his sentiments to the last, thinking that his voice was the voice of expiring liberty.

A little before the King's landing he was discharged from his office of Latin Secretary, and was forced to leave his house in Petty France, where he had lived eight years with great reputation, and had been visited by all foreigners of note, who could not go out of the country without seeing a man who did so much honour to it by his writings, and whose name was as well known and as famous abroad as in his own nation, and by several persons of quality of both sexes. But now it was not safe for him to appear any longer in public, so that, by the advice of some who wished him well, and were concerned for his preservation, he fled for shelter to a friend's house in Bartholomew Close, near West Smithfield, where he lay concealed till the worst of the storm was blown over. The first notice that we find taken of him was on Saturday, the 16th of June 1660, when it was ordered by the House of Commons, that his Majesty should be humbly moved to issue his proclamation for the calling in of Milton's two books, his "Defence of the People" and "Iconoclastes," and also Goodwyn's book, intitled "The Obstructors of Justice," written in justification of the murder of the late king, and to order them to be burned by the hands of the common hangman. At the same time it was ordered that the Attorney General should proceed by way of indictment or information against Milton and Goodwyn in respect of their books, and that they themselves should be sent for in custody of the sergeant-at-arms attending the house. On Wednesday, June 27th, an order of council was made agreeable to the order of the House of Commons for a proclamation against Milton's and Goodwyn's books; and the proclamation was issued the 13th of August following, wherein it was said that the authors had fled or did abscond: and on Monday, August 27th, Milton's and Goodwyn's books were burned, according to the proclamation, at the Old Bailey, by the hands of the common hangman. On Wednesday, August 29th, the act of indemnity was passed, which proved more favourable to Milton than could well have been expected; for though John Goodwyn, Clerk, was excepted among the twenty persons, who were to have penalties inflicted upon them, not extending to life, yet Milton was not excepted at all, and consequently was included in the general pardon. We find, indeed, that afterwards he was in custody of the ser

geant-at-arms; but the time when he was taken into custody is not certain.

At all events, on Saturday the 15th of December 1660, it was ordered by the House of Commons, that Mr. Milton, now in custody of the sergeant-at-arms, should be forthwith released, paying his fees; and on Monday the 17th of December, a complaint being made that the sergeant-atarms had demanded excessive fees for his imprisonment, it was referred to the committee of privileges and elections to examine this business, and to call Mr. Milton and the sergeant before them, and to determine what was fit to be given to the sergeant for his fees in this case; so courageous was he at all times in defence of liberty against all the encroachments of power, and though a prisoner, would yet be treated like a freeborn Englishman. The clemency of the Government was certainly very great towards him, considering the nature of his offences; for though he was not one of the King's judges and murderers, yet he contributed more to murder his character and reputation than any of them all: and to what, therefore, could it be owing, that he was treated with such lenity, and was so easily pardoned? It is certain there was not wanting powerful intercession for him both in council and in parliament. It is said that Secretary Morrice and Sir Thomas Clargis greatly favoured him, and exerted their interest in his behalf; and his old friend Andrew Marvel, member of parliament for Hull, formed a considerable party for him in the House of Commons; and neither was Charles the Second (as Toland says) such an enemy to the Muses, as to require his destruction. But the principal instrument in obtaining Milton's pardon was Sir William Davenant, out of gratitude for Milton's having procured his release when he was taken prisoner in 1650.

Milton, having thus obtained his pardon, and being set at liberty again, took a house in Holborn, near Red Lion Fields; but he removed soon into Jewin Street, near Aldersgate Street; and while he lived there, being in his 53rd or 54th year, and blind and infirm, and wanting somebody better than servants to tend and look after him, he employed his friend Dr. Paget to choose a proper consort for him; and at his recommendation married his third wife, Elizabeth Minshul, of a gentleman's family in Cheshire, and related to Dr. Paget It is said that an offer was made to Milton, as well as to Thurloe, of holding the same

place of secretary under the King, which he had discharged with so much integrity and ability under Cromwell; but he persisted in refusing it, though his wife pressed his compliance; Thou art in the right," says he, you, like other women, would ride in your coach; for me, my aim is to live and die an honest man."

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While he lived in Jewin Street, Elwood the Quaker was first introduced to read to him; for having wholly lost his sight, he always kept somebody or other to perform that office, and usually the son of some gentleman of his acquaintance, whom he took in kindness, that he might at the same time improve him in his learning. Elwood was recommended to him by Dr. Paget, and went to his house every afternoon, except Sunday, and read to him such books in the Latin tongue as Milton thought proper.

