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

In An University Roll Already Including

Spenser,  And Destined Ou Have Come

At Last,  My Son!  Now Stay,  With Me!"

 

There Was,  However,  No Place For Him In The House.  A Strange

Apprentice From Jericho Was Established In The Workshop.  He Worked At

The Wood With The Hatchet And Saw That Jesus Had Once Handled; Sat By

The Hearth And At The Table Where Jesus Had Once Sat; Slept In The Bed

On Which Jesus Had Once Reposed.  But It Did Not Seem That He Enjoyed

The Same Pleasant Dreams For He Groaned And Tossed About,  And When He

Awakened Was Ill-Pleased At Having To Continue The Same Work Which He

Had Ill-Humouredly Laid Aside The Evening Before.  How Often Did Mary

Look At Him In Silence,  And Think Of The Difference Between Him And Her

Jesus.  And She Saw How The Man Carelessly Ate His Meals,  And Went To

His Bed Each Day,  While Her Son Was Perhaps Perishing In A Strange

Land,  And Had No Stone Whereon To Lay His Head.

 

And Now Jesus Was Once Again With Her.  "Mother," He Said To Mary,

"Don't Speak Impatiently To Aaron.  He Is Poor,  Discontented,  And

Sullen; He Has Found Little Kindness In Men And Without Exactly Knowing

It,  Thirsts For Kindness.  When You Would Bring Me Water In The Morning

To Wash With,  Take It To Him.  When You Would Prepare Dinner For Me,

Prepare It For Him.  When You Would Bless Me In The Evening,  Bless Him.

Love May Perhaps Do What Words Cannot.  Everything That You Think To Do

For Me In My Absence,  Do For Him."

 

"And You--You Will Have Nothing More From Me?"

 

"Mother,  I Want Everything From You.  I Am Always With You.  You Can Be

Good To Me In Showing Kindness To Every Poor Creature.  I Must Lead Men

By Stern Measures,  Be You Gentle.  I Must Burn The Ulcers From Out The

Dead Flesh,  You Shall Heal The Wounds.  I Must Be The Salt,  Be You The

Oil."

 

How Happy She Was When He Spoke To Her Like That.  For That Was Her

Life--To Be Kind,  To Help,  Wherever She Could.  And Here Was Her Son

Consecrating Such Deeds Of Kindness Till They Became A Covenant Between

Her And Him,  A Bond Of Memory For Mother And Child When Parted From

Each Other.  Now That He Had Appealed To Her Love,  She Did Not Feel So

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Lonely; She Felt Once More At One With Him,  And Had A Sort Of

Presentiment That In Future Times Her Bleeding Mother's Heart Would Be

Satisfied Beyond Measure.

 

Once Again Jesus Went Through His Native Land To See If The Seed Of His

Teaching Had Sprung Up Anywhere.  But The Earth Was Barren.  He Was Not

So Much Troubled By The Passionate Enmity With Which Many Regarded Him,

Or The Angry Murmurings Against Him And His Word,  As By Indolence Of

Mind,  By Obstinate,  Stupid Adherence To Commonplace Inanities,  By

Entire Lack Of Perception,  By Indifference Towards Spiritual Life.  At

First The Novelty And Strangeness Of His Appearance Had Compelled

Attention,  But That Was Over.  Whether The Prophet Was Old Or New,  It

Was All One To Them.  One Was Just Like Another,  They Declared,  And

They Remained Indifferent.  "The Hot And The Cold," Jesus Exclaimed One

Day,  "I Can Accept,  But Those Who Are Lukewarm I Cast From Me.  Had I

Preached In Heathen Lands,  Or In The Ruined Seaports Of Tyre And Sidon,

They Would Have Repented In Sackcloth And Ashes.  Had I Taught In Sodom

And Gomorrah,  Those Towns Would Still Be Standing.  But These Places

Here In Galilee Are Sunk In A Quagmire Of Shame; They Scorn Their

Prophet.  When The Day Of Reckoning Comes,  It Will Go Worse With This

Land Than With Those Towns.  My Poor Bethsaida,  And Thou,  Fair Magdala!

And Thou,  Capernaum The Beautiful!  How I Loved You,  My People,  How

Highly Did I Honour You; I Desired To Lift You To Heaven.  And Now You

Sink In The Abyss.  Pray To Him,  Your Mammon,  In The Days Of Your Need;

There Will Be No Other Consolation For You.  Carouse,  Laugh,  And Be

Cruel To-Day; To-Morrow You Will Be Hungry And You Will Groan: Ah,  We

Have Delayed Too Long!  Believe Me A Day Will Come When You Fain Would

Justify Your Lives To Me,  Crying: 'Lord,  We Would Willingly Have Given

You Food,  Drink,  And Lodging,  But You Did Not Come To Us.'  But I Did

Come To You.  I Came In The Starving,  Thot Coege. But

Aubrey Can Hardly Mean Anything More Than That Chappell On Some Occasion

Struck Or Beat His Pupil,  And This Interpretation Is Supported By

Milton's Verses To Diodati,  Written In The Spring Of 1626,  In Which,

While Acknowledging That He Had Been Directed To Withdraw From Cambridge

("_Nec Dudum Vetiti Me Laris Angit Amor_") He Expresses His Intention

Of Speedily Returning:--

 

   "Stat Quoque Juncosas Cami Remeare Paludes,

    Atque Iterum Raucae Murmur Adire Scholae."

