Life Of John Milton - Richard Garnett (i wanna iguana read aloud txt) 📗
- Author: Richard Garnett
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Obligations, To Nature Were, His Obligations To Books Were Greater. But
He Has Made All His Own By The Alchemy Of His Genius, And Borrows Little
But To Improve. The Most Remarkable Coincidence Is With A Piece
Certainly Unknown To Him--Calderon's "Magico Prodigioso," Which Was
First Acted In 1637, The Year Of The Publication Of "Comus," A Great
Year In The History Of The Drama, For The "Cid" Appeared In It Also. The
Similarity Of The Situations Of Justina Tempted By The Demon, And The
Lady In The Power Of Comus, Has Naturally Begotten A Like Train Of
Thought In Both Poets.
"_Comus._ Nay, Lady, Sit; If I But Wave This Wand,
Your Nerves Are All Chained Up In Alabaster,
And You A Statue, Or, As Daphne Was,
Root-Bound, That Fled Apollo.
_Lady._ Fool, Do Not Boast
Thou Can'st Not Touch The Freedom Of My Mind
With All Thy Charms, Although This Corporal Rind
Thou Hast Immanacled, While Heaven Sees Good."
"_Justina._ Thought Is Not In My Power, But Action Is.
I Will Not Move My Foot To Follow Thee.
_Demon._ But A Far Mightier Wisdom Than Thine Own
Exerts Itself Within Thee, With Such Power
Compelling Thee To That Which It Inclines
That It Shall Force Thy Step; How Wilt Thou Then
Resist, Justina?
_Justina._ By My Free Will.
_Demon._ I
Must Force Thy Will.
_Justina._ It Is Invincible.
It Were Not Free If Thou Had'st Power Upon It."
It Must Be Admitted That Where The Spaniard And The Englishman Come
Directly Into Competition The Former Excels. The Dispute Between The
Lady And Comus May Be, As Johnson Says It Is, "The Most Animating And
Affecting Scene In The Drama;" But, Tried By The Dramatic Test Which
Chapter 2 Pg 28Calderon Bears So Well, It Is Below The Exigencies And The Possibilities
Of The Subject. Nor Does The Poetry Here, Quite So Abundantly As In The
Other Scenes In This Unrivalled "Suite Of Speeches," Atone For The
Deficiencies Of The Play.
It Is A Just Remark Of Pattison's That "In A Mind Of The Consistent
Texture Of Milton's, Motives Are Secretly Influential Before They Emerge
In Consciousness." In September, 1637, Milton Had Complained To Diodati
Of His Cramped Situation In The Country, And Talked Of Taking Chambers
In London. Within A Few Months We Find This Vague Project Matured Into A
Settled Scheme Of Foreign Travel. One Tie To Home Had Been Severed By
The Death Of His Mother In The Preceding April; And His Father Was To
Find Another Prop Of His Old Age In His Second Son, Christopher, About
To Marry And Reside With Him. "Lycidas" Had Appeared Meanwhile, Or Was
To Appear, And Its Bold Denunciation Of The Romanizing Clergy Might Well
Offend The Ruling Powers. The Atmosphere At Home Was, At All Events,
Difficult Breathing For An Impotent Patriot; And Milton May Have Come To
See What We So Clearly See In "Comus," That His Asperities And
Limitations Needed Contact With The World. Why Speak Of The Charms Of
Italy, In Themselves Sufficient Allurement To A Poet And Scholar? His
Father, Trustful And Unselfish As Of Old, Found The Considerable Sum
Requi Slowly Into The Scales In Order To Delight The
Eyes Of The Pilgrims. Buyers Made Their Way Through, Looked Scornfully
At The Goods, Haggled, Laughed, And Bought. Rabbis Glided Round In
Long Caftans And Soft Shoes So That They Were Not Heard. They Wore
Velvet Caps On Their Heads Below Which Hung Their Curly Black Or Grey
Hair. They Carried Large Parchment Scrolls Under Their Arms--For The
Sabbath Was About To Begin--Slipped Around With A Dignified Yet Cunning
Manner, Bargained Here And There With Shopkeepers Or Their Wives,
Vanished Behind The Curtains And Then Reappeared.
When Jesus Had For Some Time Observed All This Confusion From The
Threshold, Anger Overcame Him. Pushing The Traders Aside With His
Arms, He Cut Himself A Way Through. At The Nearest Booth He Snatched
Up A Bundle Of Phylacteries, Swung Them Over The Heads Of The Crowd,
And Exclaimed So Loudly That His Voice Was Heard Above Everything: "Ye
Learned Teachers And Ye Temple Guards, See How Admirably You Understand
The Letter Of The Word! It Is Written In The Scriptures: My House Is
For Prayer! And You Have Turned Solomon's Temple Into A Bazaar!"
Hardly Had He So Spoken When He Overturned A Table With His Hand, And
Upset Several Benches With His Foot So That The Goods Fell In Confusion
To The Ground Under The Feet Of The Crowd Which Began To Give Way.
They Stared At One Another Speechless, And He Continued To Thunder
Forth: "My House Shall Be A Holy Refuge For The Downcast And The
Suffering, Said The Lord. And You Make It A Den Of Assassins, And,
With Your Passion For Lucre, Leave No Place For Men's Souls. Out With
You, Ye Cheats And Thieves, Whether You Higgle Over Your Goods Or With
The Scriptures!" He Swung The Phylacteries High Over The Rabbis And
Teachers So That They Bent Their Heads And Fled Through The Curtained
Entrances. But The Rabbis, The Pharisees, And The Temple Guards
Assembled In The Side Courts, And Quickly Took Counsel How They Were To
Seize This Madman And Render Him Harmless. For See, Ever More People
Streamed Through The Gates Into The Forecourt, Surrounded The Angry
Prophet, And Shouted: "Praised Be Thou, O Nazarene, Who Art Come To
Chapter 2 Pg 29Cleanse The Temple! Praise And All Hail To Thee, Long-Looked-For
Saviour!"
