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

A Little Older,  Something Happened.  Joseph Had

Gone With The Boy To The Place Where The Boats Land,  In Order To Offer

His Baskets For Sale.  There Was A Stir Among The People: Soldiers In

Brilliant Uniforms And Carrying Long Spears Marched Along; Then Came

Two Heralds Blowing Their Horns As If They Would Split The Air With

Their Sharp Tones; And Behind Came Six Black Slaves Drawing A Golden

Chariot In Which Sat Pharaoh.  He Was A Pale Man With Piercing Eyes,

Dressed In Costly Robes,  A Sparkling Coronet On His Black,  Twisted

Hair.  The People Shouted Joyfully,  But He Heeded Them Not; He Leaned

Back Wearily On His Cushions.  But All At Once He Lifted His Head A

Little; A Boy In The Crowd,  The Stranger Basket-Maker's Little Son,

Attracted His Attention.  Whether It Was His Beauty Or Something

Unusual About The Boy That Struck Him,  We Cannot Say,  But He Ordered

The Carriage To Be Stopped,  And The Child To Be Brought To Him.

 

Joseph Humbly Came Forward With The Boy,  Crossed His Hands On His

Breast,  And Made A Deep Obeisance.

 

"That Is Your Son?" Said The King In His Own Language.

 

Joseph Bowed Affirmatively.

 

"You Are A Jew!  Will You Sell Me The Boy?" Asked Pharaoh.

 

And Then Joseph: "Pharaoh! Although I Am A Descendant Of Jacob,  Whose

Sons Sold Their Brother Joseph Into Egypt,  I Do Not Deserve Your Irony.

We Are Poor People,  But The Child Is Our Most Cherished Possession."

 

"I Only Spoke In Kindness About The Selling," Said The King.  "You Are

My Subjects,  And The Boy Is My Property.  Take Him,  Hamar."

 

The Servant Was Ready To Put His Hand On The Little Boy,  Who Stood By

Quietly And Looked Resolutely At The King.  Joseph Fell On His Knees

And Respectfully Represented That He And His Family Were Not Egyptian

Subjects,  But Lived There As Strangers,  And Implored The Almighty

Pharaoh To Allow Him The Rights Of Hospitality.

 

"I Know Nothing About All That,  My Good Man," S Rights Oent To A Severe Test Act Against Roman Catholics. The Good Sense And

Good Nature Which Inclined Charles To Toleration Were Unfortunately

Alloyed With Less Creditable Motives. Protestants Justly Suspected Him

Of Insidiously Aiming At The Re-Establishment Of Roman Catholicism,  And

Even The Persecuted Nonconformists Patriotically Joined With High

Churchmen To Adjourn Their Own Deliverance Until The Country Should Be

Safe From The Common Enemy. The Wisdom And Necessity Of This Course Were

Abundantly Evinced Under The Next Reign,  And While We Must Regret That

Milton Contributed His Superfluous Aid To Restrictions Only Defensible

On The Ground Of Expediency,  We Must Admit That He Could Not Well Avoid

Making Roman Catholics An Exception To The Broad Tolerance He Claims For

All Denominations Of Protestants. And,  After All,  Has Not The Roman

Catholic Church's Notion Of Tolerance Always Been That Which Macaulay

Imputes To Southey,  That Everybody Should Tolerate Her,  And That She

Should Tolerate Nobody?

 

Chapter 10 Pg 103

A More Important Work,  Though Scarcely Worthy Of Milton's Industry,  Was

His "History Of Britain" (1670). This Was A Comparatively Early Labour,

Four Of The Six Books Having Been Written Before He Entered Upon The

Latin Secretaryship,  And Two Under The Commonwealth. From Its Own Point

Of View,  This Is A Meritorious Performance,  Making No Pretensions To The

Character Of A Philosophical History,  But A Clear,  Easy Narrative,

Sometimes Interrupted By Sententious Disquisition,  Of Transactions Down

To The Conquest. Like Grote,  Though Not Precisely For The Same Reason,

Milton Hands Down Picturesque Legendary Matter As He Finds It,  And It Is

To Those Who Would See English History In Its Romantic Aspect That,  In

These Days Of Exact Research,  His Work Is Chiefly To Be Recommended. It

Is Also Memorable For What He Never Saw Himself,  The Engraved Portrait,

After Faithorne's Crayon Sketch.

