

they mentioned what had happened. Milton opened 
the paper^ and, with surprise, read these verses from 
Guarini : [[Madrigal, xii. ed. 1598.]] 

* Occhif stelk mortali, 

* Mimstre de miei mali, — 

* Se chiusi rrH ticcidete, 
' Aperti chef arete T 

" ' Ye eyes ! ye human stars ! ye authors of my 
liveliest pangs ! If thus, when shut, ye wound me, 
what must have proved the consequence had ye been 
open T Eager, from this moment, to find out the 
fair incognita, Milton travelled, but in vain, through 
every part of Italy. His poetick fervour became in- 
cessantly more and more heated by the idea which 
he had formed of his unknown admirer ; and it is, 
in some degree, to her that his own times, the 
present times, and the latest posterity must feel 
themselves indebted for several of the most im- 
passioned and charming compositions of the Paradise 
Lost.'* 

On the death of his mother in 1637, Milton pre- 
vailed with his father to permit him to visit the con- 
tinent. This permission Mr. Hayley supposes to 
have been " the more readily granted, as one of his 
motives for visiting Italy was to form a collection of 
Italian musick.'* His nephew Phillips indeed re- 
lates, that, while at Venice, he shipped a parcel of 
curious and rare books which he had collected in 



32 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

his travels; particularly a chest or two of choice 
musick-books of the best masters flourishing about 
that time in Italy. Having obtained some directions 
for his travels ffrom Sir Henry Wotton, to whom 
he had communicated his earnest desire of seeing 
foreign countries, he went in 1638, attended with 
a single servant, to Paris ; where, by the favour 
of Lord Scudamore, he was introduced to Grotius. 
Of this interview, although the numerous letters 
of Grotius afford no trace, MUton's nephew gives 
the following account ; Grotius took the visit 
kindly, and gave him entertainment suitable to his 
worth and the high commendations he had heard 
of him. 

Having been presented, by Lord Scudamore, with 
letters of recommendation to the English merchants 
in the several places through which he intended to 
travel, he went, after staying a few days in Paris, 
directly to Nice^ where he embarked for Genoa. 
From Genoa he proceeded to Leghorn, Pisa, and 
Florence. The delights of Florence detained him 
there two months. His compositions and conver- 
sation were so much admired, that he was a most 
welcome guest in the academies, (as in Italy the 
meetings of the most polite and ingenious persons 
were denominated,) held in that city. He has af- 
fectionately recorded the * names of these Italian 



t « 



Tui enim Jacobe Gaddi, Carole Dati, Frescobalde, Cul- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON.* 33 

friends ; and has expressed his obligations to their 
honourable distinctions. Dati " presented him with, 
a Latin eulogy ; and Francini with an Italian ode. 
A few years since, Mr. Brand accidentally discovered 
on a book^-stall, a manuscript which he purchased, 
entitled La Tina, by Antonio Malatesti, not yet 
enumerated, * Mr. Warton says, among Milton's 
friends. It is dedicated by the author to John Mil- 
ton while at Florence. Mr. Brand gave it to Mr^ 
Hollis, who, in 1758, sent it together with Milton*^ 
works, both in poetry and prose, and his Life by 
Toland, to the Academy Delia Crusca. The manu- 
script, as Mr. Warton observes, would have been a 



telline, BommatthaBe, Clementille, Francine, ullorumque plurium 
memoriam apnd me semper gratam atque jucundam, nulla dies 
delebit.*' Defens. Sec. Prose- Works, vol. iii. p. 96, edit. 1698. 
It is to one of these friends that he professes his love of the Italian 
language. " Ego certe istis utrisque Unguis [Greek and Latin} 
non extremis tantummod6 labris madidus; sed, siquis alius, ^ 
quantum per annos licuit, poculis majoribua prolutus^ possum, 
tamen nonnunquam ad ilium Dantem et Petrarcaniy aliosque 
vestros complusculos^ libent^r et cupid^ comessatum ire." Epist. 
B. BommathcBO, Prose- Works, vol. iii. p. 325, ed. 1698. 

*^ RoUi has made the following remark on the commendatory 
notices of his countrymen. *' Osservissi nelle lodi dagl* Italian! 
date a questo grand Uomo ; com' essi fin d* allora scorgevano in 
lui I'alta forza d'Ingegno che lo portava al primo Auge di gloria 
letteraria nel suo Secolo e nella sua Nazione ; e gliene facevana 
gli awerati Prognostici." Vita di Milton, 1735. Dennis paya 
pduch compliment to the discernment of the Italians who dis^ 
covered, while Milton was among them, his great and growing 
genius. See his Original Letters, &c. 1721, vol. i. p. 78, 80. 

* Milton's Smaller Poems, 2d edit. p. 555. But Milton men- 
ticms this friend in a letter to Carlo Dati, Epist, Fam. x. 



ai SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

greater curiosity in England. And, since my ac- 1 
count of the Life of the poet was published in 1809^ I 
I learn that it had found its way back to this country, 
had become the property of a gentleman whose 
books were not long since sold by Mr. Evans of 
Pall-Mail, and that the full title of the manuscript 
is, " La Tina, Equivoci Rusticali di Antonio Mala- 
testi, coposti nella sua villa di Taiano il Septembre 
dell' anno 1637. Sonetti Cinquata. Dcdicati all* 
III"^. Signore et Padrone Oss""". il Signor Gio- 
vanni Milton, NobiV lagkilese.'" I 



Milton became acquainted also with the celebrated 
Galileo, whom many biogra]»hers have represented 
as in prison when the poet visited him. But Mr. 
Walker has informed me that Galileo was never a 
prisoner in the inquisition at Florence, although a 
prisoner of it. On his arrival at Rome on Febru- 
ary the 10th, 1632, that illustrious philosopher had 
surrendered himself to Urban, who ordered him to 
be confined for his philosophical heresy in the palace 
of the Triniti de' Monti. Here he remained five 
months. Having retracted his opinion, he was dis- 
missed from Rome ; and the house of Monsignor 
Piccolomini in Sienna was assigned to him as his 
prison. About the beginning of December, in 1633, 
he was hberated ; and returned to the village of Bel- 
loguardo near Florence, whence he went to Arcetri, 
where, it is probable, he received the insit of the 
English bard. Milton himself has informed us that 
he had really seen Galileo ; Jind RoUi, in his Life of 




AND WniTINOS OF MILTON. 35 

tke poet^ ^ considers some ideas in the Paradise 
liost, i^pproacbing towards the Newtonian philo* 
sophy, to have been caught at Florenoe bom GaiySeo 
9r his disciples. 

From Florence he passed through Sienna to Ilome» 
where he iilso stffjred two months ; feaating» ». Dr. 
Newton well observes^ both hb eyes and his mind, 
and delighted with the fine paintings^ and sculptuxes^ 
and other rarities and antiquities^ of the city, li has 
Jbeen judiciously conjectured^ that several ol the: imf- 
taortal works of the finest painters and atatuariies 
mfty be traced in Milton's poetry. They are sup* 
posed by Mr. Hayley to have had considerable in- 
fluence in attaching his imagination to our first par 
T^its. ^^ He had most probably contemplated them/ 
the elegwt writer continues, *' not only in tte co- 
lours of Michael Angek), who decorated Rome with 
his picture of the creation, but in the marble (vf 
Bandinelli, who had executed two large statues c^ 
Adam and Eve, which, though they wiere fax from 
satisfying the taste of conncdsseurs, might stipiiilate 
even by their imperfections the genius of a poet.** 
The description of the creation in the third book of 
Paradise Lost, (ver. 708, 719,) is supposed by 
^ Mr. Walker to be copied from the same sul^^ect as 

' " In Firenze certamente egli apprese dagli Scritti e dalle 
Massime del Galileo invalorite gi^ ne* di lui Seguaci, quelle No- 
zioni filosofiche sparse poi nel Poema, che tanto si unifoimano 
at Sistema del Cavalier Newton." Vita, &c. 1735. 

« Hist. Mem. on Italian Tragedy, p. 166. 

D 2 



36 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

treated by Raphael in the gallery of the Vatican, 
called " la Bibbia di Raffaello/' There are indeed 
seyeral interesting pictures relating to Adam and 
Eve in the Florence collection, together with " the 
fall of Lucifer" supposed to be the work of Michael 
Angelo, which Milton might have also seen. Mr. 
Dunster ingeniously * conjectures the Paradise Re- 
gained to have been enriched by the suggestions of 
-Salvator Rosa's masterly painting of The Tempta-- 
tion. The genius of Milton seems indeed to have 
resembled more particularly that of Michael Angelo. 
Jt is wprthy of notice, as it shows a strong coinci- 
•dence' of taste in the poet and the painter, that 
Michael Angelo was particularly struck with Dante ; 
and that he is said to have ^ sketched with a pen, on 
the margin of his copy of the Inferno^ every striking 
scene of the terrible and the pathetick ; but this va- 
luable curiosity was unfortunately lost in a ship- 
wreck. The learned author of '' Tableaux tires de 
r Iliade, de T Odyssee -d' Homere, et de V Eneide 
de Virgile," was never more mistaken than in sup- 
posing the Paradise Lost incapable of supplying an 
artist with scenes as graceful and sublime as can be 
met with in the poems of the Grecian and Roman 
bards : for, in the words of Mr. Hayley, there is no 
.charm exhibited by painting, which Milton's poetry 
has failed to equal, as far as analogy between the 



* Addition to his edit, of Par. Reg.l^QQ. . 
** See " A Sketch of the Lives and Writings of Dante and 
Petrarch, 1790," p. .31. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. » 37, 

diflFerent arts cau extend. Indeed the numerous ex-* 
ereises for the painter's skill, which Milton's works 
aflFord, have, in later times, commanded due atten- 
tion ; and Fuseli, by his happy sketches from such 
originals, has taught us how to admire poetry and 
painting " breathing united force.'* 

. At Rome Milton was honoured with the acquaint- 
ance of several learned men, more especially with 
that of Holstenius, keeper of the Vatican library. 
By him he was introduced to Cardinal Barberini, 
the *" patron Cardinal of the EngUsh ; who, at an 
^ entertainment of musick, performed at his own ex- 

* I learn from a manuscript of Dr. Bargrave, (preserved in the 
Library of Canterbury Cathedral,) that> " at Rome, euery for- 
raigne Nation hath some Cardinall or other to be their peculiar: 
Gardian : when I was 4 seuerall times at Rome," Dr. Bargrave 
says, " this Cardinall Barberini was Gardian to the En^lishJ^ 
He adds, " When I was at Rome with the Earle of Chesterfield, 
then under my tuition, 1650, at a yeare of Jubilee, this Cardinal! 
(formerly kinde to me) would not admitt my lord or myselfe to 
any audience, though, in eleuen months time, tryed seuerall 
times ; and I heard that it was, because that we had recommenda- 
tory letters from our Queen Mother to Cardinall Capponius, and 
another from the Dutchess of Sauoy to Cardinall Penzirolo ; and 
no letters to him, who was the English (I say Rebells) Pro" 
lector ; and that we visited them before him." 

** Mr. Warton says, that Milton heard the accomplished Leo- 
nora Baroni sing at the concerts of this Cardinal, and that there 
is a volume of Greek, Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish poems, 
printed at Rome, in praise of this lady. I have sought in vain 
for this curious volume ; as have two or three literary friends, 
both abroad and at home. I must observe however that this book 
is described, in the Barberini collection, as printed at Bracciano* 
Index Bib. Barberin, fol. 1681. torn. i. p. II4« 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 




pence, waited for him at tlio door, and condescended 
to lead him into the assembly. Milton did not forget 
the extraordinary civilities of this accomplished Car- 
dind. In thanking Holstenius afterwards for all hii 
favours to him, he adds ' " De cffitero, novo beneficio 
devinxeris, si ' Eminenlissimum Cardinalem quantA 
potest observantii meo nomine salutes, cujus magnse 
virtutes, rectiqUe studium, ad provehendas item omnes 
artes liberales egregie comparatum, semper mihi ob 
oculos versatur." At Rome also, Selvaggi and Salsilli 
praised the attjunments of Milton in those verses, 
which are prefixed to his Latin poetry. 

• Lit. Lucte Holstenio, dat. Florent. Mart. 30. 1639, Prose- ' 
Works, vol. iii. p. 327, edit. 1698, 

' Milton, it may be observed, is careful not to omit the title 
first Applied to the Cardinals by Barberini : since whose time. Dr. 
Bargrave relates, " the tide of Padrone continueth to the Pope's 
chiefe Nephew, and the title of Eminejiza to all the Cardinall*. 
liideed the authority which Urban VIII, gave to Francisco [Ba*^ 
berini, his eldest Nephew,] was nol ordinary ; for he thought it 
not enough to giue the powre, except he gane it the vanety and 
title of Padrone, that is, Master and Lord, a title never heard of 
before at Rome. But Urban had nothing in his mouth but the 
Oftidinall Padrone: Where is the Cardinall Padrone? Call ihe 
Cardinal! Padrone; Speake to the Cardinall Padrone : Nothing 
was heard of but the Cardinall Padrone ; which the embassadors 
of Princes did not like, saying they had no Padrone but the Pope 
faitnlelfe. However theire [ihe Barberinis'] ambition stayed not 
tit this title : they tooke excepUoAs of the quality of lUustrissimo^ 
witti which hitherto the Cardinalls had bion content for so many 
ngeS. The title of Excellency belonging to soveraine Princes itt 
Italy, tliey strove to find oirt something that should not be in- 
feriour to it; and, canvassing many titles, at length they pitched 
upon EmineHcy, which the Princes hearing of, they took upon 
themselves the Utle<^ UighneBs." MS. as before. 



I 

a 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 39 

He next removed to Naples, in company with a 
hermit ; to whom Milton owed his ihtroductibn td 
the patron of Tasso, Manso, marquis of WUti, a 
nobleman distinguished by his vittne and his learhing. 
To this eminent person he was obliged in many im- 
portant instances ; and, as a testimony of gratitude, 
he presented to him, at his departure fix>m Naples, 
his beautifiil eclogue, entitled Mansw ; which Dr. 
Johniton acknowledges must hare raised in the 
noble Italian a very high opinioh of English ele-^ 
gance and Kterature. Manso likewise has addressed 
a distich to Milton, which is prefixed to the Latin 
poems. 

From Ns^les Milton intended to proceed to Sicily 
and Athens : '* Countries," as Mr. Warton has ex- 
cellently observed, * *' connected with hid finer feel- 
ings, mterwoven with bis poetical ideas, and impressed 
upon his hnagination by his habits of reading, and 
by long and intimate converse with the Grecian lite- 
rature. But so prevalent were his patriotick attach- 
ments, that, hearing in Italy of the commencement 
of the national quarrel, instead of proceeding forward 
to feast his fancy with the contemplation of scenes 
familiar to Theocritus and Homer, the pines of Etna 
and the pastures of Peneus, he abruptly changed his 
course, and hastily returned home to plead the cause 
of ideal liberty. Yet in this chaos of controversy, 
amidst endless disputes concerning religious and po- 

^ Preface to bis Edition of the Smaller Poems. 



40 SQME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

litical reformation, independency, prelacy, tithes, to- 
leration, and tyranny, he sometimes seems to have 
heaved a sigh for the peaceable enjoyments of let- 
tered solitude, for his congenial pursuits, and the 
more mild and ingenuous exercises of the muse. In 
a Letter to Henry Oldenburgh, written in 1654, he 
says, ^ * Hoc cum libertatis adversariis inopinatum 
certamen, diversis longe et amceniorilms omnino 
me studiis intentum, ad se rapuit invitumJ And ill 
one of his prose-tracts, ' ' I may one day hope to 
have ye again in a still time, when there shall be no 
Chiding. Not in these Noises.' And in another, 
having mentioned some of his schemes for. epick 
poetry and tragedy, * of highest hope and hardest 
attempting,' he adds, ' ' With what small wiUingness 
I endure to interrupt the pursuit of no less hopes 
thai! these^ and leave a calm and pleasing solitari- 
nesses fed with cheerful and confident thoughts, to 
imbark in a troubled sea of noises and hoarse dis- 
putes, from beholding the bright countenance of 
Truth in the quiet and still air of delightfull studies,' 
&c. He still, however, obstinately persisted in what 
he thought his duty. But surely these speculations 
should have been consigned to the enthusiasts of the 
age, to such restless and wayward spirits as Prynne, 
Hugh Peters, Goodwyn, and Baxter. Minds less 
refined, and faculties less elegantly cultivated, would 
have been better employed in this task : 

^ Prose- Works, vol. iii. p. 330, ed. 1698. 

* Apol. Smectymn. 1642. 

^ Church-Govemm. B. ii, 1641. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. ' 41 



' Coarse complexions. 



• And cheeks of sorry grain, will serve to ply 

' The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool : 
' What need a vermeil-tinctur'd lip for that, 

* Love-darting eyes, and tresses like the mom V — " 

• He returned by the way of Rome, though some 
tnercantile friends had acquainted him that the Je-* 
suits there were forming plots against him, for the 
liberty of his conversation upon matters of religion^ 
He paid little attention to the advice of his friend 
Sir Henry Wotton, " to keep his thoughts close, and 
his countenance open." Nor did the liberal and po- 
lished Manso omit to acquaint him, at his departure, 
that he would have shown him more considerable 
favours, if his conduct had been less unguarded. He 
is supposed to have given offence by having visited 
Galileo. And he had been with difficulty restrained 
from publickly asserting, within the verge of the 
Vatican, the cause of Protestantism. While Milton, 
however, defended his principles without hypocrisy, 
he appears not to have courted contest. When he 
was questioned as to his faith, he was too honest to 
conceal his sentiments, and too dauntless to relinquish 
them. He staid at Rome two months more without 
fear, and indeed without molestation. From Rome 
he proceeded to Florence, where he was received 
with the most lively marks of affection by his friends, 
and made a second residence of two months. From 
Florence he visited Lucca : Then crossing the Apen- 
nine, he passed by the way of Bologna and Ferrara 
to Venice, in which city he spent -a month. From 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



Venice he took his course through Verona, Milan,' 
and along the lake Leman, to Geneva. After spend-' 
ing some time in this city, where he became ac- 
quainted with Giovanni Deodati, and Frederick 
Spanheim, he returned through France, and came 
home after an absence of fifteen months. Mr. Hay- 
ley has forcibly observed, that, " in the relation 
which Milton himself gives of his return, the' name 
of Geneva recalling to his mind one of the most 
slanderous of his political adversaries, he animates 
his narrative by a solemn appeal to Heaven on his 
unspotted integrity ; he protests that, during his re- 
sidence in foreign scenes, where licentiousness wai _ 
universal, his own conduct was perfectly irreproach-* 4 
able. I dwell the more zealously on whatever maj^ ' 
elucidate the moral character of Milton ; because, 
even among those who love and revere him, the 
plendour of the poet has in some measure eclipsed 
tiie merit of the man ; hut in proportion as the par- 
ticulars of his life are studied with intelligence and 
candour, his virtue will become, as it ought to be, 
the friendly rival of his genius, and receive its due 
share of admiration and esteem." I 

His return happened aboat the time of the King's 
second expedition against the Scots, in which his 
forces under lord Conway were defeated by general 
Lesley, in the month of August 1639. In a Bible, 
' said to have been once in his possession, (probably 

aenlieman'a Magazine, July 1792, p. 615. And in 1809 1 




J 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 43 

the constant companion of his travels^) k a manu-^ 
script remark, dated 1639 BJL Canterbury city, which 
may serve to show the powerful impression made on 
his mind, (admitting the authenticity of the remark,) 
by thiis erentful period. ^^ /This year of very dread- 
ful oonmiotidn, and I Iveene will ensue murderous 
times of conflicting fight." The date of the yeat 
and {dace may lead us to suppose that, haying landed- 
at Ddver, he wals tm his return from his travels to 
LondoiL The gentleman, who communicated the 
ihtell%enoe of ithis Bible to the puhlick, and had 
be^i indulged with a sight of it, selected other mar* 
ginal observatibns which appeared to him remark^ 
able; among which is the following poetical not^ 
oil I. Maccab. xiv. 16» '' Now when it was heard 
at Rome, and as &r as Sparta, that Jonathan was 
dead, they were very sorry :'* 

*' When that day of death shall come> 
" Then shall nightly shades prevaile ; 
^* Soon shall love and musick faile ; 
** Soone the fresh turfe^s tender blade 
** Shall flourish on my sleeping shade.'' 

The authenticity of the remarks, and of the Bible 
having belcmged to Milton, has indeed been ques- 
tioned ; but has been defended not without consider* 
able force, by the communicator himself, and by 

was informed^ by the obliging infonnktion of Mr. Ntehols, that 
this Bible was then in the possession of the Rey. Mr. Blackburn^ 
son of the late Archdeacon Blackburn who wrote the Remarks on 
Dr. Johnson's Life of MUton, 12'»% Lond. 1780. 



44 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

other writers in the valuable miscellany^ in which the 
information has been given ; to the demonstrations 
and conjectures of whom I refer the reader". 

' Before we attend to the busier scenes of life, in 
which Milton, now returned to his native country, 
became engaged ; let me be permitted to lament 
that he never executed the scheme, which he once 
proposed to himself in his animated lines to Manso, 
of ** " embellishing original tales of chivalry, of cloth- 
ing the fabulous achievements of the early British 
kings and champions in the gorgeous trappings of 
epick attire.** The delight which he had derived 
from the military tales of Italy now perhaps sunk 
into neglect ; though never into forgetfulness. In 
his late3t poems he seems to look back, not without 
an eye of fond regard, to the more distinguished 
compositions of this kind ; and certainly with ample 
testimony of the attention, with which he had studied 
(to use his own words) '' those lofty fables and ro- 
mances that recount in solemn cantos the deeds of 
knighthood V 

At his return he heard of the death of his beloved 
friend and schoolfellow, Charles Deodati. And he 
lamented his loss in that elegant eclogue, the Epi- 

"• Gent. Mag. Sept. 1792, p. 789. Oct. 1792, p. 900. Feb. 
1793, p, 106. And March 1800, p. 199. 

» See Mr. Warton*s Preface to the Smaller Poems of Milton. 

** See particularly Par. Lost, B. i. 579, &c. Par. Reg. B. iii. 
336, &c. , . 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 45 

taphium Damonis, which Mr. Warton has siic-^ 
cessfally defended against the cold remark of Dr. 
Johnson. 

He now hired a lodging in St Bride's Church* 
yard. Fleet-street ; where he undertook the educa- 
tion of his sister's sons, John and Edward Phillips, 
^ ^' the first ten, the other nine years of age ; and in 
a year s time made them capable of interpreting a 
Latin author at sight." Finding his house not suf- 
ficiently large for his library and furniture, he took 
a handsome ** garden-house in Aldersgate-street, situ- 
ated at the end of an entry, that he might avoid the 
noise and disturbance of the street. Here he re- 
ceived into his house a few more pupils, the sons of 
his most intimate friends ; and he proceeded, with 
cheerfulness, in the noblest employment of mankind, 
that of instructing others in knowledge and virtue. 
** As he was severe on one hand," Aubrey says, '^ so 
he was most familiar and free in his conversation to 

p Aubrey's Life of Milton. 

** From the Note signed H. in Dr. Johnson's Life of Milton, 
Xivesofthe Poets, ed. 1794, voL i. p. 130, it appears, that there 
were many of these garden houses, !• e. houses situated in a gar- 
den, especially in the north suburbs of London ; and that the 
term is technical, frequently occurring in Wood's Athen. and Fast. 
Oxon. The annotator adds, that the meaning may be collected 
from the article Thomas Farnabe, the famous schoolmaster; of 
whom the author says, that he taught in Goldsmith s-rents, in 
Cripplegate parish, behind Redcross-street, where were large gar- 
dens and handsome houses : Milton's house in Jewin-street was 
also a garden-house, as were indeed most of his dwellings after 
Jbis settlement in London. 



W SOME ACCOUNT OP THE [.IFE 

those whom he must serve in his way of education." 
His younger nephew has related the method of his 
instruction, and the books employed. Of the Latin, 
the four authors concerning husbandry, Cato, Varro, 
Columella, and Palladius; Cornelius Celsus, the 
physician ; a great part of Pliny's Natural History ; 
the Architecture of Vitruvius ; the Stratagems of 
Frontinus; and the philosophical poets, Lucretius 
and Manilius. Of the Greek, Hcsiod ; Aratus's 
Phaenomena and Diosemeia ; Dionysius Afer de situ 
orbis ; Oppian's Cynegeticks and Halieuticks ; Quin- 
tus Calaber's poem of the Trojan war, continued 
from Homer ; Apollonius Rhodius's Argonauticks ; 
and in prose Plutarch's Placita philosophorum, and 
of the Education of Children; Xenophon's Cyro- 
psidia and Anabasis ; Elian's Tacticks ; and the 
Stratagems of Polysenus. Nor did this application 
to the Greek and Latin tongues impede the cultiva- 
tion of tlie chief oriental languages, the Hebrew, 
Chaldee, and Syriack, so far as to go through the 
Pentateuch, to make a good entrance into the Tar- 
gum or Chaldeo paraphrase, and to understand se- 
veral chapters of St. Matthew in the Syriack Testa- 
ment ; besides the modern languages, Italian and 
French ; and a knowledge of mathematicks and astro- 
nomy. The Sunday exercise of his pupils was, prin- 
cijmlly, to read a chapter of the Greek Testament, 
and to hear his learned exposition of it : to which 
was added the writing, from his dictation, some part 
of a system of divinity, which he had collected from 
the ablest divines who had written upon the subject. 




J 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 47 

Frani the rigid attention which such a system re* 
quired he occaaionaUy relaxed; and once in three or 
four weeks tlie hard study and spare diet^ of which 
he was an eminent example to his pupils, gave way 
to the regale g£ a gaudy day with some young gen- 
tlemen c^ his acquaintance ; ^^ the chief of whom^ his 
nepbew says^ were Mr. Alphry and Mr. Miller^ the 
beaus of those times^ but nothing near so bad as those 
now-a-^ays !" These were the seasons in which Milton 
^^ resolved to drench in mirth that^ after^ no repent- 
ing draws," and in which he would not forfeit his 
pretensions of admission into the train of the true 
Euphrosyne : 






In thy right hand lead with thee 
The mountain-nymph^ sweet Liberty ; 
" And, if I give thee honour due, 
" Mirth, admit me of thy crew ; 
" To live with her, and live with thee, 
" In unrqtroved pleasures free*'* 

It seems uncandid in Dr. Johnson to have ridiculed 
the academick institutions of Milton with the title of 
the *^ wonder-working academy,'' because no naan 
very eminent for knowledge proceeded from it, and 
because Phillips's small history of poetry, as he ' inac- 
curately states, is its only genuine product The 
merit of Milton's intention cannot be denied,, however 
the mode, of education, which he pur3ued, may per- 
haps be justly thought impracticable. His nephew, 
with^great sf^i and affection, observes that, if hi$ 

' See this point further discussed in the present Account. 



48 SOME ACfCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

pupils • ''had received Iiis documents with the saine 
acuteness of wit and ^)i>rehension> the same industry;, 
alacrity, and thirst after knowledge, as the Instructor 
was endued with, what prodigies, of wit and^leam-^ 
ing might they have proved ! The sdiolars might m 
some degree, have come near to the equidling^t)£ the 
Master, or at least have in some sort madergo^cl 
what he seems to predict in the close of an el^gyb? 
made in the seventeenth yeast of his age^' uppn tthft 
death of one of his sister's children, a daughter^ wha 
died in her infancy : * ^y*-': 

" Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, 
" Her false-imagin d loss cease to lament, 
** And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild ; ' 
** This if thou do, he will an offspring give, 
" That, to the world's last end, shall make thy name tp Jiv^" 

But, though thus employed in the education of 
youth, Milton now began to sacrifice his time to the 
harsh and crabbed employment of controversy. In 
1641 the clamour ran high against the bishops, 
and in that clamour he joined, by publishing a trea- 
tise Of Reformation, in two books ; being willing 
to assist the Puritans in their designs against the 
established Church, who, as he infonris us in his Se- 
cond Defence, were inferiour to the bishops in 
learning. We are to recollect that Milton had he-r 
fore attacked the episcopal clergy, and had even an- 
ticipated the execution of Archbishop Laud, in hi.^ 
Lycidas, written before he was twenty-nine year^ 

• Life of Milton, p, xix, 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 49. 

■ 

old. The antipathy^ then clothed in an allegorick. 
veil, now burst into expressions of elaborate and un- 
disguised inveptive. Of the innovations^ caused in 
the ceremonies of the Church by Laud^ and which 
excited the , animadversion of Milton^ it may not be 
im{m>per here to observe^ that it has been ^ said by 
a great scholar^ and most excellent historian in eccle- 
siastical no less than in civil matters, that every cere-' 
mony, cS which Laud enforced the observation, is to 
be found in the ritual of Andre wes, bishop of Win- 
chester, who was styled the antipapistical prelate. 
Laud, in his speech delivered at the Star-Chamber 
when he passed judgement on Bastwick, Burton, 
and Prynne, and published in 1637, thus vindicates 
himself, p. 4, &c. *' I can say it clearly and truly 
fts in the presence of God, I have done nothing, as a 
prelate, to the uttermost of what I am conscious, 
but with a smgle heart, and with a sincere intention 
for the good government and honour of the Church, 
and the maintenance of the ortliodox truth and reli- 
gion of Christ professed, established, and maintained 
in this Church of England. For my care of this 
Church, the reducing of it into order, the upholding 
of the extemall worship of God in it, and the settling 
of it to the rules of its first reformation, are the 
causes (and the sole> causes, whatever are pretended) 
of this malicious starme, which hath lowered so 
black upon me, and some of my brethren. And in 
the meane time they, which are the only or the chief 

* See the Europ. Magazine, vol. Xxviii. p. 379. 

E 



50 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

innovators of the Christian world, having nothing tos 
say, accuse us of innovation ; they themselves and 
their complices in the meane time being the greatest 
innovators that the Christian world hath almost ever 
known. I deny not but others have spread more 
dangerous errours in the Church of Christ ; but no 
men, in any age of it, have been more guilty of 
innovation than they, while themselves cry oul^ 
against it: Quis tulerit Gracchos? And 1 sai^ 
well, Quis tulerit Gracchos 9 For 'tis most appa- 
rent to any man that wiU not winke, that the intent 
tion of these men, and their abettors, was and iS 
to raise a sedition ; being as great incendiaries 
in the State (where theij get power) as they have 
ever been in the Church ; Novatian himselfe hardly 
greater. Our m^ne crime is (would they all speake 
out, as some of them do,) that we are bishops ; were 
we not so, some of us might be as passable as other 
men." To those, who would examine attentively the 
ecclesiastical controversy of this period, I recommend 
the perusal of the whole speech. 



I 



In 1641, the eloquent Hall, bishop of Norwich^ 
having published an Humble Remonstrance in fan j 
vour of Episcopacy, five ministers, under the title ctf j 
Smectymnuus, a word formed from the first letters j 
of their " names, wrote an Answer ; of which Arch-- ) 



" Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young (MiU 1 
ton's preceptor), Matthew Newcomen, and William Spiirstow, 
the initial letter of whose Christian name is quaintly divided, in i 



AND WRITITNGS OP MILTON. SI 

bisbop Usher published a Confutation. To this Con* 
futation Milton replied in his Treatise Of Prelatical 
Episcopacy. And, although he has ungracefully 
classed the archbishop's Cotffutation with *' some 
late treatises, one whereof goes under the name of 
James, Ldrd Bishop of Armagh/' he has, in his next 
publication, compHmented the excellent prelate for 
his learning. With such an adversary as Usher, in* 
deed, tvhich of the Smectymnuans would have dared 
to cope ? This enterprise none could partake witli 
M3ton. Vehement as he was in his reply to the 
two bishops, he also enlarged this topick of puritan- 
ical zeal in another performance, entitled The Re€h 
son qf Church Government urgedagainst Prelacy, 
in two books. And, bishop Hall having published 
A Defence of the Humble Remonstrance, he wrote 
Animadversions upon it These treatises were the 
fruits of his prejudice against the established Church 
in 1641. From the third treatise. The Reason of 
Church Government, we derive some knowledge of 
his Uterary projects, and of the opinion he enter- 
tained of his own abilities ; expressed, as Dr. John- 
son well observes, not with ostentatious exultation, 
but with calm confidence ; with a promise to under- 
take something, he yet knows not what, that may be 
of use and honour to his country. The whole pas- 
sage, from which Dr. Johnson has cited a small part 
as a fervid, pious, and rational pledge of the Pa- 
radise Lost, however well known to the admirers of 

order to produce this celebrated word ! This is to be enumerated 
among the few playful tricks of fanaticism. 

£2 



6? S.0MI5 ACCOUNT OP THP LIFE 

the poet^ is too sublime and interesting to be read 
again and again without renewed and encreased 
delight. 

» '^ * Time. serves not now, and, perhaps, I might 
seem top profuse to give any certain account of wJiat 
the mind at. home, in the spacious circuits of her 
mulling, hath liberty, to propose to herself, though of 
highest hope and hardest attempting; whether that 
jppiqk farm, whereof the two poems of Homer, and 
those other two of Virgil and Tasso, are a diffuse, 
and the book of Job a brief, model ; or whether the 
rules of Aristotle herein are strictly to be kept# « 
pature to be followed ; which in them that know ajrt, 
and use judgement, is no transgression, but an en- 
riching of art : and lastly, what king or knight, be^ 
fore the; Conquest, might be chpsen, in whom to lay 
the pattern of a christian hero. And as Tasso gave 
to a prince of Italy his choice, whether he would 
command him to write of Godfrey's expedition against 
the infidels, Belisarius against the Goths, or Charle- 
main against the Lombards ; if to the instinct of na-: 
ture, and the emboldening of art, aught may be. 
trusted, and that there be nothing adverse in our 
climate, qr the fate of this age, it haply would be 
no rashness, from an equal diligence and inclination, 
to present the like offer in our ancient stories. Or 
whether those dramatick constitutions, wherein So- 
phocles and Euripides reign, shall be found more 

* Introduction to the second book. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON, * 6S 

• 

doctrinal and exemplary to a nation.— Or, if occa- 
sion shall lead, to imitate those magnifick odes and 
hymns, ^herein Pindarus and CalUmachus - are in 
most things worthy. But those frequent songs 
-throughout the Law and Prophets, heyond all these, 
not in their divine argument alone, but in the very 
critical art of composition, may be easily made ap- 
pear over all the kinds of lyrick poesy to be incom- 
parable. These abilities, wheresoever they be found, 
are the inspired gift of God, rarely bestowed, but 
yet to some (though most abuse) in every nation ; 
and are of power, besides the office of a pulpit, to 
inbreed and cherish in a great people the seeds of 
virtue and publick civility, to allay the perturbations 
of the mmd, and set the affections in right tune ; to 
celebrate in glorious and lofty hymns the throne and 
equipage of God's Almightiness, and what he works, 
and what he suffers to be wrought, with high pro- 
vidence in his church ; to sing victorious agonies of 
•martyrs and saints, the deeds and triumphs of just 
and pious nations doing valiantly through faith 
s^ainst the enemies of Christ ; to deplore the gene- 
ral relapses of kingdoms and states from justice and 
God's true worship. Lastly, whatsoever in religion 
is hdy and sublime, in virtue amiable or grave, 
whatsoever hath passion or admiration in : all the 
changes of tha*, which is called fortune from with- 
out, or the wily subtleties^^ and refluxes of man's 
thoughts from within ; all these things, with a solid 
and treatable smoothness to paint out and dleiscribe, 
teaching over the whde book of sanctity and virtue> 



5* SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

through all the instances of example, with such de- 
light, to those especially of soft and delicious temper, 
who will not so much as look upon Truth herself, 
imless they see her elegantly drest, that whereas 
the paths of honesty and good life appear now rug- 
ged and difficult, though they be indeed easy and 
pleasant, they will then appear to all men both easy 
and pleasant, though they were rugged and difficult., 
indeed. — 1 



" The thing which I had to say, and those inten- 
tions, which have lived within me ever since I could 
conceive myself any thing worth to my country, I 
return to crave excuse that urgent reason hath 
pluckt from me by an abortive and fore-dated dis- 
covery; and the accomplishment of them lies not 
but in a power above man's to promise ; but that 
none hath by more studious ways endeavoured, and 
with more unwearied spirit that none shall, that I 
dare almost aver of myself, as far as life and free 
leisure will extend. Neither do I think it shame to 
covenant with any knowing reader that for some 
few years yet I may go on trust with him toward 
the payment of what I am now indebted, as being a 
work not to be raised from the heat of youth, or the 
vapours of wine, like that which flows at waste from 
the pen of some vulgar amorist, or the trencher 
fury of a riming parasite ; nor to be obtained by the 
invocation of dame Memory and her Siren daughters ; 
but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, who 
can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and 




J 



AND WRITINGS OF HILTON. 55 

sends but his Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his 
akar totouch and purify the Ups of whom he pleases : 
to Ihis must be . added industrious and select read- 
ing, steady.observation, insight into aH seemly and 
generous acta and afiaiis ;. till which in some mea- 
sure be compassed, at jnine own p^ and cost I 
refuse not to sustain this expiectation from as many 
as are not loth to hazard so much credulity upon 
the best pledges that I can give them. Although 
it nothing content me to have disclosed thus much 
before hand ; but that I trust hereby to make it 
manifest with what small willingness I endure to 
interrupt the pursuit of no less hopes than these, 
and leave a calm and pleasing solitariness, fed with 
cheerful and confident thoughts, to imbark in a 
troubled sea of noises and hoarse disputes, put from 
beholding the bright countenance of Truth, in the 
quiet and still air of deli^htfrd studies." 

In 1642 he closed the preceding controversy with 
an Apology for SmectymnuuSy in answer to the 
Cofffutation of his Animadversions, written, as he 
supposed, by bishop Hall or his son. He thought all 
this while, says Dr. Newton, that he was vindicating 
ecclesiastical liberty. Yet he has confessed, that he 
was not disposed to ^^ ^ this manner of writing, 
wherein knowing myself inferiour to myself, led by 
the genial power of nature to another task, I have 

' Introduction to the second Book of his Reason of Church 
Government. 



56 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

I 

the'use^ as I may accouht it^ but of my left hand/- 
This left hand, indeed^ has recorded many sen- 
timents which we must reject^ and many expressions 
which we' must lament. By his asperity the re- 
pulsive form of piiritanism is rendered more hideous 
and disgusting^ and the cause which he would sup- 
port is weakened. But the general chariacter of lus 
prose-works is not yet before us. 



SECTION II. 



Fi'om his Marriage to the time of his being appointed 
Secretary for Foreign Tongues. 

At Whitsuntide in 1643^ and in his thirty-fifth year, 

(as I have before observed,) Milton married Mary, 

the daughter of Richard Powell, a gentleman who 

resided at Forest Hill near Shotover in Oxfordshire, 

and was a justice of the peace for the coimty. He 

brought his bride to London ; who, after living only 

a few iveeks with him, obtained his consent to accept 

the invitation of her friends to spend the remaining 

part of the summer with them in the coimtry. He 

gave her permission to stay till Michaelmas ; but 

she declined to return at the expiration of- that 

period. The visit to her friends was, in fact, only a 

pretence for conjugal desertion. This desertion has. 

been imputed, by Phillips, to the different principles 

of the two families. Her relations, he tells us, 

*' being generally addicted to the Cavalier party, 

and some of them possibly ingaged in the Kang'a 

service, (who by this time had his head quarters at 

Oxford, and was in some prospect of success,) they 

began to repent them of having matched the eldest 



58 SOME ACCOUNT OF THB LIFE 

daughter of the family to a person so contrary to 
them in opinion ; and thought it would be a blot in 
their escutcheon, whenever that Court should come 
to flourish again : however, it so incensed our author, 
that he thought it would be dishonourable ever to 
receive her agam after such a repulse." The same 
biographer intimates, -that she was averse to the 
philosophical life of Milton, and sighed for the mirth 
and jovialness to which she had been accustomed in 
Oxfordshire. And Aubrey relates, that she *' * was 
brought up and bred where there was a great deal 
of company and merriment, as dancing, &c. ; and, 
when she came to live with her husband, she found 
it solitary, no company came to her, and she often 
heard her nephews cry and be beaten. This life 
was irksome to her, and so she went to her pa- 
rents. He sent for her home after some time. 
As for wronging his bed, I never heard the least 
suspicion of that; nor had he of that any jea- 
lousie.'* 

It has escaped the biographers of the poet, how- 
ever, that, while Milton ingenuously admits '^ ** that 
every motion of a jealous mind should not be re- 
garded/' he has not failed to enumerate, among the 
reasons which are said to have warranted divorce in 
elder times, ** the wilfull haunting of feasts, and 
invitations with men not of her near kindred, the 



• Life, as before. 

^ Doct and Discip. of Divorce, B. ii. Cb. xviii. 



AND WRITINGS OF HILTON. 59 

lying forth of her house withoui probable caiise^ the 

/requiting of theatres against her husband^s 

f^ind/* &c« If this be not pointed directly at the 

conduct of his wife, the foUowing passage certainly 

e^bits his indignation at her continuance under 

her^af A^^ roofy while at the same time it conffirms 

Aubrey's account that he did not suspect her as 

faithless to his bed. '' ' He CGrotius] shews also, 

that fornication is taken in Scripture for such a con. 

tinual headstrong behamour, as tends to plain 

contempt of the husband^ and proves it out of Judges 

xix. 2, where the Levite's wife is said to have played 

the whoie against him ; which Josephus and the Sep- 

tuagint, with 'the Chaldean, interpret mly if ^ub- 

homness and rebellion against her htssband: and 

to tiiis I add that Kinvchi, and the two other rabbies 

who gloss the text, are in the same opinion. Ben 

Gersom reasons, that had it been whoredom, a Jew 

and a Levite would have disdained to fetch her 

again. And this I shall contribute, that had it 

been whoredom, she would have chosen any other 

place to run to than to her father's house, it being 

so infamous for a Hebrew woman to play the harlot, 

and so opprobrious to the parents. Fornication then 

in this place of the Judges is understood for stulh- 

born disobedience against the. husband, and not 

for adultery r 

Milton sent for his wife, however, in vain. As all 

\ Doct. and Discip. of Divorce, B. ii. Ch. xviii. 



'60 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

hiiS letters, desiring her to return, were unanswered; 
so the messenger, whom he afterwards employed for 
the same purpose, was dismissed from her father's 
house with contempt. He resolved therefore, with- 
out further ceremony, to repudiate her; and, -in de- 
fence of his resolution, he published four treatises, 
the two first in 1644, the twa last in 1646. The 
Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce ; The Judge- 
ment qf Martin Bucer concerning Divorce ; Te- 
trachordon, or Expositions upon the four chief 
Places of Scripture which treat of Marriage y or 
Nullities in Marriage ; and Colasterion. The last 
is a reply to the anonymous author of " An Answer 
•to a Book, intituled The Doctrine and Discipline 
of Divorce, or a Plea for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 
and all other Married Women against Divorce. 
Wherein both Sexes are vindicated from all bondage 
of Canon Lajv, and other mistakes whatsoever ; and 
the unsound principles of the Author are examined 
and fully confuted by Authority of Holy Scripture, 
the Laws of this Land, and sound Reason. Lond. 
1644." This pamphlet was licensed and recom- 
mended by Mr. Joseph Caryl, a Presbyterian divine, 
and author of a voluminous commentary on the book 
of Job ; whom Milton, in his reply, roughly stigma- 
tizes with repeated charges of ignorance, as he also 
styles his antagonist " a serving-man both by nature 
and by function, an idiot by breeding, and a solicitor 
by presumption !" The application of these and simi- 
lar terms, in the dispute, may remind us of the ele- 
gant dialogue between Nym and Pistol in Shaks- 



AND WRIWNGS OF MILTON. €1 

peare's ^ King Henry the fifth: but there a wife 
retained, and not a wife repudiated, is the cause of 
so much eloquence ! 

There had been another tract written against 
Milton's doctrines, which he briefly notices at the 
beginning of his Cole^terion, entitled/' Divorce at 
pleasure." Nor was he inattentive to the remark of 
Dr. Featley, who in the Epistle Dedicatory to his 
** Dippers dipt,** published in 1645, enumerates, 
among '' the audacious attempts upon Churjch and 
State, a Tractate of Divorce, in which the bonds of 
marriage are let loose to inordinate lust, and putting 
away wives for many other causes besides that which 
our Saviour only approveth, namely, in case of adul* 
tery." Milton speaks contemptuously of the author 
as having written an *' equivocating treatise," and as 
" diving the while himself with a more deep prela- 
tical malignance agamst the present State and 
Church-government." Dr. Johnson and Mr. Warton 
iare mistaken in supposing the new doctrine to have 
been unnoticed, or neglected : indeed the two Son- 
nets, which Milton wrote on the same subject, seem 
to discountenance the opinion. It certainly was re- 
ceived with ridicule, as we learn from Howel's * Letter 
to Sir Edward Spencer. But it gave rise to a band, 
not perhaps very formidable, who were called Di- 
careers, and even Miltonists. Pagitt, in his " De- 



*' Act ii. Scene i. 

* Letters, 10th edit. p. 456. 



62 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

scription of the Hereticks and Sectaries" of that 
period^ notices the ^ former sect with him, who wrote 
the Tractate of Divorce, at their head. The latter 
title occurs in " * The Epilogue, shewing the Paral- 
lell in two Poems, the Return, and the Restauration. 
Addressed to her Highnesse the Lady Elizabeth, by 
Cpiristopher]. Wf^asse], 1649.'* 8vo. 

" Force can but in a Rape engage, 
** Tis choice must make it Marriage : 
" Hence a conveyance they contrive, 
** Which must on us their cause derive : 

' Heresiography, &c. 1654, p. 129. See also Ibid. p. 77. 
And '^ A brief description &c. of Phanatiques in general!, 1660,'' 
p. 33. 

' This book was obligingly pointed out to me by Thomas 
Park, Esq ; to whom the literary world is indebted for some of 
the sweetest Sonnets in the English language. The same gentle- 
man directed me to the following bitter application of Milton's 
doctrine to himself by G. S. in " Britain's Triumph, for her un- 
parallel'd deliverance and her joyful celebrating the Proclamation 
of her most gracious incomparable king Charles the second &c. 
1660." 4to. G. S. the author, after satirizing the members of the 
Rump Parliament, thus proceeds, p. 15. 

" But who appears here with the curtain drawn ? 

«* What, Milton I are you come to see the sight? • 
Oh Image-breaker ! poor knave ! had he sawn 
That which the fame of made him crye out-right, 
" He'ad taken counsel of Achitophell, 
** Swung himself weary, and so gone to hell. 

" This is a sure Divorce, and the best way ; 
** Seek, Sir, no further, now the trick is found, 
" To part a sullen knave from's wife, that day 
^* He doth repent his choyce ; stab*d, hang'd, or drown'd, 
" Will make all sure and further good will bring, 
•** The wretch will rail no more against his King" 



it 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON^ 63 



4t 

€€ 

(€ 



it 



This must attaque, what hoMs out still. 

And is impregnable, the Will. 

This must enchant our conscious hands. 

To slumber in like guilty bands, 
" While, like the froward MiUomst, 

We our old nuptiall knot untwist : 

And with the hands, late faith did joyn, 
" The bill of plain Divorce now signe/' 

It had been treated also as an ^' "^ errour so gross 
as to need no other confutation," than the mere men- 
tion of it. But before these remarks had been made 
upon a doctrine, at which the shafts of ridicule as 
well as censure might indeed be fairly levelled, the 
innovation of the author had also been opposed from 
the pulpit. The presbjrterian clergythad not only 
caused him to be sunmioned before the House of 
LordJs, by whom however he was quickly dismissed ; 
but one of them, in a sermon before the Lords and 
Commons on a fast-day, had endeavoured in vain to 
excite their indignation against him. Milton notices 
this attack in the beginning of his Tetrachordon, 
and thanks the auditors for not repenting of what 
the preacher called their sin, the neglecting to brand 

^ In " A Glasse for the Times, &c. With a briefe Collection 
of the Errors of our Times, and their Authors Names. Col- 
lected by Ti C. a friend to Truth. Lond. 1648." 4to. Milton 
and his doctrine are noticed in p. 6. T. Forde, the dramatick 
writer, appears to have entertained.no favourable opinion of in- 
compatibility of temper being pretended as a reason for divorce. 
See his letter to T. C. apparently written at the time when 
Milton's treatise was first published, in the collection of his 
Letters, 8vo. Lond. I66(), p. 103—106. 



64 SOMB ACCOUNT OP THE LIf E 

his book with some mark of their displeasure. This 
opponent, who has been hitherto unnoticed, was 
Herbert Pdlmer, B,D. a Member of the Assembly of 
Divines, and parliamentary Master of Queen's Col- 
lege, Cambridge. . *' * If any,** says he to his judicial 
audience, " plead conscience for the lawftdnesse of 
polygamy ; (or for divorce for *" other causes than 

^ I had examined many single sermons of this period, under 
the hope of discovering the author who had thus publickly 
attackjed Milton ; but without success. I was indebted to i^ libe- 
ral friend, the late James Bindley, Esq ; for pointing out^ after a 
long research also, this forgotten discourse ; of which I give the 
title : " The Olasse of God's Providence towards his FaithfuU 
Ones. Held forth in a Sermon preached to the two Houses of 
Parliament at Margaret's Westminster, Aug. 13, 1644. being an 
extraordinary day of Humiliation. Wherein is discovered the 
great failings that the best are liable unto, &c. The whole is 
applyed specially to a more carefuU observation of our late 
Covenant, and particularly against the ungodly toleration 
pleaded for under pretence of Liberty of Conscience. By Her- 
bert Palmer, B.D." &c. 

* And yet it seems, in the Conjfessio Fidei of the Assembly of 
Divines published in 1656, that Milton's doctrine had not been 
entirely neglected. See Cap. xxiv. ** De Conjugto et Divortio. 
§. 6. Quamvis ea sit hominis corruptio, ut proclivis sit ad ex- 
cogitandum argumenta indebit^ illos, quos Deus connubio junxit, 
dissociandi ; nihilominus tamen extra adulterium ac desertionem 
ita obstinatam ut cui nullo.remedio nee ab ecclesia nee d magis- 
tratu civili subveniri possit, sufficiens causa nulla esse potest 
conjugium dissolvendi." Conf. Fid. 12mo. Cantab. 1656, p. 66. 
I have been indebted to Mr. Octavius Gilchrist, the ingenious edi- 
tor of bishop Corbet's poetry, for the notice of the following stroke 
of satire, evidently pointed at Milton, both in respect to this 
and to another subject, so late as in 1670, in the Preface to 
Echard's Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy 
and Religion ; *' I am not, I'll assure you, any of those occa- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 66 

Christ and his Apostles mention ; of which a toicked 
booke is abroad and uncensuredy though deserving 
to be burnt, whose author hath been so impudent 
as to set his name to it, and dedicate it to your" 
selves,) or for liberty to marry incestuously, will yon 
grant a toleration for all this ?" Milton now became 
an enemy to the Presbyterians^ whom he before had 
favoured. Notwithstanding their opposition, how- 
ever, he proceeded to illustrate his opinion more 
forcibly by paying his addresses to a young lady of 
great wit and beauty, the daughter of one Dr. Davis, 
with a design to marry her ! But this desire of car- 
rying his doctrine into practice was not countenanced 
by the lady. What is more remarkable, the proceed- 
ing contributed to effect a reconciliation with the 
discarded wife. 

In the mean time, Milton pursued his studies with 
unabating vigour ; and, in 1644, at the request of his 
friend, Mr. Samuel' Hartlib, published his tractate 
Of Education ; or plan of academical institution : 
in which, as he expresses it, he leads his scholar from 
Lilly to his commencing master of arts. Mr. Warton 

sional writers, diat, missing preferment at the University, can 
presently write you their new ways of education; or, being 
tormented with an ill-chosen wife, set forth the Doctrine of 
Divorce to be truly evangelical. " 

' Of this remarkable person the reader may find an ac- 
count written by himself, in Rennet's Register, 1728, p. 868. 
See also Mr. Warton's first edition of Milton's Smaller Poems, 
p. 116, &c. A Life of Hartlib is a desideratum in English 
biography. 



66 SOME ACCOUNT OV THE LIFE 

/ 

. observes that °* Milton's plan has more of show than 
Value. " " Education in England," Dr. Johnson has 
remarked, " has been in danger of being hurt by two 
of its greatest nien, Milton and Locke. Milton's 
plan is impracticable, and I suppose has never been 
tried. Locke's, I fancy, has been tried often enough, 
but is very imperfect ; it gives too much to one side, 
and too little to the other ; it gives too little to lite- 
rature.* It is perhaps not generally known that 
Milton's treatise on this subject has been translated 
into French. The translator has bestowed much 
eulogium ** upon the author. In the same year, Mil- 

. ^ See his first edition of Milton's Smaller Poems, p. 1 17. 

" Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. 1799, vol. iii. p. 382. 

® ** Dans les terns que nous nous proposions de donner ces 
Lettres au Public, il nous en est tomb6 entre les mains une de 
Milton^ qui n' a pas encore paru dans notre langue, &c. — Rien ne 
fait tant d' honneur k V Angleterre que de voir que lepltts grand 
poete, et V un des plus celebres philosophes [Locke], qu' elle ait 
eus, ont assez senti de quelle importance 6toit V Education des 
^nfans, pour s' en occuper serieusement. — Dans cette Lettre 11 est 
aisede s' appercevoirque 9' a ete un des plus S9avan8 hommesqui 
ayent v^cu. C'est par cette vaste Erudition, joint h. un heureux 
g^nie, qu' il est devenu le plus grand de tons les poetes modemes. 
Aussi son Paradis Perdu n' est-il pas V ouvrage de sa jeunesse : 
Peut-^tre alors en avoit-il con9u V idee ; mais avant que de V 
ex^uter, il avoit v^u avec les hommes, il avoit connu V usage 
et la puissance des passions, il avoit T esprit orn6 de la connois- 
sance de toutes les sciences et de tons les arts. Sans examiner si la 
maniere d' Clever la jeunesse que Milton propose est ais^ a reduire 
en pratique^ il est sur que son plan est rempli de viies tr^-fines et 
tr^s-sages, et qu* il parott contenir tout ce qui est n^essaire pour 
• former un citoyen utile h. sa patrie et agreable a la societe." 
Lettres sur L'Education des Princes. Avec une Lettre de Mil- 
ton, &c. 1746. Preface, pp. Ixxv. Ixxix. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 67 

ton published his Areopagitica, a Speech for the 
Uberty of unlicensed Printing : perhaps the best 
vindication^ as Dr. Newton observes^ that has been 
publbhed at any time, or in any language, of that 
liberty which is the basis and support of all other 
liberties^ the liberty of the press. But the candid 
critick adds, that it produced not the desired effect ; 
for the Presbyterians were as fond of exercising the 
licensing power, when they got it into their own 
hands, as they had been clamorous before in in- 
veighing against it, while it was in the hands of the 
Prelates. 

His father having come to Uve with him, after the 
surrender of Reading to the Earl of Essex in 1643, 
and his scholars now encreasing, he required a larger 
house ; before his removal to which, he was surprised, 
at one of his usual visits to a relation in the lane of 
St Martin's-le-grand, * to see his wife come from 
another room, and beg forgiveness on her knees. 
The interview on her part had been concerted. The 
declining state of the royal cause, and consequently 
of her father's family, as well as the intelligence of 
Milton's determination to marry again, caused her 
friends to employ every method to re-unite the in- 
sulted husband and disobedient wife. It was con-> 
trived that she should be ready, when he came, in 
another apartment. Fenton, in his elegant sketch of 
the poet's life, judiciously remarks, that " ^ it is not 

p Prefixed to his edition of Paradise Lost, first published in 
1725. 

f2 



W» SOME ACCOUNT OF THK LIFE 

to be doubted but an interview of that nature, s* I 
little expected, must wonderfully affect him : and. I 
perhaps the impressions it made on his imagination 
contributed much to the painting of that pathetick 
scene in Paradise Lost, in which Eve addresses her- 
self to Adam for pardon and peace. At the inter- 
cession of his friends who were present, after a short I 
reluctance, he generously sacrificed all his resenfc-' j 
ment to her tears : 



' Soon his heart relented 



" Towards her, his life so late, and sole delight, 
" Now at his feet suhraiBsive in distress. 

And after this re-union so far was he from retaining 
an unkind memory of the provocations which he had 
received from her ill conduct, that, when the king's 
cause was entirely oppressed, and her father who 
had been active in his loyalty was exposed to seques- 
tration, Milton received both him and liis family to 
protection and free entertainment, in his own house, 
till their affairs were accommodated by his interest 
in the victorious faction." Mr. Powell, however, 
seems to have smarted severely for his attachment to 
the royal party. I observe, first, in the " Catalogue 
of the Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen, that have 
compounded for their Estates," printed at London 
in 1655, that he had been thus branded as well as 
fined ; " Richard Powel, Delinquent, per John Pye, 
Esq; 576/. 12*. 3(/." And his house had been be- 
fore seized by the rebels. But a full account of his 
delinquency and of hiy composition, and of the share 




I 

lis ^^H 

1 



AND WRITINGS OP MILTON. 69 

in both which consequently was transferred uplon 
his widow and upon Milton himself^ has been found 
in the First and Second Series of Royalists' Compo- 
sition-Papers in his Majesty's State-Paper-OflSce ; 
which presents indeed a most curious portion of do- 
inestick history, combined with publick transactions, 
in regard to the family of the poet's first wife, the 
sufferings and losses of the loyal parent, and a debt 
which was due to Milton. Of the following docu- 
ments, which till now have never met the publick 
eye, the account consists ; commencing in the year 
1646. 

** 1. '' Richard Powell of Forrest hill in the County 
of Oxon, Esq. 

" His Delinquency, that he deserted his dwellinge 
and went to Oxford, and lived there whiles it was a 
Garrison holden for the Kinge against the Parlia- 
mente, and was there at the tyme of the Surrender, 
and to have the benefit of those Articles as by Sir 
Thomas Fairfax's certificate of the 20 of June 1646 

« 

doth appeare. 

" He hath taken the Nationall Covenant before 
William Barton, Minister of John Zacharies, the 
4th of December 1646, and the Negative Oath heere 
the same daye. 

'* He compounds upon a Perticuler delivered in, 
under his hand, by which he doth submitt to such 
Fine &c. and by which it doth appeare : 

*> Second Series of Royalists' Comp. Papers, vol. xxi. No. 1137. 



70 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

'' That he is seized in Fee to him and his Heirs 
in possession, of and in the Tythes of Whatley in 
the Parish of Cudsden, and other Lands and Te* 
nements there of the yeerely value before theis trou** 
bles, 40/. 

'' Thi^t he i3 owner and possessed of a personall 
Estate in goods, and there was owinge unto him in 
good debts, in all amountinge unto 600/. ; and there 
is 400/. more in Tymber, which is alledged to be 
questionable. 

*' That he is indebted by Statutes and Bonds 
1500/. 

" He hath lost by reason of theis warrs 3000/. 

" He craves to be allowed 400/. which 1^ a de* 
mise and lease dated the 30th of January 1642^ of 
the lands and tenements aforesaid^ is secured to be 
p^d unto one Thomas Ashworth, gentleman, and is 
deposed to be still oweinge. 

(Signed) " D. Watkins. 

« 8 December, 1646. Price at 2 yeeires value, 180/.'* 

The case of Mr. Powell, who died in 1646-7, was 
not entirely settled, it seems, so late as in 1653. 
For the next document details the proceedings upon 
it in that year. 

2. " Accordinge to your order of 30 August 1653 
upon the order of judgment of the Court of Articles 
of the 15th of July, 1653, in the case (heard 4"" May, 
1654,) of Anne Powell, widow, relict and adminis- 
tratrix of Richard Powell, late of Forrest hill, in the 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. ' 71 

county of Oxford, Esq. deceased, whereby it is te- 
ferred to me to state the case touching the fine iat- 
posed on Mr. John Pye, upon the act of the first of 
August, 1650, for the leasehold land of the said 
Richard Powell, and report Uie same in order to the 
reducing of the said fine according to Oxford arti- 
cles, within which articles the 4said court have ad- 
judged him to be comprised, I find that by the said 
judgment of the said Court of Articles of the 15th 
of July, 1653, the said Richard Powell is adjudged 
to be comprised within the articles of Oxford,^ and 
that it appeared to them that the said Richard 
Powell petitioned at Goldsmiths' Hall, to compound 
upon the said articles of Oxford the 6th of August, 
1646, and had his fine set the 8th of December, 
1646 ; and that he died the 1st of January, 1646; 
no proceedings being made upon the said composi- 
tion : and that Mr. John Pye hath since compounded 
upon the act of the 1st of August, 1650, upon a 
mortgage of lands of the yearly value of 272Z. 15^. Sd. 
being a lease for 31 yeares, upon which mortgage 
there was owing to tiie said John Pye 1238/. which 
debt being allowed, the fine was set 576/. 12s. 3d. 
which is paid into tiie Treasury. Upon considera- 
tion whereof the said Court of Articles were of opi- 
nion, that the said fine paid by Mr. Pye ought to 
be reduced, according to the articles of Oxford, and 
did award, order, and adjudge, tiiat tiie said fine be 
reduced accordingly ; and that the overplus be paid 
unto Mr. Pye, with such abatement as is usual in 
like cases. 



7» SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" Upon search of the papers here rcmayning, I 
find that there was a fine set upon the said Richard 
Powell, upon the said Articles of Oxford in Deeem-- 
ber 1646, but not for the estate mortgaged to M*.' 
Pye : but nothing thereof paid. 

" That the sjud John Pye compounded the 25tli 
of March 1651 for a Lease of the Mannor and Rec- 
tory of Forest Hill, for 31 yeares. commencing the 
1st of Nov. 1641, which was mortgaged by the said 
Richard Powell in 1640, upon which mortgage there 
was then due to him 1238/., for which his fine was 
sett at a sixth, 576/. 12*. Sd. If this be reduced to 
a tenth, according to Oxford Articles, it will stand 
thus : A Lease for 31 yeares from November 1641 
of Lands of the yearly value of 292/. 15*. 8d., 
whence allowing for a debt of 1238/. ; 123/. 16*. 

" He craveth allowance of 20/. per annum to the 
Curate. 

" The fine will remayne. 
'•Sept. 1, 1653. (Signed) Jo. Readinge." 



iri 



' 3. " By the Commissioners for compounding, &c. 
30" Augusti, 1653. 
" Upon reading an order of judgment given by 
the Court of Articles the 15th of July last in the 
case of Ann Powell, Widow, Refict and Administra- 
trix of Richard Powell, late of Forrest' HiU in the 
County of Oxford, Esq. deceased, (a copy whereof 
is hereunto annexed and attested by our Register,) 
It is ordered that it be referred to Mr. Readinge, to 
state the case touching the fine imposed on Mr. 




J 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 73 

John Pye, upon the Act of the first of August 1650 
for the Leasehold land of the said Richtu'd Powell* 
and make Report thereof to Us, in order to the re- 
ducing of the said fine according to Oxford Articles, 
within which Articles the said Court have adjudged 
him to be comprised. 

(Signed) ^' John Upton, 

" Edw. Gary, 
'* Ric. Moore.** 

Then follows a Certificate, which had been made 
upon this order, to the Commissioners for relief upon 
articles, as required in the fifth document. 

4. *^ To the Right Honorable the Commissioners 
for Breach of Articles. 

'* The Humble Petition of Ann Powell, Widow, 
Relict of Richard Powell of Forrest Hill in the 
Counlie of Oxon, Esq. 

" Humblie sheweth, 

" That your Petitioner's late Husband was com- 
prised within the Articles of Oxford, and ought to 
have received the benefit thereof, as appears by His 
Excellencie's Certificate hereunto annexed. 

" That your said Petitioner's Husband by the said 
Articles was to have the benefit of his reall and per- 
sonall estate, for sixe moneths after the rendition of 
the said cittie, and to enjoye the same for the fixture, 
soe as he made his addresses to the Committee at 
Gouldsmiths' Hall to compound for the same within 
that tyme. That your Petitioner's said Husband 



74 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

accordingly in August^ one thousand sixe hundred 
fortie sixe, petitioned the said Honorable Committee, 
and in his Particular inserted for tymber and wood 
fower hundred pounds, but, before he could perfect 
the same, dyed. 

" That the Honourable House of Parliament, 
upon some misinformation, not taking notice of the 
said Articles, did, in July one thousand sixe hundred 
fortie sixe, order the said wood to severall uses, 
which was thereupon, togeither with the rest of his 
goods and moveables, seized and carried away by the 
sequestrators to the Committee for Oxon, contrary 
to the said Articles. ; 

" That your Petitioner, as Executrix to her said 
Husband, is now sued in severall Courts of Justice 
at Westminster for manie debts due to diverse per- 
sons, and is noe waie able eyther to satisfie the same, 
or provide a scanty subsistence for herselfe and nine 
children. 

" She therefore humblie prayes, that shee nraie 
reape that favour which the said Articles doe afford 
her, by restoringe to her the said tymber and wood; 
and other her goods soe taken away, or the value 
thereof. 

*' And your Petitioner shall praie, &c. 

*^ Anne Powell." 

" Vera Copia Ext*. 

(Signed) *' Tracy Pauncefote, RegV* 

6. " By the Commissioners appointed for releife 
upon Articles, &c. Painted Chamber, Westminster. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 75 

" Veneris 16"* die Novembris, 1649. 

" Present. 
^' Lord President of the Council of State. 
'^ Sir Henrie Holcroft^ Colonel Rowe, 
'* Sir Nath. Brent, Colonel Taylor, 

'' Colonel Cooke, ColoneU Whaley, 

'' Sir WilUam Rowe, Mr. Sadler. 
" Mr. John Hurst, of Councell for the Common- 
wealth. 

" Upon readinge the Petition of Ann Powell; 
Widow, Relict of Richard Powell of Forrest Hill, 
in the Countie of Oxford, Esq. It is ordered. That 
a.Coppie of her said Petition attested under the Re- 
gister's hande of this Court, be delivered unto the 
Commissioners for compoundinge with delinquents 
nttinge at Gouldsmiths' Hall, whoe are desired to 
make Certificate unto this Court within one moneth 
from the date of this Order, at what tyme the said 
Richard Powell petitioned to make his composition, 
and whether the wood mentioned in his Petition 
were expressed in his Particular delivered in unto 
them, with what else they shall thinke fitt to insert 
touching the matter of complaint sett downe in the 
said Petition. Whereupon the Court will proceed 
further as they shall thinke fitt. 

(Signed) 
By Command of the Commissioners, 

Tracy Pauncefote, Reg''.'* 






We are now recalled to Mr. Powell's own state- 
meat, and other circumstances, which have been 



76 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

noticed in the first of these interesting docu- 
ments. 

6. '^ To the Honorable the Committee sitting at 
Goldsmiths' Hall for Compositions. 

'' The Humble Petition of Richard Powell, of 
Forrest Hill, in the County of Oxon, Esq. 

'^Sheweth, 

'^ That your Petitioner's estate for the most 
parte lying in the Kings Quarters, he did adhere to 
His Majesty's party against the forces raised l^r the 
Parliament, in this unnaturall warr; for which hii 

* 

delinquency his estate lyeth under sequestratioit; 
He is comprised within these Articles at the saxr^ ., 
raider of Oxford. And humbly prayes to be id- ^^. 
mitted to his composition according to the sdd ^ 
Articles. 

5^ And he shall pray, &c. 

(Signed) '^ Richaud Powell. 

'* Received 6* Augusti, 1646. 
" 26' Novemhris, 1646, 

" Referred to the Sub-Conunittee." 

. 7. ^' These are to certifie, that Richard Powell 
of Forrest Hill, in the County of Oxford, Esq. did 
freely and fully take the nationall coyenant and sub- 
scribe the same, upon the fourth day of December, 
164Q; the said covenant being administred unto 
him, according to order, by me, 

(Signed) *' Willlim Barton, 

^^ Minister of John Zacharies, London." 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 77 

8. ''RichardPowellof Forrest Hill,intheCountyof 
Oxford, Esq. tooke the oath this 4th of December, 1646. 

(Signed) " Tho. Vincent,'* 

9. *' Richard Powell of Forrest Hill, in the County 
of Oxford maketh oath, that the severall summes of 
money mentioned to be oweing by him in his Parti-^ 
cular, annexed to his Petition at Gouldsmiths' Hall, 
are trulie «nd reallie oweing by him. And ftirther 
deposeth, that he is the worse in his estate att leaste 
three thousand pounds by reason of these warres. And 
that the aforesmd debtes were by him oweing before 
the beginning of this Parliament, and are still oweing. 

(Signed) '^ Ric. Powell. 

*^ Jur. 4t\ die. Decembr. 1646. 

(Signed) ^' John Page." 

' 10. " A particular of the reall and personall es- 
tate of Richard Powell of Forrest Hill. 
^' He is seized of an estate in fee of 
the ty thes of Whatley, in the Parish of 
Cudsden, and three yard lands and a \ ^^^ ^^ ^ 
halfe there, together with certayne cot- 
tages, worth before these times per 
annum. 

^' This is morgadg'd to Mr. Ash-^Ademysefor 
worth for ninetye-nine yeares for a 199 yeeres de- 
security of four hundred pounds, asl*^^*^^ "7 ^ 
appeares by Deed; bearing date the | \^^ t 
lOth of Jan. in the 7th of King! 30, 1642. Ar- 
Charles. ^rears unpaid. 



78 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE UPE 



'^ His personal estate in come and > 

household stuffe^ amounts to 3 

" In timber and wood 400 

" In debts upon specialityes and > . ^^ ^ 
,, . . ^ , . S 100 

otherwise owmg to him 3 

" He oweth upon a Statute to John > 

Mylton J 

'^ He is indebted more before these 

times by specialityes and otherwise to , ^ ^^^ ^ _ 

11 1. a; /" 1200 

severall persons, as appeares by am-f 

davit 

*' He lost by reason of these warres three thou- 
sand powndes 

'^ This is a true particular of the reall and per- 
sonall estate that he doth desire to compound for 
with this honorable committee, wherein he doth sub- 
mitt himselfe to such fine as they shall impose accord- 
ing to the articles of Oxford, wherein he is comprised. 

(Signed) " Richard Powell. 

'' Received 21" Novembris, 1646.*' 

But before this return of his property had been 
made, he had received the following protection. 

11. " Sir Thomas Fairfax, knight, generall of the 
forces reaised by the Parhament. 

" Suffer the bearer hereof, Mr. Richard Powell 
of Forrest Hill in the county of Oxon, who was in 
the city and garrison of Oxford, at the surrender 
thereof, and is to have the full benefit of the articles 
agreed unto upon the surrender, quietly, and with- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 79 

out let or interruption, to passe your guards with his 
servants, horses, armes, goods, and all other neces- 
saries ; and to repaire unto London, or elsewhere, 
upon his necessary occasions. And in all places 
where he shall reside, or whereto he shall remove, 
to be protected from any violence to his person, 
goods, or estate, according to the said articles ; and 
to have full liberty, at any time within six months, 
to goe to any convenient port, and to trajisport him- 
selfe, with his servants, goods, and necessaries, be- 
yond seas ; and in all other things to enjoy the be- 
nefit of the said articles. Hereunto due obedience 
is to be given by all persons whom it may conceme, 
as they will answer the contrary. Given under my 
hand and seal the 27th day of June 1646. 

(Signed) " T. Fairfax. 

'* To all officers and souldiers under my com- 
mand, and to all others whom it may conceme." 
Indorsed, '' Richard Powell, No. 1137. Dec. 1646. 
Reported, 1^ Oct. 1649. Fine ISO/.'* 

We come now to other documents, which also 
relate to the property of Mr. Powell ; in which the 
connection of Milton with Forest Hill is found so 
early as in 1627, while he was a student at Cam- 
bridge ; a circumstance unknown to all the biogra- 
ph^s of the poet. And here he might have been 
subsequently an occasional visitor; he might have 
been known to the villagers, and thus have given 
me to the tradition already mentioned of his resi- 
denee at the place ; and might at a later period 



80 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE tIFE 

(for she was but young when married in 1643) have 
tendered his heart to Mary Powell. Yet he never 
told his love. And accordingly his nephew Phillips 
relates^ as a matter of marvel^ that after an absence 
from London ybr a monthy nobody knowing the 
reason, his uncle returned with a wife. But it may 
be thought, that the union had been planned by 
their relations in 1627, (for the grandfather of Mil- 
ton and Mr. Powell were neighbours,) when the lady 
was but a child ; and that the recorded debt, which 
will presently appear, was the security for her future 
dower. If such was the case, Milton bestowed the 
month of absence from London upon Forest Hffl, in 
order to fulfil the precontract. But supposing this 
absence to have brought him to Forest HiU for the 
first time, and the debt to have been upon another 
account, we may imagine him arrived for the pur- 
pose of soliciting the payment of it, and the impres- 
sion to have been then made upon his heart by the 
lady. In either case it is certain that he returned, 
with his uncancelled debt, perhaps like his own Adam, 
'^ fondly overcome with female charm." And indeed 
he seems to apologize, as it were, for this his seem- 
ing hasty match, in his own Samson Agonistes ; 
where allusions to his first marriage, it has been 
often asserted, are strongly drawn : 

" The first I saw at Tirana, and she pleas d 
** Me, not my parents, that I sought to wed 
" The daughter of an infidei" 

Enough, however, is shewn to render questionable 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 81 

what Dn Symmons has written in his Life of the 
poet respecting his residence at Forest Hill; and 
enough will soon be produced to justify the wish^ 
that in this assertion an uncalled-for reflection upon 
a highly respectable and loyal family had not been 
embodied. " We may be certain^ the learned bio- 
grapher says, ^^ that Milton never saw Forest Hill 
after his departure from it on his marriage; nor 
ever resided there longer than during the month 
of his courtship^ In this interval it is possible, 
though, as I think, not probable, that be wrote 
L'Allegro and II Penseroso ; and if to the impression 
of Forest Hill, and its scenery, we are indebted for 
the production of these exquisite pieces, we may for- 
give it for its offence as the seat, and perhaps the 
birth-place, of the proud and paltry Powells." 