When The Rabbis Saw How Things Were Going, They Too Raised Their Voices
And Shouted: "Praised Be The Prophet! Hail To Thee, O Nazarene!"
"All Is Won!" Whispered The Disciples, Crowding Up Together. "Even The
Rabbis Shout!"
The Rabbis, However, Had Quickly Sent For The Police; They Came Up To
Jesus And, As Soon As The Crowd Became Quieter, Entered Into
Conversation With Him.
"Master," Said One Of Them, "Truly You Appear At The Right Time. The
Condition Of Our Poor People Is Such That We Know Not Which Way To
Turn. You Are The Man Who Turns Aside Neither To Right Nor Left, But
Who Keeps In The Straight Path Of Justice. Tell Us What You Think:
Shall We Jews Pay Taxes To The Roman Emperor Or Shall We Refuse?"
Jesus Saw What They Were Driving At, And Asked To Be Shown A Coin.
They Were Surprised That He Had No Money In His Pockets, And Handed Him
One Of The Roman Coins Current In The Country.
"From Whom Do These Coins Come?" He Asked.
"As You See, From The Roman Emperor."
"And Whose Picture Is On The Coin?"
"The Emperor's."
"And Whose Is The Inscription On The Coin?"
"The Emperor's."
"Whose Is The Coin?"
They Were Silent.
Jesus Said: "Render Unto God What Comes From Him, And Unto Caesar What
Comes From Caesar."
Those Who Saw Through The Case Broke Out Into Applause And Shouting
Over The Decision, And Carried The Crowd With Them. The Rabbis Were
Secretly Furious That He Had Escaped Their Cunning Snare. They Had
Reckoned: If He Says, Pay Taxes To The Roman Emperor, The People Will
Know That He Is Not The Messiah But Rather A Servant Of The Foreigner.
And If He Says, Do Not Pay Taxes To The Emperor, He Is A Demagogue, And
Will Be Taken Prisoner. But Now He Has Both Emperor And People On His
Side, And We Must Let Him Alone.
Cini, Have Linked Their Names With Milton's By
Their Encomiums On Him Inserted In His Works. The Key-Note Of These
Surprising Productions Is Struck By Francini When He Remarks That The
Chapter 2 Pg 30Heroes Of England Are Accounted In Italy Superhuman. If This Is So, Dati
May Be Justified In Comparing A Young Man On His First And Last Foreign
Tour To The Travelled Ulysses; And Francini In Declaring That Thames
Rivals Helicon In Virtue Of Milton's Latin Poems, Which Alone The
Panegyrist Could Read. Truly, As Smollett Says, Italian Is The Language
Of Compliments. If Ludicrous, However, The Flattery Is Not Nauseous, For
It Is Not Wholly Insincere. Amid All Conventional Exaggerations There Is
An Under-Note Of Genuine Feeling, Showing That The Writers Really Had
Received A Deep Impression From Milton, Deeper Than They Could Well
Explain Or Understand. The Bow Drawn At A Venture Did Not Miss The Mark,
But It Is A Curious Reflection That Those Of His Performances Which
Would Really Have Justified Their Utmost Enthusiasm Were Hieroglyphical
To Them. Such Of His Literary Exercises As They Could Understand
Consisted, He Says, Of "Some Trifles Which I Had In Memory Composed At
Under Twenty Or Thereabout; And Other Things Which I Had Shifted, In
Scarcity Of Books And Conveniences, To Patch Up Among Them." The Former
Class Of Compositions May No Doubt Be Partly Identified With His College
Declamations And Latin Verses. What The "Things Patched Up Among Them"
May Have Been Is Unknown. It Is Curious Enough That His Acquaintance
With The Italian Literati Should Have Been The Means Of Preserving One
Of Their Own Compositions, The "Tina" Of Antonio Malatesti, A Series Of
Fifty Sonnets On A Mistress, Sent To Him In Manuscript By The Author,
With A Dedication To The _Illustrissimo Signore Et Padrone
Osservatissimo_. The Pieces Were Not Of A Kind To Be Approved By The
Laureate Of Chastity, And Annoyance At The Implied Slur Upon His Morals
May Account For His Omission Of Malatesti From The List Of His Italian
Acquaintance. He Carried The Ms. Home, Nevertheless, And A Copy Of It,
Finding Its Way Back To Italy In The Eighteenth Century, Restored
Malatesti's Fifty Indiscretions To The Italian Parnassus. That His
Intercourse With Men Of Culture Involved Freedom Of Another Sort We
Learn From Himself. "I Have Sate Among Their Learned Men," He Says, "And
Been Counted Happy To Be Born In Such A Place Of Philosophic Freedom As
They Supposed England Was, While They Themselves Did Nothing But Bemoan
The Servile Condition Into Which Learning Amongst Them Was Brought, That
This Was It Which Had Damped The Glory Of Italian Wits; That Nothing Had
Been Written There Now These Many Years But Flattery And Fustian." Italy
Had Never Acquiesced In Her Degradation, Though For A Century And A Half
To Come She Could Only Protest In Such Conventicles As Those Frequented
By Milton.
The Very Type And Emblem Of The Free Spirit Of Italy, Crushed But Not
Conquered, Then Inhabited Florence In The Person Of "The Starry
Galileo," Lately Released From Confinement At Arcetri, And Allowed To
Dwell In The City Under Such Severe Restraint
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