Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III) - Samuel Johnson (classic books to read txt) 📗

Accession Of Scholars Was Not Great. Possibly

His Having proceeded so Far In the Education Of Youth May Have Been The

Occasion Of His Adversaries Calling him Pedagogue And Schoolmaster;

Whereas, It Is Well Known He Never Set Up For A Publick School, To

Teach All The Young Fry Of A Parish; But Only Was Willing to Impart His

Learning and Knowledge To His Relations, And The Sons Of Gentlemen Who

Were His Intimate Friends, And That Neither His Writings, Nor His Way Of

Teaching, Ever Savoured in the Least Of Pedantry."

 

 

 

Thus Laboriously Does His Nephew Extenuate What Cannot Be Denied, And

What Might Be Confessed without Disgrace. Milton Was Not A Man Who Could

Become Mean By A Mean Employment. This, However, His Warmest Friends

Seem Not To Have Found; They, Therefore, Shift And Palliate. He Did

Not Sell Literature To All Comers, At An Open Shop; He Was A Chamber

Milliner, And Measured his Commodities Only To His Friends.

 

 

 

Philips, Evidently Impatient Of Viewing him In this State Of

Degradation, Tells Us That It Was Not Long Continued; And, To Raise His

Character Again, Has A Mind To Invest Him With Military Splendour: "He

Is Much Mistaken," He Says, "If There Was Not, About This Time, A Design

Of Making him An Adjutant-General In sir William Waller'S Army. But The

New Modelling of The Army Proved an Obstruction To The Design." An

Event Cannot Be Set At A Much Greater Distance Than By Having been Only

"Designed about Some Time," If A Man "Be Not Much Mistaken." Milton

Shall Be A Pedagogue No Longer; For, If Philips Be Not Much Mistaken,

Somebody At Some Time Designed him For A Soldier.

 

 

 

About The Time That The Army Was New-Modelled, (1645,) He Removed to

A Smaller House In holborn, Which Opened backward Into Lincoln'S Inn

Fields. He Is Not Known To Have Published any Thing afterwards, Till

The King'S Death, When, Finding his Murderers Condemned by The

Presbyterians, He Wrote A Treatise To Justify It, And "To Compose The

Minds Of The People."

 

 

 

He Made Some Remarks On The Articles Of Peace Between Ormond And The

Irish Rebels. While He Contented himself To Write, He, Perhaps, Did Only

What His Conscience Dictated; And If He Did Not Very Vigilantly Watch

The Influence Of His Own Passions, And The Gradual Prevalence Of

Opinions, First Willingly Admitted, And Then Habitually Indulged; If

Objections, By Being overlooked, Were Forgotten, And Desire Superinduced

Conviction; He Yet Shared only The Common Weakness Of Mankind, And Might

Be No Less Sincere Than His Opponents. But, As Faction Seldom Leaves A

Man Honest, However It Might Find Him, Milton Is Suspected of Having

Interpolated the Book Called icon Basilike, Which The Council Of State,

To Whom He Was Now Made Latin Secretary, Employed him To Censure, By

Inserting a Prayer Taken From Sidney'S Arcadia, And Imputing it To The

King; Whom He Charges, In his Iconoclastes, With The Use Of This Prayer,

As With A Heavy Crime, In the Indecent Language With Which Prosperity

Had Emboldened the Advocates For Rebellion To Insult All That Is

Venerable Or Great: "Who Would Have Imagined so Little Fear In him Of

The True All-Seeing deity, As, Immediately Before His Death, To Pop Into

The Hands Of The Grave Bishop That Attended him, As A Special Relique Of

His Saintly Exercises, A Prayer, Stolen Word For Word, From The Mouth Of

A Heathen Woman, Praying to A Heathen God?"

 

 

 

The Papers Which The King gave To Dr. Juxon, On The Scaffold, The

Regicides Took Away, So That They Were, At Least, The Publishers Of This

Prayer; And Dr. Birch, Who Had Examined the Question With Great Care,

Was Inclined to Think Them The Forgers. The Use Of It, By Adaptation,

Was Innocent; And They Who Could So Noisily Censure It, With A

Little Extension Of Their Malice, Could Contrive What They Wanted to

Accuse[36].

 

 

 

King charles The Second, Being now Sheltered in holland, Employed

Salmasius, Professor Of Polite Learning at Leyden, To Write A Defence Of

His Father And Of Monarchy; And, To Excite His Industry, Gave Him, As

Was Reported, A Hundred jacobuses. Salmasius Was A Man Of Skill In

Languages, Knowledge Of Antiquity, And Sagacity Of Emendatory Criticism,

Almost Exceeding all Hope Of Human Attainment; And Having, By Excessive

Praises, Been Confirmed in great Confidence Of Himself, Though He

Probably Had Not Much Considered the Principles Of Society, Or The

Rights Of Government, Undertook The Employment Without Distrust Of His

Own Qualifications; And, As His Expedition In writing was Wonderful, In

1649, Published defensio Regis.