I now produce the petition and depositions of the 
poet, which are preceded by the subsequent Report. 

12. '^ ' According to your order of the 25th of Fe- 
bruary 1650, upon the petition of John Milton^ de- 
siring to compound for certaine lands lately belong- 
ing to Richard Powell, Gent, deceased, extended by 
the petitioner, who alledgeth in his petition that he 
petitioned here to the same purpose about the mid- 
dle of August last ; I have examined, and find : 

'' The 11th of June 1627, Richard Powell of 
Forrest Hill, in the County of Oxford, Gent and 

' Royalists' Composition Papers, First Series, Vol. xli. No. 
1298. 

G 



82 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



R 



William Hearne of London, citizen and goldsmithi 
acknowledged a statute-staple of 500/. unto John 
Milton the petitioner, defeazanced by John Milton, 
the petitioner's fatlier, on the behalfe of the peti- 
tioner, upon payment of 312/. the 12th of Decem- 
ber, then next ensuing, as by a copie of the said 
statute deposed by Thomas Gardner, and by the 
counterpart of the defeazance produced by the pe- 
titioner appears. Since which the said Richard 
Powell and William Hearne are both dead, as is 
informed. 

" The 5th of August 1647, the Sheriffe of the 
County of Oxford, upon an inquisition taken upon 
the said statute, did seise into the King's hand cer- 
taine messuages, lands, and tithes, in Whateley, 
whereof the said Richard Powell in his life was 
seised in his demesne as of fee ; a tliird part wherof 
Anne his wife [^claims] for her life as her dower, of 
the cleare yearly value of 58/, 3*. 4rf. The which 
messuages and premisses the said Sheriffe, by virtue 
of a liberate, did the 20th of November 1647 deli- 
ver unto the petitioner, to hold unto him and his 
assignees as his frank tenement untiU he were satis-^ 
fled his said debt of 500/. with damages, costs, and 
charges. As by a copie of the hberate, and the exe- 
cution thereof deposed by the said Thomas Gardner; 
appeares. 

" And the petitioner deposeth, that since the ex- 
tending the said statute, he hath received at severall 
tymes for the same, and costs of suit, the summe of 
180/. or thereabouts; and that there is yet remain- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 83 

ing due and awing unto him of the prindpall money, 
interest^ and costs of suit^ the summe of 300/. or 
thereabouts : and further deposeth that neither he 
nor any other for him or by his direction, privity, or 
consent, hath released or otherwise disch^ged the 
said statute ; and that he doth not know or conceive 
any reason either in law, or equity, why he should 
not receive the said remainder of his debt, damages, 
and costs of suit. 

^' And the petitioner by a particular under hia 
hand saith, that the said tithes and lands extended 
by him, and whereof the said Richard Powell was 
seized in his demesne as of fee, and for which he de-^ 
sireth to compound, are of the cleare yearly value of 
80/. 

^^ And he craves to be allowed 261. 13s. 4rf, per 
annum, during the life of Anne Powell, the relict of 
the said Richard, being a third part of the said 80/. 
for her dower. 

^' And he craves alsoe to be allowed his said debt 
of 300/. All which is submitted to judgement. 

(Signed) " Pet. Brereton. 

" 4» Mar. 1650." 

'* To the Honourable the Commissioners for Se- 
questration at Haberdashers' Hall, the Petition of 
John Milton, 
Sheweth, / 

That he being to compound by the late Act 
for certaine lands at Whately in Oxfordshire, belong- 
ing to Mr. Richard Powell late of Forest Hill in the 

g2 



ft 



w 



04 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

same County, by reason of an ' extent which he hath 
upon tlic same lands by a statute, did put in his Pe- 
tition about the middle of August last, which was 
referred accordingly ; but having had important bu- 
siness ever since by order of the Councell of State, 
he hath had no time to proceed in the perfeting of 
his composition ; and in the mean time finds that 
order hath bin giv'n out from hence to forbidd his 
tenants to pay him rent : He therefore now desires 
he may have all convenient dispatch, and that the 
Order of Sequestring may be recalled, and that the 
composition may be moderated as much as may bee, 
in regard that Mrs. Powell the Widow of the said 
Mr. Richard Powell hath her cause depending before 
the Commissioners in the Painted Chamber for breach 
of Articles, who have adjudg'd her satisfaction to be 
made for tlie great damage don her hy seising and 
selling the personall estate divers days after the 
Articles were seald. But by reason of the expiring 
of that Court she hath receivd as yet no satisfaction, 
and beside she hath her thirds out of that land which 
was not considered when her Husband followed his 
composition ; and lastly the taxes, free quartering, 
and finding of armes, were not then considered, 

r which have bin since very great and are likely to be 

I greater. 



■ To this document is subjoined in the mai^in of it the follow- 
ing attestation, of which a fac-simile is given, entirely in Alilton'g 
hand - writing 1 " I doe swear that this debt for which I am to 
compound according to my petition is a true and real debt, as will 
appear upon record. John Wilton, Jur. 25. Feb. 1650." 



i'\. f':r.(- rlt' [l'> V c^'f 



4- 4^H%m/f^J^fi»^ ^al.^^^ 



^^'-jtlMl^ 




t 



I /. ,•. h. 



¥u!.-lisht'/i.i''^:'.n i'i ■ ■■ .'■•ivni-:/ a . Si ''/li".: ''.'n'rr;; :;.■;.'. 



1." 



f 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 85 

^' And your Petitioner shall be ready to pay what 
shall be thought reasonable at any day that shall be 
appointed. 

(Signed) '' John Milton, 

" 25 Feb. 1650. 

''Mr. Breretoii is desired by y* 
Com" to perfect his report in Mr. 
Milton's case by Tuesday next." 

" A Particular of the lands late Richard Powell's 
of Forrest Hill, in the County'of Oxford, now under 
extent, and for which John Milton, Esquire, desi- 
reth to compound. 

*' The said Richard Powell was^ 
seised in his demeasne as of fee off 
the tythe corne of Whatley and cer- > 
taine cottages then of the cleare I 
yearlye value of J 

" The said Richard was seised alsoe -v 
in his demeasne as of fee of three/ 20 
yards ^ of land, arable and pasture, of Tper annum, 
the cleare yearly value of ) 

*' Out of which he craveth to be 

allowed for the thirds which he paieth, ^^ ^ 

. S 26 13 4 

to Mrs. Anne Powell, the Relict of the 

said Richard Powell, for her Dower. 

'* And alsoe craveth that his just 



annum. 



I 



debt of three hundred poundes, as hei^ 

hath deposed, may be allowed upon^ 

his composition. J 

" John Milton." 



8b SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" Whereas Richard Powell of Forrest Hill, in the 
County of Oxford, Gent, and William Hftirne, late 
Cittizen and Goldsmith of London, deceased, by 
their writing or recognizance of the nature of a sta- 
tute-staple, beareing date the eleventh day of June, 
which was in the third yeare of the raigne of the late 
King Charles of England, &c. made and provided 
for the recovery of debts, and taken, acknowledged, 
and sealed, before Sir Nicholas Hide, Knight, then 
Lord Cheife Justice of the Court then called the 
Kings Bench att Westminster, did acknowledge 
themselves to owe unto John MUton, then of the 
University of Cambridge, Gentleman, sonne of 
John Milton, Cittizen and Scrivener of London, the 
somme of five hundred poundes of lawfull money of 
England, which said statute or recognizance is by a 
writmg, beareing even date therewith, defeazanced 
for the payment of the somme of three hundred and 
twelve pounds of like money unto the said John 
Milton the sonne, his executors, administrators, or 
assignes, on the twelveth day of December then 
next ensuing, as by the said statute or recognizance 
and defeazance thereupon, whereunto relation being 
had more att large may appeare. Now I, John Mil- 
ton, the Sonne, (being one and the same partie before 
mentioned for Cognizee in the said statute or recog- 
nizance) doe make oath that (since the extending of 
the said statute) I have received att severall tymes 
in part of satisfaction of my said just and principall 
debt, with dammages for the same and my costs of 
suite, the somme of one hundred and fowerscore 




ris 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 87 

pounds or thereabouts, and that there is yett re- 
mayneing due and owemg unto mee of my said prin- 
cipall money, interest, and costs of suite, the somme 
of three hundred pounds or thereabouts : And I doe 
further make oath, that neither I the said John 
Milton or any other for mee or by my direction, 
privity, or consent, have or hath released or other- 
wise discharged the said statute or recognizance; 
neither doe I knowe or conceive any reason or cause 
either in law, or equity, why I should not receive 
the said remainder of my said debt, dammages, and 
costs of suite. 

^c- ^ « I »* <JiM-: coram Com 

(StgneO) John Milton. \ ^g. ^^^ ^^^^ 

(Signed) " E. Winslow." 

. Indorsed, " Milton John Esq. 4°. Martii 1650. 

Fine 130^." 

. Reverting now for a moment to the time of Mil- 
ton's reconciliation with his wife, it was settled, we 
find, that she should reside in the house of a friend, 
till his new mansion, which he had procured in Bar- 
bican, was ready for the reception of the encreased 
household ; her father and mother, her brothers and 
sisters. The biographers of the poet suppose, that 
they left him soon after the death of his own father, 
who also, they say, then Kved with him, and ended 
a long life in 1647. But Mr. Powell likewise then 
ceased to mourn over his own and the country's 
misery ; dying in debt, 1500/. ; having lost '^ by the 
wars/' 3000/. ; and leaving a widow with " scanty 



88 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE UFE 

subsistence for herself and nine children," sued at 
the same time for debts in the courts of law which 
she was unable to pay, and deprived of property 
which she had been led to believe would have been 
secure : And it was, in consequence of his death, 
that his family left the roof of Milton. 

This brings us to the last scene of domestick cir- 
cumstances, hitherto unexplored, in the history of 
Milton and his first wife ; and it shews us, what is 
painful to see, the mother of that wife still imploring 
her thirds in vain, together with some reflections 
upon the temper and conduct of Milton. 

13. " * Anne Powell, the Widowe of Richard 
Powell of Forresthill, in y' County of Oxpn, Esqmre, 
maketh oath, that y* said Ricti : Powell, her late 
Husband, died neere the first day of January, in the 
yeare of our Lord one thousand sixe hundred 
fowrtie sixe, at the howse of M\ John Milton, sci- 
tuate in Barbican, London : 

- Jur cor. Com-. 1 ^^^ ,,^^^^ p^^^^,, 
27^ Feb. 1650. R. M. 3 ^ ^ ^ 

*' To the Hono"% Comissioners for Composi- 
cons &c. 

The humble peticon of Anne Powell, Widow, &c. 
Sheweth, 

That your petitioner brought a considerable 






* First Series of Royalists' Compos. Papers, in his Majesty's 
State-Paper Office, vol. !. No. 1540. 42, 64, 65, 66, and 2. 



AND WRITINGS. OF MILTON.. 89 

porcon to her sd husband^ w*'** was worth to him 
3000/^ yet through the carelessnes of her freindes and 
relying upon her husband's good will therein, hee 
haveing had many losses in his estate, by reason 
of the warrs, and otherwise, your petitioner had noe 
joynture made unto her, nor hath any thing at all 
left her, but her thirdes, w""** is due by lawe, for the 
maintenance of herself and ° eight children ; haveing 
sustained 1000/ in their personall estate's losse, by 
the Committees in y* county, contrary to the Articles 
of Oxon. Shee most humbly prayes your Honors 
will please, being* the fine is now agreed to bee paid 
by M'. Milton for the said estate, that shee may 
continue the enjoym*. of her thirdes, as formerly, w*''* 
she humbly conceaves, had not the fine been paid, 
as aforesaid, yet your Honors would not have 
abridged your petitioner of her thirdes, in this case, 
for the maintenance of herself and poore children. 

*' And she shall pray, &c. 

" IS'* Apr. 1651. (Signed) '' Anne Powell." 

*' The pet', left to the law."" 

Upon this petition observations or notes are then 
made, as follow. 

" By y* law shee (Mrs. Powell) might recover her 
thirdes, without doubt ; but she is so extreame poore, 

" Perhaps one of her nine children, before mentioned, p. 74, 
was now dead ; there being an interval of more than a year and 
a half between the two statements. Or she might be new desired 
not to include the wife of Milton as maintained by her. 



90 SOME ACCOUKT OF THE LIFE 

she hath hot wherewithal! to prosecute ; and besides^ 
M^4 Milton is a harsh and cholericke man, and 
married M". Powells daughter, who would be un- 
done, if any such course were taken agK him by 
Mr*. Powell : he having turned away his ubife 
heretofore for a long space, upon * some other 
occasion. . 

^* This note ensuing Mr. Milton writ, whereof 
this is a copy. 

*' Although I have compounded for my extent, 
and shal be so much the longer in receiving my debt> 
yet at the request of M". Powell, in regard of her 
present necessitys, I am contented, asfarr as belongs 
to my consent to allow her the 3*^* of what I receive 
from that estate, if the. Com", shall so order it,, that 
what I allow her, may not be reckoned upon my 
accompt." 

(Indorsed.) ^' The estate is wholly extended, 
and a saving as to the 3^. prayed, but 
not graunted) We cannot therefore 
allow the Z^. to the petitioner!" 



(( 



To the Hon"% the Com" for Compounding &c. 

The humble peticon of Anne Powell, Widow, &c. 

Sheweth, 

That your petitioner brought 3000/. porcon 
to her late husband, and is now left in a most sadd 
condicon, the estate left being but 80/. p anii, the 

' Instead of iomt 4>tker oGCMum, there had been written a 
small occasionf which is crossed through with the pen. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 91 

thirds whereof is but 26. 13* 4^ to maintaihe herself 
and 8 children. 

^' The said estate being extended by Jo. MUton^ on 
a Statute Staple, for a debt of 300/, for w'** he hath 
compounded with yo' Hono", on y* Act of y* first of 
August, and therein allowance given him for y* 
pef*. thirds ; yet the said M'. Milton expects your 
further order therein, before he will pay the same. 
She therefore humbly prayeth your Honors' order 
and direccon to y* said M*". Milton, for the paym*. 
of her said thirds, and the orreares thereof, to pre- 
serve her and her children from starving. 

" And as in duty bound &c. 
(Signed) *' Anne Powbll. 

" To he Rec^. next petition day, S. M. 

'' July the U\ 1651. 16*^ July 1661.'' 

'' To y* Hon"*, the Com", for reliefe Upon Arti- 
cles. 

" The humble peticoXi of Anne Powell, Widow, &c. 

'' Sheweth, 
" That your petitioner's late husband was com-t 
prised in y* Articles of Oxford, as appeares by the 
Certificate of y' late L^ Gen". Fairfax, already be^ 
fore this Court in yo' pet" behalf. That within the 
time limited by the said Articles y pet" s** husband 
preferred his peticon, at Goldsmiths' Hall, and was 
admitted to compound, according to y* s"* Articles,r 
for his estate reall and personal, as may appeare by 

* 

y* Certificate of y* Com" for compounding, already 
likewise before this Hon**^ Court. That her s^ hus- 



y2 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

band dyed seised of an Estate in Fee (lying in' 
Wheatley, in y° County of Oxon.) whereof yo' pet' 
claymeth her Dower ; which, upon her s'' husband's 
death, was assigned to her by y* heir« of her s'' 
husband, and accordingly was enjoyed, for some 
tyme, by yo' peticon^ That John Milton Esq. did 
extend the said lands in Fee, by virtue of a Statute 
to him acknowledged by yo' pet" s'' husband, be- 
fore y' late warres ; but long after yo' pet" mar- 
riage to her s*" husband. The s'' John Milton by 
virtue of an act of Parliam', i'"° August, 1650. was 
required to bring in a Perticuler of y' lands^ so ex- 
tended by him, to y' Com" for compounding, and 
accordingly did pay the composicon due for y' s"* 
lands : And yo' pet' offered also to compound for 
her Dower, but could neither be admitted to com- 
pound for her s'' Dower, nor obtayne an Order from 
y' s*" Com" to receive it, w"'out a composicon : So 
y' for nigh these two yearcs shee hath bin, and still 
is, debarred of her Dower, which is most justly due 
unto her. Yo' pet' humbly prayeth. That shee 
may heefortkw"' restored to her Dower, most 
wrongJuUy detained from her : That your Ho- 
nors will seriously consider this, and those other 
greate pressures (represented in a former peti- 
con, now depending before you) under which 
yo' pet' being a mother of seven fatherlesse 
children,(sinceon£qfthem, Capt. William Powell, 
Capt. Lieuten' to Lieuten' Gen" Monck, was some 
few dayes past slaine in Scotland in y' service of 
y P'liam*.) /tath, for a long time, groaned, by 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. "93 

y* most injurious violacim of her Articles : And 
that you will speedily proceed to give her such 
reliefe in this and her other grievances by her Arti- 
cles^ and otherwise in justice shee makes suite to 
have. 

*' And yo' Pet' shall ever pray, &c. 

(Signed) *' Anne Powell. 
(Signed) ^' Tracey Pauncefote, Reg'.** 

In the preceding documents Milton is pronounced, 
with an evident desire to give him no further provo- 
cation, ** a harsh and cholerick man, he having 
turned away his wifef upon some other occasion." 
And upon this temper and conduct ^ somewhat 
similar reflection is made in the answer of one of his 
antagonists, so late as in 1660* *' ^ Since you grew 
so wise, as to throw aside your wife because your 
waspish spirit could not agree with her qualities, 
and your crooked phantasy could not be brought 
to take delight in her, you then grew so free,** &c. 
However this may have been, while his first wife and 
he were separated, and while he was immersed in ela- 
borate discussions connected with the misfortune, he 
had not been without mental amusement. His leisure 
hours often passed smoothly away in visits to a lady 
of the most engaging talents and conversation, the 
daughter of the Earl of Marlborough ; to whom, as 
to her husband. Captain Hobson, a very accomplished 

y The Dignity of Kingship asserted, in Answer to Mr. Milton's 
Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, &c. 
By G. S. A lover of loyalty, 1660, p. 111. 



94 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE MFE ^^ 

gentleman, his company was peculiarly acceptable. 
His tenth Sonnet, inscribed to this discerning lady, is 
a grateful acknowledgement of his esteem. His time 
also had been employed in collecting together his 
early poems, both English and Latin, for the press. 
They were first published by Humphrey Moseley, 
the general publisher of the poets of his day, in 
1645; who tells us, in his Address to the Reader, 
that " the author's more peculiar excellency in these 
studies was too well known to conceal his papers, 
or to keep me from attempting to sollicit them from 
him. Let the event guide itself which way it will, 
I shall deserve of the age, by bringing into the light 
as true a birth as the Muses have brought forth since 
our famous Spencer wrote ; whose poems in these 
English ones are as rarely imitated, as sweetly ex- 
celled." Mosely was not more discerning than Mil- 
ton was modest. But modesty was a principal fea- 
ture in Milton's character. He affixed only his ini- 
tials to Lycidas : he acknowledged, with hesitation, 
Comtts. It is rather surprising, that Mr. Warton 
should have ' asserted that, for seventy years after 
their first publication, he recollects no mention of 
these poems in the wliole succession of English lite- 
rature ; and that the quantity of an hemistich, quoted 
from them, is not to be found in the Collections of 
those who have digested tlie Beauties or Phrases of 
the English Poets from 1655 to 1738 inclusively. 
I can positively assert that in the edition of Poole's 

' In the Prefaces to both his EditJooa of the Smaller Poems. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 95 

English Parnassus, or Help to English Poesie^ 
published in 1677, there are few • pages iir which 
quotations . may not be found from Milton's poetry. 
In the preface also to Ayres's Lyriek Poems, pubr 
lished in 1687, Milton is thus noticed : '* If any one 
quarrel at the oeconomy or structure of these poems, 
many of them being Sonnets, Canzons, Madrigals, 
&c. objecting that none of our great men, either Mr. 
Waller, Mr. Cowley, or Mr. Dryden, whom it was 
most proper to have followed, have ever stooped to 
any thing of this sort ; I shall very readily acknowf 
ledge, that, being sensible of my own weakness and 
inabUity of ever attaining to the performance of one 
thing equal to the worst piece of theirs, it easily dis^ 
swaded me from that attempt, and put me on this ; 
which is not without president : For many eminent 
persons have published several things of this nature, 
and in this method, both Translations and Poems of 
their own ; as the famous Mr. Spencer, Sir Philip 
Sidney, Sir Richard Fanshaw, Mr. Milton, and some 
few others : The success of all which, in these things, 
I must needs say, cannot much be boasted of ; and 
though I have little reason, after it, to expect credit 
from these my slight Miscellanies, yet has it not dis^ 
eouraged me from adventuring on what my genius 
prompted me to." I may further observe that 
UAUegro and // Pen^eroso appear to have some-^ 
times caught the notice of Robert Herrick, in his 

* And, to the credit of Poole's selection, I may add that the 
examples are very often taken from Lycidas, L* Allegro and II 
PenserosOy and the Ode on the Nativity ». 



«8 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

Hesperifles, published in 1648 ; and that both the 
ease and imagery of these poems are certainly copied, 
in a few instances, by Andrew iVIarvell, tJie intimate 
friend of Milton. 

In 1647 Milton removed to a smaller house in 
Holbom, which opened backward into Lincoln's-Inn 
fields ; and continued to instruct a few scholars. 
Phillips tells us, that " he is much mistaken, if there 
was not about this time a design of making him an 
adjutant-general in Sir William Waller's army. But 
the new modelling* of the army proved an obstruc- 
tion to the design." This perhaps may be doubted, 
when it is considered that Waller was esteemed a 
leader of the Presbyterians agdnst the designs of 
the Independents. Milton, in his military capacity 
could not have served cordially under a general so. 
disposed. 

Early in 1648 he appears to have rendered, into"' 
English metre, nine of the Psalms, which are printed 
with his Poetical Works ; while the first seven are 
found not to have been thus translated by him before 
1653. There were now in circulation other new 
metrical versions of the Psalms, none of which ac- 
quired popularity, although recommended by puri- 
tanical influence. Nor was the criticism of bishop 
Henry King, himself a versifier of this description, 
successfiil in reforming these metrical labours : " I 
was discouraged," he says, in a letter to archbishop 
Usher in 1651, " in my translation, knowing that 





I 

AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. . 97. 

Mr. George Sandys^ and lately one of our pretended 
reformers^ had failed in two different extremes ; the 
first too elegant for the vulgar use ; the other as 
flat and poor^ as lamely worded^ &c. as the old." 
The pretended reformer ^ perhaps^ was Francis 
Rouse,. the Presbyterian provost of Eton college. 

Till the overthrow of the kingly government in 
the death of Charles, the pen of Milton now appears 
to have been unemployed. It was ^ resumed in order 
to silence the outcry, raised by the Presbyterians, 
against the deed of blood ; and to advance the in- 
terests of the infant commonwealth. The product 
of it was entitled, " The Tenure of Kings and 
MfigisttxUes, proving that it is lawfull, and hath 
been held so through all ages, for any, who have the 
power, to call to account a tjrrant, or wicked king ; 
and, after due conviction, to depose, and put him to 
death, if the ordinary magbtrate have neglected or 
denied to do it : And that they, who of late so much 
blamie deposing, are the men that did it themselves, 
1648-9.^ Milton seems to have been not correct in . 



^ *^ Liber iste, \The Tenure &c.] non nisi post mortem regis 
prodiit, ad componendos potius hominum animos factus, quam 
ad statiiendum de Carolo quicquam," &c. Milton, Def, Sec. 
This treatise, Phillips says, reviving the fame of other things 
Milton had formerly published ; he was more and more taken 
notice of for his excellency of style, and depth of judgement ; 
was courted into the service of the new Commonwealth ; and at 
last prevailed with (for he never hunted after preferment, nor af- 
fected the hurry of puWick business,) to take upon him the office 
of Latin secretary, &c. 

n 



Wl SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

his charge. He should have added tiie Papists and 
Independents, who were handed in firm league 
against the Church and the King. He remembered, 
however, the assistance which had been afforded by 
the Pope, when he wrote hb treatise Of True Reli- 
gion four and twenty years afterwards ; of whom he 
says, " we have shaken oif his Babylonish yoke, 
fwho] hath not ceased by his spies and agents, bulls 
and emissaries, once to destroy both King and 
Parliament." On this part of English history it 
cannot be uninteresting to enlarge. " I shall here 
say no more," says the editor of a very curious 
' tract, " than that the doctrine which was practis'd 
In forty eight, was published in English in twenty 
one, in the book entitled The Rights of the Pre- 
late and the Prince, as good Roman Catholick divi- 
nity, by J. E. with Licence of Superiors ; and conse- 
quently, that John Goodwin and John Milton were 
not the first broachers of it in England. The strain 
of the whole book is of that nature, and the follow- 
ing words are part of it, ch. 15. p. 375. And if 
Kings, who were not excommunicated nor deprived 
by the Pope, may by the Commonwealth be depos'd 
and kill'd, where they are intolerable tyrants ; why 
may not the Commonwealth exercise the same power 
over tyrants excommunicated and deprived by tiie 

' " Certaine passages which happened at Newport in the lele 
of Wight, Nov. 29, 1648, relating to King Charles I- Written 
by Mr. Edward Cooke, of Highnam in Gloucestershire, some- 
time Colonel of a Regiment under Oliver Cromwell. Loud. 
1690." 4'". 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 99 

Pope, they, after excommunication and deprivation^ 
being no move Kings, but private men r 

The subject indeed had been before discussed in 
a very interesting discourse, of wMch the title is, 
^' Herod and Pilate reccmciled : Or, The Concord 
of Papist and Puritan (against Scripture^ Fathers, 
Counceb, and other Orthodoitall Writers) for the 
Coercion, Deposition, and Killing of Kings. Dis- 
covered by David Owen, Batchelour of Divinitie, 
6tc: Cambridge, 1610," A**. To this point I may 
tdbo" apply an extract from *' Foxes and Furebrands ; 
wit' Specimen of the danger and harmony of Popery 
iAad^ Separation C attributed by some to Dr. NekcHif 
fejr othels to iSfo James Ware: ''But that whidi 
mAffi' ihe thing plain, is the discovery which was 
nuiM tv Sir Wilfiam Boswell by Andreas ab Hab« 
neiffeld ; ^ which was communicated first by Sir Wil- 
fiani-totny Lord' of Canterbury, and by him trans- 
pntlsed fer the King dien at York, Novemb. 1640w 
vTto Jtvhole is printed by itself> and in ^ Rushworth's 
iQolfectbns? mid is too long here to insert; but the 
principal parta and matter of the plot was this : That 
there was a/ des^ ion £9ot, by the Papists, against 
tiie i^ig and the Ardibishop. That, to effect this, 
Ae Scoitish commotions were raised^ and fomented 
by the Jesuits ; that they exasperated the English 
IHss^nters by the severity used agmn&t Pryn, Bur- 
ion, and B^twick ; and the Scots, by the fears of 



** Hist. Collect, p. 1314. 
II 2 



100 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

Popery upon the imposition of the Common-Prayer 
book ; that Cuneus or Con, the Pope's Legate, and 
Chamberlain a Scot, Chaplain and Almoner to Car- 
dinal Richlieu, were the great negociators of this 
conspiiBcy ; and that the design was to embroil these 
iiations in a civil war. The troubles came on so 
fast, as may well be supposed, precipitated for fear 
of a farther prosecution of this discovery, that the 
Archbishop lost his head for refusing a cardinal's 
hat, and opposing the Scottish Covenanters ; and the 
King his, because he would not give away the crown, 
and put down the mitre, by granting toleration, 2d; 
edit. 1682, pp. 50, 51.'* It was one of the threats 
df the Covenanters, that ** the Enemy should be 
forced either to give Liberty of Conscience to the 
Catholicks, or put themselves in danger of losing all, 
p. 48." Other proofs of the * combination might be 
added. And the following narrative is too curious 
to be here omitted. It is from the pen of Dr. Bar- 
grave, (whose manuscript I have already noticed,) 
who was particularly acquainted with Holstenius, 
one of Milton's friends. Being at Rome, he says, 
*' Cardinel Rossetti was shewed to me to take more 
perticuler notice of him,, because that he had binn 
almost 3 yeares in England the Popes Nuntio In- 
cognito, as you may find in the Italian Historian 
mentioifed in the margent V 

^ See more particularly Kennel's Register, 1728, pp. 539, 540. 
And Lord Strafforde's Letters, 1739, vol. ii. p. 74. 

' II Conte Bisaccione Delle Guerre Civili D'lnghilterra, Edit. 
2». 1653, p. 17. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 101 

" An^ 1639 There arriued (sayth he) at London^ 
to reside at the Court as a gentleman, traueler, sent 
by Cardinal Barberino^ but effectually he was the 
Pope's Nuntio, by name Charles Rosetti^ an Earle 
by birth ; whoe had taken vpon him the Church 
habite of a Prelate; whoe was of a greate spirit, 
actiue, and prudent ; able to vndertake business of 
tiie greatest difficulties He was valerous of heart, 
had a learned tongue, was quick in parts, in breif he 
was such an one, that his fellow could not be fownde 
in all the Court of Rome. His letters were dated at 
Rome the 16*^ of Aprill: (and then my Author 
telleth us a secret that we are not to know, viz.) 
And because that in England he woare a Secular 
habit, and tooke vpon him no other name but of 
ContCv Rossetti, therefore I will allso hide, where I 
haue occasion to mention him, his ecdesiasticall title 
of Monsignore, and ^ue him onely the title of his 
noble famely'^ Vpon his comming to Court, and 
hmig. courtepualy receiued, all things went well with 
theRo: Catholicks; and those Preists, that by law 
weore to be punished with Death, were onely ba- 
nished.. This was the Spring time of the Catholick 
Religicm in that kingdome, which florished hy the 
9W€€te favour ftMe blasts fjf the Conte Rossetti! 
.Vpon this, libels went about that ** the King and 
Archbishop were Popish &c. ; wherevpon the Arch- 
bishop aduised the King to rid his Court of the 
Roman Muiisters, and to renew the rigour of the 

«^P. 18. ''T. 22. 



102 



SOME ACCOUNT C 



law. The Conte Rossetti, hearing of this, wold not 
hide the Interesse for which he was at London ; but, 
vpon this occasion, being made more vigorouse of 
courrage in this time of dainger, thought that now 
an opportunely was giuen him to captiuate t/ie 
Kings soul, and to conduct him to the Catholick 
Fayth ! vpon which he broke his minde to a confi- 
dent Courtier of tlieires, whoe yet doubted how to 
effect it. Rossetti, having bin persuaded by the 
Queene to write to the Pope for abowt an 100000"' 
sterling to supplie the Kings necesseties. His Holi- 
ness his answer was, ' That the Pope was very ready 
to supply the King so soone as euer he should de- 
clare him selfe a Catholick, the onely auaylable 
meanes to loosen the chaines of the Treasurie of the 
Casde of St, Angelo at Rome. But, for a King 
that should turne to the bosom of the Church, he 
would lay hands upon that Sacred Treasorie, other- 
wise shut vp and impenetrable &c. — Where one may 
reade a greate many Intreegues abowt the lending 
of this mony, ■■ and how rescilutely the King with- 
stood theire attempts, and how Rossetti assalted the 
two Archbishops to retume to the Roman Fayth '. 
And then we haue mention of Rossetti's letter to the 
King to perswade him to turn Papist. But he find- 
ing his Ma:"* vnmooveable and firme as a rock, 
that strongly resisteth the fury of stormes and tem- 
pests, bailing his Faith fixed and fastned to a more 
sure foundation ; this latent " Nuntio gaue ouer his 



' P. 31. 



' P. 32, 33. 



J 



ANB wmTINOS OF MILTON. : 103 

fruitless designe. Findipg (saith my Author), tbat 
he gatie light vnta the blinde, that he spake to^n& 
that was dec^t^ and, as the prouerh hath it, wold 
with water wash a blackmore white, the (latent} 
Nuntio finrsooke him ; and stole owt of England 
(for feare of the Parliament that scented him) by the 
help of Sig^ Giustiniano the Venetian Imbassador^ 
and at his: comeing to Rome \fu decor ato deUa . 
Parpora Vatieama. 

^* Though he was forced to be gone, yet the 
effects of his Nuntiature lasted all the Ciuill Warr; 
especially amongst the Irish Rebells". To dis* 
prpoue the calomny that was raysed upon the King^ 
(|Nrobably both by Papist and Presbyterians) he vsed 
all the meanes he coidd to shew that he was a cor-^ 
diall Protestant, as is seen by his mony then coyned« 
So in the seuerall Speeches that he mad^ at the 
head of his Army, one of them, sayth my Authory 
hath this passage "^ : / K I tooke a wife of an othes 
Religion being jof the Roman faith, it was with a 
Universall Consent : If the Lord Rossetti came to 
my Court, I used him cotirteously; as a noble man 
and a strainger, asat is fitt for Princes to doe, and 
yet ypon onely suspition, and not guilt of any wrong 
to England, I sent him away.' — My Author in ano- 
ther place ^ speaking of the death of Archbishop 
Loud on the Scaffold, by way of scoffe sayth — It 
had bin better far him to haue turned Catholick^ 

° P. 44. » P. 80. P P. 124. 



lU'i SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

and to kaue gonn to Rome, as he had Unn aduised, 
iy the prudent counsell of the Popes zealous 
Nuntio, Rossetti, now a Cardinall ■* .' And, speaking 
of our Kings death, he hath this passage — His death 
wasforetonld (so long ago as taken he was Prince 
of Wales) when he was in Spaine, where he, going 
to visit a holy Nitnne, wkoe was much esteemed 
for her sanctity ; shee foretold him, that, if he 
did not hearken to the inspirations of that light 
which his gardian Angell shoM instruct him in, 
he shold dye a miserable death, and mine all his 
progeny! This Angell was Cardinal Rossetti, 
Tvhoe by his frequent inspirations, not inteniall, but 
to the eare and the eye, by the voice and by writings, 
by his eloquent and angelicall suggestions, indea- 
voured his conuersion to the Catholik Faith ; Card : 
Rossetti an Angel in practice ! Create Minister of the 
Pope, and an Angel by his office, as being a Nuntio 
or Messenger ; a zealous Nuntio ! Whence it is no 
maruell, if what the holy Nnnne foretold had its 
effect ! 



" Card : Barberino at Rome ; This man his agent 
here ; Card : Mazarino in France ; And Gio : Ri- 
nuccini. Archbishop of Firmo in Italy and the Popes 
Nuntio in Ireland ; were the Popish Ecclesiasticks, 
that by the helpe of the Jesuites, in all probabilety, 
were the men that ruined the King and Kingdome 
vuder the new name and Cheate of independent ; 




I 



ANi^ WRITINGS Ot MILTON. 106 

I being tould beyond sea by muncks and fryars 
that I might heare Mass where I wold among the 
Independents; that Word signefying onely Inde^ 
pendent as* to the Church of England, hut De- 
pendent as to the Church qf Rome ; and so our 
warr was a warr of Religion to bring in Popery, and 
the King was a true martyr (that died for his Reli- 
gion) in reuenge for the death of the Queene of 
Scotts^ his grandmother." — This acute traveller re- 
lates also that he was at Rome^ on his fourth visit 
to that city^ when Charles the second was restored ; 
which event, he says, ** to my knowledge, was to 
the great griefe of the Triple Crowne and College 
of Cardinals, who thought to have binn masters of 
England.'' In another page he cites the Italian 
author, already mentioned; to show that " Charles 
the first suspected Mazzarino and the Imbassador 
of France to have had a hand in his troubles." 

From these communications, which the subject of 
Milton's book induced me to make, I proceed merely lo 
mention his next publication, ** Observations on the 
Articles qf Peace between James Earl of Ormond, 
for King Charles I. on the one hand, and the Irish 
Papists and Rebels on the other," &c. which all his 
biographers have ascribed to him, improperly as it 
will presently be seen, before he became Latin Secre- 
tary. 

His life was yet private ; and he had entered upon 
his History of England; of which he had written 



lOtf SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE; &c. 

four books> when^ without expectancy or solicitation 
of preferment, he was invited by the Council of 
State to be their Secretary for Foreign Tongues^, 
They had determined not to write to others abroad^ 
except in that language, which was common to thepi 
all, the Latin. Their choice, therefore, could not 
have faUen upon a more perfect ' master of Latinity. 
Dr. Newton wishes that succeeding princes had fol- 
lowed this example of Latin correspondence ; be- 
cause, " ' in the opinion of very wise men, the uni- 
versality of the French language will make way foF 
the universality of the French monarchy.'' It may 
be added, that Milton himself countenanced this 
opinion: '* Then began the English to lay aside 
their own ancient customs, and in many things to 
imitate French manners ; the great peers to spea^ 
French in their houses, in French to write their bills 
and letters, as a great piece of gentility ; ashamed of 
their own : a presage of their subjection shortly 
to that people, whose fashions and language they 
qff^ected so slavishly *." 

' '' Erat san^ Miltonus purioris dicendi generis vehementer 
studiosus, quod et ipse diligentissim^ sectabatttr, et qui Saliotia* 
siuin, soloecismos aliquando admittentem, sals^ admodum per-: 
stringebat." Litene Nom. Sen. AngL ed. J. G. Pritius, Lips* 
1690. Pref. 

• Life of Milton. 

« Hist, of England, B. vi. edit. 1698, p. 1 1 1 . 



SECTION III. 



From his appointment as Secretary for Foreign Tongues, 
to the Restoration of King Charles the Second. 

The Book of * Orders of the Council of State during 
the Usurpation, preserved in his Majesty's State- 
Paper Office, presents the poet addressed by a com- 
mittee, appointed for the purpose of inviting him 
into office, about six weeks after the martyrdom of 
the King. 

'' 1648-9. March 13. Ordered, that Mr. White- 
Ibcke, Sir Henty Vane, Lord Lisle, Earl of Den- 
bigh, Mr. Martyn, Mr. Lisle, or any two of them, 
be appointed a committee to consider what allianees 
the Crowne hath formerly had with Forreigne States; 
and what those States are ; and whether it will be 
fit to continue those allyances, or with ho>v many of 
the said States ; and how farr they should be con- 
tinued, and upon what grounds ; and in what man- 



* Now first presented to the publick eye, excepting three or 
four extracts embodied in Dr. ^Sumner's Introduction to his recent 
Translation of Milton's Treatise De Doctrind Christiand. 



108 SOME ACCOUNT OF THB LIFE 

ner applications and addresses should be made for 
the said continuance. 

*' That it be referred to the same committee to 
speake with Mr. Milton, to know whether he will 
he employed as Secretary for the Forreigne 
Tongues ; and to report to the Councell. 

" 1648-9, March 15, Ordered, that Mr. John 
Milton he employed as Secretary for Forreigne 
Tongues to this Councell; and that he have the 
same salarie, which Mr. ** Weckherlyn formerly had 
for the same service. 

'' 1648-9. March 22. Ordered, that the letters, 
now read, to be sent to Hamburgh, in behalf of the 
Company of Merchant-Adventurers, be approved ; and 
that they be translated into Latine by Mr. Milton. 

"1649. March 26. Ordered, that the letters; 

,. C ..r- ■ . ■ ■ 

^ Mr. WeckherlyiL presendy occurs as Secretary Assistant lor 
the busings, of Foreign Affairs. He had been before employed 
as iSecre^ry for. Foreign Affairs from the first establishment of 
.the Joint Committee of both kingdoms in Feb. 1643-4. What 
his salary wst^, has not been ascertained. This gentleman^ who 
was of German extraction. Granger says, was Latin Secretary to 
King Charjes 1/ He was the author of poems, and of other lite- 
rary productions. See the Bodleian and the Brit Mus. Cata- 
logues, Art. George Rodofph Wecherlin^ or Weckerlin. His 
only daughter, according to Granger, was first wife to William 
Trumbull, Esq. and mother of the noted Sir W. Trumbull^ the 
friend of Pope. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 109 

« 

now brought in by Mr. Milton to the Senate of 
Hamburgh^ be approved; and that Mr. Isaac Lee, 
Deputy of the Company of Merchant-Adventurers 
there, shall be appointed agent for the delivering of 
them. 

'' 1649. March 26. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
be appointed to make some observations upon a 
paper lately printed, called *" Old and New Chains. 

'' 1649. March 28. Ordered, that .Mr. Milton 
be appointed to make some observations upon the 
complication of interest which is now amongst the 
several designers against the peace of the Common- 

^ Of which paper the noted John Lilbunie was the author. 
And, accordingly, it follows in the Council-Book, *' Ordered, 
that Serjeant Dendy be appointed to make proclamation of the 
order of the House this day (March 27, 1649,) against the author 
of the booke called the New Chaines,** And on the following 
day it is ordered, '' that Lieut. Colonel John Lilbume be com- 
mitted prisoner to the Tower, upon suspicion of high treason, 
for being the author, contriver, framer, or publisher, of a certayne 
scandalous and seditious booke printed, intituled England^s New 
Chaynes discovered^ &c." Wood says, that Lilbume divided 
hU pamphlet into two partSy both published in 1648-9, the latter 
of which consisted only of one sheet. Whatever Milton's obser- 
vations might have been upon this subject, if any there were, are 
unknown. Of Lilbume, a libeller and incendiary, and an op- 
positionist to every govemment under which he lived, a character, 
at large is drawn by Clarendon, Hist. Rebell. B. xiv. Judge 
Jenkins was used to say of him, in reference to his litigious dis- 
position, that if the world was emptied of all but John Lilbume, 
Liibume would quarrel with John, and John would quarrel with 
Lilbume. 



110 SOMB ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

wealthy and that it hemade.ready to be printed with 
tiie papers out of ^ Ireland^ which the House hath 
ordered to be printed. 

'' 1649. May 18. Ordered, that the French let- 
ters, given in to the House by the Dutch ambassa- 
dor, be translated by Mr. Milton ; and the rest of 
the letters, now in the House, be sent for and trans- 
lated. 

^' 1649. May 30. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
take the papers found with Mr. John Lee, and ex- 
anune them, to see what may be found in thenK 



■ij ". 



^'>- 



\'--^ The Articles of Peace between the Earl of Ormond and the 
Irish ; a Letter sent by Ormond to Cobnel Jones, Goyemor of 
Dublin ; and a Representation of the Scotch Presbytery at Bel- 
&st : These, with his Observations, Milton now published ; and 
not before he was Latm Secretary. See what is before sai^, 
p. 105. In a tone of unqualified severity Milt<»l says, ** HetHhg 
seal diose.curticles of peace granted to the papist pebeb of Iw'^ 
land, as special graces and favours from the lute king, in rewaid, 
most likely, of their work done; and in his name and authority 
confirmed by James Earl of Ormond ; together with his letter'to 
Cdonel Jones, full of contumely and dishonour both to tlie par^ 
Uainent and army ; and on the other side an insolent and sediti<¥(i9 
lepresentation from the Scots' Presbytery at Belfast, no less dis- 
honourable to the state ; there will be needful, as to the same 
slanderous aspersions, but one and the same vindication against 
than both. Nor can we sever them in our notice and resentment^ 
^ough one part is entitled a Presbytery, and would be thought a 
Protestant assembly ; since their own unexampled virulence hath 
wrapt them into the same guilty and made them accomplices and 
assistants to the abhorred Irish rebels," &c. 



;AMD WRITINGS OF MILTOH. HI 

. '' 1649. June 23. Ordered, that Mr, Milton doe 
examine the papers of * Pragmatiem, and report 
what he finds in tiiem to the CouncelL 

« 

" 1649. Nov. 13. Ordered, that Sir John Hip- 
pesley he spoken to, that Mr. Milton may he 
accommodated with those lodging^ that he hath at 
Whitehall. 

** 1649, Nov. 19. Ordered, that Mn Milton shall 
have the lodgings that were in the hands of Sir John 
Hippesley, in Whitehall, for his accommodation, as 
bemg Secretary to the Councell for Fonreigne Lan- 
guages, 

• 

' " 1649. Nov. 29. Ordered, that > a letter be 
written to the Commissioners of the Cnstomea to 
desiK them to give order, that a very strict search 
may bemade of snch ships as come from the Nether- 
lands for certaine scandalouc; bookes, whidi are there 
printed^ agauist the government of tins. Common- 
wealth, entituled Defensio .Regia, and which are 
de3igned to be sent over hither ; and to desire them, 
that ^tf any oi them upon search shall be found, that 
they may be sent up to the Councill of State, with- 

. ^ The Mercurius PragmaticuSy a newspaper which made its 
first. apqpearance in Sept. 1|547. But the.especial directiQ^ here 
Boiots perhaps at the *^ Mercurius Pragmaticus for King Charles 
U. April 24y 1649." This newspaper was probably suppressed 
fer a time. But wa find *^ Mercurius Prs^maticus revived. No. 
1 . June. 3.0, 1651" , See Nichpls's Lit. Anecd* vol. iv. p. 48. 



*," 



^^' 



112 SOMElkCOOUNT OF'TItE UfE 

■vtai -trngtrng iaijf. of thett'to Ibe othdrwis^ dft^xde^ 
•of up<m"aily pfre^^ioS 4»lM!ti6^^ • ^'-'•* * > 

"-Tki'k^^atttint bi-dlrectM fd th^- MaStdi^ and 
#iraens U tteS^Oaki^ttiy^f .S^tft^r^'to^tKe t>ur- 

■> .■»;.;■•.-*' ".^ :r>:lit<^ ■'•»'!< iifrtij ■,«>• i'tft .'«,,■ ^> xtK "h." N5.Vti^ 

...... . ■ » 

^ " TH^ tfie'l&e lettei: be a^i^bteafo'Mt.'IRiSfeas 

Beri^li;' an' officer in the port of ¥arft6ttth*;^d take 

catfe k'^setttcYSitg. fdr the ^bbvesai^ tiaoSe;%1fichas 

«e^)eited ttfcome Wit oF HillkiMl/" ' . ''■ '■ ^--^^ 
'i- -f f- ,..',■ Hv' i- ,-'■ •-■/."i •-«■-'■ -'.i I';' ■"■ .^: ^ •^'J 

* « fl8lti*^rt Jahi-». ''Oril^6di'th*(t?dtef himdi^ 
"pdunds 'beb' pMd to Mn Thoniasf WaHttg ftii"ihft 
'•{^e^ aM char^ in cdthpiliA^ of a^hbdl^^^^ot^ii^ 
% ^#aS examkiiltioi^ o^ thb .*9/bo% 3l^«We 

-A"j"Si\ 'u.''» ,':\\r. .. ■■,..,ii-;' .'.•.■«.. ■ j,:.i-.(» 'v,f;;..i;J !i/U HAH 

'''^VPM'^: Mtdh 'dbe confer witli '«Aife^?fnWii 
o^^feMfek T^eetiiihg the'spe^^rinfeft^ K^TOift 
«d(iKerktM'^6 '^'a.t<Mi^Hi( •vrbki'^Ji^Mm^m 

81^ io'W ikftd bf S^asras^aiicl When y h^tt 
doiie4tt hM^ itt td the CounceH." ' '^ '^ '- 

The Orders of Council have thus brought before 
1}3* the gre^l; poet receiving directions to answey the 

' .Nothing is known of such an employment by Milton. *^ . 



Mm) WRItlNOS OF MILTON. 1 (3 

Defengio Regia of Safanaaius. But it is nraiark- 
able that m) preceding command, or request, is 
foimd in these memorials, req>ecting the answer 
wfaidi Mflton produced, in the latter part of 1649, 
to the leSmBiuilike, ex Pwrtrmtwre qf the late 
King in his Solitudes and 8^fferings. And yet 
Aese ordors commence their date within six weeks 
aliter the mart jrdom of Charles ; at a time too, wh6n 
£k(d impression made upon the publick mind by the 
appearance of the Ic6n was very great, and new 
^ditioos of it were weekly if not daily passing tlm>ugh 
^ press. That he was however desired, or invited> 
.by the Council, (perhaps verbally,) to notice this 
popular publication, there can be no doubt. But 
)ie seems to have undertaken it upon his own terms : 
"** « I take it upon me," he says, /' as a work as^ 
«gned, rather than by me chosen or affected ; which 
was the cause both of beginning it late, and finish- 
ing it so leisurely in the midst qf other employ- 
^kents and diversions/* So that the phrase which 
4ias been bestowed upon him, with other calumnies, 
of ^' a ** mercenary Iconoclast/' yet remains, to be 
verified. If he was to be paid for this especial em- 
ployment, the paymasters would hardly have allowed 
him to heg^ late, and finish leisurefyj, what somp 
have pretended was immediately requisite ; namely. 



^ looDOclasteSy Pref. 
• ^ So Milton was called by Dn R. Watson in his Fuller An- 
swer to filymas the Sorcerer. See An Attempt towafds the Cha- 
racter , of King. Charles I. 1738, p. 68. 



1 14 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

t& Suppression of the book in question^ or at least an 
arrest of its influence. Indeed, in these Orderi of 
Council, not even a vote of thanks is recorded for 
his pains on the present occaaion ; while fp^' hi^ ];^pji|3r 
to Salmasius/as we shall pr^ently find, that coin{4^ 
ment was studiously paid to him, thoi^h .fiq^. . th? 
thousand pounds with which the controveTsy ,)ms 
iutherto been supposed to eiurich him.- But/t^tXfir 
sume the subj^t of the Icon. A suspicion thptf :^]^ 
book was not written by the king had been f^wit/B^> 
befc^e Miltmi published his Iconoclastesiyr^jr th^ 
author of a work> entitled ^' - Ic^^ Aleihine^ &^» 
published to undeceive the worMy^ early, X beli^vfe 
in 1649. The object of this writer ^ to in){>6af^ 
the title of the king to the Icon Basilike, a^d^.to 
tis^ign it to a nameless divine. Thus Mr« Hayl^y 
says of Milton, that 'f the sagadty of the poet je^n- 
"bled him to djuscover that the pioi^ wcxrk, ]|^pu(ted 
to the ^deceased kingv wa5 a political artifice tp aeiife 
ihe came4)f the royalists ; but as.it was impos^iMe 
for ym to robtain such evidence to detect thQ,imp<^ 
sitlcHi, as time ba^ since prodjoiced, he executed a,x^ 
gular reply to the book, as a real production of t^e 
king, intimating at the same time his.suspipiofi of 
the fraud." His suspicion MUton has expressedr ill 



•' '• u 



* The full title is, " Ekcliv 'AXriBivri, The Portraiture of Truth's 
most sacred Majesty truly sufTering, though not solely ; wherein 
the false colours are washed ofF^ wherewith the painter-st^iner had 
-bedaubed Truth, the late King, and the Parliament, in hi^ coun- 
terfeit piece entitled Ekoii/ BacrcXiKj). Published to undeceiye 
the world. Lond. 1649." 



AND WRI1INGS OF MILTOW. 115 

more instances, than those which have been cited by 
writers who treat his mispicion as of no account 
Yet Clarendon, who doubtless had read the offensive 
liBonoelastes with attention, apparently regarded 
theiie instances ;. and then^ore when he wrote to bishi^ 
Gauden, who seems to hav^ been the ^ author of the 
IcSn, he could not but ac^owledge, that the poet 
would be pleased by the discovery which would coii^ 
&m his suspicion. But a heavy charge has been 
brought against Milton of having, in conjunction 
with Bradshawe, prevailed upon the printer tyf the 
Ie6n to interpolate a prayer, taken from the Arcor 
dia of Sidney ; with tiie view, it has been pretended^ 
^f bti^ng discredit upon the book. Yet, howlsver 
$6verely and sarcastically Milt(Ni has reflected upon 
the memory of the king, he certainly added not this 
:^[eged insult. Justly has Dr. Newton observed, 
^i cannot but hope and believe tiiat Milton had -a 
sou! above bemg guilty of so mean an actiott to 
neilre so mean a purpose ; and tiiere is as little rea- 
sion for fixing it on him, as he had to traduce llie 
king ' for profEUiing the duty of prayer with the pol- 
luted' trash of romances.' For there are not «iaivy 
finer prayers in the best books of devotion ; and the 
king might as lawfiiUy borrow and apply it to his 
own occasions, as the ^ Apostle might make quota- 

^ As I have endeavoured to shew in a Letter to his Grace, the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, 1825. 

' llie same application to the case of St. Paul is made, though 
it probably was not known to Dr. Newton, in the EiKikv 
'AicXaoToc, The Image Unbroken, an answer to Milton's Icono- 

i2 



116 SOME AG€OUNT OF#THE LIFE 

tions frbm heathen poems and plays. And it became^ 
Milton the least of sdl men to ^ng stich an acciisflr 
tion against the king^ as he was himself particularly 
fond of reading romances, and has made.Hse of ^tiieiA 
in wme of the best and latest of his W7itinga.?r {The: 
king too. Dr. Newton might have added, is ^said? 
to have^been particularly fond of reading the ""/hh 
mance ^iiom which the prayer is taken; so thalr 
Lauder, in his miserable endeavour to convict Milton 
of the interpolation in questicm, is himself convicted, 
among other contradictions, of inaccuracy in stating 
with Mr. WagstafFe, " ° that it does not any where 
appear, that iSir Philip Sidney^s Arcadia was a 
book which the king used to read, or delight in :**^ 
for, in 1693, Mr. Long of Exeter, a zealous royalist, 
expressly asserted, ^^ • I have heard that the king 
for his recreation did divert himself hy reading 
that booh, (Sir P. Sidney's,) the best of its hind 
then extant ; and he^ did it with great observa- 
tion and improvement.'^ But Milton is at once 
exbnerated from the supposed imposture/ which Dr. 
Birch also discredited, by the connection of Arch- 
bishop Juxon with the prayer which has been lio- 



clastes, in 1651. "By borrowing to a Christian use the words 
of a heathen philosopher and poet, did Saint Paul thereby un- 
hallow and unchristian Scripture V* p. 82. 

'^ His Majesty, in the time of his restraint, had also Ariosto, 
and Tasso, and Spenser, and the romance of Cassandra, among 
his books ; as Sir Thomas Herbert, in his Memoirs^ informs lis. 

" King Charles I. vindicated, &c. 1754, p. 32. . 

*" Dr. Walker's Account of the Icon Bas. examined, p. 59. 



•AJID WRITINGS OF MILTON. 117 

tioedd ^ For tlie complete editions of the Icon pre- 
se^t^ in the title*page> " The Ponrtraicture of his 
l^tored Migedtie^ &c; Together mtk his Private 
jRrOffers msedtim the: time of his restraint ^^ and 
ddiveredto Dr. JuMn, Bishop :ofLondmy imme- 
diately befbre his death."* The favourable recep- 
ti»n o£ithe first copies of the Ic6n, withont the 
pcfliyerB^. oeeaiiioned in the impressions of the book, 
nideK/iweire <" ^auly passing through the press, imme- 
^iMtely^iaft^p the inartyrdoni, the introduction^ of 
nrhato^er cottld be collected, and might be judged 
pro^, as illustrating the pious character of the 
Idng^vv And these prayers, which with other ^-papers 
had^ bee» • delivered by hid Majesty to'^ Juxon, had 
bfeea^ taken from the prelate at the time of the 
imager of the^ king. The name of Juxbn, we Bajay 
ha^imre, wotild not have been united with theiii,iif it 
had not been triie that the royal martyr g^t^ \ktia% 
to hhni ^ N<M^ would Juxon for ever have becfn sifertt, 
if the prayer from the Arcadiah^ not befettbw^^^ 
them.> The answer to the Ivot^ which » kisupdtjr^ 
aAdamMst 'Other avocations, Miltbn hftd tfcWpi^ 
duced, became an object of consideriatiofA* t<y the 
. Council, in March 1650-1, as to reprinting it ; and 

v,i ^ .With the prayers, the Ic6n was published certainly not very 
vMffij days after the fatal 30th of January. Of twenty^nine im-^ 
pressions without the prayers, seventeen are said to l»ave been 
jpniatod in :]i648n9. With the prayers^ twenty-seven .editions have 
^i^j^enieniunecaled. 

^iAstxelated by Peirrinchief in his Life of K. Ch.I. 3de4..p^ 
225. *' They forced from my lord of London all thoge papers 
his Majesty had delivered to him,** ' 



118 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE^LIFfi 

accordingly a second edition hy authority i^peared; 
Yet still no direction for remuneration is found; 
while the order for a translation of it into Frenchy 
soon afterwards^ repeatedly couples with it the ex* 
pression of reward. 

** 1651. May 20. Ordered, that Mr. Durie ' doe 
proceed in the translating of Mr. Milton's booke, 
written in answer to the late king's booke, and that 
it be left to Mr. Frost to give him such reward for 
his paines as hee shall thinke fitt. 

" 1652. Nov. 15. Ordered, that it be referred 
to Mr* Thurloe to consider of a fitt reward to 
be given to Mr. Durie for his paines, in translating 
into French the book written by Mr. Milton, in 
answer to that of the late king^s, entitled His Me* 
ditations. 



' John Durie, a Scotchman ; by profession a divine^ in orders, 
and a preacher ; but whether he took them according to the way 
of the Church of England, which he always scrupled, A. Wood 
says, it appears not. He was a great pretender towards recon* 
ciling the Calvinists and Lutherans abroad, and is said to have 
been encouraged in his labour by Archbishop Laud. Wood 
refers to a letter of Durie to Hartlib, who was his friend, in which 
some of his history is to be found. In 1641 he sided with the 
Presbyterians, was a preacher before the Long Parliament, and 
(me of the Assembly of Divines. Afterwards he joined himself 
to the Independents. He survived the restoration. See Wood's 
Ath. Ox. Fast. vol. i. col. 849. ed. 1691. He is the author of 
many publications. In his letters to Tho. Goodwin and Philip 
Nye, published in 1644, he relates " the true state of his n^o- 
tiation with the Lutherans,*' &c. p. 1 , et seq. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTQN,. 119 

*' 1653. April 1. Ordered^ that the Couamis- 
sioners of the Customs doe permitt certain booke$ 
written . by Mx* Milton, in . answer to the booke 
called the late king's, being translated into French 
to bee transported into France custom-free." 

The considerations arising from, the production of 
Milton's Icanoclastes, have led us^ to overpass the 
regular chronology of the Orders of Council. Wa 
now return to the period, immediately subsequent to 
the publication of that book. 

" 1649-50. Feb. 2. Ordered, that orders ' be 
sent to Mr. Baker, Mr, Challenor, Mr. Weckherljm, 
Mr. Willingham, or any others who have in their 
hands any Publique Papers belonging to the Com- 
monwealth, to deliver them to Mr. Milton, to be 
layd up in the Paper Office for Publique Service ; 
and that Mr. Baker be appoynted to order those. 
Papers, that they may be ready for use. . 

■ The following letter was accordingly sent : " Sir, Wee are 
infonned that there are several Letters and other Papers of Pub- 
lique Concemement, that ai*e in your hands, which wee have 
thought fitt should be brought into the Paper Office at White- 
hall, both for the safe keeping of them, and that they might 
be ready for publique use upon all occasions. Wee therefore 
desire you to deliver all the said Papers to Mr. Milton, whom Wee 
have appointed to receive the same and see them safely and 
orderly disposed in the said Office. Signed in the name and 
by order of the Councell of State, &c. Jo : Bradshawe, Pre- 
sident, Whitehall, 4 Feb. 1649-50." This is a copy, among 
the jibove-written orders, of that which was directed to Mr. 
Willingham. 



1^0 SOME 'Micorirr of 'me uve 

■■:*f l€4&^d0. ' Ffeb, 18. Ordered, that Mr^ Milton, 
Secvdtary for Foreign Languages ;^ Seijeant Dendy^ 
Seijeant at Armes ; Mr. Frost the yoanger. Assistant 
ta Mtj Frost ihe Secretary ; and all the Clerks for- 
merly employed under Mr. Frost, as also the mes- 
sengers, and all other officers employed by the 
Councell last yeare, and not dismissed ; shall be 
againe entertained into the same employments, and 
shdOi receive the same salary which was appointed: 
them the yeare past. 

« 

" 1649-50. Feb. 23. Memorandum, that Mr. 
John Milton, Secretarie for the Forreigne Lan- 
guages; Mr. Edward Dendie, Serjeant at Armes ; 
and Mr. Gwalter Frost the younger. Assistant to the 
Secretary ; did this day take the engagement foUow- 
lowing : I, being nominated by this Gouncell to bee 

for the year to come, doe promise in the 

sight of God, that through his grace I will bee 
faithfull in the performance of the trust committed 
unto mee, and not reveale or disclose any thing, in 
whole or in part, directly or indirectly, that shall be 
debated or resolved upon in the Councell, without 
the command, direction, or allowance of the Parlia- 
ment or Councell. 

^ Bradshawe^ in a letter to CFomwell, dated a» above, says, 
" We are now beginning with anew councell another yeare, I 
might have hoped, either for love or something els, to have beew 
spared from the chayre ; but I could not obtaine that favour ;• 
and I dare not but submyt, where it is cleere to me God gives 
the call," &c. Original Letters, found among the Political Col- 
lections of Milton, published by J. NickoUs, 1 743, p. 65. 



^^ 1650. March 80. Ordertad, that it be recbm* 
mended to the Lords . Commisaoners of the Great 
Seale to giye order for the prepareing of a commis- 
sicm to Mr. Richard Bradi^w^ who is to be em-r 
ployed Resident from this Conmionwealth to the 
Senate of Hamburgh according to the Order of 
Parliament 

*' That a credential Letter be likewise " prepared 
for him by Mr. Milton. 

" 1650. May 6. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
attend the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seale 
with the Papers given in by Dr. Walsall concerning 
the goods of Fekfs de se ; to whom it is referred to 
take such course therein, for the advantage of the 
Commonwealth, as they shall thinke fitt. 

" 1650. June 14. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
shall have a * warrant to the Trustees and Con- 
tractors for the sale of the king's goods for the fiir-^ 
nishing of his lodgeing at Whitehall . with some 
hangings. 

■ This letter, it appears, was " read and approved, April 1, 
1650." It is among the printed LitercB Senates, &c. of Milton, 
and there dated April 2. 

* The copy of the warrant is inserted, after this order, bearing 
date, June 18, 1660. " These are to will and require you forth- 
with, upon sight hereof, to deliver unto Mr. John Milton, or to 
whom hee shall appoint, such hangings as shall be sufficient for 
the furnishing of his lodgings at Whitehall. To the Trustees 
and Contractors for the sale of the late King*s goods." • 



122 SOMB ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" 1650. Jnne 22. Ordered, that Mr. Miltoii doe 
goe to the Committee of the Armie, and deshre them 
to send. to this Coimcell the booke of Examinations 
taken about the riseings in Kent and Essex*^ 

" 1650. June 25. Ordered, that Mr. Miltoii doe 
peruse the Examinations taken by the Army con^ 
cerning the insurrections in Essex ; and that he doe 
take heads of the same, to the end the Councell may 
judge what is to be taken into consideration. 

" 1650. June 26. Ordered, that the Declaration 
of the Parliament against the Dutch be translated 
into Latine by Mr. Milton, into Dutch by Mr. ^ Haak; 
and into French by Monsieur Aiigier. 

" 1650. Aug. 14. Ordered, that Mr. Thomas 
Goodwyn, Mr. Bifield, Mr. Bond, Mr. Nye, Mr. 
Durye, Mr. Frost, and Mr. Milton, or any three of 
them, of which Mr. Frost or Mr. Milton to bee one> 
bee appointed to view and to inventorie all the re^ 



y Mr. Theodore Haak translated the first six books of the 
Paradise Lost into High Dutch ; which, Aubrey says, Fabricius 
had seen, and highly approved. The translation is in blank 
verse ; and is believed to have been published in 1728. Haak 
was a man of great learning, acquainted with Usher, Selden, 
Walton, and all the admirable scholars (rf Milton's time. He 
was a Fellow of the Royal Society. Wood also mentions the 
translation of Par. Losty which this distinguished foreigner had 
made. " This vhtuous and learned person," Wood tells us, died 
in London in 1690 at the advanced age of 85. Ath. Ox. vol. ii. 
col. 643. ed. 1692. 



AND WEITIKGS OF MILTON. 123 

oords^ writings^ and papers vrhatsoever^ belonging to 
the Assembly of the Synod; to the end they may not 
be embezaelled^ and may be forth coming for the use 
of the Commonwealth. 

'* 1660. Dec. 23. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doei 
print the treatise which he hath written, in answer 
to a late booke written by Salmasius against the 
proceedings of this Commonwealth." 

Then here is the point, to which whatever relates 
to the memorable controversy between Milton and 
Salmasius should be drawn ; and therefore, leaving 
awhile (as before in the detail of the Icon history) 
the chronological order of entries in the Council- 
Book, I will deliver an uninterrupted narrative of 
this literary combat, and of circumstances connected 
with it. 

King Charles the second, being now protected in 
Holland, had employed this learned Frenchman, Sal-* 
masius, who was professor of Polite Learning at 
Leyden, to write a defence of his late father, and of 
monarchy. *' Salmasius," Dr. Johnson observes, 
'' was a man of skiU in languages, knowledge of 
antiquity, and sagacity of emendatory criticism, 
almost exceeding all hope of human attainment ; 
and having, by excessive praises, been confirmed in 
great confidence of himself, though he probably had 
not much considered the principles of society, or the 
i:ights of government, undertook the employment 



124 SOME account: or the life 

withQut.distrust' of hur own^ipiaiiifications ;vaiid/ as^ 
bis;. expedition in wriiing ri«i£us< i^onderful^ in 164& 
published, the Defenm^RegiaJ^ It is certainly »e^ 
markaUe that Salmasius^ the pensionev to a; repnb^ 
liek^ should write a vinldication of nionarchj* i The 
StateS; indeed ordered it to be impprefised* iBel^e 
he had proceeded in lus work> he wa9 thus (Cautioon^ 
by hi&vfriend.Sarravius: ' " Periculqswplewmopw 
idees aggrederis, De&nsionem dice, nupeit: QCdistjBsh 
tenniarum Regis ; maxime cum veHri Ordmes^ m^^ 
diam viam secent. Laudo tamen aniiiii ; iui gene^ 
rosum propositum, quo nefandum scelus aperte 
damnare ' austines. Hac tamen te cautione^^uti lOpus 
est^ ofte ita Majestatem Regiam extoUas^ ut.erga.subt 
ditos amorem videatur illis gratis largiri." From 
the correi^ondence of this learned Frenchman With 
Sdltnashis we learn some curious particulars resjieot-r 
ipg.the work, which occasioned Milton's elabo;ra^ 
answer. Sarravius advised him to read the IcSn 
Basilike, as subservient to his purpose ; a book, he 
sky's, ,yi^hi(!?h he had read with the highest admiratioxi ; 
t,f^4dep,i|i.ea [[Icone]] plena omnia bpnitatis:,iergi(i 
tolKJiitos ieximise^ et< in Deum pietatis. . Ex eo librq 
p6tirerife noii pauca depromere Apologetico tuo fe. 
laan^p/' Mier the Dqfensio Regia had b^n pub- 
l|^edi> b^ ;U;i£orm$ him of the blame attached to him 
fortaot>4iaving sent a copy td the widowed queen of 



« M. Gudii et C. Sarravu, Epistoke. Ultrajecti, 1697, Sarrav. 
Ep. cxeviii. p. 203. * 
» Ibid. Ep.ccv..p. 210> 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 125 

CfiaJrles ; ^ who, though pooTy would yet have paid 
the bearer. > Sarravius mforms him also of ^ reported 
antagonists, long before Milton appeared against 
hioL Milton indeed commenced his hostile operas 
tion immediately on the publication of Salmasius's 
defenoe, as he had been directed by an order of 
tottneil; already cited, Jan. 8, 1649*50. But the 
various interruptions; which he mentions in the elo- 
quent Preface to his Defeitsio Paptdi, prevented 
the publication of his opposition till the beginning 
of the year 1651. 

Hobbes is said to have declared himself unable 
td ^ decide whose lalnguage was best, or whose argu- 

"* Ibid. Ep. ccxxiii. p. 223. " Vidi nobilem Anglum expos- 
tiilantem, . qu6d omiseris unum exemplum mittere ad defuncti 
Caroli viduam, quae hie [Paris.] degit ; QtLamvis enim, inquiebat^ 
sit in re minimi lautd, tamen potuisse solvere pretium tabellariiy 
qui illud attulissetJ* 

* Ibid. Ep, ccxxxvii. p. 235. . , . 

/ " Uterque, si Hobbio fides, Latino insignis, at rationibus 
vacuus.** Comm. de Rebell. Angl. ab an. 1640,&c. k R. Manlio, 
*Eq. Aur. 8vo. 1686. lib. ii. p. 226. It seems that they accused 
each other of grammatical blunders. I have heard of a copy of 
Salmasius's book, the margins of which are said to be decorated 
with barbarisms and solecisms detected by Milton. Without 
weighing the demerits of this kind, I will only observe, that Mil- 
ton's criticisms appear to have occasioned the following sarcasm 
of the witty Butler. See Butler's Remains, edit. Thyer, vol, i, 
p. 220, 

•* Some polemicks use to draw their swords 

" Against the language only and the words ; 
^* As he who fought at harriers with Salmasius, 
" Engaged with nothing but his style and phrases, 



126 SOME ACCENT OP THE UFE 

ments were worst. In Dr. Johnson's opinion^ Mil- 
ton' s periods were smoother^ neater^ and more pointed ; 
but he delights himself with teazing his adversary, 
fls much as with confuting him. Milton^s book was 
burnt at Paris^ and at Toulouse. But this procured 
it more readers. From a letter of Nicholas Heimdus 
to Isaac Vossius it appears to have been translatcfd 
into Dutch^ and to hare been expeeted also in a 
French dress. Into our own language it was tritikuh> 
iated/at the close of the seventeenth century, by Mf. 
Washington of the Temple. Salmasius's book Itt- 
tracted much less notice. It has appeared indeed m 
different forms, both Latin and French ; and, as it 
should seem from the correspondence of Sarravius^ 
' in some editions with slight variations. Salmasiils 
afterwards endeavoured to defend his cause, accord- 
ing to the testimony of Isaac Vossius, by a most un- 
justifiable attack upon the moral character of Miitdn 
while he resided in Italy : Both combatants indeed 
had betrayed too much personal malevolence : But 
it is to the disgrace of Salinasius that he should M 
far have forgotten himself as to confound the cham- 



" Wavd to assert the murder of a prince j 

** The author of false Latin to convince; 

'' But laid the merits of the cause aside, 

" By those that understood them to be try'd ; 

" And counted breaking Priscian's head a thing 

" More capital than to behead a king ; 

" For which he has been admir'd by all the leam*d 

" Of knaves concerned, and pedants unconcem'd ! 

• £p. ut supr. ccxxx^i. p. 234. 



»» 



jAND WRITlNOtS OF HILTDK. 127 

pioQ With the aseassiitv Mitcm, for his performance^ 
was complimented ^ at home by the lisits or inviia^ 
tiws of all the foreign ministers at London^ and by 
^IV^ojmastick letters from the most celebrated scIhi- 
j^/ abroad. It has been said also, first by Toland 
J^j .bg}ichie^ BXid subsequently by other biographers, 
1jIe^\^ received from the Council the present of a 
^h^^sfind pounds ; a circumstance which I had cre- 
4i|;^ .But Dr. Symmons acutely suspected the 
Bfifi^acy of tUs statement, by refemng to Milton's 
PWi^ iWQffds in his Drfensio JSecunda : '^ Tuque scttd 
iflei^ , apimitates atque opes, quas mihi exprote'as, 
noiii atdgisse^ neqne eo nomine, quo maxime mr« 
i^Q^i sboh factum dithrem/' The Council-^Book 
i!](^iSi:ins.this assertion. *^ 1651. June 18. Ordered, 
tbf^ thanks be given to Mr. Milton on the behalfe 
<^,^t^e Commonwealth for his good services done in 
^ij^fi^g an answer to the booke of Salmiisius; writtw 
against the proceedings of the Commqn wealth of 
l^^land*" But all this ;s crossfsd overy and nearly 
t^ftee lines following are obliterated, in which, the 
a^fjifrate Mr. Lemon says^ a grant qf monep was 
made to Milton. But after the cancelled passage, 
the regular entry thus follows : " The Councell 
takeing notice of the manie good services performed 



' He perhaps lost the friendship of others D4 this occasion. 
Certain it seems that the> amiable and learnt Earl of Bridge- 
water, who had performed the part of the First Brother in his 
Comus^ then disdained his acquaintance. On the title-page of 
the Defensio, now in the Marquis of Stafibrd*s {possession, that 
Nobleman has written, ^* Liber igne, Auihor furcdy dignissimi,** 



]28 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

by Mr. Johii Milton, their Secretarie for Forreigne 
Languages, to this State and Commonwealth, par- 
ticidarlie for his booke in vindication of the Par~ 
liament, and people of England, against the ca- 
luWnies and invectives of Salmasius, have thought 
fitt to declare their resentment and good acceptance 
of the same ; and that the thanks of the Councell 
bee returned to Mr. Mylton, and their sense re- 
presented in that behalfe." Christina, queen of 
Sweden, is siud to have treated the defender of 
monarchy with coldness, after having read the De- 
fence of tlte People : And Dr. Newton adds that 
Salmasius was dismissed from her Court with con- 
tempt. He was dismissed, or rather retired, not 
with degradation, hut, as Dr. Johnson observes, with 
a train of attendance scarcely less than regal. Pro- 
bably for the mean pleasure of tormenting Salma- 
sius, this capricious monarch had commended Mil- 
ton. After Salmasius's death, she assured his widow, 
by letter, that she had esteemed him as a father, and 
would never cease to honour his memory. Salma- 
sius died in 1653 at Spa; having prepared a reply 
to Milton, without books, and by the sole help of 
memory * ; which, left as it was unfinished, was '' pub- 
lished by his son, with a dedication to the King, at 



« Vita et Epist. 01. Salmasii, ab. Ant. Clementio, 1656. Vit. 
p. liii. 

" It appears to have been translated into English, and pub- 
lished at London in 1 660. See bishop Rennet's Regiater, p. 270. 

'■ Siilinaaiiis'fl Dissection and Confutation of Milton." 



