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the laws of God and of nature. That by the laws of God, by those of nations, and by the municipal laws of our own country, a king of England may be brought to trial and to death; that the laws of God do in this exactly agree with the laws of nature; and that this is a settled maxim of the law of nature, never to be shaken, that the senate and the people are superior to kings; and that, if asked by what law, by what right or justice, the king was dethroned, the answer is, by that law which God and nature have created; that whatever things are for the universal good of the whole state, are for that reason lawful and just; and that a people obliged by an oath is discharged of that obligation, when a lawful prince becomes a tyrant, or gives himself over to sloth and voluptuousness. The rule of justice, the very law of nature, dispenses with such a people's allegiance. That these doctrines have been always acknowledged by the common consent of mankind, he endeavours to prove from the history of ancient nations. Thus the kings of the Jews were subject to the very same laws as the people. He traces a similar belief through Egypt and Persia, through the Grecian history, and the annals of the Roman empire. He alleges the authority of the ancient Scriptures, the gospel, and the fathers. He then finds his doctrine supported by the usage and constitution of our government from the period of the British history, through the Saxon and Norman times, and traces the supreme power of the legislative assembly to the reign of Charles. Such is a faint outline of his argument; in this work he openly accuses Buckingham of having poisoned King James, and afterwards even makes a bolder assertion, that Charles was accessory to the crime.

The first reply to Milton's Defensio Populi96 was published in 1651. Milton, who assisted his nephew Philips in the answer, was willing to consider it as the production of that distinguished prelate, Bramhall, whom he treats with the same coarseness of

96 In the original editions of the Defensio Populi, and Defensio Secunda, the name of the author is printed Joannis MiltonI, i. e. Miltonii; he therefore differed from those who would render the English termination on,' by 'onus' in Latin.

sarcasm, and violence of invective, which had been employed against Salmasius, imputing to him the greatest excesses, and the practice of the most degrading vices. Bramhall97 had disowned the writing imputed to him, but the real author was not discovered till the industry of Mr. Todd brought the secret to light. He proves to be one John Rowland, and calls himself 'Pastor Ecclesiæ particularis.' In this tract the accusation of the death of James the First by poison is repeated.

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Next year appeared Regii Sanguinis clamor ad cœlum :' this work was written by Peter du Moulin, a Frenchman, afterwards prebendary of Canterbury; but A. More, who had the care of the publication, was treated by Milton as the real author. The mistake was afterwards discovered, but Milton had exhausted his invective against More, and suffered Du Moulin to escape. Alexander More was a Scotchman by birth, settled in France, and was the son of the principal of the Protestant College of Castres in Languedoc. He was a person of talent and learning, but more eminently distinguished as a brilliant though eccentric preacher. It was an unfortunate hour for him when he threw the shield of his name to protect Du Moulin's writings, for More's personal character was open to remark. He had, it appears, entered into a love-intrigue at Leyden, with an English girl, who is called Pontia, and who was waiting-maid to the wife of Salmasius.98 This occasioned much domestic dispute and

97 See extract from Bishop Bramhall's Letter to his son, May, 1654. "That silly book, which he ascribes to me, was written by one John Rowland, who since hath replied upon him. I never read a word either of the first book or the reply in my life.' v. Todd's Life, p. 83.

93 The wife of Salmasius was a great shrew, but she had a high opinion of her hus. band. Il se laissoit dominer par une femme hautaine et chagrine, qui se vantoit d'avoir pour mari, mais non pour maître le plus savant de tous les nobles, et le plus noble de tous les savans.' v. Huetiena, p. x. The 88th Letter of Sarravius opens a curious domestic picture of Salmasius's family. He had, it appears, applied to Sarravius to procure him some maid-servants, and his friend fairly answers him. Timeo ne itineris difficultates, cum uzoris tuæ moribus multas deterreant.' Salmasius was presented with the order of St. Michael by Louis XIII. hence Milton calls him 'Eques.'-The biographers of Milton have taken their account of Salmasius chiefly from N. Heinsius, without keeping in mind that Heinsius was his bitter and implacable enemy. Not wishing to give offence, still I must say, that not one of those who have written on this controversy, seems to me to be really acquainted with the works or character of Salmasius. See also N. Heinsii Poem. Lat. 152. 165.

jealousy in the house of the learned professor, and became the subject of raillery in the correspondence of the friends of Salmasius. It appears also, that a similar adventure with a servant maid, of the name of Claudia Peletta, with whom More is accused of intriguing before and after her marriage, was the occasion of his leaving Geneva; and a third amour, with a young female domestic of the name of Tibaltiana, is also mentioned. Milton did not spare his enemy on the side where he was so much exposed; and More shrunk from the bitter storm of invective, sarcasm, and irony, that his indignant antagonist poured on all sides upon him.99

