INTRODUCTION.

I. SKETCH OF MILTON'S LIFE.

JOHN MILTON was born Dec. 9, 1608, in London; and in London his whole life, except the years from 1625 to 1639, was passed. Of this period of fourteen years, the first seven were spent at Christ's College, Cambridge, which he left as a Master of Arts in 1632; he then retired to his father's home at Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where he lived quietly, engaged, for the most part, in the study of the Classics, until 1638. In April of that year he set out for a sixteen months' journey in Italy, visiting Florence - where he saw the aged Galileo in prison, and made many friends — Rome, Naples, and other cities. In 1639 he returned to London, and opened a little school in his house, having first his two nephews, and later other boys, as pupils. In 1649, on the establishment of the Commonwealth, he was appointed Latin Secretary to the Council of State, a post which he retained under Cromwell and his son. During this period he became totally blind. After the Restoration, when he escaped the anger of Charles II. against the regicides, he was compelled to a quiet life. This he employed in literary works, dictating his poetry to his daughters or other amanuenses. His death occurred Nov. 8, 1674.

The literary career of Milton naturally falls into three well

marked periods: the first and third, of approximately fifteen years each, are distinguished by poetry; the second by prose.

In the first of these periods, which coincides with Milton's absence from London (1625–1639), he devoted himself to lyric poetry. Previously to his departure for Cambridge he had produced only the paraphrases of two Psalms. At college he wrote some English poems, including the Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, and a number in Latin. At Christ's, too, were written the first of the series of Sonnets, which form a sort of glorified running-commentary on his life. But his lyric powers found their highest expression during his six years of retirement at Horton. Here he produced L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, Lycidas, and the Arcades, besides Comus, the noblest of English masques, which was performed at Ludlow Castle in 1634. On his return from Italy in 1639 he wrote the Epitaphium Damonis, his best Latin poem, to the memory of Charles Diodati, a college friend. During this period, especially its later years, he had his epic much in mind; but for this he saw that he was not yet ripe.

With Milton's return to London, in 1640, begins his second period, that of controversial prose. During the twenty years that followed he was the foremost writer on the Parliament side the man on whom the leaders depended for a telling stroke when it was most needed. He was a good fighter, and stoutly defended in turn the Nonconformists against the Church-party, the Independents against the Presbyterians, the English people against attacks from abroad, and finally a republican form of government against monarchy. Whatever the question, he was on the side of freedom, and his lance was as sharp as his aim was true. To his excessive application, when he was writing the First Defence against Salmasius, was due, at least proximately, the loss of his sight.

On the restoration of the Stuarts, Milton was once more free to devote himself to poetry. His third period, in which his great epics were produced, extends from 1658 (thus lapping slightly on the period of prose) until his death in 1674. During the twenty years of controversy, his poetic gift had not quite slumbered: the series of twenty-three sonnets, a slender rill of pure poetry trickling down through the years, unites the lyrics of his youth with the great works of his maturity. In 1658, the year in which the last of these was written, he first put his hand to Paradise Lost, the mighty poem for which his whole life up to that time had been a more or less conscious preparation. In his earlier days the thought of it had helped to keep his ideals high, and in Italy, twenty years before, he had reflected much upon it; now, seeing that the great world had no use for him longer, he retired within himself to fulfil his life-dream. In 1667 Paradise Lost was published, in ten books; in 1674 it appeared in a second edition, this time in twelve books, as we now have it. Paradise Regained, undertaken at the suggestion of Thomas Ellwood, a young Quaker friend of the poet, and Samson Agonistes, a lyric drama, were published in one volume in 1671. A few months after the appearance of Paradise Lost in its final form, his work done, John Milton, by general consent the second name in English literature, passed away.

II. MILTON'S EARLY LIFE AND IDEALS AS SET FORTH IN HIS OWN WORDS.

[Translated from the Latin of the Defensio Secunda, 1654.]

I was born at London, of an honest family; my father was distinguished by the undeviating integrity of his life; my

mother by the esteem in which she was held, and the alms which she bestowed. My father destined me from a child to the pursuits of literature; and my appetite for knowledge was so voracious, that, from twelve years of age, I hardly ever left my studies, or went to bed before midnight. This primarily led to my loss of sight. My eyes were naturally weak, and I was subject to frequent headaches; which, however, could not chill the ardor of my curiosity, or retard the progress of my improvement. My father had me daily instructed in the grammar-school, and by other masters at home. He then,

after I had acquired a proficiency in various languages, and had made a considerable progress in philosophy, sent me to the University of Cambridge. Here I passed seven years in the usual course of instruction and study, with the approbation of the good, and without any stain upon my character, till I took the degree of Master of Arts.

After this I did not, as the miscreant feigns, run away into Italy, but of my own accord retired to my father's house, whither I was accompanied by the regrets of most of the fellows of the college, who showed me no common marks of friendship and esteem. On my father's estate, where he had determined to pass the remainder of his days, I enjoyed an interval of uninterrupted leisure, which I entirely devoted to the perusal of the Greek and Latin classics; though I occasionally visited the metropolis, either for the sake of purchasing books, or of learning something new in mathematics or in music, in which I, at that time, found a source of pleasure and amusement. In this manner I spent five years till my mother's death.

I then became anxious to visit foreign parts, and particularly Italy. My father gave me his permission, and I left home with one servant. On my departure, the celebrated