.'AND UmiTINGS' OF HILf ONF. 1^9 

%<i^Iffl^^?W> r^"^ ; i.aidr/difltTMilt(»i5 ctto'maHkttdik 
lillripimt^^iiiiBS \te ihe fragile" amtofir 

x$i iifiix^^ths,^^.^ .y^ p(ndate> in modan timeii, 

^Jlf^fditocl^^.l^ dimuusiied .brightness o£;Mdtto, 

^th 4;be^ « tenetcL €| itha Broimists; ^the choseir adkoN 
IHtfe>€«tbat:i^QraKibIeiact^ [^Miltont] Teplied^^tin£> 
^^iH^^^wer€^>BroWi«stf^: vLutfaer^rCalvm, vBiioaCj^<2ttrs 
J9gl\«($baai]td ;«U:tV(JieLvmo8l;Hseldi»rated thedogi^^ 

iHWch«.itf^ .gindsec^falaehoo^ Lntfap/^: 

Cilfflgj ^10)4.1^ others cam com^medy^ het^'^%H 
%WQit}i|gftiJ9pr%Q(;i{^ peaM a part^Hvqrtter./ v.H^^t 
^^Kr^^Qliitiw.: might be::a part^^iikhei^pi^taiq^ 
SaaP^Ki^ft ig«»eral fiiitkiof the Rie^iisleisiire^gts, 
Ib^rMlkfampu^ .fiUiance." a Ik.n* SgmiiiB«sj;?o;who "^rm 
e<^^^ qC .t^l^^i^'^ Prdse Works ypQMtixed>4ii^^ 
tho^iaULthofr, is Ji)i%nai]itv at iluaJaoeusftlaon ;^aiiA4^ra^ 
,tg^i& \ %g«iin$t^ tibe /rashnesa: whidv' in^ted ^the^ prdate 
ilA^tfaifijfyiplfiiti^^^p^ witk s^lgld8r hkvimMf 

also deploring the/ "/ unhappy insertion" of it, prq-. 



.«■: - -» ^ 



^* Ajiprehdix to Bishop H.orsle/s Sermou before the House of 
Lords, Jan. 30, 1 793, p. 38. I had inadvertently named bishop 
'^atstey- aff the author of the passage in question ; a mistake, 
ilkfeh^otii^rB have followed. 

^ Published in 1806. • » Life, p. 320. 

K 



130 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



ceded by my " harsh imputation," iuto my account 
of the great poet. No less desirous than Dr. Sym- 
mons to avoid misrepresentation in speaking of 
Milton, I copied what he advanced in maintenance 
of his pity and indignation, and left the charge of 
rashness to be appropriated as impartiality may 
direct. 

" ^ To refute this incautious charge," says Dr. 
Symmons, " nothing more can be necessary than the 
production of the passage in Milton's work, to which 
the reference is made. It concludes the fifth chap- 
ter of the Defensio pro Populo Anglicano, and it 
stands independently of any thing which precedes it. 
* Quereris enim postremis hisce seculis disciplinse 
vigorem laxatum, regulam corruptam,' quod uni 
scilicet tyranno, cunctis legihus soluto, disci- 
plinam omnem laxare, mores omnium corrumpere, 
impune non Uceat. Hanc doctrinam ' Brunistas 
inter reformatos' introduxisse ais : Ita Lutherus, 
Calvinus, ZuingUus, Bucerus, et Orthodoxorum 
quatqtmt celeberrimi theologi fuere, tuo judicio 
Brunist^ sunt. Quo ^quiore animo tna male- 
dicta perferunt Angli, cum in ecclesi^ doctores 
prastantissimos, totamque adeo ecclesiam refor~ 
matam, Hsdem prope contumeliis debaccJiari te 
audiant.^ ' You complain,' addressing himself to 
Salmasius, says Milton, ' that in this last age the 



vigour of discipline Is impaired and its right rule 




" Life, p. 321. 



J 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON^ 131 

Gomipled, because truly it is not in the power ei 
one despot, released himself from the controul of all 
law, to relax with impunity the general discipline 
and to corrupt the morals of all. This doctrine, bs 
you say, was first introduced among the reformed 
by the Brownists ; so that, by your decision, Luther, . 
Galvin, Zuinglius, Bucer, and all the most celebrated 
c^ the orthodox divines are included among the 
Brownists. The English, therefore, support your 
calumnies mth the greater equanimity, when they 
hear you thus furious in your invectives against the 
most admirable doctors, and consequently against 
the body itself of the refin'med church.' — If we ad-* 
init the premises of IVGlton, can we refuse our assent 
to his conclusion ? If to contend for liberty against 
the tyranny of a single person be the distinction of 
a Brownist, the first reformers were, beyond all 
question, K'ownists ; for one of the principal olijects 
of their liberal and enlightened contention was to 
break the despotism of the Court of Rome. Milton 
asserts notlnng but the truth ; and he is justified in 
bringmg It finrward by that part of his adversary's 
work to which he replies. The first reformers- were 
not only strenuous in their opposition to the papal 
despotism, but were on all occasions warm advocates 
and supporters of the civil liberties of man." — I sub- 
join Sdmasius's own words. ** " Postremis vero sae- 
culis UT IN ALUS REBUS itu et in hoc mores, ut jam 
dictum, cum temporibus mutati sunt, discipline vigor 

■ Defensio Regia, edit. 12"". 1650, p. 166. 

k2 



132 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

laxatus est, let.regula corrupta, ; Quinimo extitere 
tandem pestes Rerum publicarum, regumque fmariyeg, 
et'oirinis A Deo ordinatae' potestatis hostes, sQph\st8e 
quidam qui ;contrariam illi, quae ^Ghristo tradita 
est, doctrinam introduxerunt de occidendjs qtmsi 
Jure regihu& si, di^plicerent : suljectis. Tales in 
Pontificiis Jesuitas, inter Refonnatos qui yocantur 
\: iNDEPENDEKTEs.et Brumstjce'* . Milton's reply tjien 
is. unquestionably evasive. . And it has been thought 
an eflfort to vindicate his own party " ? upon the 
same principles/* as Dr. Watkins has well. observed, 
^' which induced the reformers to separate from th© 
Church of Rome ; an artfiil manoeuvre to put rel^l: 
lion agamst the king, and the reformation from 
popery, upon the same footing." But I will; not 
pyerpass the acute observation also of a recent ** an-r 
xiQtator on Pr. Newton's Life pf the poet, that per- 
haps/^ the real offence of Milton consists in the usual 
sophistry of controversialists. His adversary ha^^ilg 
spoken of sedition, he speaks of liber ty, and con-: 
tends, ; that in advocating the prinqiples of civil li- 
Jbierty^ thoiftrownists agreed with the most orthpdox 
of the first ref<f)rmers.'' , . , ,. 



{/ • •• f :i f.: 



'r. That the death of Salmasius was hastened by the 

^ See this point befdre* illustrated; in the present account^ 
^aliiiasius speaks correctly. 

,p 'Character^tick Anecdotes of men of learning and genius, &c. 
8vo. 1808, p. 214. 

•i Mr. Edward Hawkins, Milton's Poet. Works, &c. 1824, 
vol. i. p. xlji,. , ' .' • 



. AND WRITINGS OF MILTON.* J '^133 

neglect vrhichTJie is said to have "experiehced, oiii tKe 
appearance: ii)f. Milton's book/ is by no means clear; 
His biographer, : Cleiirtentius, gives a distinct accoiint 
6f I the 'disorder wMch terminated his days; .and id 
which he had long 'been subject, the gout; iThei 
supposed credit of destroying a ' literary antagonist 
may indeed be deducted,' without -injury, from the 
achievements of Miltoii. ^ ../'.: 

* . ■ • . . . 

The first reply to Milton's Defensio Populi was 
published in the same year, and was entitled, " Apo- 
logia pro Rege et . Populo Anglicano, contra Johannis 
Polypragmatici (alias Miltoni Angli) Defensioneni 
destructivam Regis et Populi." The author was un- 
known. Milton directed his younger nephew tq 
answer it, who possibly prepared the first draught of 
a reply ; which, before it went to press, was so care- 
fully examined and corrected by Milton, that it may 
be considered, almost as his own performance, al- 
though denominated '^ Johannis Philippi Angli Re- 
sponsia ad Apologiairi anon}rmi cujusdam tenebrionis 
pro Rege et Populo Anglicano infantissimam." This 
piece appeared in 1652. Bishop Bramhall is the 
ideal enemy with whom Phillips here encounters. 
Of so contemptible and barbarous a composition as 

' Bentley justly observes, in the Preface to his' Dissertation 
on Phalaris, that " he must be a young writer, and a young 
teader too, that believes Milton and Petavius bad' themselves as 
ihean thoughts of Salmasius, as they endeavour to make others 
have." Milton could once avow his* respectful opinion* of the 
" industry of the learned Salmasius.** Reason of Ch. Gov. B. 
i. Ch; vi; . . • 



134 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



the Apologia that learned prelate could not be the 
writer. I have indeed discovered the real author ; 
and the imputation whether of Milton, or his ne- 
phew, applied to this excellent bishop, must never 
more be named. Dr. Symmons is wholly mistaken 
in his supposed discovery of the author. I have the 
authority also of bishop Bramhall himself on my 
side*. But it was thought subservient perhaps to 

■ From the following work we leam the name of the author of 
the Apologia : " Polemica aive Supplementum ad Apolo^am 
anonymam pro Rege et Poptilo Anglicano, adversus Jo: Miltoni 
Defensionem Populi Anglicani, &c. Per lo : Rowlandum, Paato- 
rem Anglicum, 16£3." r2ino. In p. 47, the author begins to 
speak of his former book, and of himself: " jEstimantur tanien 
plenimque libri authonim vel patronorum titulls, ut divites 
gemmis, 

■— ' ciii annulus in gens, 

' atque ide6 pluris quam Cottua agebat.' 

Et nisi typographis hoc supplementum vili venisset, qui egenti 
et nudo nuilam laboris mei mertedem porrigere ausi sunt, vel 
pTseli impensas facere, sue lucro mctuentes, diu antehac hattc 
secundam Apologiam publici juris feclssem. Sed si Salmasius, vel 
Heinous, vel quia magni nominis meee prtefigeretur, sperno 
spretus, cum Heinsii Socratis pulchro fortasse pulchritudine 
certaret. Sed mtam intra anni spatium decorttcare periculum 
fecit quidam Johannes, an alter et idem Milttmus ? Pkiiippus, 
vel Pseudo Philippus ? cui ratio non est quod ipse succenserem, 
qui, errando circa aulkorem Apologia, me dignitale ejpiscopali 
konoravit, et Episcopam Dtrnsum, aulicorum sacerdotum printi- 
pilum, omn vitiorum labe maculavit.— Quoad ccetera, Philippus, 
levis velcs, in tricis et quisquillis fere totum se exercet circa linguQ 
LaliuEe puritatem, cum mihi a 14 annis nee grammatica nee die- 
tionarium fuerit, nukm qus cerebro meo mecum circumferre 
possim ; et tamen hisce phantasmatibus, verbis, et tiopis incauti 
lectores capiuntur, tanquitm Prisciani vel Despauterij causa age- 
retur, qui, quoniam in te tam seha lam pueriliter ineptit, non 




J 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 



135 



tibe consequence of the cause^ to exhibit its nanieless 
(>pponent as a inan of the most distinguished talents^ 
In this year Sir Robert Filmer's AnimadversionB oh 
Milton's DefensiOf Hobbes's Lemathan, and Gro^ 
tius's De Jure Belli, were likewise published* 
They were uniioticed by Milton. In 1652 also^ the 
following publication appeared in \ Dublin i^ainst 

aliod k me responsum expectabit quam quod hoc disticho compre- 
hendam: 

Phy notafcetoris Lippus malus omnibus horis, 
Et malus et Lippus, totus malus ergo Philippus. 

Non sum enim Johannes Bramalius Episcopus Dirrceus aulicus^ 
8ed Johannes Rowlandus Ai^cus, Pastor Ecclesise particnlaris, 
et tamen nominis mei me non pudet, quod in Ecclesiee ortho- 
doxum, olim in proverbium cessit, Rowlandus pro Olivero," &c. 
Cap. 5. Ad fiQ. — I have now to communicate bishop Bramhall's 
6Wn remark, obligingly transmitted to me from Ireland, before the 
second edition of this account was published, by the Rev. Edward 
Berwick, (of Esker near Leixlip,) who, in looking over some ori- 
ginal letters of the bishop, discovered the information in one of 
them addressed to his son under an assumed name, and dated at 
Antwerpe in May 1664. " That silly book which he [Milton] 
toeribes to me, was written by one John Rowland, who since hath 
replied upon him. I never read a word either of the first book or 
of the replie in my life." 

* This is an extremely rare book, though of no great import- 
ance as to the discussion of the controversy. I had long sought 
for it in vain. The kindness of B. H. Bright, Esq. of Cadogan 
Pbce, has lately supplied me with it. It is dedicated to King 
Charles II., and the author tells his majesty, *^ Obmutuisse mihi 
tifmtt^m SalmcLsius videtur, h Miltonio petitus, quamvis acer sit, 
^ sedulus calumniarum vindex. Ejus partes, impar licet, suS" 
cepi tamen/' &c. For himself and both the combatants he says, 
** Noft ego in injurias et maledicta descendam, Miltoni sequutus 
exemplum : ludimagistrorum, et muliertim inter se altercantmm, 
eonsHetudo est ; non eruditorum, qudles Sabnasius eft Miltonins," 



136 SOME. Account of the life 

hiid : " Carolus I. a securi et celdsno Miltonii yin-' 
dicatui^.'' And in 1653, at Leydem: " Caspar! 
Ziegleri Lipsieiisis circa Regicidium Anglorum exer- 
citationes. . Accedit Jacobi Schalleri Dissertatio ad 
Idcd^queedam Miltonu' Ziegler has thought prcn 
per ,thus to insult the great poet : " Jam ver6> in 
dictis S. Scripturee interpolandis et enervandis, quan- 
tus artifex est Miltonus ! Jesuitis felicior, ipso 
Diabolo auektcior r And addresses this Ad Lecto- 
rem Benevolum ! Schaller is not disposed to abuse. 

From the Salmasian controversy we now return 
to Milton in the exercise of other official employ- 
ments , 



i€ 



1650-1. Feb. 10. Ordered, that the * way of 



p. 2» He distributes the contents of his little book into seven 
answers to as many charges brought against King Charles L by 
Milton. Among other hasty assertions, he describes the poet as 
having dismissed his wife through jealousy. The title describes 
the book as printed '^ Dublini, apud Liberum Correctorem/ Via 
Regia, sub signo Solutae Fascis." small 12mo. 118 pages. 

" See the published Litem SenatHs &c. of Milton, making 
inquiries of thb person as to the object of his mission ; his powers 
or character, whether of ambassador^ or agent, or envoy, &c. 
*^ Intemuntio PortugalliOy* the letter not dated ; but it must have 
been after Dec. 24, 1650, because Bradshawe^ in a letter of that 
date says, '' we are busied with preparing reception for embassa- 
dors ; one from Portugall being upon his way from Southampton 
hither, 'the Parliament according to his desyre having sent him 
their safe-conduct, &c. Some thought,, it would have been fitt 
to have knowne of the Portugall Minister, whether he had been 
furnished with power to have treated touching satisfaction for 
damages &c. done to this nation^ and to have seen a copy of his 



-AND WRITINGS OF MILTQN. :: 



13*? 



treating with; the PubMqpie Minister of Portugall be 
by a Cominit'tee of the Councell^ consisting of Such 
a number as the Councell shall thinke fitt,^in refer- 
ence to the quality of the said Minister. 



€€ 



That Mr. Milton^ the Secretarye for Forreigne 
Languages bee appointed to attend the Committee 
at their meetings^ and that Joseph Frost be employed 
for siich writing as the' Committee shall . have occa- 
sion for in this business* 

• • * T .- • 

'' 1650-1. Feb. 18. Ordered, that Mr. John Mil- 
ton be Secretary for the Forreigne Languages for 
the time of the Councell. * 

' " 1650-1. March 6^ Ordered, that it be referred 
to the Committee of Examinations to viewe over 
Mr. Milton's * booke, and give' order for reprinting 
of it, if they thinke fitt. > 

credentialls, before a safe-conduct granted/' &c. Letters of 
State, ut supr. among Milton's Papers, 1743, p. 39. ^ Sir 
Henry Vane too, in a letter dated Dec. 28, 1650, observes 
that *^ the Parliament had appointed a Committee to con- 
sider whether the Portugall envoye shall be heard .in the 
House, or at a Conmiittee, enclining rather unto the latter.'^ 
Ibid. p. 41. 

* The Iconochstes : th6 second edition of which with addi- 
tions is said to bear the date of 1650. See Baron's edition of it, 
1770. Pref. p. 1. But 1650-1 is the true date, though 1650 be 
alleged, in the title-page.; and then in 1651 came out the answer 
to it, entitled KiKiav 'AicXaaroc; as upon another reprint of it in 
iiii^ Prose- Works, in 1692, an answer -called Vindicic^ CarotiiuB 
appeared. 



138 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

*' 1651. March 27. Ordered, that the letters that 
are to be sent to the Ambassadour of Spain shall be 
sent unto hun by Mr. Milton. 

*' 1651. March 28. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
doe translate the Inter cur sus Magntis, which he is 
to have from §lir Henry Vane. 

^' 1651. April 4. Ordered, that such dispatches 
as come to this Councell from forreigne parts, in any 
forreigne tongue, are to bee translated for the use of 
the Councell. 

'^ 1651. April 10. Ordered, that Mr. Vaux bee 
sent unto, to lett him know that hee is to forbeare 
the remoreing of Mr. Milton out of his lodgings' in 
Whitehall, untill Sir Henry Mildmay and Sir Gilbert 
Pickering shall have spoken with the Committee 
concerning that businesse. 

^' 1651. April 23. Ordered, that the paper, now 
read, to be sent to the Minister of Portugall, bee 
translated into Latin ; and the English copie to bee 
signed by Mr. Frost, and sent unto him. 

" 1651. May 16. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
repaire to the PuUique Minister of Portugall, «ad, 
desire of him, from the Councell, a lyst of the names 
of such persons as hee desires to carrie with him as 
his* retinue, that the same may bee affixed to his 
passe. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 139 

r '* 1651. May 30. Ordered, that Mr. Milton doe 
translate the Petition of Alderman ^ Dethick, and 
the Letter of the CounceU to the Spanish Ambas* 
sador, into Latin, that the same may be sent to the 
sayd Ambassador, according to former order. 

'^ 1651. June 11. Ordered, that lieutenant Gen. 
Fleetwood, Sir John Trevor, Mr. Alderman Allen, 
and Mr. Chaloner, or anie two of them, bee ap- 
pointed a Committee to goe from this CounceU to 
the Committee of Parliament for Whitehall, to ac- 
quaint them with the case of Mr. Milton, in regard 
of their positive order for his speedie remove out of 
his lodgings in Whitehall ; and to endeavour with 
them, that the said Mr. Milton may bee continued 
where hee is, in regard of the emplojrment which hee 
is in to the CounceU, which necessitates him to re- 
side neere the CounceU." 

By his biographers MUton has been usuaUy repre* 
sented, as removing from his apartments in Scotland- 
yard, (caUed in the preceding orders, his lodgings in 
Whitehall,) on account of his health being impaired. 
PhiUips, his nephew, here hesitates, however, in his 
narrative. '^ From his apartment in Scotland-yard,'* 
he says, " whether Milton thought it not healthy, or 
otherwise convenient for his use, or whatever else 
was the reason, he soon afker took a pretty garden- 

y'See the Litene Oliverii Prot, dated May 1656, where ano- 
ther petition of Dethick, then lord mayor, is part of the subject 
of a letter to the king of France. 



140r SOME ACCOUNT OF .THfe LIFE 

house in Petty^Fi^arice iii'Westmiiister/ next dooir'to 
the lord Scudamore's' opening into ' St. cJames^'s 
Park/' The reason ^of his removal is explained in 
the' order of. Council, which has jiist been cited f 
with which Phillips was^ evidently unacquainted; 
We follow him then to Ws garden-house, in which 
he continued till within a few weeks of the Restora- 
tion. \ . : , 

From June till December 1651 no entry, relating 
to him, occurs in the Council-book. On the 29tK 
of the latter month, it is ordered, ^^ that Mn Mil^ 
tori he continued Secretarie for Forreig7ie Lan^ 
guages to this Councell for this yeare to comer 
In this interval of six montiis, he was suffering Uhder 
the near approach of total blindness, the symptoms 
of which he has minutely described, in 1654, to his 
friend Leonard Philaras ; adding, ^^t his left eye 
began to fail some years before the other. Of 
that feye he is accordingly said to have lost the use 
in 1651. But he still exercised the duties of his sta-^ 
tion; in which/ however^ about this time, the ne- 
phew, whom we have just seen as a controversialist 
in behalf of his uncle, probably became, in the qua^ 
lity of clerk, a considerable assistant; ' ' 

" 1651-2. Jan. 2. Ordered, that Mr. Milton dot^ 
prepare a Letter in Latine, of the substance of what 



* See the note, in a subsequent page, on the order of July 29^ 
1652. . ,. . J 



: AND WRITINOS OF MILTON. ,141 

was now r^ad here in English, to be * sent ;to ihe 
Duke, of .Tusicajiy> to be brought, to the: CouiaceH, to 
1^ there read,, fox the approbation of the Councell. 



'' 1651-2. Jan. 23. Ordered, that Mr. Milton 
doe iti^k^ a translate of the paper this day sent' in 
to the Cpuncell fropi the lords ambassadors, of ^the 
Jligh, ai)d. Mighty Lords, the States Generajl.of the 
United Provinces ; which the Cpmipitteq for Foreign 
Affaires are to take into consideration, and prepare 
an answer thereto, to be reported to the CounceU. 

'' 1651-2. March 3. Ordered, that the Letter, 
now read, which is prepared to be ** sent to the 
Qiieen of Sweden along.with the agent intended to 

> .... , , . . . 

* See the published Literie Senates &c. of Milton, 'f Parla- 
mentum Reipub. Angl. &c. Duci Etruriee salutem." Signed, 
W." Lenthall, Speaker, &c. and dated Jan. 20, 1651, (i. e. 
1651-2.) 

* See the published LitertB Senates &c. of Milton, Pari. Reip. 
Angl. Christinee Suecorum, &c. Rejginse. Dat. Westmon. die — 
Mart. 1651. Whether now, or at a subsequent opportunity, he 
addressed to this fantastick lady his celebrated Verses, {Beltipo- 
tens Virgo, &c.) in the name of Cromwell, is uncertain. But 
that Milton was the author of these eight encomias.tick line.s, and. 
not Andrew Marvell, as some have contended, I think is most 
probable. Christina ceased to be queen of Sweden in 1654, and 
Marvell was not associated with Milton in the secretaryship be- 
fore 1657. The verses are indeed printed in MarvelFs Poems, 
which are said. to have b^en. printed from copies under his own 
hand-writing ; and there might have been a transcript of Milton's 
epigram, given to him perhaps after they became joint-secreta- 
ries, ^ilton also highly panegyrises Christina in his Prose- 
Works. 



142 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE UI'E 

be sent thither^ be humbly represented to the Bar<^ 
liament; and the lord Commissioner Whitelocke is^ 
desired to doQ it accordingly ; and that the copie ci 
this Letter be translated into Latine. 

'' 1651-2. March 8. Ordered, that the remainder 
of the Articles to bee offered to the Dutch ambas* 
sadors, which were not taken up this day, be taken 
up to-morrow in the aftemoone the first businesse. 

'^ That soe many of the Articles, as are already* 
passed, bee sent to Mr. Milton to be translated into 
Latine. 

'' 1651-2. March 9. Ordered, that the Articles; 
now read, in answer to the thirty-six Articles offered 
to the Councell by the Dutch ambassadours, bee 
translated into Latine by Thursday next in the 
afternoone. 

/ 

'' "^ 1652. March 31. Ordered, that the Paper, 
now prepared to be given in answer to the Spanish 
ambassadour, bee approved, translated, signed, and; 
sent to him. 



€( 



That Mr. Milton doe translate the * said Paper 



* Between this and the preceding order the appointment of 
Mr. Weckherlyn, already noticed, is given; in which there is 
nothing relating to Milton. 

^ See the Litera Senath^ &c. Ad Legatum Hispan. dat 
March 21, 1652. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 143 

out of English mto Latine^ to be sent along^ 3s a 
copie. 

*' 1652. April 7. Ordered, that the answer to 
the King of Denmarke, now read, bee approved of, 
and translated into Latine by Mr. Weckerlyn. 

" 1652. April 15. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read, to be sent to the Dutch ambassadours, bee 
approved of, and sent to Mr. Milton to be translated 
into Latine. 

'' 1652. April 21. Ordered, that the Latme let- 
ter, now read, to be sent to the Duke of Savoy, be 
approved,. faire written, signed, and sent ; and deli-r 
vered to the parties concerned. 

^' 1652. April 27. Ordered, that the Paper, 
which was read in answer to the last Paper from 
the Dutch ambassadours, be approved of, faire writ- 
ten, and signed. 

^' That the Latine translation of the Pj^er, 
now read, be approved, and sent alonge with the 
other. 

*' 1652. April 28. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read, to be given to the Dutch ambassadours by the 
Commissioners appointed to treat with them, bee 
approved of; and that it be translated into Latine, 
the English copye signed, and both Latyne and 



144 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE XIEE 

English copyes are. to bp : kept untill .they shall .be 
called for by the lord Commissioner Whitelock, 

'' 1652,. May 26. . Ordered, that the answere to 
theiPaper, delivered unto the Commissioners of the 
Councell, appointed on that behalfe/ by Monsieur 
Applebom, Publique Minister of the Queene of 
Sweden; and also; the answere to the. Queene* of 
Sweden, now reported to the CounceU from ' the 
Committee of Forreigne Affaires ; be translated into 
Latine, and humbly represented to Parliament foi* 
their approbation. 






" 1652. July 6. Ordered, that the ^ Articles .i^ow 
read, and reported from the Committee of Forreignet 
Affaires, in answere to the proposalls of the Danish 
ambassadours ; and alsoe the Articles, prepared to 
be given to the said ambassadours frpm the Cotin- 
cell ; bee approved of, and translated into Latine J 
• . . . ■ . . « i 

1652. July 13. Ordered, that Mr. Thurloe do^ 
appoint fitt persons to translate the ParUament's de- 
claration into Latine, French, and Dutch. ' • 

"1652. July 20. Memorandum, send taJVIr, 
Dugard to speake with Mr. Milton concerning the 
printing the declaration. 

^* Mem.' send to Mr. Milton the order, made on 

' ? They are in the puh\i8\ied Xiter<BSenatiis &c. of Milton.. .. 



rAND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 145 

Lord's Day last was sevennight, concerning doctor 
' Walker. 



^' 1652. July 29. Ordered, that a copie of the 
^ Declaration of Parliament, concerning the business 
of the Dutch, bee sent to each of the ambassadours 
and publique ministers in towne, and alsoe to the 
publique ministers of this Commonwealth abroad. 



(€ 



1652. Aug. 10. Ordered, that the Paper, now 



' Before this Declaration had been published, and after hosti- 
lities had taken place, one of the captains of the English fleet 
.thus addressed Cromwell : ^* My Lord, I find the most, and in- 
deed those that are best principled and most conscientious of our 
commanders, doe miuih desire some information of the justness 
of our quarrell with the Hollander, which they doe not in the 
least doubt of; yett I find them somewhat troubled and dejected 
for theyr ignorance in that poynt, &c. Your Excellencyes most 
faithful servant, Will. Penn. From, on board the Tryumph 
in the Downes, 2 June 1652.*' Orig, State-Letters, &c. pre- 
served by Milton, ut supr. p. 87. 

Edward Phillips, the biographer of his uncle Milton, relates a 
curious circumstance too respecting the Dutch business ; in which 
the situation of his brother John, as a clerk or assistant under 
his uncle, seems to be intended. '* Before the war broke out 
between the States of England and the Dutch," Phillips says, 
'' the Hollanders sent over three ambassadours in order to an 
accomodation ; but they returning re infectdy the Dutch sent 
away a plenipotentiary, to offer peace upon much milder terms, 
or at least to gain more time. But this plenipotentiary could not 
make such haste, but that the Parliament had procured a copy 
of their mstructions in Holland, which were delivered by our 
author to his kinsman that was then with him, to translate for 
the Council to view, before the said plenipotentiary had taken 
shipping for England," &c. Lrfe of Milton. 



146 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

read, in answer to the Paper of the Spanish ambas- 
sadour, bee approved of, translated into Latin, and 
sent to the lord ambassadour of Spaine by Sir Oliver 
Fleming. 

'^ 1652. Oct. 1. Ordered, that the Answer, now 
read, to be given to the Danish ambassadours from 
the Councell, bee approved of; and that it be trans- 
lated into Latine, and sent to the said ambassadours. 

'' 1652. Oct. 7. Ordered, that the Paper, this 
day given in to th6 Councell by the lord ambassa- 
dour from the King of Portugall, be translated by 
Mr. Milton into English, and brought in to the Coun- 
cell to-morrow afternoone. 

'' 1652. Oct. 21. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read, to bee sent to the Portugall ambassadour, bee 
approved of, translated into Latine, and carried to 
the said ambassadour by Sir OUver Fleming, Master 
of the Ceremonies. 

% 

'' 1652. Oct. 22. Ordered, that the Paper, signed 
by Mr. Speaker, to bee sent to the Danish ambassa- 
dours, bee translated into Latine, and sent unto them 
by Sir Oliver Fleming. 

" 1652. Oct. 28. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read to the Councell, to be given in to the Portugall 
ambassadour to-morrow in the afternoone by the Com- 
mittee of the Councell appointed to that purpose, bee 



AND WRITINGS OF MfLTON. 147 

translated into Latine> and delivered by them to the 
iS^ ambassadour. 



*' 1652. Nov. 3. Ordered, that the Letter, now 
read, which is to bee sent to the King of Dennmrk, 
bee approved of and translated into Latine, and of- 
fered to Mr. Speaker to bee signed by him ; and the 
lord President is desired to offer it to him. 

*' 1652. Nov. 19. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read at the CounceU, in answer to the Paper deli- 
vered in to the Coimcell from the Portugal aAibas- 
sadour, bee approved of an<J translated into Latine, 
and delivered by the Committee of this CounceU to 
the Portugal ambassadour. 

'' 1652. Dec. 1. Ordered, that Mr. Milton he 
continued in the employment he had the last yeare, 
ismd have the same allowance for it as he had the 
last yearer 

We have thus brought the great, poet to the close 
of the year 1652, in which his sight was wholly lost 
to him. For he is inhumanly upbraided with his 
blindness in Du Moulin's Regii Sanguinis Clamor, 
published in 1652 ; and in Thurloe's State-Papers, 
the fact is coupled with his celebrity, in a letter from 
the Hague, dated 20 Jtin. 1663. " Vous avez en 
Angleterre un aveugle nomme Milton, qui a le re- 
nom d'avoir bien escrit." H^ himself has * told us, 

* In his Dtfensio Secundd. 
L 2 



148 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

that Im opponents triumphantly considered his loss 
of sight as a judgement from heaven upon him for 
writing against the King ; while he solemnly appeals 
to Go4, that what he had written he believed to 
have been right and true ; and that he was influenced 
neither by ambition, nor a thirst of gain, but entirely 
by duty, and honour, and love of his country. The 
reproach was long afterwards revived, when milder 
topicks might have better suited the occasion which 
elicited it, and have suppressed before a Christian 
audience the ^ solemn utterance of an uncharitable 
and rash opinion. The fact is, Milton's eyes ' had 
been gradually failing, long before he had written or 
even thought of writing against the King, owing to 
the midnight studies of his youth ; " the wearisome 
labours and studious watchings,'* as he feelingly 
calls them, "wherein I have spent and tired out 
almost a whole youth.'* For soon after this com- 
plaint, which his Apology for Smectymnuus records, 
the dreaded evil was at hand ; and from 1644 his 
sight was on the decline. He had been cautioned 
by his physicians, while he was writing his Defence 
of the People, to desist from the task, if he valued 
the preservation of his sight ; but he was undismayed 

•* In a Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Exeter 
by Thomas Long, one of the Prebendaries, 1684, p. 14. " For 
my part," he says, " I shall like it (the Ic6n Basilikk) better for 
that which scurrilous Milton said to defame it ; viz. ' that the 
king's party admired it, and were stricken with such blindness, as, 
next to the darkness of Egypt, happened not to any people more 
gross or misleading.' For which saying, perhaps it was, that 
Milton himself was smitten with bHndness long before his death !" 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 149 

by their opinion^ and did not hesitate to prefer what 
he thought his duty to his eyes ; and, after their orbs 
were quenched, he nobly tells us, that, while he 
despised the resentment of those who rebuked his 
darkness, he did not want the charity to. forgive 
them. At the desire of his friend Leonard Philaras, 
a celebrated Athenian, and ambassadour from the 
Duke of Parma at Paris, (who had written an enco- 
mium of his Defence^ he sent him a particular ac- 
count of his calamity ; not without an expectation, 
which alas ! was never gratified, of deriving benefit 
from the opinion of Thevenot, a physician particu- 
larly distinguished as an oculist. Milton's curious 
and admirable letter, which is the fifteenth of his 
Latin epistles, has been translated by Mr. Richard- 
son and Mr. Hayley. In the more attractive lan- 
guage of the latter, I submit it to the reader, 

** As I have cherished from my childhood (if ever 
mortal did) a reverential fondness for the Grecian 
name, and for your native Athens in particular, so 
have I continually persuaded myself, that at some 
period I should receive from that city a vety signal 
return for my benevolent regard : nor has the ancient 
genius of your most noble country failed to realize 
my presage ; he has given me in you an Attick bro- 
ther^ and one most tenderly attached tome. Though 
I was known to you only by my writings, and though 
your residence was far distant from mine, you first 
addressed me in the most engaging terms by letter ; 
and afterwards coming unexpectedly to London, and 



160 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LiFE 

visiting tlie stranger, who had no eyes to see you, 
continued your kindness to me under that calamity, 
which can render me a more eligible friend to no 
one, and to many, perhaps, may make me an object 
of disregard, 

" Since, therefore, you request me not to reject 
all hope of recovering my sight, as you have an inti- 
mate friend at Paris, in Thevenot the physician, who 
excels particularly in reUeving ocular complaints, 
and whom you wish to consult concenung my eyes, 
after receiving from me such an account as may 
enable him to understand the source and symptoms 
of my disorder, I will certainly follow your kind 
suggestion, that I may not appear to reject assist- 
ance thus offered me, perhaps providentially. 

" It is about ten years, 1 think, since I perceived 
my sight to grow weak and dim, finding at the 
same time my intestines afflicted with flatulence and 
oppression. 

" Even in the morning, if I began as usual to read, 
my eyes immediately suffered pain, and seemed to 
shrink from reading, but, after some moderate bodily 
exercise, were refreshed; whenever I looked at a 
candle I saw a sort of iris around it. Not long 
afterwards, on the left side of my left eye (which 
began to fail some years before the other) a darkness 
iirose, that hid from me all things on that side; — if 
I chanced to close my right eye, whatever was be- 





AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 151 

fore me seemed diminished. — In the last three years, 
as my remaining eye failed by degrees some months 
before my sight was utterly gone, all things that I 
could discern, though I moved not myself, appeared 
to fluctuate, now to the right, now to the left. Obsti- 
nate vapours seem to have settled all over my fore- 
head and my temples, overwhelming my eyes with a 
sort of sleepy heaviness, especially after food, till the 
evening ; so that I frequently recollect the condition 
of the prophet Phineus in the Argonauticks : 

' Him vapours dark 



' Envelop'd, and the earth appeared to roll 
* Beneath him, sinking in a lifeless trance.' 

But I should not omit to say, that while I had some 
little sight remaining, as soon as I went to bed, and 
reclined on either side, a copious light used to dart 
from my closed eyes; then, as my sight grew daily 
less, darker colours seemed to burst forth with vehe- 
mence, and a kind of internal noise ; but now, as if 
every thing lucid were extinguished, blackness, either 
absolute or chequered, and interwoven as it were 
with ash-colour, is accustomed to pour itself on my 
eyes ; yet the darkness perpetually before them, as 
well during the night as in the day, seems always 
approaching rather to white than to black, admitting, 
as the eye rolls, a minute portion of light as through 
a crevice, 

" Though from your physician such a portion of 
hope also may arise, yet, as under an evil that admits 



162 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

no cure^ I regulate and tranquillize my mind^ often 
reflecting^ that since the days of darkness allotted to 
each^ as the wise man reminds us, &re many, hitherto 
my darkness, by the singular mercy of God, with the 
aid of study, leisure, and the kind conversation of my 
firiends, is much less oppressive than the deadly dark- 
ness to which he alludes. For if, as it is written,.' 
man lives not by bread alone, but by every word 
that proceeds from the mouth of God, why should 
not a man acquiesce even in this ? not thinking that 
he can derive light from his eyes alone, but esteem- 
ing himself sufficiently enlightened by the conduct 
or providence of God. 

'^ As long therefore, as He looks forward, and pro- 
vides for me as He does, and leads me backward and 
forward by the hand, as it were, through my whole 
life, shall I not cheerfiilly bid my eyes keep holiday, 
since such appears to be His pleasure ? But whatever 
may be the event of your kindness, my dear Philaras, 
with a mind not less resolute and firm than if I were 
Lynceus himself, I bid you farewell. Westminster, 
Sept. 28, 1654." 

Thus " content, though blind," he expressed him- 
self with . his usual animation. His mind, as Dr. 
Johnson remarks^ was too strong to be subdued. 
With assistance for the duties of his office indeed he 
had, * before this period, been provided ; and his 

* See th6 note on the order of July'299 1652* 



AND> WRITINGS OF MILTON. 153 

salary^ we have seen, was continued. The year 
1653, presents him not by name, in the orders of the 
Council-Book, employed as in the preceding years ; 
though, towards the close of it, he is retained in 
office with undiminished reward. And therefore in 
the following transactions, till October, we may con- 
clude that to him the letters were still sent for a 
Latin translation; a task, in which he would be 
assisted by his younger nephew. But to employ- 
ment of this description Mr. Philip Meadowes is 
also, in October, expressly delegated ; when the offi- 
cial labours of Milton, no doubt, were lightened, but 
still occasionally required, 

. *' 1652-3. Feb. 2. Ordered, that the Letter, now 
read to the Duke of ^ Venice, bee approved of, trans- 
lated into Latine, and sent to the Secretary of that 
Commonwealth, in order to be sent by him to Venice. 

'' 1652-3. Feb. 4. Ordered, that the Articles, 
now read, to be propounded to the Portugall ambas- 
sadour, bee approved of, translated into Latine, and 
delivered to the said lord ambassadour. 

*^ 1653. June 28. Ordered, that the Paper, now 
read, in answer to the Paper of the lords Deputyes 
from the United Provinces, bee approved of, trans- 
lated into Latin, and delivered unto them. 

^ See the Literoi Senat^s^ &c. in which this letter is dated in 
Dec. 1652. 



154 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" 1653. Aug. 10, Ordered, that the Answer to 
the Paper of the lord Lagerfeldt, Publique Minister 
of the Queen of Sweden, of the 3**, of August, now 
read in the Councell, bee translated into Latin, 

« 

and delivered unto the said lord Lagerfeldt by the 
Committee of the Councell to-morrow in the after- 
noone* 

'' 1653. Oct. 17. Ordered, that Mr. Philip Mea- 
dowes, now' employed by the Councell in Latin 
translations, doe alsoe assist Mr. Thurloe in the dis-> 
patch of the Forreigne businesse ; and that he have 
in consideration thereof one hundred pounds per an- 
num, to be added to the one hundred pounds per 
annum he now receives of the Councell. 

" 1653. Oct. 18. Ordered, that the Councell 
for Forreigne Affaires doe meet to-morrow morning, 
and take into consideration the several Papers which 
have been given in to this Councell from the lord 
Lagerfeldt, and what is fitt to be returned in an- 
swer to them ; and to give order for the preparing 
of such answers as they shall think fitt, and to re- 
port them to the Councell with all convenient speed ; 
and Mr. Meadowes is to be sent unto to attend that 
Committee, who are to sit to-morrow morning by 
eight of the clocke. 

" 1653. Oct. 27. Ordered, that the Recreden- 
tiall, prepared for the lord Lagerfeldt, be approved 
of, translated into Latine, and reported to the Par-f 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 155 

Uament^ in pursuance of a former order of the 
Councell. 

'' 1663, Nov. 3. Ordered, that Mr. John Mil- 
ton doe remayne in the same capacity he was in 
to the last Councell, and that he have the same 
allowance Jbr it as formerly'' 

Perhaps it was in 1653 that Milton lost his first 
wife ; and that to this circumstance may be imputed the 
diminution of official reference to him in that year. 
He was probably indulged with leave of absence. 
All his biographers say, that he had not long been 
settled in the abode, which he had chosen in 1652, 
before this lady, the pardoned Eve of his own poem, 
died in childbed, leaving him three daughters. In 
the preceding year, or in 1650, he had lost an in- 
fant son. To a second wife he was not united be- 
fore 1656. She also died in childbed, and ^ within 
a year after their marriage. Milton honoured her 
memory with a Sonnet. She was the daughter of 
Captain Woodcock of Hackney, and probably re- 
lated to Francis Woodcock, one of the Assembly of 
Divines. 

What remains to be told of Milton from the Coun- 
cil-Book, now follows. 

^ " Mrs. Catharine Milton, wife to John Milton, Esq. buried, 
Feb. 10, 1657." Bishop Rennet's MS. Collections for St. Mar- 
garet's Parish, Westminster, cited by Mr. Malcolm in his enter- 
taining Hist, of London, vol. iv. p. 128. 



156 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" 1653-4. Feb. 1. Ordered, that Friday next in 
the afternoone be assigned for receiving from Mr. 
Secretary Thurloe what he shall offer in reference to 
an establishment of the clerks and officers to attend 
the Councell. 

*' 1653-4. Feb. 3. According to an order of 
Wednesday last, Mr. Secretary Thurloe did this 
day present to the Councell an establishment of 
under-clerkes and officers for attending and dispatch 
of the affaires of the Councell, viz. 

£. s. d. 

*' Mr. Philip Meadowes, Latine Se- ") ^^^ ^ ^ 
cretary, at per annum 3 

" The Seijeant at Armes, at twenty ^ 0/55 n /^ 
shillings per diem 3 

*' Mr. Gualter Frost, Treasurer fori 
the Councell's Contingencies, at perr 400 
annum ^ 

*' Mr. Milton. [[No salary is specified.] 

'* Seaven Under-Clerks, &c. 

" 1654. Oct. 19. The English and Latin draught 
of a Letter from his Highnesse the lord Protector 
to the States Provinciall of Zealand was this day 
read. Ordered, that it be offered to his Highnesse, 
as the advice of the Councell, that the said Letter 
(according to the Latin copie) be signed by his 
Highnesse, and sent to the said States Provinciall, 
in answer of theirs to his Highnesse of the 7th of 
August last. 



: AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 157 

'' 1655. April 17, The Councell resumed the 
debate upon the Report made from the Committee 
of the Councell, to whom it was referred to con- 
sider of the establishment of the Couricell's contin- 
gencies. 

^' Ordered> that the salary of fower hundred 
pounds per annum graunted to Mr. Gualter Frost, 
as Treasurer for the Councell's contingencies, be re- 
duced to three hundred pounds per annum, and be 
continued to be paid after that proportion till fur- 
ther order, 

'^ That the former yearly salary of Mr. John 
Milton, of two hundred eighty eight pounds 8fc. 
formerly charged on the CouncelVs contingencies , 
he reduced to one hundred and fiftie pounds per 
annum, and paid to him during his life out of his 
Highnesses Exchequer. 

" That it be oflfered to his Highness, as the ad- 
vice of the Councell, that several warrants be issued 
under the Great Scale for authorising and requiring 
the Commissioners of his Highness's treasury to pay, 
by quarterly pajrments, at the receipt of his High- 
ness's Exchequer, to the several officers, clerkes, and 
other persons afternamed, according to the propor- 
tions formerly allowed them for their salaryes, in 
respect of their severall and respective offices and 
imployments, or till his Highness or the Councell 
shall give other order : That is to say. 



158 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

*' To John Thurloe Esq. Secretary ^ 

of State, for his own fee. after ther 

/ . I per annum. 

proportion of J 

" For the fee of Mr. Phillip Mea-^ 
dowes. Secretary for the Latin Tongue, r 
after the rate of 3 ^ " 

" For the salary of Clerkes attendmg the 

office, at 6^. %d. p diem apiece," &c. 

From this time. Dr. Sumner says, " " it is pre- 
sumed that Milton ceased to be employed in publick 
business, as his name does not again occur in the 
Books of the .Council of State, which continue in 
uninterrupted succession till the 2nd of September, 
1658, the day preceding the death of Cromwell.** 
The reduction too of Milton's salary from nearly 
three hundred pounds to half that sum '* must have 
been intended," it has also been urged, ^^ as a r^- 
tiring pension in consideration of past services ; 
as is eyident from the appointment of a successor, 
(Mr. Meadqwes,) at a reduced salary, to discharge the 
duties of his c^ce." I venture to think, however, that 
Milton still retained the name and the divided duty 
of the secretaryship. We have proof, that long after 
the date of April 1655, his matchless pen was offi- 
cially required, and was ready. Witness his elegant 
and feeling letters written in the name of the Pro- 

■* Introduction to Milton*s Treatise on Christian Doctrine^ 
1825, p. ii. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 159 

tector throughout that year, and the three following. 
And if such splendid evidence of his talents thus 
publickly employed had been wanting^ he is also 
founds after the death of Oliver, remunerated for his 
services, which then had been divided with those of 
Andrew Marvell, as before they had been with those 
of Philip Meadowes, not with the reduced sum of 
one hundred and fifty pounds, but with ° that of 
two hundred. Hence the letters also, in 1658 and 
1659, written in the name of the Protector Richards 
To him likewise had been sent the Articles of the 
Swedish Treaty, as Whitlock informs us, in 1656, 
in order to a Latin translation of them ; when, it is 
curious to observe the sequel, the Swedish ambassador 
said, '^ "" that it seemed strange to him there should 
be none hut a blind man capable of putting a few 
articles into Latine ; The employment of Mr. Milton 
was excused to him, because several other servants 
of the Council, fit for the imployment, were then 
absent In the year too of his supposed retirement, 
(1655,) he produced the ^ Manifesto of Oliver, de- 
claring the reasons of the war vrith Spain, a per- 
formance rightly adjudged to him. Dr. Newton has 
observed, both on account of the peculiar elegance 
of the style, and because it was his province to write 

" See the order, presently cited, dat. Oct. 25, 1659. 

*» Mem. p. 633. ed. 1682. 

' The Latin copy was first printed in 1655, afterwards in the 
collection of Milton's Prose- Works, and was published in an Eng- 
lish translation in 1738, with Thomson's Britannia added to it; 
and of this translation there were two editions in the same year. 



160 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFK 

such things as Latin Secretary. Such was the con- 
tinuation of his activity in the preceding year, in 
which he had published his " Dcfensio Secunda pro 
Populo Anglicano, contra infaraem Ubellum anony- 
mum, cui titulus. Regit Sanguinis Clamor ad 
caelum adversus Parricidas Anglicanos." 

Of the book, which had excited a reply so cele- 
brated as the Defensio Secunda of Milton, some 
notice is necessary. The author was Peter du Mou- 
lin the younger, afterwards prebendary of Canter- 
bury. He had transmitted his papers to Salmasiiis, 
by whom they were entrusted, for pubUeation, to 
Alexander Morus. Du Moulin had been already in 
too much danger not to know the necessity of con- 
cealment. In the late King's service he had written 
his " Apologie de la Rehgion Reformee, et de la 
Monarchic, et de 1' Eglise d' Angleterre," &e. which, 
he has himself recorded, " '* was begun at York, 
during the siege, in a roome whose chimney was 
beaten downe by the cannon while I was at my 
work ; and, after the siege and my expubion from 
the rectory at Wheldrake, it was finisht in an imder- 
ground cellar, where I lay hid to avoyd warrants 
that were out against me from Committees to ap- 
prehend vie and carry vie prisoner to Hull.— 
Much about the same time I set out my Latin 



'' From the copy of his book in the Library of Canterbury 
Cathedral, numbered L. iv. 50. ; the first five leaves of which 
contain a manuscript relation, written with his own hand, of his 
services in the cause of royalty. 



AND WRITINGS OP MILTON. 161 

poeme Ecclesiie Gemitus with a long epistle to all 
Christians in defence of the King and the Church of 
England ; and two years after Clamor Regit Sanr 
guinis ad coelumr Here is a proofs that Milton 
had mistaken the publisher for the author. Milton^ 
in this Second Defence has treated Morus both with 
severity and ridicule. Morus replied in his Fides 
Puhlica, into which were interwoven, with the vain 
hope of blunting the keenness of Milton's satire, tes- 
timonies of character, and a disavowal of the book. 
Du Moulin was now again in great danger. His 
dismayed publisher gave his enemies the means of 
discovering him; but they suffered him to escape, 
rather than they would publickly convict Milton of 
his errour. Milton, on being informed that Du 
Moulin, and not Morus, was the author of the 
Clamor, is said to have replied, '* ^ Well ! that was 
all one, he having writt it piis Second Defence^, it 
should goe into the world ; one of them was as bad 
as the other.** Morus, however, is still the object of 
his attack in his Author is pro se Defensio, pub- 
lished in 1655, as a reply to the Fides Puhlica. 
Morus ventured to rejoin in a Supplementum, which 
was soon silenced by a brief Responsio from Milton ; 
and the controversy closed. 

Associated with Milton in the office of Latin Secre- 
tary, Andrew Marvell now presents himself to our 
notice in 1657 ; before which time, he tells us that he 

^ Aubrey's Life of Milton. 

M 



Iffifi SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" * never had any, not the remotest, relation to pub- 
lick niatters, nor correspondence with the persona 
then predominant ;" but that he then " enter'd into 
an imployment, for which he was not altogether im- 
proper, and which he considered to be the most inno- 
cent and inoffensive towards his IVlajesties affairs of 
any in that usurped and irregular Government to 
which all men were then exposed. And this he 
accordingly discharg'd without disobliging any one 
person ; there having been opportunity and endea- 
vours, since his Majesties happy return, to have dis- 
cover'd had it been otherwise." 



Yet an original letter firom Milton to Bradshawe, 
in behalf of Marvell, carries us back to the com- 
mencement of the year 1653 ; wliich, however, ap- 
pears not at that time to have been effectual as to 
its object ; Mr. Philip Meadowes, as we have seen, 
being then and in the two succeeding years named 
in the Orders of the Council as Latin Secretary, 
while of Marvell within that period there is no men- 
tion. But, to this application of Milton, Marvell, 
no doubt, owed his subsequent introduction into 
office. The letter, endorsed For the Honourable 
the Lord Bradshaw, remtuns in his Majesty's 
State-Paper Office, and was discovered while these 
pages were passing through the press by the gentle- 
man, to whose zeal and accuracy I have been in- 
debted for copies of the literary and poUtical curi- 



' Rehearsall Traiispros'd, Sec. Part, i 




AND WRITINGS OP MILTON. 163 

oeities which the present and the preceding section 
have exhibited^ Mr. Lemon^ the deputy keeper of the 
State-Papers; permitted as he has been, thus to ex* 
ercise his kindness, by the concurrent condescension 
and promptness, which I am also proud to acknow* 
ledge, of Mh Secretary Peel and Mr. Henry Hobhouse. 

'' My Lord, 

^^ But that it would be an interruption to 
y* publick, wherein yo'' studies are perpetually im- 
ployed, I should now and then venture to supply 
this my enforced absence w^** a line or two, though 
it were my onely busines, and that would be noe 
dight one, to make my due acknowledgments of y' 
many favoures; w'''' I both doe at this time, and 
ever shall : and have this farder, w*''* I thought my 
parte to let you know of, that there will be w'^ you 
to morrow, upon some occasion of busines; a Gentle- 
man whose name is Mr. Marvile ; a man whom 
both by report, and y* converse I have had w*** him, 
of singular desert for y* State to make use of; who 
alsoe offers himselfe if y"* be any imployment for 
him. His father was y' Minister of Hull, and he 
hath spent foure yeares abroad in Holland, France, 
Italy, and Spaine, to very good purpose, as I be- 
leeve, and y"" gameing of those four languages; be* 
Bide» he is a schoUer, and weU read in y Latin and 
Greek authors ; and noe doubt of an approved con^ 
versation, for he com's now lately out of y"" house of 
y* Lord Fairefax, who was Generall, where he was 
intrusted to give some instructions in y^ Languages 

m2 



164 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to y* Lady his Daughter. If upon y* death o£ Mr. 
* Wakerleyy y' Councell shall thinke y* I shall need 
any assistant in y* performance of my place (though 
for my p* I find noe encumbrances of that w*** be- 
longs to me^ except it be in point of attendance at 
conferences w*** Ambassadors^ w*'** I must confesse, 
in my Condition, I am not fit for,) it would be hard 
for them to find a Man soe fit every way for y* pur- 
pose as this Gentleman, one who I beleeve in a short 
time would be able to doe them as good service as 
Mr. Ascan. This, my Lord, I write sinceerely, with- 
out any other end than to performe my dutey. to y' 
Publick, in helping them to an able servant; lapng 
aside those jealosies, and that emulation, w""^ mine 
owne condition might suggest to me, by bringing in 
such a coadjutor ; and remaine. 
My Lord, 

Yo''. most obliged, and 
'' FaithfiiU Servant, 

.. T li/r (Feb. y%21, 

'' John Milton. < |^^q » 

Of Marvell's regard for Milton, the verses, usually 
prefixed to Paradise Lost, are an elegant testimony. 
In the volume, from which I have made the preceding 
citation, are several anecdotes of Milton and his friends, 
not generally known, as Mr. Warton long since dis- 
covered. This second part of Marvell's Rehearsal 
Transpros'd, published in 1673, is an attack on Dr. 

* Weckherlyn. 






AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 166 

Samuel Parker, well known for his tergiversation with 
the times ; and of whom it was once said that he 
*' " had wit enough to colour any thing though never 
so foule, and impudence enough to affirm any thing 
though never so false.* When Marvell attacked him 
with sarcastick and successful raillery, Parker was 
lUi antipuritan in the extreme. JVf arvell thus ex- 
presses his honest indignation against Parker for tra- 
ducing his Mend Milton, p. 377. " You do three 
times at least in your Reproof, and in your Trans- 
proser Rehearsed, well nigh half the book thorow, 
run upon an author J. M., which does not a little 
offend me. For why should any other man's reputa- 
tion suffer in a contest betwixt you and me ? But it 
is because you resolved to suspect that he had a 
hand in my former book, [[the first part of The Re- 
hearsall, published in 1672,] wherein, whether you 
deceive yourself or no, you deceive others extreamly. 
For by chance I had not seen him of two years be- 
fore; but, after I undertook writing, I did more 
carefully avoid either visiting or sending to him, lest 
I should any way involve him in my consequences. 
And you might have understood, or I am sure your 
friend, the author of the Common Places, could 
have told you, (he too had a slash at J. M. upon my 
account,) that had he took you in hand, you would 
have had cause to repent the occasion, and not 
escaped so easily as you did under my Trans- 
prosal. — But because in your 116. p. yoju are so 

• Preface to " A Caveat to the Cavaliers," 1661. 




SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 




particular you know a friend of ours, &c. intending 
THAT J. M. and his answer to Salmasius, I think it 
here seasonable to acquit my promise to you in giring" 
the reader a short trouble concerning my first ac- 
quaintance with you. J. M. was, and is, a man of 
as great learning and sharpness of wit as any man. 
It was his misfortune, living in a tumultuous time, 
to be tossed on the wrong side ; and he writ, Jiag- 
rante hello, cert^n dangerous treatises. — At his 
Majesty's happy return, J. M. did partake, as you 
yourself did, for all your huffing, of his royal cle- 
mency, and has ever since expiated himself in a re- 
tired silence. It was after that, I well remember it, 
that, being one day at his house, I there first met 
you, and accidentally. — Then it was, when you, as I 
told you, wandered up and down Morefields, astrolo- 
gizing upon the duration of his Majesty's government, 
that you frequented J. M. incessantly, and haunted 
his house day by day. What discourse you there 
used, he is too generous to remember. But he never 
having in the least provoked you, for you to insult 
thus over his old age, to traduce him by your scara- 
muccios, and in yonr own person, as a schoolmaster, 
who was bom and hath lived more ingenuously and 
liberally than yourself; to have done all this, and lay 
at last my simple book to his charge, without ever 
taking care to inform yourself better, which you had 
so easy an opportunity to do : — it is inhumanly and 
inhosjHtably done ; and will, I hope, be a warning to 
all others, as it is to me, to avoid (I will not say) such 
a Judas, but a man that creeps into all companies to 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 167 

Jeer, trypan, and betray them." Martell, however, 
was mistaken in attributing the Transproser Re^ 
hears' d to Parker ; which, as Mr. Warton remarks, 
was written by R. Leigh, formerly of Queen's Col- 
lege, Oxford, but then a player. It was printed at 
O^ord in 1673, ^^for the Assignes of Hugo Gro- 
tius, and Jacob Van Harmine, on the North-side 
qf the Lake Lemane r A more scurrilous or inde- 
cent publication has seldom disgraced the press. 
The contemptible writer ridicules the Paradise 
Lost, because it is written in blank verse, p. 30 ; 
and for the same reason calls Milton a schismatich in 
poetry, p. 43. He describes the poet as groping 
for a beam of light in that sublime apostrophe, 
f' Hail, holy Lightl" &c. p. 43. And he reproaches 
him as a Latin Secretary and an English School- 
master, p. 128. With the obscenities of this scrib- 
bler I will not soil these pages. I must add that 
the Reproof in which Milton is called a friend of 
ours, was certainly written by Parker. But Parker's 
friendly voice was afterwards changed. Neither Mil- 
ton nor Marvell, however, lived to read the abuse, 
which Parker bestows on both of them in his pos- 
thumous Commentarii std temporis ; of which Mr. 
Warton has given the following translated passage, 
relating to the pamphleteers against the royal party 
at Cromwell's accession. 

*^ Among these calumniators was a rascal, one 
Marvell. As he had spent his youth in debauchery, 
so, from natural petulance, he became the tool of 



168 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

factipn in the quality of satyrist : yet with more scur- 
rility than wit, and with a mediocrity of talents, but 
not of ill-nature. Turned out of doors by his father, 
expelled the university, a vagabond, a ragged and 
hungry poetaster, kicked and cudgelled in every ta- 
vern, he was daily chastised for his impudence. At 
length he was made under secretary to Cromwell^ 
by the procuration of Milton, to whom he was a very 
acceptable character, on account of a similar male- 
volence of disposition," &c. B. iv. p. 275. This 
passage was perhaps written alxtut the year 1680. 
Paradise Lost, Mr. Warton adds, had now been 
published thirteen years, and its excellencies must 
have been fully estimated and sufficiently known; 
yet in such terms of contempt, or rather neglect, 
was its author now described, by a popular writer, 
certainly a man of learnings and very soon after- 
wards a bishop. Parker became indeed a bishop ; 
but he was also the obtruded president of Mag- 
dalene College, Oxford; the minion of a perish 
king. 

The salary of Marvell was the same as Milton s ; 
that is, in its last arrangement. For at a former 
period the allowance to the latter was of " higher 
mood.** The orders of Cromwell in 1653-4, and of 
the Council in 1659, are curious illustrations of these 
circumstances ; and with them what relates to Mil- 
ton, as Latin Secretary, closes. They are entries in 
the books of the Money Warrants issued by order 
of the Council of State. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 169 

" 1653-4. Feb. 3. Oliver, P. 

" These are to will and require you, out of such 
moneys as are in or shall come to your hands for 
the use of the Councell, to pay unto the severall 
persons, on the other side endorsed, the severall 
sums to their names mentioned, making in all the 
summ of one thousand seventy eight pounds, twelve 
shillings, and a penny, being soe much due unto 
them on the 1st of January last, intended for their 
severall salaryes ; of which you are not to fayle, and 
for which this shall be your warrant. Given at 
Whitehall the 3d of Feb. 1653. 



€t 



" To Mr. Gualter Frost. 



Mr. Secretary Thurloe for one^ 



£• s. d. 



71 



quarter from the 2d of Oct. to the > 200 
1st of Jan. last included j 

" Mr. Jessop, 17 Oct. to the 1st of ^ ^^ ^ ^ 
Jan. incl. 77 dayes 3 

'^ Mr. Gualter Frost, as Secretary 
Assistant to the said Councell of State, 
from the same time to the 12th Dec. 
71 dayes 

'^ Mr. John Milton for halfe a 
yedrCy from 4/A July to the first of\ 
Jan. last inclusive, at \hs. \^\d. 
per diem 

^' Mr. Philip Meadowes, for one ? ka a a 
quarter from the 2d Oct. to 1st Jan. 3 

'' The Clarkes, &c. 



144 9 3 



170 • SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

1659. Oct. 25, A similar Warrant for pay- 
ment of the Council of State's contingencies to the 
22d of Oct. 1659. 



£. 


8. 


d. 


234 


7 


6 


234 


7 


6 


88 


1 







86 








86 


12 





86 


12 


0.** 



! Richard Deane . . 
Henry ScobeU . . 
William Robinson 
" At 11. per diem Richard Kingdon . 
*^ At 200/. per C John Milton . . . 
annum each i Andrew Marvill . 



Here then is the last payment for official employ- 
ment to Milton; of whom his nephew about the 
same time says, that '^ a Uttle before the kmg's 
coming over he was sequestered from his office of 
Latin secretary, and the salary thereunto belong- 
ing/* The division of the secretaryship had now 
allowed him leisure to project, among other literary 
considerations, the great and imperishable memorial 
of his fame. Aubrey tells us, that about two years 
before the Restoration Milton began his Paradise 
Lost ; and Anthony Wood, from "" Aubrey, relates, 
that " being dispensed with, by having a substitute 
allowed him, and sometimes instructions sent home' 
to him, from attending his office of secretary, Milton 
began that laborious work of amassing out of all the 
classick authors, both in prose and verse, a Latin 
Thesaurus, to the emendation of that done by Ste- 
phens ; THE COMPOSING OF Paradise Lost ; and the 

' See before what is said of Aubrey's Collections^ p. 13. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 171 

framing a Body of Divinity out of the Bible." 
Others ascribe to him, during the happy hours which 
he had now secured for his studies, the design of 
Q0(Qtinuing a History qf his native country ; with 
which he certainly proceeded after the publication 
of Paradise Lost. Of both these in their order. 
Of the Dictionary I may observe, from Phillips,, 
tiiat the preparations which Milton had long been 
making were found so discomposed and deficient, 
'^ that they could not be ^ fitted for the press f 
while I find, however, that they afforded great 
assistance to the editors of the ' Cambridge diction- 
ai!y in 1693 : and of the Body of Divinity, long 
supposed to be irrecoverably lost^ and said to be 
finished after the Restoration, though no particular 
date is named, an account, frimished by the recent 
discovery of it in the State-Paper Office, and since 
published by the gracious command of his Majesty, 
will close the detail of Milton's writings in the fol- 
lowing pages. 

Thus employed upon gigantick plans, we find him 
within the same memorable period not averse to 



^ So Phillips relates* Aubrey says^ that he heard from the 
poet's widow, that while he was blind he was writing in the heads 
of a dictionary ; and that she gave all his papers, among which 
was this dicttonary imperfect, to his nephew Phillips. 

^ The editors acknowledge their obligation to manuscript col- 
lections in ^* three large folios, digested into an alphabetical 
order, which the learned Mr. John Milton had made/' Pref. p* 
2. col. 2. 



172 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

humbler occupations. ,He could condescend in 1658 
to the amusement of editing from a manuscript * The 
Cabinet CbwwceY of Ralegh. In 1659 he was on the 
alert in behalf of the cause he had so long served, 
and in vindication of his attachment which had been 
questioned ; publishing his Treatise of Civil Power 
in Ecclesiastical ^ Causes, and his Considerations 
touching the Means of removing Hirelings out of 
the Church. These he addressed to the Parliament 
of the Commonwealth of England. And upon the 
dissolution of the Parliament by the army, he wrote 

* Anthony Wood, in his Account of Sir Walter Ralegh,' 
names The Prince or Maxims of State by Ralegh under the year 
1642, and adds, 'tis the same with his Aphorisms of State ^ pub- 
lished by John Milton, in 1661. And again under 1658 he men- 
tions The Cabinet Council, &c. published by J. Milton aforesaid. 
Now Milton's publication is entitled " The Arts of Empire and 
Mysteries of State discabinated in Political and Polemical Apho- 
risms," &c. So that the two publications, usually mentioned by 
the biographers of the poet, are probably one and the same. The 
Arts of Empire, &c. again issued from the press in 1692. 

^ After the Treatise on these Causes was published, Milton 
was thus addressed by Mr. John Wall in a letter, dated May 26, 
1659. " I was uncertain whether your relation [as Secretary] 
to the Court (though I think a Commonwealth was more friendly 
to you than a Court) had not clouded your former light ; bui 
your last book [this Treatise] resolved that doubt, — Sir, my hum- 
ble request is, that you would proceed, and give us that other 
Tnember of the distribution mentioned in your book, viz. that Hire 
doth greatly impede Truth and Liberty." Pref. to Baron's Edit, 
of the Iconoclastes. Milton did proceed, as his republican friends 
wished, and immediately published the Considerations &c. named 
above. The Treatise &c. was republished in 1 790 with a dedi-' 
cation to Dr. Richard Price. The Considerations also were 
separately reprinted in 1723. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 173 

A Letter to a Friend concerning the Ruptures 
of the Commonwealth ; and a Brief Declaration 
of a Fr^e Commonwealth, easy to he put in prac- 
tice, . and without delay, addressed to General 
Monk. In February 1659-60 he gave to the world, 
what he hoped . might not contam '^ the last words 
of expiring liberty," his Ready and Easy Way to 
establish a Free Commonwealth, which gave rise 
both to a *" serious and a ludicrous reply; and soon 
afterwards Brief Notes upon a Sermon, preached 
in March 1659-60 hy Dr. Matthew Griffith, called 
.The Fear of God and the King. His ^prehen- 
sion of expiring liberty, as he calls it, was now 
again aroused by the sound eloquence and service- 
able zeal of the preacher ; who boldly affirmed, that 
*^ without the restitution of King Charles to his na- 
tive rights, we can in reason look for no solid settle- 
ment of religion or law, liberty or property, peace 
or plenty, honour or safety. To all these we can 
never be firmly restored but by the king, and the 
king not forced to come by his birthright as a con- 



" c 



The " Dignity of Kingship asserted in Answer to Mr. Mil- 
ton's Ready and Easy Way, &c. By G. S. A lover of Loyalty. 
Lond. 1660." The author of this serious and often severe Reply 
was probably Mr. George Searle, one of the ejected members of 
the House of Commons, and who was a writer. The burlesque 
answer was pretended to issue from Harrington's club, in order to 
point more strongly the ridicule against Mihon. But Harrington's 
club, as Mr. Warton has observed, encouraged all proposals for 
new models of government ; and Milton's intimacy with Skinner, 
one of its most distinguished members, is well known ; so that the 
remonstrance asyVom that quarter may be discredited. 



174 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

queror^ but fairly called in either by this or the next 
Parliament.*^ The angry Notes of Milton were im* 
mediately answered by L'Estrange in a pamphlet, 
insultingly denominated No Blind Guides. To 
this and the other eflPorts of Milton^ in order to pre-^ 
vent the restoration of kingly government, several 
repubUcan pens added their puny offerings. Such, 
besides the exertions of Harrington, were ^ Idea 
Democratica, or a Commonweal Platform, and A 
Model of a Democratical Government, both £Uio^ 
n3rmous productions, in 1659, and closely agreeing 
with the preceding Delineation of Milton. But 
*' the ship of the Commonwealth," to use the. ex- 
pression of Milton himself, could no longer be kept 
afloat. The gale of popular opinion was adverse^ 
Of the Usurpation there were few who were not 
eager to shake off the galling chains. And the name 
and cause of the king were now in the hearty voice 
of almost all* 

Sequestered from his office, Milton therefore quit- 
ted the house which he had occupied while he was 
Secretary, and in which he had lived eight years 
with great reputation ; visited by all foreigners of 
distinction, and by several persons of quality in his 

^ Both printed in 1659. The latter proposes that the exercise 
of the chief magistracy and administration of the government 
shall cease '' to run in the name and stile of the keepers of the 
Liberty of England by Authority of Parliament ; and shall as- 
sume the name and stile of The Senate and People of England.*' 
p. 9. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 176 

own country, particularly by the exemplary Lady 
Ranelagh, whose son had been his pupil, and to 
whom four of his familiar letters are addressed ; by 
literary friends too ; such (to follow bishop Newton's 
list) as Marvel, and Lawrent^e, and Needham, and 
Skinner ; the last of whom had been his scholar, and 
is called by Wood an ingenious young gentleman ; 
and of whom more will be said with the description 
of Milton's Body of Divinity. Needham by the 
same authority is termed an old crony of Milton ; 
and perhaps their intimacy commenced with the in- 
quiry which Milton was * directed to make, in regard 
to the Mercurius Pragmaticus, of which Need[ham 
was the writer; and which he ceased to conduct^ 
being persuaded by Lenthal and Bradshawe to change 
his party, and to publish the Mercurius PoUticus ; 
*^ ^ siding with the rout and scum of the people, and 
making them weekly sport of all that was noble in 
this new miscellany of intelligence." Even by some 
of the antiregal party this person was despised, and 
* accused of lying as well as railing : so that we 
wonder at the acquaintance of such a man, however 
considerable his talents were, with Milton. But with 
Lawrence, " the virtuous son of a virtuous father," 
as Milton calls him in his twentieth Sdnnet, several 
circumstances led to an early and continued inter- 
course* The family of Lawrence Uved in the neigh- 

* See the Order of Council, before cited, p. 1 11, 
' A. Wood, Ath. Ox. 

« Second Narrative of the Late Parliament, so called, &c. 
1658, p. 28. 



176 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

bourhood of Horton, where the father of Milton re- 
sided. Lawrence gave to the world a treatise, in 
1646, upon a subject of which Milton was evidently 
fond, " Of our Communion and Warre with An^ 
gels ;" and we may reasonably suppose, that in the 
friendly visits, to which the Sonnet of Milton alludes, 
the authority of the " ** Tuscan muse" upon the 
guardianship of angels often formed a part of their 
conversation; that Milton perhaps acknowledged 
the hints he had thence derived to some of his earli- 
est strains ; and that the design of Lawrence was 
probably thus encouraged. Of the Council, to which 
Milton was Secretary, the father of Lawrence too at 
length was President ; but he is then described, cer- 
tainly not in unison with the attribute given him by 
Milton, as " ' signing many an arbitrary and illegd 
warrant for the carrying of honest faithful men to 
prisons and exile without cause ;" and is at the same 
time called " a gentleman of a courtly breed, and a 
good trencher-man !" 

Aubrey says, that several ^ foreigners had been 

*• The Addresses of the Italian Muse ALV Angelo Custode are 
frequent. See " Rime del M. A. M. Negrisoli, Vineg. 1552," 
p. 129, and "Sonetti di Diversi Accademici Sanesi, Sien. 1608," 
pp. 136, 200, 239, &c. I might also add the frequent intro- 
duction of a Spirit or Angel as the annunziatore to the early 
Italian dramas. Compare Milton's Verses addressed to Leonora 
Baroni, his prologue to ComuSy and the same poem throughout. 

* Second Narrative, &c. ut supr. p. 2. 

^ " He was mightily importuned to goe into Fr. and Italie ; 
foreigners came much to see him, and much admired him ; and 



•AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 177 

induced to visit England^ in order cMefly to see 
Cromwell and Milton. In the discharge of his office 
Milton indeed had acquired the highest credit both 
abroad and at home ; while as the author of the ex- 
quisite strains in Lycidas, 9XiA. Comus, and UAUe^ 
gro, and // Penseroso, he was now '^ of small re- 
gard to.see to.** Even the hyperbolical * panegyrist 
of Cromwell^ in 1659^ describing his bounty to all 
*^ the virtuous professors of poetry,'* selects as an 
instance, " one ;for all," not Milton, but Waller* 
Waller indeed had newly bestowed the labour of 
melodious panegyrick upon the death of the Usurper* 
And with Waller's character as a poet the following 
eulogium of this panegyrist in prose has intermixed^ 
what rarely has been observed, a taste for poetry in 
the gloomy and fanatick patron ; which is a curiosity 
worth citing. ^' " What obliging favours has he 
(Cromwell) cast upon our English Virgil here, I 
mean Mr. Edm, Waller ; and merely for that, (his 
poetry,) and his other virtues; having, in some other 
jrelations, little capacity enough to deserve themj 

offered him great prefemients tx) come over to them." Aubrey. 
The collections for the Life of Milton by Aubrey, which are pre- 
tserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, are often cited in 
Mr. Warton's edition of Milton's Smaller Poems; and are 
printed entire in the Letters of eminent persons, &c. 1813, and 
Mr. Godwin's Lives of Edw, and J, Phillips, 1815. 

^ H. Dawbeny, who published " Historic and Policie reviewed 
itf the heroick transactions of Oliver, late Lord Protector, &c. 
declaring his steps to princely perfection, as they are drmun in 
lively parallels to the ascents of the great patriarch Moses, in 
thirty degrees to the height of honour. Lond. 1659." < 

^ Dawbeny*s Hist. p. 2t)7. 

