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

To Fly,  But My

Pegasus Has Not Yet Feathers Enough To Soar Aloft In The Fields Of Air."

But The Danger Of This Protracted Preparation Was Shown By His Narrow

Escape From Poetical Shipwreck When The Duty Of The Patriot Became

Paramount To That Of The Poet. The Civil War Confounded His

Anticipations Of Leisurely Composition,  And But For The Disguised

Blessing Of His Blindness,  The Mountain Of His Attainment Might Have

Been Pisgah Rather Than Parnassus.

 

It Is In Keeping With The Infrequency Of Milton's Moods Of Overmastering

Inspiration,  And The Strength Of Will Which Enabled Him To Write

Steadily Or Abstain From Writing At All,  That His Early Compositions

Should Be,  In General,  So Much More Correct Than Those Of Other English

Poets Of The First Rank. The Childish Bombast Of "Titus Andronicus," The

Commonplace Of Wordsworth,  The Frequent Inanity Of The Youthful

Coleridge And The Youthful Byron,  Shelley's Extravagance,  Keats's

Cockneyism,  Tennyson's Mawkishness,  Find No Counterpart In Milton's

Chapter 2 Pg 20

Early Compositions. All These Great Writers,  Though The Span Of Some Of

Them Was But Short,  Lived Long Enough To Blush For Much Of What They Had

In The Days Of Their Ignorance Taken For Poetry. The Mature Milton Had

No Cause To Be Ashamed Of Anything Written By The Immature Milton,

Reasonable Allowance Being Made For The Inevitable Infection Of

Contemporary False Taste. As A General Rule,  The Youthful Exuberance Of

A Shakespeare Would Be A Better Sign; Faults,  No Less Than Beauties,

Often Indicate The Richness Of The Soil. But Milton Was Born To Confute

Established Opinions. Among Other Divergencies From Usage,  He Was At

This Time A Rare Example Of An English Poet Whose Faculty Was,  In Large

Measure,  To Be Estimated By His Essays In Latin Verse. England Had Up To

This Time Produced No Distinguished Latin Poet,  Though Scotland Had:

And Had Milton's Latin Poems Been Accessible,  They Would Certainly Have

Occupied A Larger Place In The Estimation Of His Contemporaries Than His

English Compositions. Even Now They Contribute No Trifling Addition To

His Fame,  Though They Cannot,  Even As Exercises,  Be Placed In The

Highest Rank. There Are Two Roads To Excellence In Latin Verse--To Write

It As A Scholar,  Or To Write It As A Roman. England Has Once,  And Only

Once,  Produced A Poet So Entirely Imbued With The Roman Spirit That

Latin Seemed To Come To Him Like The Language Of Some Prior State Of

Existence,  Rather Remembered Than Learned. Landor's Latin Verse Is Hence

Greatly Superior To Milton's,  Not,  Perhaps,  In Scholarly Elegance,  But

In Absolute Vitality. It Would Be Poor Praise To Commend It For Fidelity

To The Antique,  For It Is The Antique. Milton Stands At The Head Of The

Numerous Class Who,  Not Being Actually Born Romans,  Have All But Made

Themselves So. "With A Great Sum Obtained I This Freedom." His Latin

Compositions Are Delightful,  But Precisely From The Qualities Least

Characteristic Of His Genius As An English Poet. Sublimity And

Imagination Are Infrequent; What We Have Most Commonly To Admire Are

Grace,  Ease,  Polish,  And Felicitous Phrases Rather Concise In Expression

Than Weighty With Matter. Of These Merits The Elegies To His Friend

Diodati,  And The Lines Addressed To His Father And To Manso,  Are

Admirable Examples. The "Epitaphium Damonis" Is In A Higher Strain,  And

We Shall Have To Recur To It.

 

Except For His Formal Incorporation With The University Of Oxford,  By

Proceeding M.A. There In 1635,  And The Death Of His Mother On April 3,

1637,  Milton's Life During His Residence At Horton,  As Known To Us,  Is

Entirely In His Writings. These Comprise The "Sonnet To The

Nightingale," "L'allegro," "Il Penseroso," All Probably Written In 1633;

"Arcades," Probably,  And "Comus" Certainly Written In 1634; "Lycidas" In

1637. The First Three Only Are,  Or Seem To Be,  Spontaneous Overflowings

Of The Poetic Mind: The Others Are Composed In Response To External

Invitations,  And In Two Instances It Is These Which Stand Highest In

Poetic Desert. Before Entering On Any Criticism,  It Will Be Convenient

To State The Originating Circumstances Of Each Piece.

 

"Arcades" And "Comus" Both Owe Their Existence To The Musician Henry

Lawes,  Unless The Elder Milton's Tenancy Of His House From The Earl Of

Bridgewater Can Be Accepted As A Fact. Both Were Written For The

Bridgewater Family,  And If Milton Felt No Special Devotion To This

House,  His Only Motive Could Have Been To Aid The Musical Performance Of

Chapter 2 Pg 21

His Friend Henry Lawes,  Whose Music Is Discommended By Burney,  But Who,

Milton Declares:

 

   "First Taught Our English Music How To Span

    Words With Just Note And Accent."

