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Milton subsequently knew. He now passed through France, and returned home after an absence of fifteen months. Of his habitual purity of morals, and sanctity of character, when abroad, he has himself informed us. Deum hic rursus testem in vocem, me his omnibus in locis ubi tum multa licent, ab omni flagitio ac Probro, integrum atque intactum vixisse, illud perpetuo cogitantem, si hominum latere oculos possem, Dei certe non posse.'

On his return he heard of the death of Charles Deodati,35 and he has recorded the affection which he felt for his friend, in the Epithalamium Damonis.

Nec dum aderat Thyrsis, pastorem scilicet illum
Dulcis amor musæ Thuscâ retinebat in urbe
Ast ubi mens expleta domum, pecorisque relicti
Cura vocat, simul assuetâ seditque sub ulmo,

Tum vero amissum, tum denique sentit amicum.36

Some passages in this poem are borrowed from the Aminta of Tasso; a few more lines, alluding to his recent travels, I shall quote.

Heu quis me ignotas traxit vagus error in oras,
Ire per aereas rupes, alpemque nivosam!
Ecquid erat tanti Romam vidisse sepultam?
(Quamvis illa foret, qualem dum viseret olim,
Tityrus ipse suas, et oves et rura reliquit?)

35 C. Deodati was a native of England, but of an Italian family, which came originally from Lucca; but in its last generation established at Geneva. His father, Theodore, came early in life to England, married a lady of family and fortune, and practised as a physician. The son was bred to the same profession, and settled in Cheshire. See some further account in Todd's Milton, vol. vi. p. 173, 360. The two Greek letters of Deodati, possessed by Toland, are now in the British Museum, (MS. Add. No. 5017, f. 71,) and will be found in the Appendix to this Memoir.

36 v. Ep. Damonis, ver. 12.

Ut te tam dulci possem caruisse sodale
Possem tot maria alta, tot interponere montes,
Tot sylvas, tot saxa tibi, fluviosque sonantes.
Ah certe extremum licuisset tangere dextram,
Et bene compositos placide morientis ocellos,
Et dixisse "vale, nostri memor, ibis ad astra."

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O ego quantus eram, gelidi cum stratus ad Arni
Murmura, populeumque nemus, qua mollior herba,
Carpere nunc violas, nunc summas carpere myrtos,
Et potui Lycidæ certantem audire Menalcam!"

In these verses 37 he repeats his design of writing an epic poem on some part of the ancient British history. Dr. Johnson has observed that this 'poem is written with the common but childish imitation of pastoral life.' As it is not however intended deeply to move the sources of our sympathy, or to come across a strong and recent sorrow, 38 but to express, as in Lycidas, in a pleasing and gentle manner, the poet's affection and regret; the pastoral veil, in imitation of ancient poetry, and of later Italian models, is not inelegantly assumed. Besides, as Warton observes, 'the common topics are recommended by a novelty of elegant expression; some passages wander far beyond the bounds of bucolic song, and are in his own original style of the more sublime poetry.' He might speak of its purpose as he does in his Prolusions (p. 91) of the Province of History; Nunc inquietos animi tumultus sedet et componit, nunc delibatum gaudio reddit, mox evocat lacrymas, sed mites eas, et pacatas, et quæ mosta nescio quid voluptatis secum afferat.'

87 See ver. 161–167.

6

38Methinks, said Sancho, the thoughts that give way to verses, are not very troublesome. Therefore versify as much as you list, and I'll sleep as much as I can.' Don Quixote, vol. iv. p. 212, (Shelton's Transl.)

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Milton's return to England took place about the time of Charles's second expedition against the Scots, in which his forces were defeated by General Lesly, in the month of August, 1639, and therefore not long before the meeting of the long parliament. In a Bible, once in the possession of Mr. Blackburn, and which is supposed to have been the companion of Milton's travels, are some manuscript remarks, dated Canterbury, 1639, among which is a quotation from Maccabees 1, xiv. 15: 'Now when it was heard at Rome, and as far as Sparta, that Jonathan was dead, they were very sorry.'