N 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



My lord Juts sufficiently showed his own most 
excellent judgement in poetry, by his approbation 
and election of him, to be the object of his great 
goodness, who is clearly one of the ablest and most 
flourishing wits that ever handled a pen ; and he 
does it with that natural dexterity, and promptness, 
as if he had begun to write so soon as to live : And 
whoever considers the worth of his writings, cannot 
but wonder how so many graces and beauties, which 
others labour for and never attain to, encrease in him 
as in a soil natural for wit and eloquence. If he 
goes about to translate any thing, the dead authors 
themselves are ready to rise out of their graves, and 
request him to exchange his Englished copies for 
their originals. In all his own things his concep- 
tions are unimitable, his language so sweet and po- 
lite that no ice can be smoother. His sentences are 
always full of weight, his arguments of force ; and 
his words glide along like a river, and bear perpe- 
tually in them some flashes of lightning at the end 
of each period. He perfectly knows how to vary his 
eloquence upon all occasions ; to be facetious in 
pleasing arguments, grave in severe, pohte in labori- 
ous ; and, when the subject requires fervour and in- 
vective, his mouth can speak tempests. In short, 
he is the wonder of wits, the pattern of poets, the 
mirrour of orators in our age. All this I say of him, 
not so much out of design to applaud him, a* to 
adore the judgement of our great Augustus, 
(Cromwell,) who always chose him out and crowned 
him for the Virgil of this nntioii." — Milton had 



J 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 179 

not yet attained the higher distinction of the Homer 
ef his country ; yet he had strung his lyre to the 
Celebration of Cromwell ; and his English and Latin 
poems^ wUch were published in 1645, had received 
^ *" die highest commendations and applause of ihe 
most learned acadendcks, both domestick and fo^ 
reign f and with ^* • Mr. Waller's late choice 
pieces these ever-green and not to be blasted laurek" 
had been named. So that Milton perhaps might 
read the praise of his contemporary hot without 86me 
wonder, that to such mention of his '' ^ chief of men/' 
and of ^^ the virtuous professors of poetry," his own 
name was not joined. 

From his entrance into office to nearly the pre- 
sent period, Milton had collected a variety of State- 
Papers ; probably with a view to use them in some 
particular or general history of the times. They 
were unpublished till the year 1743, in which they 
appeared with the title of " Original Letters and 
Papers of State, addressed to Oliver Cromwell, con- 
cerning the Af^rs of Great Britain, from the year 
1649 to 1658. Found among the Political Collec- 
tions of Mr. John Milton. Now first published from 
tiie Originals by John NickoUs, Jun. Member of the 
Society of Antiquaries, London.'' . By Milton they 
had been long preserved^ and at length c^me into 

■ Moseley^s Pref. to Milton's Poems, ed. 1645, 
• Ibid. 

p So Milton calls Cromwell in the Sonnet he addressed to 
him. 

n2 



180 SOM^ ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the possession of his friend^ Thomas "* Ellwood. The 
volume abounds .nth whining addresses to Crom- 
well and other supporters of the Usurpation, not 
without occasional deviations into the very ' travesty- 
as it were of sober sadness. Two letters in it, writ* 
ten by Milton's friend. Colonel Overton; and a cha- 
racter drawn by Captain Bishope of Bradshawe,. 
harmonizing with Milton's own eloquent eulogy^ of. 
the regicide ; may claim the distinction of important, 
contents. But the State-Letters which, within this* 
period and before it, Milton had written in the name 
of the Parliament, and of OUver and Richard Crom-- 
well, are interesting throughouit. These, he caused, 
to be transcribed at the request of the Danish resi- 
dent. But they were not permitted to be published 
till after his death in 1676; and then they were 
given not accurately. For of these a transcript has 
been lately * discovered in the same press, which con- 
tained the Body of Divinity already mentioned ; and 

•* Pref. to the Collection, p; iv. 

^ As in p. 161, where Colonel R. Overton is thus addressed ; 
" Sir, your friends beseech you to be much in the mount with 
God, who is the best counseler, and will ther be seen : This is no 
time to consult with flesh and blood :" and then follows, '* Sir^ 
there is one Miss Dawson presents her service to you, To-mor« 
row is kept a very solom day among som here, fasting and 
praiers ; sum devills aire no other way cast out !" In p. 99, it is 
proposed to the Parliament, ^' that the stone churches should 
have noe outward adornements, but the walls to be coullered 
blacky to putt men in minde of that blacknesse and darknesse 
that is within them /" 

* See Dr. Sumner's Introduction to his Translation of Milton's 
De Doctrind Christiaiidy p. xvii. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 181 

:fhe text- appears to differ^ in many instances, from 
that of our present editions. From a printed Latin 
advertisement, * found in the same parcel, it has 
been justly presumed, that the collection had been 
tcarefiilly revised by the author or his friends m order 
to publication, and intended to have been vcommitted 
to the press in Holland. The letters are stated in 
this advertisement to have been published by a dis- 
honest bookseller, from a surreptitious copy, in their 
incorrect shape. In 1690 they were announced to 
the publick at Leipsic and Frankfort with a preface 
by the celebrated J. G. " Pritius, or Pritz ; and a 
dedication to F. B. Carpzovius. That they had not 
been suffered to issue from the press while Milton 
was living, this learned editor apparently * laments ; 
and that they exhibit all the ^ graces of composition, 

^ See Dr. Sumner's Introduction to his Trstnslation of Milton's 
De Doctrind Christiand, p. xvik 

" Pritius was professor of divinity at Leipsic, and distinguished 
himself greatly as a theological critick. He proposed also to re- 
print the Familiar Letters and Prolusions .of Milton. The pre- 
sent publication he entitled ** Literee nomine Senates Anglicani, 
&c. exaratse k Joanne Miltono, qtias nunc primUm in Germanid 
recudi fecit M, Jo. Georg. Pritius J' 12mo. 

' " Illud autem lectorem ignorajre non patiemur, post mortem 
' demiim auctoris emissum fuisse opusculum. Quanquam enim 
cum vivente actum esset, ut ipsemet epistolas suas^ quas reipub- 
liccB nomine scripserat, prelo subjiceret, nee ille adeb abnueret; ab 
Ulis tamen^ per quos solos licebat, permissum id ei non est ; usque 
dum, post fata auctoris, claustra, quibus indign^ contmebantur,, 
perrumperent; non addito quid^m editionis loco,quem tamen in 
Angli& quaerendum esse,characterum typus indicium fg^cit." Pref. 

y " Puras tibi exhibemus epistolas, faciles, jucundas, et amoe- 
jiissimas veneres ubique spirantes," &c. Ibid. 



182 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

he testifies trith the ablest criticks of his own and 
succeeding times* In 1694 they were translated 
into English^ and published ; and to that translation 
was prefixed the Life of Mflton by his nephew^ Edt 
ward Phillips; at the end of which .were added his 
jEk»ineti» to Fairfax^ Cromwell> Vane^ and Cyriack 
Skinner. Of the$e letters in their original language^ 
from the corrected manuscript, a new edition is much 
to be desired. 



SECTION IV. 



From the Restoration of King Charles the Second to the 

Death of Milton. 

Milton at the Restoration withdrew, for a time, to 
a friend's house in Bartholomew-Close. By this 
precaution he probably escaped the particular pro- 
liecution which was at first directed against him. 
Mr. W^rton was * told by Mr. Tyers from good 
authority, that when Milton was under prosecution 
with Goodwin, his friends, to gain time, made a 
tnock-frmeral for him ; and that when matters were 
settled in his favour, and the affair was knbwh, the 
King laughed heartily at the trick. This circum- 
stance has been also related by an historian ^ lately 
brought to light ; who says that Mflton '*. pretended 
to be dead> ahd hstd a publick funeral ptocession," 
alld that '* the King applauded his policy in escaping 
the punishment of death, by a seasona1;>le shew of 
dying." His Idonoclaste^ and Defensio pro Papula 
Anglicana were, however, consigned to the most 

* See his Second Edition of Milton's Smaller Poems, p. 358. 
^ Cunningham's Hist, of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 14. 



184 



SOME ACCOUNT C 



publick disgrace. It was the resolution of the Com- 
mons, on the 16th of June 1660, that his Majesty 
should be " ' humbly moved to call in Milton's two 
books, and that of John Goodwin, [^ The Obstructors 
of Justice^ written in justification of the murder of 
the late King, and order them to be burnt by the 
common hangman ; and that the Attorney-General 
do proceed against them by indictment or otherwise." 



Dr. Johnson thinka that Milton was not very dili- 
gently pursued. It is certain that he very success- 
fully concealed himself. The proclamation for ap- 
prehending him, and his bold compeer, particularly 
notices that " '' the said John Milton and John 
Goodwin are so fled, or so obscure themselves, that 
no endeavours used for their apprehension can take 
effect, whereby they may be brought to legal tryal, 
and deservedly receive condign punishment for their 
treasons and offences." Of the proscribed books 
several copies were committed to the flames on the 
27th of August. Within three days after the burn- 
ing these offensive pubhcations, he found himself 
relieved, by the Act of Indemnity, from the neces- 
sity of concealment. Goodwin was incapacitated, as 
Dr. Johnson observes, with nineteen more, for any 
publick trust ; but of Milton there was no exception. 
He was afterwards, however, in the custody of the 
Serjeant at arms ; for on Saturday the 13th of De- 

' Journals of the House of Commons. 

* See the Proclamation printed at length in Kennet's Register 
and Chronicle, 1728, p. 189. 




. AND WRITINGIS OF MILTON. 185 

eember^ 1660^ it was ordered^ by the House of Com-> 
anons, ^^ " that Mr. Milton, now in custody of the 
Serjeant at arms, attending this House, be forih^ 
vnth released, paying hisfeesr And, on Monday 
the 17th, ^' a complaint being made that the Serjeant 
at arms had demanded excessive fees for the impri- 
sonment of Mr. Milton ; it was ordered, that it be 
referred to the Conunittee for Privileges to examine 
this business, and to call Mr. Mead the Serjeant be* 
fcre them, «,d to determine ^hat U fit to be given 
to the Serjeant for his fees in this case." Mfltan is 
^j^osed to have hadpowerM Mends hothin Coun- 
dl and Parliament ; as Secretary Morice, Sir Thomas 
Clarges, and Andrew Marvell. But the principal in* 
Btrument in obtaining Milton's pardon is said to have 
been Sir William Davenant, who, when he was taken 
■prisoner in 1650, had been saved by Milton's inte« 
Test, and who now, in grateful return for so signal 
an obligation, interceded for the life of Milton. This 
story has been related by Richardson upon the au- 
thority of Pope, who received it from Betterton, of 
whom Davenant was the patron. Aubrey, in his 
manuscript ^ life of Davenant, ascribes his safety, 
however, without mention of Milton, to two alder- 
men of York. 

Milton, having obtained his pardon, reappeared 
inunediately in his Uterary character ; and published 

* Journals of the House of Commons. 
' See the Hist. Account of . the English Stage, Steevens's 
Shakspeare, ed. 1 793, vol< ii. p. 431 r 



SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 




mXGGWas Accidence commenced Grammar. He had 
now taken a house in Holborn near Red-Lion Fields ; 
but soon removed to Jewin Street, near Aldersgate. 
And there he married his third wife, in " the year 
before the sickness," Aubrey says, which would be in 
1664. She was Elizabeth Minshul, of a genteel family 
in Cheshire. Her father. Sir Edward Minshul, ^ re- 
ceived the honour of knighthood. She was also a 
relation of Dr. Paget, his particular friend, whom he 
had requested to recommend a proper consort for 
him. It may here be observed, that he chose his 
three wives out of the virgin state. Indeed he tells 
us that he entirely agreed " '' with them who, both 
in prudence and elegance of spirit, would choose a 
virgin of mean fortunes, honestly bred, before the 
wealthiest widow." The very reverse was the fancy 
of another poet, of no mean fame, Sheffield, duke of 
Buckinghamshire ; who, like Milton, was thrice mar- 
ried, but whose three wives had been all widows ! 
Soon after Milton's last marriage, he is ' said to have 
been offered, and to have declined, the employment 
again of Latin Secretary. 

While he lived in Jewin Street too, Ellwood the 
quaker was recommended to him as a person, who, 
for the advantage of his conversation, would read to 
him such Latm books as he thought proper ; an em- 

> Communicated to me by the learned historian of Cheshire, 
Mr, Ormerod. 

* Proee-Worka, vol. i. p. 191, ed. 1698. 

' See the note 'an the Nuncupative Will ol' MiltoQ. 



ItOQ. ^^H 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 187 

{doyment to which he attended eveify a&erno0ii, eir 
oept on Sundays. " At my first. sitting to him^" thii!( 
ingenuous ' writer informs us in his Life of himself^ 
^' ohservilig that I used the English pronundal^n^ 
he tol4 me^ if I would hare the benefit of the Latin 
tongue^ not only to read and understand Latin aut 
thors, but to converse with foreigners^ either abroad 
or' at home^ I must leam the foreign pronunciation } 
to this I consenting^ he instructed me how to soun4 
the vowels: This change of pronunciation proved ^ 
new difficulty to me; but ^ labor omliia vincit im- 
inrobus;' and so did I ; which made my reading the 
more acceptable to my master. He^ on the oth% 
hand^ perceiving with what earnest desire I pursued 
learning, gave me not only all the encouragement^ 
but all the help, he could ; for, having a curious 
ear, he understood by my tone when I understood 



* " The early life of Ellwood," Mr. Wartdn had remftrked; 
^ exhibits exactly the progress of an enthusiast. ^ Havmg been at 
{NTOfligate youth, and often whipped at school twicef a day, he 
Was suddenly reclaimed by accidentally hearing a Quaker'^ 
Sermon. He then had the felicity of following the steps of St. 
t^auly in su£fering bonds and imprisonment. But those slight 
etils did not reach the spiritaal man. He found the horronrs 
6t a jail to be green and flowery pastures, refreshed with the foun-^ 
tain of grace. He consoled himself as Shakspeare says, with ' a 
snutf in a dungeon.' The history df his desultory life, written h^ 
himself, and from which I collect these anecdotes, is filled with 
idle rambles and adventures, foolish scraps of poetry, and fana- 
tical opinions. I except those passages which relate to Milton; 
as also the best and most curious part of the description of Bride- 
well and Newgate, then the usufti receptacles of preaching ap- 
prentices, and frequently more full of saints than fdons.' 



f» 



188 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ivhat I ready and when I did not ; and accordingly 
he would stop me^ and examine me^ and open the 
most difficult passages to me.'' The kind care be- 
stowed by Milton upon the improvement of this 
young man was repaid by every mark of personal 
regard. The courtesy of the preceptor, and the 
gratitude of the disciple, are indeed alike conspi- 
cuous. After several adventures, which were no 
slight trials of patience, EUwood found an asylum 
in the house of an affluent quaker at Chalfont in 
Buckinghamshire, whose children he was to instruct* 
This situation afforded him an opportunity of being 
serviceable to Milton. For, when the plague began 
to rage in London in 1665, Ellwood took a house 
for him at ^ Chalfont St. Giles ; to which the poet 

' Dr* Birchy in his Life of Milton, has printed a Sonnet, said 
to be written by Milton in 1665, when he retired to Chalfont in 
Buckinghamshire on account of the plague ; and to have been 
seen inscribe on the glass of a window in that place. I have 
seen a copy of it vmtten, app^ently in a coeval hand, at the 
end of Tonson's edition of Milton's Smaller Poems in 1713, 
where it is also said to be Milton's. It is reprinted, from Dr. 
Birch's Life of the poet, in Fawkes and Woty's Poetical Calendar ^ 
1763, vol. viii. p. 67. But, in this Sonnet there is a scriptural 
mistake ; which, as Mr. Warton has observed, Milton was not 
likely to commit. For the Sonnet improperly represents David 
as punished by pestilence for his adultery with Bathsheba. Mr. 
Warton, however, adds, that Dr. Birch had been informed by 
Vertue the engraver, that he had seen a satirical medal, struck 
upon Charles the second, abroad, without any legend, having a 
correspondent device. 

*^ Fair mirror of foul times ! whose fragile sheen 
** Shall, as it blazeth, break ; while Providence 
'^ Aye watching o'er his saints with eye unseen. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 189 

retired with his family. He had hot long before re« 
moved from Jewm Street to a house m Artillery 
Walk^ leading to Bunhill-fields ; but he is also said, 
by Richardson, on the authority of a person who was 
iM^uainted with Milton, and who had often met him 
with his host conducting him, to have lodged awhile 
before this last removal with Millington, the famous 
auctioneer of books ; a man, whose occupation and 
whose talents would render his company very bct 
ceptable to Milton ; for he has been described by a 
" contemporary pen, as '^ a man of remarkable elo- 
cution, wit,, sense, and modesty.'*' 



On his arrival at Chalfont, Milton found that 
EUwood, in consequence of a persecution of the 
ifuakers, was confined in the gaol of Aylesbury; 
But, being soon released, this affectionate friend 
made a visit to him,^ to welcome him into the coun-^ 
try.. "After some common discourses,** says EUwood, 
" had passed between us, he called for a manuscript 
ef his, which, being brought, he delivered to me^ 

** Spreads the red rod of angry pestilence, 
" To sweep the wicked and their counsels hence ; 
" Yea, all to break the pride of lustfuH kings, 
Who heaven's lore reject for brutish sense ; 
As erst he scourged Jessides' sin of yore, 
For the fair Hittite, when, on seraph's wings, 
" He sent him war, or plague, or famine sore." 

" Dunton*s Life and Errors, &c. See also the Auctio Davi- 
siana in the Musee Anglicanee ; 

^ Tuitf {//iVt^foni noiidedi^abete partes, 

** Nam lepidum caput es, dicto et mordente facetusJ' 






190 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

bidding me take it home with me^ and read it at my 
leisure^ and when I had so done^ return it to hint 
with my judgement thereupon. When I came home, 
end set myself to read it, I found it was that excel- 
lent poem, which he entitled Paradise Lost."" From 
this account it appears that Paradise Lost was com- 
plete in 1665. And indeed Aubrey represents the 
poem as ^'finished about three yeares after the 
King's Restoration.^ 

The city being cleansed, and the danger of infec- 
tion having ceased, Milton returned to Bunhill-fields, 
and designed the publication of his great poem ; the 
first hint of which he is *" said to have taken, more 
than twenty years before, from an Italian tragedy. 
Some biographers have supposed that he began to 
mould the Paradise Lost into an epick form, soon 
after he was disengaged from the controversy with 
Salmasius. Aubrey, I have before said, relates, that 
he began the work about two years before the Re^ 
storatibn. However, considering the difficulties, as 
bishop Newton well remarks, " under which the au- 
thor lay, his uneasiness on account of the publick 
affairs and his own, his age and infirmities, his not 
being now in circumstances to maintain an wianu- 
ensis, but obliged to make use of any hand that 
came next to write his verses as he made them, it is 
really wonderful that he should have the spirit to. 



" See the Inquiry into the Origin of Paradise Lost in the pre- 
sent volume. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 101 

undertake such a work, and much more that he 
should ever bring it to perfeetion." Yet his tuneful 
voice waff . .. . 



€€ 



unchang'd 



To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days. 

On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues ; 

^' In dfu'kness, and with dangers compass'd round, 

"AndwUtude/' — rr- 

9 

To Milton indeed the days nught now seem evil^ 
^ut to ^p pathetick a complaint cold must be the 
^eart of him who can listen without compassion. It 
reminds us of the musical but melancholy strains^ 
addressed by his favourite Tasso in a Sonnet to Stig- 
lian, whom he salutes as advancing on the road to 
Helicon : 



€€ 



Ivi prende mia cetra ad un cipresso : 

** Salutala in mio nome, e dsdle avviso, 

*^ CK io son da gU amd e dafortuna oppresso.^^ 



The last of Milton's familiar Letters in Latin, ad* 
dressed to Peter Heimbach, an accomplished Germany 
who is styled counsellor to the elector of Brandon-^ 
burgh, (and who is supposed, by an expression in a 
former epistle from Milton to him, to have resided 
ynth the poet, when he visited England, in the cha- 
racter of a disciple,) relates his consideration on his 
present circumstances, and his reflection on the days 
that were gone, in a most interesting manner. With 
the translation of this letter by his affectionate and 
spirited biographer, Mr. Hayley, the reader will be 



192 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

gratified. " If among so many " funerals of my 
countrymen, in a year so full of pestilence and sor- 
row, you were induced, as you say, by rumour to 
believe that I also was snatched away, it is not sur- 
prbing ; and if such a rumour prevailed among those 
of your nation, as it seems to have done, because they 
were solicitous for my health, it is not impleasing, 
for I must esteem it as a proof of their benevolence 
towards me. But by the graciousness of God, who 
had prepared for me a safe retreat in the country, I 
am still alive and well ; and I trust not utterly an 
unprofitable servant, whatever duty in life there yet 
remains for me to fulfil. That you remember me, 
after so long an interval in our correspondence, gra- 
tifies me exceedingly, though, by the politeness of 
your expression, you seem to aiford me room to sus- 
pect, that you have rather forgotten me, since, as 
you say, you admire in me so many different virtues 
wedded together. From so many weddings I should 
assuredly dread a family too numerous, were it not 
certain that, in narrow circumstances and under se- 
verity of fortune, virtues are most excellently reared, 
and are most flourishing. Yet one of these said vir- 
tues has not very handsomely rewarded me for en- 
tertmning her ; for that which you call ray political 

■ Etcd at Chairont, whither he had retired from the danger of 
infection, infection had appeared. For in the Register of the 
parish, under the jear I6ti5, two persons are recorded, as I was 
obligingly informed by letter from the resident clergyman, to have 
died of the sickness ; [so the Plague was denominated ;] one of 
whom is called a stranger, and died at Uie Manor House. 





AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 193 

tirtue, and which I should rather wish you to call 
mjr devotion to my country^ (enchanting me with 
her captivating name,) almost, if I may say so, expa-* 
triated me. Other virtues, however, join their voices 
to assure me, that wherever we prosper in rectitude 
there is our country. In ending my letter, let me 
obtain from you this favour, that if you find any^ 
parts of it incorrectly written, and without stops, you 
will impute it to the boy who writes for me, who is 
utterly ignorant of Latin, and to whom I am forced 
(wretchedly enough) to repeat every single syllable 
that I dictate. I still rejoice that your merit as an 
accomplished man, whom I knew as a youth of the 
highest expectation, has advanced you so far in the 
honourable favour of your prince. For your pros- 
perity in every other point you have both my wishes 
and my hopes. Farewell. London, August 15, 1666.'* 
« 

Paradise Lost, having been made ready for pub- 
lication, is said to have been in danger of being sup 
pressed by the licenser, who imagined that, in the 
noble ^ simile of the sun in an eclipse, he had dis- 
covered treason. The licenser's hesitation is a striking 
example of Lord Lyttleton's acute remark, that " ** the 
politicks of Milton at that time brought his poetry 
into disgrace ; for it is a rule with the English ; they 
see no good in a man whose politicks they dislike J!* 
' Licensed^ however, the poem was ; and Milton sold 

p B. i. 594, &c. 
' •« Dialogues of the Dead. Dial. xiv. 
' Mr. Malone observes, that the poem was entered in the Sta- 

o 



194 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

his eopy^ April 27, 1667y to Samuel Simmons^ for 
an immediate payment of five pounds. But the 
agreement with the, bookseller entitled him to a con- 
ditional payment of five pounds more when thirteen 
hundred copies should be sold of the first edition ; of 
the like sum after the same number of the second 
edition ; and of another five pounds after the same 
sale of the third. The number of each edition was 
not to exceed fifteen hundred copies. It first ap- 
peared in 1667^ in ten books. In the history of 
Paradise Lost, Dr. Johnson has observed that a re- 
lation of minut^ ^circumstances will rather gratify 
than fatigue. Countenanced by such authority, I 
proceed to state that the poem, in a small quarto 
form, and plainly but neatly bound, was advertised 
tit the price of * three shillings. The titles were 
varied, in order to circulate the edition, in 1667, 
1668, and 1669. Of these there were no less than 
five. In two years the sale gave the poet a right 
to his second payment, for which the * receipt was 
signed April 26, 1669. The second edition was not 
given till 1674; it was printed in small octavo ; and, 

tioners* Book by Samuel Symons, Aug. 20, 1669. See. the Life 
of Dryden, 1800, vol. i. part i. p. 1 14. The title-pages of 1667 
and 1668, however, bear in front " Licensed and Entered accord- 
ing to Order ^^ I have seen several copies with the title-page of 
1669, in which this notification is omitted. 
. ' In ClaveFs Catalogue of {41 the books printed in England, 
since the fire of London, in 1666, to the end of 1672. Fol. 
Lond. 1673. 

* A fac-simile of this receipt is given in the Gent. Mag. July, 
lg22,p. 13. 



AND WRITINGS OF BOLTON. 195 

by a judicious division of the seveiith and tenth> con- 
tained twelve books. He lived nbt to receive the 
payment stipulated for this impression. The third 
edition was published in 1678; and his widow, to 
whom the copy was then to devolve, agreed with 
Simmons, the printer, to receive eight pounds for 
her right, according to her " receipt dated December , 
21, 1680 ; and gave him a general release, dated 
April 29, 1681. Simmons covenanted to transfer the 
right, for twenty-five pounds, to Brabazon Ayhner, 
& bookseller; and Aylmer sold to Jacob Tonson 
half of it, August 17, 1683, and the other half, 

March 24, 1690, at a price considerably advanced. 

• 

Of the first edition it has been observed by Dr. 
J<^nson, that '' the call for books was not in Milton's 
1^ what it is at present ;• — the nation had been satis- 
fied from 1623 to 1664, that is, forty-one years, with 
only two editions of the works of Shakspeare, which 
probably did not together make one thousand copies. 
The sale of thirteen hundred copies in two years, in 
opposition to so much recent enmity, and to a style 
of versification new to all and disgusting to many, was 
an uncommon example of the prevalence of genius.*^ 
This remark will always be read with peculiar grati- 
fication, as it exonerates our forefathers from the 
charge of being inattentive to the glorious blaze of a 
luminary, before which so many stars '* dim their 

" ■ Of this receipt also a fac-sinaile accompanies the preceding. 
And in p. 14, the general release of Mrs. Milton to Simmons is 
copied. 

o2 



196 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ineffectual light.** The demand, as Dr. Johnson 
notices, did not immediately encrease; because 
^' ibany more readers fhah were supplied at first, the 
nation did hot afford. Only three thousand were 
sold in eleven years ; for it forced its way without 
assistance ; its admirers did not dare to publish their 
opinion; and the opportumlies, now given, of at- 
tracting notice by advertisements were then very few. 
But the reputation and price of the copy still ad- 
vanced, till the Revolution put an end to the secrecy 
of lovei, and Paradise Lost broke into open view 
with sufficient security of kind reception. Fancy can 
hardly forbear to conjecture with what temper Milton 
surveyed the silent progress of his work, and marked 
its reputation stealing its way in a kind of subteft-a- 
heous current through fear and silence. I cannot 
but conceive him calm and confident, little disap- 
pointed, not at all dejected, relying on his own merit 
with steady consciousness, and waiting, without imr 
patience, the vicissitudes of opinion and the impar« 
tiality of a futiu'e generation.** 

Milton mdeed may be considered as an illustrious 
example of patient merit. But his admirers were 
not long silent Witness the spirited verses of Barrow 
and Marvell, prefixed to the second edition of the 
poem: Witness also the ' celebrated hexastich of 



X u 



Three Poets in three distant ages born," &c. If any other 
proof were wanting, Dr. Jos. Warton has said, of the high respect 
and veneration which Dryden entertained of the superiour genius 



JIND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 197 

Dryden^ which accompanies the fourth edition ; as 
well as the liberal acknowledgement of his obliga* 
tions to Paradise Lost, made almost immediately 
after the death of Milton, in the preface to his State 
nf Innocence .* " I cannot, without injury to the de-^ 
ceased author of Paradise Lost, but acknowledge^ 
that this poem has received its entire foundation, 
part of the design, and many of the ornaments from 
him. What I have borrowed will be so easily dis- 
cerned from my mean productions, that I shall not 
need to point the reader to the places ; and truly I 
should be sorry, for my own sake, that any one should 
take the pains to compare them together, the ori* 
ginal being undoubtedly one of the greatest, most 
noble, and most sublime poems, which either this 
age or nation has produced'* So that, at least by 
one excellent judge of poetry, the Paradise Lost 
was inmiediately and duly appreciated; and the 
popularity of it, which has unjustly been supposed to 
be very confined tiU the appearance of Addison's 
criticism, had begun, many years before, to spread, 
and to elicit the commendations of various writers* 
It matters not, that among these dispensers of honest 
praise some were obscure persons ; it proves, that the 
poem was generally read, and that the readers were 
deeply sensible of its excellence. The gradual pro* 
gress of its fame, may, in part, be distinguished by 
the following notices ; not to forget the circumstance 



of Milton, these isix nervous lines will for ever remain as a strong' 
and indisputable testimoi^y* 






SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

also of thirteen hundred copies of it having been sold 
within two years after its appearance. 

An examination of the blank verse, and a proper 
tribute to the sweetness of language, in Paradise 
Lost, are found in Dr. Woodford's poetical Para- 
phrase upon the Canticles, published in 1679. 

In the same year also, rather a curious commen- 
dation presents itself in the preface to " Poems in 
two parts ; first, an interlocutory discourse concern- 
ing the CreatioUj Fall, and Recovery of Man ; se- 
condly, a dialogue between Faith and a Doubting 
Soul, by Samuel Slater ;" who seems to have thought 
Milton, with some animadversion of his corrector pen, 
not unworthy his imitation ! " I was much taken," he 
says, " with learned Mr. Milton's cast and fancy 
in his booh, (Paradise Lost :) Him I have foUciwed 
much in his method, and have been otherwise be- 
holding to him, how much I leave thee (gentle 
reader) to judge: but I have used a more plain and 
familiar stile, because I conceive it most proper f 
The compositions of this self-complacent writer, the 
children of preposterous conceit, would have been a 
valuable addition to the common-place book of 
Bayes, who also " loved to write familiarly^ 

In his Essay on Translated Verse, published in 
1680, lord Roscommon, as Addison has remarked, 
selects the sixth book of the poem as a specimen of 
true subhmity; and from the imagery and Ian- 




AND WRITINGS OP HILTON. ') 199* 

guage of Milton the Griticism deriveis additional 
strength. 

In the same year was published a poetical translar 
tion of Jacob Catsius's Self-Conflict, the anonymous 
translator of which observes in the preface, ^* that it 
were a pity gold should be rejected, because pre^ 
sented unto thee in a homely vessel ; or sovereign 
counsel, because not sung to thee by a Cowley or a 
Milton ; the very footsteps of either of which thou, 
art not likely here to find." Yet, notwithstanding 
this modest depreciation of his labour, the translator 
has employed with good effect many M iltonick ex- 
pressions. 



. k 



To the fame of Milton, in this year also, a poe- 
tical tribute was paid by a writer, whose signaturis 
to it is F. C. I suppose, that Francis Cradock, a 
member of the Rota-Club to which Milton belongedy 
is the author thus initially subscribed. -... 






^ O Thou, the wonder of the present age. 
An age immers'd in luxury and vice ; 
A race of triflers ; who can relish nought, 

" But the gay issue of an idle bmin : 

** How could'st thou hope to please this tinsel race ! 

" Though blind, yet, with the penetrating eye 
Of intellectual light, thou dost survey 
The labyrinth perplex'd of Heaven's decrees ; 






' These verses are prefixed to Milton^s poetical works in the 
Editim of the Eriglish Poets, 1779 r and had befcMre sqppearerf 
in Fawkes and Woty's Poetical Ccdmdet, 1763^ 



200 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

*' An4 with a quiU, pluck'd from m Angel's .wing^ 
'' Dipt in the fount that laves the eternal throne, 
" Trace the dark paths of Providence Divine, 
" And justify the ways of Grod to man. 

*' F. C, 1680.*^ 



^ Sheffield^ duke of Buckinghamshire^ in his Essay 
on Poetry, first published in 1682, introduces Mil- 
ton with '' Tasso and Spenser,** Dr. Johnson has re-- 
lated, " set before him f but in succeeding editions 
^ Milton is advanced to the highest place, and the 
passage thus adjusted : The epick poet, says the 
noble author, 

" Must above Tasso^s lofty flights prevail, 

** Succeed where Spenser, and e'en Milton, fail/* 

* » 

r In 1683 Milton is the admired theme of an un^ 
known author, who, in his work entitled The Sifu^ 
Ution of Paradise found out, cites writh taste and 
judgement several passages from the fourth book of 
Paradise Lost ; and, by the application of a remark 
in Athanaj^ius, strengthens a belief that Milton, in 
his description of Paradise, consulted the Fathers. 
'' As to the easterly situation of this garden,** says 
the author, p. 23> ^* S. Athanasius has a fancy there- 
upon extraordinary poetical, and which I take to be 
more expressive of its riches, and its pleasures, than 
those descriptions the most fanciful poets can give of 
their Elysium ; viz. That from hence about the Ori- 
eatal parts of India there are every where such fra- 
grant scents, and that the spices receive their odours> 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 201 

as if blown from that happy place : Which is good 
poetry enough, though too light for him: And Mil- 
ton has it. 



#« 



Now gentle gales^ 



4* 
44 



Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense 
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole 
'* Those balmy spoils/* 

In 1688 the opinion and encouragement of lord 
Somers occasioned the handsome folio edition of Pa^ 
radise Lost, which then was published ; to which 
is prefixed a list of more than five hundred sub- 
scribers, among whom axe the most distinguished 
characters of the time. Atterbury exerted him- 
self with zealous activity in the promotion of this 
honourable publication. And Dryden added to 
his subscription, under the portrait of Milton 
which accompanies the edition, his epigram before- 
noticed. 

« 

In the same year appeared Poems to the Memory 
of Edmond Waller, Esq. By several hands ; in 
which Milton obtmiis^ from an anonymous writer, 
this commendation by comparison : 

" Now, in soft notes, Uke dying swans, he*d sing. 
Now tower aloft, like eagles on the wing ; 
Speak of adventurous deeds in such a strain. 
As aU but Milton would attempt in vain ; 
And only there, where his rapt Muse does tell 

'* How in the setherial war the Apostate Angels felL" 



44 
4€ 
4t 
44 



202 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

• 

In 1689 appeared " ' A propitiatory sacrifioe to 
the ghost of J. M. by way of Pastoral, in a dialogue 
between Thyrsis and Corydon; addressed by the 
author to his brother Mr. A. Wyndham." The poem 
seems to have been written soon after the death of 
Milton. It is of considerable length, £uid of Tery 
unequal execution. There are passages in it, how- 
ever, with which the reader of taste and feeling may 
be pleased ; as with the following, where the author^ 
having described the poetical abihties of Milton ^^ from 
his cradle to his tomb,** thus represents the blind 
bard in 



ft 
4* 



his age and fruit together ripe> 



Of which blind Homer only was the type : 
Tiresias like, he mounted up on high. 
And scom'd the filth of dull mortality ; 
Convers'd with gods, and grac'd their royal line. 
All ecstasie, all rapture, all divine V* 



Again, deploring his loss, the poet ably notices Mil- 
ton's rejection of rhyme ; and calls the object of his 
grief, 

** Daphnis, the great reformer of oiu* isle ! 
** Daphnis, the patron of the Roman stile ! 

' The book, in which this poem occurs, is little known ; and 
was obligingly pointed out to me by the ingenious and acute 
continuator of Jonson's Sad Shepherd^ the late Mr. F. G. Wal- 
dron. It is entitled, *' Poems and Translations written upon 
several occasions, and to several persons. By a late Scholar 
of Eton. London, 1689." The poem will be found in p.' 110, 
&c. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 203. 

'' Who first to sen^e converted doggrel rhimes. 
The Muses* bells took off, and stopt their chimes ; 
On surer wings, with an immortal flight. 
Taught us how to believe, and how to write !*' 






Towards the conclusion^ is this spirited prediction of 
Milton's increasing glory : 

'' Even tombs of stone in tiide will wear away ; 

** Brass pyramids are subject to decay ; 

** But lo ! the poet*s fame shall brighter shine 

'' In each succeeding age, 

'* Laughing at the baffled ragje 
•* Of envious enemies and destructive time/' 

In 1690 Atterbury wrote the preface to the Se- 
cond Part of Waller's Poems, and therein com- 
mends what Milton had achieved in '^ freeing us from 
the troublesome bondage of rhyming." 

WoUaston^ the author of the Reli^on of Nature 
delineated^ printed in 1691 a poem^ which afterwards 
he endeavoured to suppress^ entitled The Design of 
Part of th^ Book qf Ecclesiastes ; and in the pre-t 
face to it he concurs with Atterbury as to Milton's 
rejection of rhyme. 

In 1692 another ornamented edition of Paradise 
Lost^ in folio^ was published* 

And in 1695 a third, with the copious and very 
learned conunentary of Patrick Hume. 



2i04 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

The poem had been also, in the preceding year, 
highly commended by Charles Gildon in his " Mis- 
cellaneous Letters and Essays ;" and had been trans- 
lated into Latin in 1685, and into Dutch in 1682. 
So much for the popularity, which has been ques- 
tioned, of Paradise Lost in the seventeenth century ; 
yes, and before *' * the Revolution had put an end to 
the secrecy of love^' which till then, it has been 
said, attended it» 

Of the anecdote, related by Richardson, respect- 
ing the celebrity Which the poem has been supposed 
to owe to Denham, the accurate investigation of Mr. 
Malone has detected the improbability. " ** The 
elder Richardson,** says this acute aiid learned writer, 
^ speaking of the tardy reputation of Paradise Lost, 
fells us, (and the tale has been repeated in various 
Lives of Milton,) that he was informed by Sir George 
Hungerford, an ancient member of parKament, (n^Any 
years previous to 1734,) that Sir John Denham came 
into the House one morning with a sheet of Paror* 
disc Lost, wet from the press, in his hand ; and, being 
ftsked what it was, he replied, * Part of the noblest 
poem that ever wojS written in any language or 
in any age.* However, the book remained unknovm 
till it was produced about two years afterwards by 
Lord Buckhurst on the following occa;sion. That 
nobleman, in company with Mr. Fleetwood Shep* 

•'Dr. Johnson's Life of Milton. 

•* Life of Dryden, 1800, yoL i. part i. p. 112, &c. , 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON.^ 205 

hard, (who frequently told the story to Dr. Tancred 
Robinson, an eminent physician, and Mr. Richard- 
son's informer,) looking over some books in Little 
Britain, met mth Paradise, Lost ; and, being sur- 
prised with some passages in turning it over, bought 
it. The bookseller requested 'his Lordship to speak 
in its favour, if he liked it: for the impression lay 
an his hands as waste paper^ Lord Buckhurst, 
(whom Richardson inaccurately calls the Earl of 
Dorset, for he did not succeed to that title till some 
years afterwards,) having read the poem, sent it to 
Dryden, who in a short time returned it with this 
answer : ' This man cuts us all out, and the an^ 
dents tooJ — ^Much the same character (adds Mr. 
Richardson) he gave of it to a north-country gentle^ 
man, to whom I mentioned the book, he being a 
great reader, but not in a right train, coming to 
town seldom, and keeping little company. Dryden 
amassed him with speaking loftily of it. ^ Why, Mn 
Dryden,' says he, ^ (Sir W. L. told me the thing 
Umselj^) 'tis not in rhyme.' * No ; (rephed Dryden,) 
nor would I have done my Virgil in rhyme, if I 
was to begin it again* — How Sir John Denham 
should get into his hands one of the sheets of Para-^ 
dise Lost, while it was working off at the press, it 
is not very easy to conceive. The proof-sheets of 
every book, as well as the finished sheets when 
worked off, previous to publication, are subject to 
the inspection of no person but the author, or the 
persons to whom he may confide them ; and there is 
no evidence or probability that any intimacy subr 



r 



Tl 




206 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFK 

sisted between Sir John Denham and Milton. Here 
then is the first difficulty. The next is, that during 
a great part of the year 1667, when Milton's poem 
probably was passing through the press, the knight 
was disordered in his understanding : But a stronger 
objection remains behind ; for, on examination, it 
will be found that Denham, who is said to have thus 
blazoned Paradise Lost in the House of Commons, 
was never in parhament. Let us, however, wave 
this objection, and suppose this eulogy to have been 
pronounced in a full House of Commons in 1667, in 
which year Milton's great poem, according to some 
of the title-pages, first appeared, whilst others have 
the dates of 1668 and 1669. So little effect had 
Denham's commendation, that we find in two years 
afterwards almost the whole impression lying on 
the bookseller's hands as waste paper : during which 
time Dryden, a poet himself, living among poets, 
and personally acquainted with Milton, had never 
seen it ! And to crown all, by the original contract 
between Milton and Simmons, the printer, dated 
April 27, 1667, it was stipulated, that, whenever 
thirteen hundred books were sold, he should receive 
five pounds, in addition to the sum originally paid 
on the sale of the copy : and this second sum of five 
pounds was paid to him, as appears from the re- 
ceipt, on the 26th of April, 1669 ; so that, in two 
years after the original publication, we find that, 
instead of almost the whole impression then lying 
on tJie bookseller's hands, thirteen hundred out of 
fifteen hundred copies of this poem had been dis- 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. ^07 

persed. Unless, therefore, almost every species of 
incongruity and contradiction can authenticate a 
narrative, this anecdote must be rejected as wholly 
unworthy of credit;** 

Before I quit the subject of the first appearance 
of Paradise Lost, I must notice a communication, 
made to the publick *^ not long since by a gentleman 
possessing the original edition, of the following lines ; 
apparently written by a female on two leaves pre- 
fixed to the title-page of his copy, and subscribed 
at the bottom with this singular remark : '* Dictated 
by J. Mr The communicator observes, that the 
daughter of Milton ofiiciated as his amanuensis ; and 
that, froiQ the remark already mentioned, there is 
some reason to attribute the Imes to the author of 
Paradise Lost. Different female hands, it may be 
added, appear in the manuscript of Milton, pre- 
served in Trinity College, Cambridge. Yet the 
bondage of rhyme may perhaps incline some to 
question the authenticity of these lines ; while seve- 
.ral striking sentiments and expressions, and the fre- 
quent flow of the verses into each other, will occa- 
sion some also to think them genuine, and that the 
great poet might have chosen, as an amusement, to 
employ once more the " jingling sound of like end- 
ings." ' Dr. Symmons indeed concedes, that the tes- 
timony which has been given, united with what is 
supplied by the verses themselves, will not suffer us 

"^ In the Gentleman's Magazine for August 1 786, p. 698. 



u 

4€ 



4€ 



208 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to doubt of their being the production qf Milton. 

The subject also had been a fevourite theme of Mil* 

ton* 

On Day-Break. 

" Welcome^ bright chorister, to our hemisphere ; 
^ Thy glad approaches tell us I)ay is near. 
'^ See ! how his early dawn creeps o'er yon hill, 
'^ And with his grey-ey'd light begins to fill 
** The silent air, driving far from our sight 
The starry regiment of frighted Night ; 
Whose pale-fac'd regent, Cynthia, paler grows. 
To see herself pursu'd by conquering foes ; 
*^ Yet daring stays behind, to guard the rear 
** Of her black armies whither without fear 
They may retreat, till her alternate course 
Bring her about again with rallied force. 
*^ Hark ! how the lion's terrour loud proclaim^ 
^' The gladsome tidings of day's gentle beams. 
And, long-kept silence breaking, rudely wakes 
The feather'd train, which soon their concert makes^ 
** And with unmeasur'd notes, imnumber'd lays, 
*^ Do joyfully salute the lightsome rays. 
** But hearken yonder, where the louder voice 
** Of some keen hunter^s horn hath once or twice 
'* Recheated out its blast, which seems to drill 
** The opposing air, and with its echo fill. 
*^ Thither let's hie ; and see the toilsome hound, 
** Willing, pursues his labour, till he has found 
^* Some hope of what he follows, then with fresht 
And pleasing clamour tells it to the rest 
'^ O Thou, who sometimes by most sacred voice 
Father of Light wert sty I'd, let my free choice 
** (Though all my works be evil,, seldom right,) 
^* Shun loving darkness rather than the light. 
'* Let Thy essential brightness, with quick glance, 
" Dart through the foggy mist of ignorance 






4f 



€€ 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 209 

*^ Into the dfurken'd intellect, and thence 

'* Dispel whatever clouds o'erspread the sense ; 

^^ Tilly with ^ illuminated eyes, the mind 

'^ All the dark comers in itself can find. 
And fill them all with radiant light, which may 
Convert my gloomy night to sun-shine day. 
Though dark, O God ! if guarded by thy might 
/ see with irUellecttial eye$ : the night 
To me a noon-tide blaze, illumin'd by 
The glorious splendour of thy Majesty P* 



44 
4i 
«€ 
U 
H 



After the publication of Paradise Lost, Milton 
resumed his design of giving a history of his native 
country. But he proceeded only as far as the Nor- 
man conquest. Of this history the first copies were 
mutilated; for the licenser expunged several pas- 
sages, which, reprobating the pride and superstition 
of the monks in the Saxon times, were interpreted 
'as a covert satire upon the bishops of the day. But 
Milton gave a copy of the proscribed remarks to the 
Earl of Anglesea, which were published in 1681 
with a preface, declaring that they originally be- 
longed to the third book of his history ; and they 
are now found in their proper place. They present 
to the reader, not what the licenser had in his zeal 
imagined, but a character of the Long Parlia- 
ment and Assembly of Divines ; and they had 
been expunged, according to Richardson, « as being 
a sort of digression, and in order to avoid giving 
offence to a party quite subdued, and whose faults 

** The printed woid is illvnund. Illuminated has been sug- 
gested. 



210 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LlfE 

the government Was then willing to have forgotten." 
The six books^ which Miltoh executed^ appeared in 
1670. Of the passages th6n suppr^3sed^ and 4since 
1738 always accompanying the history. Dr. Dibdin 
has lately said, that '* * his friend Mr. Amyot seems 
to suspect that Milton was not the author ; and he 
owns that he also inclines to this opinion.** The cause 
of the suspicion is not told. And still I venture to 
think, that whoever will carefully read Milton's 7V- 
nure-qf Kings and qf Magistrates ^ or his Treatise 
and his Considerations ^ already noticed, will find 
more than one expressive parallel, which may per- 
suade him, that of the remarks in question the poet 
was certmnly the author. 

t » i I - 

In 167 1> he ^piublished the Paradise Regained^ 
md Samson Agonistes. Of the former poem PhU- 
lips has ^ recorded' Milton's opinion ; not his pre^^ 
Jerence 6t it to Paradise Lost^ but his * mortifica- 
tion to find it censured as infinitely inferiour to his 



' Library Companioii, &c. 1824^ p. 201. 

^ See the preceding sections. 

^ At the price, bound, of two shillings and sixpence. Clavel*8 
Catalogue^ 1&73. 

^ Life of Milton, 1694, p. xxxix. 
Mn a manuscript note, at the end of Toland's lAfe of M^n, 
Gonini^niciated to me by Mr. F.'G. Waldron, it is related that Par 
radiae Regained was, in the poet's own opinion, the bett^rpoem^ 
though it could never obtain to be named with Paradise Lost ; 
and that Milton gave this reason for the general dislike, namely. 
That the people had a general sense of the loss of Paradise, but 
not an equal gust for the regaining of it. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON.: 211 

fcNrmer epick production. His .pretended preference 
has been ' recommended by an ingenious writer^ with 
c^er popular tales belieyed without youchers, and 
wi^out probabflity^ to supr^ne contempt. 

Unconimon enei-gy'of thought, and fdicity of com- 
position, as Mr. Hayley observes, are apparent in 
both the performances of Milton, however, different 
In .design, dimensbh, and effect. And Mr.^ Dun-. 
ster, the learned editor of Paradise Regained in 
1'2^5, happly advanced the poem from the obscurity 
in which it had been top long shrouded ; pleading 
ittf merits with the masterly discrimination of an 
doquent advocate. Mr. Warton and Mr. Hayley 
ftiss^ri, that the poet planned or began it at Chat* 
fyikt : Mi^. Dunster argues, that he probably ^^i>^£2 
it fit tliis temporary residence. ^ We may suppose," 
he says, ^^ that Milton remamed at Chalfont till to^ 
wards the Spring of 1666;' as it is said he did not 
return to London until ^ the sickness was over, and 
the city was weU cleansed, and become Safely habita-r 
ble.' — Ellwopd proceeds to inform us, that, ' when 
he waited on him afSterwards in London, which he 
seldom failed to do when his occasions led him thi-^ 
ther,' Milton showed him his second poem; and ' in. 
a pleasant tone,* (whioh to me indicates his own fuU 
approbation of his work,) said to hini, ' This is 
cwing 4o yoil, for you put it in my head by thei 
^estiofl you put to me at Chalfont ; which before S 



^ Letters of Literature; 1785, p. 416. 

p2 




212 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

had not thought of.' It seems therefore nearly cer- 
tain, that the whole of the poem was composed at 
Chalfont, As it was conceived with fervour, it was, 
I doubt not, proceeded in ' with eager thought.' 
This was the characteristick of Milton in composi- 
tion, as may be collected from his letter to his friend 
Deodate, (September 2, 1637,) where he describes 
his own temper to be marked with an eagerness to 
finish whatever he had begun ; ' meum sic est inge- 
nium, nulla ut mora, nulla quies, nulla ferme illius 
rei cura, aut cogitatio distineat, quoad pervadam 
quo feror, et grandem aliquam studiorum meorum 
quasi periodum conficiam.' Epist. Familiar, vi. 
There is also such a high degree of unity, connec- 
tion, and integral perfection in the whole of this 
second poem, as indicates it to have been the unin- 
terrupted work of one season ; and, as I would sup- 
pose, the exclusive occupation of his divine genius 
during his residence in Buckinghamshire. To have 
composed the whole of the poem in that time, would 
require him to produce only about ten lines a day ; 
and many parts are given so perfectly con amove, 
that I am confident, upon those occasions, he pro- 
ceeded at a very different rate. That the Para- 
dise Regained was not published till five years after 
the time when I suppose it to have been completed, 
might be the ground on which Mr. Warton consi- 
dered it as not being then finished : and yet many 
other reasons might be assigned for its not being 
printed sooner. Paradixe Lost, we know, was 
finished at least two years before it was printed ; 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTONi 213 

and it was not till a year after Milton's return to 
London from Cbalfont^ tbat the contract with Se^ 
muel Simmons for the copy of it was signed, and the 
first purchase money of five pounds was paid for it. 
Milton, we find, received the setond* five pounds 
two years after ; the stipulated number of copies, to 
entitle him thereto, being then sold* > The author 
probably did not fhink of gomg again to the press 
with his second poem, till he ^aw the requisite sale 
of the first • accomplished^ Paradise Regained 
might also wait for the completion of its companion, 
the Simson; a work, which furnishes some internal 
proofs: of its having been composed at different pe- 
riods. In July, 1670, the two poemsi were licensed, 
and were printed the year following* In 1670 was 
printed his History of England: so that Milton 
was not without his occupations between the time of 
his return to London^ in the Spring of 1666> and 
his procuring the licence for printing his Paradise 
'Regained and Samson Agonistes in July 1670. 
That he might revise and correct Iris brief epick pre- 
vious to this, is very possible : but> that it was com- 
posed in its first form at Chalfont, I think, cannot 
•be doubted. Accordingly I regard the little man- 
sion there with no small degree of veneration, as 
being exclusively the incunabula of Milton's Paror 
dise Regained. I should approach it as a Tibur 
or a Tusculum ; and should feel myself on classick 
ground/* — For * similar reasons the poet's last resi- 

* See the Note " to the Nuncupative Will. 




214 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIKE 

dence, the house in the Artillery-walk, may appear 
to his enthusiastick admirers, as Mr. Hayley remarks, 
consecrated by his genius. 

From Paradise Regdined we proceed to the 
poem which follows it, the Samson Agonistes ; in 
which there are so many severe strictures, clearly 
pointing at the Restoration, and at the subsequent 
sufferings of Milton's party, that it has been often 
wondered it should have been sanctioned with an 
imprimatur. A learned antiquary thus endeavours 
to account for this indulgence in the licenser : " "■ Hurt 
by the censures, to which he had subjected himself 
by his over-refined cavils at Paradise Lost, he might 
be uftwilling to renew and encrease the obloquy, by 
demurring at the appearance of another poem of 
unquestionable excellence." To his own sufferings 
also the poet often alludes in this sublime and af- 
fecting tragedy. He had before couched his com- 
plaint, as well as his unsubdued contempt of regal 
government, under the concluding sentence of his 
history : " As the longnsuffering of God permits bad 
men to enjoy prosperous days with the good, so his 
severity dfttimes exempts not good men from their 
share in evil titoes with the bad." 



In 1672, he published his Artis Logics plenii 
institutio, ad Rami metkodum concinnata. This 
work and his Accidence commenced Grammar 






" Denne's Hist, of Lambeth Parish, ta. 1795, p. 344. 



riff^^ 



.AND Wfl^ITINQS OF MJJ.TON. 316 

proofs pf that jz^ for careful education^ which Milr 
ton shewed throughout his life/ And to this zeal 
Dr. Johnson has paid a tribute of applause^ not more 
honoiirahle than just '' To that multiplicity of 
attainments, and eitent of comprehension, that 
€9Qtitle this great author to our veneration, may be 
added a kind of humble dignity, which did not disr 
dain the meanest services to literature. The epick 
poet, the controvertist, the politidan, having already 
descended to accommodate children with a book of 
rudiments, now, in the last years of his life, com- 
posed a book of Log^ck^ for the initiation of students 
in philosophy." Of his book of Logick there was a 
second edition in the foUowihg year. 

In 1673, his Treatise Qf true Religion, Heresie, 
Schism, Toleration, and what heat means may he 
used against the growth qf Popery, was published. 
In this discourse there are some passages which shew 
that Milton had altered his opinion, since his younger 
days, respecting certam points of doctrine. But that 
regard for the Holy Writings, which always predo* 
ininated in his mind, is particularly observable in it. 
^f .Let not,** he says, ** the countryman, the trades^ 
man, the lawyer, the physician, the statesman, ex- 
cuse himself by his much business, from the stu^ous 
reading of the. Bible." This advice he o0ers as the 
best preservative against Popery. His principle of 
toleration^ as Dr. Johnson observes, is agreement in 
the sufficiency of the Scriptures ; and he extends it 
to all who^ whatever their opinions are, profess to 



216 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

derive them from the Sacred Books. In the same 
year he reprinted his juvenile poems with some ad- 
ditions, and with the Tractate on Education. Not- 
withstanding the puhhek avowal of his opposition to 
Popery, the infamous Titus Oates had the impu- 
dence to assert, not long afterwards, that " Milton 
was a known ° frequenter of a Popish Club." 

In 1674, the last year of his laborious life, he 
pubhshed his Familiar Letters in Latin, to which 
he added some Academical Exercises. His em- 
ployment of the press closed for ever in a transla- 
tion of the " Latitt Declaration of the Poles in 
/avour of John the third, their heroick sovereign. 
Dr. Symmons professes himself to be doubtful of the 
fact of Milton having translated this Declaration ; 
" as the Latin document could arrive in England 
only a very short time before his death, and the 
translation bears no resemblance to his character of 
composition." This doubt is admitted by Mr. Haw- 
kins in his recent additions to bishop Newton's hie 
of the poet. Now the Declaration had been made 
in May, and the translator of it died in the following 
November. The translation would exact from Mil- 



■ Dedication or address prefixed to the true Narrative of the 
Horrid Plot, &c. of the Popish Party, by T. Oates, D.D. fol. 
Load. 1679. 

" The Biographical Dictionary, of 1798, calls this piece a 
translation from the Dutch. See vol. x, p. 465. But the title- 
p^e of the performance announces it thus : " Now faithfully 
translated from the Latin. Copy." 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON.- 217 

ton not many hours. But the original^ so brief and 
at the same time so fcnrmal^ could hardly call forth 
any distinctive graces of his pen. Yet we may trace 
his hand^ I thinks in the use of interreign not a 
common word^ which is found in this Declaration 
and in his History of England ; and in the rudi- 
ments of warfare, which^ while it is a classical ex- 
pression, his Paradise Regained, as well as the pre- 
sent translation, exhibits. But he ^ delighted not, 
he has told us^ in translations. Yet in the cause of 
this popular sovereign, who was the patron too of 
men of letters, he stooped, I can believe, with plea- 
sure. Sobieski abo was a king to Milton's mind : 
he might be deposed by Ins subjects. 

Milton had now been long a sufferer by the gout ; 
and in July, considermg his end to be approaching, 
he informed his brother Christopher, who was then 
a bencher in the Inner Temple, that he wished to 
dictate to him the disposition of his property. And 
the discovery of this Nuncupative Will has illus- 
trated the domestick manners of the poet. He 
died on ** Simday the 8th of November foUow- 



^ See the remark in the next section, p. 223. 

^ Mr. Hayley says^ on Sunday the 15th of November. But 
it appears, by the Register of St. Giles's Cripplegate, that he 
was buried on the 12th. " L. John Melton^ gentleman. Con- 
sumption, Chancell. 12. Nov. 1674." Melton has been altered, 
in fresher ink, to Milton. L. denotes the liberty of the parish. 
Mr. Steevens supposed the entry to have been made by the un- 
dertaker, who knew nothing more of Milton than that he was 



91S wm AccouifT oMTm uk 

ing« His dejEith was so easy^ that tbe time of his 
expiration was unpereeivied by the att^Gidants in hxs 
room. 

• 
The remains of Milton weore attended to the grave 
by '^ ^ aU his learned and great friends in London, 
not without a friendly concourse of the vulgar." He 
was buried next his father in the chancel of St. Giles, 
jCripplegate. In August, 1790, thq spot, where his 
body had been deposited, was opened ; and a corpse^ 
hastily supposed to be his, was exposed to pubHck 
view. A Narrative of the disinterment of the coffin, 
and of the treatment of the corpse, was published by 
Philip Neve, Esq. The Narrative was immediateLy 
and ably answered in the St. James's Chronicle, in 
Nine Reasons why it is improbable ihat the coffin, 
lately dug up in the Piarish Church of St. Giles, 
Cripplegate, should contain the relique& of Miltonl 
Mr. Neve added a Postscript to his Narrative. But 
all his labour appears to have been employed in an 
im^inary cause. The late Mr. Steevens, who par<- 
ticulariy lamented the indignity which the nomind 
ashes of the poet sustained, has intimated in his \maf 

dead. Aubrey says, '^ He was buried at the upper end in St. 
Gyles Cripple-gate chancell," and that, " when the two steppes 
to the Communion Table were raysed, (in 1679) his St6ne was 
lemoved." 

' Toland's Life of Milton, prefixed to the edition of MiltoQ> 
Prosf^^Works, printed (not at Amsterdam as asserted in the title- 
page,) but at London, in 1698, fol. p. 46. 
~ ' Formerly in the possession of the late James Bindley, Esq. ; 
by whom I was favoured with the perusal of them* 



. AND WRITINGS OF MfI<TON«: J8t9 

nuscfcipt remarks^ on this .Narratiye and Postscripts 
that the disinterred corpse was supposed to be that o£ 
ra J'emale, and that the minutest examination of the 
fragments could not disprove, if it did not confirm, 
the supposition. Mr. Ldfft, noticing the burial of 
the poet in St. Giles's diurch, has eloquently cehr 
sured ^^ ^ the sordid mischief committed in. it<, and 
the market made of the eagemei^s with ^hich curioi* 
sdty or admiration prompted persons to possess them- 
^Ives of his supposed remain^, which, lK)weyer, there 
is reason td believe, fiar from bemg Milton's, were the 
bones of a person not of the same age or sex. It 
were to be wished that neither superstition, afifectar 
tion, idle curiosity, or avarice. Were so frequentily iur 
, Vadmg the silence of the grave. Far from honouring 
«the illustrious dead, it is rather outraging the com- 
.i&on condition of humamty, and last melancholy state 
iii which our present existence terminates. Dust and 
afiiies hate no intelligence to give, whether beaiity, 
genius^ br virtue, mformed the animated clay. A 
iooth c^ Hcnner or Milton will not be distinguished 
Jfrom one of a common mortal ; nor a bone of Alex*- 
Mider acquaint us with more of his character than 
fme of Bucephalus. Though the dead be uncon- 
cerned, the living are neither benefited nor improved : 
decency is violated, and a kind of instinctive sym- 
pathy infringed, which, though it ought not to over- 
power reason, ought not without it, and to no pur- 

' Preface to his edition of the first book of Paradise Lost, 
1792, p. XXX. 



220 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

pose, to be superseded. But whether the remains of 
that body which once was Milton's, or those of any 
other person were thus exposed and set to sale, death 
and dissolution have had their empire over these. 
The spirit of his immortal works survives invulner- 
able, and must survive. These are his best image, 
these the reliques which a rational admiration may 
cherish and revere !" 

It has been observed that the original stone, laid 
on the grave of Milton, was removed not many 
years after his interment. Nor were his remains 
honoured by any other memorial in Cripplegate 
church, till the year 1793 ; when, by the munificence 
of the late Mr. Whitbread, an animated marble bust, 
the sculpture of Bacon, under which is a plain tablet, 
recording the dates of the poet's birth and death, 
and of his father's decease, was erected in the middle 
aisle. To the Author of Paradi^ Lost b, similar 
tribute of respect had been paid, in 1787, by Mr. 
Benson; who procured his bust to be admitted, 
where once his name had been deemed a profanation, 
into Westminster Abbey. And the reception of the 
monument into this venerable edifice became immer 
diately the theme of the muses ". 

■ Dr. George, provost of King's College, Cambridge, and- Vin- 
cent Bourne, Usher of Westminster School, have written upon 
this occasion some Latin hexain6ters, which have been much 
admired for their spirit and their elegance. 



SECTION V. 



Of political and other Publications ascribed tolUGUon; 
with refer eTice to Ms genuine Prose-Works^ and their 
general character* 

While the pen of Milton has been * needlessly ques- 
tioned in regaxd to part of his history of England, 
and to the translation of the Polish document ; ano^ 
nymous publications, on the other hand, have been 
ascribed to him. Most of them appeared while he 
was living. And perhaps to his political rather than 
his literary character we owe these assumptions. 
Of such it may gratify curiosity to give an account. 

On very slender grounds Peck attributed to him 
the translation of Buchanan's Baptistes, which ap- 
peared in 1641, with the following title : " Tyran- 
nical Government anatomized, or, A Discourse con- 
cerning evil Counselors : being the Life and Death 
of John the Baptist, and presented to the King's 
most excellent Majesty by the author." Aubrey 
and Wood, from different motives, would not have 

* See before, pp. 210. 217. 



222 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

forborne to notice so remarkable a production, if it 
had proceeded from the pen of Milton. This trans- 
lation has been ** supposed, with ^great probability, 
to have been intended as a hint to Charles the first, 
of the danger he then incurred from the counsels of 
some about him : and the history of the Baptist, who 
lost his head by the instigation of Herodias, seems 
figuratively to glance at the death of lord Strafford, 
and at the influence of the queen. Peck, hawevery 
might have noticed a political pamphlet, *" published 
in the following year, '* by J. M :** of which the 
royal counsellors are the principal theme. From 
numerous examples I wiU cite one : '^ It is the king's 
crown that is aimed at, and not onely so, but even 
the very dethronmg of him, and his whole posterity; 
and in truth so it is, but by his Majesties emU 
Councellors ; who, to magnifie themselves, intend 
the ruin of the Commonwealth : And is not that in 
effect a dethroning of his Majesty ? All that I shall 
say is but this : No government more blest or happiei 
tf not abused by the advice of vile and malignant 
'Counselhurs^ 1^. 3. From the following passag^e 
some readers might suspect J. M., the author of 
this pamphlet, to be Milton : '' Freedome, as it is a 
great mercy, so it ought of temporal blessings, next 
to our lives, to receive the greatest estimate; th6 

•* Biograph. Dramat. vol. ii. p. 387. 

^ .Entitled^ '' A Reply to the Answier (printed by his Majesties 
command at Oxford) to a printed Booke intituled ' Observations 
upon some of his Majesties late Answers and Expresses.' By 
J. M. London, printed for M. Walbanfcke, 1642," 4^ 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 223 

slavery of the body is the usher to the thraldome of 
conscience ; and tf we fi)oKshly saii!«nder up l&is, 
the other will not be long after I** p. 12. But, in 
p. 20, tiiere is sufficient proof, tiiat Milton could 
not have written it. ^ What have we to do with 
Aristocracy, or Democracy ? God be blessed, we nor 
know, nor desire, any other government than thai 
ef Monarchy r Peck, therefore, if he had seen tins 
pamphlet, would find that, notwithstanding it haar* 
monized in a considerable degree with the subject of 
the poetical translation, it could not be rendered 
subservient to his hypothesis. Milton, in the acccamt 
he gives of himself, appears indeed to have been no 
friend to translations : '' "* I never eould delight in 
long citations, much less in whole traductions ; whe- 
ther it be natural disposition or education in me, or 
ihat my mother hore me a speaker of what Ood 
made mine own, and not a translator.'' He is said 
indeed to have declined translating Homer. 

in 1642 was published '' An Argument, or De- 
bate in Law, of the great Question concerning the 
Militia; as it is now settled by Ordinance of both 
the Houses of Parliament. By J. M. London, 
1642." 4\ On the title-page of this pamphlet, (now 
in the possession of the Marquis of Stafford,) Mil- 
ton's elder Brother in Conrns, the second Earl of 
Bridgewater, has written the name of the poet as 
the author. At the end of Phillips's Life oif Milton 

^ Prose- Works, vol. i. p. 407, cd. 1698. 



224 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

with manuscript remarks by Oldys^ commumcated 
to me by Mr. Reed, this tract was also noticed among 
Oldys's additions to the publications of Milton. The 
same remark is made in a ^ volume of Tracts, be- 
longing to the Archiepiscopal Library in Lambeth 
Palace> with additions apparently from a contempo- 
rary writer ; additions, indeed, not exhibiting genu- 
ine claims to credit^ yet curious and amusing ; and' 
in the following order. 

1. John Milton's Speech for unlicensd Printing. 

2. His Salve for y^ Blind, a def: qfy^ FarldmK 

3. His Argument concerning y^ Militia. 

5. His Jus. Populi. 

6. EiiccDvoicXacrriiCi his Answer to, y^ Kings Book. 

7. His Tenure of Kings. 

4. The Parlam** Petition cone: y' Militia, & y* 

Kings Answ'. 

The numbers 5, 6, and 7, have been altered by the 
writer of the preceding contents, as he had omitted 
to put number 4 in its proper place. And 5 ap- 
pears to have first stood without his before Ju^ ; 
but is added evidently by the same hand. After the 
Jn^ Populi were also the following words, hy some 
supposed to he his ; but these words are crossed 
through with the pen, and his prefixed, as I have 
before stated. The initials J. M. Esquire are printed 
in the title-page of the second of these tracts, and 

• Numbered I. 5. 23. 



AND- WRITINGS OF MILTON. 225 

the remarker has^ written under them* /. Milton ;i as 
he has also placed . in the title-page , of the Jifth, 
which exhibits no name or initials^ the letters J. M. 
But however car^l and earnest this remarker has 
been, I am convinced he is mistaken, in attributing 
these two pamphlets to Milton. They exhibit indeed 
(particularly, the latter) many energetick. sentiments 
and expressions. The former, printed in 1643, 
opens with this pithy avowal . to the Reader : " It is 
not rhetorick but reason can satisfie the judgment. 
The former may cozen the. conscience, and dasle 
simple men : the latter onely can , satisfie the wise, 
and lead to truth. A rough diamond is precious, 
when the best wrought glass is despicable: the 
painted oratory which best pleaseth the vulgar, ill 
suits with the well-becoming gravity of a statist.** 
But, very soon afterwards, the author tells us . that 
the unhappy state of things " hath inforc'd a pen 
ever before still to expose itselfe to pubhke censure." 
The author therefore was not Milton. In the latter 
of these tracts, published in 1644, there is a pas- 
sage so minutely concurring with Milton's observa- 
tions on the same subject, as might almost lead the 
reader to admit the justice of the remarker's desig- 
nation. " ^ The nature of Man being depraved by 



' Jus Populi, pp. 42, 43. Compare Milton's reflection on the 
political union of the fallen Angels, Par. Lost, B. ii. 496. 

" O shame to Men ! Devil with Devil damn*d 
" Firm concord holds ; Men only disagree 
'• Of creatures rational, though under hope 



226 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the fall of Adam^ miseries of all sorts broke in upon 
us in throngs^ together with sin ; insomuch that no 
creature is now so uncivill and untame^ or so unfit 
either to live with or without societies as M an» 
Wolves and beares can better live without wolves 
and beares^ than Man can without Man ; yet neither 
are wolves nor beares so fell^ so hostile^ and so de- 
structive to their own kinde, as Man is to his. In 
some respects^ Mfin is more estranged from politicall 
union than Devils are : for by reason of naturall dis- 
parities the reprobate Angels continue without dis- 
solution of order^ and shun that confusion amongst 
themselves which they endeavour to promote amongst 
Men. But amongst Men^ nothing but cursed en- 
mitie is to be seen.** However, in a preceding page^ 
the favourite topick of Milton's Uterary employ- 
ment in 1644 is mentioned in such a manner as at 
once destroys the possibility of his having written 
the treatise. The author is speaking of divorce 
and repudiation : " * And that," he says, " seemes 
discountenanced by our Saviour, except in case of 
Adultery .** This was not the doctrine of Milton. 

By Anthony Wood we are next informed, that 

" Of heavenly grace : and, God proclaiming peace, 
" Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife. 

Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, 

Wasting the earth, each other to destroy ; 

As if (which might induce us to accord) 
'' Man had not hellish foes enow besides, 
" That, day and night, for his destruction wait." 

*f Jus Populi, p. 31, 



« 

it 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 227 

Milton was thought to be the author of The Grand 
Case of Conscience concerning the Engagement, 
which was pubUshed in 1649-50; -but Dr. Birch re- 
presents the style of the pamphlet as not in the least 
supporting such an opinion. 

After his decease, however, there ^ appeared a 
work, into which, there is good reason to suppose, 
MUton had thrown many additions and corrections; 
a work, Mr. Warton has well observed, ^ containing 
criticisms far above the taste of that period ; criti- 
dsms not common after the national taste had been 
just corrupted by the false and capricious refinements 
of the Court of Charles the Second ; among which is 
a judgement on Shakspeare, not then, Mr. Warton 
believes, the general opinion, perfectly coinciding 
with the sentiments and words of Milton in 
V Allegro ; 

" Or sweetest Shakspeare's, Fancy's child> 
" Warble his native wood-notes wild ;" 

for the judgement is, that '^ never any expressed a 
more lofty and tragick height than this child of 
Fancy; never any represented Nature more purely 

^ Bishop Kennet notices in his Register, p. 321, this work, as 
having been published in 1660. See also the Catalogue of the 
late Dr. Farmer's books, p. 178, where a copy of this date is also 
mentioned. Yet the Imprimatur for Phillips's book is dated 
Sept. 14, 1674, And Milton's death is mentioned in it. There 
is, therefore, some mistake as to the noticed work of 1660. 

* See his Hist, of Eng. Poetry, and his Edit, of Milton's 
Smaller Poems. 

Q 2 



228 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ta the life ; and, where the polishments of art are 
most wanting, as probably his learning was not ex- 
traordinary, he pleaseth with a certain wild and 
native elegance." Other traces of Milton's hand 
may certainly be discovered in this interesting vo- 
lume, which was entitled, " Theatrum Poetarum 
Anglicanorum; or, A Compleat CoUectioir of the 
Poets, especially the most eminent, of all ages," &c. 
and was published by his nephew Edward PhiUips,^in 
1675. 

Anthony Wood relates^ that the Enchiridion 
Lingiue Latinte, and Speculum Linguae Latime, 
both published in 1684 by his nephew also, were all 
or mostly taken from the Latin Dictionary of Milton 
before noticed. The Satyr against Hypocrites, 
an extremely coarse but curious picture of the times, 
published in 1655, and of which there have been 
several impressions, was also attributed to Milton, 
and even ** advertised as his production. But his 
nephew Edward undeceived the world ; not suffer- 
ing the leaves of this supposititious laurel to be torn 
from the brow of his brother John. " * John Phil- 
lips, the maternal nephew and disciple of an author 
of most deserved fame, late deceas't, being the ex- 
actest of heroic poets, (if the truth were well exa- 

^ Even so late as in 1710 the poem was scandalously published 
with this deceptions title, " Mr. John Milton's Satyre against 
Hypocrites, written whilst he was Latin. Secretary to Oliver 
Cromwell." 

' Theatrum Poet. 1675. Modern Poets, pp. 114, 115. . 



AND WRITINGS OF, MILTON. - 229 

mined, and it is the opinion .of many both learned 
and judicious persons,) either of the ancients or mo- 
dems, either of. our own or whatever nation else; 
from whose education as he hath received a judicious 
command of style both in prose and verse, so from 
his own natural ingenuity he hath his vein .of bur- 
lesque and facetious poetry, which produe*t the 
Satyr against Hypocrites,'' &c. Edward and John 
Phillips are indeed the . authors of various publica- 
tions ; although Dr. Johnson has hastily asserted the 
brief history of poetry to have been the "* only pro- 
duct of Milton's academy. Johnson is .also cen- 
sured by some ° writers for having affirmed the his- 
tory to be written in Latin, which is, with a Latin 
tijle, written in Enghsh. But Wood informs us, 
that Phillips is the author of ° another work similar 



m 



I have been favoured by John Nichols, Esq. with an Epitaph 
1-On the excellently learned John Milton," as it appeared in 
The Daily Gazetteer of Oct. 30, 1738, said to be written by 
an eminent author^^nd one of MiltorCs pupils. This pupil, how- 
ever, appears to .have caught none of the Miltonick taste or 
spirit ; his verses being miserably tame tind prosaick. 

■ The annotator on the Lives of the Poets, edit. 1794, and 
Mr. Hayley. See also the Gent. Mag. 1789, p. 416. 

" Entitled, 1. " Tractatulus de carmine dramatico poetarum, 
prsesertim in choris trs^cis, et veteris Comoedise. 

2. ^* Compendiosa enumeratio poetarum (saltern quorum fama 
maxim^ enituit) qui k tempore Dantls Aligerii usque ad banc 
ffitatem claruerunt ; nempe Italoruhi, Germanorum, Anglorum, 

&c." 

These two things, Wood informs us, " were added to the 
seventeenth edition of Jo\ Buchlerus his book, tn^t. Sacrarum 
profanarumque phrasium poeticarum Thesaurus ^ S^c. 1669." 
Ath. Ox. rUt. supr. ^ See a list of the two Phillips's publications, 



230 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to the Theatrum Poetarum already mentioned, and 
written in the language which Johnson has related, 
who indeed gives no specifick reference to either 
publication. 