 

Masques Were Then The Order Of The Day,  Especially After The Splendid

Exhibition Of The Inns Of Court In Honour Of The King And Queen,

February,  1634. Lawes,  As A Court Musician,  Took A Leading Part In This

Representation,  And Became In Request On Similar Occasions. The Person

Intended To Be Honoured By The "Arcades" Was The Dowager Countess Of

Derby,  Mother-In-Law Of The Earl Of Bridgewater,  Whose Father,  Lord

Keeper Egerton,  She Had Married In 1600. The Aged Lady,  To Whom More

Than Forty Years Before Spenser Had Dedicated His "Teares Of The Muses,"

And Who Had Ever Since Been An Object Of Poetic Flattery And Homage,

Lived At Harefield,  About Four Miles From Uxbridge; And There The

"Arcades" Were Exhibited,  Probably In 1634. Milton's Melodious Verses

Were Only One Feature In A More Ample Entertainment. That They Pleased

We May Be Sure,  For We Find Him Shortly Afterwards Engaged On A Similar

Undertaking Of Much Greater Importance,  Commissioned By The Bridgewater

Family. In Those Days Milton Had No More Of The Puritanic Aversion To

The Theatre--

 

   "Then To The Well-Trod Stage Anon,

    If Jonson's Learned Sock Be On,

    Or Sweetest Shakespeare,  Fancy's Child,

    Warble His Native Wood-Notes Wild,"

 

Than To The Pomps And Solemnities Of Cathedral Ritual:--

 

   "But Let My Due Feet Never Fail

    To Walk The Studious Cloisters Pale,

    And Love The High-Embowed Roof,

    With Antique Pillars Massy Proof,

    And Storied Windows Richly Dight,

    Casting A Dim Religious Light:

    There Let The Pealing Organ Blow,

    To The Full-Voic'd Quire Below,

    In Service High And Anthems Clear,

    As May With Sweetness Through Mine Ear

    Dissolve Me Into Ecstacies,

    And Bring All Heaven Before Mine Eyes."

 

He Therefore Readily Fell In With Lawes's Proposal To Write A Masque To

Celebrate Lord Bridgewater's Assumption Of The Lord Presidency Of The

Welsh Marches. The Earl Had Entered Upon The Office In October,  1633,

And "Comus" Was Written Some Time Between This And The Following

September. Singular Coincidences Frequently Linked Milton's Fate With

The North-West Midlands,  From Which His Grandmother's Family And His

Brother-In-Law And His Third Wife Sprung,  Whither The Latter Retired,

Where His Friend Diodati Lived,  And His Friend King Died,  And Where Now

The Greatest Of His Early Works Was To Be Represented In The

Time-Hallowed Precincts Of Ludlow Castle,  Where It Was Performed On

Chapter 2 Pg 22

Michaelmas Night,  In 1634. If,  As We Should Like To Think,  He Was

Himself Present,  The Scene Must Have Enriched His Memory And His Mind.

The Castle--In Which Prince Arthur Had Spent With His Spanish Bride The

Six Months Of Life Which Alone Remained To Him,  In Which Eighteen Years

Before The Performance Charles The First Had Been Installed Prince Of

Wales With Extraordinary Magnificence,  And Which,  Curiously Enough,  Was

To Be The Residence Of The Cavalier Poet,  Butler--Would Be A Place Of

Resort For English Tourists,  If It Adorned Any Country But Their Own.

The Dismantled Keep Is Still An Imposing Object,  Lowering From A Steep

Hill Around Whose Base The Curving Teme Alternately Boils And Gushes

With Tumultuous Speed. The Scene Within Must Have Realized The Lines In

The "Allegro ":

 

   "Pomp,  And Feast,  And Revelry,

    Mask And Antique Pageantry,

    Where Throngs Of Knights And Barons Bold,

    In Weeds Of Peace High Triumphs Hold,

    With Store Of Ladies,  Whose Bright Eyes

    Rain Influence."

 

Lawes Himself Acted The Attendant Spirit,  The Lady And The Brothers

Were Performed By Lord Bridgewater's Youthful Children,  Whose Own

Nocturnal Bewilderment In Haywood Forest,  Could We Trust A Tradition,

Doubted By The Critics,  But Supported By The Choice Of The Neighbourhood

Of Severn As The Scene Of The Drama,  Had Suggested His Theme To Milton.

He Is Evidently Indebted For Many Incidents And Ideas To Peele's "Old

Wives' Tale," And The "Comus" Of Erycius Puteanus; But There Is Little

Morality In The Former Production And Little Fancy In The Latter. The

Peculiar Blending Of The Highest Morality With The Noblest Imagination

Is As Much Milton's Own As The Incomparable Diction. "I," Wrote Sir

Henry Wootton On Receiving A Copy Of The Anonymous Edition Printed By

Lawes In 1637,  "Should Much Commend The Tragical Part If The Lyrical Did

Not Ravish Me With A Certain Dorique Delicacy In Your Songs And Odes,

Whereunto I Must Plainly Confess To Have Seen Yet Nothing Parallel In

Our Language." "Although Not Openly Acknowledged By The Author," Says

Lawes In His Apology For Printing Prefixed To The Poem,  "It Is A

Legitimate Offspring,  So Lovely And So Much Desired That The Often

Copying Of It Hath Tired My Pen To Give My Several Friends Satisfaction,

And Brought Me To A Necessity Of Producing It To The Public View." The

Publication Is Anonymous,  And Bears No Mark Of Milton's Participation

Except A Motto,  Which None But The Author Could Have Selected,

Intimating A Fear That Publication Is Premature. The Title Is Simply "A

Maske Presented At Ludlow Castle," Nor Did The Piece Receive The Name Of

"Comus" Until After Milton's Death.

 

It Has Been Remarked That One Of The Most Characteristic Traits Of

Milton's Genius,  Until He Laid Hand To "Paradise Lost," Is The

Dependence Of His Activity Upon Promptings From Without. "Comus" Once

Off His Mind,  He Gives No Sign Of Poetical Life For Three Years,  Nor

Would Have Given Any Then But For The Inaccurate Chart Or Unskilful

Seamanship Which Proved Fatal To His Friend Edward King,  August 10,

1637. King,  A Fellow Of Milton's College,  Had Left Chester,  On A Voyage