ton was one of the last students in either university that suffered the public indignity of corporal correction." Erratum, for fears is true, read hopes MAY BE true.' The reader now expects to see the stain wiped away; but, instead of endeavouring to invalidate the anecdote, Mr. Godwin proceeds to prove, beyond all doubt, what Dr. Johnson only feared' was true. For my part, (says he,) I am not disposed to controvert the anecdote. It is related by Aubrey, the sincere and affectionate lover of the person of Milton, upon the authority of Christopher Milton, Milton's brother, with whom the poet lived in friendship, and who attested it after his death.' Then follows a note of two quarto pages; in which Mr. Godwin only shows, that he is chagrined at the indignity; and, though conscious that it was suffered, yet angry, that any body should mention it.* ་ *We learn from Wood, (says Mr. Wharton,) that Henry Stubbe, a student of Christ College, Oxford, afterwards a partizan of Sir Henry Vane, showing himself too forward, pragmatical, and con ceited, was publicly whipped by the censor in the college hall. Ath. Ox. vol. ii. p. 560. See also Life of Bathurst, p. 202. I learn from some manuscript papers of Aubrey the antiquary, who was a student of Trinity College, Oxford, four years from 1642,' that at Oxford, and, I believe, at Cambridge, the rod was frequently used by the tutors and deans: and Dr. Potter, while a tutor of Trinity College, I know right well, (was Aubrey flogged too?) whipt his pupil with his sword by his side, when he came to take his leave of him to go to the inns of court. In the statutes of the said college, given in 1556, the scholars of the foundation are cr dered to be whipped by the deans, or censors, even to their twen tieth year. In the university statutes at Oxford, compiled 1635, ten years after Milton's admission at Cambridge, (Milton could not, then, have been one of the last,') corporal punishment is to be inflicted on boys under sixteen. We are to recollect, that Milton, when he went to Cambridge, was only a boy of fifteen. The author of an old pamphlet, Regicides no Saints nor Martyrs, says, that Hugh Peters, while at Trinity College, was publicly and officially whipped in the Regent Walk for his insolence.' Mr. Todd supplies another testimony. In Ch. 37, of the statutes of Christ College, it is provided, that, for certain offences, students shall be fined; si tamen adultus fuerit; alioquin, virgá corrigitur. Vol. i. p. 14. It appears, that Milton, thus early commencing reformer, was too forward, pragmatical, and conceited,' about a plan of his From some Latin verses to Charles Diodati, one of his schoolfellows, Mr. Wharton, and Dr. Johnson after him, think it is, also, 'plain that Milton had incurred rustication, a temporary dismission into the country, with perhaps the loss of a term.' Mr. Godwin is again enraged; and, though he does not undertake to disprove the interpretation, he is, we think, much more entitled to be angry in this case, than in the former. Milton says, Me tenet urbs reflua quam Thamisis alluit unda, Jam nee arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum, Nuda nec arva placent, umbrasque negantia molles. O utinam vates nunquam graviora tulisset Non tune Ionis quicquam cessisset Homero, From the frequent mention of exile, and from the' use of the words vetiti laris, there is little doubt, that, when Milton wrote this elegy, he had quitted the university against his will. But he does not declare, as Dr. Johnson thinks, 'that he is weary of enduring the threats of a rigorous master:' it is not 'some thing else,' but some things else, that his genius could not undergo; nor can we admit, that, by these own for academical instruction. Hayley's Life of Milton, Lond. 1796. For me, (said the poet afterwards,) I have determined to lay up, as the best solace and treasure of a good old age, if God vouchsafe it me, the honest liberty of a ree speech from my youth. Works in Prose, 1698. vol. i. p. 220. other things, besides threats, the author 'probably' meant punishment.' His design seems to have been, to compare the pleasures of the country with those of a college; and, on this account, Dr. Johnson should not have omitted the two essential lines, beginning with nuda nec arva. The threats of a rigorous master are not intended for himself particularly; neither is it at all evident, that the other things' are designed to refer exclusively to those 'threats.' Milton begins to enumerate the miseries of Cambridge; and, after mentioning some of the most prominent, includes the rest under the comprehensive et cetera. The elegy closes with a resolution of returning some time to Cambridge; and it is upon this combination of circumstances, that Dr. Johnson founds his conjecture of Milton's rustication. If Toland is to be credited,* the interpretation is decisively contradicted by the fact, that this elegy was written after Milton had taken his second degree, and while he was residing with his father at Horton, in Berkshire. We believe Diodati, his schoolfellow, was then a student of medicine; and that he was himself at home, appears from the expression, patrios adisse penates. We shall now propose our own conjecture. Milton 'went to the university (we prefer to use the language of Dr. Johnson) with a design of entering into the church, but in time altered his mind; for he declared, that whoever became a clergyman, must "subscribe slave, and take an oath withal, which, unless he took with a conscience that could not * Life of Milton, p. 7. Toland's sources of information were both ample and genuine. 