Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Aug. 29. Act of Indemnity (Milton
included; regicides excepted).

1662 (æt. 54). Royal Society chartered.

[blocks in formation]

1674 (æt. 66). Paradise Lost, 1674, Nov. 8 (æt. 66). Death,

1665 (æt. 57).

Great Plague.

[blocks in formation]

second edition.

in London.

VI. AIDS TO THE STUDY OF MILTON.

ONLY a few of the more prominent books on Milton can here be mentioned.

I. Lives.

Brooke, Milton, Classical Writers Series. (Appleton.)
Pattison, Milton, English Men of Letters Series. (Harper.)
Garnett, John Milton, Great Writers Series. (Scribner.)
Johnson, Life of Milton, with notes by C. H. Frith. (Mac-
millan.)

Masson, Life of John Milton, 6 vols. (Macmillan.)

The Lives by Brooke, Pattison, and Garnett are cheap and excellent. That by Garnett contains an extensive bibliography. Johnson's has chiefly an historical interest. Masson's is the authoritative work; notwithstanding the somewhat unfavorable review by Lowell, it is indispensable to the scholar, though too diffuse and circumstantial for ordinary use.

2. Editions.

Poetical Works, edited by Masson. (Macmillan.)

Poetical Works, Globe edition, edited by Masson. (Mac-
millan.)

Prose Works, edited by St. John, Bohn edition. (Macmillan.)
Treasures from Milton's Prose. (Ticknor & Fields.)

English Prose Writings, edited by H. Morley. (Routledge.)

The Globe edition of the poetry should be in the hands of every student, and the present work assumes that it is at least accessible to all. The other editions by Masson are each in three volumes, in two forms, at $5.00 and $10.00 respectively.

The Treasures from Milton's Prose may now be somewhat difficult to obtain. It is an interesting book, and no student of Milton can afford to be ignorant of so much of the author's prose as it contains. Morley's selections will answer, if the Treasures cannot be obtained.

3. Essays.

Besides those from which extracts are made in the Introduction, Addison's Spectator papers (edited by Cook; Ginn & Co.) and Macaulay's essay may be read with advantage. References to many others will be found in the Bibliography appended to Garnett's Life.

4. Lexicon.

Lockwood, Lexicon to the Poetical Works. In preparation. (Macmillan.)

5. Concordance.

Bradshaw, Concordance to the Poetical Works. (Macmillan.) 6. History of the Times.

Green, Short History of the English People.

Gardiner, The Puritan Revolution, Epochs of Modern History
Series. (Longman.)

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK I.

5

Theme and invocation.

Paracliter

10

OF Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the Heavens and Earth
Rose out of Chaos; or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss,
And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark,
Illumine; what is low, raise and support;
That, to the highth of this great argument,

21

15

« PreviousContinue »