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Country was dearer than all things, would not for any danger decline thir defense.11

The conclusion of the anonymous biographer is also ours. Knowing with what a miserable physical organism his ancestors had endowed him, we understand Milton better, and our admiration for the energy of his will cannot but be increased as a result of this study. Perhaps we know now why Milton, once he had taken his degrees at the university, remained for six years in his father's house in the country without adopting a profession. Perhaps we know why, in spite of all the ardor of his patriotism and of his Parlimentarian convictions, he did not enter the army but remained at home to educate a few pupils and to battle with his pen during the Civil War. And if our hypotheses are correct, Milton, had he taken care of himself and listened to the advice of his physicians, would have been able to keep his sight several years longer.

Not only did he contend all his life against an organism undermined from birth; not only did he impose on this body the labor and study necessary to the realization of a high spiritual and artistic ambition, and, during more than sixty years, twenty-two of which were years of total blindness, lead by his will alone the life which he wished to lead, so that in the end all his aims were accomplished in spite of the illness which drained his strength; but more than that, placed at a critical moment before a necessary sacrifice, he did not hesitate. He knew that he was the one man in all England in the Parliamentary party who was capable of replying to Salmasius and of vindicating the honor of the Republic; he knew also that in accepting the task he abandoned all hope of preserving his sight. He 11 English Historical Review, XVII (1902), 106.

accepted the task. His heroism was of good alloy, and was not built on illusions: he was not deceived in believing himself capable of replying worthily to Salmasius any more than in thinking that he would lose what remained of his sight. It is because of this that he retains his place among the heroes, whatever may be our opinion of the cause for which he sacrificed himself, and that he continues to deserve our admiration, not only as a great poet, one of the most powerful artists of all time, but also as a great man, one of the strongest wills, the most enlightened consciences that humanity has produced.

APPENDIX B

THE NEW CONCEPTION OF MILTON: A CRITICAL

A

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

COMPLETELY new conception of Milton has been brought forward since 1917. It may be summed up, in the main, by saying that it considers Milton as a Renaissance thinker and artist, and no longer as a Puritan. In the elaboration of this new view two groups have been chiefly at work: an American group, by far the more numerous; and a European group, centering mainly in Germany and starting from the work of Mr. S. B. Liljegren, of the University of Lund, Sweden. The edition of the sonnets published in 1921 by Professor John S. Smart of the University of Glasgow, and my own Pensée de Milton (Paris, 1920) stand outside both of these groups.

I. THE AMERICAN GROUP

I. EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN. A note on Paradise Lost IX. In M. L. N., February, 1917, XXXII, 119-21.

1 In 1916 Mr. Elbert N. S. Thompson published his very useful John Milton: topical bibliography (New Haven, Yale University Press). This appendix is an attempt to continue his work down to the present moment (June, 1924). A great part of the material which it contains originally appeared in an article entitled "La conception nouvelle de Milton," which I contributed to the Revue germanique for April-June, 1923 (XIV, 113–41).

2 The Sonnets of Milton, with an introduction and notes, Glasgow, Maclehose, Jackson and Co., 1921. This is a most important work from the biographical point of view. Prof. Smart has in preparation historical work of the highest interest on Milton, and intends "to get Milton completely and resolutely demassonised."

3 The following abbreviations have been used: J. E. G. P. Journal of English and Germanic Philology; M. L. N. : Modern Language Notes; M. L. R. = Modern Language Review; M. P. Modern Philology; P. M. L. A.= Publications of the Modern Language Association; S. P. = Studies in Philology.

2. JAMES HOLLY HANFORD. The dramatic element in Paradise Lost. In S. P., April, 1917, XIV, 178-95.

A criticism of Sir Walter Raleigh's phrase, "Milton is an epic, not a dramatic poet "; shows the truth and depth of the human drama between Adam and Eve. Very important.