 

A Short Rustication Would Be Just The Notice The University Would Be

Likely To Take Of The Conduct Of A Pupil Who Had Been Engaged In A

Scuffle With His Tutor,  In Which The Fault Was Not Wholly Or Chiefly

His. Formal Corporal Punishment Would Have Rendered Rustication

Unnecessary. That Milton Was Not Thought Wholly In The Wrong Appears

From His Not Having Been Mulcted Of A Term's Residence,  His Absence

Notwithstanding,  And From The Still More Significant Fact That Chappell

Lost His Pupil. His Successor Was Nathaniel Tovey,  In Whom His

Patroness,  The Countess Of Bedford,  Had Discerned "Excellent Talent."

What Milton Thought Of Him There Is Nothing To Show.

 

This Temporary Interruption Of The Smoothness Of Milton's University

Life Occurred,  As Has Been Seen,  Quite Early In Its Course. Had It

Indeed Implied A Stigma Upon Him Or The University,  The Blot Would In

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Either Case Have Been Effaced By The Perfect Regularity Of His

Subsequent Career. He Went Steadily Through The Academic Course,  Which

To Attain The Degree Of Master Of Arts,  Then Required Seven Years'

Residence. He Graduated As Bachelor At The Proper Time,  March,  1629,  And

Proceeded Master In July,  1632. His General Relations With The

University During The Period May Be Gathered Partly From His Own Account

In After Years,  When Perhaps He In Some Degree "Confounded The Present

Feelings With The Past," Partly From A Remarkable Passage In One Of His

Academical Exercises,  Fortunately Preserved To Us,  The Importance Of

Which Was First Discerned By His Editor And Biographer Mitford.

Professor Masson,  However,  Ascertained The Date,  Which Is All Important.

We Must Picture Milton "Affable,  Erect,  And Manly," As Wood Describes

Him,  Speaking From A Low Pulpit In The Hall Of Christ's College,  To An

Audience Of Various Standing,  From Grave Doctors To Skittish

Undergraduates,  With Most Of Whom He Was In Daily Intercourse. The Term

Is The Summer Of 1628,  About Nine Months Before His Graduation; The

Words Were Latin,  But We Resort To The Version Of Professor Masson:--

 

      "Then Also There Drew And Invited Me,  In No Ordinary Degree,  To

      Undertake This Part Your Very Recently Discovered Graciousness To

      Me. For When,  Some Few Months Ago,  I Was About To Perform An

      Oratorical Office Before You,  And Was Under The Impression That

      Any Lucubrations Whatsoever Of Mine Would Be The Reverse Of

      Agreeable To You,  And Would Have More Merciful Judges In Aeacus

      And Minos Than Almost Any Of You Would Prove,  Truly,  Beyond My

      Fancy,  Beyond My Hope If I Had Any,  They Were,  As I Heard,  Nay,  As

      I Myself Felt,  Received With The Not Ordinary Applause Of

      All--Yea,  Of Those Who At Other Times Were,  On Account Of

      Disagreements In Our Studies,  Altogether Of An Angry And

      Unfriendly Spirit Towards Me. A Generous Mode Of Exercising

      Rivalry This,  And Not Unworthy Of A Royal Breast,  If,  When

      Friendship Itself Is Wont Often To Misconstrue Much That Is

      Blamelessly Done,  Yet Then Sharp And Hostile Enmity Did Not Grudge

      To Interpret Much That Was Perchance Erroneous,  And Not A Little,

      Doubtless,  That Was Unskilfully Said,  More Clemently Than I

      Merited."

 

It Is Sufficiently Manifest From This That After Two Years' Residence

Milton Had Incurred Much Anger And Unpopularity "On Account Of

Disagreements In Our Studies," Which Can Scarcely Mean Anything Else

Than His Disapprobation Of The University System. Notwithstanding This

He Had Been Received On A Former Occasion With Unexpected Favour,  And On

The Present Is Able To Say,  "I Triumph As One Placed Among The Stars

That So Many Men,  Eminent For Erudition,  And Nearly The Whole University

Have Flocked Hither." We Have Thus A Miniature History Of Milton's

Connection With His Alma Mater. We See Him Giving Offence By The Freedom

Of His Strictures On The Established Practices,  And Misliking Them So

Much As To Write In 1642,  "Which [University] As In The Time Of Her

Better Health And Mine Own Younger Judgment,  I Never Greatly Admired,  So

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Now Much Less." But,  On The Other Hand,  We See His Intellectual Revolt

Overlooked On Account Of His Unimpeachable Conduct And His Brilliant

Talents,  And Himself Selected To Represent His College On An Occasion

When An Able Representative Was Indispensable. Cambridge Had All

Imaginable Complacency In The Scholar,  It Was Towards The Reformer That

She Assumed,  As Afterwards Towards Wordsworth,  The Attitude Of

 

      "Blind Authority Beating With His Staff

    The Child That Would Have Led Him."

 

The University And Milton Made A Practical Covenant Like Frederick The

Great And His Subjects: She Did What She Pleased,  And He Thought What He

Pleased. In Sharp Contrast With His Failure To Influence Her Educational

Methods Is "That More Than Ordinary Respect Which I Found Above Any Of

My Equals At The Hands Of Those Courteous And Learned Men,  The Fellows

Of That College Wherein I Spent Seven Years; Who,  At My Parting,  After I

Had Taken Two Degrees,  As The Manner Is,  Signified Many Ways How Much

Better It Would Content Them That I Would Stay; As By Many Letters Full

Of Kindness And Loving Respect,  Both Before That Time And Long After,  I

Was Assured Of Their Singular Good Affection Toward Me." It May Be Added

Here That His Comeliness And His Chastity Gained Him The Appellation Of

"Lady" From His Fellow Collegians: And The Rooms At Christ's Alleged To

Have Been His Are Still Pointed Out As Deserving The Veneration Of Poets

In Any Event; For Whether Milton Sacrificed To Apollo In Them