 

 

 

To This Milton Was Required to Write A Sufficient Answer; Which He

Performed (1651) In such A Manner, That Hobbes Declared himself Unable

To Decide Whose Language Was Best, Or Whose Arguments Were Worst. In my

Opinion, Milton'S Periods Are Smoother, Neater, And More Pointed; But He

Delights Himself With Teasing his Adversary, As Much As With Confuting

Him. He Makes A Foolish Allusion Of Salmasius, Whose Doctrine He

Considers As Servile And Unmanly, To The Stream Of Salmacis, Which,

Whoever Entered, Left Half His Virility Behind Him. Salmasius Was A

Frenchman, And Was Unhappily Married to A Scold: "Tu Es Gallus," Says

Milton, "Et, Ut Aiunt, Minium Gallinaceus." But His Supreme Pleasure Is

To Tax His Adversary, So Renowned for Criticism, With Vitious Latin. He

Opens His Book With Telling that He Has Used _Persona_, Which, According

To Milton, Signifies Only A _Mask_, In a Sense Not Known To The Romans,

By Applying it As We Apply _Person_. But, As Nemesis Is Always On The

Watch, It Is Memorable That He Has Enforced the Charge Of A Solecism By

An Expression In itself Grossly Solecistical, When, For One Of Those

Supposed blunders, He Says, As Ker, And, I Think, Some One Before Him,

Has Remarked, "Propino Te Grammatistis Tuis _Vapulandum_[37]." From

_Vapulo_, Which Has A Passive Sense, _Vapulandus_ Can Never Be Derived.

No Man Forgets His Original Trade: The Rights Of Nations, And Of Kings,

Sink Into Questions Of Grammar, If Grammarians Discuss Them.

 

 

 

Milton, When He Undertook This Answer, Was Weak Of Body And Dim Of

Sight; But His Will Was Forward, And What Was Wanting of Health Was

Supplied by Zeal. He Was Rewarded with A Thousand Pounds, And His Book

Was Much Read; For Paradox, Recommended by Spirit And Elegance, Easily

Gains Attention; And He, Who Told Every Man That He Was Equal To His

King, Could Hardly Want An Audience.

 

 

 

That The Performance Of Salmasius Was Not Dispersed with Equal Rapidity,

Or Read With Equal Eagerness, Is Very Credible. He Taught Only The Stale

Doctrine Of Authority, And The Unpleasing duty Of Submission; And He Had

Been So Long Not Only The Monarch, But The Tyrant, Of Literature, That

Almost All Mankind Were Delighted to Find Him Defied and Insulted by A

New Name, Not Yet Considered as Any One'S Rival. If Christina, As Is

Said, Commended the Defence Of The People, Her Purpose Must Be To

Torment Salmasius, Who Was Then At Court; For Neither Her Civil Station,

Nor Her Natural Character, Could Dispose Her To Favour The Doctrine, Who

Was By Birth A Queen, And By Temper Despotick.

 

 

 

That Salmasius Was, From The Appearance Of Milton'S Book, Treated with

Neglect, There Is Not Much Proof; But To A Man, So Long Accustomed to

Admiration, A Little Praise Of His Antagonist Would Be Sufficiently

Offensive, And Might Incline Him To Leave Sweden, From Which, However,

He Was Dismissed, Not With Any Mark Of Contempt, But With A Train Of

Attendance Scarcely Less Than Regal.

 

 

 

He Prepared a Reply, Which, Left As It Was Imperfect, Was Published by

His Son In the Year Of The Restoration. In the Beginning, Being probably

Most In pain For His Latinity, He Endeavours To Defend His Use Of The

Word _Persona_; But, If I Remember Right, He Misses A Better Authority

Than Any That He Has Found, That Of Juvenal In his Fourth Satire:

 

 

 

  Quid Agas, Cum Dira Et Foedior Omni

  Crimine _Persona_ Est?

 

 

 

As Salmasius Reproached milton With Losing his Eyes In the Quarrel,

Milton Delighted himself With The Belief That He Had Shortened

Salmasius'S Life, And Both, Perhaps, With More Malignity Than Reason.

Salmasius Died at The Spa, Sept. 3, 1653; And, As Controvertists Are

Commonly Said To Be Killed by Their Last Dispute, Milton Was Flattered

With The Credit Of Destroying him.

 

 

 

Cromwell Had Now Dismissed the Parliament By The Authority Of Which He

Had Destroyed monarchy, And Commenced monarch Himself, Under The Title

Of Protector, But With Kingly, And More Than Kingly, Power. That His

Authority Was Lawful, Never Was Pretended: He Himself Founded his Right

Only In necessity; But Milton, Having now Tasted the Honey Of Publick

Employment, Would Not Return To Hunger And Philosophy, But, Continuing

To Exercise His Office, Under A Manifest Usurpation, Betrayed to His

Power That Liberty Which He Had Defended. Nothing can Be More Just Than

That Rebellion Should End In slavery; That He, Who Had Justified the

Murder Of His King, For Some Acts Which Seemed to Him Unlawful, Should

Now Sell His Services, And His Flatteries, To A Tyrant, Of Whom It Was

Evident That He Could Do Nothing lawful.