Let us now revert to the undisputed writings c^ 
Milton in prose. 

There is in the Library of Trinity College, Dub^ 
lin, a volume of these, in the ^ underwritten order, 
which he had presented to the learned Patrick 
Young, Charles the first's librarian ; to whom he 
has prefixed a brief address concluding with an ex- 
^lession similar to that in Paradise Lost, of finding 
fit audience, though few ; — '^ ** paticis hujusmodi 

ibid, and p. 1 119. To which, perhaps, may be added a copy of 
verses Upon the iricomparable poems of Mr, William Drummond, 
afterwards prefixed to the works of that elegant author printed at 
Edinburgk in 1711 , and signed Edw. Phillips, Phillips, in bm 
Theatrum Poetarum, seems much interested in behalf of Dnun- 
mond, and expresses his sorrow that in his time this charming 
poet should be so Httle noticed. 

p 1. Of Reformation touching Church Discipline, &c. 

2. Of Prelaticall Episcopacy. 

3. The Reason of Church Government, &c. 

4. Animadversions upon the Remonstrants Defence, &c. 

5. An Apology against a Pamphlet, &c. 

6. The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. 
?• The judgement of Martin Bucer. 

8. Colasterion. 

9. Tetrachordon. 
iO. Areopagitica. 

^ The address is written on the margin of the first title-page 
in the vcdame, part of which has been cut off in the binding. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 231 

lectdribus contentusJ" Whether Milton's avowal of 
content with ^ few readers, such as Young, may be 
thought to favour Mr. Warton's opinion that the 
prose-works of Milton were never popular, I leave to 
the reader's decision. But I do not believe that these 
writings experienced so much contemporary neglect, 
as some have been led to suppose. I find the die* 
tion, by which they are distinguished, thus concisiely 
but strongly commended in 1650 : " ' In truth it is 
very hard to write good English : and few have at- 
tained its height, in this last frie of books, but Mr. 
Milton." Mr. Warton indeed has treated the prose 
of Milton, both English and Latin, with alitiost un- 
relenting severity; conceding only to the nervous 
* Areopagitica, and the Tractate on Education, 

Mr. Cooper Walker, who communicated to me the notice of 
this curiosity, informed me also that, at the top of the page, is 
written the name of a former possessor, Matt. Pilkington, Stam- 
ford, 1693. 

' An Introductioii to the Teutonick Philosophic, &c. By C. 
Hotham, Fellbw of Peter House, Englished by D. F. 12mo. 
1650. Preface. 

* Certainly these two have* obtained, among the numerous 
prose-works of Milton, more than ordinary distinction and ap- 
plause. The Tractate on Edttcation was republished in 1751 
with a dedication to lord Harcourt, at that time governor to the 
Prince of Wales, (his late Majesty,) and Prince Edward ; " it 
being thought necessary," the editor says, " at this juncture to 
reprint it, as the prosperity of ourselves and posterity depends, in 
a great measure, on the educatioh of two princes, whose example 
in leammg and virtue^ it is hoped, will be a model for the youth 
of this nation." It has since appeared, in a separate form, more 
than once ; and also in French. The same may be said of the 
Areopagitka, in English ; and to that edition which was pub- 



232 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

any tribute of praise.^ Yet in many of Milton's 
EngHsh treatises, besides the Tractate on Educa- 
tion and the' Areopagitica ; and in his several Latin 
disquisitions ; abundant examples of highest literary 
merit, deeply interesting in the subject as well as the 
composition, may surely be found. ' Perhaps indeed 
his English prose is, m general, too learned. The 
style of it at least is sometimes certainly recondite. 
Of his History of England Warburton has said, 
that " it is written with great simplicity, contrary 
to his custom in his prose-works ; and is the better 
for it. But he sometimes rises to a surprising gran- 
deur in the sentiment and expression, as at the con- 
clusion of the second book. Henceforth we are to 
steer, &c.' ' I never saw any thing equal to this, but 
the conclusion of Sir Walter Ralegh's History of the 
World." — That in his civil and religious speculations 
Milton is occasionally virulent, who will deny ? His 
pen, when dipped in the gall of puritanism, hurries' 
him into judgement without candour and condenma- 
tion without mercy. Hence the close of his Reform^ 
ation in England is " * the very torrent, tempest, 
and (as I may say) whirlwind of his passion, without 
a temperance to give it smoothness f while the pre- 
ceding sentence is all loftiness of thought and eleva- 
tion of language. But sometimes also, in his prose, 

lished in 1738, Thomson the poet is said to have written the pre- 
face. It may be observed too, that of the Areopagitica, and the 
Tractate on Education^ Milton himself, in his Second Defence, 
speaks with pleasure and a confidence of their value. 
' Sh^p. Hamlet. 



AND ,WRITINGS OF MILTON. : 



283 



tkat abusive spirit and those grim expressions^ yirhich 
the turbulence of the times excited, are followed by 
a gentleness, which, like the beautiful calm that sucr 
ceeds his own elemental commotion, presents him 
to us 



€i 



" more fresh and green. 



*« 



After a night of storm so ruinous/* 



Milton is * supposed to have been an admirer of 
the works of Jeremy Taylor ; to have even studied 
them ; and to have borrowed from them ideas and 
expressions. With proofs of this description we are 
npt yet supplied. But the energy of his prose has 
been allowed to equal, though not to surpass, that 
of the prelate. Perhaps the prose of Taylor is not 
very often of similar character to that of Milton. 
Nor is that of bishop Hall, another eloquent con- 
temporary. But from this great triumvirate we 
gather abundantly the diversified arrangement and 
application of bright and majestick sentiments, of 
the most powerful and commanding words. Milton 
perhaps has never soared, in compositions of this 
kind, to a greater height, than when with romantick, 
and classical, and scriptural allusions, he hints at the 
future production of some noble poem; as in his 
Reason of Church Government ^ already cited; 
where he also loftily tells of " an inward prompting, 

» 

■ Par. Regained, B. iv. 435. 

* See the Life of bishop Taylor by archdeacon Bonney, and 
by bishop Heber. 
y In p. 52, et seq. 



234 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

which in his youth grew daily upon him, that hy 
labour and intense study he might perhaps leave 
something so written to after-times^ a>s they 
should not willingly let it die ;" the very anticipa- 
tion, which he had ^ before communicated to Deodati, 
that he was meditating an immortality qf fame ; 
an anticipation, which the judgement of posterity 
has confirmed. 

* Literae Fam. dat. Sept. 23, 1637. 



SECTION VI. 



Of the personal and general character of Milton; of his 
circumstances; and of his family. 

Milton, in his youth, is said to have been extremely 
^ handsome. He was called the Lady of his Col- 

*■ The first published portrait of Milton was that by Marshal!, 
prefixed to the edition of the juvenile poems in 1645. With the 
palpable dissimilitude of this portrait Milton was justly displeased, 
as his verses, In Effigiei Sculptorem, evidently prove. In the year 
1670, there was another plate, by Faithorne, from a drawing in 
crayons by Faithorne, prefixed to his Histoty of Britain, with 
this legend ; *^ Gul. Faithorne ad vivum delin. et sculpsit. Joannis 
Miltoni efiigies, ^tat. 62. 1670." It is also prefixed to the 
edition of his Prose-Works in 1698. It has been observed, that 
this engraving is not in Faithome*s best manner. The print has 
been several times copied. By an ingenious young artist a new 
drawing was taken from Faithome's picture, (supposed to be 
the best likeness extant of the poet, and for which he sat at the 
age of sixty-two,) by the kind permission of William Baker, Esq. 
in whose possession it now is ; from which an engraving was made 
for my first edition of Milton's poetical works. From the same 
picture the neat engraving in the present edition is also made. 
Faithome*s print is copied by W. Dolle, before Milton's Lo^ick, 
1672. Dolle's print is likewise prefixed to the second edition 
of Paradise Lost, Faithorne was also copied afterwards by 
Robert White, and next by Vertue. Mr. Warton has given 
many other particulars of paintings and engravings of Milton. 



236 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

lege ; an appellation which he himself has recorded, 
and which Mr. Hayley says he could not relish. 

" There are four or five original pictures of our author. The 
first, a half length with a laced ruff, is by Cornelius Jansen, in 
1618, when he was only a boy of ten years old. It had belonged 
to Milton's widow, his third wife, who lived in Cheshire. This 
was in the possession of Mr. Thomas Hollis, having been pur- 
chased at Mr. Charles Stanhope's sale for thirty-one guineas, in 
June, 1760. Lord Harrington wishing to have th^ lot returned, 
Mr. Hollis repUed, * his lordship's whole estate should not re- 
purchase it.' It was engraved by J. B. Cipriani, in 1760. Mr. 
Stanhope bought it of the executors of Milton's widow, for twenty 
guineas. The late Mr. Hollis, when his lodgings in Covent- 
garden were on fire, walked calmly out of the house with this 
picture by Jansen in his hand, neglecting to secure any other. por- 
table article of value. I presume it is now [1 79 1 ] in the possession 
of Mr. Brand Hollis. Another, which had also belonged to Mil- 
ton's widow, is in the possession of the Onslow family. This, 
which is not at all like Faithorne's crayon-drawing, and by some 
is suspected not to be a portrait of Milton, has been more than 
once engraved by Vertue : who in his first plate of it, dated 1731, 
and in others, makes the age twenty-one. This has beenalso 
engraved by Houbraken in 1741, and by Cipriani. The ruff is , 
much in the neat style of painting ruffs, about and before 1628. 
The picture is handsomer than the engravings. This portrait is 
mentioned in Aubrey's manuscript Life of Milton, 1681, as then 
belonging to the vndow. And he says, ' Mem. Write his name m 
red letters on his pictures which his widowe has, to preserve themJ 
Vertue, in a better to Mr. Christian the seal engraver, in. the 
British Museum, about 1720,. proposes to ask Prior the poet, 
whether there had not been a picture of Milton in the late lord 
Dorset's Collection. The duchess of Portland has [had] a minia- 
ture of his head, when young ; the face has a stem thoughtful- . 
ness, and, to use his own expression, is severe in youthful beauty • . 
Before Peck's New Memoirs of Milton, printed 1740, is a pre- . 
tended head of Milton in exquisite mezzotinto, done by the second 
J, Faber : which is characteristically unlike any other represent- . 
ation of our author I remember to have seen. It is. from a 



, AND WRIXmOS OF MILTON. 237 

From his Defensio Secunda, and his Apology for 
SmectymnutLSy several circumstances^ respecting his 

painting given to Peck by sir John Meres of Kirkby-Belers in 
Leicestershire. But Peck himself knew that he neas imposing 
upon the publick. For having asked Vertue whether he thought 
it a picture of Milton, and Vertue peremptorily answering in the 
negative, Peck replied, * I'll have a scraping from it, however ; 
and let posterity settle the difference.' Besides, in this picture 
the left hand is on a book, lettered Paradise Lost, But Peck si^- 
poses the age about twenty-five, when Milton had never thought 
of that poem or subject. Peck mentions a head done by Milton 
himself on board : but it does not appear to be authenticated. 

" The Richardsons, and next the Tonsons, [before Mr. Baker,] 
had the admirable crayon-drawing above mentioned.. About the 
year 1725, Vertue canied this drawings with other reputed en- 
gravings and paintings of Milton, to Milton's favourite daughter 
Deborah, a very sensible woman, who died the wife of Abraham 
Clark a weaver in Spitalfields, in 1727, aged 76. He contrived 
to have them brought into the room as if by accident, while he was 
conversing with her. At seeing the drawing, taking no notice of 
the rest, she suddenly cried out in great surprise, *■ O Lord, that is 
the picture of my father ! How came you by it ?' And, stroking 
down the hair of her forehead, added, ' Just so my father wore 
his hair.' She was very like Milton. Compare Richardson, 
Explan, Notes, p. xxxvi. This head, by Faithome, was etched 
by Richardson the father about 1734, with the addition of a 
laurel-crowt to help the propriety of the motto. It is before the 
Explanatory Notes on the Paradise Lost, by the Richardsons, 
Lond. 1734. 8vo. The busts prefixed to Milton's Prose- TTor^s 
by Birch 1738, and by Baron 1753, are engraved by Vertue from 
a bad drawing made by J. Richardson, after an original cast in 
plaster about fiily. Of this cast Mr. Hollis gave a drawing by 
Cipriani to Speaker Onslow in 1759. It was executed, perhaps, 
on the publication of the Defensio, by one Pierce an artist' of 
some note, the same who did the marble bust of sir Christopher 
Wren in the Bodleian Ubrary, or by Abraham Simon. Mr. Hollis 
bought it of Vertue. It has been remodelled in wax by. Cosset. 
Richardson th^ father, also etched this bust for The Poems and 



■SSS SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

person and habits of life^ may be gathered. And that 
he. might not be charged with boasting of his oivn 

Critical Essays of S. Say, 1745, 4to. But, I believe, this is the 
same etching that I have mentioned above, to have been made 
by old Richardson, 1 734, and which was now lent to Say's editor, 
1745, for Say's Essays. 

" There is, however, another etching of Milton, by Richardson, 
the younger, before he was blind, and when much younger than 
fifty, accompanied with six bombast verses. ' Authentick Homer,' 
&c. The verses are subscribed * J. R. jun.' The drawings, as 
well as engravings of Milton by Cipriani, are many. There is 
a drawing of our author by Deacon : it is taken irom a proof- 
impression on wax of a seal by Thomas Simon, Cromwell's chief 
mint-master, first in the hands of Mr. Yeo, afterwards of Mr. 
Hollis. This, a profile, has been lately engraved by Ryland. 
Mr. Hollis had a small steel puncheon of Milton's head, a full 
front, for a seal or ring, by the same T. Simon, who did many 
more of Milton's party in the same way. The medal of Milton 
struck by Tanner, for auditor Benson, is after the old plaster* 
bust, and Faithome's crayon-piece, chiefly the latter. So is the 
marble bust in the Abbey, by Rysbrack, 1737. Scheemaker'd 
marble bust, for Dr. Mead, and bought at his sale by Mr. Dun* 
combe, was professedly and exactly copied from the plaster-bust; 
Faithome's is the most common representation of Milton's head^ 
Either that, or the Onslow picture, are the heads in Bentley's, 
and Tickell's, and Newton's editions. All by Vertue. Milton's 
daughter Deborah above mentioned, the daughter of his first 
wife, and his amanuensis, told Vertue, that '' her father was of 
a fair complexion, a. little red in his cheeks, and light brown 
lank hair." Letter to Mr, Christian, ut supr. MS. Br. Mus» 

'^ Since these imperfect and hasty notices were thrown together, 
sir Joshua Reynolds has purchased a picture of Milton r for erne 
hundred guineas. It was brought to sir Joshua, 1784, by one 
Mr. Hunt, a printseller and picture-dealer, who bought it of a 
broker ; but the broker does not know the person of whom he 
had it. The portrait is dressed in black, with a band ; and the 
painter's mark and date are ' S. C. 1653.' This is writt^-on 
the back. ' This picture belonged to Deborah Milton, who 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 239 

figure, he facetiously declares that thus he spok^, 
lest any person, relying on the adversary who had 

was her father's amanuensis : at her death was sold to sir W. Da- 
venant's family. It was painted by Mr. Samuel Cooper, who was 
painter to Oliver Cromwell, at the time Milton was Latin Secre-i 
tary to the Protector. The painter and poet were near of the 
same age; Milton was bom in 1608, and died in 1674, and 
Cooper was bom in 1609, and died in 1672, and were com- 
panions and friends till death parted them. Several encouragers 
and lovers of the fine arts at that time wanted this picture ; par- 
ticularly Lord Dorset, John Somers, esquire, sir Robert Howard, 
Dryden, Atterbury, Dr. Aldrich, and sir John Denham.' Lord 
« Dorset was probably the lucky man ; for this seems to be the 
very picture for which, as I have before observed, Vertue wished 
Prior to search in Lord Dorset's collection. Sir Joshua Reynolds 
says, ' The picture is admirably painted, and with such a cha- 
racter of nature, that I am perfectly sure it was a striking like- 
ness. I have now a different idea of the countenance of Milton^ 
which cannot be got from any of the other pictures that I have 
seen. It is perfectly preserved, which shows that it has been shut 
up in some drawer ; if it had been exposed to the light, the 
colours would long before this have vanished/ It must be owned, 
that this miniature of Milton, lately purchased by sir Joshua 
Reynolds, strongly resembles Vandyke's pictmre of Selden in the 
Bodleian library at Oxford : and it is highly probable that Cooper 
should have done a miniature of Selden as a companion to the 
heads of other heroes of the commonwealth. For Cooper painted 
Oliver Cromwell, in the possession of the Frankland family; and 
another, in profile, at Devonshire house : Richard Cromwell at 
Strawbery-hill : Secretary Thurloe, belonging to Lord James 
Cavendish : and Ireton, Cromwell's general, now or late in the 
collection of Charles Polhill, esq. a descendant of Cromwell. The 
inference, however, might be applied to prove, that this head is 
Cooper's miniature of Milton. It has been copied by a female 
artist, in a style of uncommon elegance and accuracy." — 

Tlie genuineness of this miniature, as the portrait of Milton, 
has been both asserted, and denied, with considerable warmth. 
See the Gentleman's Magazine for 1791, pp. 399. 603. 806. 



240 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

misrepresented him, might deem him a kind of rhi- 
noceros, or a monster with a dog's head ! He had a 
very fine skin and fresh complexion. His hair was 
of a light hrown ; and, parted on the foretop, hung 
down in curls upon his shoulders. His features were 
regular ; and when turned of forty, he has himself told 
us, he was generally allowed to have had the appear- 
ance of being ten years younger. He has also repre- 
sented himself as a man of moderate stature, neither 
too lean nor too corpulent ; and so far endued with 



The disputants are Lord Hailes and Sir Joshua himself. Most 
connoisseurs are inclined to believe the portrait to be that of 
Selden. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who died in 1792, makes the fol- 
lowing bequest, however, in his Will, to the Rev. William 
Mason : ** The miniature of Milton by Cooper" See Malone*s 
Life of Sir. J. Reynolds, prefixed to the Works of Sir. J. R. vol. i. 
p. cxviii. 2d edit. 

Two miniatures of the poet, and of his mother, were sold, 
at the sale of the Portland Museum in 1786, for 34Z. See 
Gent. Mag. 1786, p. 527. In 1792 Mr. Elderton submitted 
to the publick the outlines of a supposed miniature of the poet in 
his possession. See Gent. Mag. 1792, p. 17. In 1797 a masterly , 
engraving, from an original picture in the possession of Capel 
Lofil, esq. believed also to be that of Milton, was made by G. 
Quinton. At West Wycombe Manor-house, in Buckinghamshire, 
there is a fine portrait of Milton, supposed to be an original. See 
Langley's Hist, and Antiq. of the Hundred of Desborough, C®. 
of Bucks, 1797, p. 417. I have been indebted to the kindness of 
the' late John Charnock jun. esq. of Greenwich, for an excellent 
oiriginal painting, conjectured by some to have been a portrait of 
Milton by Riley. Others have supposed it may be a head of his 
brother Christopher. It is, however, remarkable, that Mr. Green- 
slade, a coUecter of paintmgs, who resided in Bond-street, Lon- 
don, had a copy of this very painting , which was exhibited as a 
portrait of the poet. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 241 

Strength and spirit, that, as he always wore a sword, 
he wanted not, while light revisited his eyes, the skill 
or the courage to use it. His eyes were of a grayish 
colour ; which, when deprived of sight, did not betray 
their loss : At first view, and at a small distance,- it 
was difficult to know that he was blind. The testi- 
mony of Aubrey respecting the person of Milton is 
curiously expressed : " His harmonicall and ingeniose 
soul did lodge in a beautifidl and well proportioned 
body.*^ Milton's voice ^ was musically sweet, as his 
ear was musically correct. Wood describes his de- 
portment to have been affable, and his gait erect and 
manly, bespeaking courage and undauntedness. Of 
his figure in his declining days Richardson has left 
the following sketches. *' "" An ancient clergyman of 
Dorsetshire, Dr. Wright, found John Milton in a 
small chamber hung with rusty green, sitting in an 
elbow chair^ and dressed neatly in black, pale but not 
cadaverous, his hands and fingers gouty and with chalk 
stones. — He used also to sit in a gray cJoarse cloth 
coat, at the door of his house near Bunhill-fields, in 
warm sunny weather, to enjoy the fresh air ; and so, 
as well as in his room, received the visits of people 
of distinguished parts as well as quality.** 

His domestick habits were those of a, sober and 
temperate student. Of wine, or of any strong li- 
quours, he drank httle. In his diet he was rarely 

*» Aubrey says that " he had a delicate tunable voice/' and 
that " he pronounced the letter R very hard." 
^ Life of Milton, 1734, p. iv. * 



34!} SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

influenced by delicacy of choice ; illustrating his o^ 
admirable rule, Par. Lost, B. xi. 530. 

" The rule of 'Not too much ; by temperance taught 
' 111 what thou eat'st and drink 'st ; seeking from them 
" Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight.' 

He once delighted in walking and using exeici 
and appears to have amused himself in botanical 
pursuits: but, after he was confined by age and 
blindness, he had a machine to swing in for the pre- 
servation of his health. In summer he then res* 
in bed from nine to four, in winter to five. If, 
these hours, he was not disposed to rise, he had a 
person by his bed-side to read to him- When he 
first rose, he heard a chapter in the Hebrew Bible, 
and commonly studied till twelve ; then used some 
exercise for an hour ; then dined ; "^ afterwards played 
on the organ or bass-viol, and either sung himself or 
made his wife sing, who, he said, had a good voice 
but no ear. It is related that, when educating his 
nephewsj " ' he had made them songsters, and sing 
from the time they were with him," No poet, it 
may be observed, has more frequently or more poi 




[ire- 

>te4^^ 



' See his own observations, in his treatise Of Education, 
" The interim of unaweating themselves regularly, and conve- 
nient rest before meat, may both with profit and delight be taken 
up in recreating apd composing their travailed spirits with the 
giJemn and divine harmonies of musick heard or learnod^ Sk. 
The like also would not be inexpedient after meat, to assist and 
cherish nature in her first concoction, and send their minds back, 
to study in good tune and satisfaction," 



'iM 



' Aubrey's Life of Milton. 



J 



AND WRITINGS OP MILTON. 243 

erfully commended the charms of musick than Mil-^ 
teii:^ He.ivisfaed' per]iapsiii;o^rival,^and' hehas sno^ 
eessfully rivalled^ the sweetest doscriptioixs of a £»- 
veurite y faard,» whom^ the . melting .voice -acppters >to 
}m^ o&m enchanted ; die^ tender Bettardtviy^Mtelt 
his regnlar indulgence inimusieal^i'elsRsfatioii^ he i$ttts» 
died tiU silx }i then entectainedihis ^torsitill^ei^t; 
tibm^^joyed i light supper; and; e&kr ii^pipebf 
t5bac60 aivd a glass (^wateif} retired tebedi > ^ ' vi 

It has been remarked by Dr. Newton that all^ who 
had T^tten any accounts df the fife of Milton j ii^reed 
that lie was affable and insfrti^titein icontersation; of 
M eqttd Mdteheerful temp^ 1c ¥cfesii^ atidi^. Heiiil 
titift have borne their ^tbstimony also to thisieiigftging 
{idH of his character. And Richaidson has qtecorded 
thi^ saying of the poet's youngest daughter, that be^ 
fether '^^ was deBghtftiJ cbmptoy, the life of the con^ 
tl^tidn^ and that on account of -a fl0w of subject^ 
and * an unaffected che6rfiilness and ^ civility^* Ri- 
ehardsron too relcitds^ tbat^iMilton hfi(d also ^' a gt^ 
Tityih his teihper^* n6t melanehblyy or not till thB 
latter plart bf his life, n«rt sour^ not morose or ill^ 
^ftfUred^; but a certain severity of mind ; a mihd^ 
not condescending to little things." Dr. Newton 
adds his opinion '^ that the poet had a sufficient 
sense of his own merits, and contempt enough for 
his adversaries." Milton indeed acknowledges his 
own '* ^ honest haughtiness and self -esteem; 'with 

' Prose- Works, vol. i. p. 177, ed. 1698. 

r2 



<; 





SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

which, however, he professes to have united a becom- 
ing modesty. But from this self-esteem and honest 
haughtiness he certainly did descend to * lavish com- 
mendation on her, who, Mr. Warton observes, was 
" contemptible both as a queen and a woman," Christina 
of Sweden. Aubrey says, that he was satyrical. A. 
remark, '' ahready cited, pronounces him harsh and 
cholerick. And an adversary joins to these unpleasing 
epithets, his ' waspish spirit To the bitterness, which 
perhaps exhibited him in this repulsive view, he had, 
however, no slight provocation. Yet he could for- 
give the provocation, and with forgiveness unite A 
Very ' extensive generosity. There seems also in 
his ' letter to his friend Oldenburg, just before the 
restoration of monarchy, a kind of compunctious 
feeling for the severe and unmerciful attacks which 
he had made upon those, who liad opposed his theo- 
logy or his politicks : " I am not willing," he says, 
" to compile a history of our troubles, as you wish ; 
for they appear to require oblivion rather than 
commemoration; and our follies and crimes have 
long since inflicted a deeper wound upon our reli- 
gion than could have been made by our enemies." 
The scorn which he had sometimes exercised, and 



• In his Defensio Sec. and his Latin verses addressed to her. 
■ * See before, p. 90. 
i ,' As before, p. 93. 

^ Id the reception into his house of his pardoned wife's fallier 
and mother, and other relations. 

' EpistolaQ Familiares, Ep. xxix, Henrico Oldenburgo. 
Westmoii. Dec. 20, 1659. 



J 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. !246 

•the pr£de which wa^ his principal faulty could thud 
yields as at some other times they also yielded^ to 
the influence of charitable and pious reflection. '■> 

■ ^ ■ 

By controversy, and by the indulgence of early 
prejudices, Milton was undoubtedly soured. Hence 
he so often exhibits indignant as well as lofty anima- 
tion. But if the conceptions of his mind may be 
taken from his poetry, he caiinot be thought to have 
been by nature unamiable. Of Milton too, however 
he might be mistaken .in the means, the constant 
aim and end was liberty. . Yet with the love, of li- 
berty who will assert his attachment to Cromwell to 
have been consistent ? But he is supposed to have 
been deceived by the matchless hypocrisy of that 
usurper; and, in the uprightness of His mind, not td 
have suspected the false dissembler as adverse to his 
own spirit of freedom. Still it may be wondered 
that he, who so well knew the nature of true liberty, 
which 



'* always with right reason dwells 



" Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being: ;" 

it may be wondered that he, I say, should not have 
perceived the designs of the tyrant whom he served. 
Influenced by his uprightness, however, he offered 
to Cromwell, with undaunted zeal, a solemn and 
energetick " lesson of conduct. Yet with this man 
of power he appears to have possessed neither inti- 

•" Def. Sec. Prose- Works, vol. iii. p. 109, ed. 1698. 



2^6 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

macy noc interest; and with others>i ihe' bold poBE^ 
peers ofcCromwi^lly. he ^ asserts i aiDacquaintance top 
slight to address them for any favour; while we 
must not forget, however, that he had, upon a ** for- 
meiir^ occasion, applied to Bradshawe in behalf of 
Marvell. 

I ; • . ; ii:i t'f . I Villi ni u ^6i. }\ -Oi'. -.A 

^;('ThQ thedogiod opinipns(:iof Mikon Ml imider.iQur 
e0ice^ more properly, in the r^einaxks eupan the txesoh 
ti^:Q£ ChristiaHvdDactriwe, nduoh. form j the greater 
part^ n subsequent section, describing compositions 
left by him in manuscript. 

<t\ Hift literature was immense. Even his adversaries 
fl4initited> l^at he was tiie ^ ^.most able.^and) acute 
gfiholar^ilivii^g.'-i (Wi&iAbe Hebrew, and its.two:diar 
)e($t^ he: was .wellracquainted.;: and of the GrecA^ 
La^Qi Italian, Srench>) and. Spajiish languages, lie 
was a maipter. . In Latin, Dr. Johnson observes^ lus 
skill was such as places him in the first rank of 
writers and criticks. In the Italian he was also par- 
ticularly skilled. His Sonnets in that language have 
received the highest commendations from Italian cri- 



i' ■*'Im hid fetter to Peteir H€iinbach,"who had solicited Ms Tecotti* 
inendatioit to those in power for the office of siecretary t6 om! aMi 
bassador in Holland : Milton answers, that he is sorry he ^cannot 
serve him " propter paucissimas familiaritates meas cum gratio^ 
sisy" &c.^Epist. Fam. 27, Dat/Dec. 18, 1657, 

" See his letter, from the State-Paper Office, p. 163. 

P The Dignity of Kingship, in Answer to Milton, &c. by G. S» 
1660, p. 5. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 247 

ticks, both oihis wm and 6f^ modem times, ^i If Jie 
had written generally in Italian^ it has been supposedi 
by the late lord Orferd> that he would ha^e^ been the 
most perfeot poet in modern languages ; ior his own 
strength of thought would have condensed and 
hardened that speech to a proper degree. The Aca- 
demy Delia Crusca ^onsult^ him xm the. critical 
niceties of their latngunge. In his early days indfeed 
he- had > become deejdy Clamoured of ^^ "" thetWiO 
fifflious renowners of Beatrice and Laura? ^ It has 
been rightly remarked^ that he* read' dbmost^all 
duthdrs^ and improved by ^all : He himselfi jrdates, 
fiiat his 'Ground of study d;nd^ reading was ceaseles&'t 
There is a delightful minuteness too in MSton^ whea 
his studies are the th^ne. • He tells us/that *' * his 
life had not been unexpensive in learning and voyt 
aging about." He tells. us, of " * the grave orators 
^d hdstorians^ whose n|atter he loved ; and ijf .the 
smooth elegiack poetSy whom both, for the pjieaifing 
iftound of their numerous writings (which minutation 
fce found most easy and most agreeable to iuature's 
part ^ him^) and for their. matter^ he was^ so?allured 
ta.read^ that ino recreation came to him. better weir 
come/' He tells us^ with a fine reflection also upon 
the finits of study, that ^' " although he was not 

. . • . .• -J 

* " ^ * See alsb" Algarotti'S ingenious criticism on hid works. Opere 
del CoMe Algafotti, Ven. 1794, torn. x» p. 39, &c. 

' Prose- Works, vol. i. p. 177, ed. 1698. 

• Apol. for Smectymnuus. ^ 

' Ibid 

« Ibid. 



248 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

untrained in those rules which best rhetoricians have 
given/nor unacquainted with those examples which 
the prime authors of eloquence have written in am/ 
learned tongue ; yet true eloquence he found td be 
tioae,\mt'tke serious and hearty love of truth.** 

His favourite book was the Book of God. To Miln 
ton^ when a child^ Revelation opened hot her richest 
stores in vain. To devotional subjects his infant 
strains were dedicated ;• and never did " his harp 
forget" to acknowledge the aids which he derived 
\froin the Muse of sacred inspiration. The remark 
of Gibbon that * the sublime genius of Milton was 
cramped by the system of our religion^ and never 
appeared to so great an advantage as when he shook 
it a little off^ falls before the just aiid admirable 
observation of 'Mr. Hayley; -that, " if some pas- 
sionate admirers of antiquity seem to lament the faH 
'of paganism^^s fatal to poetry^ to paintings and to 
sculpture^ a more liberal and enlightened spirit of 
criticism may rather believe, what is very possible, J 
apprehend, to demonstrate, that Christianity xan 
hardly be more favourable to the purity of .morals, 
than it might be rendered to the perfection of these 
deKghtful arts. Milton himself may he regarded 
as an obvious and complete proof, that the posi^ 
tion is true as far as poetry is concerned** The 
sanctity of manners too which his pages breathe^ 
and the Christian lessons which they inculcate, 

* Essay on the Study of Literature, 1764, p. 24. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 249 

silence rand put to shame a pretence, by which mo- 
♦dern Repubhcanism Jioped to pxofit, of his being her 
:auxiliary. To him *' sight more detestable/' than 
Ihe object of her hopes could not possibly be pre^ 
sented. The designs of the crafty sensualist, and of 
the besotted ungrateful atheist, it was Ms constant 
endeavour, not to promote, but to overthrow. ♦" It 
must gratify every Christian to reflect,"Mi:. Hayley 
observes, ^^ that the man of our country most emi- 
nent for energy of mind, for intenseness of applica- 
tion, and for frankness and intrepidity «» asserting 
whatever he believed to he the cause of truth, yfas 
po confirmedly devoted to Christianity, that he seems 
4;o have made the Bible, not only the rule of his.con- 
duct, but the prime director of his genius." Yes, he 
says of himself, I am *' ^ among the free and inge- 
nuous sort of such as evidently were born for study, 
i and love learning for itself, not for lucre, or any other 
end but the service of God and truth, and perhaps 
that lasting fame and perpetuity • of praise, which 
,God and good men have consented. shall be the re- 
,ward of those, whose published labours advance the 
good of mankind." 

The classical books, in which he is represented to 
have most delighted, were Homer, Ovid's Metamor- 
phoses, and Euripides. The first he could almost 
entirely repeat Of the last he is said to have been 
a reader, not only with the taste of a poet, but 

' In his Axeopagitica. 



250 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 



with the ' minuteuess of a Greek critiek. His Eurw 
pides, in two volumes, Paul Stephens's quarto edition 
of 1602, with many marginal emendations in his own 
hand, has become the property of Mr. Cradock of 
Gumley in Lracestershire. Of these notes some have 
been adopted by Joshua Barnes, and some have been 
lately printed by Mr. Jodrell. In the first volume, 
page the first, is the name of John Milton, with the 
price of the book at 12s. 6d., and the date of the year 
1634. I have to notice the existence of another trea^ 
sure, bearing also the same date, the price 3s., and 
the name of John Milton, written by himself on the 
blank page opposite the title ; his copy of Lycophron, 
with his own marginal observations. Of this re- 
markable curiosity I received my information from 
Mr. Walker, by whom it had been ' inspected in thd 
library of lord Charlemont. From Milton himself 
we learn, that "the divine volumes of Plato and 
his equall Xenophon" were principal objects of his 
regard ; and that he preferred Sallust to all the Ro- 
man historians. Demosthenes has been supposed^ 
fay lord Monboddo and Mr. Hayley, to have 
studied by him minutely and successfully. 



A 



, On contemporary authors Milton has bestowed 

' See Warton's 2d edit, of the Smaller Poems, p. 568. And 
Jodrell's Illustrations of Eiiiipides, 1781, pp. 34. 336. 

' My friend, the late Rev, Mr. Meen, was favoured with th« 
use of this volume. And it was hoped, that his excellent version 
of Lycophron, accompajiied with his own acute remarks, as well 
) Milton's marginal observations, on this author, would have 
been presented to the publick. But he is no more. 



'■^ 



J 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 251 

Kttle praise. He has rondesceiided more than once^ 
as^ibishop Newton/ has observed,, to applaud Seld^fh 
But I, cannot agree; with tiiej learned « prelate^: that 
Miltoib seems i disposed to i censure rather thaa com-i 
Hiend the rest, i He. has BxtoUed, in his i Areopair 
^^t'ca> the merSts of lord: Erooke; who had lately 
&lleii>in the service of the Parliament^ and had writ4 
ten a treatise. ag*mW/ the English episcopacy^ md 
against the danger of Sects and Schisms, in terms 
of superabundant eulogy. He has also spoken of 
John Cameron^ a learned divine and commentator, 
inv terms of high respect ; calling him ^' ^ a late writer, 
much applauded, ) an ingenious writer, and in high 
esteem.-' And of : Hartlib's literary character the 
Treatise of Education speaks largely^ Harfiib alsd 
must be placed among Milton's '^. familiar learned 
acquaintance," as Aubrey calls. Andrew Marydli 
Cyriack Skinner, and Dr. Paget. And to these 
perhaps might be added Rouse and Vane. It is 
t0> be wondered that MihoUi who has : affection- 
^ reeorfed fl,e. giod qualities of ^y «e„d., 
8h0ald have omitted to girace his pages with a 
tribate of respect to the name of; Henry More, .the 
celebrated Platonist, his fellow-collegian ; by .whom 
Mr. Warton supposes him to have been led tor the 
study of the divine philosophy, and of whose 
poetry^ I am satisfied, he was an (attentive reader^ 
But one friend yet remains to be noticed, who 
had been the pupil of Milton, to whom he ap- 

I" Iq his Tetracbordon. 





SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

pears ' to have rendered essential service, and of 
whom he presents a very estimahlc character. This 
person was Richard Heath, of Christ College, Cam- 
bridge, whom the biographers of Milton have over- 
passed. He was a man of great learning, accom- 
plished in the Eastern tongues, and " serviceable to 
bishop Walton in his immortal vi'ork, the London 
Polyglot Bible. He became a non-conformist in 
1662, and died some years before Milton. 

The political principles of Milton were those of a 
thorough republican ; which have been ascribed, by 
Dr. Johnson, to a native violence of temper, and to 
a hatred of all whom he was required to obey. The 
frequent asperity of this eminent biographer towards 
Milton, has been repeatedly noticed, by Mr. Hayley, 
with reprehension and regret ; and, in the following 
instance, with eloquence, dignity, and instruction. 

" There can hardly be any contemplation more 
painful, than to dwell on the virulent excesses of 
eminent and good men ; yet the utility of such con- 
templation may be equal to its pain. What mild- 
ness and candour should it not instil into ordinary 
mortals to observe, that even genius and virtue 
weaken their title to respect, in proportion as they 
recede from that evangelical charity, which should 
influence every man in his judgement of another. 

•" See his Epist. Famil. Ep. xiii. Richardo Hetho. Dat. West- 
mon. Dec. 13, 1653. 

'' Memoirs of Bishop Waltuu, &c. 1821, p. 268 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. B53 

The strength ani^ the acuteiiess of sensation^ which 
partly constitute genius, have a great tendency to 
produce virulence, if the mind is not perpetually oil 
its guard against that subtle, insinuating, and cor-^ 
rosive passion, hatred against all whose opinions are 
opposite to our own. Johnson professed, in one of 
his letters, to love a good hater; and, in the Latiit 
correspondence of Milton, • there are words that im- 
ply a similarity of sentiment; they both thought 
there might be a sanctified bitterness, to use an ex* 
pressioii of Milton, towards .political and religious 
opponents ; yet surely these two devout men wer6 
both wrong, and both in some degree unchristian itL 
this principle. To what singular iniquities of judges 
ment such a principle may lead, we might, perhaps^ 
have had a most striking, and a double proof, had it 
been possible for these two energetick writers to ex- 
hibit alternately a portrait of each other. Milton, 
adorned with every graceful endowment, highly and 
holily accomplished as he was, appears, in the dark 
colouring of Johnson, a most unamiable being ; but 
)cpuld he revisit earth in his mortal character, with 
a wish to retaliate, what a picture might be drawn, 
by that sublime and offended genius, of the great 
moralist, who has treated him with such excess of 
asperity. The passions are powerful colourists, and 
marvellous adepts in the art of exaggeration ; but 
the portraits executed by Love (famous as he is for 
overcharging them) are infinitely more faithful to 
nature, than gloomy sketches from the heavy hand 
of Hatred ; a passion not to be trusted or indulged 



r 




SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LtFE 



even in minds of the highest purity or power ; since 
Hatred, though it may enter the field of contest 
under the banner of justice, yet generally becomes 
BO blind and outrageous, from the heat of contention, 
as to execute, in tlie name of virtue, the worst pur- 
poses of vice. Hence arises that species of calumny 
the most to be regretted, the calumny lavished by 
men of talents and worlh> on their equals or supe* 
riours, whom they have rashly and blindly hated for 
a difference of opinion. To such hatred the fervid 
and opposite characters, who gave rise to this obser-i 
vation, were both more inclined, perhaps, by nature 
and by habit, than Christianity can allow. The free- 
dom of these remarks on two very great, and equally 
devout, though different writers, may possibly offend 
the partizans of both : in that case my consolation 
will be, tliat I have endeavoured to speak of them 
with that temperate though undaunted sincerity, 
which may satisfy the spirit of each in a purer stata 
of existence." 



The circumstances of Milton were never vei 
Affluent. Tlie estate left him by his father was but 
small. In the civil war he is said to have sustained 
the loss of a considerable sum, which he had lent 
to the Parliament. As Secretary to the Council he 
' enjoyed, while without an associate in the office, 
the annual sum of nearly three hundred pounds ; a 



• See the different sums, in the preceding orders of council, 
whickweic officially allowed him, pp. 167. 1()9. 



m 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 2S6 

sum, which was lowered, when PhiKp Meadot^es 
kiHi Andrew Marveli were his fellow-seciretaTiea. He 
18. said ta have possessed an estate ilso/ov rather 
peifaaips : an allowance out of the estates, of a1;»out 
siocty; pounds, a yea7> ivhich belonged to; the plun^ 
detfed Abbey of Westminster. : t It was not uncoih- 
mijny during tiie Usurpation; to portion, out of tJib 
lands of deans and chapters and other ecclesiasticks; 
individuals .with pensions. Of these ^ revenues; as 
well as two thousand pounds which he had- jplaced 
in the excise-office, he was deprived at the Restora- 
•tion: He had before lost two thousand pounds by 
^trusting the sum.to a-iscrivener ;. and, in .the fire 
of; London, . hid. chouse in iBread-stre^ i was * burnt! 
To Milton, hofweEver^ ithe deficiency of wealth was 
little disfltppdintment. Of his . unsubdiied spirit the 
following anecdote has been related. ^" ^ Sckm after 
the Restoration,", he is said to have borrowed fifty 
pounds of Jonathan Hartop, of Aldborough, neav 
Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, who died in 1791, at 
the great age of 138. He " returned the loan vsrith 
honour, though not without much difficulty, as hii 
drcvmstfinces were very low.. Mr. Hartop would 
have declined receiving it ; but the pride of the poet 
was equal to his genius, and he sent the money with 
an angry letter, which was found among the curious 
possessions of that venerable old man." 

X i - 

' Easton's Human Longevity, printed at Salisbury, 1 799, pp. 
241^242. This curious anecdote had appeared in the Wolver- 
hampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser of Mar. 31, 1790, 
Mr. Hartop being then living, and the letter described as extant. 



256 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

The paucity of Milton's wants, and the frugal 
management of what he retained, enabled hun indeed 
to live without distress* Of the property, which he 
left, the publication of his Nuncupative Will has rec- 
tified, the mistaken accoimts, given by all his biogra- 
phers before Mr- Hayley. And of this curious 
document with the interesting notes of Mr. Warton 
who first published it, and with some important 
additions, the next section of the present biography 
consists* 

• 

' Of Milton's family I will here subjoin a brief 
^count. All his biographers notice his younger 
brother,: Christopher, and his sister, Anne. Of two 
other sisters the existence has never been related. I 
have found, however, in the register of All-hallows 
Bread-street, the * births of Sarah and Tabitha Mil* 
ton, and the death only of Sarah, to be there re^ 
corded. 

Christopher was a royalist, and became, long after 
his brother's death, a judge. In the Hebellion he 
had compounded for his estate ; and ^ among the 

^ " The XV*** daye of July 1612 was baptized Sara, the;, 
dawghter of John Mylton, scrivener. She was buried the vi* 
of August following in the church. 

"The xxx'^of January, 1613, [that is 1613-14,] was bap^ 
tized Tabitha, the dawghter of Mr. John Mylton. 

" The third daye of December 1615 was baptized Christo- 
pher, the Sonne of John Mylton of this pishe, scrivenor.** 
Extracts from the Register. 

^ Second Series, vol. xiv. No. 732. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 257 

. Royalists' Composition-Papers, in his Majesty's State- 
Paper-Office, his fine^ and the circumstances attending 
iti as in the case of Milton's * father-in-law, are left 
upon record, and are too curious to be omitted. 

^' Christopher Milton, of Heddihge in the County 
^ of Berks Esq^ Councellor at Lawe. His Delin- 
. quency, that he was a Commissioner for the Kinge, 
under the Great Scale of Oxford, for sequestringe the 
Parliament's friends of three Countyes; and after- 
wards went to Excester, and lived there, and was there 
at the tyme of the surrender, and is to have the be- 
nefitt of those Articles, as by the Deputy Governor's 
Certificate of that place of the 16'' of May 1646 doth 
appeare. He hath taken the Nationall Covenant be- 
fore William Barton Minister of John Zacharies the 
20*' of April 1646, and the Negative Oath heere the 
8*' August 1646^ He compounds upon a Perticular 
delivered in under his hand, by which he doth submit 
. to such fine &c. and by which it doth appeare : 
'^ That he is seized in fee, to him and his heirs in pos- 
session, of and in a certain Messuage or Tenement sci- 
tuate in St. Martin's Parish Ludgate, called the Signe 
of the Crosse Keys, and was of the Yeerely Value, be- 
fore theis troubles, 40/. Personal estate he hath none. 



€( 



^ci' J^ V Will. Thomson. 
(Stgned) ^ ^.^^ ^^ 3, .^ 200/. 



4€ 



ro' 7N f 25*^ August, 1646. 

(Stgned) \ , ^ 

^ V ^ t Jerom Alexander. 



* See before, p. 68, seq, 

s 



258 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

■ 

" To the Honorable Committee for Compositions 
with Delinquents sittinge at Goldsmith's Hall. 

'^ The humble Petition of Christopher Milton of 
Reddinge in the County of Berks Esq^ Shewinge, 

** That he executed a Commission of Sequestra- 
tions under the Great Scale at Oxford for three 
Coimtyes^ and was at Exeter at the tyme of the 
Surrender thereof late made unto the Parliamente* 
And humbly prayes^ that he may be admitted to 
compound^ and to receive the benefitt of those Arti- 
cles. 

" And he shall pray, &c. - 
(Signed) *^ Christopher Milton. 

'' 7 August 1646. 

*^ Refer'd to the Sub-Committee. 

" A true Perticular of all the Estate, reall and 
personall, of me Christopher Milton of Reddinge in 
the County of Berks, a Councellor at Lawe. 

*^ That I am seized in fee, to mee and my heires in 
possession, of and in a certaine Messuage or Tene^ 
mente scituate, standinge, and beinge within St. 
Martin's Parish Ludgate, called the Signe of the 
Cross Keyes, and was of the Yeerely value before 
theis troubles 40/. Personal estate I have none but 
what hath bin seized and taken, from mee, and con- 
verted to the use of the State. 

^^ This is a true Perticuler of all my estate, reall 
and personall, for which I onely desire to compound 
to free it out of sequestration ; and doe submitt unto, 
and undertake to satisfye and pay, such fine as by 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 259 

this Committee for Compositions with Delinquents 
shall be imposed and sett to pay for the same^ in order 
to the freedome and dischardge pi my person and 
estate. 

(Signed) " Chr- Milton." 

This declaration is followed by certificates that he 
toQk the requisite oath^ and that he had resided in 
Exeter seven months before the surrender of it to 
Faufax. The final mention of his case is, that it was 
\^ reported 21 December, 1649, and that the fine (as 
^ready noticed) was 200/." 

This brother of Milton was knighted by James 
the second. He had long ^ resided in Ipswich, and 
is said to have fitt^ up a part of the mansion, which 
at one time belonged to the ancient family of Wing- 
field, for the celebration of the Roman Catholick 
worship ; as he was professedly a papist. To a 
mansion in the village of Rushmere, (about two miles 
distant,) now called the White House, he then re- 
moved, and there died. He was / buried in the 
church of St. Nicholas in the town of Ipswich. In 

. ^ What follows relating to Sir Christopher Milton, has been 
obligingly communicated to me by a learned friend, now resident 
at Ipswich, the Rev. James Ford, Fellow of Trinity College, 
Oxford. 

. » Parish Regist. of St. Nicholas, " 1692. March 22, Sir 
Christopher Melton of Rushmore was buried in the church of 
this parish." In the Reg. of Baptisms in St Nicholas* Parish 
also, the baptism of his daughter Mary, March 29, 1656, is en- 
tered, 

s2 



I 

260 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the ' charter granted to this town, ' 36 Charles 
11. it may be added, he had been nominated and 
constituted the first and new deputy-recorder 
of it. ^ 

Anne, the sister of Milton, must have been elder 
than either of her brothers ; for her birth is not to 
be found in the register already mentioned : She was 
probably the eldest child, and born before her father 
settled in Bread-street. Milton's Verses on her 
daughter, written in his seventeenth year, serve to 
corroborate this supposition. She was first married 
to Mr. Phillips, afterwards to Mr. Agar, a friend of 
her first husband, who succeeded him in the Crown- 
Office of the Court of Chancery. By her first hus- 
band she had two sons, Edward and John, whom 
Milton educated; by her second, two daughters. 
His brother, Christopher, had two daughters, Mary 
and Catherine ; and a son, Thomas, who succeeded 
Mr. Agar in his office. Of Milton's children who 
survived him, and of his widow Elizabeth, the notes 
on the Nuncupative Will give a distinct, and, in 
some respects, a new account. The several branches 
of his family appear to be now extinct. The case of 
Deborah, the youngest, which Mr. Warton deplores 
with sensibility, was "" first noticed in a very feeling 
manner also, in Misfs Weekly Journal^ April 29, 
1727, and commended her to part of the little pa- 
tronage which she obtained. While it has been ob- 

"' It is also printed in the European Magazine for 1787, p. ^^ 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 261 

sierved, that the Nuncupative Will of Milton presents 
indeed a melancholy picture of domestick connexions, 
and that his conduct towards his daughters has been 
feelingly defended even by an eminent female pen ; 
it has not been noticed, that part of the charge 
brought against him, I mean his teaching his chil- 
dren to read and pronounce Greek and several other 
languages without understanding any but English, 
may be thought more strange and unaccountable, in- 
asmuch as he appears to have been distinguished for 
the estimation in which he once held literary women ; 
a circumstance which no biographer of Milton has 
hitherto recorded. Doctor Newton, indeed, face- 
tiously tells us, that Milton used to say that one 
tongue was enough for a woman ! But contemporary 
information will best illustrate this curious point in 
the history of the poet. ^' " We believe," says the 
answerer to his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, 
*' you count no woman to due conversation acces- 
sible, AS TO YOU, except she can speak Hebrew, 
Greek, Latine, and French, and dispute against 
the Canon law as well as you, or at least be able 
to hold discourse with you. But other gentlemen 
of good qualitie are content with meaner and fewer 
endowments, as you know well enough." — I now 
recur to the defence of Milton by the distinguished 
lady, who speaking of the modern revolutionary 
spirit in families, and elegantly enforcing the sub- 
ordination of domestick manners, argues " that, 

" Answer to the Doct and Disc, of Divorce, 1644, p. 16. 



i%2 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 

*^ among the faults with which it has been too much 
the fashion of recent times to load the memory of 
the incomparable Milton, one of the charges brought 
against his private character (for with his political 
character we have here nothing to do) has been, 
that he was so severe a father as to have compelled 
his daughters, after he was blind, to read £doud to 
him, for his sole pleasure, Greek and Latin authori^ 
of which they did not understand a word. But this 
is in fact nothing more than an instance of the strict 
domestick regulations of the age in which Miltoh 
lived ; and should not be brought forward as a proof 
of the severity of his individual temper. Nor indeed 
in any case should it ever be considered as a hard- 
ship for an affectionate child to amuse an afflicted 
parent, even though it should be attended with a 
heavier sacrifice of her own pleasure than in the prer 
sent instance." 

"" Stiictures on the Modem System of Female Education, by 
Mrs. Hannah More, vol. i. p. 147, 6th edit. 1799. 



SECTION VII 



The * Nuncupative Will of Milton : with Notes by the late 
Rev. Thomas Warton^ and other Observations.^ 

^' ^ Memorandum, that John Milton, late of the 
parish of St. Giles Cripplegate in the Countie of 
Middlesex Gentleman, deceased, at severall times 
before his death, and in particular, on or about the 
twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord God 
1674, being of perfect mind and memorie, declared 
his Will and intent as to the disposall of his estate 
after his death, in these words following, or of like 
effect : The portion due to me from Mr. Powell, 
my former wife's father, I leave to the unkind chil- 
dren I had hy her, having received no parte of it : 
hut my meaning is, they shall have no other benefit 
of my estate than the said portion, and what I have 
besides done for them ; they having been very undu- 
tifull to me. All the residue of my estate I leave to 
[[the] disposall of Elizabeth my loving wife. Which 

• First published by Mr. Warton, in his edit, of Milton's 
Smaller Poems, 1791. Todd. 
^ As propounded in the Prerogative Court. Warton. 



264 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

ivords, or to the same effect, were spoken in the 
presence of Christopher Milton \ 

" X [[Mark of ] Elizabeth Fisher \ 
" Nov. 23, 1674 \ 

I. 

The Allegation propounding the Willy on which 
Allegation the Witnesses he examined \ 

'* Negotium Testamentarium, sive probacionis Tes- 

* John Milton's younger brother: a strong royalist,, and a 
professed papist. After the civil war, he made his composition 
through his brother's interest. Being a practitioner in the law, 
he lived to be an ancient Bencher of the Inner Temple : was 
made a judge of the Common Pleas, and knighted by king James 
the second ; but, on account of his age and infirmities, he was at 
length dismissed from business, and retired to Ipswich, where he 
resided all the latter part of his life. Warton. 

But see what I have sard of him in the preceding account of 
Milton, pp. 256, seq. Todd. 
'** A servant-maid of John Milton. Warton. 

* Registr. Cur. Preerog. Cant. This Will was contested by 
Mary, Deborah, and Anne Milton, daughters of the poet's first 
wife Mary, daughter of Mr. Richard Powel, of Foresthill in Ox- 
fordshire. The cause came to a regular sentence, which was given 
against the Will ; and the Widow, Elizabeth, was ordered to 
take Administration instead of a Probate. I must add here, that 
this cause, the subject of which needed no additional lustre from 
great names, was tried by that upright and able statesman, Sir 
Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the Prerogative Court, and Secretary 
of State ; and that the depositions were taken in part before Dr. 
Trumbull, afterwards Sir William Trumbull, Secretary of State, 
and the celebrated friend of Pope. As a circumstantial and au- 
thentick history of this process, the following instruments, which 
were otherwise ttought too curious to be suppressed, are sub- 
joined. Warton. 

' Viz. Christopher Milton, and John Milton's two ser- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 265 

tamenti nuncupativi, sive ultimas Voluntatis, Johan- 
Nis Milton, nuper dum vixit parochiae S. iEgidii 
Cripplegate London generosi, defiincti, habent. &c. 

promotum per Elizabethan! Milton ^ Relictam, et 

• . II 

vant-maids Elizabeth and Mary Fisher. Witnesses on the part 
of the widow. Warton. 

^ This was his third wife, Elizabeth MinshuU^ of a gentle- 
man's family in Cheshire. He married her at the recommendation 
of his friend, and her relation, Dr. Paget, about the year 1661, 
and in his fifty-fourth year, soon after he had obtained his pardon 
from the restored king ; being now blind and infirm, and wanting 
some more constant and confidential companion than a servant to 
attend upon his person. The elder Richardson insinuates, that 
this lady, being no poet or philosopher like her husband, used fre- 
quently to teaze him for his carelessness or ignorance about money- 
matters, and that she was a termagant. He adds, that soon after 
.their marriage, a royal offer was made to Milton of the resump- 
tion of his old department of Latin Secretary, and that, being 
strongly pressed by his wife to an acceptance, he scornfully re- 
plied, " Thou art in the right ; you, as other women, would ride 
in your Coach, My aim is to live and die an honest man^ Life,. 
&c. p. xcix. seq. edit. 1734. From these papers, however, it 
appears, that she consulted her husband's humours, and treated his 
infirmities with tenderness. After his death in 1674, she retired 
to* Namptwich in Cheshire, where she died about 1729. Mr. 
Pennant says, her father, Mr. MinshuU, lived at Stoke in that 
neighbourhood. W. Tour, and Gough's Camden^ Cheshire, 
p. 436. The third edition of Paradise Lost was published in 
1678 : and this is the poet's widow, to whom the copy of that 
work was then to devolve by original agreement, but who 
sold all her claims to Samuel Simmons, his bookseller, for 
eight pounds, according to her receipt, given Decemb. 21, 
1680. . Warton. 

' Among the- letters of Mr. G. Grey to his brother Dr. Zach. 
Grey, was the following notice of this lady's death, which was. 
obligingly communicated to mc by J. Nichols, Esq. from the ori- 
ginal in his possession : " There were three widow Miltons there^ 



266 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Legatariam principalem nominatam in Tesiamentd 
huncupativo^ sive ultima Voluntate, dicti defuncti, 
contxa Mariam^ Annam^ et Deboram Milton^ filias 
dicti defuncti. 

" Thompson. Clements. 

'' Secundo Andreae, A. D. 1674. Quo die ... . 
Thompson, nomine, procuratione, ac ultimus pro- 
curator legitimus, dictae Elizabethae Milton, omni- 
bus melioribus et efFectualioribus [[efficacioribus^ via, 
modo, et meliori forma, necnon ad omnem juris. 
fefFectum, exhibuit Testamentum nuncupativum dicti 
JoHANNis Milton defuncti, sic incipiens, ' Memo- 
randum, that John Milton, kte of the parish of 
S. Giles, Cripplegate,' &c. Which words, or words 
to the same effect, were spoken in the presence of 
Christopher Milton, and Elizabeth Fisher ; et alle- 
gavit consimiliter, et dicens prout sequitur. I. Quod 
praefatus Johannes Milton, dum vixit, mentis com- 
pos, ac in sua sana memoria existens, .... Testa- 
mentum suum nuncupativum modo in hoc negotio 
exhibitum .... tenoris schedulae .... testamentaria^ 
condidit, nuncupavit, et declaravit ; caeteraque omnia 
et singula dedit, donavit, reliquit, et disposuit, in 
omnibus, et per omnia, vel similiter in effectum, 
prout in dicto Testamento nuncupativo continetur, 

(at Nantwich) viz. the poet's widow, my aunt, and another. 
The poet's widow died last summer." Dated July 30, 173L 
But this must have been a mistake of the writer, Milton's widow, 
it indisputably appears, died in 1727. See a subsequent note on 
this Will. This lady also was married to Milton not in 1661, but 
in 1665. See what is before said in p. 186. Todd. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 267 

ac postea mortem obiit : ac Principalis Pars ista pro- 
ponit conjunctim, divisim, et de quolibet. II. Item, 
quod tempore conditionis, declarationis, nuneupa- 
tionis Testamenti, in hoc negotio exhibiti, praefatus 
Johannes Milton perfecta fruebatur memoria ; ac 
proponit ut supra \ 

II. 

Interrogatories addressed to the Witnesses 
examined wpon the Allegation. 

^* Decemb. 5, 1674. Interrogatoria ministrata. et 
mimstranda ex parte Annae, Mariae, et Deborae 
Milton, testibus ex parte Elizabethae Milton pro- 
ductis sive producendis sequuntur. 

'* Imprimis y Aske each witnesse, what relation to, 
or dependance on, the producent, they, or either 
of them, have; and to which of the parties they 
would give the victory were it in their power ? Et 
interrogatur quilibet testis conjunctim, et divisim, et 
de quolibet. 

*' 2. Item^ Aske each witnesse, what day, and 
what time of the day, the Will nuncupative was de- 
clared ; what positive words did the deceased use in 
the declaring thereof? Can you positively swear, 
that the deceased did declare that hee did leave the 
residue of his estate to the disposall of his wife, or 

!• Registr. Cur. Praerog. Cant, ut supr. Warton. 



268 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

did hee not say, ' Iwill leave the residue of my es-., 
tate to my wife ?' Etfiat ut supra. 

" 3, Item, Upon what occasion did the deceased 
declare the said Will ? Was not the deceased in per- 
fect health at the same time ? Doe you not think> 
that the deceased, if he declared any such Will, de- 
clared it in a present pasSion, or some angry humour 
against some or one of his children by his forixier 
[[first]] wife ? Etfiat ut supra. 

^' 4. Item, Aske each witnesse, whether the par- 
ties ministrant were not and are not greate frequent- 
ers of the Church, ' and good livers ; and what cause 
of displeasure had the deceased against them ? Ei 
fiat ut supra. 

*^ 5. Item, Aske Mr. [^Christopher] Milton, and^ . 
each other witnesse, whether the deceased's Will, if 
any such was made, was not, that the deceased's 
wife should have ^.1000, and the children of the 
said Christopher Milton the residue ; and whether 
she hath not promised him that they should have it, 

• * Here seems to be an insinuation, that our poet's displeasure 
against those three daughters, arose partly from their adherence 
to those principles ; which, in preference to his own, they had 
received, or rather inherited, from their mother's family, who 
were noted and active royalists. Afterwards, the description 
good livers is not to be understood in its general and proper sense,, 
which could not have oflfended Milton ; but as arising from what 
went before, and meaning much the same thing, that is, regular 
in their atteridance on the established worship, Warjon. 



AND WRITINGS OP MILTON. - 269 

if shee prevailed : in this Cause ? Whether the said 
Mr. Milton hath not since the deceased's death 
confessed soe much, or some part thereof? Etfiat ut 
supra. 

^' 6. Item, Aske each witnesse, whether what ig 
left to the ministrants by the said Will is not re- 
puted a very bad or altogether desperate debt''? Et 
fiat ut supra. 

'^ 7. Aske the said Mr. Milton, whether he did 

* That is, the marriage portion, promised, but never paid, to 
John Milton, by Mr. Richard Powell, the father of his first 
wife; and which the said John bequeathed to the daughters of 
that match, the ministrants, Anne, Mary, atid Deborah. They 
were married in 1643. I have now before me an original " In- 
ventorie of the goods of Mr. Richard Powell of Forresthill, in 
the county of Oxon, taken the 10th of June, A. D. 1646." 
This seems to have been taken in consequence of a seizure of 
Mr. Powell's house by the rebels. His distresses in the royal 
cause probably prevented the payment of his daughter's marriage 
portion. By the number, order, and furniture of the rooms, he 
appears to have lived as a country gentleman, in a very extensive 
and liberal style of house-keeping. This I mention to confirm 
•what is said by Phillips, that Mr. Powell's daughter abruptly left 
her husband within a month after their marriage, disgusted with 
liis spare diet and hard study, '^ after having been used at home 
to a great house, and much company and joviality," &c. I have 
also seen in Mr. Powell's house at Foresthill many papers, which 
show the active part he took in favour of the Royalists : With 
some others relating to the Rangership of the Shotover forest, 
'bearing his signature. Warton. 

See my concluding note upon the present document. See 
also what is said, in the preceding pages, of Milton's marriage 
with Mary Powell, and of her family. Todd. 



270 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

not gett the said Will drawn upp, and inform the 
writer to what effect he should draw it ? And did 
he not enquire of the other witnesses, what they 
would or could depose ? And whether he hath not 
solicited this Cause, and pay'd fees to the Proctour 
about it ? Etfiat tit supra. 

"8. Iteniy Aske each witnesse, what fortune the 
deceased did in his life-time bestowe on the mini- 
strants ? And whether the said Anne Milton is not 
lame, and ahnost '. helplesse ? Etfiat ut supr(i» 

" 9. Item, Aske each witnesse, what value is the 
deceased's estate of, as neare as they can guess ? Et 
fiat ut supra ™ . 



III. 



Depositions and cross-examinations of the said 

Witnesses. 

" Elizabetha Milton, Relicta et Legataria princi- 
palis JoHANNis Milton defuncti, contra Annam, 
Mariam, et Deboram Milton, filias ejusdem de- 
functi. Super AUegatione articulata et Testamento 
nuncupativo Johannis Milton defuncti, ex parte 

' She was defonned, and had an impediment in her speech. 
His grand-daughter Elizabeth Foster by the third daughter 
Deborah, often spoke of his harshness to his daughters, and that 
he refused to have them taught to write. Warton. ^ - 

Registr. Cur. Praerog* Cant, ut supr. Wartok.. 



m 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 271 

Elizabethan JMilton predictae, in hoc negotio, se*- 
cundo Andreae, 1674, dato ** et exhibitis. 

*' Quinto Decembris 1674. Christopherus Mil- 
ton villae Gipwici in com. Suffolciae, ortus infra pa- 

* 

rochiam Omnium Sanctorum Bredstreete, London, 
aetat. 58 annor. aut eo circiter, testis, &c. Ad omnes 
articulos dictae AUegationis, et ad Testamentum 
nuncupativum Johannis Milton, generosi, defuncti, 
in hoc negotio dat. et exhibit, deponit et dicit. That 
pn, or about the twentieth day of July, 1674, the 
day certaine he now remembreth not, this deponent 
bemg a practicer in the Law, and a Bencher in the 
Inner Temple, but living in vacations at Ipswich, 
did usually at the end of the Terme visit John Mil- 
ton, his this deponent's brother the Testator articu-- 
late, deceased, before his going home ; and soe at 
the end of Midsummer Terme last past, he this de- 
ponent went to visit his said brother, and then found 
him in his chamber within his owne house, situate 
on Bunhill^ within the parish of S. Giles, Crepel- 

■ Sic, ut et infra, pro ilfiZ^on. Warton. 

■** Sometimes called the Artillery-walk, leading to Bunhill 
fields. This was his last settled place of abode, and where he 
lived longest. Richardson calls this house a " small house, 
where he died about fourteen years after he was out of publick 
employ." Ubi supr. p. xciii. It was here that he wrote or 
finished Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Ago- 
nistes. But in 1665, when the plague broke out in London, he 
retired to Chalfont Saint Giles, where his friend Elwood, a 
quaker, had taken a house for him ; and the next year, when the 
danger was over, he came back to Bunhill-fields. The house at 
Chalfont, in which he resided in this short space of time, and- 



272 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

gate, London: And at that tyme, he the said Tes- 
tator, being not well, (and this deponent being then 
going into the country,) in a serious manner, with 
an intent, (as he believes,) that what he then spoke 
should be his Will, if he dyed before his this depo- 
nent's coming the next titne to London, declared his 
Will in these very woi'ds as neare as this deponent 
cann now call to mynd, viz. Brother ^ the porcion 
due to me from Mr. Powell, my former Cfirst^ 
wife's father, I leave to the unkind children I had 
by her : but I have receaved noe part of it, and 
my Will and meaning is, they shall have' noe 
other benefit of my estate, than the said porcion 
and what I have besides don for them : they have- 
ing been very undutiful to me. And all the resi- 
due of my estate Heave to the disposall of Eliza- 
beth my loveing wife. She, the said Elizabeth his 
the deceased's wife, and Elizabeth Fysher hiis the 
deceased's then maide-servant, was [[at the]] same 
tyme goeing upp and downe the roome, but whether 



where he planned or began Paradise Regained, is still standing^ 
small, biit pleasantly situated. See Elwood's Life of Himself, 
p. 246. Who calls it " a pretty box." Warton. 

Mr. Dunster, in the additions to his edition of Paradise Re-^ 
gained, remarks that the house is not pleasantly situated. " The 
adjacent country is indeed extremely pleasant ; but the imme- 
diate spot is as little picturesque or pleasing as can be well 
imagined. Immediately in front of the house, a grass field rises 
so abruptly as completely to exclude all prospect : and the com- 
mon road of the village passes by the gable end, adjoining to 
which is the end. of a small dwelling, which runs behind that lOr 
habited by Milton." Todd. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON.; 273 

she then heard the said deceased, so declare his Will 
as above or not, he knoweth not. 

" And the said testator at the premises was. of 
perfect mind and memory and talked and discoursed 
sensibly and well, et aliter uescit deponere. 



" Chr. Milton. 



'' Ad Interrogatoria. 

** Ad !"• Interr. respondety that the party pro- 
ducent in this cause was and is the relict of the said 
deceased, who was his this respondent's brother ; and 
the parties ministring these interrogatories were and 
are in repute, and soe he beleeveth, his the said de- 
ceased's children by a former wife : and for his part, 
he wisheth right to take place, and soe would give 
it if in his power ; and likewise wisheth that his bro- 
ther's Will might take effect. 

^^ Ad 2™* Interr. re^pondet, that on what day of 
the moneth or weeke the said deceased declared his 
-Will, as is above deposed, he now remembreth 
lK)t precisely ; but well remembreth, that it was in a 
forenoone, and on the very day he this deponent was 
|;oeing in the country in [[the]] Ipswich coach, which 
goeth not out of towne till noone or thereabout ; and 
he veryly beleeyeth in his conscience, that the resi- 
due of his estate he did then dispose of in these very 
words, viz. , And all the residue of my estate I 



274 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

leave to the disposall of EUxahelh my 
wife ; or he used words to the selfe-same effect, et 
fditer referenda se ad pre-depos. nescit respt 
dere. 



" Ad S""' Interr. respondet, that the said deceased 
was then ill of the goute, and what he then spake 
touching his Will was in a very calme manner ; only 
[Tie;] complained, but without passion, that his chil- 
dren had been unkind to him, but that his wife had 
been very kind and careful of him ; and he beUeveth 
the only reason induced the smd deceased at that 
time to declare his Will was, that he this deponent 
might know it before his goeing into the country, 
et aliter referendo se ad pre-deposita nescit rt 
jtpondere. 



H 



1 



*' Ad 4'"' Interr. respondet, that he knoweth not 
how the parties ministring these interrogatories fre- 
quent the church, or in what manner of behaviour 
of life and conversacion they are of, they hving apart 
from their father four or five yeares last past, and 
as touching his the deceased's displeasure with them, 
he only heard him say at the tyme of declareing of 
his Will, that they were undutifull and unkind to 
him, not expressing any particulars ; but in former 
tyraes he hath herd him complaine, that they were 
careless of him being blind, and made nothing of 
"■ deserteing him, et aliter nescit respondere. 

" This desertion is in part explained by his nephew Phillips, 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 276 

''Ad 6"- Inteit. respondet, that since this r^pbn- 
dent's comeing to London this Michaeknas Terme 
last paste, this respondent's sister, the party now 
|)rodiicent in tins cause, told this respondent, that 
the deceased his brother did after his this respon- 
dent's goeing into the country in Trinity vacacion 
last rammer n^y>]] that, if she should ha^e any over^ 
pku above a 1000/. come to her hands of his the 
deceased's estate, she should give the same to this 
respondent's children : but the deceased himselfe did 
not dedare any such thing to this respondent at the 
tyme of his declaring bis WiU, the tyme above de- 
of. 



»' » 



. ^ Ad 6"' Interr. respandet, that he beleeveth that 
what is left to the parties ministring these interroga-» 
tones by the said deceased's Will, is in the hands of 
persons of ability abell to pay the same, being their 
grandmother and uncle ; and he hath seen the grand-^ 
father's Will, wherein 'tis particularly directed to be 
paid unto them by his executors, et aliter nescit 
respondere. 

and after him by Toland : That he taught these young women to 
tead and pronounce with great exactness the English, Italian, 
SpaaUh'y Trench, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages ; that 
one or other of them was forced occasionally to read books in 
each language to him^ though neither of them understood more 
than their mother tongue ; that this drudgery could not but ren- 
der thlem m time uneasy; and that accordingly they were all, even 
the eldest, dispensed with their duty in this case, and sent out to 
learn other things suitable to their sex and condition. For their 
neglect, '^Acir being careless, of their blind parent, I can find no 
palliation. Todd. 

T 2 



276 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

€c p^^ ym. interr. respondet, that he this respon- 
dent did draw upp the very Will executed in this 
cause, and write it with his owne hand, when. he 
came to this court, about the 23d of November last 
past, and at that tyme this respondent did read the 
same all over to Elizabeth Fisher^ the said deceased's 
late maid servant^ and she said she remembered the 
same, and in confirmation whereof set her marke 
thereto in manner as on the same Will executed in 
this cause is now to be seen. And this respondent 
waited on the said deceased's widdow once at Doc- 
tor Exton's chambers about this suite^ at which tyme 
she wanted some halfe crownes, and this respondent 
lent her then two halfe crownes, but more he hath 
^t noe tyme paid either to Doctor or Proctor in this 
cause. 

^* Ad 8"* Interr. respondet, that he knoweth of 
noe fortune given by the said deceased to the parties 
ministring these interrogatories, besides the portion 
which he was promised with his former wife in mar- 
riage, being a 1000/. which is still unpaid besides 
the interest thereof for about twenty yeares, saveing 
his charges in their maintenance and breeding, et 
aliter nescit respondere, saveing that Anne Milton 
interr. is lame and helples. 

** Ad ult. reddit causas scientiae suae ut supra. 
" Die prid, repetit. cor. Doctore Lloyd, Surrog. 

" Chr. Milton^ 



4€ 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 277 

Sup.AlP".artic-etTes. 
tamento nuncupativo 

n/T'ii. rr\. Johan. Milton de- 

Milton con. Thompson. 

MUtonetMaton,Clemente.1 f"»cti ex parte Eliza- 

bethae Milton m hu- 

jusmodi Causa dat. 

et admiss. examinat. 



'' 16" Dec. 1674. 

** Maria Fisher, soluta famul. domestica Johan. 
Batten babitan. in vico vocat. Bricklane in Old 
Streete ubi moram fecit per spacium sex heb- 
domadarum aut eo circiter^ antea cum Benja- 
mino Whitcomb Mercatore habitan. in vico 
vocat. Coleman Streete London per spacium 
3m. mensium^ antea cum Guiddon Culcap infra 
locum vocat. Smock Alley prope Spittlefields 
per spacium unius anni, aut eo circiter, antea 
cum Johanne Bayley infra Oppidum Milton in 
Com. Staflford per spacium duorum annorum, 
antea cum Johanne Baddily infra parochiam de 
Milton praed. per spacium trium annorum, et 
antea cum quodam Rogers Hargrave infra pa- 
rochiam de Milton praed. per spacium duorum 
aimorum aut eo circiter, orta infra parochiam 
de Norton in Com. Stafford praed. aetatis 23 
aut eo circiter, testis, &c. 

