-Soon bis beart relented Tow'rds her, his life fo late, and fole delight, And after this reunion, fo far was he from retaining an unkind memory of the provocations which he had received from her ill conduct, that when the king's cause was entirely oppreffed, and her father, who had been active in his loyalty, was exposed to fequeftration; MILTON received both him and his family to protection, and free entertainment, in his own houfe, 'till their affairs were accommodated by his interest in the victorious faction. FOR he was now grown famous by An. Ætat. 41. his polemical writings of various kinds, and held in great favour and efteem, by those who had power to difpofe of all preferments in the ftate. It is in vain to diffemble, and far be it from me to defend, his engaging in a party combined in the destruction of our church and monarchy. Yet, leaving the justification of a mifguided fincerity to be debated in the fchools, may I prefume to obferve in his favour, that his zeal, diftempered and furious as it was, does not appear to have been infpirited by felf-interefted views. For it is affirmed, that though he always lived in a frugal retirement, and before his death had difpofed of his library (which we may fuppofe to have been a valuable collection) he left no more that fifteen hundred pounds behind him for the fupport of his family and whoever confiders the pofts to which he was advanced, and the times in which he enjoyed them, will, I believe, confefs he might have accumulated a much more plentiful fortune: in a difpaffionate mind it will not require any extraordinary meafure of candor to conclude, that though he abode in the heritage of oppreffors, and the fpoils of his country lay at his feet, neither his confcience, nor his honour, could ftoop to gather them. A COMMISSION to conftitute him adjutant-general to Sir William Waller was promifed; An. Etat. 42. but foon fuperfeded, by Waller's being laid afide, when his masters thought if proper to newmodel their army. However, the keennefs of his pen had fo effectually recommended him to Cromwell's esteem, that when he took the reins of government into his own hand, he advanced him to be Latin fecretary, both to himself and the parliament: the former of these preferments he enjoyed both under the ufurper, and his fon; the other, 'till King Charles II. was reftored. For fome time he had an apartment for his family in Whitehall; but his health requiring a freer acceffion of air, he was obliged to remove from thence to lodgings which opened into St. James's park. Not long after his fettlement there, his wife died in childbed: and much about the time of her death, a Gutta Serena, which had for feveral years been gradually increafing, totally extinguifhed his fight. In this melancholic condition he was easily prevailed with to think of taking another wife; who was Catherine the daughter of captain Woodcock of Hackney and the too, in less than a year after their marriage, died in the fame unfortunate manner as the former had done; and in his twenty third-fonnet he does honor to her memory. THESE private calamities were An. Etat. 52. much heightened, by the different figure he was likely to make in the new fcene of affairs, which was going to be acted in the ftate. For, all things now confpiring to promote the king's reftoration, he was too confcious of his own activity during the ufurpation, to expect any favour from the crown and therefore he prudently abfconded 'till the act of oblivion was published; by which he was only rendered incapable of bearing any office in the nation. Many had a very juft efteem of his admirable parts and learning, who detefted his principles; by whose interceffion his pardon paffed the feals and I wifh the laws of civil history could have extended the benefit of that oblivion to the memory of his guilt, which was indulged to his perfon; ne tanti facinoris immanitas aut extitiffe, aut non vindicata fuiffe, videatur. HAVING thus gained a full protection from the government (which was in truth more than he could have reasonably hoped) he appeared as much in public as he formerly ufed to do: and employing his friend Dr. Paget to make choice of a third confort, on his recommendation he married Elizabeth the daughter of Mr. Minfhul, a Cheshire gentleman, by whom he had no iffue. Three daughters by his first wife were then living; the two elder of whom are faid to have been very serviceable to him in his studies. For, having been inftructed to pronounce not only the modern, but also the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, languages; they read, in their refpective originals, whatever authors he wanted to confult; though they understood none but their mother-tongue. This employment, however, was too unpleafant to be continued for any long process of time; and therefore he difmiffed them to receive an education more agreeable to their fex and temper. WE come now to take a furvey of him in that point of view, in which he will be looked on by all fucceeding ages with equal delight and admiration. An interval of above twenty years had elapfed *26. fince he wrote the Mafk of Comus An. Etat $29. L'Allegro, Il Penferofo, and Lycidas §; * all in fuch an exquifite ftrain! that though he had left no other monuments of his genius behind him, his name had been immortal. But, neither the infirmities of age and conftitution, nor the viciffitudes of fortune, could deprefs the vigour of his mind; or divert it from executing a defign he had long conceived of writing an heroic poem. The fall of man was a fubject which he had some years before fixed on for a tragedy, which he intended to form by the models of antiquity: and fome, not without probability, fay the play opened with that speech in the fourth book of PARADISE LOST, ver. 32. which is addreffed by Satan to the Sun. Were it material, I believe I could produce other paffages which more plainly appear to have been originally intended for the fcene. But whatever truth there may be in this report, it is certain that he did not begin to mold his fubject in the form which it bears now, before he had concluded his controverfy with Salafius and More; when he had wholly loft the ufe of his eyes; and was forced to employ in the office of an amanuenfis any friend who accidentally paid him a visit. Yet under all these difcouragements, and various inAn. Etat. 61. terruptions, in the t year 1669 he publifhed his PARADISE LOST; the noblett poem, next to Homer and Virgil, that ever the wit of man produced in any age or nation. Need I mention any other evidence of its ineftimable worth, than that the firft geniuses, who have fucceeded him, have ever esteemed it a merit to relish, and illustrate, its beauties? whilst the critic who gazed, with fo much wanton malice, on the nakedness of Shakespear PAR, LOST. B. ix. Ver. 26. Milton's contract with his bookseller, S. Simmons, for the copy bears date April 27th, 1667. when he flept, after having * formerly declared war against it, wanted courage to make his attack; flushed though he was with his conquefts over Julius Cæfar, and the More; which infolence his mufe, like the other affaffins of Cæfar, † feverely revenged on herfelf; and not long after her triumph became her own executioner. Nor is it unworthy our obfervation, that though, perhaps, no one of our English poets hath excited fo many admirers to imitate his manner, yet I think never any was known to afpire to emulation even the late ingenious Mr. Philips, who in the colours of ftile, came the nearest of all the copiers to refemble the great original, made his diftant advances with a filial reverence: and reftrained his ambition within the fame bounds which Lucretius prefcribed to his own imitation. Non ita certandi cupidus, quam propter amorem Quod TE imitari aveo: quid enim contendat birundo Cycnis ? AND now perhaps it may pafs for fiction, what with great veracity I affirm to be fact, that MILTON, after having, with much difficulty, prevailed to have this divine poem licensed for the prefs, could fell the copy for no more than fifteen pounds: the payment of which valuable confideration depended on the fale of three numerous impreffions. So unreafonable may perfonal prejudice affect the most excellent performances! ABOUT 4 two years after, together An. Ætat. 63. with SAMSON AGONISTES (a trage dy not unworthy the Grecian ftage when Athens was *The Tragedies of the last age considered, p. 143. + Vide EDGAR. They were licensed July 2d, 1670, but not priated before the year enfuing. |