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A threat having been suggested, in the "Regii sanguinis Clamor,' &c. of a second edition of Salmasius's work, or rather of the publication of a new production by that celebrated scholar, Milton derides the menace with the contempt which might have been expected," Tu igitur, ut pisciculus ille anteambulo, præcurris balænam Salmasium, impressiones in hæc littora minitantem," &c. You," says he to Morus, "like some little pilot fish, precede the great whale Salmasius, and menace us with his incursions on our shore:" and then, pursuing the idea which had been thus accidentally presented to him, he ridicules the threatened publication in the following light sally:

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"Gaudete Scombri, et quicquid est piscium salo,

Qui frigidâ hyeme incolitis algentes freta,
Vestrum misertus ille Salmasius eques

Bonus amicire nuditatem cogitat;

Burman's Sylloge Epist. we find some curious anecdotes respecting her, which were in circulation among her contemporaries. She was accustomed to whip with her own hands, as N. Heinsius mentions, a boy of seventeen, who was one of her servants; and Morus's mistress, who is called an English or a Scotch girl, (Hebe Caledonia,) is said to have been her lady's assistant at the infliction of the punishment. Madame de Saumaise's violent prosecution of Morus seems to have been prompted by that resentment which results from disappointed love, and the "spretæ injuria formæ :"

rather than by a calm regard to virtue and its interests. The

Chartæque largus apparat papyrinos
Vobis cucullos, præferentes Claudij
Insignia nomenque et decus Salmasii,
Gestetis. ut per omne cetarium forum
Equitis clientes, scriniis mungentium
Cubito virorum, et capsulis gratissimos."

"Ye herrings, and ye fish, who glide.
In winter through our northern tide,-
Rejoice! Salmasius, noble knight!
Pitying your cold and naked plight,
Prepares his stores of paper goods,
Kindly to make you coats and hoods,
Stampt with his name his arms-his all;
That you his clients, on each stall
May shine above your brother fish,
Array'd in sheets, the pride or wish
Of fishmongers and dirty thieves,
Who wipe their noses on their sleeves."

P. W. v. 212.

Scarcely had Morus taken the rash step of editing Du Moulin's abuse than, conscious of the offence which he had given and hearing that Milton was preparing to resent it, he endeavoured by every means, which he could command, to avert or to lighten the vengeance which was trembling over his head. By some influence which he

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story of the whipping is too long, and, though shaded with the veil of a learned language, too indelicate for me to extract: but it may be found in Burman's Sylloge, tom. iii. 669, in a letter of N. Heinsius to Isaac Vossius; from which we have already quoted the writer's defence of Milton's morality, and attack of his Latin poetry.

possessed, he prevailed on the Dutch embassador to mediate for the intervention of Cromwell's authority in his behalf; and, when this object could not be obtained, to try, with the power of the embassador's own request and with Morus's assurances of his not being the author of the injurious composition, to soften the resentment and to withdraw the pen from the hand of Milton. Nor were the attempts of Morus to suppress this dreaded publication confined to the period preceding its birth, or to the assistance which he sought from one of the diplomatic body. A letter to him from Bourdeaux," the French embas

"A curious letter (says Mr. Warton,) in Thurloe's State Papers, (vol. ii. p. 529,) relating to this business, has been overlooked, from Bourdeaux, the French Ambassador in England, to Morus, Aug. 7, 1654.

"Sir,

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At my arrival here, I found Milton's book so public, that I perceived it was impossible to suppress it. This man (Milton) hath been told that you were not the author of the book, which he refuted; to which he answered, that he was at least assured that you had caused it to be imprinted: that you had writ the preface, and he believes some of the verses that are in it, and that, that is enough to justify him for setting upon you. He doth also add, he is very angry that he did not know several things, which he hath heard since, being far worse, as he says, than any he put forth in his book; but he doth reserve them for another, if so be you answer this. I am very sorry for this quarrel which will have a long sequence, as I perceive; for after you have answered this, you may be sure he will reply

sador in London, preserved among Thurloe's State Papers and first cited by Mr. Warton, demonstrates the activity of his apprehensions and his efforts at this interesting crisis of his fame. But Milton was unmoved by any 'applications, and, contenting himself with say-" ing that nothing indecorous should escape from him in the controversy, published the work which is now before us; and it was soon in a circulation too vigorous to admit of its being suppressed. Its effects on the public opinion seem to have been great, and the delicate character of Morus gave way before the weighty impression. He struggled however to support himself by a reply,* containing testimonies in favour of his moral character from some colleges and universities, and from the magistrates and synods of the towns in which he had resided. This defence drew another answer from Milton, in which he produced additional authorities for his former

with a more bloody one: for your adversary hath met with somebody here, who hath told him strange stories of you." (Milton's Juv. Poems by Warton, 2d ed. p. 486.)

* Morus's answer was entitled, "Alexandri Mori Ecclesiastæ et sacrarum literarum Professoris, Fides Publica contra calumnias J. M."-Milton called his reply to it, "Authoris pro se Defensio contra Alexandrum Morum Ecclesiasten, Libelli famosi cui titulus, "Regii sanguinis clamor ad cœlum adversus Parricidas Anglicanos," authorem rectè dictum.

assertions against his adversary. To this work Morus was again tempted to publish a reply; a short refutation of which by Milton terminated the controversy.

During the course of it, the alarm and, indeed the sufferings of Morus' had induced

y The caution of "audi alteram partem" is never more necessary to be observed than when we are reading, in the pages of an able writer, the character of his adversary. The morals of Morus were certainly not unimpeachable; but he passed through life with numerous friends among the religious, the learned, and the great. His preaching drew crowded audiences, and obtained him a numerous following. Though in more than one instance he was made the subject of a legal prosecution, the result was uniformly in his favour; and his life, which was never depressed by disgrace, was concluded by a religious and exemplary death. He might therefore have been a little irre-. gular, and deviating, in consequence of human frailty, from the strict line of Christian morality: but we cannot conceive that his conduct was flagitious or stained with deep crimes. He died at the house of the duchess of Rohan in Paris, in 1670. By one of his contemporaries and friends, he is represented as. ambitious, restless, changeable, bold, and presumptuous: he is stated also to have been a profound and extensive scholar, accurately acquainted with the Greek, Hebrew and Arabic lan guages. [See Bayle-Article Morus.]

It may be remarked that in the letters of Sarrau, Morus is more than once introduced under the name of Paris, in allusion,' as it must be inferred, to his amorous propensities, and his favour with women. This frailty of his is generally made the subject of allusion wherever he is mentioned in the correspondence of his contemporary scholars: by whom also his intercourse with the servant girl of Salmasius is related without any reserve or intimation of doubt. The fact indeed, divested of the more atrocious circumstances imputed to it, seems to be indisputable-for it was

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