'' Ad omnes articulos dictae All"^* et ad testa- 



278 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE UPE 

mentum nuncupativum Johan. Milton testatoris in 
hac causa defuncti in hujusmodi neg''* dat. et exhi- 
bit, deponit et dicit, that this deponent knew and 
was well acquainted with the articulate John Milton^ 
the testator in this cause deceased^ for about a twelve 
jtnoneth before his deaths who dyed about a moneth 
jsince to the best of this deponent's remembrance ; 
And saith^ that on a day hapning about two moneths 
since^ as neare as this deponent can remember, this 
deponent being then in the kitchen of the house of 
the foresaid John Milton, scituate against the Artil- 
lery Ground neare Bunhill Fields, and about noone 
of the same day, the said deceased and the producent 
Elizabeth his wife being then at diimer in the said 
kitchen, hee the said deceased amongst other dis- 
course then had betweene him and his said wife, did 
then speake to his said wife and utter these words, 
viz. Make much qf mee cbs long as I Uve,for, thou 
knowest J have given thee all when I dy0 at thy 
disposal; there being then present in the s^d 
kitchen this deponent's sister and contest "^ namely 
Elizabeth Fysher, And the said deceas^ was at 
that time of perfect mind and memory, and talked 
and discoursed sensibly and well, and was very 
merry, and seemed to be in good health of body, et 
aliter nescit. 



t( 



Signum Marine Fisher. 



•* i. e. Fellow-witness, Con-Testis. Warton. 



' • > 



AND WRITINGS OP MILTON. 279 

t 

" Ad Interrogatoria. 

^* Ad primum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent hath noe relation or dependance on the pro^. 
ducent EUzabeth Milton^ that it is indifferent to this 
respondent which of the parties in this suite obtaine^ 
and would give the victory in this cause if in her 
power to that party that hath most right ; but which 
party hath most right thereto this respondent know- 
«th not, et aliter neecit. 

^' Ad secundum Interr. respondet, that this re- 
spondent doth not remember the day when the de- 
ceased declared the words by her pre-deposed^ but 
f emembreth that it was about noone of such day 
that the words which hee then declared were these, 
viz. Make much of mee as long as I live, for thou 
knowest I have given thee all when I dye at thy 
disposaU; then speaking to his wife Elizabeth 
Milton the party producent in this cause, et aliter 
nescit. 

« 

"Ad tertium Interr. respondet, that the de- 
ceased, when hee declared the words pre-deposed, 
was then at dinner with his wife the party pro- 
ducent and was then very merry, and seemed to be 
in good health of body ; but upon what occasion hee 
spoke the said words shee knoweth not, et aliter 
nescit. 

''Ad qusfftum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 



280 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

dent knoweth neither of the parties mimstrant in 
this cause saving this respondent once saw Anne 
Milton one of the ministrants^ et jiescit respondere 
pro parte sua. > 



a 



€( 



Ad quintvm Interr. nescit respondere^ 
Ad sextum Interr. mescit respondere. 



'* Ad septimum Interr^ non concernit earn, et 
nescit respondere. 

^' Ad octavum Interr. respondet, that this jespon-f 
dent once saw the Interr. Anne Miltcm but doth not 
remember whether shee was lame or helplesse> et 
aliter nescit^ 

" Ad 9"- Interr. respondet, that this respondent 
knoweth nothing of the deceased's estate or the value 
thereof, et aliter nescit. 

" Eodem die repetit. coram Doctore Digby, Surro. 
&c. pnte Tho. Welham, N. P. 



<c 



Signum Marl^: Fisher. 



*' Eodem Die 



Elizabetha Fisher, famula domestica Elizabethast 
Milton ptis producentis in hac causa cum qua 
et Johanne Milton ejus marito defuncto vixit 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 281 

;^ per spaclum 13 metisium, antea cum quodam 
Thoma Adams apud Bagnall in Com. Stafford 
per spacium trium amiorum et sex mensium> 
antea cum W"*"** Bourne Gen. infra parochiam 
de Woolstilstah in Com. Stafford praed. per 
spacium duorum annorum, orta infra parochiam 
de Norton in Com. prsed* setatis 28 annorum 
aut eo circiter, testis, &c. 

*' Ad omnes articulos dicta& All""* et ad testa^ 
mentum nuncupativum Johan* Milton testatoris in 
hac causa defrmcti in hujusmodi negotio dat. exhibit, 
et admiss. deponit et dicit, that this deponent was 
servant unto Mr. John Milton the testator in this 
Cause deceased for about a yeare before his deaths 
who died upon a Sunday the ' fifteenth of Novem-J* 
ber last at night. And saith that on a day hapning 
in the month of July last, the time more certainly 
she remembereth not, this deponent being then in 
the deceased s lodging chamber, hee the said de^ 
ceased, and the party producent in this cause hiii 
\vife, being then alsoe in the said chamber at dinner 
together^ and the said Elizabeth Milton the party 
producent having provided something for the de- 
ceased's dinner which hee very well liked, * hee the 



* She appears to have been mistaken, a single week, in her 
deposition. See the Life, p. 217. Todd. 

• His grand-daughter Elizabeth Foster, by his third daughter 
Deborah, used to say, that he was delicate, but temperate in his 
diet. Warton. 

Toland had before said, that he was extraordinary temperate 



282 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

said deceased then spoke to his said wife these or 
the like words, as neare as this deponent can remem- 
ber, viz. God have mercy Betty, I see thou wilt 
jierforme according to thy promise in providing 
nice such dishes as I think Jitt whilst I live, and 
when I dye thou knowest that I have left thee all, 
there being noebody present in the s^d chamber 
with the siud deceased and his wife but this depo- 
nent : And the said testator at that time was of per- 
fect mind and memory, and talked and discoursed 
sensibly and well, but was then indisposed in his 
body by reason of the distemper of the gout, which 
hee had then upon him. Further this deponent 
saitli, that shee hath sevraU times heard the said de- 
ceased, since the time above deposed of, declare and 
say, that hee had made provision for his children in 
his life-time, and had spent the greatest part of his 
estate in providing for them, and that hee was re- 
solved hee would doe noe more for them liveing or 
dyeing, for that little part which hee had left hee 
had given to his wife the articulate Elizabeth the 
producent, or he used words to that effect. And 
likewise told this deponent, that there was a thou- 
sand pounds left in Mr. Powell's hands to be dis- 
posed amongst his children hereafter. By all which 
words this respondent verily beleeveth that the said 
testator had given all his estate to the articulate 
Elizabeth his wife, and that shee should have the 



in his diet, which h 
procured. Todd. 



i any thing most in season or the e 



^ 



. AND WBITINQS OP MILTON. S63 

iS&me a&er his decease^ et aUter neseit tesponderie, 
(Saying that, the said deceased was at the several 
iimes of declaring the. words last pre«deposed alsoe 
of perfect mind and memory. 



€€ 



jSignum Elizab. Fisher* 



^' Ad Interrogatoria* 
•^ ■ ... . . . . • 

^' A4 primum Interr. respondet, that this respon^ 
^ent was servant to the deceased in his life time and 
is jaow servant to the producent and therefore hath 
a dependency upon her as her servatitj» that if the 
wtory were in this respondoiifs power shee would 
give the deceased's estate equally to he shared he- 
tweene the ministrants and the producent^ et aliter 

*' Ad secundum Interr. respondet, that this re- 
spondent doth not rememher on what day the de- 
ceased declared the words first hy her afore deposed^ 
but it was about noone of such day when he was at 
dinner that the precise words as neare as this^ respon- 
dent can remember which the deceased used at that 
time were these, viz. God have mercy Betty (speak- 
ing to his wife Elizabeth Milton, for soe hee usually 
fiaUed her,) / see thou wilt performe according to 
thy promise in providing mse such dishes as I 
think fitt whilst I live, and when I dye thouknow^ 
fst that I have left thee all; et aliter nescit; sav- 



SOML ACCOUNT OF THE LIF 



ing that this respondent well remembreth that the 
deceased declared the words last by her deposed to 
the articles of the allegation to this respondent once 
on a Sunday in the afternoone, but on what day of 
' the month or in what month the said Sunday 
happened this respondent doth not remember. 






" Ad tertium Interr. respondet, that tlie occasion 
of the deceased's speaking of the words deposed by 
this respondent in her answer to the next precedent 
interrogatory was upon the producent's provideing 
the deceased such victuals for his dinner as hee Uked, 
and that he was then indifferent well in health, sav- 
ing that some time he was troubled with the paine 
of the gout, and that hee was at that time very 
merry and not in any passion or angry humour, 
neither at that time spoke any thing against any of 
his children that this respondent heard ofj et aliter 
nescit. 



" Ad quartum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent hath heard the deceased declare his displeasure 
against the parties ministrant his children, and par- 
ticularly the deceased declared to this respondent 
that, a little before hee was marryed to Elizabeth 
Milton his now relict, a former maid servant of his 
told Mary one of the deceased's daughters and one 
of the ministrants, that shee heard the deceased was 
to be marryed, to which the said Mary replyed to 
the said maid servant, that that was noe news to 
heare of Ha wedding, but if shee could heare of his 




-AND WRITINGS OF MILTON.' 285 

^eath that was something : and further told this^ re- 
spondent^ that all Ins said children did combine to-^ 
gether and counsel his maid servant to cheat him 
the deceased in her markettings^ and that his said 
children had made away some of his bookes and 
would have * sold the rest of his bookes to the dung-^ 
hill women ; or hee the said deceased spoke words 
to this respondent to the selfe same effect and pur-* 
pose : that this respondent knoweth not what fre- 
quenters of the church, or what good livers, the 
partieii ministrant or either of them are, et aliter 
nescit. 

'* Ad quintum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent doth not know that the deceased's wife was to 
have lOOOZ. and the interrogative children of Chris^ 
topher Milton the residue, nor doth this respondent 
know that the said Elizabeth, the deceased's wife, 
hath promised the interrogative Christopher Milton 
or his children any such thing in case shee should 
prevalle in this cause ; that the said Mrs. Milton 
pever confessed soe much in this respondent's hear- 
ing, or to any body else that this respondent know^ 
eth of, et aliter nescit. 

^^ Ad sextum Interr. respondet, that this respon- 
dent believeth that what is left the deceased's chil- 
dren in the Will nuncupative in this cause executed 



* See, however, what is told in my concluding note on the 
present document. Todd. 



286 SOME Accoum* of the life 

and mendoned therein to be due from Mr. Powell^ 
is a good debt; for that the said Mr. Powell is re- 
puted a rich man, et aliter nescit. 

^ Ad septimum Interr. respondet, that this re-* 
spondent did voluntarily tell the interrogative Mrs. 
Milton, what shee heard the deceased say, which was 
to the effect by her pre^ieposed, et aliter neseit. 

» 
^ Ad octavum Interr. respondet, that this respon* 
dent knoweth not ^hat the deceased did in his life 
tune bestow on the ministrants his children, and that 
the interrogative Anne Milton is lame, but hath a 
trade and can live by the same, which is the making 
oi gold and silver lace and which the deceased bred 
her up to, et aliter neseit. 

'' Ad nonum Interr. respondet, that this respoi^ 
dent knoweth not the deceased s estate, or the value 
thereof, et aliter neseit^ 

'' Eodem die repetit. coram Doctore TrwmbuU, 
Surrog. &c Tho. Welham, N. P ". 



€i 



Signum Elizabeth^e Fisher. 



* Cur. Prserog. Cant, ut supra. Warton. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON« 



287 



*' Grant of Letters of Administration to the widow 

Elizabeth ^ 

'' Die 25**^- Februarii 167^- 

'* JOHANNES MILTON. Vieesimol 

qtdnto Die Februarii ema- 
navit Commissio Elizabethan 
Milton Relictas Johannis 
Milton nnper Parochias 
Sancti Egidii Cripplegate in 
Com, Mid Defuncti hentis^ 
&c. ad Administrand. bona, 
jura, et credita dicti defiincti, 
de bene &c. jurat. Testa- 
mento Nuncupativo diet, de- 
ftmcti : aUtar per antedictam 
Elizabetham Milton Alle- 
gato, nondum Probato.'' 



ult. Julii. 



> 



ult. Dec. 



' The reader will compare these evidences with the printed 
accounts of Milton's biographers on this subject ; who say, that 
ke sold hb library before his death, and left his family fiileen 
hundred pounds, which his widow Elizabeth seized, and only 
gave one hundred pounds to each of his three dai^tenu Of 
tiiis widow, Phillips relates, rather harshly, that she persecuted 
his children in his life time, and cheated them at his death. 
Milton had children, who survived him, only by his first wife, 
the three daughters so after named. Of these, Anne, the first, de* 
formed in stature, but with a handsome face, married a master 
builder, and died of her first childbirth, with the infant Mary, 
the second, died single. Deborah, the third, and the greatest &- 



288 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

vourite of the three, went over to Ireland as companion to a lady 
in her father's life-time ; and afterwards married Abraham Clarke, 
a weaver in Spital-fields, and died, aged seventy-six, in August 
1727. This is the daughter that used to read to her father ; and 
was well known to Richardson, and Professor Ward : a woman 
of a very cultivated understanding, and not inelegant of manners. 
She was generously patronised by Addison ; and by Queen Caro- 
line, who sent her a present of fifty guineas. She had seven sons 
and three daughters, of whom only Caleb and Elizabeth are re* 
membered. Caleb migrated to Fort Saint George, where perhaps 
he died. Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, married Thomas 
Foster a weaver in Spital-fields, and had seven children, who all 
died. She is said to have been a plam sensible woman ; and kept 
a petty grocer's or chandler's shop, first at lower Holloway, and 
afterwards in Cock-lane near Shoreditch church. In April, 1750, 
C&mus was acted for her benefit : Doctor Johnson, who wrote the 
Prologue, says, *^ she had so little acquaintance with diversion 
or gaiety, that she did not know what was intended when a be« 
nefit was ofiered her." The profits of the performance were only 
one hundred and thirty pounds ; although Doctor Newton con- 
tributed largely, and twehty pounds were given by Jacob Tonspn 
the bookseller. On this trifling augmentation to their small stock, 
she ^d her husband removed to Islington, where they both soon 
died. So much greater is our taste, our charity, and general na- 
tional liberality, at the distance of forty years, that I will ven- 
ture to pronounce, that, in the present day, a benefit at one of our 
theatres for the relief of a poor and an infirm grand-daughter of 
the author of Comtis and Paradise Lost^ would have been much 
more amply and worthily supported. 

These seem to have been the grounds, upon which Milton's 
Nuncupative Will was pronounced invalid. First, there was 
wanting what the Civil Law terms a rogatio testium, or a solemi^ 
bidding of the persons present^ to take notice that the words he 
was going to deliver were to be his Will. The Civil Law re- 
quires the form, to make men's verbal declarations operate as 
Wills ; otherwise, they are presumed to be words of commoq 
calling or loose conversation. And the Statute of the twenty-* 
ninth of Charles the Second [c. iii.] has adopted this rule ; a& 
may be seep in the 19th clause of that Statute, usually called the 



AND' WRITINGS OF MILTO^. 289 

Statute ofFraudsy which passed in the year 1676, two years after 
Milton's death. Secondly, the words, here attested by the three 
witnesses, are not words delivered at the same time ; but one wit- 
ness speaks to one declaration made at one time, and another, to 
another declaration made at anothet time. And although the de- 
clarations are of similar import, this circumstance will not satisfy 
the .demands of the Law ; which requires, that the three witnesses 
who are to support a Nuncupative Will, must speak to the iden- 
tical words uttered at one and the same time. There is yet ano- 
ther requisite in Nuncupative Wills, which is not found here ; 
namely, that the words be delivered in the last sickness of a party: 
whereas the words here attested appear to have been delivered 
when the party was in a tolerable state of health, at least under 
no immediate danger of death. On these principles we may pre- 
sume Su: Leolihe Jenkilis to have acted in the rejection of Mil- 
ton's Will: although the three witnesses apparently, told the 
truth in what they deposed. The Judge, deciding against the 
Will, of course decreed administration of .the Intestate's effects 
to the widow. 

For an investigation of these papers in the Prerogative Re- 
gistry, for an explanation of their nature and purport, and of other 
technical difficulties which they present to one unacquainted with 
the records and more ancient practice of the prerogative court in 
testainentiaiy proceedings, I must confess myself indebted to the 
kind attention and friendship of Sir William Scott. There 
are other papers in the Commons belonging to this business : but 
ad they are mere forms of law, as they throw no new Hght on the 
cause, and furnish no anecdotes of Milton and his family, they 
are here omitted. Warton. 

' To what is said, at the beginning of the preceding note, of Mil- 
ton's having sold his library, and of his personal property , some 
additions are requisite ; since his daughters in this Will are said, 
by a servant, woman, as repeating it from Milton, to have made 
away some of his books, and to have intended selling the rest to 
the dunghill women ; a story of the highest improbability : as if 
the dunghill women understood a traffick of this kind, as if those 
who visited Milton should never have heard of such a spoliation, 
and as if his brother Christopher could have been wholly igno- 
rant of it. What is the evidence of this brother as to these 

IT 



290 SOMB ACCOUNT OP THE LIFB,.&c. 

slandered nieces ? He says, *^ tbat touching his deceased bn>iher*8 
displeasure with them, he only heard him say at the time of de- 
claring his Will, that they were undutiful and unkind to him, not 
expressing any particulars :*' as if Milton would have forborne 
to particularize the plunder of what had been collected with 
great expense perhaps as well as taste, and through the instru* 
mentality of those who read to him or conversed with him could 
still be the solace of age and blindness. Toland indeed notices a 
diminution of his books made by himself. " Towards the latter 
part of his life he contracted his library, both because the heirs 
^e left could not make a right use of it, and that he thought he 
might sell it more to their advantage than they could be able to 
do themselves." A provident determination, and a very probable 
account. 

Whatever might be the sum he left at his death, three receipts 
b^jEucing 'the signatures of the three daughters, on each receiving 
100/. from their step-mother Elizabeth, were brought before the 
publick in 1825 at the sale of the books and manuscripts of my 
friend, the late James Boswell, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn. These 
payments were made as portions to them of the estate of their 
fkther ; and were to be vested in rent-charges or annuities for 
their respective benefit with the approbation of their paternal and 
maternal uncles, Richard Powell and Sir Christopher Milton* 
Besides these receipts a copy of the Will of Elizabeth Milton, 
the poet's widow, together with some legal papers relating to her 
property, was at the same dispersion of hterary curiosities sold. 
The Will is dated Aug. 27, 1727 ; and the probate appears to 
havQ been granted Oct. 10, 1727, by which her death in that 
year is established. 

. The profits for ib» grand-daughter by the performance of 
Comus appear to have been too highly rated by Mr. Warton ) 
for I was informed by the late Isaac Reed, Esq. tiiat the receipts 
of the House were only 147/. I4s. 6d. from which the eipences 
deducted were 80/. Todd. 



SECTION vm. 



SSS3 



Of Compositions left by Milton in Manuscript^ andparU' 
ctdarly of his Treatise of Theology lately discovered. 



To Aubrey we are first indebted for information 
Uppix this interesting part of Milton's histc^y. He 
tells uSji that the widow of the poet gave aU hia 
papers, among which was th^ dictionary already 
noticed, to his nephew ; and that she had '^ a great 
many letters hy her fn)m learned men of hia ac- 
quaintance, both of Englandi and beyond sea.". 
But froin this nephew^ who has tdd us too so much 
of hi^ uncle's friends as wdl as writings^ we have 
derived no inforn^ation of a correspondence so im^ 
portant* Aubi^ey also seems to have looked for 
what is elsewhere unnoticed, of which a discovery 
indeed would be to literature an acquisition of 
highest value, " * Mr. J. Milton'^ Life, writt hy 
himselfer - 

** The whole passage in Aubrey is Ais : " Qm. Mr. AUam, of 
£dm. Hall. Oxon, of Mr. J. Milton's Life mtt by himsetfe.'^ 

u 2 



292 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Phillips relates that Milton had '^ prepared for the 
press an answer to some little scribbling quack in 
London^ who had written a scurrilous libel against 
him ; but whether by the dissuasion of his friends, 
or for what other cause he knew iiot, this answer 
was never published!* 

Toland, after reciting many publications of Milton, 
informs us, that '* ^ he daily -expected more pieces 
of this accomplished gentleman from "" James Tyrrel, 
who has the manuscript copies in his hands, and 
irin not envy such a blessing to the nation.'' But 
to what was known this seeming goodly promise 
added nothing. 

• - ■ « , . • * 

'■■ Of the Letters of State published after the death 
of Milton, and of his Dictionary in manuscript, ac- 
counts have been *^ already given. 

The Brief History of Moscovia, and of other 
less known countries lying eastward of Russia a9 
far as Cathay, Milton had evidently designed for the 
press before he died. " * What was scattered in many 
volumes/' he says, " and observed at several times 
by eye-witnesses, with no cursory pains I laid toge- 

^ Life of MUton, ed. HoUis, p. 132. 

* A professed and very learned Whig, who published a History 
of England, 1696 — 1704, which is extremely curious and valu- 
able, and now also not of frequent occurrence, 

** See before, pp. 171, 181. 

* Pref. to the Hist. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTOK. SOC 

was livings that the manuscri{)t of Milton at the 
close of the seventeenth century was then, or lately, 
had been, in his hands. Cyriack was too discreet 
to undeceive others. The offence, which had been 
given, was . pardoned ; and the obnoxious treatise- 
was reposed upon the shelves in the Old State- 
Paper Office at Whitehall, till in the year 1823 Mr. 
Lemon, the deputy-keeper of the State-Papers, in 
his indefatigable researches, discovered it loosely 
capped in two or three sheets of .printed paper, 
which, it is curious to add, were proof-sheets of Ho-f 
race, one of the pubhcations of Daniel Elzevir. The 
State-'Letters of Milton were in the same parcel. And 
the whole was enclosed in a cover directed. To Mr. 
Skinner, MerchK 

With respect to the real title of the manuscript, 
Aubrey and Wood are supposed to have been in 
error; because they call it Idea Theologiie, and 
it now is, De Dactrina Christiana ex sacris dun^ 
taxat libris petita disquisitionum libri duo post-^ 
hum. Yet no doubt the title was at first, as Wood 
and Aubrey have given it. The Idea was adopted- 
in conformity to example ; from Milton having seen, 
for instance, what was addressed to his friend HartUb 
in 1651, the learned Pell's Idea of Maihematicks ; 
or, at a later period, from being informed of the op^ 
position to Hobbes in Dr. Templer's Idea Theo- 
logi{B Leviathanis. An Idea Eloquentia also 
appeared about this time. The present title was 
probably chosen, after his death, by those into whose 



* 



JU^ SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

hands the manuscript hnd passed, and whose ende 
i:our was to make it publick. 

These are circumstances which illustrate theexti 
nal evidence of the treatise as the work of Miltc 
We shall soon observe what would be conclusive as to 
this position, if such testimony had been wanting, I 
mean internal evitfrnce. 

The entrance of the treatise exhibits the great* 
poist explaining his reason for compiling it, " ' I 
deemed it safest and most advisable to compile 
for myself," he says, " by my own labour and 
study, some original treatise, which should be al- 
ways at hand, derived solely from the Word qf 
God itself." Wood appears to have been informed 
of this determination, as he mentions the poet's 
"framing a Bodij of Divinity out of the Bible." 
Perhaps not satisfied altogether with the systems 
of theology which he was wont to consult, Milton, 
so early as when he wrote his Doctrine and Disci- 
pline of Divorce, could not forbear, in his remarks 
upon " custom and prejudice," sarcastically to de- 
scribe " youth run ahead into the easy creek of a 
system or a medulla." And afterwards, in his Con-- 
siderations how to remove hirelings out of the Church, 
he mentions, I had almost said in reference to his 



^ Prefaf^e tq the Treatise. I cite at pre^nt the translation of 
the work by Dr. Sumner for the benefit of every reader. And 
I may assure those, who understand not Latin, that the transla- 
tion is exact and faithful. 



AKD WRITIKGS OF MILTOK. 303 

• design of the very work before us, " the helps 
which we enjoy to make more easy the attainment 
of Christian Religion by the meanest ; namely, the 
entire Scripture translated into EngUsh with plenty 
ef notes ; and somewhere or other, I trust, may be 
found some Body of Divinity, as they call it, with- 
out schooh-terms and metaphysical notions, which 
have obscured rather than explained our religion, 
and made it seem difficult without cause!* Hence 
his frequent appeals to the Scriptures only ; as in 
his reference to '^ "^ the Protestant religion reform^ 
^ing herself rightly by the Scriptures;^ and to 
*' *" the deciding our controversies only by the Scrips 
turesr Hence his reminding the Parliament of their 
profession '^ ^ to assert only the true Protestant 
Christian religion, as it is contained in the Holy 
Scriptures f and his own assertion, '* that we can 
have no other ground in matters of religion but only 
from the Scriptures!" And yet I am persuaded, 
that this is the very '' ' tractate/' which, in the 
earlier part of his life, he had begun *' to collect 
from the ablest divines, Amesius, Wollebius," and 
others, as the ^ et cetera of his nephew, who tells us 
of the compilation, implies ; and which, from time 

*• Dr. Sumner is of the same opinion. 

** Reason of Church Gov. B. ii. 

* Animadv. on the Remonstrant's Defence. 

^ Treatise of Civ. Power in Eccl. Causes. 

' See the whole passage, describing this tractate, cited from 
Phillips, p. 312. 

^ Phillips adds to the et cetera the notice of resuming the sub- 
ject of this treatise, but never refers to it again. 



304 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

to time, hid .been augmented, revised, tod corrected. 
For in it indeed there axe whole sentences '* ^ some^ 
times almost identically the same as in WoUebius,*^ 
certain coincidences also with Ames, and some 
direct citiations from other theological writers. But 
this is hot a solitary instance of his practice ^ opposed 
to his theory. 

^ The work before us consists of two books, entitled 
Of the Knowledge of God,nnA Of the Service of 
God. In this distinction we immediately trace the 
hand and heart of Milton. '^ * It will require no great 
labour of exposition," he has before told us, " to un- 
fold what is meant by matters of religion ; being a» 
ISioon apprehended, as defined, such things as belong 
chiefly to the knowledge and service of God.'* 
The first book is divided into thirty-three chapters. 
1. Of the Christian doctrine, and the number of its 
divisions. 2. Of God. 3. Of the Divine decrees. 
4. Of predestination. 5. Of the Son of God. 6. 
Of the Holy Spirit. 7. Of the Creation. 8. Of 
the Providence of God, or of his general government 
of the universe. 9. Of the special government of 
angels. 10. Of the special government of man 
before the Fall, including the institutions of the 
Sabbath, and of Marriage. 11. Of the fall 6f our 
first parents, and of sin. 12. Of the punishment of 
sin. 13. Of the death of the body. 14. Of man's 

* Dr. Sumner's Transl. p. 602. 
. ** See what is stated in p. ^08, 

* Treatise of Ciy. Power in Eccl. Causes. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 305 

• 

reisftofatiori, and of Christ as Redeemer. 16. Of 
the functions of the Mediator^ and of his threefold 
office. 16. Of the ministry of redemption. 17. Of 
man's renovation, including his calling. 18. Of re- 
generation. 19. Of repentance. 20. Of saving 
£Edth. 21. Of being planted in Christ, and its 
effects. 22. Of justification. 23. Of adoption. 24. 
Of union and fellowship with Christ and his mem- 
bers, wherein is considered the mystical or invisible 
Church. 25. Of imperfect glorification, wherein 
are considered the doctrines of assurance and final 
perseverance. 26. Of the manifestation of the Co- 
venant of Grace, including the Law of God. 27. 
Of the Gospel, and of Christian liberty. 28. Of the 
external sealing of tiie Covenant of Grace. 29. Of 
the visible Church. 30. Of the Holy Scriptures. 
81. Of particular Churches. 32. Of Church dis- 
cipline. . 33. Of perfect glorification, including the 
second Advent of Christ, the resurrection of the 
dead, and the general conflagration. 

Into seventeen chapters only the second book is 
divided. 1.. Of good works. 2. Of the proximate 
causes of good works. 3. Of the virtues belonging 
to the service of God. 4. Of external service. 5. 
Of oaths and the lot. 6. Of zeal. 7. Of the time 
fOT divine worship, wherein are considered the Sab- 
bath, Lord's Day, and Festivals. 8. Of our duties 
towards man, and the general virtues belonging 
thereto. 9. Of the first class of special virtues con- 
nected with the duty of man towards himself^ 10. 



306 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Of thfe second class of virtues connected with the 
duty of man towards himself. 11. Of the duties of 
man towards his neighbour, and the virtues com- 
prehended under those duties. 12. Of the special 
virtues or duties which regard our neighbour. 13. 
The second class of special duties towards our neigh- 
bour . continued. 16. Of the reciprocal duties of 
man towards hi3 neighbour, and specially of private 
duties. 16. Of the remaining class of private du- 
ties. 17. Of publick duties towards our neigh- 
bour. 

Such are the parts of this treatise of divinity ; 
wherein ar:e sojne positions, which he whq wrote thePa- 
radise Lpst could not have been expected to advance. 
For in these he is tp his. former orthodoxy often cfH 
posed ; and in these he appears, no longer in the 
questionable shape which bi3hop Newton has de- 
scribed, but evidently attached to the Arian scheme. 
*' Some have inclined to believe," that learned bio- 
grapher has said, " that Milton was an Arian ; but 
there are more express passages in his works to over- 
throw this opinion, than any there are to confirm it* 
This hesitation woujd have been dispersed by a 
glance upon that part of the treatise, which afiects 
to describe The Son of God. Nor could I have 
formerly stated, if to me also the pages of this n^o- 
lume had been unfolded, that from heretical peeuli* 
arity of opinion he was free. The dormant suspidon 
of schism was unawakened, while I dwelt upon the 
magick of his invention ; and, like others^ I was aU 



AND WRIITNGS OP MILTOV. 367 

ear only to his siweet and solemn-breathing strains. 
it was }e& to a minute inspection of Ms works for the 
diiscovery of his aberraticnt^ as in the present treatise, 
fronv o^odioxy ; and ci accordan<^ m them with the 
kUster both in sentimentii^* and dxpf esdons^ This has> 
been done hy Dr. Stmaner^ to wbds(g csae his Ma-^ 
j^sty gracioQsfy confided the recent edition and 
translalion of the mmiuscript. And in the jndicibms 
observatbns. which accompany his kbour tiirongh^ 
<mt^ as^ weU as in tiie ^ereet and elegant introduc* 
tion to it^ all the gratification wl»ch taste and learn-* 
ing can give will be found. To his research I am 
indeed for most of the passages^ which presently 
will be adduced firoot liie treatise, as identifying the 
pen 0f IMfilton; and by communkationa wkh hiffi 
nfion the present s^nliject I htfre been assisted ai»i 
hfifncnxied 

TMst atowal of &isr religious sentiments certainly 
e^bits tbe great poet at variance not only with the 
(ioctrine of the Church of England, but at variance 
with the teneta of sects to which he had ^nielded 
assenty and at variance with himself It is indeed the 
prodQctioa ol a ferv^t mind, sometimes displaying 
the skigularity of self-confidence, and sometimes 
yidding tribute to the wayward pinions o£ others^ 
Hence the occurrences not unfrequently, c^ partial 
interpretation and of unsound criticism. Of recon- 
dite or extensive learnings of novel disquisition, or 
of ingenious adaptation, the treatise is rather barren. 
We sometimes nieet with subtleties indeed, not ex- 

X 2 



dUO. NOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

pected however in a work professing to be derived 
from the Scriptures only ; and with scholastick or 
metaphysical distinctions, (^sclaimed however in the 
very entrance of it. " '' Considering the language 
employed in parts of this treatise," Dr. Suimier ob- 
serves, " Milton more frequently censures the meta- 
physical divinity than might have been expected. 
His practice at least, in this as well as in some 
other points, is not very consistent with his theory. 
He speaks, however, in other works, in the same 
slighting manner of the sophistry of the schools." 
He speaks in those too, I must add, with apparent 
contempt of " ' bodies and marrows of divinity ;" 
and yet here has adopted the very form and pressure 
of them. But what here must be admired is the tone 
of moderation throughout, the absence of polemical 
fierceness and personal hostility. With all his re- 
verence for the sacred writings, with all the religious 
spirit of his earlier days, and with all his former zeal 
in the pursuit of truth, Milton now also stands be- 
fore us. He presents himself as an able expositor of 
many moral duties too ; and,for the most part, elegantly 
" "" teaches over the whole book of sanctity and vir- 
tue." For the rich expression and splendid imagery 
indeed, which perpetually meet us in his other works, 
we here look in vain. But his object, like that of a 
contemporary opponent to the false philosophy of 

" Transl. p. 602. 

' Consider, for removing Hirelings out of the Church. See 
also other passages to this effect, cited in p, 302, 

" See his Reason of Church Governmeat, before cited, p. 62. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON.' 317 

that ^ an address to all Christian magistrates 
ought to have been in Latin; and an address now^ 
« to all the Churches of Christ, we may therefore 
bielieve him determined to present in the ** common 
langtcage of Christendom. When he had written 
too his theological notions of divorce, he ' wished 
that he had not written them in the vernacular 
tongue, as it exposed him, he says, to the perusal of 
vulgar readers, who knew not their own blessings 
and insulted the misfortunes of others. And to this 
topick he again referred, in a letter to one of his cor-^ 
respondents, ^ observing that as to his book up<!»i 
divorce being translated into Dutch, he would have 
preferred a Latin version of it ; for, he adds, I 
know how the vulgar receive opinions, which are not 
agreeable to vulgar prejudice. 

1. The treatise opens with this ingenuous con- 
fession, in the translation by Dr. Sumner : '* It was 
a great solace to me to have compiled, by God's 
assistance, a precious aid for my faith ; or rather to 
have laid up for myself a treasure which would 
he a provision for my future life!* Pref. p. 4. 
So, in \ii& Reason of Church Government: '^ I 



'In his address to the Parliament, prefixed to his Treatise of 
Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes. 't 

^ Joannes Miltonus An^lus Universis Christi Ecclesiis, &c. 
Pref. to the Theological Treatise. 

** As he expresses himself in the Treatise of Civil Power. 

* In his Defensio Secunda. 

^ Epist. Fam. Leoni ab Aizema, dat. Feb. 5, 1654. 



318 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

have determined to lay np as the hest treasure and 
solace of a good old age, if God vouchsafe it me, 
the honest liberty of free speech," &c. Again, in the 
Preface : " It has also been my object to make it 
appear from the opinions I shall be found to have 
advanced, whether new or old, of how much conse- 
quence to the Christian rehgion is the hberty not 
only of winnowing and sifting every doctrine, but 
also of thinking and even writing respecting it." So, 
in his Reformation of England: " That doctrine 
of the Gospel, planted by teachers divinely inspired, 
and by them winnowed and sifted £roia the chaff 
overdated ceremonies." 



2. " Our safest way is to form in our minds such 
a conception of God, as sliall correspond with his 
own delineation and representation of Himself in the 
sacred writings. For granting that, both in the 
literal and figurative descriptions of God, He is ex- 
hibited as He really is, but in such a manner as may 
be within the scope of our comprehensions ; yet we 
ought to entertain such a conception of Him, as He, 
in condescending to accommodate Himself to our 
capacities, has shewn that He desires we should con- 
ceive. For it is on this very account that He has 
lowered himself to our level, lest in our flights above 
the reach of human understanding, and beyond the 
written word of Scripture, we should be tempted to 
indulge in vague cogitations and subtleties." B. i. 
eh. 2. (>f God. Thus in Paradise Lost, B. viii. 
167. 



M 





AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 319 

'** Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid'; 
** Leave them to God above : Him serve, and fear ! 

*' Heaven is for thee too high 

" To know what passes there : Be lowly wise : 
" Think only what concerns thee, and thy being ; 
** Dream not of other worlds^ what creatures there 
** Live^ in \riiat state, condition, or degree/' 

In the same chapter of God, it is said, '* that the 
power of God is not exerted in things which imply 
a contradiction ;** as in Par. Lost, B. x. 798. 

** Can He make deathless death ? That were to make 
** Strange contradiction,, which to God himsdf 

Impossible is held ; as argmnent 

Of weakness, not of power :'^ 






the doctrine of the schoolmen, according to bishop 
Newton, which Dr. Sunmer traces in Curcelkens, 
and which Milton himself supports by the texts of 
2 Tim. ii- 13, Tit. i. 2, and Heb. vi. 18. 

3. *' It is to be understood that God decreed no- 
thing absolutely, which He left in the power of free 
agents ; a doctrine which is shewn by the whole 
canon of Scripture.** B. i. ch. 3. Of the Divine 
Decrees. Dr. Sumner here observes, that the lines 
in the third book of Par. Lost, beginning at ver. 
95, and ending with ver. 130, contain the sum of 
the doctrine laid down by Milton in this and the 
following chapter ; and that the coincidences of ex- 
pression are not unfrequently as striking as the simi- 
larity of reasoning. In the same chapter : " God 



320 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

had determined from all eternity, that man should 
so far be a free agent, that it remained with himself 
to decide whether he would stand or fall," So in 
Par. Lost, B. v. 233. 



U 



** Such discourse bring on. 

As may advise him of his happy state. 

Happiness in his power left free to will. 

Left to his own free will, his will though free, 
** Yet mutable ; whence warn him to beware 
*' He swerve not, too secure." 

Yet one more extract from this chapter: '^ God of 
his wisdom determined to create men and angels 
reasonable beings, and therefore free agents.** Atid 
thus in Par. Lost, B. ix. 351. 

'* God left free the will ; for what obeys . 



** Reason, is free ; and reason He made right ; 
** But bid her well be ware, and still erect/' 

4. '^ Without searching deeper into this subject; 
let us be contented with only knowing, that God, 
out of his infinite mercy and grace in Christ, has 
predestinated to salvation . all who should believe.'' 
B. i. ch. 4. Of Predestination. Thus in Par. Lost; 
B. xii. 424. 

''Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems, 
*' His death for man, as many as offer'd life 
** Neglect not, and the benefit embrace 
" By faith not void of works/' 

5. *' This point appears certain, notwithstanding 
the arguments of some of the moderns to the con- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 321 

trary, thatihe Son existed in the beginning, under 
the name of the logos or word, and was the first of 
the whole creation, by whom afterwards all other 
things were made both in heaven and earth." B. i. 
ch. 5. Of the Son of God. So in the hynin of the 
angels. Par. Lost, B. iii. 383. 

" Thee next they sang of all creation first, 

*^ Begotten Son, Divine Similitude^ 

** In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud 

** Made visible, the Almighty Father shines, 

" Whom else no creature can behold ; on thee 

*' Impress'd the effulgence of his glory abides, 

** Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests. 

" He Heaven of Heavens, and all the Powers therein, 

" By thee created." 

Here it may be observed, that in his exposition of 
what is said in the treatise Milton cites Col. i. 15, 
and Rev. iii. 14 ; passages, which bishop Newton 
applied to the illustration of the poetry, without any 
suspicion of their being employed in the cause of 
heterodoxy ; and from which, as from the lines in- 
debted to them, no succeeding commentator has 
drawn the Arian interpretation. In truth the pas- 
sage declares, what the context to the words of St. 
Paul declare, (jCol. i. 16, 17,) that the Son of God 
is the Creator of all things, (which indeed the poet 
repeats. Par. Lost, B. v. 835,) that he was '' * before 
all creatures, and made all creatures, which is enough,** 
Dr. Waterland observes, *' to silence the Arians." But 

* Sermons on the Divinity of our Lord Christ, Serm. II. 

Y 



322 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the summary of Milton's opinions^ collected by the 
learned translator from the present chapter^ distmctly 
shows^ that they were now " °* in reality nearly Arian, 
ascribing to the Son as high a share of divinity as was 
compatible with the denial of his self-existence and 
eternal generation, but not admitting his co-equality 
and co-essentiality with the Father." What orthodox 
member of the Church of England will not with Dr. 
Sumner regret, that the *" mighty mind of Milton in 
its conscientious, though mistaken, search after truth, 
had not an opportunity of examining those masterly 
refutations of the Arian scheme, for which Christi- 
anity is indebted to the labours of bishop Bull and 
Dr. Waterland ; more especially, I may add, as the 
labours of the former appeared so near his own time, 
and were successfully directed against the very per- 
sons by whose unsound theology I have ** supposed 
him misled. For when the D^ensio Fidei Nicemg 
of Bull was finished, which was in 1680 ; '^ ^ about 
that time," the pious biographer of the prelate tells 
us, " and for some years before, there were seve- 
ral Arian and Socinian pieces published in Holland, 
and dispersed in England, written by some learned 
men that were fled thither out of Poland and Prus- 
sia." In the interval between the production of hut 
two epick poems, he drank largely perhaps; from 
these turbid streams. And it is from passages ix^ 

. "' Introduct. p. xxxiv. 
" Ibid. p. XXXV. 
® See before, p. 314. 
p Nelson's Life of Bishop Bull, p, 280. 



AND WKITY19GS Of MlLtO^. ^ 

Paradise Regmned &at^ critidfiinf fir&t eixlleA M 
least flie langif^e of Arkf^ or Sociniiiir ; D^^ieh M^. 
Caltoji bowdtrer ermsidei^ ^ adopts W surprise tbe 
»gels> m iheu! '' bsMding^ the tn^ib)^s of th^MafV 
Ghnst JesttsJ oter the €mmy of tteKl&i^, ^ilJi tke 
j^Mfera diicov^]^ o^ thfe Gfdd, ensfttffeed m fl^liy 
tdbiGtodder and l^j^m. fe^m f ithil^ Di«. Wi^te^y 
m^hi^e ftoittrk I loag' since firesenfied to the pufWiek, 
dtifi^ft^^ '' that there is Hcif rf word here siaid of thfe 
1^ rf Go4 {Par. Reg, fe. i/ 163— 167,>but what 
^ Sefek^f or at lea;^ alt Arian wotild a}k)W ;- ai^ 
l^at the ssMe dbsei^altibh may he' te^ide ofi^ sotote 
' orih^f riEfttiark^Ie pass^^s of the poenl.'' In th^ Arf 
qf Logkk, "^l^h ^afi^p1lbK^hed it^ th^ ycfar after this 
jlGiHiS ^rei 11^ a Y&pf darie^^ cc^oidence tM i^rifh ai 
i^Hitti^k in: the present diapter as applied to a^dienidl of 
til^ ^^]i^ssdn^a% 0^ the Fal3ier*^* tSi^ Son, '^^ Whiel^ 
cfiCMdd seiiic(^1y li^iv^e beenr eistj^oted to be Mndf/' Dr. 
SttiHnet! d^ mdrti^atiseon Log>iok. '"He of whom 
m^ M things is clearly ^i^gui^hed fix^ Y&m hp 
€ttsom ma all tJm^s ; afnd tf ^ difie^nce' 6f c^uisa-^ 
tklf f^te ai diflfer^ni^ of e^ence, be^ \& dktinguiished 
dto tHr es$en)Ge» Besides, s^e' a nuixterical di^r- 
^€$ d^riginatiesi in difieii^eyic^ of essiBnce, those who 
ilW two nnmeri^y, lAust be also #^o essehtiaUy." 
ThtB th^ treatise of religion ;r and thns^ the art of 
lo^fc^ ^ ^mmeMs, ut reefie Scali^er, est afifecfio 
essentiam consequens. Quae igitur numero, essentia 
(Jueque diflferunt ; et nequa({uam numero, nisi essen- 



•» Transl. p. 92. 
Y 2 



324 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

tia, differrent i"" that is. Things which differ in num- . 
ber, differ also in essence ; and they would by no 
means differ in number, unless in essence. And then 
he adds, as if in remembrance of the theology he was. 
studying, ^^ Evigilent Tm theologi ;" Let theologians 
here be on their guard. I will repay the caution 
which he gives with one admirable example of atten- 
tion in this respect, out of many that might be cited, 
by a very vigilant and learned divine of the English 
Church; especially as it silences the positi<m which 
has been cited from the treatise. " ' One objection, 
to the Arian scheme is, that it can never be recon- 
ciled with the unity of the divine nature, but infal- 
libly infers a plurality of Gods. This may very, 
briefly be evinced by asking this plam question; 
Hath this, persop, the; Son, and whom you entitle: 
God, the same individual essential properties yA^, 
God the Father, as eternity, omnipresence, and thCi 
like ; or has he different and distinct essential pro-- 
perties from those of the Father ? The former no, 
Ariaa cansay, consistently with his own scheme ; for; 
if the Son be allowed to have the very same essential, 
properties with his Father, he must then be consulh, 
stantial with him, and thus the Arian wiU become a. 
Catholick: And to assert the latter, that. their. 
essential properties sxe dfferent, is evidently to 
assign them two distinct essences, and therefore. 

' Sermon upon the several heterodox hypotheses concerning 
both the persons and the attributes of the Godhead, &c. by W. 
Stephens, M.A. Vicar of St. Andrew, Plymouth. Oxford, 1725, 
p. 11. 



- AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 326 

they must be two different Gods. Different per^ 
sonal properties indeed do only infer a difference of 
persons ; and upon this the Catholick scheme is 
founded^ which supposes a difference of persons y 
and yet an unity of essence. — ^ We assert three dis- 
tinct persons, in order to avoid a nominal Trinity 
only ; and we maintain one nvmerical essence undi- 
vided in these persons, that we may not carry the 
least appearance of tritheism. We hold the divine 
essence to be one indivisible essence ; we contend 
that this essence was in an ineffable manner commu- 
nicated to the Son and Holy Ghost from all eter- 
nity ; in which communication, as there was no 
division or separation of the nature, so that unity is 
still preserved, and the distinction of persons withal 
unquestionable. We deny that these persons are 
•co^rdAate, lest we fall into polytheism; yet the 
subordination which we maintain is not of nature, 
but merely of persons, lest we run into Arianism. 
Our scheme will stand clear from the charge of Sa- 
bellianism, till it can be shewn that three subsistences, 
each of which has distinct personal properties, are 
bat a Trinity of names and mere modes. We shall 
also stand as clear from the imputation of tritheism, 
till our adversaries can demonstrate, what surely they 
never will pretend to do, that distinct personal pro- 
perties mast as necessanly divide and multiply the 
divine essence, as they do the human. The little 
insight, which we have into the manner oi the sub- 

• Ibid. p. 34. 



326 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

sistence of the diyine nature, will for ever fee 
;a b^ to such a demMistratiou." — For the intro- 
duction of these pertinent sentences, no apology, 
I trust, is requisite. The reader of the treatise 
will find tliera applicable also to other parts of 
it : for the eternity of the Holy Spirit, and the es- 
sential unity of the three Divine Persons, are d^iied 
in it. 

6. The next parallels are of no controversial bear- 
ing, but illustrative merely of Milton's phraseology. 
" They are constantly shifting the form of their rea- 
soning, Vertumnus-like" B. i. ch. 5, Of the Son 
qf God. So, in his Tetrachordon : " Let him try 
which way he can wind in his Vcrtumnian distinc- 
tions and evasions." And in his Pro Pop. Angl. 
Def. " Vertit rationes, et annon rex cum optima- 
tibus plus potestatis habeat quxrit; iterum nego, 
Vertumnep Sic. 



7. The ministry of angels is a favourite subject 
with Milton ; and he devotes a chapter to it in this 
treatise. Numerous are the parallels in it with his 
poetry which might be given. The knowledge which 
he assigns to the evil angels is too remarkable to be 
omitted : " Their knowledge is great, but such as 
tends rather to aggravate than diminish their misery ; 
so that they utterly despair of their salvation." B. i, 
ch, 9. ,0f the Special Government qf Angels. 
Herein are compressed the varied descriptions of 
their punishment in Paradise Lost : 




AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 327 



it 



The thought 



Both of lost happiness, and lasting paiuj 
'* Torments him/' B. i. 64. 



" That comes to all/' B. i. 66. 



Hope never comes 



** We are decreed^ 



** Reserv'dy and destin'd to eternal woe ; 
Whatever doing, what can we suffer more. 
What can we suffer worse ?" B. ii. 160. 



*i 



** Me miserable ! which way shall I fly 

** Infinite wrath, and infinite despair ?" & iv« 73. 

8. The chapter, which follows that upon the go- 
vernment of angels, treats of Divorce ; in which the 
opinions are so entirely in accordance with his Doc- 
trine and Discipline of the subject, with his Te- 
trachordon, and his Coldsterion, as to need no 
extract from either. But it is curious to observe, 
that in this chapter the only direct reference to him- 
self throughout the treatise occurs. He cites Selden 
to his point, and adds, " as I have myself shewn in 
another treatise from several texts of Scripture;** 
which Dr. Sumner, to whom we owe this observa- 
tion, has discovered to be his Tetrachordon. But 
from his defence of this doctrine, which was de- 
nounced from the * pulpit and ridiculed by the wits, 
he here proceeds to advocate the lawfulness of poly- 
gamy. Whether from the fanaticks of his own 
country, and of his earlier days, who maintained 

* See what is said upon this subject in the preceding pages, 
p. 61, seq. 



328 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

" " that it is lawful to have many wives!" and with 
whom mdeed he is coupled in the * accusatory ser- 
mon which brought him before the lords for his Trea- 
tise of Divorce ; whether from these, or from the 
insidious disputants of other lands, he imbibed a 
tenet, which we should rather have expected to find 
him overwhelming with indignant refiitation; la- 
mentable it certainly is, that he contends for what 
had been permitted in the patriarchal times, under 
particular circumstances, as an universal law ; con- 
tends indeed for what, if admitted, would uncivilize 
Christian society, by dissolving the legitimate ties of 
wedded love, and weakening all the charities of do- 
mestick life. But the low estimation, in which he 
held the weaker sex in general, perhaps occasioned 
him to disregard that thus he was also pleading for 
what he calls '^ ^ the despotick power of man over his 
female in due awe ;" in other words, for what would 
serve to harden men into tyrants. It is remarkable 
that in the year 1674, at the close of which Milton 
died, this revolting subject had been obtruded upon 
the world, with the most mischievous profusion, by 
a foreign writer. Lyser, the champion as he has 
been called of polygamy, had visited England and 
other parts of Europe in order to collect whatever 
might assist his purpose in forming the detestable 
volume, entitled Polygamia Triumphatrix ; and of 

" Pagitt's Description of Hereticks and Sectaries, sprang up in 
these latter times, 1654, p. 24. 
"" By Mr. Herb. Palmer. See before, p. 64. 
' Samson Agonist, ver. 1054. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 329 

Seidell's learning he has largely availed himself^ when 
he finds the subject of divorce in any way subservient 
to the offensive doctrine which he maintains. To 
Milton there is no allusion. The Practical Cate^ 
chism of Hammond, I should add, which was pub- 
lished in the year in which the Doctrine and Dis- 
cipline of Divorce first appeared, and again in 1646, 
might have rectified the notions of Milton respecting 
both divorce and polygamy. But eminently learned 
and pious as he knew Hammond to be, he would 
disdain to be taught by him who had proclaimed, 
as if in personal allusion, ^^^ It is not the htishand^s 
dislikes which can excuse him for putting away 
his wife J' 

8. " The sin which is common to all men is that 
which our first parents, and m them all their poste- 
rity, committed ; when, casting off* their obedience 
to God, they tasted the fi-uit of the forbidden tree." 
B. i. ch. 11. Of the Fall of our first Parents, and 
qf Sin. Thus in Par. Lost. 



tt 



« 



His crime makes guilty all his sons." B. iii. 290. 

" In me all 

Posterity stands curs'd ; fair patrimony 
That I must leave you, sons." B. xi. 317. 



9. " Under the head of death, in Scripture, all 
evils whatever, together with every thing which in its. 
consequences tends to death, must be understood as 

I 

• Hammond's .Works, vol. i. p.. 46. 



330 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

comprehended ; for mere bodily death, as it iscaUed, 
did not follow the sin of Adam on the self-same day, 
as God had threatened.'* B. L ch. 12. Of the pUn 
nishmeni of Sin. So, in Par. Last. 



'' The fruit 



" Of that forbidden tree^ whose mortal taste 

'^ Brought death into the worid, and all our woe'^ B. i. 1 • 

'* My sole command 

** TVansgress'd, inevitably thou shalt die, 
'* From that da^ mortal.'' B. viiL 329. 

10. Speaking of Christ in his human nature, Mil- 
ton says, '' he might ' increase in wisdom,* Luke ii. 
52, by means of the understanding which he previ- 
ously possessed, and might ' know all things,' John 
xxi. 17, namely, through the teaching of the Father, 
as he himself acknowledged." B. i. ch. 14. Qf 
Man's restoration, and qf Christ as Redeemer. 
Thus in the soliloquy of our Lord in Par. Regained, 
B. i. 290. 



" Now by some strong motion I am led 

" Into the wilderness, to what intent 
I know not yet, perhaps I need not know ; 
For what concerns my knowledge God reveals." 



« 



The whole soliloquy, Mr. Calton long since observed 
on the passage, is formed upon an opinion which 
has authorities enough to give it credit, and which 
accordingly he cites from Beza, Gerhard, Grotius, 
and our own TiUotson and Whitby. 

11. The mediatorial office of Christ is that 



AND WRITINGS Of MILTON. u331 

9?herebyj at tiie special appointment c^ God the Fa- 
ther, he Yolimtarily performed, and continues to per- 
&rm,onbehalfofman,whfljteyer is requisite for obtaiiv. 
mg recondliation witli God, and eternal ^alvaiioii.'' 
B. i. ch. 15. Of the functions of the Me^iator^ and 
of his threefold office. As in Par. Reg. B. i. 164. 



Mm bolster loay discern 
Froift wl^t CQPsummate virtue J have chose 
TTvs perfect Man, by inerit c^'d my Sop, 
To earn salvation for the soq9 of iQeQ#'^ 



.rr-^-T. ** 



Again : " The name and office pf medintor is in a 
pertain sense ascribed to Moses, as a type of Christ." 
Ibid. So in Pan Lost, B. xii. 239. 



" To God is no access 



" Without mediator, whose high office now 
Moses in figure bears, to introduce 
One greater.*' 






12. ^ The exaltation of Christ is that by which, 
having triumphed over death, and Imd aside the 
form of a servant, he was exalted by God the Father 
to a state of immortality and of the highest glory, 
partly by his own merits, partly by the ^ft of the 
Father, for the benefit of mankind; wherefore he 
rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and 
sitteth on the right hand of God." B. i. ch. 16. 

Of th^ Ministry of Redemption. Thus in Par. 
f4Qst, B. iii. 317. 



fi 



All power 



** I give thee ; reign for ever, and assume 
*^ Thy merits,"— 



332 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

•Again: '^ As Christ emptied himself in both his 
natures^ so both participate in his exaltation; his 
Godhead^ by its restoration and manifestation; his 
manhood^ by an accession of glory." Ibid. So in 
Par. Lost, B. iii. 313. 






Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt 
With thee thy manhood also to this throne ; 
Here shalt thou sit incarnate^ here shalt reign 
" Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man, 

" Anointed universal King." 

« 
Again^ " The satisfaction of Christ is the complete 

reparation made by him, in his twofold capacity of 
God and Man, by the fulfilment of the law and pay- 
ment of the required price for all mankind." Ibid. 
So in Par. Lost. 

" Die he or justice must ; unless for him 

" Some other able, and as willing, pay 

^^ The rigid satisfaction, death for death." B. iii. 209u 



" So man, as is most just. 



« 



Shall satisfy for man." B. iii. 294. 
— " To the cross he nails thy enemies. 



*' The law that is against thee, and the sins 
** Of all mankind, with him there crucified, 
" Never to hurt them more who rightly trust 
"In this his satisfaction." B. xii. 415. 

- 13. " Although it is the duty of believers to join 
themselves, if possible, to a church duly constituted, 
Heh. X. 25, yet such as cannot do this conveniently, 
or with Aill satisfaction of conscience, are not to be 
considered as excluded from the blessing bestowed 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. . 383 

by God on the churches." B. i. ch. 29. Of the 
Visible Church. This is an important passage^ Dr. 
Sumner says, " because it discloses Milton's real views 
upon a point, on which his opinions have been repre- 
sented in a more unfavourable light than they seem 
to have deserved." Bishop Newton remarks, '' that 
in the latter part of his life Milton was not a pro- 
fessed member of any particular sect of Christians, 
that he frequented no publick worship, nor used any 
religious rite in his family. Whether so many dif- 
ferent forms of worship as he had seen had made him 
indifferent to all forms ; or whether he thought that 
all Christians had in some things corrupted the pu- 
rity and simplicity of the Gospel ; or whether he dis- 
liked their endless and uncharitable disputes, and 
that love. of dominion and inchnation to persecution 
which he said was a piece of popery inseparable from 
all churches ; or whether he believed that a man . 
might be a good Christian without joining m any 
communion ; or whether he did not look upon him- 
self inspired, as wrapt up in God, and above all 
forms and ceremonies; it is not easy to determine : 
to his own master he standeth orfalleth : but if he ^ 
was.qf any denomination, he was a sort of Quietist, 
and was ftdl of the interior of religion, though he so 
little regarded the exterior." It has been candidly 
and judiciously stated in a note upon this passage by 
Mr. Hawkins, to which Dr. Sumner refers, " * Hiat 



* Life of Milton, .prefixed to the Poet. Works, 1824, vol. i. 
p. 101. 



834 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

the rc^roacfa^ which has been thrown upon Mikaa^ 
of frequentmg no place of publick worship in kis 
latter days> should be rec^yed^ as Dr^ Symnxons 
ebaenres^ with some caution^ His blindness and 
fykher infirmities might be in psoft his excuse ;^ and it 
m certain^ that his daify employments^ wei^ alwaysr 
ushered in hy devout meditation and sttidy of the 
Scriirtitresi" Tlas observation too may be stremrtb^ 
«jr, mW. «pre»ly aandttU^X ^ p^ 
treatise^ the duty of Uniting in praeticse external and 
ioCffrnal worship^ (B. ii. ch. 4.) though he abo sai^s^ 
&afc ^^ with regiard to the place ctf prayer^ alt are 
equaUy suitable/' a^ m his Par* Lost^ he maikesi a 
simila]' assertion^ B. :2d. 836 ; and though he ^ inac^ 
(iurately says^ that '* the Lord's Prayer was intenddl 
rath^ 9» a model of supplication^ than as^ a &»rm tcr 
be repeakied verbatim 1^ the Apostles^ ot by CKristkor 
Chiurches at the present day^ hence Ihe superflnoils^ 
ness of set forins ci worship."^ Here indeed he pre'' 
seats lomself before us with the prejudice of \as 
Earlier yeat» : ^' "" That which the Apostika taiigislt 
hath freed u» in religion from the ordnances' of ram^ 
amd commands^ that burdens be not laid i^n the re^ 
deemed of Christ ; though the formahst wifl sa^i 
^hatj no decency in GodV worship? C^rtainlj^i 
readers^ the worship of God> stogly in itddf> the retf 
act oi pray^ and thanksgivingy with those ^m dnd 
nnimpmed esjrresaions whi(£ from a wuseit heatt 

»» See St Matt vi. &. St Lake xk 2. 
« In his Apology for Smectymnuus. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 335 

unbidden come into the outward gesture/ is the 
greatest decency that can be imagined." Hence 
also his strange opinion : " *^ I believe tiiat God is no 
more moved with a prayer elaborately penned^ thaii 
men truly charitable are moved with the penned 
speech of a beggar." He accordingly ascribes^ aat 
Dr. Sumner remarks^ ei^itemporaneous effiisions to 
our first parents, Par^ Lost, B. v. 144. To his 
notions of the external services of religion Dr. John* 
son has opposed this fine remark ; that '^ "" to be of 
no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the re^ 
wards are distant, and which is animated only b^ 
faith and hope, will gUde by degrees out of the mind> 
unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external 
ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salu^ 
tary influence of example." 

Again, in this chapter. Of the Visible Church. 
*' knj believer is competent to act as an ordinary 
minister, according as convenience may require ; pro-^ 
vided only he be endowed with the necessary gifts ; 
these gifts constituting his mission.^' Thus, in his 
Considerations how to remMe Hirelings out of 
the Church, he contends, that ^' the Gospel makss 
no difference from the magistrate himself to the 
meanest artificer, if God evidentiy favour him with 
spiritual gifts ;" a notion, indeed, which he has re-r 
peatedly expressed, in his zeal to proclaim imy be« 



*^ In his Iconoclastes. 
« Life of Milton. 



336 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFj: 

liever. competent to preach the Gospel: the very 
endeavour of fanaticism at its height in an address 
to the ParUament in 1653^ preserved too among the 
*" papers of Milton, and upon which it should seem 
that he had cast an eye of fond regard ; the eighth 
proposition in this address being as follows : '* That 
it may be lawful for all men, of what degree or qua- 
lity soever, to teach the Word, according to their 
V light and the Spirit's illuniination, and to settle 
themselves in the ministry, giving good testimony of 
their inward call thereunto by the Spirit." Again, 
in the chapter before us, " Pastors and teachers are 
the gift of the same God who gave apostles and pro- 
phets, and not of any human institution whatever." 
So in the Considerations before cited, ^' It is a foul 
error, though too much believed among us, to think 
that the university makes a minister of the Gospel : 
what it may conduce to other arts and. sciences, I 
dispute not now ; but that which makes fit a minis- 
ter, the Scripture can best inform us to be- only from 
above, whence also we are bid to seek them." Here 
the address, with which Milton accords in the pre- 
ceding extract, courteously notices both universities ; 
and proposes, ^' ^ that two colleges in each should 
be set apart for such as. wholly and solely apply 
themselves to the study of attaining and enjoying 
the spirit of our Lord Jesus, to which, study needs 
few.bookes, or outward human helps ; so. that only 

' Original Letters and Papers of State, &c. found among the 
political collections of Mr. John Milton, ut supr. p. 100. 
« Original Lett, ut supr. p. 99. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 337 

the Holy Scriptures would be sufficient ; but that 
the noble minde of man soaringe beyond the letter 
or rule held out from the same^ therefore the. workes 
of Jacob Behmen, and such like, who had true re- 
relation from the true Spirit, would he great fur- 
therance thereto ! And none but the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and such bookes aforesaid, should be used in 
these colleges, all in English. This study, rightly 
attained, would confute and confound the pride and 
vaine glory of outward human learning, strong rea- 
son, and high astral parts, and would shew men the 
true ground and depth of all things ; for it would 
lead men into the true nothing, in which they may 
behold and speculate all things to a clear satisfac- 
tion and contentedness !" Such was the meditated 
improvement of academical institutions, in the age 
of triumphant fanaticism, not quite in unison with 
the present ^ disesteera of them by Milton ; a cir- 
cumstance too curious to be overpassed. 

13. ^^ It is evident, that the use of the Scriptures 
is prohibited to no one ; but that, on the contrary, 
they are adapted for the daily hearing or reading of 
all classes and orders of men ; of princes, Deut. xvii. 
19, of magistrates. Josh. i. 8, of men of all descrip- 
tions, Deut. xxxi. 9 — 11, &c." B. i. ch. 30. Of the 
Holy Scriptures. Thus in his Treatise* of True 
Religion : '* The papal antichristian church permits 

** His severity against them is more strongly shewn at tlie 
close of his Considerations to remove Hirelings out of the Church. 

z 



338 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

not her laity to read the Bible in their own tongue ; 
our Church on the contrary hath proposed it to all 
men. Neither let the countryman, the tradesman, 
the lawyer, the physician, the statesman, excuse 
himself by his much business from the studious read- 
ing thereof.'* Again, in the present chapter : ^* Nei- 
ther can we trust implicitly in matters of this nature 
to the opinions of our forefathers, or of antiquity." 
As in his Prelatical Episcopacy : " If we turn this 
our discreet and wary usage of them into a blind 
devotion towards them, and whatsoever we find writ- 
ten by them, we both forsake our own grounds and 
reasons which led us at first to part from Rome, 
that is, to hold to the Scriptures against all anti- 
quity." Milton, in the present treatise, opposes in- 
deed with firm but temperate observation the Church 
of Rome. The cause of Protestantism we know him 
to have always had most at heart ; and in behalf of 
it we remember his opinion, elsewhere delivered^ 
that the religious consideration of the Romish te- 
nets may not be separated from the political. 

14. " The subject of the first book was Faith, or 
the Knowledge of God. The second treats of the 
Service or Love of God." B. ii. ch. 1. Of Good 
Works. So in his Treatise of Civ. Power in 
Eccl. Causes : " What evangelick religion is, is 
told in two words. Faith and Charity, or Belief and 
Practice." 

15. ^^ All these, with numberless other saints, are 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 389 

by a more careful inquiry into the nature of truth 
rescued, as it were, from the new limbus patrum to 
which the vulgar definition had consigned them." 
B. ii. cht 13. Of the second Clms of special Du- 
ties towards our Neighbour. This appears, Dr, 
Sumner has also Qbserved> to be a favourite allusion 
with Milton. 



<c 



All these, upwhirl'd aloft. 



" Fly o'er the backside of the world far off 
" Into a Limbo large and broitd." 

Par. Icosf, B* iin 493. 

'^ Their mysterious iniquity sought out new Um- 
hoes and new Hells, wherein they might include our 
books," &c. Areopagitica. " Te Deum has a 
smatch in it of limbus patrum^'' &c. ApoLfor 
Smectymnuvis. 

16. I shall cite one other remarkable passage 
from the translation on the payment of tithes, with 
its parallels, from the thirty-first chapter of the first 
book ; in which also Milton appears directly to allude 
to the ministers of the Presbyterian establishment in 
his time. And the passage to be adduced is this : 
" What are we to think of a pastor, who for the 
recovery of claims thus founded, an abuse unknown 
to any reformed church hut aur own, enters into 
litigation with his own flock,** &c. Dr. Sumner 
here introduces a parallel from Milton s printed 
works, in which tl^ ^^ English divines, and they only 

z2 



340 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

of all Protestants,** are accused upon the subject 
of tithes ; but note the following. " Deliver , us,** 
Milton says to the Parliament in 1659, " the only 
people of all Protestants left still undelivered from 
the oppressions of a simonious decimating clergy." 
Consid. to remove Hirelings out of the Church, 
Dedication. 

I might select in this manner many other trans- 
lated passages from the extraordinary compilation 
before us, some of which, as they respect conditional 
election, justification, assurance, and final perse- 
verance, are judicious, and would be valued ; while 
others, as they relate to the sabbath, the decalogue, 
the sacraments, and the soul, are uninviting, and 
would be unprofitable. But enough : for it is due 
to the learned reader, that I should produce from 
the Latin compositions of Milton the simple phrase 
or form of expression, the imagination or the thought, 
agreeing with passages in the original language of 
the treatise. And of such, I can truly say, the 
number is not small. I offer the following. 

1. " Latibula non quaero." Prtef. — " Frustra tibi 
ista latibula quaesisti." Defensio Secunda. 

2. *' Nullam interim agnoscimus necessitatem 
aliam, nisi quam Logics, id est, ratio docet." Lib. i. 
cap. 3. — ** Multoque minus constitui, canones quid- 
vis potius quam logicos, A theologis infercire ; quos 
ilU, quasi subornatos in suum usum, tanquam e me- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 341 

dia logica petitos, depromaht de Deo, divinisque 
hypostasibus et sacramentis ; quorum ratione, qub 
modo est ab ipsis informata, nihil est a Logicia, ade- 
oque ab ipsa ratione, alienius.'* Artis Log. Institu- 
tio. Here, besides the similar expression in the con- 
cluding sentence, a remarkable coincidence of opi- 
nion presents, itself, as Dr. Sumner has observed to 
me, respecting other subjects discussed in the treatise. 

3. ** Joan. xvii. 3. H(bc est vita (Btema, tit cog- 
*■ . 

noscant te ilium solum verum Deum, et quern mi" 

sisti, Jesum Christum. Et xx. 17. Ascendo ad 
Patrem meum et Patrem vestrum, et ad Deum 
meum et Deum vestrum. . Certe si Pater est Deus 
Christi et Deus noster, Deusque est unus, quis est 
Deus praeter Patrem T Lib. i. cap. 5. — " Exclu- 
siva quidem est vel subjecti vel praedicati ; subjecti, 
quae, nota exclusiva praeposita, excludit omnia sub- 
jecta alia a praedicato. Sed frustra banc regulam 
ratio dictarit, si logicis quibusdam modernis, et no- 
minatim Keckermanno, licebit, eam statim, conflato 
ad id ipsum canone, fiinditus evertere. * Exclusiva,' 
inquit, ^ subjecti non excludit concomitantia : ut, 
solus Pater est verus Deus.^ Hie,' inquit, ^ non 
excluditur concomitans, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus.' 
At quis non videt subomatum hunc canonem ad 
locum ilium luculentissimum Joan. xvii. 3. ludifican- 
dum ?— Sed, omissis theologorum paradoxis, ad j^rae- 
cepta logica redeamus." Artis Log. Instit. 

4. " Quidy quod voci Elohim nunc adjectivum. 



« 



342 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

nunc verbum plurale adjanctum^ reperitur.*' Lib. i. 
cap. 5« A common form of expression in the treatise : 
So in his Pro Populo Ang^ Def. Praef. '* Quidy quod 
ipsum etiam episcopatum suadet^ atque defendit." 

5. *^ Ab evangelio ad legis tempora^ quod mirum 
est^ recurrunt^ qui Patrem et Filium essentia esse 
unum volunt ; et lu<^m tenebris illustrare conan- 
tur/' Lib. I. cap. 5. — ^^ Dum in hac luce veritatis 
et sapiential versari licebit, frustra nobis obscu- 
riorum aetatum tenebras offiindere conaris.** Pro 
Pop. Aug. Def. 

6. ^^ Deinde conjugium^ relationis in genere esse : 
relationis antetn unius terminos duntaxat esse duos : 
quemadmodum igitur si quis multos habeat filios^ 
relatio patema erga omnes illos multiplex, erga sin- 
gulares una atque simplex erit ; pari ratione, si quis 
uxores habeat plures, non minus erga singulas in-^ 
tegra relatio erit." Lib. i. cap. 10. — *' Nee magis 
video cur in uno relato singulari non possit ad cor^ 
relata multa esse multiplex relatio ; dummodo rela« 
tio una numero inter bina tantummodo sit, totiesque 
consideretur quot sint correlata; patris nimirum, 
toties quot sunt filii ; filii, quot sunt parentes, pater 
nempe et mater ; fratris, quot sunt fatres et sorores t 
nam nisi quicquid de relatis in genere dici solet, de sin- 
gulis quoque relatis vere dicatur." Artis Log. InstiL 

7. " Nam quod sic disputant ex Matt. v. 32, si 
vir dimissa priori uxore aliam ducens moschatur. 



AN«D WRITINGS OP HILTON. 343 

multo magis si priori retenta aliam duxerit^ id 
ejusmodi est profecto, ut argumentum ipsum pro 
adulterio sit protinus repudiandum." Lib. i. cap. 
10. Dr. Sumner, in the translation of this passage 
observes, that the original id ejusmodi &c. '^ affords 
no satisfactory sense. The fondness for that play 
upon words which is so characteristick of Milton, 
and of which this treatise furnishes numerous exam-^ 
pies, renders it not improbable that it was originally 
written pro aduLteriiuiy for which the amanuensis, 
employed in transcribing this part of the manuscript, 
substituted the more common word adnlterior 
This ingenious conjecture is strengthened by the 
following passage in the Defensio Secunda : ^' Si 
quis declamatiunculas, quas etiam ancillaris concu- 
bitus, adulterirms edixit et spuriasy Morilli nothi 
gemellas, fide satis locupletes arbitratur esse," &c. 

8. " Deut. xvii. 17. Neque multiplicato sihi 
uxores, &c. Jam vero sat scimus primam illam con- 
jugii institutionem tam regi quam plebeio promul- 
gatam : si unam duntaxat permittit uxorem, ne regi 
quidem permittit plures." Lib i. cap. 10. — " Regi 
etiam futuro leges constituit, quibus cautum erat, 
ut * ne multiplicet sibi equos, ne uxores, ne divitias ;' 
ut intelligeret nihil sibi in alios licere, qui nihil de se 
statuere extra legem potuit. — Ex quo perspicuum 
est, regem aeque ac populum istis legibus astrictum 
fuisse." Pro Pop. Aug. Def. 

9. *^ Cedit ergo conjugium religioni ; cedit, ut 



344 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

supra^ juri herili." Lih. i. cap. 10. — " Suadet na- 
tura populo, ut tyrannorum violentiae nonnunquam 
cedat, cedat temporibus." Pro Pop. Aug. Def. 

10. *^ In quo bonum ilium latronem caeteris Sanc- 
tis fuisse aggregatum sifte noxa equidem existimem." 
Lih. i. cap. 13. Dr. Sumner thus translates this 
passage^ p. 291. " It was in this state, as appears 
to me, that the penitent thief was united to the 
other saints without punishment for sin*' But, in 
his additions and corrections at the close of his vo- 
lume, he says : ** The passage may perhaps be more 
faithfully rendered, according to the literal sense of 
the word noxa, without pollution, that is, without 
polluting the other saints by his company ; a poet- 
ical allusion, founded on the Greek and Roman no- 
tions of pollution." The phrase is thus employed, 
(Dr. Sumner agrees with me in observing,) in Mil- 
ton's Supplementum to his Defensio contra Alex- 
andrum Morum : ** In quasi Rheno amne lustrattis 
(quo * devectum te in Belgium' ais) et noxa omni 
ahlutusl' &c. 

11. " Humana antem natura Christi, quamvis in 
summa gloria sit, tamen definito in loco est, et non 
ubique." Lih. i. cap. 16. — ** Peccatur autem ter- 
minis pluribus, vel apertius vel tectius. — Sic etiam 
cum non iisdem verbis aliud plane proponitur, aliud 
assumitur : ut, dextera Dei est ubique ; humanitas 
Christi sedet ad dextram Dei; ergo, humanitas 
Christi est ubique." Artis Log. Institr 



ANI> WRITINGS OF MILTON. 345 

12, " Particulares vero sunt multae, suis in se 
numeris omnes absolutae/* Lib. i. cap. 31. — " Par- 
lamentum omnibus numeris absolutum." Pro Pop. 
Ang. Def. Again, " Cognoscite nunc, si unquam 
alias, hypocritam numeris omnibus absolutum." Def. 
contra Alex. Morum. A Ciceronian expression. Dr. 
Sumner remarks, which Milton has applied, in Par. 
Lost, to the Deity, B. viii. 421. 



Through all numbers absolute, though one.' 