His great work of "Paradise Lost" had principally engaged his thoughts for some years past, and was now completed. It is probable that his first design of writing an epic poem was owing to his conversations at Naples with the Marquis of Villa about Tasso and his famous poem of the delivery of Jerusalem; and in a copy of verses presented to that nobleman before he left Naples, he intimated his intention of fixing upon King Arthur for his hero. Although he often repeated his promise to produce some noble poem or other at a fitter season, it does not appear that he had then determined upon the subject, and King Arthur had another fate, being reserved for the pen of Sir Richard Blackmore. The first hint of "Paradise Lost" is said to have been taken from an Italian tragedy; and it is certain, that he first designed it a tragedy himself, and there are several plans of it in the form of a tragedy still to be seen in the author's own manuscript, preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. And it is probable that he did not barely sketch out the plans, but also wrote some parts of the drama itself. It was not till after he was disengaged from the Salmasian controversy, which ended in 1655, that he began to mould the "Paradise Lost" in its present form; but after the Restoration, when he was dismissed from public business, and freed from controversy, he prosecuted the work with closer application. Mr. Philips relates a very remarkable circumstance in the com position of this poem, which he says he had reason to remember, as it was told him by Milton himself, that hi vein never happily flowed but from the autumnal equinox

to the vernal, and that what he attempted at other times was not to his satisfaction, though he courted his fancy never so much; but whenever the poem was written, it was finished in 1665, and, as Elwood says, was shown to him that same year at St. Giles Chalfont, whither Milton had retired to avoid the plague, and it was lent to him to peruse it and pass his judgment upon it: and, considering the difficulties which the author lay under, his uneasiness on account of the public affairs and his own, his age and infirmities, his gout and blindness, his not being in circumstances to maintain an amanuensis, but obliged to make use of any hand that came next to write his verses as he made them; it is really wonderful that he should have the spirit to undertake such a work, and much more, that he should ever have brought it to perfection. And after the poem was finished, still new difficulties retarded the publication of it. It was in danger of being suppressed through the malice or ignorance of the licenser, who took exception at some passages, and particularly at that noble simile, in the first book, of the sun in an eclipse, in which he fancied that he had discovered treason. It was with difficulty, too, that the author could sell the copy; and he sold it at last only for five pounds, but was to receive five pounds more after the sale of 1,300 of the first impression, and five pounds more after the sale of as many of the second impression, and five more after the sale of as many of the third, and the number of each impression was not to exceed 1,500. And what a poor consideration was this for such an inestimable performance! and how much more do others get by the works of great authors, than the authors themselves! And yet we find that Hoyle, the author of the "Treatise on the Game of Whist," after having disposed of the whole of the first impression, sold the copy to the bookseller for two hundred guineas.

Without entering into a detailed account of the numerous editions of this splendid and ever-popular poem, we may observe that it has been a source of imitation and criticism in all countries, and that the greatest critics have eagerly given their labours to its illustration and correction. It has also been translated into several languages, Latin, Italian, French, and Dutch; and proposals have been made1

1 By the late R. Dawes, author of the "Miscellanea Criticæ," and by others before his time.

for translating it into Greek. The Dutch translation is in blank verse, and printed at Haarlem. So that by one means or other, Milton is now considered as an English classic; and the "Paradise Lost" is generally esteemed the noblest and most sublime of modern poems, and equal at least to the best of the ancient: the honour of this country, and the envy and admiration of all others.

In 1670 he published his "History of Britain," that part especially now called England. He began it above twenty years before, but was frequently interrupted by other avocations; and he designed to have brought it down to his own times, but stopped at the Norman conquest; for indeed he was not well able to pursue it any farther by reason of his blindness, and he was engaged in other more delightful studies, having a genius turned for poetry rather than history. When his history was printed, it was not printed perfect and entire; for the licenser expunged several passages, which, reflecting upon the pride and superstition of the monks in the Saxon times, were understood as a concealed satire upon the bishops in Charles the Second's reign. But the author himself gave a copy of his unlicensed papers to the Earl of Anglesea, who, as well as several of the nobility and gentry, constantly visited him: and in 1681, a considerable passage, which had been suppressed at the beginning of the third book, was published, containing a character of the Long Parliament and Assembly of Divines in 1641, which was inserted in its proper place in the last edition of 1738.

In 1670 likewise, his "Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes" were licensed together, but were not published till the year following. It is somewhat remarkable, that these two poems were not printed by Simmons, the printer of " Paradise Lost," but by J. M., for one Starkey, in Flect Street: and what could induce Milton to have recourse to another printer?-was it because the former was not enough encouraged by the sale of "Paradise Lost" to become a purchaser of the other copies? The first thought of "Paradise Regained" was owing to Elwood, the Quaker, as he himself relates the occasion, in the history of his life. When Milton had lent him the manuscript of "Paradise Lost," at St. Giles Chalfont, as we said before, and he returned it, Milton asked him how he liked it, and what he thought of it: "which I modestly, but freely told him," sayu Elwood;