'I learnt som particulars," says he, 'from a person that had bin once his amanuensis, which were confirm'd to me by his daughter now dwelling in London, and by a letter written to one at my desire from his last wife, who is still alive. I perus'd the papers of one of his nephews; learnt what I could in discourse with the other; and lastly consulted such of his acquaintance, as, after the best enquiry, I was able to discover." pp. 3, 4. retch, he must straight perjure himself. He thought it better to prefer a blameless silence before the office of speaking, bought and begun with servitude and forswearing." His unwillingness to engage in the ministry, perhaps not yet advanced to a settled resolution of declining it, appears in a letter to one of his friends, who had reproved his suspended and dilatory life, which he seems to have imputed to an insatiable curiosity, and a fantastic luxury of various knowledge. To this he writes a cool and plausible answer, in which he endeavours to persuade him, that the delay proceeds not from the delights of desultory study, but from the desire of obtaining more fitness for his task; and that he goes on, not taking thought of being late, so it gives advantage to be more fit.' We have before mentioned, that Milton came away without a fellowship; and perhaps the reader has already anticipated us in the supposition, that, to take the requisite oath and subscribe the thirty-nine articles, being among the things to which Milton's spirit could not submit, he was allowed to go home; examine the subject; and try to think better of these qualifications. It does not appear, that the disfavour of his first master extended to any other member of the faculty; and, when, as we have seen, they would condescend to violate the rules of college, by transferring him to another,* there can be little doubt, that he was highly esteemed by the majority. Indeed, it is well known, that, at both universities, a good Greek and Latin scholar could seldom do amiss; and, if any undergraduate might claim impunity in this respect, it was certainly John Milton. When he offered himself for a fellowship, therefore, there was probably no impediment to his success, but an unwillingness to sign the articles, and take the oath. See above, page 4, note. Our conjecture seems to be warranted by his own testimony. In an Apology against a pamphlet, supposed to have been written by the son of Bishop Hall, he takes 'occasion to acknowledge publicly with all grateful mind, that more than ordinary favour and respect, which I found above any of my equals, at the hands of those courteous and learned men, the fellows of that college wherein I spent some years: who at my parting, after I had taken two degrees, as the manner is, signified many ways, how much better it would content them that I would stay; as by many letters full of kindness and loving respect, both before that time, and long after, I was assured of their singular good affections towards me.' It appears, upon the whole, then, that Milton went to the university with a design to enter the church; that, though he left it, without a fellowship, he was strongly solicited to stay; and that, notwithstanding his opposition to the oath and articles, he still entertained a resolution at some time to return. We can see no means of reconciling these circumstances, but upon the supposition, that, at the time of writing the lines to Diodati, he was residing at home, as a sort of probationer; and that, if, upon investigating the subject, he could satisfy himself of the propriety of the required qualifications, he should still execute his original determination of taking orders. It is upon no other supposition, that we can account for the anomaly, remarked by his biographers, of remaining at his father's house, for more than five years after he had left the university. We learn from himself, that, excepting an occasional visit to London to relieve himself with its amusements, procure books, and see his schoolfellows, the whole of this time was given to intense study;* and his eulogists have not omitted to add,. * Et totum rapiunt me mea vita libri,-Ad Diod. |