Anglicani. It is not known who was the author of this piece. Some attributed it to one Janus a lawyer of Gray's inn, and others to Dr. John Bramhall, then Bishop of Derry, and after the restoration Pri. mate of Ireland. But it is utterly improbable, that so mean a performance, written in such barbarous Latin, and fo full of folecisms, should come from the hands of a prelate of such distinguished abilities and learning. But whoever was the author of it, Milton did not think it worth his while to animadvert upon it himself, but employed the younger of his nephews to answer it; only as he supervised and corrected the answer before it went to the press, it may in a manner be called his own. It came forth in 1652 under this title, Johannis Philippi Angli refponfio ad apologiam anonymi cujufdam tenebrionis pro rege et populo Anglicano infantiffimam. It is printed with Milton's works. Throughout the whole Mr. Philips treats Bp. Bramhall with great severity, as the author of the Apology, thinking probably that so confiderable an adversary would make the answer more confiderable. - Sir Robert Filmer likewise published some animadversions upon Milton's Defense of the People, in a piece printed in 1652, intitled, Obfervations concerning the original of government, upon Mr. Hobbes's Leviathan, Mr. Milton against Salmafius, and Hugo Grotius de jure belli. But I do not find, that Milton or any of his friends took notice of it. But Milton's quarrel was afterwards sufficiently avenged by Mr. Locke, who wrote against Sir Robert Filmer's principles of government, more I fuppofe in condescension to the prejudices of the age, than out of any regard to the weight or importance of Filmer's arguments. Milton foon after he was made Latin Secretary, removed from his house in High Holburn, to an apartment appointed for him in Scotland-yard. There his third child, a fon, was born, and named John; but, through the ill ufage or bad constitution of the nurse, he died an infant. His own health too was greatly impaired. This made him remove from Scotlandyard to a house in Petty France, Westminster, for the : : the benefit of the air; and there he remained eight years, from 1652 till within a few weeks of the King's restoration. In this house he had not been fettled long, before his first wife died in childbed. But after a proper interval of time, he married a second wife, Katharine daughter of Captain Woodcock of Hackney. She too died in childbed within a year after their marriage; and her child, a daughter, died a month after. Her husband has done honour to her memory in one of his sonnets. Two or three years before his second marriage he had totally lost his fight. And his enemies triumph. ed in his blindness, and imputed it as a judgment up-on him for writing against the King. But his fight. had been decaying several years before, through his close application to study, and the frequent headachs to which he had been subject from his childhood, and his continual tampering with phyfic, which perhaps was more pernicious than all the rest. Milton himself informs us in his Second Defence, that when he was appointed by authority to write his defence of the people against Salmafius, he had almost loft the fight of one eye, and the physicians declared to him, that if he undertook that work, he would also lose the fight of the other. But he was nothing difcouraged, and chose rather to lose both his eyes, than defert what he thought his duty. His blindness however did not disable him entirely from performing the business of his office. An assistant was allowed him, and his falary as Secretary still continued. And there was farther occafion for his service besides dictating of letters. For the controversy with Salmafius did not die with him. There was published at the Hague in 1652, a book, intitled, The cry of the King's blood, &c. Regii fanguinis clamor ad cælum, adverfus parricidas Anglicanos. The true author of this book was Peter du Moulin the younger, afterwards Prebendary of Canterbury. He tranfmitted his papers to Salmafius; Salmafius intrusted them to the care of Alexander Morus, a French minister; and Morus published them with a dedication to King Charles Charles II. in the name of Adrian Ulac the printer,.. from whence he came to be reputed the author of the whole. Morus was the fon of a learned. Scotsman,President of the college which the Protestants had for- merly at Castres in Languedoc. He is said to have been a man of a most haughty disposition, immoderately addicted to women, halty, ambitious, full of himself and his own performances, and fatirical upon all others. He was however esteemed one of the most eminent preachers of that age among the Protestants: But, as M. Bayle observes, his chief talent must have confifted in the gracefulness of his delivery, or in those fallies of imagination, and quaint turns and allufions, whereof his fermons are full; for they retain not those charms in reading, which they were faid to have formerly in the pulpit. Against this man therefore, as the reputed author of Regii fanguinis clamor, &c. Milton published by authority his Second defence of the people of England, &c. Defenfio fecunda