stated that it was suppressed by the licensers, because they thought what was said of the monks was meant to apply to Charles the Second's bishops, though it related solely to the republican assembly of divines; but, as the Bishop of Salisbury29 observes, Toland 'very ill digested such an account of the liberty and religion of his favourite republic.' Milton gave a copy of these remarks to the Earl of Anglesea, which were published in 1661, with a preface, and have since been inserted in their proper place. The six books which Milton executed appeared in 1670. Of the passages then suppressed, but since 1738 always accompanying the History, it appears that some learned persons have doubted the authenticity.30 This work has received, as is well known, the praise of Warburton, who said, 'It is written with great simplicity, contrary to his custom in his prose writings, and is the better for it. But he sometimes rises into a surprising grandeur in the sentiments and expressions, as at the conclusion of the second book; I never saw any thing equal to this, but the conclusion of Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World.'31 The third book opens with a comparison drawn between the unsettled state of the Britons, after the desertion of the Romans, and the condition of the country under Cromwell and the Presbyterian government. The parallel is forced into its place by the indignation of the writer; and severely has he chastised the hypocrisy, the selfishness, the rapacity, the ignorance of the leaders, and the injustice and weakness of the government. He follows up his first blow at the 'statists,' by an equally powerful attack on the unprincipled greediness and baseness of the Presbyterian clergy, 'who execute their places like children of the devil, unfaithfully, unjustly, unmercifully, and, where not corruptly, stupidly.'

29 See 'Protestant Union,' by T. Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury, p. xlii. Richardson says, 'the castrated part was a sort of digression, and was expunged to avoid giving offence to a party quite subdued, and whose faults the government was then willing to have forgotten.' See Life, p. xlvi. Mr. Hollis's biographer (Archd. Blackburne) is as unwilling as Toland to admit this passage in its real sense; and most absurdly turns it against the Popish clergy. v. Mem. p. 494.

30 See Todd's Life of Milton, p. 210; and Dibdin's Library Companion, p. 201 (1824.) 31 See Birch's Life. p. lxviii.

versum.

The whole passage is written with eloquence,-facit indignatio In one part, he evidently alludes to himself,-"They who were ever faithfullest to their cause, and freely aided them in person and with their substance, when they durst not compel either, slighted and bereaved after their just debts, by greedy sequestrations, were tossed up and down after miserable attendance from one committee to another, with petitions in their hands, yet either missed the obtaining of their suit, or though it were at length granted (more shame and reason ofttimes extorting from them at least a show of justice), yet, by their sequestrators and subcommittees abroad, men for the most part of insatiable bounds and noted disloyalty, these orders were commonly disobeyed,' &c. This is part of the passage that was suppressed by the licenser in 1670, and was first separately printed in 1681.

In 1671, Milton published Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.32 The former poem he showed to his friend Elwood. 'This,' said he, 'is owing to you, for you put it into my head, by the questions you put to me at Chalfont, which otherwise I had not thought of.' When it was accounted inferior to the Paradise Lost, Philips says, 'he could not hear with patience any such thing when related to him.' It appears to me, that these poems are so dissimilar in their structure and purpose, that no comparison can be usefully or justly instituted between them That the Paradise Lost excels in variety of invention, in splendour of imagery, in magnificent thoughts and delineations, and in grandeur and sublimity of description, no doubt can be entertained; but the latter poem is finished with equal care, and as perfect in another style; the reasoning clear, the argument close and weighty, the expression most select and chosen, the versification harmonious, differing in structure from that of the former poem, but admirably in unison with the subject. The language, as in the poetry of Lucretius, always moves closely with the argument, and waits attentively upon it; plain and

32 Langbaine observes, that Dryden has transferred several thoughts from Samson Agonistes to his Aurengzebe. See Dram. Poets, p. 157. 376.

simple, where plain sense and simple sentiments only were required; while there are not wanting passages that, rising into the greatest beauty, and adorned with the richest fancy, it would be difficult to surpass even in Paradise Lost. There is a severe and noble beauty in the structure and expression of the dialogue, that has always appeared to me to have imbibed the spirit of the Grecian stage, as felt in the most perfect and finished of its productions; where the boldest conceptions, and the most refined beauties, are all seen in strict harmony with the progressive developement of the plan, all contributing to the necessary uniformity of impression, and all obedient to the control of the poetic mind that created them. That the name of this poem should differ so widely from its argument, and that Paradise should be regained by the temptation in the wilderness alone, I do not know, except from the peculiarity of Milton's religious opinions, how satisfactorily to explain.33 It is supposed that it was written while he was at Chalfont, though not published till five years after. Of the Samson Agonistes it must be observed, that the plot is not skilfully arranged, and that many of the lyrical measures are totally destitute of any intelligible rhythm; but it must ever be considered as one of the noblest dramas in our language. Its moral sentiment, its pathetic feeling, its noble and dignified thoughts, its wise and weighty maxims, its severe religious contemplations, clothed in rich and select language, and adorned with metaphor and figure, give a surprising elevation to the whole. Warburton considered it as a perfect piece, and as an imitation of the ancients, having, as it were, a certain gloominess intermixed with the sublime (the subject not very different, the fall of two heroes by a woman) which shows more serenely in his Paradise Lost.' It is creditable to the taste and judgment of Pope, that he did not adopt Atterbury's suggestion of reviewing and

