Page images
PDF
EPUB

tured to publish a book which he called "Fides Publica," or Public Faith. Milton rejoined by writing his "Defencio Pro," or defence of himself, in which he handled his unfortunate adversary with the most extreme severity. This was published in 1655. Apparently in the same year, Morus printed a "Supplementum," which was speedily silenced by a brief "Responsio" from Milton, in which poor Morus was again so riddled and ridiculed that he gladly retired into obscurity, leaving Milton in undisputed possession of the field. Thus closed a long and bitter controversy, in which Milton had fairly earned, and then wore by general consent, the proud title of "the people's champion and conqueror."

fearful of exposing his own head to Milton's literary hatchet, persuaded More, or Morus, in an unhappy moment, to publish and father it.

CHAPTER XV.

AT the conclusion of the famous controversy with Salmasius, and of those collateral ones which had grown out of that central literary combat, Milton for a time laid aside his polemical pen, and devoted himself to his private studies and the duties of his office. He does not appear to have been very frequent in his attendance upon the government. This is shown by an extract from a letter of his to a young friend who had solicited his influence in obtaining the office of secretary to the English ambassador in Holland: "I am grieved that it is not in my power to serve you on this point, inasmuch as I have very few familiarities with the gratiosi of the court, who keep myself almost wholly at home, and am willing to do so."

His absence from the public councils was owing to no political dissatisfaction, but to his blindness and ill-health. His good friend and assistant, Andrew Marvell,* probably perform

* Andrew Marvell was born in 1620, in the town of Hull, where his father was settled as vicar. He was early distinguished for his

ed the routine duties of the secretaryship, Milton being consulted only in regard to the more important foreign questions and imbroglios. Although he was thus eased of the more onerous burdens of his office, his diplomatic pen was still kept quite busy. In 1655 he wrote the elegant and forcible manifesto issued by the Protector in justification of his war with Spain. In this same year he published, under the title of "The Cabinet Council," Sir Walter Raleigh's manuscript of aphorisms on the art of government. A little previous to the production of these compositions, he addressed talents and appetite for learning, being sent at the early age of thirteen to Cambridge University. Possessed of ample fortune, he made a tour of the Continent, tarrying some time at Constantinople in the capacity of Secretary to the British embassy at the Turkish court. Ardently wedded to the liberal and Puritan party, shortly after his return to England, he attached himself to the fortunes of Cromwell, by whom he was, in 1657, associated with Milton in the Latin secretaryship. In the Parliament summoned just before the Restoration, he represented his native town, and though not singularly eloquent, he played in its debates and plans a prominent part. Learned, moral, and sedate, he preserved through his life the respect of the court party, and the affection of his friends. Himself no inconsiderable author, his various writings were then highly esteemed and eagerly sought. His pen was on more than one occasion wielded in the defence of his immortal friend, John

Milton. He died in 1678, in his fifty-eighth year. As he was apparently in vigorous health at the time of his decease, his death was attributed to the effect of poison.

BIOG. BRIT., ARTICLE, "MARVELL."

some eulogistic verses to the eccentric Christiana, queen of Sweden, sending them in the name of Cromwell.

[ocr errors]

Milton now spent most of his leisure hours in the prosecution of three literary projects: the composition of his history of England, of which mention has been already made, the compilation of a Latin dictionary, which he left in too undigested a state for publication, though the materials which he accumulated were advantageously employed by the editors of the Cambridge dictionary in later years, and in the perfection of the plan and the laying of the groundwork of his immortal epic. "Some great production in the highest region of poetry had been, as we have observed, in his contemplation from the commencement nearly of his literary life. The idea accompanied him to Italy, where, with a more defined object, it acquired a more certain shape from the example of Tasso, and the conversation of Tasso's friend, the accomplished Marquis of Villa. From this moment it seems to have been immovably fastened in his mind; and though

[ocr errors]

Symmons' Life, pp. 403, 404. Todd's Life, p. 97.

for a season oppressed and overwhelmed by the incumbent duties of controversy, its root was full of life and pregnant with stately vegetation. At the time of which we are speaking, the end of 1653 and the beginning of 1654, the mighty work, according to Phillips, was seriously undertaken; and it is curious to reflect on the steadiness of its growth under a complication of adverse circumstances; and to see it, like a pine on the rocks of Norway, ascending to its majestic elevation beneath the inclemency of a dreary sky, and assailed in the same moment by the fury of the ocean at its feet and the power of the tempest above its head."*

It may also be noticed as a proof of Milton's indefatigable studiousness, that he had collected all the important state papers from the death of the king to the year 1658-probably with a view to render them easily accessible to the future historian of his times.† These rested in manuscript form until 1743, when they were published under the title of

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »