Life Of John Milton, Richard Garnett [ebook offline txt] 📗

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The Number Of Miniature "Lives" Of Milton Is Great; Great Also Is The

Merit Of Some Of Them. With One Exception,  Nevertheless,  They Are All

Dismissed To The Shelf By The Publication Of Professor Masson's

Monumental And Authoritative Biography,  Without Perpetual Reference To

Which No Satisfactory Memoir Can Henceforth Be Composed. One Recent

Biography Has Enjoyed This Advantage. Its Author,  The Late Mark

Pattison,  Wanted Neither This Nor Any Other Qualification Except A

Keener Sense Of The Importance Of The Religious And Political

Controversies Of Milton's Time. His Indifference To Matters So Momentous

In Milton's Own Estimation Has,  In Our Opinion,  Vitiated His Conception

Of His Hero,  Who Is Represented As Persistently Yielding To Party What

Was Meant For Mankind. We Think,  On The Contrary,  That Such A Mere Man

Of Letters As Pattison Wishes That Milton Had Been,  Could Never Have

Produced A "Paradise Lost." If This View Is Well-Founded,  There Is Not

Only Room But Need For Yet Another Miniature "Life Of Milton,"

Notwithstanding The Intellectual Subtlety And Scholarly Refinement

Which Render Pattison's Memorable. It Should Be Noted That The Recent

German Biography By Stern,  If Adding Little To Professor Masson's Facts,

Contributes Much Valuable Literary Illustration; And That Keighley's

Analysis Of Milton's Opinions Occupies A Position Of Its Own,  Of Which

No Subsequent Biographical Discoveries Can Deprive It. The Present

Writer Has Further To Express His Deep Obligations To Professor Masson

For His Great Kindness In Reading And Remarking Upon The Proofs--Not

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Thereby Rendering Himself Responsible For Anything In These Pages; And

Also To The Helpful Friend Who Has Provided Him With An Index.

 

 

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John Milton Was Born On December 9,  1608,  When Shakespeare Had Lately

Produced "Antony And Cleopatra," When Bacon Was Writing His "Wisdom Of

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The Ancients" And Ralegh His "History Of The World," When The English

Bible Was Hastening Into Print; When,  Nevertheless,  In The Opinion Of

Most Foreigners And Many Natives,  England Was Intellectually Unpolished,

And Her Literature Almost Barbarous.

 

The Preposterousness Of This Judgment As A Whole Must Not Blind Us To

The Fragment Of Truth Which It Included. England's Literature Was,  In

Many Respects,  Very Imperfect And Chaotic. Her "Singing Masons" Had

Already Built Her "Roofs Of Gold"; Hooker And One Or Two Other Great

Prose-Writers Stood Like Towers: But The Less Exalted Portions Of The

Edifice Were Still Half Hewn. Some Literatures,  Like The Latin And The

French,  Rise Gradually To The Crest Of Their Perfection; Others,  Like

The Greek And The English,  Place Themselves Almost From The First On

Their Loftiest Pinnacle,  Leaving Vast Gaps To Be Subsequently Filled In.