3. EDWIN GREENLAW. "A better teacher than Aquinas." In S. P., April, 1917, XIV, 196–217.

Starts from the text of the Areopagitica, and analyzes it by comparing it with the episode of Guyon in the Faerie Queen; finds there an anticipation of Milton's theories on man's freedom, on destiny as a consequence of man's moral state, on reason and passion; shows the influence on Milton's thought of Renaissance Neo-Platonism. Does not sufficiently insist on the conception of the goodness of matter, which separates Milton and the Renaissance from ancient Neo-Platonism.. A very important article.

4. ELBERT N. S. THOMPSON. A forerunner of Milton. In M. L. N., December, 1917, XXXII, 479-82.

On Henry More and astronomy.

5. JOHN ERSKINE. The theme of death in Paradise Lost. In P. L. M. A., December, 1917, XXXII, 573-82.

6. R. E. NEIL DODGE. Theology in Paradise Lost. In University of Wisconsin Studies in language and literature, 1918, No. 2, pp. 9-21.

7. EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN. A note on Il Penseroso. In M. L. N., March, 1918, XXXIII, 184-85.

On Milton and Hermes Trismegistus. An important short note.

8. EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN. Milton and Ezekiel. M. L. N., April, 1918, XXXIII, 211–15.

In

9. ROBERT L. RAMSAY. Morality themes in Milton's poetry. In S. P., April, 1918, XV, 123–58.

Shows Milton's emancipation from Platonism in Comus and the cause thereof: his belief in the goodness of matter. A little of the moralities left in Milton.

10. ELBERT N. S. THOMPSON. Milton's Of Education. In S. P., April, 1918, XV, 159–75.

II. JAMES HOLLY HANFORD. The temptation motive in Milton. In S. P., April, 1918, XV, 176–94.

Shows the Puritan and Christian element in Milton in his liability to succumb before passion.

12. RONALD S. CRANE. Imitation of Spenser and Milton in the early eighteenth century: a new document. In S. P., April, 1918, XV, 195–206.

13. ELMER EDGAR STOLL. Was Paradise well lost? In P. M. L. A., September, 1918, XXXIII, 429-35.

A reply to No. 5.

14. ALLAN H. GILBERT. A geographical dictionary of Milton. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1919.

15. ALLAN H. GILBERT. A parallel between Milton and Seneca. In M. L. N., February, 1919, XXXIV, 120-21.

Points out the resemblance between "Nor love thy life, nor hate " (P. L., XI, 549) and "In utrumque enim monendi ac firmandi sumus, et ne nimis amemus vitam et ne nimis oderimus" (Seneca, Epist., XXIV, 24).

16. JAMES HOLLY HANFORD. Milton and the return to humanism. In S. P., April, 1919, XVI, 126-47.

A manifesto of the new conception of Milton: " proposes a reinterpretation and a revaluation of the poem in terms of humanism . . . to see Milton's philosophy as a whole. . . to set him in his right relation, not to Puritanism alone, but to the whole Renaissance . . . [to] realize the significance of his work as a poetic criticism of life." Very important. 17. ELBERT N. S. THOMPSON. Milton's knowledge of geography. In S. P., April, 1919, XVI, 148–71.

18. ALLAN H. GILBERT. The Cambridge manuscript and Milton's plans for an epic. In S. P., April, 1919, XVI, 172–76. 19. ALLAN H. GILBERT. Pierre Davity: his Geography and its use by Milton. In the Geographical Review, May, 1919, VII, 322-38.

20. DAVID HARRISON STEVENS. The order of Milton's sonnets. In M. P., May, 1919, XVII, 25-33.

21. GEORGE SHERBURN. The early popularity of Milton's minor poems. In M. P., September, 1919, and January, 1920, XVII, 259-78, 515-40.

22. EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN. Milton and the Psalms. In M. P., December, 1919, XVII, 457–63.

23. HARRY GLICKSMAN. The sources of Milton's History of Britain.

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