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Extreme pleasant in his conversation, and at dinner, supper, &c.; but satirical. . . . He had an organ in his house; he His exercise was chiefly walking. . . . His "familiar learned acquaintances were Mr. Andrew Marvel, Mr. "Skinner, Dr. Paget, M.D."1

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played on that most.

Those

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Phillips's Account:-"He was frequently visited [in his house in ` "Petty France] by persons of quality, particularly my lady Ranelagh, "whose son for some time he instructed; all learned foreigners of note, who could not pass out of the city without giving a visit to a "person so eminent; and, lastly, by particular friends that had a high "esteem for him,-viz. Mr. Andrew Marvel; young Lawrence (the son of him that was president of Oliver's Council), to whom there is a sonnet among the rest in his printed poems; Mr. Marchamont "Needham, the writer of Politicus; but, above all, Mr. Cyriack Skinner, whom he honoured with two sonnets. "[daughters] he had by his first [wife], he made serviceable to him "in that very particular in which he most wanted their service, and supplied his want of eyesight by their eyes and tongue; for, though "he had daily about him one or other to read to him,—some, persons of man's estate, who of their own accord greedily catched "at the opportunity of being his readers, that they might as well reap "the benefit of what they read to him as oblige him by the benefit "of their reading; others, of younger years, sent by their parents to "the same end,—yet, excusing only the eldest daughter by reason of "her bodily infirmity and difficult utterance of speech (which, to say truth, I doubt, was the principal cause of excusing her), the other "two were condemned to the performance of reading and exactly "pronouncing of all the languages of whatever book he should at one "time or other think fit to peruse, viz. the Hebrew (and, I think, "the Syriac), the Greek, the Latin, the Italian, Spanish, and French. "All which sorts of books to be confined to read without under

standing one word must needs be a trial of patience almost 'beyond endurance; yet it was endured by both for a time. . . "There [in Jewin-street] he lived when he married his third wife,

1 Aubrey's Lives, published 1813, from the MS. notes in the Bodleian. These notes were written about 1680, and sent to Anthony Wood at Oxford. Aubrey had known Milton personally, and collected particulars about him from his widow, his nephew Edward Phillips, his brother Christopher Milton, and other persons.

"recommended to him by his old friend, Dr. Paget in Coleman "Street."

"1

The Quaker Ellwood's Recollection of his First Acquaintance with Milton in 1662 :-"I mentioned before that, when I was a boy, I had "made some progress in learning, and lost it all again before I came "to be a man; nor was I rightly sensible of my loss therein till I came amongst the Quakers. But then I both saw my loss and "lamented it, and applied myself with utmost diligence, at all leisure "times, to recover it; so false I found that charge to be which in "those times was cast as a reproach upon the Quakers, that they

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despised and denied all human learning. . . . But, though I toiled hard, and spared no pains to regain what once I had been master of, yet I found it a matter of so great difficulty that I was ready to say, as the noble eunuch to Philip in another case, 'How can I, "unless I had some man to guide me?' This I had formerly

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complained of to my especial friend Isaac Pennington, but now more earnestly; which put him upon considering, and contriving a means "for my assistance. He had an intimate acquaintance with Dr. Paget, a physician of note in London, and he with John Milton, a gentleman of great note for learning throughout the learned world, "for the accurate pieces he had written on various subjects and "occasions. This person, having filled a public station in the "former times, lived now a private and retired life in London; and, "having wholly lost his sight, kept always a man to read to him,— "usually the son of some gentleman of his acquaintance, whom, in "kindness, he took to improve in his learning. Thus, by the media"tion of my friend Isaac Pennington with Dr. Paget, and of Dr. Paget with John Milton, was I admitted to come to him: not as a "servant of his (which at that time he needed not), nor to be in the "house with him, but only to have the liberty of coming to his house "at certain hours when I could, and to read to him what books he "should appoint me; which was all the favour I desired. But, this "being a matter which would require some time to bring it about, I, "in the mean time, returned to my father's house in Oxfordshire. . . . "Understanding that the mediation used for my admittance to John "Milton had succeeded so well that I might come when I could, I "hastened to London, and in the first place went to wait upon him.

...

1 Phillips's Memoir of Milton, prefixed to the English Edition of Letters of State, 1694.

"He received me courteously, as well for the sake of Dr. Paget, who "introduced me, as of Isaac Pennington, who recommended me; to "both of whom he bore a good respect. And, having inquired divers "things of me with respect to my former progression in learning, he "dismissed me, to provide myself of such accommodation as might "be most suitable to my future studies. I went, therefore, and took myself a lodging as near his house, which was then in Jewin Street, "as conveniently I could; and from thenceforward went every day "in the forenoon, except on the first days of the week, and, sitting by him in his dining-room, read to him in such books in the Latin tongue as he pleased to hear me read. At my first sitting to read to him, observing that I used the English pronunciation, he told me, if I would have the benefit of the Latin tongue, not only to "read and understand Latin authors, but to converse with foreigners "either abroad or at home, I must learn the foreign pronunciation. "To this I consenting, he instructed me how to sound the vowels. . . . "But this change of pronunciation proved a new difficulty to me. . . . "He, on the other hand, perceiving with what earnest desire I σε '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 what I read, and when I did not; and accordingly would stop me, examine me, and open the most diffi"cult passages to me. Thus went I on for about six weeks' time, "reading to him in the afternoons."1