 

      "No One," Says Professor Masson,  "Can Desire A More Impressive And

      Authentic Portrait Of Milton In His Later Life. The Face Is Such

      As Has Been Given To No Other Human Being; It Was And Is Uniquely

      Milton's. Underneath The Broad Forehead And Arched Temples There

      Are The Great Rings Of Eye-Socket,  With The Blind,  Unblemished

      Eyes In Them,  Drawn Straight Upon You By Your Voice,  And

      Speculating Who And What You Are; There Is A Severe Composure In

      The Beautiful Oval Of The Whole Countenance,  Disturbed Only By The

      Singular Pouting Of The Rich Mouth; And The Entire Expression Is

      That Of English Intrepidity Mixed With Unutterable Sorrow."

 

Milton's Care To Set His House In Order Extended To His Poetical

Writings. In 1673 The Poems Published In 1645,  Both English And Latin,

Appeared In A Second Edition,  Disclosing _Novas Frondes_ In One Or Two

Of Milton's Earliest Unprinted Poems,  And Such Of The Sonnets As

Political Considerations Did Not Exclude; And _Non Sua Poma_ In The

Tractate Of Education,  Curiously Grafted On At The End. An Even More

Important Publication Was The Second Edition Of "Paradise Lost" (1674)

With The Original Ten Books For The First Time Divided Into Twelve As We

Now Have Them. Nor Did This Exhaust The List Of Milton's Literary

Undertakings. He Was Desirous Of Giving To The World His Correspondence

When Latin Secretary,  And The "Treatise On Christian Doctrine" Which Had

Employed So Much Of His Thoughts At Various Periods Of His Life. The

Government,  Though Allowing The Publication Of His Familiar Latin

Correspondence (1674),  Would Not Tolerate The Letters He Had Written As

Secretary To The Commonwealth,  And The "Treatise On Christian Doctrine"

Was Still Less Likely To Propitiate The Licenser. Holland Was In That

Day The One Secure Asylum Of Free Thought,  And Thither,  In 1675,  The

Year Following Milton's Death,  The Manuscripts Were Taken Or Sent By

Daniel Skinner,  A Nephew Of Cyriack's,  To Daniel Elzevir,  Who Agreed To

Publish Them. Before Publication Could Take Place,  However,  A

Clandestine But Correct Edition Of The State Letters Appeared In London,

Probably By The Agency Of Edward Phillips. Skinner,  In His Vexation,

Appealed To The Authorities To Suppress This Edition: They Took The

Hint,  And Suppressed His Instead. Elzevir Delivered Up The Manuscripts,

Which The Secretary Of State Pigeon-Holed Until Their Existence Was

Forgotten. At Last,  In 1823,  Mr. Robert Lemon,  Rummaging In The State

Paper Office,  Came Upon The Identical Parcel Addressed By Elzevir To

Daniel Skinner's Father Which Contained His Son's Transcript Of The

State Letters And The "Treatise On Christian Doctrine." Times Had

Chapter 10 Pg 104

Changed,  And The Heretical Work Was Edited And Translated By George The

Fourth's Favourite Chaplain,  And Published At His Majesty's Expense.

 

The "Treatise On Christian Doctrine" Is By Far The Most Remarkable Of

All Milton's Later Prose Publications,  And Would Have Exerted A Great

Influence On Opinion If It Had Appeared When The Author Designed.

