now employed on "Paradise Lost," to which alone, of all his works, he owes his fame. Whence he drew the original design has been variously conjectured, but nothing very satisfactory has been produced. It was at a very early period that he meditated an epic poem, but then thought of taking his subject from the heroic part of English history. At length," after long choosing, and beginning late," he fixed upon "Paradise Lost:" a design so comprehensive, that it could, says Dr. Johnson, be justified only by success. We may refer to that eminent critic, and his other biographers, for a regular examination of the beauties and defects of this immortal poem, as well as for many particulars relative to the times and mode in which he composed. These it would have been delightful to trace, had our information been as accurate as it is various; but, unhappily, every step in Milton's progress has been made the subject of angry controversy, and they who can take any pleasure in the effusions of critical irritation, may be amply gratified in the more recent lives of Milton.

The "Paradise Lost" was first published in 1667; and much surprise and concern have been discovered at the small pecuniary benefit which the author derived from this proud display of his genius. It must, in our view of the matter, and considering only the merit and popularity of the poem, seem deplorable that the copyright of such a composition should be sold for the sum of five pounds, and a contingent payment, on the sale of 2,600 copies, of two other equal sums, making in all fifteen pounds, as the whole pecuniary reward of a poem which has never

been equalled. It will not greatly diminish our wonder at this paltry sum if we add, upon the authority of his biographers, that this fifteen pounds purchased the bookseller's right only to the several editions for which they were paid, and that Milton's widow sold the irrevertible copyright to the same bookseller, Samuel Simmons, for eight pounds. Here is still only a sum of twenty-three pounds derived from the work, to the author and his family. In defence of the bookseller, however, we are referred to the risk he ran from the publication of a work, in all respects new, and written by a man under peculiar circumstances: and to the state of literary curiosity and liberality so different from what prevail in our own days. This is specious, and must be satisfactory for want of information respecting the usual prices of literary labour, which we cannot now easily acquire. We have seen a manuscript computation by the late John Whiston, the bookseller, which would be valuable, as coming from a good judge of the article, if, unfortunately, he had been correct in the outset; but as he represents Jacob Tonson giving the author 301. for the first edition, and 107. more when it should come to a second, we know all this to be erroneous, and that the author's family had disposed of the whole before the work became Tonson's property. This, however, he calls "a generous price, as copies then sold;" and if this be true, we cannot suppose for a moment, that a scholar could in that age indulge any hopes of being rewarded by the public. In Milton's case we hope he had no dependence on it, for the true way to ascertain how

very paltry the sum was which he received, is by comparing it with his property, which, at his death, amounted to 3,000l.

In 1671, Milton published his "Paradise Regained," written on the suggestion of Elwood, the Quaker, who had been one of his amanuenses. Elwood, after reading the "Paradise Lost," happened to say, "Thou hast said much here on 'Paradise Lost,' but what hast thou to say of Paradise Found?" This poem was probably regarded by the author as the theological completion of the plan commenced in "Paradise Lost," and he is said to have viewed it with strong preference; but in this last opinion few have been found to coincide. Its inferiority in point of grandeur and invention is very generally acknowledged, although it is not by any means unworthy of his genius. About the same time appeared his "Samson Agonistes," a drama, composed upon the ancient model, and abounding in moral and descriptive beauties, but never intended or calculated for the stage.

To that multiplicity of attainments, and extent of comprehension, that entitle this great author to our veneration, may be added, says Johnson, a kind of humble dignity, which did not disdain the meanest services to literature. The epic poet, the controvertist, and politician, having already descended to accommodate children with a book of elements, now, in the last years of his life, composed a book of Logic, for the initiation of students in philosophy; and published, in 1672, "Artis Logicæ plenior institutio ad Petri Rami methodum concinnata." In the following year he ventured once more to meddle with the con

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troversies of the times, and wrote "A Treatise of true Religion, &c., and the best means to prevent the Growth of Popery." The latter was become the dread of the nation, and Milton was among the most zealous of its opponents. The principle of toleration which he lays down is, agreement in the sufficiency of the Scriptures, which he denies to the Papists, because they appeal to another authority. In the same year Milton published a second edition of his youthful poems, with his "Tractate on Education," in one volume, in which he included some pieces not comprehended in the edition of 1645. In 1674 he gave the world his familiar letters, and some college exercises, the former with the title of "Epistolarum Familiarum liber unus," and the latter with that of "Prolusiones quædam oratoriæ in Collegio Christi habitæ." is also said, but upon doubtful authority, to have translated into English the declaration of the Poles, on their elevating John Sobieski to their elective throne. With more probability he has been reckoned the author of "A Brief History of Muscovy," which was published about eight years after his death. With this work terminated his literary labours; for the gout, which had for many years afflicted him, was now hastening his end. He sank tranquilly, under an exhaustion of the vital powers, on the 8th of November, 1674, when he had nearly completed his fifty-sixth year. His remains were carried from his house in Bunhill-fields to the church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, with a numerous and splendid attendance, and deposited in the chancel near those of his father. No monument marked the tomb of this great man,

but one was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey, in 1737, at the expense of Mr. Benson, one of the auditors of the imprest. His bust has since been placed in the church where he was interred, by the late Samuel Whitbread, Esq.

In the July preceding his death, Milton had requested the attendance of his brother Christopher, and in his presence made a disposition of his property by a formal declaration of his will. This mode of testament, which is called nuncupative, was set aside, on a suit instituted by his daughters. By this nuncupative will he had given all his property to his widow, assigning nothing to his daughters but their mother's portion, which had not yet been paid. On this account, and from exacting from his children some irksome services, such as reading to him in languages which they did not understand, a necessity resulting from his blindness and his indigence, he has been branded as an unkind father. But the nuncupative will, discovered some years since, shows him to have been amiable, and injured in that private scene, in which alone he has generally been considered as liable to censure, or rather, perhaps, as not entitled to affection. In this will, published by Mr. Warton, and in the papers connected with it, we find the venerable parent complaining of "unkind children," as he calls them, for leaving and neglecting him because he was blind; and we see him compelled, by their injurious conduct, to appeal against them even to his servants. By the deposition of one of those servants, it is certain, that his complaints were not extorted by slight wrongs, or uttered by capricious