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CHAPTER VIII.

JOHN MILTON.

THIS illustrious poet was born in London in 1608. His father was a scrivener or writer, and money lender, well to do in the world, and both anxious and ready to give his son a good education. From his earliest years Milton showed signs of becoming a great scholar and splendid poet. He wrote good verses when he was only thirteen years old; and at the age of twenty-one he produced a college exercise, the Hymn on the Nativity, perhaps the finest lyric poem in the language. On leaving Cambridge, where he had been a diligent student, he went to his father's house at Horton, and, during five years, read all the classical authors within his reach, and wrote four beautiful poems-Comus (a pastoral masque), Lycidas (an elegy or funeral song), L'Allegro (descriptive of mirth), and Il Penseroso (descriptive of sadness). He next travelled on the continent for fifteen months, and while in Italy wrote several poems in Latin and in Italian, being very well acquainted with both languages. On his return to England he took part in the stirring events of the Civil War, siding with the Puritans, and writing furious pamphlets against the King. His most popular prose work is the Areopagitica-an address to the Parliament in favour of the freedom of the press. In 1649 he was appointed Latin Secretary under Cromwell. It was his duty to write and translate Latin letters, as the correspondence between the nations of Europe regarding State affairs was at that time conducted in the Latin language. When the period of the Restoration arrived, Milton suffered for the part he had taken against Charles I. He was fined and imprisoned, and had not powerful influence been exerted in his behalf, he might even have been put to death. In 1662 he became blind, but his "mind's eye" became clearer and brighter than ever. It was during this period of enforced retirement that Milton was busy

with his greatest poem; and notwithstanding his blindness, he completed it in 1665. He was three times married, and his last wife and three daughters survived him. He died at Bunhill Fields, in November, 1674, and was buried in St. Giles, Cripplegate. Many years afterwards a monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.

His greatest work is the Paradise Lost, an epic poem, divided into Twelve Books. In Book I. the poet tells us that his subject is to be man's disobedience and the consequent loss of Paradise. He next describes Satan, who was the first cause of this disaster, as rebelling against God, and as being cast with other rebel angels out of heaven. They fall into a vast unshapen place called chaos or hell. At first they are stunned, but soon afterwards recover, and Satan reminds them that there was a report in heaven that God had intended to create a new world, and a new kind of being to dwell upon it, and suggests that they might revenge themselves by making this new being commit evil. To talk over this matter, a council is held in Satan's palace of Pandemonium, which has risen from beneath as if by magie. In Book II. the council is held, and results in Satan's undertaking the perilous journey. He reaches the gates of hell, which are guarded by two monsters-Death, and his mother, Sin. With some difficulty he passes them, and after a long journey he at length comes within sight of the newly created earth. Book III. describes God the Father beholding Satan as he flies afar in the direction of the world. The Father laments the misery that Satan will bring upon mankind; but they are not to be left to perish, for the Son offers himself as a ransom to redeem them from Satan's power. Meantime the Spirit of Evil, having assumed a disguise, arrives at the sun, where he meets Uriel, the angel of that orb, and succeeds in getting proper directions from him as to how the world is to be approached. At length he reaches it, and alights on a mountain. În Book IV. he finds his way to Paradise, where he changes himself into the shape of a cormorant, and sitting on a branch of the

Tree of Life, looks about him, and sees the beauty of the garden, and Adam and Eve retiring to rest after their evening worship. Book V. describes the events of the following morning. Eve has had a troubled dream, and Adam comforts her, after which, their morning prayers being over, they both go forth to work in the garden. The remaining part of this Book, and the whole of the three following, are occupied with a conversation which takes place between Adam and Raphael, who has been sent from heaven to warn him of Satan's approach. In Book IX. Satan, who had been driven from the garden by the guardian angels, comes back at night as a mist, and then assumes the form of a serpent. Next morning, Adam and Eve, at the suggestion of the latter, agree to work separately that day, and in this way the serpent finds an opportunity to carry out his design, when Eve is alone, the result being that Eve eats of the forbidden fruit, and Adam after her In Book X. they receive their sentence. Sin and death prepare a road between earth and hell, and Satan returns in triumph to tell of his success; but both himself and the other fallen angels are immediately afterwards changed into serpents. Adam and Eve (Book XI.) repent and seek pardon. The Almighty accepts of their repentance, but they are nevertheless led forth from Paradise by the angel Michael, who shows Adam what fearful consequences will come of the sin he has committed, at the same time (Book XII.) comforting him with the hope of salvation. Milton wrote a sequel to Paradise Lost, entitled Paradise Regained; but although also a great poem, it does not possess the same grandeur as its predecessor.