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Bishop Newton's Account:-"In his way of living he was an example of sobriety and temperance. He was very sparing in the use of wine or strong liquors of any kind. . . . He was likewise "very abstemious in his diet, not fastidiously nice or delicate in his "choice of dishes, but content with anything that was most in season, "or easiest to be procured; eating and drinking (according to the "distinction of the philosopher) that he might live, and not living "that he might eat or drink. So that probably his gout descended by inheritance from one or other of his parents; or, if it was of his own acquiring, it must have been owing to his studious and seden'tary life. . . . In his youth he was accustomed to sit up late at his "studies, and seldom went to bed before midnight; but afterwards, "finding it to be the ruin of his eyes, and looking upon this custom 1 Life of Thomas Ellwood, Reprint of 1855, pp. 109-113. Ellwood was about twenty-two years of age at the time to which the extract refers.

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as very pernicious to health at any time, he used to go to rest early, "seldom later than nine, and would be stirring in the summer at four, "and in the winter at five, in the morning! but, if he was not disposed to rise at his usual hours, he still did not lie sleeping, but "had somebody or other by his bedside to read to him. At his first "rising he had usually a chapter read to him out of the Hebrew "Bible, and he commonly studied all the morning till twelve; then "used some exercise for an hour, afterwards dined, and after dinner "played on the organ, and either sung himself or made his wife [the third] sing, who, he said, had a good voice, but no ear; and then "he went up to study again till six, when his friends came to visit him "and sat with him perhaps till eight; then he went down to supper, "which was usually olives or some light thing; and after supper "he smoked his pipe and drank a glass of water, and went to bed."1

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The substance of this information may be thus summed up :— Milton, in his time of total blindness, was as laborious and systematic a student as he had been before, and had his day as regularly distributed into portions for different kinds of work and relaxation. In his readings and literary researches he availed himself of every variety of assistance. In the first place, among the learned friends of some social standing who were in the habit of dropping in upon him, there were, doubtless, some whom he might depend upon for an occasional hour's help, or ask, during a call, to take down a volume for him from his book-shelves. There must have been not a few such friends, but we hear particularly of these five: Dr. Paget of Coleman Street; Andrew Marvell, M.P. for Hull after the Restoration, when he was forty years of age; Marchmont Needham, the political writer, of about the same age as Marvell; "young Lawrence," the son of that better-known Henry Lawrence who had been one of Cromwell's most faithful adherents and was President of his Council from 1654 to 1657; and Cyriack Skinner, an "ingenious young gentleman" of good family, who had formerly been Milton's pupil, and who, in 1659, had been a member, and sometimes chairman, of Harrington's Republican club, called The Rota. To this list may perhaps be added

1 Newton's Life of Milton, prefixed to his edition of Milton's Poetical Works, edit. 1761, pp. lxvi. lxvii. Newton's account of Milton's habits is evidently in part derived from Aubrey and Phillips, but, as it includes one or two interesting particulars which he had picked up elsewhere, I have added it.

2 Wood's Athenæ, by Bliss, iii. 1119.

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the Samuel Barrow, M.D., who wrote the Latin Commendatory Verses prefixed, along with Marvell's English ones, to the second Edition of Paradise Lost. But, whatever occasional help Milton may have received from such friends, it is clear that he had regular help of an independent kind. "He had daily about him," Phillips tells us, "one or other to read to him"; and Phillips farther explains this by adding that there were 'persons of man's estate" who "greedily catched at the opportunity" of being allowed to read to Milton, accounting it a benefit to themselves, and that in other cases parents were eager to obtain the benefit for their sons. That there was even a competition for the honour appears from Ellwood's account of the manner in which he came to share in it. The young Quaker was, doubtless, only one of many volunteers who were at Milton's service and whom he used by turns. That he had, however, some one paid attendant always or generally about him, would be likely from the very nature of the case, even did Aubrey not speak of "his man" who read to him in the mornings. Add to all this the help he could command from the members of his own household. From the time when Paradise Lost was commenced till the time when it was finished, and for some years longer, Milton had his three daughters under the same roof with himself; and Phillips, their cousin, speaks almost with pity of the drill to which two of these girls were subjected. The eldest escaped only because she was an invalid and had a defect in her speech she was lame and somewhat deformed, as we learn elsewhere; but the other two had been trained to read aloud books in at least six languages, without themselves understanding a word of what they read. They may have had some relief, as far as English books were concerned, though not in the way most agreeable to them, when Milton (Feb. 1662-63) married his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull, who, at the time of her marriage with Milton, was but in the twenty-fifth year of her age, or about eight years older than her eldest step-daughter. There is evidence that this wife was extremely attentive to Milton and quite capable of reading to him in English. Lastly, both before and after this marriage, Milton had valuable literary help in the visits, whenever they were possible, of his nephew Edward Phillips, whom he had himself brought up and grounded in his boyhood in all kinds of scholarship according to a system of his own. Phillips had since then been at Oxford, and, after leaving Oxford, had settled in London as what we should now call a hack