both at home and at fchool." His domeftic tutor was Thomas Young, of Effex, who, being obliged to quit his 'country on account of religious opinions, became minister to the English merchants at Hamburgh. It was probably from this learned and confcientious man, that Milton caught not only his paffion for literature, but that steadiness and unconquerable integrity of character, by which he was diftinguished through all the viciffitades of a tempestuous life. His reverential gra titude and affection towards this preceptor are recorded in two Latin epiftles*, and a Latin elegy The high opinion, which Milton entertained of his pre ceptor, is fo gracefully expreffed in one of these letters, that I felect it as a specimen of his epiftolary style in the early period of life. Thomæ Junio. " Infpectis literis tuis (præceptor optime) unicum hoc mihi fu pervacaneum occurrebat, quod tardæ fcriptionis excufationem attuleris; tametfi enim literis tuis nihil mihi queat optabilius accedere, qui poffim tamen aut debeam fperare olii tibi tantum à rebus feriis, & fan&tioribus effe, ut mihi femper refpondere vacet; præfertim cum illud humanitatis omnino fit, officii minime. Te vero oblitum effe mei ut fufpicer, tam multa tua de me recens merita nequaquam finunt. Neque enim video quorfum tantis onuftum beneficiis ad oblivionem dimitteres. Rus tuum accerfitus, fimul ac ver adoleverit, libenter adveniam, ad capef fendas anni tuique non minus colloquii delicias, & ab urbano ftrepitu fubducam me paulifper, ad ftoam tuam Icenorum, tanquam ad celeberrimam illam Zenonis porticum aut Ciceronis Tufculanum, ubi tu in re modica regio fane animo veluti Sertanus aliquis aut Curius in agello tuo placide regnas; deque ipfis divitiis, ambitione, pompa, luxuria, & quicquid vulgus hominum ஃபி addreffed to him: they fuggeft a most favorable idea of the poet's native difpofition, and furnish an effectual antidote to the poison of that most injurious affertion, that " he hated all whom he was required to obey."-Could untractable pride be the characteristic of a mind, which has expreffed its regard for a difciplinarian fufficiently rigid, with a tendernefs fo confpicuous in the following verfes of the fourth Elegy? miratur & ftupét, quafi triumphum agis fortune contemptor. Cæterum qui tarditatis culpam deprecatus es, hanc mihi viciffim, ut fpero, præcipitantiam indulgebis; cum enim epiftolam hano in extremum diftulissem, malui pauca, eaque rudiufcule fcribere, quam nihil.-Vale vir obfervande. Cantabrigia, Julii 21, 1628. In perufing your letters, my excellent preceptor, this only appeared to me fuperfluous, that you apologize for a delay in writing; for although nothing can be more defirable to me than your letters, yet what right have I to hope, that your serious and facred duties can allow you fuch leisure, that you cán àlways find time enough to answer me, especially when your writing is entirely an act of kindness, and by no means of duty. The many and recent favors I have received from you will by no means fuffer me to suspect that you can forget me; nor can I conceive it poffible that, having loaded me with fuch benefits, you should now difmifs me from your remembrance. Í shall willingly attend your fummons to your rural retirement on the firft appearance of spring, to enjoy with equal relish the delights of the season and of your conversation. I shall withdraw myfelf for a little time from the buftle of the city to your porch in Suffolk, as to the famous portico of the Stoic, or the Tufculum of Cicero, where ennobling a moderate estate by an imperial mind, you reign contentedly in your little field, fike a Serranus or a Curius,' and triumph, as it were, over opulence, Vivit ibi antiquæ clarus pietatis honore, Ille quidem eft animæ plus quam pars altera noftræ, Hei mihi quot pelagi, quot montes interjecti, Charior ille mihi, quam tu, doctiffime Graium, There lives, deep learn'd, and primitively juft, ambition, pomp, luxury (and whatever is idolized by the herd of men) by looking down upon fortune but as you exouse yourfelf for delay, let me hope that you will forgive me for hafte, fince, having deferred this letter to the last moment, I chofe to fend a few lines, though not very accurately written, rather than to be fileut. Farewel my revered friend, Dear as the Stagyrite to Ammon's fon, Explor'd the fountain, and the Mufe my guide, And again, expreffing his regret upon the length of their feparation: Nec dum ejus licuit mihi lumina pafcere vultu Nor yet his friendly features feaft my fight, As the tenderness of the young poet is admirably difplayed in the beginning of this Elegy, his more acknowledged characteristic, religious fortitude, is not lefs admirable in the close of it. At tu fume an mos, nec fpes cadat anxia curis, Sis etenim quamvis fulgentibus obfitus armis, At nullis vel inerme latus violabitur armis,ma 1 Dequel tuo cufpis nulla cruore bibet; ( Namque eris ipfe dei radiante fub ægide tutus,? Ille tibi cuftos, & pugil ille tibi: Et tu quod fupereft miferis) fperare memento, Et tua magnanimo pectore vince mala; But thou, take courage, ftrive against despair, The reader, inclined to fymphatize in the joys of Milton, will be gratified in being informed, that his preceptor, whose exile and poverty he pathetically lamented, and whose profperous, return he predicted, was in a few years reftored to his country, and became Master of Jefus College, in Cambridge. As the year in which he quitted England (1623) corresponds with the fifteenth year of his pupil's age, it is probable that Milton was placed, at that time, under the care of Mr. Gill and his fon; the former, chief matter of St. Paul's fchool, the latter, his affiftant, and afterwards his fucceffor. It is remarkable, that Milton, who has been so uncandidly reprefented as an uncontrolable fpirit, |