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

The Spit That Had A Rump Tied Upon It,  And Chapter 9 Pg 75

Another Basting Of It. Indeed,  It Was Past Imagination,  Both The

Greatness And The Suddenness Of It. At One End Of The Street You Would

Think There Was A Whole Lane Of Fire,  And So Hot That We Were Fain To

Keep On The Further Side." This Burning Of The Rump Meant That The

Attempt Of A Miserable Minority To Pose As King,  Lords,  And Commons,  Had

Broken Down,  And That The Restoration Of Charles,  For Good Or Ill,  Was

The Decree Of The People. A Modern Republican Might Without Disgrace

Have Bowed To The Gale,  For Such An One,  Unless Hopelessly Fanatical,

Denies The Divine Right Of Republics Equally With That Of Kings,  And

Allows No Other Title Than That Of The Consent Of The Majority Of

Citizens. But Milton Had Never Admitted The Rights Of The Majority: And

In His Supreme Effort For The Republic,  "The Ready And Easy Way To

Establish A Free Commonwealth," He Ignores The Royalist Plurality,  And

Assumes That The Virtuous Part Of The Nation,  To Whom Alone He Allows A

Voice,  Is As Desirous As Himself Of The Establishment Of A Republic,  And

Only Needs To Be Shown The Way. As This Was By No Means The Case,  The

Whole Pamphlet Rests Upon Sand: Though In Days When Public Opinion Was

Guided Not From The Press But From The Rostrum,  Many Might Have Been Won

By The Eloquence Of Milton's Invectives Against The Inhuman Pride And

Hollow Ceremonial Of Kingship,  And His Encomiums Of The Simple Order

When The Ruler's Main Distinction From The Ruled Is The Severity Of His

Toil. "Whereas They Who Are The Greatest Are Perpetual Servants And

Drudges To The Public At Their Own Cost And Charges,  Neglect Their Own

Affairs,  Yet Are Not Elevated Above Their Brethren; Live Soberly In

Their Families,  Walk The Street As Other Men,  May Be Spoken To Freely,

Familiarly,  Friendly Without Adoration." Whatever Generous Glow For

Equality Such Words Might Kindle,  Was Only Too Likely To Be Quenched

When The Reader Came To Learn On What Conditions Milton Thought It

Attainable. His Panacea Was A Permanent Parliament Or Council Of State,

Self-Elected For Life,  Or Renewable At Most Only In Definite

Proportions,  At Stated Times. The Whole History Of England For The Last

Twelve Years Was A Commentary On The Impotence Of A Parliament That Had

Outlived Its Mandate,  And Every Line Of The Lesson Had Been Lost Upon

Milton. He Does Indeed,  Near The End,  Betray A Suspicion That The People

May Object To Hand Over The Whole Business Of Legislation To A

Self-Elected And Irresponsible Body,  And Is Led To Make A Remarkable

Suggestion,  Prefiguring The Federal Constitution Of The United States,

And In A Measure The Home Rule And Communal Agitations Of Our Own Day.

He Would Make Every County Independent In So Far As Regards The

Execution Of Justice Between Man And Man. The Districts Might Make Their

Own Laws In This Department,  Subject Only To A Moderate Amount Of

Control From The Supreme Council. This Must Have Seemed To Milton's

Contemporaries The Official Enthronement Of Anarchy,  And,  In Fact,  His

Proposal,  Thrown Off At A Heat With The Feverish Impetuosity That

Characterizes The Whole Pamphlet,  Is Only Valuable As An Aid To

Reflection. Yet,  In Proclaiming The Superiority Of Healthy Municipal

Life To A Centralized Administration,  He Has Anticipated The Judgment Of

The Wisest Publicists Of Our Day,  And Shown A Greater Insight Than Was

Possessed By The More Scientific Statesmen Of The Eighteenth Century.

 

One Quality Of Milton's Pamphlet Claims The Highest Admiration,  Its

Audacious Courage. On The Very Eve Of The Restoration,  And With Full

Though Tardy Recognition Of Its Probable Imminence,  He Protests As

Chapter 9 Pg 76

Loudly As Ever The Righteousness Of Charles's Execution,  And Of The

Perpetual Exclusion Of His Family From The Throne. When All Was Lost,  It

Was No Disgrace To Quit The Field. His Pamphlet Appeared On March 3,

1660; A Second Edition,  With Considerable Alterations,  Was For The Time

Suppressed. On March 28th The Publisher Was Imprisoned For Vending

Treasonable Books,  Among Which The Pamphlet Was No Doubt Included. Every

Ensuing Day Added Something To The Discomfiture Of The Republicans,

Until On May 1st,  "The Happiest May-Day," Says That Ardent Royalist _Du

Lendemain_,  Pepys,  "That Hath Been Many A Year To England," Charles

Ii.'S Letter Was Read To A Parliament That None Could Deny To Have Been

Freely Chosen,  And Acclaimed,  "Without So Much As One No." On May 7th,

As Is Conjectured By The Date Of An Assignment Made To Cyriack Skinner

As Security For A Loan,  Milton Quitted His House,  And Concealed Himself

In Bartholomew Close,  Smithfield. Charles Re-Entered His Kingdom On May

29th,  And The Hue And Cry After Regicides And Their Abettors Began. The

King Had Wisely Left The Business To Parliament,  And,  When The

Circumstances Of The Times,  And The Sincere Horror In Which Good Men

Held What They Called Regicide And Sacrilege Are Duly Considered,  It

Must Be Owned That Parliament Acted With Humanity And Moderation. Still,

In The Nature Of Things,  Proscription On A Small Scale Was Inevitable.