When that day of death shall come,
Then shall nightly shades prevaile.
Soon shall love and music faile;
Soon the fresh turfe's tender blade
Shall flourish on my sleeping shade.

Of the authenticity of these remarks, and of the book having been the property of Milton, reasonable doubts have been entertained; but I consider it my duty not to pass over in silence a circumstance which has been recorded and credited by the most industrious and inquisitive among the biographers of the Poet.89

39

He now hired a lodging in St. Bride's Churchyard, Fleet-street, at the house of one Russel, a tailor, and undertook the education of his two nephews, John and Edward Philips.40 Finding

39 See Todd's Life (first edit.) p. 39, Gent. Mag. July, Sept. Oct. 1792, Feb. 1790, March, 1803, p. 199.

40 Their mother had married again, therefore Milton might feel it his duty to take these boys under his care. They lived with him about five or six years. Mr. Godwin thinks John Philips's Scarronides (1664) was written in an excessive spirit of spite and malignity against Milton, v. Life of Philips, p. 148. As long as he lived he never relaxed in his

his rooms inconvenient, and not large enough for his books, he soon removed into a handsome garden-house in Aldersgate Street, free from the noise and disturbance of passengers,41 and received some of his friends' sons to be instructed and educated by him. His father was still living, the allowance which he received was small, and he supplied its deficiencies by a respectable employment. The expense of his travels, to which he has alluded in one of his tracts, probably rendered it necessary for him to abstain from pressing more deeply on the limited resources of his father. 'My life,' he says, 'has not been unexpensive, in learning and voyaging about.' The Aubrey Letters mention that Milton went to the university at his own charges only, but in his Latin Epistle to his father, ver. 77, he says;

Tuo pater optime sumptu

Cum mihi Romuleæ patuit facundia linguæ,
Et Latii veneres, et quæ Jovis ora decebant,
Grandia magniloquis elata vocabula Graiis
Addere suasisti quos jactat Gallia flores.

*

Per te nosse licet, per te, si nosse licebit, &c.

unnatural animosity against his uncle, p. 157. Mr. Godwin calls him a shameless unfeeling buffoon, p. 161. Milton made his nephews songsters, and sing from the time they were with him. v. Aubrey Let. 3. 446.

41 Philips says, 'He made no long stay in his lodgings in St. Bride's Churchyard, necessity of having a place to dispose his books in, and other goods fit for the furnishing of a good handsome house, hastening him to take one; and accordingly a pretty garden-house he took in Aldersgate Street, at the end of an entry, and therefore the fitter for his turn, by the reason of the privacy, besides that there were few streets in London more free from noise than that." v. p. lii. Al. Gill, his old tutor, being driven from St. Paul's, set up a private school in the same street. Wood's Ath. Ox. ii. c. 22.

The system of education which he adopted was deep and comprehensive, it promised to teach science with language; or rather to make the study of languages subservient to the acquisition of scientific knowledge. Dr. Johnson has severely censured this method of instruction, but with arguments that might not unsuccessfully be met. The plan recommended by the authority of Milton seems to be chiefly liable to objection, from being too extensive; and while it makes authors of all ages contribute to the development of science; it of course must reject that careful selection, which can alone secure the cultivation of the taste. We may also reply to Johnson, that although all men are not designed to be astronomers, or geometricians: a knowledge of the principles on which the sciences are built, and the reasonings by which they are conducted, not only forms the most exact discipline which the mind can undergo, giving to it comprehension and vigour; but is the only solid basis on which an investigation of the laws of nature can be conducted, or those arts improved that tend to the advantage of society, and the happiness of mankind. Johnson says, we are not placed here to watch the planets, or the motion of the stars, but to do good. But good is done in various ways, according to opportunities offered, and abilities conferred; a man whose natural disposition, or the circumstances of whose education lead to pursue astronomical discoveries, or the sublime speculations of geometry, is emphatically doing good to others, as he is extending the boundaries of knowledge, and to himself, as he is directing the energies of his mind to subjects of the most exalted contemplation.

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