Of the many notable characteristics of Milton's poetry, only a few can here be hinted at. He is the most learned of all the poets, and his works show how well he knew all the Greek, Latin, Italian, and English poets of any note. His language is lofty and dignified, and is quite in keeping with the sublimity and grandeur of his splendid imagination. His powers of eloquence are displayed in the magnificent speeches of Satan, and his pictures of

Eden are beautiful evidences of his love of Nature. In his great poem he adopts the long, majestic line peculiar to blank verse; but in writing his livelier poems, he prefers the short and sprightly rhyming couplet. The following quotations will show how much the poet was at home in both styles :—

SATAN'S PALACE.

"Anon, out of the earth a fabric huge
Rose like an exhalation, with the sound
Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet;
Built like a temple, where pilasters round
Were set, and Doric pillars, overlaid

With golden architrave; nor did there want
Cornice and frieze, with bossy sculptures grav'n:
The roof was fretted gold."-Paradise Lost, Book I.

FROM ADAM'S MORNING HYMN OF PRAISE.

"Ye mists, and exhalations! that now rise
From hill, or steaming lake, dusky, or gray,
Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honour to the world's great Author rise;
Whether to deck with clouds the uncoloured sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling show'rs,
Rising or falling, still advance His praise.

His praise, ye winds! that from four quarters blow.
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines!
With every plant, in sign of worship, wave.
Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling, tune His praise.
Join voices all, ye living souls; ye birds,
That singing up to Heaven gate ascend,

Bear on your wings, and in your notes, His praise.
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep,

Witness if I be silent, morn or even,

To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,

Made vocal by my song, and taught His praise.

Hail, universal Lord! be bounteous still

To give us only good; and, if the night

Have gathered aught of evil or concealed,

Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark."-Ibid., Book V.

TO EUPHROSYNE, OR MIRTH.

"Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee

Jest and youthful Jollity,

Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles,
Nods and becks, and wreathed smiles,
Such as hung on Hebe's cheek,
And love to live in dimple sleek;
Sport, that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter, holding both his sides.
Come, and trip it as you go,

On the light fantastic toe."-L'Allegro.

CHAPTER IX.

FROM THE RESTORATION TILL THE YEAR 1702.

Characteristics of the Restoration Period. POETS Butler-
Dryden Other Poets. DRAMATISTS-Otway-Congreve—

Other Dramatists. PROSE WRITERS ON RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS
-Bunyan-Barrow-Other Religious Writers.

PHILOSO-
PHERS -Locke-Newton-Other Writers on Philosophy.
HISTORIANS-Clarendon-Burnet-Other Historians.

were

DURING the Commonwealth, the Puritan Government compelled everybody to seem good, whether they were in reality good or bad. All kinds of amusements--dancing, the singing of secular songs, theatricals, &c. considered sinful. The result was that, when the pleasure loving Charles became king, every restraint was removed, and the people plunged into all sorts of wickedness, which they called by the name of pleasure. It was as if a man mad with thirst were suddenly to find himself on a river's brink, and, at the sight of the cool, sparkling water, were to plunge into its depths, and drink, and drink, and drink, till he well nigh drowned himself. The people of England had thirsted for pleasure so long that now, at the Restoration, there was no satisfying them; and they sank so low in wickedness that many good men thought the country would be irrecoverably lost. The King, having learned the evil ways of the French when he was in exile, introduced them into England, and both himself and his court indulged in them to the fullest.