III.-MILTON'S PROSE. [INTRODUCTION.-The three following extracts are from Milton's great discourse called "Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing." It is a plea, the grandest ever made, for the freedom of the press. In explanation of the circumstances attending its composition, it may be stated that in 1643 an attempt was made in the Long Parliament to revive the system (which had for some years been in abeyance) of book-censorship, by which no work could be brought out until it was approved and licensed by persons designated by Parliament, and thence called licensers. Against the proposal Milton entered this eloquent protest; and, for the greater effect, he threw it into the form of a Speech addressed to the Parliament, though it was never meant to be delivered in the ordinary sense. The Areopagitica' was first published in 1644. "It is to be regretted," says Macaulay, "that the prose writings of Milton should, in our time, be so little read. As compositions, they deserve the attention of every one who wishes to become acquainted with the full power of the English language. They are a perfect Field of the Cloth of Gold. The style is stiff with gorgeous embroidery. Not even in the earlier books of the Paradise Lost has he ever risen higher than in those parts of his controversial works in which his feelings, excited by conflict, find a vent in bursts of devotional and lyric rapture. It is, to borrow his own majestic language, 'a sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies.""] mean I.-BOOKS NOT DEAD THINGS. 1. I deny not but that it is of greatest concernment, in the church and commonwealth, to have a vigilant eye how books de* themselves, as well as men; and thereafter to confine, imprison, and do sharpest justice on them as malefactors. For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency s of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy NOTES. 2, 3. demean themselves, be- 6. progeny, offspring. have themselves. 7. efficacy, power to produce effects. LITERARY ANALYSIS.-2. demean. What is the etymology of "demean?" Explain its incorrect modern use. Is demean used literally or metaphoricaly? What is the figure? (See Def. 22.)-What subsequent words carry out the same figure? 3. thereafter to confine. Supply the ellipsis. 5-7. but do contain... are. Express this thought in your own language. The name Areopagitica is copied from the "Areopagitic Discourse" of the Greek orator Isocrates. Areopagitic means pertaining to the Areopagus, or High Court of Athens. and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragon's teeth; and, being sown up and down, may chance to 10 spring up armed men. 2. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book: who kills a man kills a reasonable* creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, 15 in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up or purpose to a life beyond life. It is true, no age can restore a life, whereof, perhaps, there is no great loss; and revolutions of ages do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse. 20 8. extraction. In this sense extract is | 14. reasonable, rational. the modern form. 9, 10. those fabulous dragon's teeth. According to the fable, Cadmus, having killed the dragon that watched the fountain at Thebes, in Greece, sowed its teeth, which immediately sprang up armed men. A similar story is told of Jason, leader of the Argonautic expedition. 18. on purpose to, with a view to. 20, 21. revolutions of ages. . . fare the worse. Thus it required "the revolutions of ages" ("age" here = century) before the wisdom of the ancients, lost with the ruin of the Roman Empire (fifth century), was "recovered" at the revival of learning in the fifteenth century. LITERARY ANALYSIS.-9. as lively, etc. (See Def. 19.) What is the figure of speech? modify? 12. wariness. Give two or more synonyms of this word. 12, 13. as good almost. Supply the ellipsis.-What does "almost " 14. kills a reasonable creature; but, etc. What is the figure of speech? (See Def. 18.) 16. in the eye. What is the force of this expression? 17. precious life-blood, etc. What is the figure of speech? (See Def. 20.) 17, 18. embalmed and treasured up. Is there any improper mixture of metaphor here? (See Def. 20, iii.)-a life beyond life. Explain this expression. 19. whereof. Modernize this word. 20. oft. Modernize this word. 3. We should be wary, therefore, what persecution we raise against the living labors of public men, how we spill that seasoned life of man, preserved and stored up in books; since we see a kind of homicide* may be thus committed, sometimes a 25 martyrdom,* and if it extend to the whole impression, a kind of massacre, ,* whereof the execution ends not in the slaying of an elemental life, but strikes at the ethereal and fifth essence-the breath of reason itself; slays an immortality rather than a life. II. TRUTH. Truth indeed came once into the world with her Divine Mas- 30 ter, and was a perfect shape most glorious to look on: but when he ascended, and his apostles after him were laid asleep, then straight arose a wicked race of deceivers, who, as that story goes 23. spill, destroy. 27. the execution, the accomplishment. 28. elemental life, a life, or being, consisting merely of the four supposed elements (earth, water, air, and fire).-fifth essence: sence (Lat. quinta, fifth, and essentia, essence), and is an allusion to the doctrine of alchemy, in which the "fifth essence" was the highest and subtlest potency in a natural body.1 this is a translation of quintes- 33. straight, straightway. LITERARY ANALYSIS. 22-29. We should be wary... a life. What kind of sentence is this grammatically? What are the principal propositions? Point out the dependent propositions (clauses).—What kind of sentence is this rhetorically? periodic or loose? 25-27. homicide... martyrdom... massacre. Give the etymology of each of these words. What figure of speech is this passage? (See Def. 33.) 30. Truth... came, etc. What combination of figures of speech in this sentence? (See Defs. 18, 22.) 1 The following passage in Paradise Lost illustrates these expressions: "Swift to their several quarters hasted then The cumbrous element, earth, flood, air, fire; Flew upward." of the Egyptian Typhon with his conspirators, how they dealt with the good Osiris, took the virgin Truth, hewed her lovely 35 form into a thousand pieces, and scattered them to the four winds. From that time ever since, the sad friends of Truth, such as durst appear, imitating the careful search that Isis made for the mangled body of Osiris, went up and down gathering up limb by limb still as they could find them. We have not yet found 40 them all, lords and commons, nor ever shall do, till her Master's second coming; he shall bring together every joint and member, and shall mould them into an immortal feature of loveliness and perfection. Suffer not these licensing prohibitions to stand at every place of opportunity, forbidding and disturbing them 45 that continue seeking, that continue to do our obsequies* to the torn body of our martyred saint. 34, 35, 38. Egyptian Typhon . . . Osiris ... Isis. Osiris was the great life was devoted to the good of his people. Egyptian divinity. He is rep- 38. careful, anxious. resented as being originally 41. King of Egypt; and the story 40. still, ever. See Luke x. runs that, being murdered by 41, 42. her Master's second coming. See his brother Typhon, who cut 1 Thessalonians iv. 16, 17. his body into pieces and threw 43. feature, form, structure. them into the Nile, Isis, the 46. 35. the good Osiris. While a king, his obsequies, acts of worship or devotion. The word is rather from the Lat. obsequium, dutiful conduct, than from obsequiae (= exuviae), funeral rites. LITERARY ANALYSIS. 37-40. From that time... find them. What kind of sentence is this rhetorically? 37. such. What is the grammatical construction of “such ?”—Of “as ?” 39, 40. gathering up limb by limb. What is the figure of speech? Def. 20.) 42. he shall bring. What is the force of "shall" here? 43. feature. Give the derivation of this word. 44-47. to stand... martyred saint. Def. 22.) 44-47. Suffer not... saint. (See What is the figure of speech? (See What kind of sentence grammatically? What two adjective clauses are adjuncts to |