been steadfast in its devotion to him even when exiled from his smile. If the king proved successful, they would regrasp the reins of power; if unsuccessful, they would at least have the consolation of knowing that they had made a bold push for the reinstatement of their influence. A brilliant court, selfish, tyrannical, and corrupt; cavaliers besotted with wine and license, grown heedless of right and indifferent to justice; the Puritans, shocked by this indecency, working with incessant industry and marvellous talent to inaugurate a new régime; the Catholics alert and intriguing; the commons intensely active through the dawning of intelligence; every tavern the headquarters of a political clique; general discontent begotten of the despotic policy of the crown; the people, like a blind Samson, grasping for the pillars of their prison-house these were the discordent elements which even so early as the year of Milton's birth had begun to ferment: such was the rotten society through which there passed, forty years later, the stern ploughshare of the civil war.

Of course Milton's mind could not but

take color in large measure from

sane giants, and giants gone mad.

that era of

Out of the chaos of opinions he shaped and elaborated his own theories, based mainly on Bible truth, and so grew to be the thinker and the idealist of the Revolution-the brain of English Protestantism in the seventeenth century.

JOHN MILTON was born on the morning of the 9th of December, 1608, in the city of London, and parish of All-hallows, in his father's house, in Bread-street.

The Milton family, which was of gentle blood, had originally resided in the hamlet of Milton, near Abingdon, in Oxfordshire; but having espoused the unsuccessful side in the civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster in the preceding century, their estate, in common with many others, had been sequestrated, and they were in consequence reduced to comparative obscurity, though continuing to hold property to a considerable extent, which had descended on the female side. The poet's grandfather, whose name was John Milton, was under-keeper or ranger to

the forest of Shotover, near Horton, in Oxfordshire.

The poet's father, also named John Milton, was a gentleman of varied accomplishments, and had been educated at Christ church, Oxford, where he embraced the Protestant faith, being in consequence disinherited by his father, who was a bigoted Catholic. The student being thus thrown upon his own resources, chose for his support the profession of a scrivener. This term, at least in its old sense, is now obsolete; and it may be interesting to know precisely what a scrivener was in Milton's boyhood, and when James First was king.

Scriveners at that time were penmen of all kinds of writing, literary manuscripts as well as charters and law papers. Chaucer, the father of English poetry, has an epigram in which he lampoons his "scrivener" Adam for negligent workmanship. After the invention of printing, the business of the scrivener became very similar to that of a modern attorney, or of an attorney in conjunction with a Mitford's Life, p. 1, Vol. I.

* Dr. Todd's Life, p. 1.

law-stationer.* The scriveners were an ancient and quite numerous body, and were regularly incorporated in the time of Milton's father. The profession was esteemed an honorable one, and though its members might be sent for, as in the instance mentioned, much of their business was done in their own "shops,' the general aspect of which was very like the offices of modern lawyers, a chief desk for the master, side desks for the apprentices, pigeonholes and drawers for parchments, and seats for customers. A scrivener who had money could find excellent opportunities for lending it at a profit.

Being, as his son has written of him with proper pride, “a man of the utmost integrity," the scrivener Milton prospered rapidly. His industry and prudent conduct soon put him in possession of an extensive estate, so that he owned not only the "Spread-eagle” in Breadstreet, where the poet was born, so named

* In Shakspeare's "Taming of the Shrew," a boy is sent for the scrivener to draw up a marriage settlement:

"We'll pass the business privately and well.
Send for your daughter by your servant here:
My boy shall fetch the scrivener presently."

from the armorial bearings of the family, but also another house called the "Rose," in the same street, together with various other houses in different quarters of London. He was passionately fond of the fine arts, especially music, in which he was remarkably skilful. Sir John Hawkins and Dr. Burney have each selected specimens of his talent in their histories of music. He is said to have been "a voluminous composer, and equal in science, if not in genius, to the best musicians of his age.

It is always interesting to know something of the mothers of great men. Such inquiries almost invariably reveal the fact that they were women of remarkable character. Of Milton's mother enough is known to convince us that she was possessed of rare talent; and the loving pen of her son has recorded of her that she was respectably connected and descended, greatly esteemed for her virtues, and particularly distinguished for that charity upon which the apostle pronounces his glowing eulogium. Concerning her maiden name there is great conflict of authorities, but it is perhaps

* Dr. Burney's History of Music, Vol. III., p. 134.