 

 

 

He Had Now Been Blind For Some Years; But His Vigour Of Intellect

Was Such, That He Was Not Disabled to Discharge His Office Of Latin

Secretary, Or Continue His Controversies. His Mind Was Too Eager To Be

Diverted, And Too Strong To Be Subdued.

 

 

 

About This Time His First Wife Died in childbed, Having left Him Three

Daughters. As He Probably Did Not Much Love Her, He Did Not Long

Continue The Appearance Of Lamenting her; But, After A Short Time,

Married catharine, The Daughter Of One Captain Woodcock, Of Hackney; A

Woman, Doubtless, Educated in opinions Like His Own. She Died, Within A

Year, Of Childbirth, Or Some Distemper That Followed it; And Her Husband

Honoured her Memory With A Poor Sonnet.

 

 

 

The First Reply To Milton'S Defensio Populi Was Published in 1651,

Called apologia Pro Rege Et Populo Anglicano, Contra Johannis

Polypragmatici, Alias Miltoni, Defensionem Destructivam Regis Et Populi.

Of This The Author Was Not Known; But Milton And His Nephew, Philips,

Under Whose Name He Published an Answer, So Much Corrected by Him That

It Might Be Called his Own, Imputed it To Bramhal; And, Knowing him No

Friend To Regicides, Thought Themselves At Liberty To Treat Him As If

They Had Known What They Only Suspected.

 

 

 

Next Year Appeared regii Sanguinis Clamor Ad Coelum. Of This The Author

Was Peter Du Moulin, Who Was Afterwards Prebendary Of Canterbury; But

Morus, Or More, A French Minister, Having the Care Of Its Publication,

Was Treated as The Writer By Milton In his Defensio Secunda, And

Overwhelmed by Such Violence Of Invective, That He Began To Shrink Under

The Tempest, And Gave His Persecutors The Means Of Knowing the True

Author. Du Moulin Was Now In great Danger; But Milton'S Pride Operated

Against His Malignity; And Both He And His Friends Were More Willing

That Du Moulin Should Escape Than That He Should Be Convicted of

Mistake.

 

 

 

In This Second Defence He Shows That His Eloquence Is Not Merely

Satirical; The Rudeness Of His Invective Is Equalled by The Grossness

Of His Flattery. "Deserimur, Cromuelle, Tu Solus Superes, Ad Te Summa

Nostrarum Rerum Rediit, In te Solo Consistit, Insuperabili Tuae Virtuti

Cedimus Cuncti, Nemine Vel Obloquente, Nisi Qui Aequales Inaequalis Ipse

Honores Sibi Quaerit, Aut Digniori Concessos Invidet, Aut Non Intelligit

Nihil Esse In societate Hominum Magis Vel Deo Gratum, Vel Rationi

Consentaneum, Esse In civitate Nihil Aequius, Nihil Utilius, Quam Potiri

Rerum Dignissimum. Eum Te Agnoscunt Omnes, Cromuelle, Ea Tu Civis

Maximus Et Gloriosissimus[38], Dux Publici Consilii, Exercituum

Fortissimorum Imperator, Pater Patriae Gessisti. Sic Tu Spontanea

Bonorum Omnium, Et Animitus Missa Voce Salutaris."

 

 

 

Caesar, When He Assumed the Perpetual Dictatorship, Had Not More Servile

Or More Elegant Flattery. A Translation May Show Its Servility; But

Its Elegance Is Less Attainable. Having exposed the Unskilfulness Or

Selfishness Of The Former Government, "We Were Left," Says Milton,

"To Ourselves: The Whole National Interest Fell Into Your Hands, And

Subsists Only In your Abilities. To Your Virtue, Overpowering and

Resistless, Every Man Gives Way, Except Some Who, Without Equal

Qualifications, Aspire To Equal Honours, Who Envy The Distinctions Of

Merit, Greater Than Their Own, Or Who Have Yet To Learn, That, In the

Coalition Of Human Society, Nothing is More Pleasing to God, Or More

Agreeable To Reason, Than That The Highest Mind Should Have The

Sovereign Power. Such, Sir, Are You By General Confession; Such Are The

Things Achieved by You, The Greatest And Most Glorious Of Our Countrymen,

The Director Of Our Publick Councils, The Leader Of Unconquered armies,

The Father Of Your Country; For By That Title Does Every Good Man Hail

You With Sincere And Voluntary Praise."

 

 

 

Next Year, Having defended all That Wanted defence, He Found Leisure To

Defend Himself. He Undertook His Own Vindication Against More, Whom He

Declares, In his Title, To Be Justly Called the Author Of The Regii

Sanguinis Clamor. In this There Is No