33 See Niceron Mém. des Hommes Ill. tom. x. p. ii. p. 110. It was the doctrine of Peter Lombard, and the old divines, that the immediate consequence of Christ's victory over the temptation in the wilderness, was the diminution of the spiritual power, and the previously allowed dominion of Satan on the earth.

polishing this piece.

Samson would have been twice shorn of his locks, and sunk into a modern son of Israel; and Pope would have failed on the same ground where his Master Dryden had fallen before him.

To that multiplicity of attainments, and extent of comprehension (says Johnson), that entitled this great author to our veneration, may be added a kind of humble dignity which did not disdain the meanest service in literature. The epic poet, the controvertist, the politician, having already descended to accommodate children with a book of rudiments, now, in the last year of his life, composed a book of logic for the instruction of students in philosophy; and published Artis Logicæ plenior institutio ad Petri Rami Methodum Concinnata.' Of this book there was a second edition called for in the following year: it has never been translated, and is the only production of Milton, that I confess I have never had the leisure or the curiosity to read.

In 1673, his Treatise of true Religion, Heresie, Schism, Toleration, and what best means may be used against the growth of Popery,' was published. His principle of toleration is agreement in the sufficiency of scripture and he extends it to all who profess to derive their opinions from the sacred writings. The Papists, appealing to other testimonies, are not to be tolerated; for though they plead conscience, we have no warrant, he says, to regard conscience, which is not founded on scripture.' He considers a diligent perusal of the Bible ast the best preservative against the error of the Popish church, and he warns men of all professions, the countryman, the tradesman, the lawyer, the physician, the statesman, not to excuse themselves by their much business from the studious reading of the Bible. The object of Milton in this treatise was to form a 'general Protestant union' against the church of Rome, which he calls the common adversary,' not by any compromise of the peculiar tenets of the Protestant sects, but by a liberal and comprehensive toleration grounded on the principle of making the Bible the rule of faith. Error, he says, is not heresy,' and

he determines nothing to be heresy, but a wilful alienation from, or addition to the scriptures. God, he says, will assuredly pardon all sincere inquiries after truth, though mistaken in some points of doctrine; and speaking of the founders, or reviewers of such opinions in past times, he adds, that God, having made no man infallible, hath pardoned their involuntary errors. Such, in the closing evening of his life, were the last thoughts of a pious, a learned, and a powerful mind, on a question connected with the preservation of true religion; a century and a half has closed, since this work was written against the 'worst of superstitions, and the heaviest of God's judgments, Popery,' and it has lately been republished by a most eminent and learned Prelate, to exhibit the solidity of its arguments, and to prove the unimpeachable piety of the author.

In 1673, the same year in which the above-named treatise appeared, Milton reprinted his juvenile poems, with additions, and some few corrections, accompanied with the Tractate on Education. That his Latin poems were not received with greater applause by the foreign scholars, has always been matter of astonishment to me. If some mistakes in quantity shocked the learning of Salmasius, or offended the taste of Heinsius,34 we must recollect that they are but few and unimportant, while they are well compensated by a vigour of expression, a beauty of allusion, a fertility of imagery, and a truly poetical conception. Though Milton has formed his taste on the best models, and drawn his language from the purest sources, his poems are not faded transcripts, or slavish imitations of the ancients.35 I know not where the scholars of the continent

34 T. Warton says that N. Heinsius had no taste in poetry. I differ decidedly from this opinion, from an intimate acquaintance with his works. I affirm that there never was a commentator on the Latin poets of finer taste or happier skill. Bentley over and over again calls him 'elegantissimus.' 'Solertissimo ingenio-et critica et poetica laude nobilis.' Burman Pierson (that admirable scholar), Wakefield, and others, bear the strongest testimony to his taste and skill. De Puy says, 'Heinsius delicatulas veneres, et lepores cum singulari virtute et doctrina conjunxit.' v. Puteani Vitam, p. 140, 4to. His Latin poems are elegant and correct, but very inferior to Milton's in fertility of invention, and poetical feeling.

35 The poets of Great Britain who have excelled in the composition of Latin verse might be thus arranged: Buchanan, Milton, T. May, Gray; and in the second