Milton's Name Would Have Been A Tower Of Strength To The Liberal

Eighteenth-Century Clergy Inside And Outside The Establishment. It

Should Indeed Have Been Sufficiently Manifest That "Paradise Lost" Could

Not Have Been Written By A Trinitarian Or A Calvinist; But Theological

Partisanship Is Even Slower Than Secular Partisanship To See What It

Does Not Choose To See; And Milton's Arianism Was Not Generally Admitted

Until It Was Here Avouched Under His Own Hand. The General Principle Of

The Book Is Undoubting Reliance On The Authority Of Scripture,  With

Which Such An Acquaintance Is Manifested As Could Only Have Been Gained

By Years Of Intense Study. It Is True That The Doctrine Of The Inward

Light As The Interpreter Of Scripture Is Asserted With Equal Conviction;

But Practically This Illumination Seems Seldom To Have Guided Milton To

Any Sense But The Most Obvious. Hence,  With The Intrepid Consistency

That Belongs To Him,  He Is Not Only An Arian,  But A Tolerator Of

Polygamy,  Finding That Practice Nowhere Condemned In Scripture,  But Even

Recommended By Respectable Examples; An Anthropomorphist,  Who Takes The

Ascription Of Human Passion To The Deity In The Sense Certainly Intended

By Those Who Made It; A Believer In The Materiality And Natural

Mortality Of The Soul,  And In The Suspension Of Consciousness Between

Death And The Resurrection. Where Less Fettered By The Literal Word He

Thinks Boldly; Unable To Conceive Creation Out Of Nothing,  He Regards

All Existence As An Emanation From The Deity,  Thus Entitling Himself To

The Designation Of Pantheist. He Reiterates His Doctrine Of Divorce; And

Is As Strong An Anti-Sabbatarian As Luther Himself. On The Atonement And

Original Sin,  However,  He Is Entirely Evangelical; And He Commends

Public Worship So Long As It Is Not Made A Substitute For Spiritual

Religion. Liturgies Are Evil,  And Tithes Abominable. His Exposition Of

Social Duty Tempers Puritan Strictness With Cavalier High-Breeding,  And

The Urbanity Of A Man Of The World. Of His Motives For Publication And

Method Of Composition He Says:--

 

      "It Is With A Friendly And Benignant Feeling Towards Mankind That

      I Give As Wide A Circulation As Possible To What I Esteem My Best

      And Richest Possession.... And Whereas The Greater Part Of Those

      Who Have Written Most Largely On These Subjects Have Been Wont To

      Fill Whole Pages With Explanations Of Their Own Opinions,

      Thrusting Into The Margin The Texts In Support Of Their Doctrines,

      I Have Chosen,  On The Contrary,  To Fill My Pages Even To

      Redundance With Quotations From Scripture,  So That As Little Space

      As Possible Might Be Left For My Own Words,  Even When They Arise

      From The Context Of Revelation Itself."

 

There Is Consequently Little Scope For Eloquence In A Treatise

Consisting To So Large An Extent Of Quotations; But It Is Pervaded By A

Moral Sublimity,  More Easily Felt Than Expressed. Particular Opinions

Will Be Diversely Judged; But If Anything Could Increase Our Reverence

For Milton It Would Be That His Last Years Should Have Been Devoted To A

Labour So Manf-Bared Limbs Stood

Chapter 10 Pg 105

Close To The Guests And Fanned Them Into Coolness.  Young Jesus Was To

Do That For Pharaoh,  But He Did Not Do It,  And Sat On The Floor And

Never Grew Weary Of Looking At Pharaoh's Pale Face.  The King Answered

His Gaze Kindly: "I Think That Is The Proud Youth From The Nile,  Who

Does Not Desire To Sit At The Feet Of Pharaoh."

 

"He Shall Sit At The Right Hand Of God," Sang The Choir.  Slowly,  With

The Air Of An Irritated Lion,  The King Turned His Head In Order To See

What Stupid Choirmaster Mingled Hebrew Verses With The Hymn Of Osiris.

Then Ensued Noise And Confusion.  The Windows,  Behind Which Was The

Darkness,  Shone With A