lines of his immortal poem. For the subject of his epic poem, says Johnson, after much deliberation, long choosing, and beginning late, he fixed upon Paradise Lost, a design so comprehensive, that it could be justified only by success. He had once meant to celebrate the exploits of K. Arthur, as he has hinted in his Verses, "but," says Toland, "this particular subject was reserved for the celebrated pen of Sir Richard Blackmore." Amidst the prosecution of these great and laborious designs, he found time during the year 1659 for some humbler occupations. He edited some manuscript treatises of Sir Walter Raleigh. He published the foreign correspondence of the English parliament and of Cromwell; he wrote (against the Presbyterians) his "Considerations to remove hirelings out of the Church;" and, alarmed at the prospect of a returning monarchy, he printed his "Ready and easy way to establish a free Commonwealth." What he speaks, he says, is the language of that which is not called amiss" the good old cause." It appears from a passage in this treatise, that commerce had much languished during the civil wars and usurpation; and that the trading community were all anxious for the return of a luxurious court, and the assistance of regal prodigality. When the restoration of the king proved all is wishes fruitless, Milton withdrew to a friend's Douse in Bartholomew Close. This temporary toncealment seems to have been necessary to his safety, for a particular prosecution was directed against him. It is mentioned by his biographers that a mockR 8 This circumstance was first related by T. Warton, on the authority of Tyers, see his ed. of Milton, p. 308, and by Cunningham in his Hist. of G. Britain. 1. p. 14. funeral was made for him, and that when matters were arranged, the careless and merry monarch laughed at the imposition. It was however ordered that his 'Iconoclastes' and 'Defensio pro Populo Anglicano' should be burned by the common hangman, and that the attorney general should proceed against them by indictment, or otherwise. Of the proscribed books several copies on the 27th of August9 were committed to the flames. Within three days after this, the act of indemnity passed, and he was relieved from the necessity of further concealment. When subsequently he was in the custody of the serjeant at arms, it is supposed that his pardon was obtained by the intervention of some powerful friends.10 ther the story of Davenant's assistance is authentic, I am not able to say. The house on the 13th of December ordered his release: but how long he remained in custody is not known. Rich Whe ardson says, that he lived in perpetual terror of being assassinated. It has been asserted, that Milton was offered the place of Latin secretary to the king, an offer that it is obvious, he could not in honour or conscience accept, and that on In 1683 twenty-seven propositions from the writings of Milton, Hobbes, Buchanan, &c. were burnt at Oxford, as destructive to Church and State. This transaction is celebrated in Musa Anglicana, called Decretum Oxoniense, vol. iii. p. 180. Si similis quicunque hæc scripserit auctor, 10 The most copious account of the circumstances attend-. ing Milton's pardon are in Richardson's Life, p. 86, &c. communicated by Pope; who is also the authority for the assertion that Milton was offered the place of Latin secretary to the king. lxx his wife pressing his compliance, he said, 'Thou art in the right, you as other women, would ride in your coach, for me, my aim is to live and die an honest man. In 1661 he published his 'Accidence commenced Grammar,' bending his great and comprehensive mind to the construction of those humbler works which he considered of advantage to education. He lived for a short time in Holborn, near Red Lion Street, but soon removed to Jewin Street, by Aidersgate. In 1664, the year previous to the great sickness, he married his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull, of a genteel family in Cheshire, a relation of his particular friend Dr. Paget. 11 Mr. Todd considers it worthy of observation, that Milton chose his three wives out of the virgin state; while Sheffield duke of Buckingham selected his three from that of widowhood: but what inference the learned biographer would draw from their respective choices, is, from an entire ignorance on these subjects, to me unknown. Sheffield was probably looking out for a splendid jointure, and Milton for a gentle, virtuous, and attached companion. From some cause, of course too trifling to be known to us, probably from the numerous fluc The poet's widow died at Nantwich, in Cheshire, in 1727, having survived her husband fifty-two years, her funeral sermon, preached by the Rev. I. Kember, is published. I remember,' says Dr. Newton, to have heard from a gentleman who had seen his widow in Cheshire, that she had hair of this colour (golden tresses) it is more probable that he intended a compliment to his wife in the drawing of Eve, as he drew the portrait of Adam not without regard to his own person, of which he had no mean opinion.' v. P. L. iv. 305. The Aubrey MSS. say, she was a genteel person, a peaceful, and agreeable humour v. Vol. iii. p. 442. tuations of his fortune, Milton seems to have been extremely unsettled in his choice of a residence. Soon after his marriage he lodged with Millington, the famous book auctioneer, a man of remarkable elocution, wit, sense, and modesty. Richardson says, that Millington was accustomed to lead his venerable inmate by the hand, when he walked the streets; the person who acquainted Richardson with this fact, had often met Milton abroad with his conductor and host. He again removed to a small house in Artillery Walk, leading to Bunhill-fields, which, Philips says, was his last stage in this world, but it was of many years continuance, more perhaps than he had had in any other place besides. The plague had now begun to rage in London, and his young friend, Elwood the Quaker, found a shelter for him at Chalfont 12 in Buckinghamshire. 'It was on a visit at this place, that after some common discourses, says Elwood, had passed between us, he called for a MS. of his, which, being brought, he delivered to me, bidding me take it home with me, and read it at my leisure: and when I had so done, return it to him with my judgment thereupon. When I came home, and set myself to read it, I found that it was that excellent Poem, which he entitled Paradise Lost.' From this account it appears that Paradise Lost was 12 See an engraving of this house in Dunster's edition of Paradise Regained, and an account in Todd's Life of Milon, p. 272. I possess a drawing of it made about five years since, by which it appears, that a small part of it has been taken down and altered. Elwood calls it a pretty box. Milton is supposed to have resided there from the summer of 1665, to the March or April of the following year. pears that the plague reached even Chalfont, as may be seen by the Register in 1665. It ap LIFE OF MILTON. complete in 1665, and Aubrey represents it a finished about three years after the king's resto ration. Milton describes himself as long choos ing and beginning late the subject of his Poem and when that was selected, it was at first wrought into a dramatic form, like some of the ancient mysteries. There were two plans of the tragedy, both of which are preserved among the manuscripts in Trinity College, Cambridge; and which were printed, I believe, for the first time in Dr. Birch's Narrative of the Poet's Life.13 Such were the early and imperfect rudiments of Paradise Lost; the slender materials which he possessed in the story, and the splendid superstruction which he raised upon it, may remind us of the passage, in which he has thrown over the simple language of the ancient prophets, a magnificent description of his own creation.14 Isaiah had said, 'that Lucifer sate upon the mount of the congregation, on the sides of the north.' The key-note was struck on the chords of the Hebrew lyre, and Milton instantly built up a palace for the fallen angel, equal in brilliancy and splendour to the castles of Romance. He piled up its pinnacles from diamond quarries; and hewed its towers out of rocks of gold. At length into the limits of the north 13 See p. xlviii. of his Life. |