Life Of John Milton - Richard Garnett (i wanna iguana read aloud txt) 📗
- Author: Richard Garnett
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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 76Loudly 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 77Than 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
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