Besides The Regicides Proper,  Twenty Persons Were To Be Named For

Imprisonment And Permanent Incapacitation For Office Then,  And Liable To

Prosecution And Possibly Capital Punishment Hereafter. It Seemed Almost

Inevitable That Milton Should Be Included. On June 16th His Writings

Against Charles I. Were Ordered To Be Burned By The Hangman,  Which

Sentence Was Performed On August 27th. A Government Proclamation

Enjoining Their Destruction Had Been Issued On August 13th,  And May Now

Be Read In The King's Library At The British Museum. He Had Not,  Then,

Escaped Notice,  And How He Escaped Proscription It Is Hard To Say.

Interest Was Certainly Made For Him. Andrew Marvell,  Secretary Morrice,

And Sir Thomas Clarges,  Monk's Brother-In-Law,  Are Named As Active On

His Behalf; His Brother And His Nephew Both Belonged To The Royalist

Party,  And There Is A Romantic Story Of Sir William Davenant Having

Requited A Like Obligation Under Which He Lay To Milton Himself. More To

His Honour This Than To Have Been The Offspring Of Shakespeare,  But One

Tale Is No Better Authenticated Than The Other. The Simplest Explanation

Is That Twenty People Were Found More Hated Than Milton: It May Also

Have Seemed Invidious To Persecute A Blind Man. It Is Certainly

Remarkable That The Authorities Should Have Failed To Find The

Hiding-Place Of So Recognizable A Person,  If They Really Looked For It.

Whether By His Own Adroitness Or Their Connivance,  He Avoided Arrest

Until The Amnesty Resolution Of August 29th Restored Him To The World

Without Even Being Incapacitated From Office. He Still Had To Run The

Gauntlet Of The Serjeant-At-Arms,  Who At Some Period Unknown Arrested

Him As Obnoxious To The Resolution Of June 16th,  And Detained Him,

Charging Exorbitant Fees,  Until Compelled To Abate His Demands By The

Commons' Resolution Of December 15th. Milton Relinquished His House In

Westminster,  And Formed A Temporary Refuge On The North Side Of Holborn.

His Nerves Were Shaken; He Started In His Broken Sleep With The

Apprehension And Bewilderment Natural To One For Whom,  Physically And

Politically,  All Had Become Darkness.

 

His Condition,  In Sooth,  Was One Of Well-Nigh Unmitigated Misfortune,

And His Bearing Up Against It Is Not More Of A Proof Of Stoic Fortitude

Chapter 9 Pg 77

Than Of Innate Cheerfulness. His Cause Lost,  His Ideals In The Dust,  His

Enemies Triumphant,  His Friends Dead On The Scaffold,  Or Exiled,  Or

Imprisoned,  His Name Infamous,  His Principles Execrated,  His Property

Seriously Impaired By The Vicissitudes Of The Times. He Had Been

Deprived Of His Appointment And Salary As Latin Secretary,  Even Before

The Restoration: And He Was Now Fleeced Of Two Thousand Pounds,  Invested

In Some Kind Of Government Security,  Which Was Repudiated In Spite Of

Powerful Intercession. Another "Great Sum" Is Said By Phillips To Have

Been Lost "By Mismanagement And Want Of Good Advice," Whether At This

Precise Time Is Uncertain. The Dean And Chapter Of Westminster

Reclaimed A Considerable Property Which Had Passed Out Of Their Hands In

The Civil War. The Serjeant-At-Arms Had No Doubt Made All Out Of His

Captive That The Commons Would Let Him. On The Whole,  Milton Appears To

Have Saved About £1500 From The Wreck Of His Fortunes,  And To Have

Possessed About £200 Income From The Interest Of This Fund And Other

Sources,  Destined To Be Yet Further Reduced Within A Few Years. The

Value Of Money Being Then About Three And A Half Times As Great As Now,

This Modest Income Was Still A Fair Competence For One Of His Frugal

Habits,  Even When Burdened With The Care Of Three Daughters. The History

Of His Relations With These Daughters Is The Saddest Page Of His Life.

"I Looked That My Vineyard Should Bring Forth Grapes,  And It Brought

Forth Wild Grapes." If Any Lot On Earth Could Have Seemed Enviable To An

Imaginative Mind And An Affectionate Heart,  It Would Have Been That Of

An Antigone Or A Romola To A Milton. Milton's Daughters Chose To Reject

The Fair Repute That The Simple Fulfilment Of Evident Duty Would Have

Brought Them,  And To Be Damned To Everlasting Fame,  Not Merely As

Neglectful Of Their Father,  But As Embittering His Existence. The

Shocking Speech Attributed To One Of Them Is,  We May Hope,  Not A Fact;

And It May Not Be True To The Letter That They Conspired To Rob Him,  And

Sold His Books To The Ragpickers. The Course Of Events Down To His

Death,  Nevertheless,  Is Sufficient Evidence Of The Unhappiness Of His

Household. Writing "Samson Agonistes" In Calmer Days,  He Lets Us See How

Deep The Iron Had Entered Into His Soul:

 

                      "I Dark In Light Exposed

    To Daily Fraud,  Contempt,  Abuse,  And Wrong,

    Within Doors,  Or Without,  Still As A Fool

    In Power Of Others,  Never In My Own."

 

He Probably Never Understood How Greatly He Was Himself To Blame. He

Had,  In The First Place,  Neglected To Give His Daughters The Education

Which Might Have Qualified Them In Some Measure To Appreciate Him. The

Eldest,  Anne,  Could Not Even Write Her Name; And It Is But A Poor Excuse

To Say That,  Though Good-Looking,  She Was Deformed,  And Afflicted With

An Impediment In Her Speech. The Second,  Mary,  Who Resembled Her Mother,

And The Third,  Deborah,  The Most Like Her Father,  Were Better Taught;

But Still Not To The Degree That Could Make Them Intelligent Doers Of

The Work They Had To