13. ^* Juxta illud tritum, Cui nullum est jus, ei 
nulla fit injuria." Lib. ii. cap. 13. — ** Quibus 
nullum est jus, iis nulla fit injuria." Artis Log. 
Instit. 

I must observe that the treatise closes so abruptly, 
as to support an opinion that it is an unfinished 
composition. And certainly the interlineations, cor- 
rections, and pasted slips of writing, in the manu- 
script, excite a belief that further revision was pro- 
bably intended ; revision perhaps, which would have 
produced still more to commend and admire than at 
present, and less with which to differ or remonstrate. 
They leave the reader also in that suspense, re- 
specting the work, which Toland long since ex- 
pressed; namely, " * Milton wrote a System of 
Divinity, but whether intended for publick view, 
or collected merely for his own use, I cannot de- 
termine." 

» Life of Milton. 



346 SOME ACCOUNT OP THE LIFE 

While these remarks have been passing through 
the press, the authenticity indeed of the manuscript 
has been questioned. I must therefore retrace my 
steps, and proceed with redoubled care, in order 
to establish it. The present amplitude of the 
work is one of the arguments alleged against it. 
And it has been assumed,^ that the compilation was 
not begun before the close of Milton's controversy 
with Salmasius in 1655 ; and that his numerous 
publications, from that period to the year of his 
death, render therefore the production also of a 
composition so large, and so elaborate, improbable. 
I repeat, what I firmly beUeve, that this treatise is 
the gradual accumulation of passages from theolo- 
gical writers, which he had first directed to he co- 
pied so early as in 1640 by his nephews, and from 
time to time to be continued; an employment, 
which, during the more active scenes of his secretary- 
ship, he had little leisure perhaps to pursue and re- 
gulate ; but to which, when he was relieved in his 
official duties by a substitute, he appears to have 
turned his attention, and to have then commenced, 
as Anthony Wood terms it, ^' the framing his Body 
of Divinity ;" that is, as I interpret the expression, 
the arrangement of numerous materials which he 
had collected, and a determination to gather more 
through the means of his several amanuenses, in 
order to shew his opinions upon a subject, which in- 
deed he had often changed, systematically; in a 
word, to embody his Idea Theologice : the name by 
which his work was known to Aubrey, and which 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 347 

would probably have been the title of it, as I have 
said, if himself had published it. 

There is such minute particularity in what Aubrey 
relates both of this and Milton's other manuscripts, 
that in aid of the present question I am induced to 
summon him again before the reader. He tells us^ 
that the widow of Milton " ^ gave all his papers, 
aAiong which was his manuscript dictionary, to his 
nephew,'* Edward Phillips ; and, in the margin of 
this information, he adds, '^ In the hands of Moyses 
Pitt'' He would doubtless have told us too, (ob- 
serving as he was, and ax^curate as he is, and indeed 
possessed of the information he gives from the rela- 
tions of the poet,) that into the hands of this person, 
if he had not known that it was in the hands of Mr. 
Skinner, the Idea Theologize had passed. Moses 
Pitt was a bookseller, and a well-known retailer of 
literary curiosities. To him perhaps Edward Phil- 
lips, who was ^ poor, consigned the papers of his 
uncle which had been given to him. These I con- 
ceive to have been the State-Letters, which were sur- 
reptitiously published in 1676, without the name 
of place, or printer, or bookseller, affixed to them ; 
the names of the two latter also, I must add, being 
withheld from Phillips's translation of these letters> 

^ Life of Milton. ^ 

* Wood describes him at one time as '* a good schoolmaster, 

but as living in poor condition ;*' and at another time as '^ living 

without employment;" and next as " writing and translating 

several things to gain a bare livelihood." 



348 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

and the life of his uncle, nearly twenty years after- 
wards. 

The intimacy of the family of Skinner with Milton 
was the cause, no doubt, of Mr. Daniel Skinner 
being examined as to this publication of the State- 
Letters, and of being required to tell what he knew 
upon the subject. His whole attestation, of which a 
part has been already cited, (and is endorsed by Mr. 
Bridgeman, Sir Joseph Willianison's secretary,) here 
deserves therefore great attention. 

'' "* That Mr. Pitts, bookseller in Paul's Church- 
yard, to the best of my remembrance, about 4 or 
5 months agoe, told me he had mett withall and 
bought some of Mr. Milton's papers, and that if I 
would procure an agreement betwixt him and Else- 
viere at Amsterdam, (to whose care I had long be- 
fore committed the true perfect copy of the State- 
Letters to he printed,) he would communicate them 
to my perusall ; if I would not, he would proceed 
his own way, and make the best advantage of 'em : 
soe that, in all probability, I not procuring Else- 
viere's concurrence with him, and 'tis impossible it 
should he otherwise, Mr. Pitts has been the man, 
by whose means this late imperfect surreptitious 
copy has been publisht. 
^ ^^ I attest this to be truth. 
" Oct. 18, 1676. (Signed) " Dan. Skinner." 



in 



From the State-Paper Office. 



• AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 349 

Pitt, upon Skinner's declining any concern with 
the letters he had obtained, '^ proceeded his own 
way r and, if the system of divinity had fallen into 
his hands, of that too he would have ° endeavoured 
^' to make the best advantaged The pubUcation of 
the State-Letters proves the correctness of Skinner's 
attestation. What Pitts had obtained, whether from 
Phillips or others, was not the complete collection 
of these fine examples of diplomatick composition. 
Some of them had perhaps been mislaid, or lost, or 
destroyed, after the transcript of them had been 
made. Of such PhiUips knew nothing ; for his Eng- 

" Of an acquisition^ bearing the name of Milton, this book- 
seller would eagerly have availed himself. At this very time (in 
1675) he had been publishing a little work, De Nummis, as the 
production of Selden, which had been printed before Selden was 
bom ; whether with a fraudulent intention, or from pure mistake, 
let Dr. Wilkins, the learned editor of Selden's works, be heard. 
** Causam erroris hujus, si fallacia Pittium absolvere vellem, ne 
hariolando quidem assequi possum, nisi qu6d rara libri copia 
Seldeni manum ad exemplar describendum excitaverit, et cian 
post obitum tractatulus hie, charactere Seldeniano expressus, in 
museo reperlretur, pro genuino Seldeni /oetu creditus, licentiaque 
episcopi Londinensis sacellani Smithii stipatus, divulgatus est.' 
Vit. Seld. Tlie preface to this little tract, signed J. H., gives 
t;he following account. ** Ciim, baud ita pridem, in amici cu- 
jusdam bibliotheca excutienda D. Pittius bibliopola esset occu- 
patUs; incidit ex-insperato in hunc libellum CI. Seldeni, non 
antea in lucem editum, Quem postquam avidis paulisper in- 
spexerat oculis, rogavit mutuum, qu6 typis mandaret; Isetusque 
statim accepit. Acceptum Summo Anglise. Justitiario D. Mat- 
thaeo Halesio, equiti aurato, testamenti utpote Seldeniani execu- 
tori, ostendit ; et, facta imprimendi copia, opem k me petiit, ut 
aKdypa^fioy, mal^ cum esset descriptum, qu^m emendatissim^ 
prodiret in publicum," &c. 



350 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

lish version of the surreptitious Latin publication 
announces no addition. But in the copy of the 
State-Letters, made by Skinner, there are several 
yet unknown, as indeed I expected to find, and 
found immediately upon examination, which are of 
great interest. One of these letters, I may here 
observe, is addressed by the Protector " Cunctis 
regibus, rebuspublicis, ac civitatibus nobiscum foe- 
deratis, neenon aliis quibuscunque Protestantium 
religionem projitentibus, ad quos hse nostras liter® 
pervenerint, S. D." Here the theologian and the 
secretary are in unison ; for the address, prefixed to 
the system of divinity, is of similar form and import. 

For the slight notice only, which Phillips has 
taken of his uncle's theology, it is not very easy to 
account. Perhaps, when he published the Life of 
Milton, as more than twenty years were passed since 
the death of the poet, he cared little about it, pro- 
bably recollecting also that the compilation had 
been consigned to Skinner. Perhaps indeed he had 
forgotten several circumstances respecting it, as fifty 
years had then elapsed from the time of his first 
engagement in making extracts from WoUebius, 
Ames, and other divines. Thus he has only tanta- 
lized the reader with the expectation of a full ac- 
count of ^^ the tractate of divinity begun in 1640," 
and is silent after he had promised as it were to 15e 
explicit. 

But in order to shew the possession of this ma- 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 361 

nuscript by. the family of Skinner only, and thus 
to argue for its authenticity, let us attend to the 
whole of what Daniel Elzevir says to Sir Joseph 
Williamson. 



<c 



** Monsieur, 



^^ II y a environ un an que je sms convenu avec 
Monsieur Skinner les lettres de Milton et un autre 

*• From the State-Paper Office. The translation of this let- 
ter is here given. " Sir, About a year ago I agreed with Mr, 
Skinner, to print Milton's letters and another treatise on Theo- 
logy ; but having received the manuscripts, and finding them to 
contain mguy things which I considered more proper to be sup- 
pressed than divulged, I determined not to print either the one 
or the other. I wrote on this subject to Mr. Skinner at Cam- 
bridge ; but as he has not been there lately, my letter did not 
reach him for some time ^ whereupon he came to this city, and 
was overjoyed to find that I had not begun to print the said 
treatises, and has taken away his manuscripts. 

" He told me you have been informed, Sir, that I was going 
to print the whole of Milton's works together. I protest to you, 
that I never had such a thought ; and I should abhor printing 
the treatises he has written in defence of such a wicked and abo- 
minable cause : besides, it would ill become the son of him who 
first printed Salmasii Defensio Regia, and who would have laid 
down his life to have saved the late King of glorious memory, to 
print a book so detested by all loyal men. I beg to inform you. 
Sir, that Mr. Skinner expressed the greatest pleasure that I had 
not begun the printing of those works ; and told me, that in case 
the said book had been commenced, it was his intention to have 
bought up all the copies, in order to suppress them ; and that 
he had determined to dispose of those manuscripts in such a 
manner, as that they should never again appear. And I may as- 
sure you. Sir, that I will be answerable to you for the decided reso- 
lution I have taken of not making use of them myself, particu- 



352 soMtfi ACCOUNT OP tHfi irripfe 

n*kiusdripts>'et y ^]fki^ itouve des choses que fe*^- 
geois estte plus ptDpres d^efcre supprimSizJ ^e^!3 
vulgez, j'ay pris resolution den'ittiprimer^i/yP6n 
n-y Tautee. nPavois eacrtt pour ce ^t^irf iS^'Miih^ 
Skinner A Cambridge : mais conmC il ri% j^h^i§f§ 
cm dit lieu depuis quelque temps y ma ltttif^\i)PiSt 
estoit pas parvenue. Sur cela il esi d^rivS W 
cette f)ille, et a este ravy d*entendre qtiej&'n'Wd^ 
pas commence d' imprinter les dits TraiteS^l^fiPW 
repris ses manuscripts. : '-■ ' '^'^^• 

*^ II m' a dit que vous avez este informe, Wteitei^d?) 



^^^^^^" '»!>n!^«ic 



Isiirly since he had the honour of speaking to ypti, UKt^thai^j^^ 
ii^onned him you should be displeasied if thos^ iiqf^^scl(l|^ 
should appear : and as he expects his promotion ^7. yQUit mieiajQgl. 
there can be no doubt that he will keep his word,' ^ 

" Icannot, Sir, conclude this letter without expre^iii^fey 15? 
knowledgemeiits for the kindness you shewed liii/wheliirj ^4ib^^ 
Lpndon, and I should he happy to have an oppoirtuny^.^ji^gf^inil^ 
ypu on any occasion, which would testify with hpw much. re- 
spect, , ^ 

"I remain, Sir, your most hiimbte '• * * -"• I '-♦^tnq 

** and most obedWnt^ervanIti^ ^C/0<» 
1* Amsterdam, ** J)ia^x&]l Eguj^viER^ 

Nov. 20, 1676. ' 

"P. S. I forgot to mention, Sir, that neith^ JVfn Skllffil» 
nor myself have had any concern in what has been lsttel^|^^ 
lished of the said Miltoii's; so^d that J never he£M^4.oik,),tiIi 
Mr. Skinner mentioned it tome here. He had indeed written 
to me before, that a certain bookseller of London had -dbiwHSfP 
some letters from some person who ^ had purloined tii^mCf^olfO 
the late Milton; but neither he nor myself have. ai>y C^f^ 
ncxion with that impression, of which I request you would be 
assured." 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 353 

que je debvob imprimer tous ies ourrages de Milton 
^isemble. Je tous puis protester de n'y avoir ja- 
mais pense> et que j'aurois horreur d'imprimer Ies 
. Traites qu'il a fait pour lia defense d'une si meschante 
at abominable cause. Outre qu' il ne seroit pas bien 
seant au fils de celuy qui a imprime le premier Sal- 
masij Defensionem Regiam^ et q\p auroit donne sa 
vie s' il eust pu sauver le feu Roy de glorieuse mer 
moire^ dlmprimer un livre si deteste de tous Ies 
honnestes geans. Je mis oblige de vtms dire. 
Monsieur, que le S^. Skinner me tesmoigna une 
tres grande joye de ce que je riavois pas com- 
mence T impression des dits ouvrages, et me dit 
quHl estmt dintention qtien ens que le dit livre 
eust este commence, d!en achepter Ies feuUes 
pour Ies supprimer, qttil avoit pris une ferme 
resolution duser en sorte des dits manuscripts 
qu'il Cin MS, qu'il] ne paroitroirent jamais; 
at j'oserois vous en repondre^ Monsieur^ dans la 
forte resolution que je Tay ni d'en user ainsy, et 
principalement depuis qu'il a eu Thonneur de 
vous avoir parle^ et que luy avez tesmoigne que 
ne seriez pas bien aise que Ies dits manuscripts 
parussent, et comm*il attend de vous son advance^ 
ment^ ou ne doibt pas doubter qu' il ne tiene sa 

parole. 

'' Monsieur, Je ne puis finir la presente sans tes- 
moigner ma recognissence pour Ies bontes qu* avez 
eu pour moy, lorsque Jestois a Londres; et je vou- 
drCHs avoir occasion de vous pouvoir estre utile k 

A a 



364 SOMB ACCOUNT OF THB LIFE 

<|aiAque chose pour peuvbir marker avee coBjibieii 

respect je suis^ Monsieuiv 

; <** Votre tries humble et ires obeissant servk0ur> 

^' DANIEIi ELS£VmR» 
'* 4\ Amsterdam, 

fe 20"'- iVbvcmirc 1676. 

" P.S. J*oubliois de vous dire. Monsieur, que le 
S', Skimier n'y moy n* avois aucune part a ce qui a 
paru depuis peu du dit Milton ; et que je n*en avois 
jamais ouy parler que lorsque Mons'. Skinner le dit 
icy. n m* avoit bien mande par cydevant qu^un 
certain libraire de Londres avoit eu qtielques lei- 
tres de quelqtl un, qui les avoit derohe aufeu Miln 
ton ; mais ny luy ny moy n* avois eu aucune part a 
cette impression, de quoy je votes prie de voulotr 
estre persuade/' 

I 
1 - • 

It is tvorth observing, that Elzevir in this letter 
has expressed his indignation at the supposition 6{ 
Hs printing the works of Milton, which had been 
Avritten, he rightly says, in defence of an abominable 
cause ; and yet, at this very time, his catalogue 
of books, which he announced for sale, supports 
that cause in no small degree by ^ exhibiting 
both the !First and Second Defence of the Pe(h 
pie of England in his shop at a purchaser's ser- 
Vice! 

» Catatog. LiM). qxii in Biblidpolio Danielis Cisevirii veiiales 
extatit. Atost. 1674. Libb. Mi^ell. p. 121. 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. > 356 : 

But this letter from Elzerirrto Siv Jos^h Wfl^ 
Uamison shews that both Skmnar and himself were 
disgusted at the ccmduct of the bookseller, who had, 
caused the imperfect copy of the State-Letters to be. 
printed; who> as Skinner "* supposes^ was Moses 
Pitt^ and against whom the charge is that he had* 
obtained the letters from some person, who had pur- 
loined them from Milton. This probably was said iu 
the spirit of hasty resentment, on account of the. sur- 
reptitious publication ; without comsidering that, per- 
haps by purchase from Phillips, the letters might have 
become the property of this bookseller ; to whom,: 
however, we can trace no connection whatever with 
the maliuscript treatise of theology. Indeed the 
dates of Elzevir's letter and of Skinner's attestation 
plainly shew, that with tl^ genuine letters this trear^ 
tise also had been sent by Skinner to Elzevir some^ 
months before Pitt had applied to him upojn the 
subject of tiiose in his possession ; to whose request. 
Skinner tells us, he could pay no attention ; eyl-^ 
dentiy, because he had already sent to the foreign 
press what he could affirm to be correct ; and be- 
cause the letters mentioned to him by Pitt he be- 
lieved to have been stoleu, and he knew to be 
imperfect. Pitt perhaps was aware of the intimacy 
of the family of Skinner with Milton, apd tiierefor<^ 
made this application. 

Let us now revert a moment to the intimation 

"« 

•> See before, p. 347. i 

Aa2 



3$§ SOM^ ACCOUNT p,F T^E LI^ 

9iuni^t;||pi^ Dr.. B^ alluded, to ^he.fl[^f^p^1f- 

9fl|S(ciei|t to have yexpr^ss^d; the ^^(jtaiji/ouj^^l^ 
Skmner wpuW publissh nothing u^sf^gfpuji, tp t^fp 
ig^^f ^ omitting all men^u. jpf th^ i^hui;ch^ JSif^ 
tl?^ other hand, ^ were cuns^tly r^oj^ jii^ 
Ikyed that Skinner was in the posse^^ionpla^thedbr 
^,d ixeatke also hy MUtQn,iiffepng>,:,^^ 
sipectS' from the received opinions, /^]^.|^^ 
^ppa his college not to injure^' Churchy oXyl^i^f^ 
^>y puWication is pertinent and just. Andita«# 
^i}fB^ treatise> not to the State-Letters^ t)i^ t^j<^^ 
i^^pn of Skinner with Mr. Perwich refers., ,dl^rj«- 
rea(SK)nahle too to suppose, that Skinner, noi^g^ ^^^?9l^ 
it necessary then to give some pledge respecting a 
Bi^nuscript, of the precise nature and opnte^tri of 
Ti^hich little could then be known, exc^t .Ijl^LtJij^]^^ 
h|eien ^ composed by Milton and was in thj&rpoif^(^fm 
of Skmner; and perhaps to Sir Jpjseph ,Wil]ift^|y^^ 
he gave this satisfaction in his Vcp^ye^)i^aM<U{^ ]^% 
Ipnj, IThis I cmxclude to have been tl^ 4the9]c|g^ 
treatise in question; a portion of it, as ,4^ ')w^ 
a,l^i^Bady said, being transcribed in the , §an^ hai)f|^ 
wriliog as the " true perfect cppy of. thje, S^t^J^e^ - 



1: • ; : ■ 



' •^ See befiire, p. «7. - ■ '^ ili'^o/' 

>if7 See the notice of 6kinner*s introduction to Sir Joseph JWil^ 
liainsc^iipElzevirV letter., ... ,, , .. ' ,; . ^, ^ 



AND WRITINGS OF MILTON. 

ters ;" which is proved to have been that of Daniel 
Skinner by the attestation signed by his own hand- 
writing in the State-Paper Office. And in the sub- 
sequent and far greater part of the manuscript, it 
must not be forgotten, the hand of one of Milton's 
female amanuenses, always believed to be that of his 
daughter Deborah, is so obvious, in copying sen- 
tences, as to have recently occasioned the willing 
admission of many, Mr. Lemon has informed me, 
who have compared the Sonnet of Milton, before 
mentioned, which is in Trinity College, Cambridge, 
with this theological treatise, that the writer of these 
sentences is certainly one and the same person. 
With the recollection of this hand-writing, when I 
was first favoured with a sight of the treatise, I could 
not but consider the appearance of it as an attesta- 
tion to the authenticity of the theological system. 

^^ F'StiU it should be urged that tKs treatise may be 
a fabrication, to which the name of Milton is unjustly 
applied ; we may ask, to what pui^ose could the fa- 
brication be designed ? Could it be for gain ? That 
is an improbable supposition, when we recollect that, 
not long before, the manuscript of Paradise Lost 
could obtain at first no more than five pounds from 
the purchaser. Or was this " wild young man." 
bribed to affix, for the purpose of patronizing heresy, 
the name of Milton to a compilation not his own ? 
Would he have then suffered the other hand- 
writnigs in the greater part of the manuscript 
to remain ? Would his attempt to deceive have e*' 




358 SOII& ACCOUNT OF TflE LIFE 

c&ped the kndMedge of MiltcMi's relataom^^ of whdm^ 
^o doubt, incjuiry wi« made by the agents of go- 
Yeniment after such papers ts Milton had left^ mi 
from whom it is reasonable to suppose that the in* 
formation was received, (which has descended to m 
by means of Aubrey and Wood,) that in the handb 
<if Mr. Skinner the Idea Theohgiie was to be 
found ? Or was ihe genuine manuscript of Mihon 
lost ? If that had been its &te, Phillips would plk>- 
bably have told us so ; for he names, we hare se^n, 
a tractate of divinity begun from WoUebitut 
tmd ^ Ames Sfc. as a suligect of future discussion^ 
whi<A, we know not why, he chose to forget. The 
real manuscript had beai first, we must suppose, 
witii Cyriack Skinner ; then with Daniel ; by whcttb, 
<)r by whose order, lastly, it was directed back to 
Mr. Skinner y merchant, when danger seemed io 
threaten a publication of it, though perhaps not 
transmitted by Elzevir accbrding to the direction^ 
but brought home, as I have before supposed^ by 
Daniel himself, and surrendered as the price of his 
restoration to favour which had been lost. ^The 
examination of Skinner by Sir Joseph Williandson 
himself, and probably by others, would indeed have 

* It should have been before observed, that in the treatise 
Ames is call^, '^ Amesius noster'^ p. 447, Lat. edit, t tnusl 
also here observe ^at the thirty-first chapter of dife first book of 
the present treatise opens with a declaration, and definition^ of 
Particular Churches^ exactly in accordance with Ames*s^nglish 
Puritanism, br the opinions of the Ptiritansj published in 1641,. 
p^ 2ydk<i. Concernmg Ike Church, 



AKD writings; of miltpn. 359 

fietected the. forgery^ if a forgery the tr^^tm }ig; 
and Skinner instead of being admitted tQ the ho^ 
Qoura of his collqge^ and of being led to expect pi^o- 
naotion . firom the secretary of state^ wojold haif^ 
been ov^rwhehned with confusion, disappointment, 
Vki contempt Sir Joseph Williamson, toQ, we 
have seen, expressed to Skinner that he should be 
displeased if the manuscript was published; evi- 
dently because he was told, and because he believed^ 
that Milton had compiled it. 

There are certainly some expressions in the trea- 
tise, which may have maintained their position from 
heedless copying, or from dictation misunderstood* 
|a the first part of the manuscript, which has been 
transcribed by Skinner, " " the mistakes, especially 
in the references to the quotations, are in ^he pifo- 
portion of fourteen to one, as compared with those in 
the remaining three-fifths of the work." 

. Of this part we knpw not what alterations, what 
p^ted slips of amendments, or what other marginal 
corrections, and in different hand-writings, might 
(as in the remaining larger part "" such stUl e^t) 
have been ^ directed. It is a transcript hastily and 



" Dr. Sumner's Introduct. p. xv. 
. ' A. very curious description of Milton's care in these respects 
is given by Dr. Sumner, Lat edit p. 314. n. 7. 

' Milton appears to have been mortified, in his decliniqg years, 
at the mistakes of those who copied from his dictation. He tells 
Peter Heimbach in. a letter dat. Aug. 15, 1666. ' ** Hoc abi te 



39) SQMfi MCWliT OTCCBE l^fFE 

iMiN^is^tl^nMdei:. !^ of iihete mistdcefi 

^ iltitiohapteff ef the first book^ have ramaintedi^^ 
%ti-nio J^igUsh Tersidn of j^c^^ lOc 28/ (th^ ^bssa^ 
pr{^t!L6flitia») t» found to lexhibit^/^^CAtff^ro^f'/ifaEr 
^rcfi although the various^ readings givenim faUt^p 
ASfjJIdOdd's Bible.mention one,fnth^tibat ffilaiHitg^'^ 
hs^vUfi vain been sought by Dr. Sinsmer/m^te}^ jikid] 
q^rs» Jeremiah Felbinger, an unitarian divinernE 
Gi^nnany^ is known to have rendered^ in his fiitinlraii^ 
t|:anslation of the New Testament in 1660^ the poat.' 
i?^e in the same form, viz. the CJmrch qf the L&rii\;( 
ai^ hence the treatise, it has been tfaought, aaigfali 
b@ traeed to him : as though Skinner^ and the tithbn* 
writers of the manuscript, had aH eonizurred^ iil^ 
substituting for Milton this person. The readmg in 
tlie manuscript, which is Ecclesiam Domini yi^^H^AkA 
aj..th0 Latin rendering of the Syriack V^rsidn oFthet 
New Testament, and is given by Walton in hfeiPeiyk! 
glptt Bible, published in 1657 ; and to this publican 
tion ut recens nostra might refer, if the passagi^iHT' 
BQt an extract from some writing by th^' German 
divine referring to his translation, which has here 
rfflnoined unaltered; as there is also a 8ubseq«eitt 
reference, but withoiit laying absolute stress upito; 
the passage, to Rom. ix 5. grossly corrupted by the 

inip^traye^^ nt, si quid mendose dexripttaniwit DOtiintorpinftctUm' • 
reperires, id puero, qtti hcec excepity, Latm^ prorsHs 7teseient% 
velis imputare, cui singulas plao^ litenilas annumerare-noTt^tiitf 
vii9firi(i diQtamcogeharJ' There is, in the present treatise^ tbis- 
taken reference also to subjects of di&cussiom < 



i^D y»BirmGB^m mfLWU: 



SSI 



pokfitan^ of tMiri tronslatorii^fi'Mltonhw 
works haa both theCbm^tif Gt)di^aBA^the6fiui^k 
qf. iCJmsty the lattei^ of] ^Mdlk kboy as tveU ad /^ 
Qbim^ ^ the tLopdih^ete tiie /xieading ^ soms 
mtou£[cr}|>f»; But if ire 'are to trac^ to others from 
oi^ttEtin passages^ from whdesentelicesh^iB^'ati^ 
fibm particulfu: sentiin^ts as^ wdl as ex^pressroiijsi^ 
jto&ssedly compiled^ ail eto&<»rgfaip of the whotel; 
then'we: must be compelled to isay that Ames aoid 
li^llebitis/ not to menftion others^ (and from WoUe^' 
bhis and Ames, his nephew has expressly told tts,^ 
M3ton ordered extraicts to be made, ^hen he &M 
thought tof a ti:a<;tate of divinity,) present a siriulasr; 
indeed a ' stronger, claim to notice as the writers of 
the present treatise* 



'ii M':; 



• i 



I It has been also observed, that Selden is named' 
in- this treatise -vnthout some distinctive addition 
of Irespeot. ItJs thus, that Milton speaks of him; 
in some of his ''latest works, simply as '^ out 
SeWen." N(Wf has it been overlooked, that the 
innumeraUe citations from Scripture in the trea^ 



'*: Sie^ the obligations to both in the manuscript already stated; 
p^ 312. With Wollebius he agrees ofteaer th^n withAmes, 
But see also before, p. 358. With Felbinger there is a very re-? 
m^able difference in the present manuscript : for he wrote, in 
his Demanstrationes ChristiaTus, *' quod gratia divina per fidem 
justifioali t^n^antur vitam suam instituere secundum decern prof* 
cepta Dei et mandata Christi, &c. ex libris N. T. deprompt'' 
This is not Milton's doctrine in the present treatise. 

'^ More than once in his Consid. to remove Hirelings out of the 
Church, p. 17. 



36S2 SOME AecouNT op the lipe 

tise could hardly have .been remembered or Me- 
taled by Mfltcm. But this^ and I must repeat too 
that many of them are dtations by other writeHi^ 
was also his method: His two short treatisels^ Q^ 
Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Comet, and The 
Means to remove HireUnga out qf the Cburei, 
both formed in 1659> long after he was blind> 
thus contain nearly two hundred cited texts from 
the Old and New Testament. But in a wmA, 
to copy the remarks of an acute investigator of the 
treatise, " ^ the xnind of Milton is stamped on every 
page. Not only are the known opinions of this re- 
markable man maintained with the usual seriousness 
of his character, but the manner in which he arrives 
at certain newer tenets, adopted by him at a latv 
period of life, bears the same unquestionable impress 
of his peculiar way of thinking. In the tone all is 
grave, earnest, and solemn ; in the matter ibete 
appears not merely a disdain of human authority, but 
a jealousy of all received doctrines ; and finally^ to 
whatever conclusions his arguments may lead, MUr 
ton fearlessly pursues and impUcitly adopts them. 
Indeed the more extravagant tenets developed in the 
work are but the necessary consequences which re- 
sult from his principles, and at once illustrate most 
clearly and refute most conclusively the reasonings 
from which they are deduced. It is not an uncom- 
mon case, especially in theology> for those i¥ho 
advance erroneous opinions, when pushed with dsatt- 

" Quarterly Review, Oct. 1825, p. 442. 



AKD WBITINOS OF MILTQIT. 303 

gerous consequences as their neoessaiy result^ to db- 
daim the inferences which themselves have not 
drawn* But Miltcm was too severe a reasoner^ and 
too honest a man, to disavow or shrink from the 
orowal of all Intimate inferences from his own opi- 
nions. . He was therefore neither appalled nor shaken 
by the view of his system as a whole ; which, how- 
ever it admits the expediency, and even the duty, of 
uniting in a particular church, would inevitably pro- 
duce in its result the isolation of every individual, 
and the dissolution of every religious conununity*'* 

Nor may the following criticism, in another coun- 
try, which notices the religious opinions of Milton, 
and refers to his various changes of them, be over- 
passed. *' "" Una critica delle opinioni politiche e 
religiose di Milton si pud avere nell* opera Ritratti 
Poeticiy Storiciy e Critici di varii moderni twmini 
di lettere di Appio Anneo da Faha cromazitmo. 
Ven. 1796, tom. ii. p. 78 ; dove si pud conosoere 
quanto sia vero che Milton in giovinezza Puritano, 
in eta matura Anabatista e Indipendente, in vecchi- 
ezza di nessuna setta, cangio religion cangiando 
peh, com* ivi e scritto. Sembra che V odio di lui 
verso U Clero non fosse che una consequenza di 
quell' amore di liberta, che lo dominava, e cui oppo- 
neva un grande ostaculo la sonuna influenza dell' 
ordine religioso suUe cose dell' Inghilterra al tempo 
di quelle fiere sommosse : crederei quindi che piu 

•= Saggio di Critica, &c. ut supr. p. 156, 



364 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c 

odiasse rabuso di qnello che la cosa in se stessa; 
Un uomo del sue ingegno non poteva non conoscere 
quanto in massima la forza morale della religione sia 
necessaria a coqBQUdar^/)a rfeljidj|t^ di uno Stata 
E' anche da notare che a quei tempi erano molto 
in yoga le questioni teologiche^ delle quali niente 
v* ha di piu pericoloso ia far eadere in incert^ose ed 



errorL" 



.> -.■'■ • ■. .•• »y>'>V 



r .•*. 



.•'? j/j 



V/^"^? ^*' 



r : .^'"^ r-M/i '• 


:f,\y >i 


'<■ :: ^td-^ .., 


r::5tiiVA^Ji' 


'•'■ . iv/ ufl<^, 


VJ\ -lU 


.: .^U io 


•Jo'Si^^ 


?■:»;■ /vj.r h 


Oi'M 


■-.^*; n:r-. 


ii;n uui 






vino /:V-.;V ■ .' 'U^ TOH /J^iTUnv^ 



.i 






-«»■. 



,:'.v.:: 


•^ *ifiij 


ni 


Ai 


jjtJihv 


jsiii 


.''»"•,„ 


• r J.'L- f)9h 




. i^ .. 


• ^'. 




. ' . ; • 


.>■ ' 



Hi 



tH ' - ; >* ;^''v ^ iU-'^- ^^t 






Recapitulatum and Conclusion. 

In the FIRST Section I have omitted the circum- 
stances, which were related in my former accomit of 
the life and writings of Milton from the communi- 
cation of Mr. Richards, of Milton's father-in-law 
being of Sandford in the vicinity of Oxford, of Mil- 
ton himself residing at Forest-hill and there writing 
a great part of his Paradise Lost, and of Mr. War- 
ton's finding there many papers of Milton's own 
writing. For Mr. Warton himself ' notices only 
some papers of Mr. Powell, which he there saw ; no 
other ^ document has been foimd to shew Mr. 
Powell's residence or connection with Sandford ; and 
the improbability of Milton's writing at Forest-hill 
^ny part of his immortal poem, I have "" stated. 

In the SECOND Section I have only to observe, 
that what Dr. Newton and other biographers of 



• See the present account, &c. p. 269, note ^. 

^ See the details of his property, &c. pp. 69, 70, &c. 

• See before, p. 29. 



366 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

Milton haye stated^ as to the correspondence of 'the 
Council of State with other governments^ is not 
quite correct. Dr. Newton says, '^ Milton served 
as Latin secretary for foreign afibirs under Oliver, 
and Richard, and the Rump, till the Restoratimi ; 
and 'without doubt a better Latin pen could not 
have been found in the kingdom. For the repub^ 
lick and Cromwell scorned to pay that tribute tb 
any foreign prince, which is usually paid to the 
French king, of managing their affairs in Mi$ lash 
gui^ : they thought it an indignity and meamlew^ 
to which this or any free nation ought not to 8ub^ 
mit ; and took a noble resolution neither to write 
any letters to any foreign states, nor to receive €m^ 
answers Jrom them, but in the Latin tongue^ wMoU 
was common to them all.'' Now, in the ^ preceding 
Orders of Council, it will be seen that they did re* 
ceive answers from other states in their respective 
languages, which Milton was directed to translate. 

To the THIRD Section a curious addition is now 
given, which I remember not to have met with in 
any remarks of tl^ biographers on the classical taste 
of Milton. It is, that '^ ^ he often read Plaatua^ 
in order the better to rail at Salmasius." In the 
same section, the ^ letter of Milton, which was given 
while the sheet was printing, in behalf of Marvc^ 

* See before, pp. 141, 146. 

* Toland's Vindicius Liberius, or Defence of himself, j&c. 
1702, p. 8. 

' See before, p. 162. 



AKD WRITINGS QF HILTOI?. 367 

cimfinns what in tay forma' account of the poet i 
had said mtiumt alteration^ that he was not totally 
blind before 1653^ but to which I hare added in the 
present^ from Du Moulin's inhuman taunt, a ^ belief 
^mA in 1652, in which year Du Moulin published 
Ike book that contained it, the sight of both eyes 
was gone. This letter, however, dated Feb. 21, 
1652, that is, 1652-3, is written steadily with his 
own hand thipughout, and clearly proves that he 
hud still the use of one eye, which could direct his 
hand to express degantly the friendly feelingls of 
his beart. It may here be mentioned that Marvel 
was in 1653 ** appcdnted by Cromwell tutor to Mr, 
Dutton; possibly through the interest of Miltom 
Marviel thus acknowledges the former kindness, in a 
letter to Milton, dated at Eton, June 2, 1654. 
^ 'He [[Bradshawe]] might suspect that I delivering 
it [[a letter^ just upon my departure, it n%ht have 
brought in it some second proposition^ Uke to that 
which you have before Timde to him by your letter 
to my adcautageJ* 

To the FOURTH AND FIFTH SECTIONS I O&dT HO 

addition. 

In the iiixTH Section whiaA the wife of Milton told 
tlK^ early admirers of his poetry, must be inserted ; 



« See before, p. 147. 

* Milton's State- Letters, &c. p. 98. 

* Biograph. Brit. Art. Marvel. 



368 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE 

namely, that he used to compose his poetry chiefly 
in winter, and on his waking in a morning dictated 
to her sometimes twenty or thirty verses ; that 
Spenser, Shakspeare, and Cowley, were Ms favourite 
English poets ; and that he pronounced Dryden to 
be a rhymist rather than a poet. Dryden's best 
poems, however, had not then appeared. To Dry- 
den, who often visited him, it must be added, Mil- 
ton acknowledged that Spenser was his original. 
Nor must Phillips's relation here be overpassed : 
*' '' There is a remarkable passage in the composure 
of Paradise Lost, which I have a particular occasion 
to remember ; for, whereas I had the perusal of it 
&om the very beginning, for some years as I went 
from time to time to visit him, in a parcel of ten, 
twenty, or thirty verses at a time, which, being writ- 
ten by whatever hand came next, might possibly 
want correction as to the orthography and pointing ; 
having, as the summer came on, not been shewn any 
for a considerable while, and desiring to know the 
reason thereof, was answered, that his vein never 
happihj flowed but Jrom the autumnal equinox to 
the vernal, and that whatever he attempted was 
never to his satisfaction, though he courted his 
fancy never so much ; so that in all the years he 
was about this poem, he may be said to have spent 
but half his time therein." Dr. Johnson ridicules 
the notion that a writer should suppose himself in- 
fluenced by times or seasons ; but while he has thus 



' Life of Milton, p. xxxvi. 




JOU) mUTIKarOP iULTWfer lit 



ji>;u .z::r.^ ^''•• .. . .". ■ ■-■v.;*; ^r"> '■•*'•^*•^ ">>£< a| 
-> ^Lastly, it may he remaii'ked that MHtoif^T fswuii^ 
dtKitriiiesAif fthera nfrinanito wcHsii^ji^liicft 

kideed ke 4^ta:^uoii8ly asserts in his ijieokgif^ trefof 

tis(^ lusr .well as in his poetry^ aiad ■ in otheiF < parts^^ 
hy "^orkBp coiJtnfauted perhapis to the ciiscuiitis^Of 6 
(tfrifais^^^ first 'Wife's t^nporary abandomn^it of.Mmi 
aiid^t(>?tlie deshre cxf his dailghters/ in his later dayii> 
to ^qoit the . attaitkm which they had been usekl to 
pay lanL fiot his last wife °* appears to have treated 
lliiik; with) ail the idndness which his blindness and 

4 - 

X 

iMSmiltieB requp-ed; ^ Yet his fevourite doctrine had 
ifot been acted upon without publick notice : £oi 
tirils 41^ 'antagonist addresses him. ^^ *" The wife/is 
^(ldb^t> t6: her husband^ one to one ; y^- no TEssali 
u^I^s^'Mrl Milton's doctrine of divorce maybe adr 
)(|iitted; that he may turn her off as soon^ or as. o£ti 
^ Ms ; JWayi)eard spirit can find no delight in heii 
The children as^ subject to their parents^ yet bo 
«la^?es/'- .^ • ^ .: • / . . • ■■ ;. :-.\A 

6?^\To the coiicltiding note of Mr; Warton in* the 
siivENm StCTtioN, in which Caleb Clarke the gramSlr 

snxij ovj.:;; ) ;■••.• .; ■■ ■; =. '■ ■■■/. ..;.: .■ 'a . ., .../': :i;-v^ 

^i)?r:^ Jbl [Mmsoii] here admits aa opiniou <^ the ^uIosm^ rtfipii 
h^^ip&ai^ofied by seasons, which h^ ridicules i^ his writin|^^' 
Boswell's*Xife of Johnson, 3d. edit. vol. ii. p. 264. 
■^^ gteeSii^at"»l)efore said of this wife, and of his dangliters. 
" The Duty of Kmgship, in answer to Mr. Milton, &c. By 
G. S. 1660, p. 71. 

Bb 



370 



SOinB ACCOUNT OF THE LFIB, &c. 



son of Milton (who migrated ta the East Indies) is 
mentioned^ I am enabled to add from the kind com- 
munication of Sir James Mackintosh^ that he was 
Parish-Clerk of Madras. His children were the last 
descendants of the poet ; btrt of them nothing fiuv 
ther is known. 



In the £iOHTH Section I have so fiilly considered 
the Theological Treatise of Milton, as to render un- 
ueceasary any other observation than diat the spirit, 
k whiA it has been framed, present, hhn Jour 
view, and to our respect, '^ *" becoming gradually 
more tolerant of the supposed errors of others, as 
the period drew near when he mxtst answer for his 
own be&re an unerring tribunal.** 

* Dr. Sumner's Introduct. p. xzvi. 



APPENDIX 



CONTAININQ 



AN INQUIRY 



INTO THE 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



Bb2 



APPENDIX. 



An Inquiry into the Origin of Paradise Lost. 

The earUest observation respecting the ' Origin of 
Paradise Lost appears to have been made by Vol- 
taire, in the year 1727. He was then studying in 



* " The pdtty circumstances, by which great minds are led to 
the first conception of great designs, are so various and volatile, 
that nothing can be more difficult to discover : Fancy in parti- 
cular is of a natiu'e so airy, that the traces of her step are hardly 
to be discerned ; ideas are so fugitive, that if poets, in their life 
time, were questioned concerning the manner in which the seeds 
of considerable productions first arose in their mind, they might 
not always be able to answer the inquiry ; can it then be possible 
to succeed in such an inquiry concerning a mighty genius, who 
has been consigned more than a century to the tomb, especially 
when, in the records of his life, we can find no positive evidence 
on the point in question ? However trifling the chances it may 
afford of success, the investigation is assuredly worthy our pur- 
suit ; for, as an accomplished critick has said, in speaking of ano- 
ther poet, with his usual felicity of discernment and expression, 
the inquiry cannot be void of entertainment whilst Milton is 
our constant theme : whatever may be the fortune of the chace, 
we are sure it will lead us through pleasant prospects and a fine 
country." See Hayley's Conjectures on the Origin of Paradise 
Lost. 



IV AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

England ; and had become so well acquainted with 
our language as to publish an English essay on epick 
poetry ; in which are the following words : 

'^ Milton, as he was trayelling through Italy in 
his youth, saw at Florence a comedy called Adamo, 
written by one Andreini, a player, and dedicated to 
Mary de Medicis, queen of France. The subject of 
the play was the Fall of Man ; the actors, God, the 
Devilsi the Angels, Adam, Eve, the Serpent, Death, 
and the seven mortal Sins : That topick, so impro- 
per for a drama, but so suitable to the absurd ge- 
nius of the Italian stage (as it was at that time,) 
was handled in a manner entirely conformaUe to 
the extravagance of the design. The scene opens 
with a Chorus of Angels ; and a Ch^ubim -■ thtis 
speaks for the rest : ** Let the rainbow he the fid- 
dlesttch of the heavens ! let the planets be the 
notes of our musick ! let time beat car^tdly the 
measure, and the mnds make the sharps, &c 
Thus the play be^ns, and every scene rises above 
the last in profusion of impertinence ! 

*' " A la lira del Ciel Iri sia I'arco, 
** Corde le sfere sien, note le stelle, 
" Sien le pause e i sospir Taure novelle, 
** E '1 tempo i tempi k misurar non parco !" 

Choro d* Angeliy &c. Adamo^ed. 1617. 

The better judgement of the author, Mr« Walker observieay 
determined him to omit this chorus in a subsequent edition of 
his. drama : accordingly it does not appear in that of Perugia, 
1641. See the Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy y 1799, 
p. 169. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



" Mihon pierced through the absurdity of that 
performance to the hidden majesty of the subject, 
which, being altogether unfit for the stage, yet might 
be (for the genius of Milton, and his only,) the foun- 
dation of ail epick poem. 

" He took from that ridiculous trifle the first hint 
of the noblest work, which human imagination has 
ever attempted, and which he executed more than 
twenty years after.** 

That Milton had certainly read the sacred drama 
of Andreini, is the opinion both of Dr. Joseph War« 
ton and of Mr. Hayley« Another elegant critick 
has observed, that Voltaire may have related a tra- 
dition perhaps current in England at the time it was 
visited by him ; '* *" a period at which, it may be 
presumed, some of the contemporaries of Milton 
were living, for he was then only about fifty years 
dead. Milton, with the candour which is usually 
united with true genius, probably acknowledged to 
his friends his obligations to the ItaUan dramatist, 
and the floating tradition met the ardent inquiries 
of the French poet." It may be worth mentioning 
here, that Dante, according to the account of some 
ItaUan criticks ^ took the hint of his Inferno from 
a nocturnal representation of Hell, exhibited in 1304 
on the river Arno at Florence ; and that Tasso is 



* Hist. Mem. on Ital. Tragedy, p. 170. 

* Warton's Hist, of Eng. Poetry, vol. iii. p. 241. 



yi AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

said to have ' conceived the idea of writing his 
Aminta at the representation, in 1567, of Lo Sfor- 
tunato of Agostino Argenti in Ferrara. 

» 

From the Adamo of Andreini a poetical extract, 
as well as the summary of the arguments of each 
act and scene, were given by Dr. Warton, in an ap- 
pendix to the second volume of his Essay on the 
Genius and Writings of Pope, 1782. Mr. Hay- 
ley has cited other specimens of the poetry in [this 
'^ spirited, though irregular and fantastick, compo- 
sition ;" from which Milton's fancy is supposed to have 
caught fire. A few quotations also, from this rare 
and curious drama, have been long since given in 
Notes on the Paradise Lost. But, if the Adamo 
be examined vdth the utmost nicety, Milton will be 
found no servile copyist : He will be founds as in 
numberless instances of his extensive, his curious, 
and careful reading, to have improved the slightest 
hints into the finest descriptions. Milton indeed, 
with the skill and grace of an Apelles or a Phidias, 
has often animated the rude sketch and the shape- 
less block. ^ I mean not to detract from the Italian 



* Hist. Mem. ut supr. 

^ From the remarks of Prince Giacomo Giustiniani, (the ac- 
complished governour of Perugia,) on the Adamo, which were 
transmitted to Mr. Walker, and by Mr. Walker obligingly com- 
municated to me, it appears that the criticks of Italy consider 
Milton not a little indebted to their countryman. I will cite the 
opinion of the liberal and elegant Tiraboschi : " Certo benche 
V Adamo dell' Andreini sia in confronto del Paradiso Perduto 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. VH 

drama ; . but let it be here remarked once for all, in 
Milton's own words, that ** ' borrowing, j£ it be not 
bettered by the borrower, among good authors is 
accounted plagiarie.^ Let the bitterest enemies 
of Milton prove, if they can, whether the author of 
this ingenuous remark may be exhibited in such a 
light; rather let them acknowledge that, in fully 
comparing him with those authors who have written 
on similar subjects, he must ever be considered as 

*' above the rest 



(( 



In shape and gesture proudly eminent.'* 



The drama of Andreini was so little known when 
Dr. Birch was writing the Life of Milton, that War- 
burton, in a letter to that learned biographer, pre- 
served in the British Museum, ridicules the relation 
of Voltaire. *' It is said that it appeared by a MS. 
in Trin. Coll. Camb. that Milton intended an opera 
of the Paradise Lost. Voltaire, on the credit of 

ci6 che h il Poema di Ennio in confronto a quel di Virgilio, non- 
dimeno non pu6 negarsi che le idee gigantesche, delle quali V au- 
tore Inglese ha abbellito il sue Poema, di Satana, che entra nel 
Paradiso terrestre, e arde d' invidia al vedere la felicitadell* UomOj 
del congresso de Demonj, della battaglia degli Angioli contra 
LuciferOy e piii altre sommiglianti inunagini veggonsi neir Adamo 
adombrate per modo, che a me sembra molto credibile, che anclie 
il Milton dalle immondezze, se cosi h lecito dire, deir Andreini 
raccogliesse Toro, di cui adomo il suo Poema. Per altro V Adamo 
deir Andreini, benche abbia alcuni tratti di pessimo gusto, ne 
hk altri ancora, che si posson proporre come modello di excellente 
poesia." 

^ Iconoclastes, Prose- Works, edit. 1698, fol. vol. ii. p. 509. ^ 



VIU AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

this circumstance, amongst a heap of impertinency, 
pretends boldly that he took the hint from a comedy 
he saw at Florence, called Adamo. Others ima- 
gined too he conceived the idea in Italy; now I will 
give you good proof that all this is a vision. In one 
of his political pamphlets, \^Titten eaxly by him, I 
forget which, he tells the world he had conceived a 
notion of an epick poem on the story of Adam or 
Arthur. What then will you say must we do with 
this circumstance of the Trin. Coll. MS ? I believe I 
can explain that matter. When the parliament got 
uppermost, they suppressed the playhouses ; on which 
Sir John Denham, I think, and others, contrived to 
get operas performed. This took with the people, 
and was much in their taste; and religious ones 
being the favourites of that sanctified people, was, I 
believe, what inclined Milton at that time (and nei- 
ther before nor after) to make an opera of it.** — 
Even at a much later period, the very existence of 
the Adamo was denied ; for Mr. Mickle, an ardent 
admirer of Milton, and the very able translator of 
The Lusiad, calls it '^ '^ a Comedy which nobody 
ever saw ;" and observes, " that even some Italian 
literati declared that no such author [^as Andreini] 
was known in Italy." Dr. Johnson also, in his Life 
of Milton, calls Voltaire's relation " a wild, unau- 
thorised, story." 

That Milton had conceived, in his younger days> 

^ Dissertation prefixed to the Translation of the Lusiad, 2d 
edit. Ox. p. ccii. 



ORIGIN OF PARADJSE LOST. iX 

as Dr. Warburton has observed, the notion of an 
epick poem on the story of Arthur, is evident from 
his own words in the Mansus, v. 80, &c. and the 
Epitaphium Damonis, v. 155, &c. But Mr. Hay- 
ley, with great acuteness and elegance of lan- 
guage, remarks, that " it seems very probable that 
Milton, in his collection of Italian books, had brought 
the Adamo of Andreini to England ; and that the 
perusal of an author, wild indeed, and abounding in 
grotesque extravagance, yet now and then shining 
with pure and united rays of fancy and devotion, 
first gave a new bias to the imagination of the 
English poet ; or, to use the expressive phrase of 
Voltaire, first revealed to him the hidden majesty 
of the subject. The apostate angels of Andreini, 
though sometimes hideously and absurdly disgusting, 
yet occasionally sparkle with such fire as might 
awaken the emulation of Milton." The English 
reader is indebted to Mr. Hayley for the following 
analysis of the arguments of each act and scene in 
the Adamo. 

"The CHARACTERS. 

" God the Father. 

'* Chorus of Seraphim^ Cherubim^ and Angels. 

" The Archangel Michael. 

" Adam. 

" Eve. 

" A Cherub, the guardian of Adam. 

•* Lucifer. 

" Satan. 

" Beelzebub. 



X AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

" The SEVEN mortal Sins. 
" The World. 
" The Flesh. 
*' Famine. 
•'Labour. 
" Despair. 
" Death. 
" Vain Glory. 
" Serpent. 

*' Vol A NO, an infernal messenger. 
" Chorus of Phantoms. 

*^ Chorus of fiery, airy, aquatick, and infernal 
" Spirits." 

ACT I. Scene. 1. *' Chorus of Angels, singing the 
glory of God. — After their hymn, which serves as a pro- 
logue, God the Father, Angels, Adam and Eve. — God calls 
to Lucifer, and bids him survey with confusion the wonders 
of his power .-'He creates Adam and Eve — their delight and 
gratitude. 

Scene 2. " Lucifer, arising from Hell-^he expresses his 
enmity against God, the good Angels, and Man. 

Scene 3. " Lucifer, Satan, and Beelzebub. — Lucifer ex- 
cites his associates to the destruction of Maq, and calls other 
Demons from the abyss to conspire for that purpose* 

Scene 4, 6, and 6. " Lucifer, summoning seven distinct 
Spirits, commissions them to act under the character of the 
seven mortal Sins, with the following names : 

" Melecano Pride. 

''LuRcoNE Envy. 

" RuspicANo Anger. 

** Arfarat Avarice. 

" Maltea Sloth. 

" DuLciATO Luxury. 

" GuLiAR — Gluttony. 

ACT IL Scene 1. " The Angels, to the number of 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XI 

fifteen, separately sing the grandeur of God^ and his muni- 
ficence to Man,, 

Scene 2. *' Adam and Eve, with Lurcone and Guliar 
watching unseen.— Adam and Eve express their devotion to 
God so fervently, that the evil Spirits, though invisible, are 
put to flight by their prayer. 

Scene 3. ".The Serpent, Satan, Spirits. — ^The Serpent, 
or Lucifer, announces his design of circumventing Woman. 

Scene 4. " The Serpent, Spirits, and Volano. — ^Volano 
anives from Hell, and declares that the confederate Powera 
of the abyss designed to send a goddess from the deep, en- 
titled Vain Glory, to vanquish Man. 

Scene 5. " Vain Glory, drawn by a Giant, Volano, the 
Serpent, Satan, and Spirits. — ^The Serpent welcomes Vain 
Glory a's his confederate, then hides himself in the tree to 
watch and tempt Eve. 

ScEN B 6. " The Serpent and Vain Glory at first con- 
cealed ; the Serpent discovers himself to Eve, tempts and 
seduces her. — Vain Glory closes the Act with expi-essions of 
triumph. 

ACT III. Scene 1. " Adam and Eve. — After a dia- 
logue of tenderness she produces the fruit. — ^Adam expresses 
horrour, but at last yields to her temptation. — When both 
have tasted the fruit, they are overwhelmed with remorse 
and terrour ; they fly to conceal themselves. 

Scene 2. " Volano proclaims the Fall of Man, and in- 
vites the Powers of darkness to rejoice, and pay their hom- 
age to the Prince of Hell. 

Scene 3. " Volano, Satan, chorus of Spirits, with en- 
signs of victory. — Expression of their joy. 

Scene 4. " Serpent, Vain Glory, Satan, and Spirits. — 
The Serpent commands Canoro, a musical Spirit, to sing his 
triumph, which is celebrated with songs and dances in the 
4th and 5th scenes; the latter closes with expressions of 
horrour firom the triumphant Demons, on the approach of 
God. 

Scene 6. '' God the Father, Angels, Adam and Eve. — 



XU AN INaUIRT INTO THE 

God summons and rebukes the sinners^ then leaves them, 
after pronouncing his malediction. 

Scene 7. " An Angel, Adam and Eve. — ^The Angel 
gives them rough skins for clothing, and exhorts them to 
penitence. 

Scene 8. " The Archangel Michael, Adam and Eve. — 
Michael drives them from Paradise with a scourge of fire. 
Angels close the Act with a chorus, exciting the offenders to 
hope in repentance. 

ACT IV, Scene 1. '* Volano, chorus of fiery, airy, 
earthly, and aquatick Spirits. — They express their obedience 
to Lucifer. 

Scene 2. " Lucifer rises, and utters his abhorrence of the 
light ; the Demons console him — He questions them on the 
meaning of God's words and conduct towards Man — He 
spurns their conjectures and announces the incarnation, then 
proceeds to new machinations against Man. 

Scene 3. " Infernal Cyclops, summoned by Lucifer, 
make a new world at his command. — He then commissions 
three Demons against Man, under the characters of the 
World, the Flesh, and Death. 

Scene 4. " Adam alone.-— He laments his fate, and at 
last feels his sufferings aggravated, in beholding Eve flying 
in terrour from the hostile animals. 

Scene 6. '* Adam and Eve. — She excites her compa- 
nion to suicide. 

Scene 6. " Famine, Thirst, Lassitude, Despair, Adam 
and Eve. — Famine explains her own natme, and that of her 
associates. 

Scene 7. " Death, Adam and Eve. — Death reproaches 
Eve with the horroursshehas occasioned — Adam closes the 
Act by exhorting Eve to take refuge in the mountains. 

ACT V. Scene 1. " The Flesh, in the shape of a 
woman ; and Adam.— He resists her temptation* 

Scene 2. " Lucifer, the Flesh, and Adam. — Luciferpre* 
'tends to be a man, and the elder brotlier of Adam. 



^ ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. Xlll 

Scene 3. '' A Cherub, Adam, the Flesh, and Lucifer. — 
The Cherub secretly warns Adam against his foes \ and at 
last defends him with manifest power. 

Scene 4. ^^ The World, in the shape of a man, exulting 
in his own finery. 

Scene 5. *' Eve and the World, — He calls forth a rich 
palace from the ground, and tempts Ere with splendour. 

Scene 6. '* Chorus of Nymphs, Eve, the World, and 
Adam. — He exhorts Eve to resist these allurements — the 
World calls the Demons from Hell to enchain his victims — 
Eve prays for mercy : Adam encourages her. 

Scene 7. " Lucifer, Death, chorus of Demons. — ^They 
prepare to seize Adam and Eve. 

Scene 8. ** The Archangel Michael, with a chorus of 
good Angels. — ^After a spirited altercation^ Michael subdues 
and triumphs over Lucifer. 

Scene 9. ** Adam, Eve, chorus of Angels. — ^They re- 
joice in the victory of Michael : he animates the offenders 
with a promise of favour from God, and future residence in 
Heaven: — they express their hope and gratitude.— *The 
Angels close the drama, by singing the praise of the Re- 
deemer." 

When the reader considers the allegorical cha- 
racters in this drama^ and those in Milton's sketches 
on similar subjects intended once for tragedies, he 
will find further reason to adniit that the Adamo 
had made considerable impression, either in repre- 
sentation or by perusal, on the mind of the English 
poet. 

Of Andreini, who has been contemptuously called 
a stroller, Mr. Hayley has vindicated the fame. 
*' He had some tincture of classical learning, and 
considerable piety. He occasionally imitates Virgil, 



cited from his Adamo by Mr. Hayley, Mr, WaJ^igi^ 
observes that ' the course of a river is described 
Miji$h ^ .pcfenesf t of fw<gr^,fl.i^jB^.f' ^^^¥^ OJf ; Ifor^ j,** 

th^ pi^v^.4An^W t^ Mxe:r]?^5^: W%>^«SK 
no, common poetif* pqwe^ ^Ctf i^Cj^ij^i^^ 

have be^n fqar editions, th^se of jft^ilfifl^iij^l!^^ 
and 1617,, print^ in qi^rto^; tbat^c^j fegifHtt^lBl 
Iftilj printed in. dijfl4eciii¥>A W#;.^,^>-i#s¥9ifi»l 
in. 1685, printed in jfliQt same J^ tSft^lMS*^ 
of 1641 is considered the most pire.;;;|]('^^^q]f^^ 
tion, to which Mr, Walker ajlu4^s,jjs b^;^pj[i^ 
amplified in that edition; an4 J^^ ^^^^>IRW%!9!ft 
the Appendix to the HiHoric^lMfifftpifr^ fj^f^UfSfti 
Tragedy, 1799, p. xliv. Andreini was the son of 
th(pr celebrated ^actress, Lsabella Andi^f inir oV^\)I¥^* 
ripus prpdptions, s^ys Mn; ^ayle3f,/^^p(lOJJftfJ^ 
tl^e >number of thirty ; and form a-^ si^g^frin}^j|[ 
of comedies and devout poems/f T|]^|?^q^i^j9Jf ^ 

article Andrei (Isdbelle)y in ti;if^v>^^^P^f ^i^^ 
HisU ^Caen, 17S6, add8> tOrtjbp^|iceflcpit ef^^^ 
sons the^t^cal pieces, ^[ On a i&fiQ(m<^ 4'A?^N'ite?¥W 
trois fraites en faveur de la Oomedi^^^^^^Q^ 

■' ''•- '' ■ ■ '. ^ ■■ ' -;-\M^ it--^7v\^r ,in9oc| 

* Hist. Memoir on Ital. Tragedy, p. 160. 

jescy fit iiglio deUa cdebre, €o0uca Is^iibeUa AiujlieinkjQ^l^yia^^^ 
si yeda U Bayle, ^ il Afa^zuch^Ui^ ^ i^acque, n^ ^573. \jpopQ, 
esaersi. acquistato^nxolto credito.^siill^ Sc^ j||^ia^^|)orrQ^ i^^ 
Francia, ove si meritb la. stii?ia.di Ljjigi, XJ^JL ,^^^fpf BST/^^^ 
meno sinaal 1652."^ From th^ remarks l^qreoMB^ji^i^f^ 
Giustiniani.— It i^ not imppasible, tha^ Mjjp^jjfpjii^^^ 
and conversed with Andreini, when he visited France and Iialy.«;' 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST.. XV 

mediens, publics a Paris en 1625 ; ils a6nt fort 
rares/' 

IL The next remark respecting the Origin of 
Paradise Lost is that of Dr. Pearee^ who^ ia the 
Pre&ee to his Review of the Text of the twelve 
books^ &G. published in 1733^ says^ ^' It is probable 
that Milton took the first hint of the Poem from an 
Italian tragedy, called IlParadiso Per so ; for I am 
informed that there is such an one extant, printed 
many years before Milton entered upon his design." 
Mr. Haylcy, in a very extensive research, has been 
able to discover no such performance* Nor have my 
inquiries been more successful 

III. We are next informed, in the Preface to the 
poetical works of the Rev. J. Sterling, printed at 
Dublin in 1734, that '^ l^he great Milton is said to 
have ingenuously confessed that he owed his immor- 
tal .work of Paradise Lost to Mr. Fletcher's Xo- 
eusta/* The person here mentioned is Phineas 
Fletcher, better known by his poem, entitled the 
Purple Island; and the Locust ie is a spirited Latin 
poem, written against the ^ Jesuits, and published 

' The Jesuits were called Locusts, in the theological language 
of this period. See Sundrie Sermcns by bishop Lake, fol. 1629, 
p. 205. **,Thete is a kind of metaphoricall Locusts and Cater- 
pillers, Locusts that came out of the bottomlesse pit^ I meane 
pqpish Priests ami Jesuits; the Catterpilleis o.* the Comriion- 
wetide, Proiectois and inuentors of new tricks how to exhaust the 
parses of the subiects, covering prinate ends with pnblicke pre- 
tences." 

c c 



XVI AN INQUIRY INTO THS 

at Camhr^d^, while Milton was a studeut there^ 
in 1627 ; as was also the same author's Locusts, or 
ApollyonistSy an English poem, consisting of five 
cantos. That Milton had read both the Latin and 
English Poem of Fletcher, I am persuaded ; fOT I 
have met with passages in both> with which he ap- 
pears indeed to have been pleai^ed. But Milton's 
obligations to Fletcher are too confined to admit so 
extensive an acknowledgement, as that which \& con-- 
tained in Mr. Sterling's Preface ; and indeed the au- 
thority of the anecdote has not been given* Mr. 
Sterling has translated with great spirit the ifipeech 
of Lucifer to his Angels in the LocusUe, vel Pietas 
Jesuitica. See his poems, p. 43. As Fletcher'* 
Latin Poem is little known, it may be here proper 
to select, from this speech, the lines whi^ seem to 
have influenced the imagination of Milton^ and per«- 
haps to have given rise to the preceding anecdote. 

'* Nos contra immemori per tuta silentia somno 
" Steraimur interea, et, ttiedi^ jam luce supini 
'* Stertentes^ festam trahimus^ pia turba, quietem.* 
" Qu6d si a(mmoK sine honore acti sine fine laboritl 
*' Poenitet» et proni imperii regnlque labantiK 
" Nil miserety positis flagris^ odiisque remissis, 
" Oratnus veniam, et dextras praebemus inermes. 
Fors ille audacis facti, et justee immemor irsB,* 
PlacatiuB, facilisque manus et foedera /ungtl; • •. 
" Fors solito Isip&os (p^ccati oblitus) hanori 
" R^stituet, ecfelum nobis soli6mque relinqaet..^ / 
" At me nulla dito animi, ctBptique Jirioris, >■ : \ 
Disfiimitem ai^aerit : quia nunc reseindere eoriiHn, 
Et conjumto vit^trfa^m malite pacem '^ 

Rumpere, feiTentique juvat miscere tumuku. '''^ 












ft 
4t 



4t 



ORtom bjp PittAftfSE tOST. xtii 

'' Qti6 tanti ^^ecidere auimi? Qu6; pristkiB 4^ittilft ^ 
'^ GMStt, in flfeteiniam qui mecum isrumperd luceneu^ t 
'' Tentistis, trepid6mque armis perfringere cobIubi ? , 
*' Nunc ver6 indecores felicia ponitis anna, . 
** Et totie^ victb imbelles conceditis hosti. 
Per vos, per dotmtas ccel^i fulmine vires, 
Indomitiimque odium, pfojecta r^unlite tefe^ 
^* Dam {ba, dum bteve tetnpus adedt, accendite pugnad^p 
*' Restaurate aeies^ fract^mque reponite Martem. 
Ni facitis, mox soli, et (quod magis urit) inulti, 
^temiim (heu) vacuo flammis eruciabimur antro/ 
^* IWe quidem nuM, heu, nuM viokbilis arte, 
^^ Secnrum sine fine tenet, sine milite regnum ; 
A nullo patitur, nullo violattir ab hoste : 
Compatitut tamen, inque suis violabile membris 
^' Corpus habet : nunc o totis consurgite telis, 
'' Qui patet ad vulnus nudum sine tegmine eorpus, 
'* Im|)ri^itie ultrices, penitiisque recondite, flammas. * 
** Accelerat funeeta dies, jam limine tempus 
" Insistit, cc^tn nexa ipso cum vertiee membra 
*' Naturam induerint coelestem, ubi gloria votum 
Atque ahimum splendor superent^ ubi gaudia damnd 
Creacant, deliciaeque modum, fin^mque recusent. 
" At no6 supplicio setemo, Stygiisque catenis 
" Compressi, flammis et nvo sulphure tecti, 
^' PerpetuBs duro solvemus carcere posnas, 
" mc aiiiina, extremes jam tum perpessa dolores. 
" Majores semper metuit, queriturque remotam, 
** Quam toto admisit praesentem pectore> mortem* 
Oraque caeruleas perreptans flamma meduUas 
Torquet anhela siti, fibriisque atque ilia lambit* 
Mors vivity morit^rque inter mala mille superstes 
Vita, vic^que ips& cum morte^ et nomina mutat. 
'^ Ciiim V6r6 nullum moriendi con^ia finem 
Mens reputat, c^m mille annis mille addidit annos, 
Prseterit6mque nihil venturo detrahitiivum, / 
'* MoK Qtitaft Stellas, etiam superaddit ai)Qna)» ; 

« 

c c 2 






*€ 
i€ 






XVm AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

" Poena tamen damno crescit, per flagra, per ignes, 
*' Per quicquid misemmest, prseceps niit, anxialentam 
** Provocat iafelix mortem ; » fort^ rekbi 
^* Possit^ et ia nihilum rtnrsus dispersa resol^i. 

** ^quemuB mentis poenas, atque ultima passis 
'* Plura tamen magnis exactor debeat ausis ; 
" Tartareis mala speluncis» vindict^que ccelo 
'' Deficiat ; nunquam^ nunquam cnidelis inultos^ 
** Immeritosve, Erebus capiet : n^ruisse nefandum 
*' SuppUcium medios inter solabitur ignes, 
^* Et^ lic^t immensos, factis super^se dolores. 
*' Nunc agite, 6 Proceres, omn^sque effundite techhas^ 
" Consulite, imperioque alacres succurrite lapso. 

" Dixerat^ insequitur fremitus^ trepidanti&que inter 
** Agmiha submissse franguntur murmure voces. 
*' Qualis^ ubi Oceano mox preecipitandus Ibero 
** Immineat Phoebus, flavique ad litora Chami 
*^ Conveniant/glomer&ntque per auras agmina muscae^ 
** Pit sonitus ; longo crescentes ordine turbae 
'* Buccinulis voces acuunt, sociosque vocantes^ 
^* Vndas nube premunt ; strepitu vicinia rauco 
'* Completur, reson^tque accensis litora bombis." 



The simile^ which here follows this speech, resem- 
bles, in some degree, that of Milton in his poem oii 
the fifth of November, ver. 176, &c. and also Par. 
Lost, B. i. 768, To which we might add the as- 
sembly of devils, summoned before Lucifer in the 
old French morality of The Assumption, 1527. 

'' Ung grand tas d|& dyables plus drus 
" Que moucherons en Y air volans.— " 

Milton's Latiin poem is dated at the age of seven- 
teen, namely in 1625. Fletcher's was published in 
1627. The subjects of both are certainly similar. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XIX 

Fletcher, whose diction and imagery are often ex- 
tremely beautiful^ was educated at, Eton^ whence he 
was sent to Kmg^s College, Cambridge, in KOO : 
became B.A. in 1604, and M.A. in 1608 ; was after^ 
wards beneficed at Hilgay in Norfolk, and died in 
1649. 

IV. Hitherto what had been mentioned as faints, 
to which the active mind of Milton might not be 
insensible, had been mentioned without betraying a 
wish to tear the laurels from the brow of the great 
poet. Not such was the intelligence conveyed to 
the publick by the malicious Lauder. He, unfor- 
tunate man, scrupled not to disgrace the consider- 
able learning which he possessed, and to forfeit all 
pretensions to probity, by an audacious endeavour 
to prove that Milton was '^ the worst and greatest 
of all plagiaries.** He acquired, indeed, a telxq)0- 
rary credit, and engaged a powerfiil advocate in 
his cayse, by the speciousness of his charge. But 
he '* played most foully for it." He corrupted the 
text of those poets, whom he produced as evidences 
against the originality ' of Milton, by interpolating 
several verses either of his own fabrication, or from 
the Latin translation of Paradise Lost, by William 
Hog. His enmity to Milton first discovered itself, 
on Dr. Newtorfs publishing his proposals for printr 
ing a new edition of the Paradise Lostvnih Notes 
of various authors; which appeared in 1749. He 
affirmed that /' he could prove," Dr. Newton says, 
(giving an account of his interview with Lauder,) 



XX AK INaUlRY INTO THE 

'' ^hat Mikon ha^ bdfrdWed th^Bubstolce of .whole 
booki^' togethier/ niid tbut there vm^naxtcely a Bingte 
thoi^t i!)? semthnent' i^if Hii Po^m whieh be had Mt 
stblen from »e^ author ^ oth^^ notiritiistafldiiig 
hi^ Vtdn jpretanbe to things tmMtemptedyet m proii 
or rhyme. And then, in eonfinnatioti of his chw^gifey 
he recited a long roll of Scotch, GermstB^-ai^^Dutt^ 
poet^, and affirmed that he had brought the books 
abng with him which were his vouches; dstA^^mp>^ 
pealed particularly to Ramsay, a Scotdpi divine, and 
to Masenius, a German Jesuit ; But, upon pi^dwiog 
his. authors, he could not find Masenius r he fasyd 
drc^ped the book somewhere or other in l^o w|igr> 
•and expressed much surprise and ooncero £or>^tiie 
loss of it ; Ramsay he left with me, and my opimoB 
of Milton's imiN^tions of that author I have giTeii>Eii 
a Note on B. ix, 513. I knew very well that IVfiik- 
toni Was an universal scholair, as famoua foiF »)4»^^(eat 
readmg as for the eiLtent of his genius : andlf tbmgbt 
it not improbable, that Mr. Lauder> having ithe gochl 
fortune to meet with these German atid Duteh 
poems, might have traced out ther^ aomb of^^ 
imitations and allusions, which had escaped ^Q^^o- 
searches of others: and it was my advice to j him 
then, and as often as I had opportunities of s^iog 
him afterwards, that if he had really made ewh 
notable^ discOTeries as he boasted^^ he would iki "v^ell 
to communicate them to» the publick;^ an kigcauous 
countryman of his had publifhed an Essa^.upM 
Milton's Imtatians of the Ancients, aud» be would 
equally deserve the thanks^ of the learned. world by 



ORIGIN OF PAEAPI8E LQ3T. XXI 

wviting^ an E^my t^ypmi Milton'^ Imitatiimf^ of. the 
MQderns; but at the same time I recommended ta 
him 1^ little more modesty and decency, and ntge^ 
all. tbe arguments I could to persuade him to treat 
Milton'^ nwie with more respecty and not to writ^ 
of iUm with the same acrimony and rancour with 
y^Uch he ^oke of him ; it would Weaken his cause 
mstead of strengthening it^ and would hurt himself 
more thanJVIilton in the opinion of all candid read- 
ers. He be^an with publishing some specimens of 
his work in The Gentleman s Magazine : and \ 
was sorry to find that he had no better regarded 
my advice in his manner of writing ; for his papers 
werevHiuch in the same strain and spirit as his con-* 
Tersation ; his assertions strong, and his proofs weak. 
However, to do him justice, several of the quota- 
tions Tfhich he had made from Adanms Exvl, a 
trs^edyof the &mous Hugo Grotius, I thought so 
^taody parallel to several passages in the Paradise 
i/0*#, that I readily adopted them, and inserted 
them' without scruple in my Notes ; esteeming it no 
ireproach to Milton, but rather a commendation of 
his taste and judgement, ta have gathered so many 
of the choicest flowers in the gardens of others, and 
to have trani^lanted them with improvements iato 
his owm At length, after I had published my first 
editioti of the Paradise Lost, came forth Mr^ Lau- 
der^s Essay owMiUov^s Use and Imitation^ qfthe 
Afoderns^: hut ex€ept the quotations from Grotiui^ 
which I had already inserted in my first edition, I 
found in Mr. Lauder's authors not above half a dozen 



1^X11 AM INaViaV INTO THR 

passages^' wJiiek I liiougbt worth tfansfelrring'* into 

r 

my seeond edition ; iiot.i)Ut hehafl produ^d jxuyie 
pa^sdges somewiilit restoiblhig dtheiiiis in MUfon t ^^(^ 
when a similitude ^ of thoight of eiqpresfi3i0ii/>bf scsftti- 
ment or deseriptieii^ occurs in Scripture ^am^me wHl 
say in Staphorstius; in Virgil «nd petlla|iiiaifiAkx^ 
ander Ross^ in Ariosto and pelrhaps in TacifbmarfMi^ 
I should rather conclude that Milton had hinrridwdl 
from the former whom he is^ certainly knoitrntahair^ 
read^ than from the latter whom it is vei^ tmcertmi 
whether he had ever read or not* We kHoiv? that 
he had often drawn^ and delighted to draw>;frotn 'Ibe 
pure fountain ; and why then should we beli^VB^Iiiat 
he chose rather to drink of the streani after 'itt^le 
polluted hy the trash and filth of others ? We know 
that he had thoroughly studied^ and was .perfectly 
acquainted with, the graces and beauties of the ^eat 
originals ; and why then should we think that he was 
only the servile copier of perhaps a bad eop^^ which 
perhaps he had never seen 2". i. r 

If Lauder had traced the markdi of imitatiou in 
Milton with truth and candour ; if he had mo496tly 
noted images or sentiments apparently transferred 
from other writers, yet still perhaps fortuitous coin- 
cidences ; he would have gratified rational curiosity, 
But he was^ intent on blackening the fame of'Miltbn^ 
He pubhshed, besides his Essay, ^' Ddectus: Aiicj- 
torum Sacrorum Miltono Facem Praelucentium "^ 

- In 1762, and 4763. 