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The Second Defence' is one of the most interesting of Milton's writings. Johnson has quoted from it the eloquent eulogy on Cromwell: the character of Bradshaw is drawn with all the skill and power of Clarendon, and presents a noble portrait of the intrepid regicide; and the address to Fairfax has for ever exalted the character, and dignified the retirement, of that illustrious soldier. I shall add Milton's commemoration of other names, not less celebrated in the history of that eventful time. First you, Fleetwood, whom I have known to have been always the same in the humanity, gentleness, and benignity of your disposition, from the time you first entered on the profession of a soldier, to your obtainment of those military honours, the next only to the first, and whom the enemy has found of dauntless valour, but the mildest of conquerors; and you, Lambert, who, when a young man, at the head of a mere handful of men, checked the progress of the Duke of Hamilton, attended with the power and strength of the Scottish youth, and kept him at check; you, Desborrow, and you, Whalley, whom, whenever I heard or read of the fiercest battles of this war, I always expected and found among the thickest of the enemy; you, Overton, who have been connected with

99 In Sarravii Epistolæ are many addressed with respect and esteem to Al. More. He seems not to have been permanently injured by Milton's attack, and he would hardly be recognized as the same person in the party-statement of Milton, and the impartial life by Bayle. A copy of Latin verses by A. More, addressed to N. Heinsius, is in the Adoptivorum Carmina, p. 19.

me for these many years, in a more than brotherly union, by similitude of studies, and by the sweetness of your manners. In that memorable battle of Marston Moor, when our left wing was routed, the chief officers looking back in their flight beheld you keeping your ground with your infantry, and repelling the attacks of the enemy amid heaps of slain on both sides; and afterwards in the war in Scotland, no sooner were the shores of Fife occupied, under the auspices of Cromwell, with your troops, and the way opened beyond Stirling, than both the western and the northern Scots acknowledged you for the humanest of enemies, and the farthest Orcades for their civilizing conqueror. I will yet add some, whom, as distinguished for the robe and arts of peace, you have nominated as your counsellors, and who are known to me either by friendship or reputation. Whitlocke, Pickering, Strickland, Sydenham, and Sydney (an illustrious name which I rejoice has steadily adhered to our side), Montague, Lawrence, both men of the first capacity, and polished by liberal studies, besides numberless other citizens, distinguished for their rare merits, some for their former senatorial exertions, others for their military services.' A splendid eulogium rewarded the virgin Queen of the north, the daughter of Adolphus, for the praise she was reported to have given to Milton's defence, and the magnanimity which

I SYDNEIO SACRUM.

There is a time when gentlest thoughts are ours,
When like one long and Summer day of ease,
We wear on month, and month, and as may please
The chimings of the fancy, in our bowers
Disport, or through the wood-paths, wild with flowers,
Roam in the heart's glad pastime; whether the breeze

Be heard at morn, or mid the noonday trees
Repose, or night light up her starry towers.
And there too is a time for other mood,

When we must dwell among the walks of men,
With eye of loftiest aspect, fortitude,

And sternness on our front; and wearing then
That mighty sword, which Sydney unsubdued
Wore at his side, though in the tyrant's den.
Benhall, 1831.
J. M

led her to read and even to applaud what seemed written against her own right and dignity.2

Flushed with his victory, and proud of the great reputation which he had acquired, Milton opened his second defence with a triumphant anticipation of the sentence that would be passed on it: He now,' he says, 'feels himself not in the forum, or on the rostrum, surrounded by a single people only, whether Roman or Athenian, but as it were by listening Europe, confiding and passing judgment. He addresses himself to all sittings and assemblies, wherever are to be found men of the highest authority, wherever there are cities and nations. He imagines himself set out on his travels; that he beholds from on high, tracts beyond the seas, and wide extended regions; that he beholds countenances strange and numberless, and all in feelings of mind, his closest friends and neighbours. Wherever there are natures free, ingenuous, magnanimous, either they are prudently concealed or openly professed. Some favour in

silence, others give their suffrages in public. Some hasten to receive me with shouts of applause, others, in fine, vanquished by truth, surrender themselves captive. Encompassed by such countless multitudes, it seems to me, that from the columns of Hercules, to the farthest borders of India, that, throughout this vast expanse, I am bringing back, bringing home to every nation liberty, so long driven out, so long an exile; and, as is recorded of Triptolemus of old, that I am importing fruits for the nations from my own city, but of a far nobler kind than those fruits of Ceres. That I am spreading abroad among the cities, the kingdoms, and nations, the restored culture of civility and freedom of life.'

He had been reproached by his adversaries with his blind

2 I would wish to remove the impression, if such exists, that Salmasius entered into this controversy as an advocate of the regal rights, from interested motives, without a conviction of the justice of his cause. The death, if not the dethronement of Charles, excited great horror and indignation in other nations; with what feelings Salmasius came to his task, may be judged by the language which N. Heinsius uses on this subject: see his Poemata, Eleg. Lib. ii. 4. p. 43. iii. 1. p. 64. 8. p. 79. x. p. 82. Sylv. Lib. iii. p. 192. Amtiphatâ dignus Rege Britannus erat.'

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