CHAPTER XXII JOHN MILTON, 1608-1674 "The first place among our English poets is due to Milton." - ADDISON. "Milton, the poet, the statesman, the philosopher, the glory of English literature, the champion and the martyr of English liberty."— MACAULAY. JOHN MILTON, the illustrious poet, was born in London in 1608. His father was a scrivener or writer, and moneylender, well-to-do in the world, and both anxious and ready to give his son a good education. From his earliest years Milton gave great promise of becoming a profound scholar and a splendid poet. He was educated at St. Paul's School, and at the age of sixteen entered Trinity College, Cambridge. Leaving Cambridge in 1632, he went to reside at his father's villa at Horton. He studied at this place for five years with severe application, devoting himself particularly to the Greek and Roman classics. In the intervals of his studies he produced "L'Allegro," "Il Penseroso," and "Comus." In 1637 he made a tour through France and Italy, and in the latter country cultivated the personal friendship of the leading Italian writers of the time. He also had an interview with Galileo. On his return to England he founded a private boarding school. It is said that he never received fees from his pupils, but undertook the work of education as a high moral duty, the discharge of which he felt incumbent upon him. While ostensibly a private gentleman keeping a select school, he was virtually one of the leading spirits in the controversial age in which he lived; he was its most able and most active political pamphleteer. In those times, before there were newspapers to express or to lead public opinion, the political pamphlet wielded an influence which it is difficult for us now to realize. The full weight of Milton's literary influence was thrown into the scales in favor of the Puritan party. His polemi In cal disquisition was resistless, and his denunciation terrible. His reputation as a pamphleteer as a recognized political power in the realmwas known over Europe. graceful recognition of his services he was appointed Latin Secretary to Cromwell in 1649. In this capacity he was commissioned by the Council to write a "Defense of the People of England," as the rejoinder to the "Defense of Charles the First," by the celebrated philologist, Salmasius of Leyden. In the composition of this great work, which he wrote in Latin, his hitherto weak eyesight JOHN MILTON gave way, and he became utterly blind. He died in 1674. The Restoration was, of course, an ill-omened event to Milton. His pen had dealt sternly with the beheaded king, and he dared not to look for much mercy from his son. He hid himself in the house of a friend, and his political works were publicly burnt by the common hang In man. He, however, escaped personal molestation. poverty, blindness, and severe domestic affliction, he hid himself in an obscure part of London; and there, in the winter of life, with hopes blasted and energies unrequited, he in his blindness dictated to his daughters his great epic, "Paradise Lost," which was published in 1667. A publisher could hardly be found at all sufficiently speculative to undertake the risk of producing the work; and the sum of eighteen pounds was all that was ever received by the author and his family as their share of the profits of "Paradise Lost." This great epic consists of twelve books, and is written in sonorous and stately blank verse. Its subject is an embellished and much-extended version of the Mosaic account of the fall of man, in which the author involves the expulsion from heaven of Satan and the rebel angels. It contains passages of overpowering eloquence, grandeur of conception, and transcendent sublimity of poetic range. The work is still largely read and copiously quoted. In our literature there is no parallel work; no work, indeed, which we are justified in mentioning either in comparison or contrast with it. The principal works of Milton to which we have not already referred are his "Paradise Regained," "Lycidas,” "Samson Agonistes," "Ode to the Nativity," and Sonnets. His prose works, among which we may name his "Areopagitica," "Eikonoclastes," and "History of England,” were exceedingly numerous, and are sufficient of themselves to support no mean literary reputation. Milton was three times married; and, upon the whole, his domestic life was an unhappy one. In his youth he was decidedly handsome, both in face and figure. His manners were simple and unaffected, and his morality austere and rigid. The following portraiture of the great poet is given by Fenton: "The color of his hair was a light brown, the symmetry of his features exact, enlivened with an agreeable air. His stature did not exceed the middle size, neither too lean nor corpulent. In his diet he was abstemious, not delicate in the choice of his dishes, and strong liquors of all kinds were his aversion. His deportment was erect, open, affable; his conversation easy, cheerful, instructive; his wit on all occasions at command, facetious, grave, or satirical, as the subject required." LYCIDAS In this Monody the Author bewails a learned friend, unfortunately drowned in his passage from Chester, on the Irish seas, 1637. And by occasion foretells the ruin of our corrupted clergy, then in their height. YET once more, O ye laurels, and once more, I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. Begin, then, sisters of the sacred well, 10 15 5 Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string. With lucky words favor my destined urn, And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud. For we were nursed upon the selfsame hill, Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night, 20 25 30 Towards heaven's descent had sloped his westering wheel. Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute; Tempered to the aten flute, Rough satyrs danced, and fauns with cloven heel But, oh! the heavy change, now thou art gone, The willows, and the hazel copses green, Shall now no more be seen Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. As killing as the canker to the rose, Or taintworm to the weanling herds that graze, Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. 35 40 45 Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep 50 |