pro populo Anglicano, in 1654. He treats Morus with fuch severity as nothing could have excused, if he had not been provoked to it by so much abuse poured upon himself. He had wrote a piece of wit, which had been publish ed before in the news-papers at London, a diftich upon Morus for getting Pontia the maid-fervant of his friend Salmafius with child. Galli ex concubitu gravidam te, Pontia, Mori Quis bene moratam morigeramque neger? Upon this Morus published his Fides Publica, in an fwer to Milton; in which he inferted several testimonies of his orthodoxy and morals, figned by the confistories, academies, fynods, and magiftrates of the places where he had lived; and difowned his being: the author of the book imputed to him, and appealed to two gentlemen of great credit with the parliamentparty, who knew the real author. This brought Da Moulin, then in England, into great danger: But the government fuffered him to escape with impunity, rather than publicly contradict the great patron of their caufe. For Milton still perfifted in his accufation, ion, and endeavoured to make it good in his Defence of himself, &c. Autoris pro se defenfio, published in 1655; wherein he opposed to the teftimonies in favour of Morus other testimonies against him; and Morus replied no more. This controverfy being ended, he was at leifure again to pursue his own private studies, viz. the history of England before mentioned, and a new thesaurus of the Latin tongue, intended as an improvement upon that by Robert Stephens; a work, which he had been long collecting from the best and purest Latin authors, and continued at times almost to his dying day: But his papers were left so confused and imperfect, that they could not be fitted for the press, though great ufse was made of them by the compilers of the Cambridge dictionary, printed in 1693. These papers are faid to have confifted of three large volumes in folio; and it is a great pity that they are lost, and no account is given what is become of the manufcript. It is commonly faid too, that at this time he began his famous poem of Paradife Loft; and it is certain, that he was glad to be released from those controverfies, which detained him fo long from following things more agreeable to his natural genius and inclination, though he was far from ever repenting of his writings in defence of liberty, but gloried in them to the last. The only interruption now of his private studies was the business of his office. In 1655 there was published in Latin a writing in name of the Lord Protector, setting forth the reasons of the war with Spain. This piece is rightly adjudged to our author, both on account of the peculiar elegance of the style, and because it was his province to write such things, as Latin Secretary; and it is printed among his other prose works in the last edition. For the fame reafons I am inclined to think, that the famous Latin verses to Christina Queen of Sweden in the name of Cromwell, were made by Milton, rather than Andrew Marvel. In those days they had admirable intelligence in the Secretary's office; and Mr. Philips relates a memorable morable instance or two upon his own knowledge. The Dutch were sending a plenipotentiary to England to treat of peace; but the emissaries of the go-vernment had the art to procure a copy of his inftructions in Holland; which being delivered by Milton to his kinfiman, then with him, to be translated for the ufe of the council, before the plenipotentiary had taken shipping for England, an answer to all that he had in charge was prepared, and lay ready for him before < he made his public entry into London. Another time a perfon came to London with a very fumptuous train, pretending himself an agent from the Prince of Conde, then in arms against Card. Mazarine: But the government fufpecting him, fet their instruments to work fo fuccessfully, that in a few days they received intelligence from Paris, that he was a spy em-ployed by Charles II. Whereupon the very next morning Milton's kinfinan was fent to him with an order of council, commending him to depart the kingdom within three days, or expect the punishment of a fpy. This kinfman was probably Mr. Philips or his bro-ther; and one or both of them were affistant to him. in his office. His blindness no doubt was a great hin- drance and inconvenience to him in his business, though fometimes a political use might be made of it; as men's natural infirmities are often pleaded in excuse for not doing what they have no great inclination to do. Thus when Cromwell for fome reasons delayed artfully to fign the treaty with Sweden, and the Swedish ambaffader made frequent complaints of it, the excuse was, that Mr. Milton, on account of his blindness, proceeded flower in business, and had not yet put the articles of the treaty into Latin. The ambaffador was greatly surprised, that things of fuch confequence should be intruded to a blind man, for he must necessarily employ an amanuenfis, and that amanuenfis might divulge the articles, and faid it was very wonderful, that there should be only one man in England who could write Latin, and he a.. blind one. But his blindness had not diminished, but |