Homer Was Not Less The Supreme Poet Because History Was For Him

Literally An Old Song,  Because He Would Have Lacked Understanding For

Plato And Relish For Aristophanes. Nor Were Shakespeare And The

Translators Of The Bible Less At The Head Of European Literature Because

They Must Have Failed As Conspicuously As Homer Would Have Failed In All

Things Save Those To Which They Had A Call,  Which Chanced To Be The

Greatest. Literature,  However,  Cannot Remain Isolated At Such Altitudes,

It Must Expand Or Perish. As Homer's Epic Passed Through Pindar And The

Lyrical Poets Into Drama History And Philosophy,  Continually Fitting

Itself More And More To Become An Instrument In The Ordinary Affairs Of

Life,  So It Was Needful That English Lettered Discourse Should Become

Popular And Pliant,  A Power In The State As Well As In The Study. The

Magnitude Of The Change,  From The Time When The Palm Of Popularity

Decorated Sidney's "Arcadia" To That When It Adorned Defoe And Bunyan,

Would Impress Us Even More Powerfully If The Interval Were Not Engrossed

By A Colossal Figure,  The Last Of The Old School In The Erudite

Magnificence Of His Style In Prose And Verse; The First Of The New,

Inasmuch As English Poetry,  Hitherto Romantic,  Became In His Hands

Classical. This "Splendid Bridge From The Old World To The New," As

Gibbon Has Been Called In A Different Connection,  Was John Milton: Whose

Character And Life-Work,  Carefully Analyzed,  Resolve Themselves Into

Pairs Of Equally Vivid Contrasts. A Stern Puritan,  He Is None The Less A

Freethinker In The Highest And Best Sense Of The Term. The Recipient Of

Direct Poetical Inspiration In A Measure Vouchsafed To Few,  He

Notwithstanding Studies To Make Himself A Poet; Writes Little Until No

Other Occupation Than Writing Remains To Him; And,  In General,  While

Exhibiting Even More Than The Usual Confidence,  Shows Less Than The

Usual Exultation And Affluence Of Conscious Genius. Professing To

Recognize His Life's Work In Poetry,  He Nevertheless Suffers Himself To

Be Diverted For Many A Long Year Into Political And Theological

Controversy,  To The Scandal And Compassion Of One Of His Most Competent

And Attached Biographers. Whether This Biographer Is Right Or Wrong,  Is

A Most Interesting Subject For Discussion. We Deem Him Wrong,  And Shall

Not Cease To Reiterate That Milton Would Not Have Been Milton If He

Could Have Forgotten The Citizen In The Man Of Letters. Happy,  At All

Events,  It Is That This And Similar Problems Occupy In Milton's Life The

Space Which Too Frequently Has To Be Spent Upon The Removal Of

Misconception,  Or The Refutation Of Calumny. Little Of A Sordid Sort

Disturbs The Sentiment Of Solemn Reverence With Which,  More Even Than

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Shakespeare's,  His Life Is Approached By His Countrymen; A Feeling

Doubtless Mainly Due To The Sacred Nature Of His Principal Theme,  But

Equally Merited By The Religious Consecration Of His Whole Existence. It

Is The Easier For The Biographer To Maintain This Reverential Attitude,

Inasmuch As The Prayer Of Agur Has Been Fulfilled In Him,  He Has Been

Given Neither Poverty Nor Riches. He Is Not Called Upon To Deal With An

Enormous Mass Of Material,  Too Extensive To Arrange,  Yet Too Important

To Neglect. Nor Is He,  Like Shakespeare's Biographer,  Reduced To Choose

Between The Starvation Of Nescience And The Windy Diet Of Conjecture. If

A Humbling Thought Intrudes,  It Is How Largely He Is Indebted To A

Devoted Diligence He Never Could Have Emulated; How Painfully Professor

Masson's Successors Must Resemble The Turk Who Builds His Cabin Out Of

Grecian Or Roman Ruins.

 

Milton's Genealogy Has Taxed The Zeal And Acumen Of Many Investigators.

He Himself Merely Claims A Respectable Ancestry (_Ex Genere Honesto_).

His Nephew Phillips Professed To Have Come Upon The Root Of The Family

Tree At Great Milton,  In Oxfordshire,  Where Tombs Attested The Residence

Of The Clan,  And Tradition Its Proscription And Impoverishment In The

Wars Of The Roses. Monuments,  Station,  And Confiscation Have Vanished

Before The Scrutiny Of The Rev. Joseph Hunter; It Can Only Be Safely

Concluded That Milton's Ancestors Dwelt In Or Near The Village Of

Holton,  By Shotover Forest,  In Oxfordshire,  And That Their Rank In Life

Was Probably That Of Yeomen. Notwithstanding Aubrey's Statement That

Milton's Grandfather's Name Was John,  Mr. Hyde Clarke's Researches In

The Registers Of The Scriveners' Company Have Proved That Mr. Hunter And

Professor Masson Were Right In Identifying Him With Richard Milton,  Of

Stanton St. John,  Near Holton; And Professor Masson Has Traced The

Family A Generation Further Back To Henry Milton,  Whose Will,  Dated

November 21,  1558,  Attests A Condition Of Plain Comfort,  Nearer Poverty

Than Riches. Henry Milton's Goods At His Death Were Inventoried At £6

19s.; When His Widow's Will Is Proved,  Two Years Afterwards,  The

Estimate Is £7 4s. 4d. Richard,  His Son,  Is Stated,  But Not Proved,  To

Have Been An Under-Ranger Of Shotover Forest. He Appears To Have Married

A Widow Named Jeffrey,  Whose Maiden Name Had Been Haughton,  And Who Had

Some Connection With A Cheshire Family Of Station. He Would Also Seem To

Have Improved His Circumstances By The Match,  Which May Account For The

Superior Education Of His Son John,  Whose Birth Is Fixed By An Affidavit

To 1562 Or 1563. Aubrey,  Indeed,  Next To Phillips And Milton Himself,

The Chief Contemporary Authority,  Says That He Was For A Time At Christ

Church,  Oxford--A Statement In Itself Improbable,  But Slightly Confirmed

By His Apparent Acquaintance With Latin,  And The Family Tradition That

His Course Of Life Was Diverted By A Quarrel With His Father. Queen

Mary's Stakes And Faggots Had Not Affected Richard Milton As They

Affected Most Englishmen. Though Churchwarden In 1582,  He Must Have

Continued To Adhere To The Ancient Faith,  For He Was Twice Fined For

Recusancy In 1601,  Which Lends Credit To The Statement That His Son Was

Cast Off By Him For Protestantism. "Found Him Reading The Bible In His

Chamber," Says Aubrey,  Who Adds That The Younger Milton Never Was A

Chapter 1 Pg 6

Scrivener's Apprentice; But This Is Shown To Be An Error By Mr. Hyde

Clarke's Discovery Of His Admission