OKIQW ^ OF PAEADiaD LOST. XXIU 

dn. twjp VDhimea ; ofiwliichiliie ) first oimtakied' ^1^ ?^ A21- 
'dr89K')Ilatnsn Poemata^: 8aera/! naililf>'Y'i»'^tHugaia8 
6totii AcUitous Exul^ TragsecUai:"! itibe fiecoad^ i^ f r^a- 
cpbi Maseim S wxotidos Iiibri t . trtei*!-?*^ ? Odbsid 
jiVaJmaraiMB Dacmc^Kmiachiae liibar tuaus/-^--^' ' Cas- 
parisBarlfl^I^radisus/'^-^aiid '^^ FredericiTaiibiiiaiiiii 
BettllJ^^AngeUoum: libxd tres.- But» as Mh Hayr 
ley findlj obserres^ Milton '^ by ihe force ai!id clpii- 
ienoe.of. hisofwh fancy was exempted from tbe incli^ 
nsytson^ and the necessity^ of borrowing and retailing 
tber ideas of other poets t but, rich as he was ki has 
own proper fund, he chose to be perfectly abquaiBted 
not only with the wealth, but even with the poverty^ 
of others.^ Indeed I may venture to atrengthen this 

V r- >>''■*'*•* ; ■ ■ ■ ' •■ -. ' . .'.,■: 

I 4 t . • \ ■ J 

>Frt)m:;thdEdmbiirgh edit, of 1633, 

• Fi&n the edition of the Hague, 1601. . • / 

p. From ^t)^e edition of Cologne, 1644. The fourth and fiQJi 
books are pnnted in Barbous edition of the Sarcotis, printed at 
PafM, in i78l : to which are prefixed two Letters " Aiix ItR. 
PP. Jesuites Auteurs des Mqmoires de Trevoux, OiH Von com^ 
pare le Paradis Perdu de Milton avec le Pohne intitule SaRt 
COT IS du R*P* Jacqvfis Masenius, JSsuite Allemand" The li- 
beral Writer of the Article, Masenius, in the Nouveau Diet. Hist, 
k Caen, 1785, considers the pretended obligations of Milton to 
Masenius [top trifling to be mentioned* 

•» From the Vienna edit. 1627. 

' This is a translation from the Paradise of Catsius, originally 
written in Butch, It is an epithalamium on the nuptials of 
Adam and 'Bve ; and Mr. Hayley pronounces it to'be spirited and 
graceful* Many of Catsius's Dutch poems were translated into 
Latin verse k Caspare Barlseo, et Comelio Boyo, and first pub- 
lished in their new dress at Dordrecht in 1643. 

•This poem, consisting of two books, and a fragment of a 
third, Mr. Hay ley says, was originally printed in 1604. 



XXIV AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

observation by Milton's own words> ki which !» 
seems to promise the production of some great poe^ 
tical work. ** ^ Neither do I think it shame to oo^ 
venant with any knowing reader^ that jTor somejkw 
y^ars yet I may go on trust with him toin^ods the 
payment of what I am now indebted, as being % 
work not to be raised from the heat of youlli, or Ae 
vapours of wine ; like that which flows at waste from 
the pen of some vulgar amorist, or the trencher fiiry 
of some riming parasite ; nor to be obtained by the 
invocation of Dame Memory and her Siren Daugk* 
ters, but by devout prayer to that Etemai Spirit^ 
who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge^ 
and sends out his Seraphim, with the hallowed >fim 
of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he 
pleases : to this must be added industrious and 9e^ 
lect readingy steady observation, insight intdt sdl 
geemly and generous arts and affairs." Mr. HayUjf 
therefore may be justified in his opinion, that Miltoii 
read, in different languages, authors of every class ; 
" and I doubt not," he adds, *' but he had perused 
every poem collected by Lauder, though som^ ; of 
them hardly afford ground enough for a eonjeetiire, 
that he remembered any passage they contain,' in lli^ 
course of his nobler composition." 

V. We are next presented with the following ii«^ 
formation of a learned and ingenious traveller, well 

I 

* Of Reformation, &c. B. ii. Prose- Works, vol. i. p. 223. 
edit. 1698. This was first published in 1641* 



ORIGIN OF PARADISK LOST. XXY 

known, to the literary world by his eminent servieey 
in the cause of Christianity. '^ " During my diort 
stay at Dusseldorf^ I became acquabted with a baron 
de Harold^ an Irishman, who is colonel of the regi^ 
ment of Koningsfeld, &c,— But my reason for men- 
tioning the baron, waa to inform you, that he is now 
employed in translating, into English verse, f^ Li^tia 
poem, entitled The Christiad, written by Robert 
Clarke, a Carthusian monk of the convent of Nieu- 
port near Ostend ; from which he asserts that our 
great poet has borrowed largely. The poem, which 
is cdDt the Passion of Christ, in seventeen bookfi, con* 
tains, indeed, many ideaa and descriptions, strikingly 
similar to those of Milton in his Paradm LosU 
But, unless the baron can produce an edition pre- 
vious to that which he possesses, which wpJ5 printed 
at Bruges in 1678, it will be difficult to convict 
Milton of plagiarism in this instance ; for Johnson^ 
if I recollect rightly, informs us, that Elwood saw 
a complete copy of the Paradise Lost at Milton's 
house, at Chalfont, in 1665 ; that Milton sold the 
copy in 1667, and that the third edition was printed 
in 1678, when it is probable, that many copies had 
passed over to the continent, and contributed to en-^ 
crease the reputation which his name had gained 
abroad ; and therefore we have a right to suppose, 
that Clarke, and not Milton, was the copyist : The 



■ Letters during the course of a tour through Germany in 
1791 and 1792, by Robert Gray, M.A. published in 1794, pp. 
19—21. 



XXVI AN INaUIRt INTO THE 

po^^^ however, appears to have much merit. Thj? 
barpn has finished ten or eleven books, vrith what^ 
fidelity I know not, but certainly with much aiiima- 
tion. Milton has often been accused of plagiarisms 
it is to be feared sometimes with trujth ; for thipuj;hr 
bishop Douglas, with great acuteness, d^tecte4 It^aur 
der's interpolations in the vrorks of different writers, 
which were designed to disparage Milton's re^puta- 
tion, he by no means undertook to prave, ^at Mil^ 
ton's claim to originality might, not, in, others hvt. 
stances, be impeached ; and Lauder, though pei* 
suaded by Dr. Johnson to give up, in a hastj^.fit ^ 
shame, his whole Essay as an imposition, a£l;e|'wajri}$^t 
in part, recanted his recantation, and attempted, 
with some success, to prove the charge of t^vgwy 
against Milton. But it is time to put an ^nd to. this 
digression designed to vindicate Milton, a^H^y,ery 
Englishman must wish to do, where he can be vin- 
dicated without injury to truth." 

To the latter part of this remark it will, be propar 
to subjoin the words of iHshop DouglaSj, r *' Orown 
desperate by his disappointment, this /very , ttaB^* 
^Lauder,)] whom but a little before we have s€|Gn as^ 
abject in the confession of his forgeries, as, he had 
been ^old in the contrivance of tinem, with an in* 
consistence, equalled only by his inq)udenQ^, re- 
newed his attack upon the author of the Paradise 
Lost : and a *- pamphlet, published for that purpose^ 

* Entitled, *' King Charles L Vindicated from the charge of 



ORIGIN OF PARADSIE'LOST. XJtVll 

acquainted the world, that the tru? reason wtilch 
had excited him to contrive his forgery was, becatise 
Milton had attacked tiie character of Charles fhe 
First, byinterpolating Pamela's prayer from the Ar^ 
cadia, in an edition of the IcSn Basilihe ; hoping, 
no doubt, by this curious key to his conduct, to be 
received into favour, if not by the friends of truth, 
at least by the idolaters of the royal martyr : the 
zeaf of this wild party-man against Miltoii having 
at the same time extended itself against his biogra- 
pher, the very learned Dr. Birch, for no other rea- 
son but because he was s9 candid as to express his 
disbelifef of a tradition unsupported by evidence." 

I hlave been unable to discover whether there" is 
any edition of Clarke's book, prior to that which is 
mentioned. 

VI. We are now to be again gratified with the 
very curious researches, and ingenious deductions, 
of Mr. Hayley. Having observed it to be highly 
probable, that Andreini turned the thoughts of Mil- 
ton from Alfred to Adam, as the subject of a dra- 
matick composition, he thinks it possible that ^n 
Italian writer, less known than Andreini, first threw 
into tl;ie mind of Milton the idea of converting Adam 
into an epick personage. *' ' I hare now before 

plagiarism, brought against him by Miltcm^ and Milton himself 
convicted of forgery, and a gross imposition on the publick." 
' y Conjectures on the origin of Paradise Lostj at the end of {be 
Life of Milton, 2d edit. 1796, p. 264, &c. 



XXVUl AN tNQDIKY INTO THE 

ttie,'' he proceeds, " A literary curiosity, wHeh my 
accomplished friend, Mr. Walker, to whom the lite- 
rature of Xif^land has mimy obligations, very kitiidly 
sent me, on his retiu^n from an excursion' to Italy, 
where it happened to strike a traveller, whose mind 
is peculiarly awakened to elegant pursuits?. The 
bode I am speaking of is entitled La Scena Tra-^ 
giea d^Adamo ed Eva, E^tratta ddUi prkki tre 
<tti^i delta Sacra Oenesi, e lidotta a mgnificato 
Morale da Troilo Lancetta, B&nacense. Venetia, 
1^4. This little work is dedicated to Marltt Got- 
«aga. Duchess of Mantut^' aiid is nothing mof e than 
a drama in prose, of the ancient form, entitled k 
morality, on the expulsion of our first parents firbiti 
Paradise. The author does not miention Andreini, 
nor has he any mixture of verse in his composition ; 
but, in his address to the reader, he has the follef*^- 
mg very remarkable passage : after suggesting thatt 
the Mosaick history of Adam and Eve is purely 
allegorieal, and designed as an incentive to virtue, 
he says. 



r 

r • • 

i 



' Una notte sognai^ che Moisd mi porse g^tiosa espo^ 
tione, e misterioso significato con parole tali apjun^p i ..(,-, 

' Die fit parte all' Huom di se stesso con 1' intervento delta 
ragione, e dispone con infallibile sentenza, che signdreggi- 
ando in Itii la tnedeilma sopra \t sensudi v6glie» presyrvslt^^Q 
poiQo del proprio cord dalli appetiti d3Sorditiati,>per^g«iidi^ 
done di giusta obbedienza li trasforma il monclo ia^ JPa^iEi- 
diso.-^— Di questo s'io parlassij al aicuro fonf)^r(^^,)^e]^<^ 
poema convenevole a semidei/ 

* One night I dreamt that Moses explained to ttlW the 
mystery, almost in these tv^ds: - : r f ,, 



QRtOIN OF PARADISE LOST. XKIx 

' God teveaU himself to Man by the interveation of rea- 
son, and thus infaUibly ordains that reason, while she sup* 
ports her sovereignty over the sensual incUnations in Man^^ 
and preserves the apple of his heart from li66ntious appe- 
tites, in reward of his just obedience transforms the world 
into Paradise.^^Of this were I to speak, assuredly I ix^i^t 
form an heroiek poem worthy of demi^gods/ 

^^ It strikes me as possible that these last words^ 
assigned to Moses in his vision by Troilo Lancetta, 
might operate on the mind of Milton like the 
question of EUwood; and prove^ in his prolifick 
&ncy, a kind of rich . graft on the idea he derived 
from Andreini^ and the germ of his. greatest pro* 
duction. 

" A sceptical critick, inclined to discountenance 
this conjecture, might indeed observe, it is more 
probable that Milton never saw a little volume not 
published until after his return from Italy, and 
written by an author so obscure, that his name does 
not occur in Tiraboschi's elaborate history of Italian 
literature; nor in the patient Italian chronicler of 
poets, Quadrio, though he bestows a chapter on 
early dramatick compositions in prose. But the 
mind, that has once started a conjecture of this na^ 
ture, must be weak indeed, if it cannot produce mw 
shadows of argument in aid of a favourite hypor 
thesis^ Let me therefore be allowed to advance, as 
a presumptive proof of Milton's having seen the work 
of Lancetta, that he makes a dmilar use of Moses, 
and introduces him to speak a prologue in the 



XXX AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

sketch of his various plans for an allegorical drama. 
It is indeed^ possible that Milton might never see 
the performances either of Lancetta or Andreini; 
yet conjecture has ground enough to conclude very 
fairly, that he was acquainted with both; for An- 
dreini wrote a long aUegorical drama on Paradbe, 
and we know that the fancy of Milton first began to 
play with the subject accoiscling to that peculiar form 
of composition. Lancetta treated it also in f3i« 
shape of a dramatick allegory ; but said, at the samet 
time, under the character of Moses, that the subjfK^ 
might form an incomparable epick poem ; and 
Milton quitting his own hasty sketches of allego^rical 
dramas, accomplished a work which answers to that 
intimation.'' 

The following analysis of this drama has beien 
^ made by Mr. Hayley. 

ACT L Scene 1. " God commemorates his creation 
of the- heavens, the earth, and the water — determines to 
make Man — gives him vital spirit, and admonishes him to 
revere his Maker, and live innocent. 

Scene ii. '' Raphael, Michael, Ga3Uiel, ahd 
Angels. Raphael praises the works of Qod'— the other 
Angels follow his example, particularly in regard to Man. 

Scene hi. '* God and Adam. God gives Paradise 
to Adam to hold as a fief— forbids him to touch the apple — 
Adam promises obedience. 

Scene iv. '' Adam. Acknowledges the benefie^M^ 
of Grod, and retires to repose in the shade. 

ACT II. Scene i. '' God and Adam.' God tesolves 
to form a companion for Adam, and does so while Adam is 



mending obedienbie to his coiQ,mancls.. ' 

mWh. ^^Ahyi^m Ev^-:felattft^k^fiVe as ' 

rmiAciS^i (jbojring Ood^^^hffjpipmisfls luhi&idsiob t(> hit:ii 

tion, and (Bnlarires oaytb^ beaut^s of Pajradise—roa bis 
speakmg^ Qf flocks, ^he desires to see tbem^ and. he departs 
toSfi^tv%*a^VaMi8amni^^ ' ' '■ ' 

SlilEiifE m: ^lAJcwtui, Belial, SataK* littcifer 
la9»qil^^i$Q9^pabiQn.fi^ i^ireoga .' 

ag^in^ |^I;ail^ I^empns re^ the cause pf th^uf 

expulsion^ and. stiaiulate Lucifer to the revenge he medi- 
taiies— he' resolves to employ the Serpent. 

^^kkE'-iv;^ *» The' Sekpekt, Eve, Lucifer. th6 
&4i);ybti^ii6iiiti<m&>«Eve*-^erides h«r fear and her obediehci^ 
—tempts her to taste the apple — she expresses her eager- 
ness to do so — the Serpent exults in the prospect of her 
perdition — Lucifer (who seems to remain as a separate per- 
sdn from the Seirpent) expresses also his exultatioh, and 
steps aside to listen to a dialogue between Adam tindt Eve. 

Scene v. *' Eve, Adam. Eve declares her resolution 
tQitt^^tli^^BtppI^.aDd present it to her husband — she tastes 
it^aud«spii^s$06 uxMis^al hope and animadon^-Hshesays the 
S^pe^ h^iH>t.c|^ivf4;her*"*^e feels no ^gnof death, and 
presents the fruit to her husbwd-^be* reproves ber^-^she 
pjemiBt$;j[9ifcpres^t)g him.>tae0.t— his comixes — declaims the 
fhiili^'eeir btit:be^nsJto ti?emble at his ownhal^dness-it-he 
reponilf 9^(|^^|)re8ses!bi^; remorse and ^rrour«^£Ve? pro'- 
po$^ to foip* a covering of' leanrcs-^^tbcy retire to .^de 
thewiJie^Tesilji^foliage,. .)../; -.■■..■.. r-j<- ■■•■:•:.' ... \.v -•■t <^ ->/. 

ACT in. Scene i. Lucifer, BfetTAt., SA-FAiir.' iL^ei-' 
f0^>«ibc«ki^^hi^€b(^^«,^^^«t^^^ othe^B^ons apjplaira4iihi. 

ScEN e II. " RaV»1i'^4 Mrtj^ A't l, Oa^hi^j^: ' these 
gjp$4.S^ri^ lament th^fHlUa^nd^^etire wUb twe oi^ftbe^^p- 
pearf|iAf^'oC{Qod.-, ..--^ r^^r.'- -,r,-i-.., „.,•.>■■. ^ ^ «-. . • 

Dd 



XXXII . AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

Scene hi. " God, Eve, Adam. God callst>n Adam 
— he appears and laments his nakedness — God interrogates 
him concerning the tree — he confesses his offence, and ac- 
cuses Eve — she blames the Serpent — God pronounces his 
malediction, and sends them from his presence. 

Scene iv. " Raphael, Eve, and Adam. Raphael 
bids them depart from Paradise — ^Adam laments his destiny 
— Raphael persists in driving them rather harshly from the 
garden — Adam begs that his innocent children may not 
suffer for the fault of their mother — Raphael replies, that 
not only his children, but all his race must suffer ; and con- 
tinues to drive them from the garden-^Adam obeys — Eve 
laments, but soon comforts Adam — ^he at length departs, 
animating himself with the idea, that to an intrepid heart 
every region is a home. 

Scene v. *^ A Cherub, moralizing on the creation and 
fall of Adam, concludes the third and last Act." 

Mr. Walker, in his Historical Memoir on Ita- 
lian Tragedy, has enlarged this analysis with some 
specimens of the author's style and manner, together 
vnth a ^ fac simile of the quaint table exhibiting the 
'* morale esposatione'' of the work. From the same 
ingenious and entertaining volume we learn that, 
'* as * Lancetta denominates himself Benacense, it is 
presumed he was a native of that part of the riviera 
of Said, on the lago di Garda, which is called Toso- 
lano, and whose inhabitants are styled Benacenses, 
from Benacus, the ancient name of the lake. He 
was, he modestly declares, neither a poet nor an 
orator, ' poeta non son' io, ne dratore,' but I am 
willing to believe he was a good man, and that it 

* Hist. Mem. Appendix, p. xlviii — Ivi. 

• Hist. Mem. p. 172. 



OEIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXlll 

was rather his virtues than his talents which recom- 
mended him to the accomplished family of Gonzaga, 
of which he seems to have been a protege. Such is 
the deep obscurity in which this author is buried, 
that the most sedulous inquiry has not led to the 
discovery of any authentick notices concerning him. 
His drama is sHghtly mentioned by Allacci, who 
supposes it to be his only production." 

Mr. Hayley adds, to his remarks on the dramas 
of Andreini and Lancetta, that Milton was probably 
familiar with an Italian poem, little known in Eng- 
land, and formed expressly on the conflict of the 
apostate Spirits ; the Angeleida del Sig. Erasmo 
' di Valvasone, Venet. 1590. Dr. Warton was of 
the same opinion. And Mr. Hayley has cited the 
verses, in which the Italian poet assigns to the In- 
fernal Powers the invention of artillery. With this 
poem, I think, the mind of Milton could not but be 
affected. It begins : 

" lo canter6 del ciel V antica guerra, 
" Per cui sola il principio» et Y use nacque, 
. " Onde tra il seme human non pur in terra, 
" Ma souente si pugna anchor sii V acque : 
*' Carcere etemo nel abisso serra 

Quel che ne {H Y authore, et vinto giacque : 

E i vincitori in parte eccelsa, et alma 
" Godon trionfo etemo, etema palma.'' 

Valvasone's description of the triumphant Angels 
in B. iii. is particularly interesting. The poem 
concludes with an animated Sonnet to the Arch- 

Dd2 



4f 



XXXIV AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

angel Michael, preceded by the four following 
lines: 

" Cosi disse Michele, et da le pure 

" Ciglia di Die refulse un chiaro lampo^ 

" Che gli die segno del diuino assenso, 

*' £ tutto il Ciel fii pien di gaudio immenso." 



ft 



" Air Arcangelo Mkhek. 

'* Eccelso Heroe, Campion inuitto, et Santo 

" De r imperio diuin, per cui pigliasti 

" V alta contesa^ e 1 reo Dragon cacciasti 

" Da r auree stelle debellato, et franto ; 
'< Et hor non men giii ne V etemo pianto, 

" Onde ei risorger mal s' attenta, i vasti 
Orgogli suoi reprimi, et gli contrasti, 

** A nostro schermo con continue vanto ; 

Questi miei noui accenti, onde trainee 

'* La gran tua gloria, e '1 mio deuoto affetto, 
Accogli tu fin da r empirea luce : 

Sieno in vece di preghi, et al cospetto 

'' Gli poita poi del sempitemo Duce, 

*' Che di sua gratia adempia il mio difetto/' 

Mr. Hayley seems to think also, that Milton may 
be sometimes traced in the Strage de gli Imwcenti 
of Marino. The late Mr. Bowie appears to have en- 
tertained a similar notion. And such was Mr. T. War- 
ton's opinion. In the Paradise Lost indeed I have 
traced several proofs of obligation to it. It was first 
published at Venice in 1633 ; and consists of four 
books : 1. ^' Sospetto d'Herode : 2. Consiglio de 
Satrapi: 3. Essecutione della Strage: 4. II Limbo." 
Milton has been * thought indebted likewise to Cra- 

> Biogr, Brit. edit. Kippis, vol. iv. p. 431. ^ j 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXV 

shaw, the translator of the first of these books. I 
will select a few passages^ therefore, from this ver- 
sion, which seem to have afforded some countenance 
to the opinion. Sospetto d'Herode, stanza 5. De- 
scription of Satan, Crashaw's Poems, edit. 1648, p. 59. 



if 



His eyes, the sullen dens of death and nighty 
" Startle the dull ayre with a dismall red : 
'' Such his fell glances as the fatall light 

** Of staring comets, that looke kingdomes dead. 

^' He shooke himselfe, and spread his spatious wings ; . 
" Which, like two bosom'd sailes, embrace the dimme 

*' Aire, ^ith a dismall shade ; but all in vaine ; 

'' Of sturdy adamant is his strong chaine." 

Part of his speech : st. 28. 

" And should we Powers of Heaven, Spirits of worth, 
" Bow our bright heads before a king of clay? 
" It shall not be, said I, and clombe the North, 
" Where never wing of Angell yet made way. 

What though I mist my blow ? yet I strooke high ; 

And, to dare something, is some victory. 

31. 

" Ah wretch ! what bootes thee to cast back thy eyes, 
*' Where dawning hope no beame of comfort showes ? 
" While the reflection of thy forepast joys, 
'* Renders thee double to thy present woes ; 
'* Rather make up to thy new miseries, 
*' And meete the mischiefe that upon thee growes. 
*^ If Hell must moume, Heaven sure shall sympathize: 
'' What force cannot effect, fraud shall devise. 

32. 

*^ And yet whose force feare I ? have I so lost 
" Myselfe ? my strength too with my innocence ? 






XXXVl AN INQUIRY INTO THE 



ft 



Come, try who dares. Heaven, Earth ; whate er dost boast 
A borrow'd being, make thy bold defence : 
" Come thy Creator too -, what though it cost 
" Me yet a second fall? we'd try our strengths. 
" Heaven saw us struggle once ; as brave a fight 
" Earth now should see, and tremble at the nght. 



33. 



it 



it 
it 

it 



Thus spoke the impatient Prince, and made a pause : 
His foule hags rais'd their heads, and clapt their hands; 
And all the Powers of Hell, in full applause, 
'* Flourisht their snakes, and tost their flaming brands. 
We, said the horrid sisters, wait thy lawes. 
The obsequious handmaids of thy high eommand» : 
Be it thy part. Hell's mighty lord, to lay 
On us thy dread commands ; ours to obey. 

34. 

'* What thy Alecto, what these hands, can doe, 
'* Thou mad'st bold proofe upon the brow of Hoavea ^ 
'' Nor should'st thou bate in pride, because that now 
" To these thy sooty kingdomes thou art driven. 
*' Let Heaven's Lord chide above, lowder than thou^ 
" In language of his thunder ; thou art even 
" With him below : Here thou art lord alone 
" Boundlesse and absolute : Hell is thine owne.'^ 

That Crashaw and Milton should concur in simi- 
lar sentiments and e^tpressions, when Marino dictates 
to both, can be a matter of little surprise. But, 
when we compare the passages in Milton which may 
be considered as harmonizing with these in Crashaw, 
we shall not hesitate to declare that, in bold and 
glowing phraseology, as well as in beautiful and ex- 
pressive numbers, the palm, due to the improvement 
of the original, belongs to the former. Nor shall we 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXVll 

forget the hints from iEschylus and Dante^ which 
Milton finely interweaves in the character of his 
Prince of darkness. Milton, no doubt, had read 
Crashaw's translation ; as he had read the transla- 
tions also of Ariosto and Tasso by Harington and 
Fairfax ; to various passages in which he has, in like 
manner, added new graces resulting from his own 
imagination and judgement. There are also a few 
resemblances in Crashaw's poetry to passages in Mil- 
ton, which I have had occasion to notice. Crashaw 
too, I may add, is entitled to the merit of sug- 
gesting the combination and form of several happy 
phrases to Pope. Of a poet, thus distinguished, I 
take this opportunity to subjoin a few particulars 
from the unpublished manuscript of his fellow-colle- 
gian. Dr. John Bargrave. ^' "" When I went first of 
my 4 times to Rome, there were there 4 revolters to 
the Roman Church, that had binn fellowes of Peter- 
house in Cambridge with my selfe. The name of one 
of them was Mr. R. Crashaw, whoe was of the 
Seguita (as their tearme is), that is, an attendant, or 
one of the followers of Cardinall Palotta, for which 
he had a salary of crownes by the month, (as the 
custome is,) but no dyet. Mr. Crashaw infinitely 
commended his Cardinall, but complayned extreamely 
of the wickedness of those of his retinue, of which he, 
having his Cardinall's eare, complayned to him ; vpon 
which the ItaUans fell so farr owt with him, that the 

^ After the restoration of Charles 11. Dr. Bargrave became 
Prebendary of Canterbury, to the Library of which Cathedral 
he gave many books, &c. See the Life of Milton, &c. p. dV. 



XXXvm AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

Cardinally to secure hi^ life, was faine to putt him 
from his service; and, procuring him some smale 
imploy at the Lady's of Loretto, whither he went in 
pilgrimage in summer time, and overheating him- 
selfe dyed in few weeks after he came thither ; and 
it was doubtftiU whether he were not poysoned.** — 

Mr. Hayley notices the existehce also of the fol- 
lowing pieces relating to Milton's subject : 

i. Adamo Caduto, tragedia sacra, di Serafino delta Sa- 
landra. Cozenzo, 1647. 8vo. 

ii. La Battaglia Celeste tra Michele e Lucifero, di An- 
tonio Alfani, Paleraiitano. Palermo, 1568. 4to. 

iii. Deir Adamo di Giovanni Soranzo, Geneva, 1604. 
12mo. 

They had, however, escaped the researches of Mr. 
Hayley. Signor Signorelli, the learned and elegant 
correspondent of Mr. Walker on subjects connected 
mth his ^ Memoir on Italian Tragedy, published 
in 1799, had not then seen them. Whether Milton 
had perused them, must therefore be a matter of 
future inquiry. But Mr. Walker has observed, that 
all the commentators pass over the obligations of 
Milton to the Gerusalemme Distrutta of Marino. 
From the seventh canto, which is ' all that is printed, 
and which is subjoined to two small editions of the 
Strage de gli Innocenti in his possession, Mr. 
Walker has made a few extracts ; and I have found 

^ See the Hist Mem^ Appendix, p. xxxiii. 
* Ibid. p. xxxvi. 



0RK3IN OF PARADISE LOST. XXXIX 

them certainly applicable to some descriptions in 
the Paradise Lost. Mr. Hayley further notices 
the probable attention of Milton to Tasso's ^ Le 
Sette Giornate del Mondo Create; and Dr. 
Warton agreed with him. Tasso, like Milton, 
follows indeed almost the very words of Scripture* 
in relating the commands of God on the seve- 
ral days of the Creation. The poem is in blank 
verse. I submit to the reader the following pious 
address : 

" Dimmi^ qual opra alhora, 6 qual riposo 

Fosse ne la Diuina^ e Sacra Mente 

In quel d' etemita felice state. 
*' E 'n qual ignota parte, e'n quale idea 
" Era r essempio tuo. Celeste Fabro, 
'' Quando facesti ^ te la Reggia» e '1 Tempio. 
'* Tu, che '1 sai, tu '1 riuela : e chiace, e conte 

Signer, per me ft 1' epre, i medi, e T arti. 

Signer, tu se' la mane, ie sen la cetm, 
** La qual messa da te,«cen delci tempre 
*^ Di seaue armenia, risuena ; e molce 
'' D' adamantine smalto i duri affetti. 
" Signer, tu se' le spirte, ie reca tremba 
" Sen per me stesse ^ la tua gleria ; e languCi 
*' Se nen m' inspiri tu, la voce, e 1 suene.** 






4€ 



In the preceding verses Milton's address to the 
Holy Spirit, " Instruct me, for thou knoVst** i$ 

' Dr. Warton mentions only the edition of Viterbe, in 1607. 
There had been an earlier edition thus entitled, " I due piimi 
Giomi del Mondo Create, Poesia sacra." Venet, 1600, 4to. 
And there have been several later ; Le sette Giornate &c. 12mo. 
Milan. 1608, Venet. 1609, and Venet, 1637, ult. impress, ri- 
corretta. 



Xl AN INQUIRY INTO THE . 

perhaps observable. They close also with a similar 
sentiment to his invocation of the same assistance in 
his Paradise Regained, B. i. 11. 

" Thou Spirit, inspire, 

*' As thou art wont, my prompted song, else mute." 

• 

VII. A later observation respecting the origin of 
Paradise Lost has been submitted to the publick by 
Mr. Dunster, in " Considerations on Milton's early 
readings and the prima stamina of Paradise Lost/' 
1800. The object of these " Considerations'* is to 
prove that Milton became, at a very early period of 
his life, enamoured of Joshua Sylvester's translation 
of the French poet, Du Bartas. Lauder had asserted 
long since that Milton was indebted to Sylvester's 
translation for *' numberless fine thoughts, besides 
his low trick of playing upon words, and his frequent 
use of technical terms. From him," he adds, '* Mil- 
ton has borrowed many elegant phrases, and single 
words, which were thought to be peculiar to him, or 
rather coined by him ; such as palpable darkness, 
and a thousand others." Lauder has also said^ that 
Phillips, Milton's nephew, *' every where, in his 
Theatrum Poetarum, either wholly passes over in 
silence such authors as Milton was most obliged to, 
or, if he chances to mention them, does it in the 
most slight and superficial manner imaginable : Du 
Bartas alone excepted." But Sylvester is also 
highly commended, in this work for his translation. 
Mr. Hayley well observes, in apology, for other omis- 
sions of Phillips, ^^ which are too frequent to be con- 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. xli 

sidered as accidental^ that he probably chose not to 
enumerate various poems relating to Angels, to 
Adam, and to Paradise, lest ignorance and malice 
should absurdly consider the mere existence of such 
poetry as a derogation from the glory of Milton.** 

Lauder adds, that there is " a comnjentary on this 
work, called A Summary ofDu Bartas, a book fiill 
pf prodigious learning, and many curious observa- 
tions on all arts and sciences ; from whence Milton 
has derived a multiplicity of fine hints, scattered up 
and down his poem, especially in philosophy and 
theology.*' This book was printed in folio, in 1621 ; 
and is recommended, in the title-page, as " fitt for. 
the learned to refresh their memories, and for 
younger students to abbreviate and further theire 
studies.'* From this pretended garden of sweets I 
can collect no nosegay. It cannot indeed be sup- 
posed that Milton, when he wrote the Paradise 
Lost, was so imperfectly acquainted with the purer 
sources of knowledge, as to be indebted to such a 
volume. 

That Milton, however, had read the translation of 
Du Bartas, has been admitted by his warmest ad- 
mirers. Dr. Farmer, Mr. Bowie, Mr. T. Warton, and 
Mr. Headley. A slight remark, which the editor of 
these volumes long since ventured to make, in the 
* GentlemarCs Magazine, respecting Milton's ac- 

' See November 1796, p. 900. See also Mr. Dunster's Con- 



Xlii AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

quaintance with the poetry of Sylvester, attracted 
the notice of the author of the Considerations &c« 
just mentioned ; and appears to have stimulated his 
desire to know more of the forgotten bard. Mr. 
Dunster, therefore, having procured an edition of 
Sylvester's Du Bartas, drew up his ingenious vo- 
lume ; and, with no less elegance of language than 
liberality of opinion, pointed out the taste and judge* 
ment of Milton in availing himself of particular pas- 
sages in that book. With honourable affection for 
the fame of Milton, he observes, that '* nothing can 
be further from my intention than to insinuate that 
Milton was a plagiarist or servile imitator; but I 
conceive that, having read these sacred poems of 
very high merit, at the immediate age when his own 
mind was just beginning to teem.vidth poetry, he re^ 
tained numberless thoughts, passages, and expressions^ 
therein, so deeply in his mind, that they hung inhe- 
rently on his imagination, and became as it were 
naturalized there. Hence many of them were after- 
wards insensibly transfused into his own composi- 
tions." — Sylvester's Du Bartas was also a popular 
book when Milton began to write poetry ; it was 
published in the very street in which Milton's father 
then lived ; Sylvester was certainly, as was probably 
^ Humphry Lownes the printer of the book, puri- 

siderations, &c. p: 3. I take this opportunity of adding, that 
Dr. Farmer's remark occurs in a Note on the '^ married. calm of 
states/' in Troilus and Cressida. See Steevens's Shakspeare, edit. 
1793,vol. xi. p.254. 
^ I may observe that the folio edition of Spenser's JPo^rie 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. xliii 

tanically inclined; Milton s family, professing the 
same religious opinions, would powerfully recom- 
mend to the young student the perusal of this work : 
By such inferences, added to the preceding remark, 
the reader is led to acknowledge the successful man- 
ner, in which Mr. Dunster has accomplished his de- 
sign ; namely, to show Milton's *' early acquaintance 
with, and predilection for, Sylvester's Du Bartasr 
I am persuaded, howevelr, that Milton must have 
sometimes closed the volume with extreme disgust ; 
and that he then sought gratification in the strains 
of his kindred poets, of Spenser, and of Shakspeare ; 
or of those, whose style was not barbarous like Syl- 
vester's, the enticing Drummond, the learned and 
affecting Drayton, and several other bards of that 
period ; as may be gathered from expressions even 
in his earliest performances. But, to resume Mr. 
Dunster's observation respecting the origin of Para- 
dise Lost : Sylvester's Du Bartas " contains, indeed, 
more material prima stamina of the! Paradise Lost, 
than, as I believe, any other book whatever : and my 
hypothesis is, that it positively laid the first stone 
of that ' monumentum aere perennius.' That Arthur 
for a time predominated in Milton's mind over his, at 



Queeney and of his other poems, in 1611, came from the press of 
Humphry Lownes ; the date at the end of the Faerie Queen is, 
however, 1612. In 1611 also Humphry Lownes printed the se- 
cond edition of the Httle volume, from which I shall presently 
have occasion to make an extract or two, entitled " Stafford's 
Niobe : or his age of teares. A Treatise no lesse profitable and 
comfortable then the times damnable,"*&c. 12mo. . 



XIIV AN INaUIRV INTO THE 

length preferred, sacred subject, was probably owing 
to the advice of Manso, and the track of reading into 
which he had then got. How far the Adamo of 
Andreini, or the Sce?ia Tragica d' Adamo et Eva 
of Lancetta, as pointed out by Mr. Hayley ; or any 
of the Italian poems on such subjects, noticed by Mr. 
Walker ; contributed to revive his predilection for 
sacred poesy, it is beside my purpose to inquire. If 
he was materially caught by any of these, it served, 
I conceive, only to renew a primary impression 
made on his mind by Sylvester's Du Bartas : al- 
though the Italian dramas might induce him then 
to meditate his divine Poem in a dramatick form. 
It is, indeed, justly observed by Mr. Warton, on the 
very fine passage, ver. 33, of the Vacation Exercise, 
written when Milton was only nineteen, ' that it con- 
tains strong indications of a young mind anticipating 
the subject of Paradise Lost' — Cowley found him- 
self to be a poet, or, as he himself tells us, ' was 
made one,' by the delight he took in Spenser's Fairy 
Queen, ' which was wont to lay in his mother's 
apartment ;' and which he had read all over, before 
he was twelve years old. That Dryden was, in some 
degree, similarly indebted to Cowley, we may collect 
from his denominating him ' the darUng of my 
youth, the famous Cowley.' Pope, at a little more 
than eight years of age, was initiated in poetry by the 
perusal of Ogilby's Homer and Sandys's Ovid ; and 
to the latter he has himself intimated obligations, 
where he declares in his Notes to the Iliad, ' that 
English poetry owes much of its present beauty to 




ORIGIN OP PARADISE LOST. xlv 

the translations of Sandys/ The rudimenta poetica 
of our great poet I suppose similarly to have been 
Sylvester's Du Bartas ; which, I conceive, not only 
elicited the first sparks of poetick fire from the pu- 
bescent genius of Milton, but induced him, from that 
time, to devote himself principally to sacred poesy, 
and to select Urania for his immediate Muse, 

* magno perculsus amore.'" 



While I agree with Mr. Dunster, that Milton has 
adopted several thoughts and expressions from Syl- 
vester, I must observe that, although the poem of 
Du Bartas treats largely of the Creation of the 
World and the Fall of Man, the Origin of Para- 
dise Lost may not perhaps be absolutely attributed 
to that work. " Smit with the love of sacred song," 
Milton, I apprehend, might be influenced, in his 
" long choosing and beginning late,' by other efiii- 
sions of sacred poesy, in the language which he loved, 
and in the epick form, on similar subjects ; besides 
those of Dante, of Tasso, and of the Italian poets 
already mentioned. In the following list the Muses 
of Spain and Portugal also will be found to have 
chosen congenial themes. 

i. Discorso in versi della Creazione del Monde sine alia 
Venuta di Gesii Cristo, per Antonio Comozano. 4°* 1472. 

ii. Delia Creatione del Mondo, Poema Sacro, del Sig. 
Gaspdro Mvrtola. Giome sette, Canti sedici. 12"®. Venet. 
1608. 

iii. Epamerone, overo Y opera de sei Giorni, Poema di 
Don Felice Passero. 1 2"^ Venet. 1 609. 



Xlvi XS INQUIRY INTO THE 

iv. Creacion del Mundo, Poema Espagnol, por el Doctor 
Alonzo de Azevedo. 8^^*. en Roina^ 1616. 

v. Da Creagao et Compolicao do Homem, Cantos tres 
por Luis de Camoens, em Verso Portugues. 4®. em Lisboa 
1615. Rimas 2^\ Parte.— Paris, 1 2™». 1 759. 

The first of these poems is noticed by Baxetti in 
his Italian Library, p. 58 ; who also mentions an 
epick' poem, first printed in Sicily, and since at 
Milan, of which he had forgotten the dates, entitled 
^^ L* Adamo del Campailla. It is a philosophical 
poem, much admired by the followers of the Carte- 
sian system, who were very numerous when the au- 
thor wrote it." lb. p. 66. Baretti also mentions 
another epick poem '^ Le sei Giornate, di Sebas- 
tiano Erizzo. The six Days, that is, the Creation 
perfoi;med in six days,*' &c. lb. p. 64. But this is 
a mistake. Le sei Giornate of Erizzo is neither a 
poem, nor at all connected with the history of the 
Creation. It is a series of novels : '* Le sei gior- 
nate, nelle quali sotto diuersi fortunati et infelici 
auenimenti, da sei giouani raccontati, si contengono 
ammaestramenti nobili et utili di morale Filosofia'." 

The second of the before-mentioned poems is in 
my possession ; and I have more than once found 
distant assimilation in it to passages in the Paradise 
Lost. 

The three next are mentioned by Mr. Bowie, 

* Proemio, p. 1. — This work of Sebastian Erizzo was printed at 
Venice, in quarto, by Giouan Varisco, &c. in- 1567. . 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. xlvii 

together with the preceding poem ; as also with the 
Adamos of Andreini, Soranzo^ and Serafino della 
Salandra^ and with the Angeleida of Valvasone ; in 
^ his manuscript Notes on Lauder's Essay. He has 
added a reference to the following work, which 
might not be unknown to Milton. 

vi. II Case di Lucifero, di Amico Aguifilo. Crescimbeni, 
4.126. 

To which may be subjoined another poem that 
might have attracted the great poet's notice, as it 
is pronounced by Baretti to be little inferiour to 
Dante himself 

vii. II Quadriregid^ sopra i regni d' Amore, di SatanassQ^ 
dei vizi, e delle virtu, di Mens. F. Frezzi Vescovo di Foligno. 
foL Perug. 1481. 

I may venture also to point out 

• viii. La Vita et Passione di Christo; &c. composta per 
Antonio Comozano, in terza rima. Venet. 1618. 12"*®. 

In which the second chapter of the first book is 
entitled ^' De la creatione del mondo." 

ix. La Humanita del Figlivolo di Dio> in ottaua rima, per 
Theofilo Folengo, Mantoano. Venegia. 1633. 4°. 

In ten books : in the second of which Adam and Eve 
are particularly noticed. Dr. Burney, in his History 
of Musick, has considered the sacred drama of // 

^ Formerly the property of the late Richard Gough, Esq ; to 
whom I was much indebted for the use of the book. 



Xlviii AN INQUmY INTO THE 

Gran Natale di Christo by the elder Cicognini, as 
possibly subservient to Milton's plan. There is also 
a poem of ^ P. Antonio Glielmo, Milton's contempo- 
rary, entitled // Diluvio del Mondo ; and there are 
the Mondo Desolato of the '' shepherd-boy/' G. D. 
Peri, (the author also of the epick poem, Fiesole 
Distrutta,) and the Giudicio Estremo of Toldo 
Costantini ; both published "* before Milton perhaps 
had determined the subject of his song. 

The writer of the article of Pona (Frangois) in 
the Nouveau Diet. Hist, a Caen, edit. 1786, says 
that Pona published " VAdamo, poema, 1664." 
The Adamo by this writer is not, however, a poem, 
although abounding with poetical expressions, but a 
history, in three books, of the Creation and of our 
first parents. The publication was too late for Milton 
to profit by it. But there are some thoughts in it, 
to which in the ninth book of the Paradise Lost a 
resemblance or two occur. Pona was an author not 
a httle admired in Italy : he died in 1652. Lore- 
, dano, in a letter to him, says ^' " L'ingegno di V. S. 

e un giardino di Paradiso, ove non nascono che fiori 
immortali. Tale ho riconosciuto 1' angelico." Lo- 
redano himself has also written an Italian Life of 
Adam, printed at Venice in 1640 ; translated into 

^ He died in 1644. See Elogii d* Huomini Letterati, scritli 
da Lorenzo Crasso, parte sec. Venet. 1666, p. 287.'' 

"* The former in 1637 ; and I believe there is an earli^ edi- 
ticm : the latter in 1648. 
j!)r ;, " Lettree de Loredano, edit. Bruxelles, 1708, p. 88» 



I' 

fl 



\ 



r 
■1 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. xlix 

English in 1659 ; and next in 1779 by Richard Mur- 
ray, A.M. and J.U.B. with a Dedication to the Re- 
verend Dr, Baldwm, Provost of Trinity College, 
Dublin : in which the translator makes the following 
asserti6n. '* The noble Venetian, who was the au- 
thor of this performance originally, had no occasion 
to court the sanction of an illustrious name for his 
protection. The novelty of Adam's story, in a coun- 
try where the Scriptures are forbidden, must have 
recommended him; but it's the patronage of one 
eminent for learning must apologize for the publish- 
ing a Divine Romance in the British nation ; for so 
Milton, the great ornament of English poetry, calls 
it, and acknowledges to have received some qf%s 
finest hints from this Work. Though my author 
is her;e and there guilty of almost inexcusable pueri- 
lities, and impertinent reflections; yet if we consider 
his virtues, and the many fine pictures which, he ori- 
ginally dehneated for the masterly hand of his suc- 
cessor, Milton, to colour and finish ; we must forget 
his faults, and ascribe them to no defect in his genius, 
but to the mistaken notions of the Italians concern- 
ing the true Sublime; a crime, whifch may, with 
justice, be imputed to some of their best pro- 
ductions,'* Where Milton has made the preceding 
acknowledgement, Mr. Murray 'has not informed us. 
However, I examined the work of Loredano with 
greater eagerness and attention, after I had met 
with this remarkable assertion ; and was enabled, in 
consequence, to express my opinion, that some pas- 
sages in this Italian biography may perhaps be con- 

£e2 



1 AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

sidered as affording suggestions of scenery and de- 
scription to the English poet* To the Adamo of 
Loredano^ I ihay add, as a work . which proha- 
hly did not escape the notice of Milton, ** UEva 
di Federico Malipiero, 12mo. Venet. 1640." For 
to some parts of this obscure and forgotten pro- 
duction a trifling resemblance or two may be 
traced. 

it is not improbable that Pona and Lored^io were 
acquainted with Milton ; that they were among those 
discerning persons, who " in the private academies of 
Italy, whither," the poet tells us,/' ® he was favoured 
to resort," fostered his blooming genius by their ap- 
probation and encouragement. Loredano vsraa the 
founder of the Accademia degli Incogniti. His house 
at Venice was the constant r<esort of learned men. 
Gaddi, an Italian friend whom Milton names^ and 
who has P celebrated the foundation of the academy, 
would hardly fail to introduce the young Englishman 
to the founder of it, if by no other means he had be- 
come known to him. 

Italy, then, will probably be thought to have con- 
firmed, if not to have excited, the design of Milton 
to sing " Man's disobedience, and the mortal taste of 
the forbidden fruit." 

• See the Preface to his Church Government, B. ii. and his 
Epitaph. Damon, v. 133, &c. 

I* See Jacobi Gaddii Adlocutiones, et Elogia, &c. Florentiee, 
1636, 4to. p. 38. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 




Yet a very learned and interesting writer has 
questioned the propriety of ascribing such honour to 
Italy. " If we are to refer Milton's work," says Mr. 
"^ Turner, " to any other suggestion than to his own 
piety and to the Scriptures, there seems much more 
reason to give the honour to our venerable Cedmon, 
than to the heterogeneous comedy of Andreini, which 
there is no proof that Milton ever read, and the be- 
ginning of which could only disgust his correct taste. 
Indeed, if we recollect our old mysteries on the same 
subjects, there appears still less occasion to go to 
Italy in search of that which we may find at home." 
Whether the reader will subscribe entirely to this 
opinion, I greatly doubt ; but I am certain he will 
be highly gratified by the extracts drawn with taste 
and ingenuity, by Mr. Turner, from the venerable 
Anglo-Saxon poetical narration. I must first ob- 
serve, that this supposed obligation of Milton to Ced- 
mon was also long since mentioned, and at the same 
time questioned. " I hope your translator," says the 
learned bishop Nicholson to Humphrey WaiJey, in 
1705, " will oblige us with the reasons of his opinion 
(if he still continues in it) that a good part of Mil- 
ton's Paradise was borrowed from Cedraon's. I can 
hardly think these two poets under the direction of 
the same spirit ; and I never could find (I think his 
Introduction to our English History rather evinces 
the contrary) that Oliver's secretary was so great a 



•■ Hist, of the Anglo-Saxons, 2d edit. 4lo. 1807. Preface, 
and Vol. m. 309, seq. 




lii AN INaUIRY INTO THE 

master of the Saxon langua^e^ as to be able to make 
Cedmon's paraphrase his own '/' We now revert to 
Mr, Turner. 

^* Various speculations/' he observes, *' have been 
made on the sources to which Milton has been in- 
debted for the subject of his great poem. The ex- 
tracts, cited from our Cedmon, shew that this ancient 
poet has anticipated somewhat of the Miltonick cha- 
racter and agency of Satan. It is also remarkable 
that both Cedmon and Milton begin their poems 
with stating the fall of Satan, and his expulsion from 
Heaven. Cedmon's paraphrase was printed by Ju- 
nius, who lived much in England in 1655. Milton 
is said by Aubrey to have begun his Paradise Lost 
two years before the restoration, or in 1658. It is 
presumed to have been finished in 1665, and its first 
edition appeared in 1667. As our immortal poet 
wrote the history of the Anglo-Saxon times^ and in 
that quotes a Saxon document, the Saxon Chronicle, 
we may bdiieve him to have been interested by such 
an important part of their literature as Cedmon's 
paraphrase, which, though printed at Amsterdam, 
must, from the connections of Junius, who had the 
MSS. from Archbishop Usher, have been much 
known in England. Cedmon's poem is, in the first 
part, a Paradise Lost, in rude miniature. It con- 
tains the fall of the angels, the creation, the tempta- 
tion of Eve, and the expulsion from Paradise. In 

'' Bp. Nicholson's Correspond* vol, ii. p. 651 . 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



liii 



its first topick, the fall of the angels, it exhibits 
much of a Miltonick spirit ; and if it were clear that 
our illustrious bard had been familiar with Saxon, 
we should be induced to think that he owed some- 
thing to the paraphrase of Cedmon. No one at least 
can read Cedmon without feeling the idea intruding 
upon his mind. As the subject is curious, I shall 
make no apology for very copious extracts from 
Cedmon, translated as literally as possible : 



" On the Fall of the Angels* 



it 



To us it is much right 

that we the Ruler of the firma- 
ment, 

the Glory-King of Hosts, 

with words should praise, 

with minds should love. 

He is in power abundant, 

High Head of all creatures, 

Almighty Lord ! 

There was not to him ever be- 
ginning 

nor origin made ; 

nor now end cometh. 

Eternal Lord ! 

But he will be always powerful 

over heaven's stools ", 

in high majesty, 

truth-fast and very strenuous, 

Ruler of the bosoms of the sky ! 
Then were they set 

wide and ample, 

thro* God's power. 



for the children of glory, 
for the guardians of spirits. 
They had joy and splendor, 
and their beginning-origin, 
the hosts of angels ; 
bright bliss was their great fruit. 
The glory-fast thegns 
praised the King : 
they said willingly praise 
to their Life -Lord ; 
they obeyed his domination with 
virtues. 
They were very happy ; 
sins they knew not ; 
nor to frame crimes : 
but they in peace lived 
with their Eternal Elder. 
Otherwise they began not 
to rear in the sky, 
except right and truths 
before the Ruler of the ai^els, 
for pride divided them in error. 



' '* I use the term in the originaU because such expressions as have any allu- 
sion to ancient manners should always be preserved." 



liv 



AN INQUIRY INTO THE 



They would not prolong 
council for themselves ! 
but they from self-love 
throw off God's. 
They had much pride • 
that they against the Lord 
would divide 
the glory-fast place, 
the majesty of their hostd, 
the wide and bright sky. 

To him their grief happened, 
envy, and pride ; 
to that angel's mind 
that this ill counsel 
began first to frame ^ 
to weave and wake. 

Then he words said^ 
darkened with iniquity, 
that he in the north part 
a home and high seat 
of heaven's kingdom 
would possess. 

Then was God angry, 
and with the host wrath 
that he before esteemed 
illustrious and glorious. 
He made for those perfidious 
an exiled home, 
a work of retribution, 
Hell's groans and hard hatreds. 
Our Lord commanded the pu^ 

nishment-house 
for the exiles to abide, 
deep, joyless, 
the rulers of spirits* 

When he it ready knew ' 
with perpetual night foul, 
sulphur including, 
over it full fire 



and extensive cold, 
with smoke and red flame, 
he commanded them over 
the mansion, void of council, 
to increase the terror-punish- 
ment. 

They had provoked accusa- 
tion; 
grim against God gathered to- 
gether, 
to them was grim retribution 

come. 
They said, that they the king- 
dom 
with fierce mind would possess, 
and so easily might. 
Them the hope deceived, 
after the Governor, 
the high King of Heaven, 
his hands upreared. 
He pursued against the crowd ; 
nor might the void of mind, 
vile against their Maker, 
enjoy might. 

Their loftiness of mind departed, 
their pride was diminished. 

Then was he angry ; 
he struck his enemies 
with victory and power, 
with judgement and virtue, 
and took away joy : 
peace from his enemies, 
and all pleasure : 
Illustrious Lord ! 
and his anger wreaked 
on the enemies greatly, 
in their own |)Ower 
deprived of strength. 

He had a stern mind. 



p* — --^ 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOiST. 



Iv 



grimly provoked ; 

he seized in his wrath 

on the limbs of his enemies, 

and them in pieces broke, 

wrathful in mind. 

He deprived of their country 

his adversaries, 

from the stations of glory 

he made and cut off, 

Our Creator ! 

the proud race of angels from 

heav'n ; 
the faithless host. 
The Governor sent 
the hated army 
on a long journey, 
with mourning speech. 



To them was glory lost, 
their threats broken, 
their majesty curtailed, 
stained in splendor ; 
they in exile afterwards 
pressed on their black way. 
They needed not loud to laugh ; 
but they in Hell's torments 
weary remained, and knew 

woe, 
sad and sorry : 
they endured sulphur, 
covered with darkness, 
a heavy recompence, 
because they had begun 
to fight against God. 



Ced. p. 1,2.. 



" But that part of Cedmon which is the most ori- 
ginal product of his own fancy, is his account of 
Satan's hostility. To us, the Paradise Lost of Mil- 
ton has made this subject peculiarly interesting ; and 
as it will be curious to see how an old Saxon poet 
has previously treated it, we shall give another copir 
ous extract. Some of the touches bring to mind a 
few of Milton's conceptions. But in Cedmon the 
finest thoughts are abruptly introduced, and very 
roughly and imperfectly expressed. In Milton the 
same ideas are detailed in all the majesty of his dio- 
tion, and are fully displayed with that vigour of in- 
tellect in which hq has no superior. 



" The universal Ruler had 
of the angelic race, 
through his hand-power, 



The holy Lord ! 

a fortress established. 

To them he well trusted 



Ivi 



AN INQUIRY INTO THE 



that they his service 

would follow, 

would do his will; 

For this he gave them under* 

standing, 
and with his hands made them. 
The Holy Lord 
had stationed them 
80 happily. 

One he had so 
strongly made, 
so mighty, 

in his mind's thought ; 
he let him rule so much ; 
the highest in heaven's king* 

dom; 
he had made him 
so splendid ; 
so beautiful 
was his fruit in heaven, 
which to him came 
from the Lord of Hosts ; 
that he was like 
the brilliant stars. 

Praise ought he 
to have made to his Lord ; 
,fae should have valued dear 
bis joys in heaven ; 
he should have thanked his Lord 
for the bounty which 
in that brightness he shared ; 
when he was permitted 
so long to govern. 

But he departed from it 



to a worse thing. 

He began to upheave strife 

against the Governor 

of the highest heaven, 

that sits on the holy seat. 

Dear was he to our Lord ; 

from whom it could not be hid, 

that his angel began 

to be over proud. 

He raised himself 
against his Master ; 
he sought inflaming speeches ; 
he began vainglorious ivords ; 
he would not serve God ; 
he said he was his equal 
in light and shining ; 
as white and as bright in 

hue. 
Nor could he find it in his 

mind 
to render obedience 
to his God, 
to his King. 
He thought in himself 
that he could have subjects 
of more might and skill 
than the Holy God. 

Spake many wortis 
this angel of pride. 
He thought through his own 

craft 
that he could make 
a more stronglike seat, 
higher in the heavens. 



" Satan is represented as uttering this soliloquy, 
which begins with doubting about his enterprise, but 
ends in a detemunation to pursue it : 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



Ivii 



•* Why should I contend ? 
I cannot have 

any creature for my superior ! 
I may with my hands 
so many wonders work ! 
and I must have great power 
to acquire a more godlike stool, 
higher in the heavens ! 

Yet why should I 
sue for his grace ? 
or bend to him 
with any obedience ? 
I may be 
a god, as he is. 
Stand by me, 
strong companions ! 
who will not deceive me 
in this contention. 
Warriori^ of hardy mind ! 



they have chosen me 

for their superior ; 

illustrious soldiers ! 

with such, indeed, 

one may take counsel ! 

with such folk 

may seize a station ! 

My earnest friends they are, 

faithful in the effusions of their 

mind. 
I may, as their leader, 
govern in this kingdom. 
So I think it not right, 
nor need I 
flatter any one, 
as if to any gods 
a god inferior. 
I will no longer 
remain his subject'. 



"After narrating the consequent anger of the Deity, 
and the defeat and expulsion of Satan^ the poet thus 
describes his abode in the infernal regions : 



" The fiend, with all his fol- 
lowers, 
fell then out of heaven ; 
during the space 
of three nights and days ; 
the angeh from heaven 
into hell ; and them all 
the Lord turned into devils : 
because that they 
his deed and word 
would not reverence. 
For this, into a worse light 



under the earth beneath 
the Almighty God 
placed them, defeated ; 
in the black hell. 
There have they for ever, 
for an immeasurable length, 
each of the fiends, 
fire always renewed. 
There comes at last 
the eastern wind, 
the cold frost 
mingling with the fires. 



' t. e, his younger. 



Iviii 



AN INQUIRY INTO THE 



Always fire or arrows, 

some hard tortures, 

they must have : 

it was made for their punish* 

mefat. 
Their world was turned tound. 
Hell was filled 
with execrations.— 

They suffer the punishment 
of their battle against their 

Ruler ; 
the fierce torrents of fire 



in the midst of heU : 
brands and broad flames ; 
so likewise bitter smoke, 
vapour, and darkness. — 

They were all fallen 
to the bottom of that fire 
in the hot hell, 
thro' their folly and pride. 
Sought they other land, 
it was all void of light, 
and full of fire, 
a great journey of fire 



" Another of Sat&n's speeches may be cited : 



" Then spake the overproud 
king, 
that was before 
of angels the most shining ; 
the whitest in heaven ; 
by his Master beloved, 
to his Lord endeared ; 
till he turned to evil — 
Satan said, 
ynih sorrowing speech — 

Is this the narrow place, 
unlike, indeed, to the others 
which we before knew, 
high in heaven*s kingdom, 
that my Master puts me in ? 
But those we must not have, 
by the Omnipotent 
deprived of our kingdom. 
He hath not done us right, 
that he hath filled us 
with fire to the bottom 
of this hot hell, 

and taken away heaven*s king- 
dom. 



He hath marked that 

with mankind 

to be settled. , 

This is to me the greatest sorrow, 

that Adam shall, 

he that was made of earth, 

my stronglike stool possess. 

He is to be thus happy, 

while we suffer punishment ; 

misery in this hell ! 

Oh that I had free 

the power of my hands, 

and might for a time 

be out; 

for one winter's space, 

I and my army ! 

but iron bonds 

lay around me ! 

knots of chains press me down ! 

I am kingdomless ! 

hell's, fetters 

hold me so hard, 

so fast encompass me ! 

Here are mighty flames 



ORIOIN OF PARADISE LOST. 



lix 



above aitd beneath ; 

I never saw 

a more hateful landscape. 

This fire never languishes ; 

hot over hell, 

encircling rings, 

biting manacles, 

forbid my course. 

My army is taken from me, 

my feet are bound, 

my hands imprisoned ! — • 

Thus hath God confined me. 

Hence I perceive 

that he knows my mind. 

The Lord of Hosts 

likewise knows 

that Adam should from us 



suffer evil 

about heaven's kingdom, 

if I had the powerof my hands*- 

He hath now marked out 
a middle region ; 
where he hath made man 
after his likeness. 
From him he will 
again settle 

the kingdom of heaven 
with pure souls. 
We should to this end 
diligently labour, 
that we on Adam^ 
if we ever may, 
and on his offspring, 
work some revenge. 



" After explaining his plan of seducing Adam to 
disobedience^ he adds^ 



" If, when king, 
toanyofmythegns 
I formerly gave treasures ; 
when we in that good kingdom 
sat haf^y, 
and had the power of our 

thrones ; 
when he to me, 
in that beloved time, 
could give no recompence, 
to repay my favour ; 
let him now again, 
some one of my thegns, 
become my helper, 
that he may escape hence 
thro' these barriers ; 
that he with wings may fly, 



may wind into the sky, 
to where Adam and Eve 
staikd created on the earth* — 

If any of you 
could by any means change 

them, 
that they God's word, 
his command would neglect, 
soon they to him 
would become odious. 
If Adam break thro* 
his obedience, 
then with them would the 

Supreme 
become enraged, 
and award their punishment. 

Strive ye all for this. 



Ix AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

how ye may deceive them ! a reward shall be ready- 
Then shall I repose softly, I will set him 
even in these bonds. ^ near to myself. 
To hhn that succeeds Cedm. 6 — 1 1 ."- 



An old English mystery also has been '^ lately 
cited^ as a rude dramatick outhne of the subject of 
the Paradise Lost ; but the speeches of Deus and 
of Lucifer, which have been extracted from it, 
afford not a ray of assimilation to Milton. 

Mr. Bowie, in his catalogue of poets who have 
treated Milton's subject before him, mentions Al- 
cimus Avitus, archbishop of Vienna, who wrote a 
poem, in Latin hexameters, De Initio Mundi, et 
primorum Parentum Creatione ; but offers little 
else respecting it. Possibly some of the sentiments 
and expressions, in this poem, might arrest the no- 
tice of Milton. In the notes on Paradise Lost, an 
example or two, in support of this supposition^ will 
be found. The reader may not here be displeased 
with the extensive description which this author has 
given of Satan's reflection on the happiness he h^ 
lost, his envy on beholding our first parents, and his 
determination of drawing them into his own misera- 
ble state. Lib. ii. cap. 3. 

" Plus doluit periisse sibi, quod possidet alter. 
** Tunc mixtus cum felle pudor sic pectore questus 
Explicat, et tali suspiria voce relaxat. 

Proh dolor! hoc nobis subitum consurgere plasma. 



it 



Gait's Life of Wolsey, 1824, p. 268. 






ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. Ixi 

" Invisumque genus nostiu crevisse ruina ? 
" Me celsum virtus habuit ; nunc ecce neglectus 
" Pellor, et angelico limus succedit honori : 
'' Coelum terra tenet, vili compage levata 
" Regnat humus ; nobisque perit translata potestas. 
Nee tamen in totum periit ; pars magna retentat 
Vim propriam ; summaque cluet virtute nocendi. 
" "Nil difFerre juvat : jam nunc certamine blando 
" Congrediar^ dum prima salus, experta nee ullos 
** Simplicitas ignava doles ad tela parebit. 
" Nam melius soli capientur fraude^ priusquam 
'' Fo8Cundam mittant aeterna in secula prolem. 
" Nil immoitale h terra prodire sinendum est : 
" Fons generis pereat ; capitis defectio membiis 
" Semen mortis erit ; pariat discrimina leti 
" Vitae principium ; cuncti feriantur in uno: 
'' Non faciet vivum radix occisa eacumen ! 
Hsec mihi dejecto tantiim solatia restant : 
Si hequeo clauses iterum censcendere coelos, 
His quoque claudentur : levins cecidisse putandum ^st 
'' Si nova perdatur simili substantia casu. 
" Sit comes excidii, subeat consortia poense ; 
Et quos praevideo nobiscum dividat ignes ! 
Sed ne difficilis fallendi causa putetur 
" Hsec monstranda via est, dudum quam saepe cucurri 
'' In pronum lapsus : quae me jactantia eoelo 
" Expulit, haee hominem paradisi h limine pellat J^ 

Then follows his assuming the form of the serpent, 
and his temptation of Eve preceded by a most flat- 
tering commendation of her beauty. Phillips, in his 
"" account of this author, adds the nam^: of Claudius 
Marius Victor, a rhetorician of Marseilles, who also 
wrote upon Genesis in hexameters. The produc- 

"" Theat. Poet. edit. 1675. Ancient Peets, p. 12. 



€« 
€€ 






Ixii . AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

tions of these two poets were pubKshed together in 
a small quarto at Paris in 1545^ and afterwards. I 
find, in the composition of Victor, nothing worthy 
of citation. 

Pantaleon Candidus, a German poet, has a copy 
of verses, I observe, in his Loci communes theolo- 
gici, &C. Basil. 8vo. 1570, p« 24, entitled Lapsus 
Ad€B ; and in a nuptial hymn, in the same volume, 
p. 110, he has painted the creation of Eve in lines 
not unworthy the attention of Milton. 

" Ergo, novum molitus opus. Pater ipse profundum 
** Instillat somnum, cui jam in tellure jacenti 
** Eximit insertam lato sub pectore costam, 
** Explens came locum, sed enim pulcherrima visu 
" FoBmina, qusB donis superaret quicquid in orbe est, 
" Exoritur ; qualis primo ciim Lucifer ortu 
^* Evehit auricomum gemmatit luce nitorem. 
*' Nee mora surgenti h somnis, lucemque tuenti, 
" Matronam insignem Genitor vult6que decoram 
" Obtulit ante oculos Adae : miratur honorem 

Egregium, et toto fulgentem pectore formam ; 
" Agnoscitque suo sumptum de corpore corpus, 

Et sic incipiens Iseto tandem ore profatur : 
Aspicio, accipi6que libens tua maxima rerum 

Munera largitor, nostris ex ossibus ossa. 

Formata in teneros humani corporis artus 

Offers, egregiaque thori me compare donas/' 8cc. 



€t 

€« 
«« 
t€ 
4€ 



I must not omit to mention an English poem, 
relating to the state of innocence, entitled " The 
Glasse of Time in the two first Ages, divinely 
handled by Thomas Peyton, of Lincolne's Inne, 
Gent." 4 to. Lortd. 1623 ; and to observe ako that 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. Ixiii 

Part of Du Bartas had been translated into verse, 
and published, before the first edition of Sylvester's, 
" by William Lisle of Wilburgham, Esquier for the 
King's body," namely, in 1596 and 1598, and again 
in 1625. Lisle's compound epithets, in his transla- 
tion, are numerous, and sometimes very beautiftil. 
Sylvester has often merit also of this kind : but Syl- 
vester is not always original : his shining phrases 
may be frequently traced in contemporary or pre- 
ceding poets. In justice, however, to this laborious 
and amusing writer, I shall here close my remarks 
with a detached specimen of his poetry ; to which, 
if Milton has been indebted, the temptation of the 
Serpent in Paradise Lost affords such a contrast, 
that the reader will be at no loss how to appreciate 
the improvement. 

" Eve, second honour of this vniverse ! 
" Is't true (I pray) that jealous God, perverse, 
" Forbids (quoth he) both you, and all your race, 
'' All the fair fruits these siluer brooks embrace ; 
" So oft bequeath'd you, and by you possest, 
" And day and night by your own labour drest ? 

" With th' air of these sweet words, the wily Snake 

" A poysoned air inspired (as it spake) 
In Eve's frail brest ; who thus replies : O ! knowe, 
Whate'er thou be, (but thy kind care doth showe 

*' A gentle friend,) that all the fruits and flowrs 

*' In this earth's-heav'n are in our hands and powrs, 

" Except alone that goodly fruit diuine, 

" Which in the midst of this green ground dudi shine ; 

•' But all good" God (alas ! I wot not why) 

" Forbad us touch that tree, on pain to dy. — 

F f 



4t 






bUT AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

** She ceast ; already brooding in ber heart 
" A curious wish, that will her weal subvert. 

" As a false louer^ that thick snares hath laid 
" T' intrap the honour of a fair young maid, 
•• When she (though little) listning ear affords 
** To his sweety courting, deep-affected words. 

Feels some asswaging of his freezing flame. 

And sooths himself with hope to gain his game ; 

And, rapt with joy, vpon this point persists, 
•' That parleing city never long resists : 
** Even so the Serpent, that dpth counterfet 
•• A guileful call t' allure vs to his net, 
'* Perceiuing Eve his flatterkig gloze digest, 
'' He prosecutes ; and, jocund, doth not rest, 
" Till he haue try'd foot, hand, and head, and all, 
" Vpon the breach of this new-battered wall. 

" No, Fair, (quoth he) beleeve not that the care 
" God hath, mankinde from spoyling death to spare, 
" Makes him forbid you (on so strict condition) 
" This purest, fairest, rarest fruitls fruition. 
" A double fear, an envie, and a haite, 
" His iealous heart for euer cruciate ^ 

Sidi the suspected vertue of this tree 

Shall soon disperse the cloud of idiocy. 

Which dims your eyes ; and, further, make you seem 

(Excelling vs) even equall gods to him^ 
•• O World's rare glory ! reach thy happy hand, 
** Reach, reach, I say ; why dost thou stop or stand ? 
** Begin thy bliss, and do not fear the threafi 
'* Of an vncertain God-head, onely great 

Through self-aw'd zeal : Put on the glistering pall 

Of immortality ; Do not forestall 

(As envious stepdame) thy* posteritie 
•* The soverain honour of Divinitie." 

Sylvester's Du Bartas, edit. 1621, pp. 192, 193. 

As Milton has been supposed to have been much 



n 



€t 



OHtOIS OF PARADISE LOST. 




obliged to other poets in describing the unsuhdued 
spirit of Satan, especially where he says, 

" Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven ;" 

I am tempted to make an extract or two from Staf- 
ford's Niohe, a prose-viorV already " mentioned, in 
which Satan speaks the following words ; not dissi- 
milar to passages in Fletcher and Crashaw, which 
have been cited, on the same subject. 

" They say, forsooth, that pride was the cause of ray fall ; 
and that I dwell where there is nothing but weeping, howl- 
ing, and gaa^hing of teeth ; of which that falsehood was the 
authour, I will make you plainelie perceiue. True it is. 
Sir, that I (storming at the itame of supremade) sought to 
depose mt/ Creatoiir ; which the watchful, all-seeing eye of 
Prouidence finding, degraded me of my angelicall dignitie, 
diapossessed me of all pleasures; and the Seraphiu, and 
Cherubin, Throni, Doniinationes, Virtutes, Potestates, 
Principatus, Arch-angeli, Angeli, and all the celestiall 
Kierarchyes, (with a shout of applause,) simg mi/ departure 
out of heauen : my Alleluia was turned into an £hu ; and 
too soone I found, that I was coiruptibilis ab alio, though 
not in alio ; and that he, that gaue me my being, could 
againe take it from mee. Now, for as much as I was once 
an Angeli of light, it was the will of Wisedome to confine me 
to darknes, and to create me Prince tliereof: that so I, WHO 

COULD NOT OBEY IN HeAVEN, MIGHT COMMAUND IN 

Hell. And, belieue mee. Sir, I had rather controule within 
mif dark diocese, than to reinhabite ccelum emporium, and there 
Hue in subjection, vnder check." Edit. 1611, pp. 16 — 18, 
part the second. Stafford calls Satan the " grim-visag'd 
Goblin," ibid. p. 86. And, in the first part of the book, ho- 

' See the Note ", p. 386. 




Ixvi AN INQUIRY INTO THE 

describes the devil as having '^ committed incest with his 
daughter, the World." p. 3. 

I have thus brought together opinions, delivered 
at different periods, respecting the Origin of Para- 
dise Lost ; and have humbly endeavoured to trace, 
in part, the reading of the great poet, subservient to 
his plan. More successful discoveries will probably 
arise from the pursuits of those, viho are devoted to 
patient and liberal investigation. " ' Videlicet hoc 
illud est praecipue studiorum genus, quod vigiliis 
augescat ; ut cui subinde ceu fluminibus ex decursu, 
sic accedit ex lectione mihutatim quo fiat uberius.'* 
To such persons may be recommended the masterly 
observations of him, Mrho v^as once so far imposed 
upon as to believe Lauder an honest man, and Mil- 
ton a plagiary ; but who expressed, when '' * Dowg- 
Uls and Truth appeared," the ^ strongest indignation 
against the envious impostor : for they are observa- 
tions resulting from a wish not to depreciate, but 
zealously to praise, the Paradise Lost. " *" Among 
the inquiries, to which this ardour of criticism has 
naturally given occasion, none is more obscure in 
itself, or more worthy of rational curiosity, than a 
retrospect of the progress of this mighty genius in 

* Politian. Miscellaneorum Praef. 

* The Progress of Envy, an excellent poem occasioned by 
Lauder's attack on the character of Milton. See Lloyd's Poems, 
1762, p. 221. 

^ So bishop Douglas told the affectionate biographer of Dr. 
Johnson. See Boswell's Life o( Johnson, vol. i, p. 197, edit. 
1799. 

^ See Bosweirs Life of Johnson, vol. !• p. 199. 



ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. Ixvii 

the construction of his work ; a view of the fabrick 
graduaUy rising, perhaps, from smaU beginnings, till 
its foundation rests in the center, and its turrets 
sparkle in the skies; to trace back the structure, 
through all its varieties, to the simplicity of its first 
plan ; to find what was first projected, whence the 
scheme was taken, how it was improved, by what 
assistance it was executed, and from what stores 
the materials were collected; whether its founder 
dug them from the quarries of Nature, or demolished 
other buildings to embellish his own." 

I may venture to add that, in such inquiries, pati- 
ence will be invigorated rather than dispirited ; and 
every new discovery will teach us more and more to 
admire the genius, the erudition, and the memory, 
of the inimitable Milton. Todd. 



THE END. 



LONDOXs 

FRINTRD BY R. GILBERT, ST. JOUN'S SQUARE. 



f 



li 



DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. 



The fac-simile is to face p. 84. 

The half sheet 293—300^ and the same 309—316, are cancels. 



J 



I 



L 



f 



IV 



V*