The Prose Works of John Milton

"There is much reason for regretting that the Prose Works of Milton, where, in the midst of much that is coarse and intemperate, passages of such redeeming beauty occur, should be in the hands of so few readers, considering the advantage which might be derived to our literature from the study of their original and nervous eloquence."

DR. SUMNER, Bishop of Winchester.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

It is not my intention to introduce the present Discourse by a biographical memoir, though I am far from supposing that a new Life of Milton would, even now, be a work of supererogation. But where the matter is so rich and extensive, it would be of little service to present the public with a fresh outline of facts already known; and to descend into the marrow of the subject, and discuss the various questions of criticism and politics necessarily connected with it, would certainly demand a separate volume. I shall therefore enter at once upon the remarks suggested by an attentive examination of the character and writings of Milton.

Yet I may, perhaps, without blame, express in this place the regret which the disparaging tone adopted in speaking of their predecessors by too many of the biographers of this great writer, has never failed to cause in me. From their language it would frequently appear, that each considered the other almost in the light of impertinent intruders, whom it must therefore be his business severely to chastise; whereas a little reflection might have sufficed to beget the very different persuasion-that the whole subject being too large for the grasp of any one of them, they might all in their way contribute to extend the fame and utility of him whom they all profess to admire. For my own part, I have always felt that whosoever aimed, even though awkwardly and imperfectly, to wreathe a fresh garland for this great and illustrious name, thereby conferred on me a personal obligation, which, though not individually intended, is, in fact, the case; since all have done something towards increasing the influence of one whose influence is that of virtue, and opened a clearer insight into the moral nature and heroic sentiments of a man, in the brightness and continuance of whose fame every Englishman is interested.

However this may be, few of those who have hitherto undertaken to set forth in order the events of Milton's life, appear to have enb 2

VOL. I.

tered into the spirit, or comprehended the importance of his prose writings. Like him who climbs a lofty mountain, and is so eager to reach the summit that he neglects or despises the many magnificent prospects which, would he pause a moment, he might enjoy by the way, they hurry forwards to the Paradise Lost, trampling, in their indecent haste, upon his Apology for his Early Life and Writingshis Areopagitica-his Eikonoklastes-his Defence of the People of England; though, viewed separately, each of these be a work whereon an author might build rational hopes of immortality. Reasons good or bad, might no doubt be assigned for this proceeding; but whatever they may be, the result has proved highly injurious to Milton's reputation, and, still more, to our literature.

One of his recent biographers, who must, therefore, make but slight account of his prose writings, even goes so far as to lament he should ever have interrupted his commerce with the muses to engage in the struggle of politics. He looks upon the poet as something too airy and dream-fed to feel any interest in the affairs of mankind; as something which should, perhaps, subsist upon patronage, celebrate the praises of kings, and abandon the study of civil wisdom to inferior persons; which was doubtless the notion Plato entertained of poets, when he banished them his commonwealth as advocates of tyranny. But Milton, nurtured from the cradle in noble sentiments, had formed a very different idea of the man who is inspired by the muse; knowing that from him to whom much is given much will be required: and that to none has a larger or more comprehensive intellect been vouchsafed, than to him whom we dignify with the illustrious name of Poet, who should, therefore, stand second to none in advancing the cause of freedom.

Nothing, in fact, can be more unwise than to desire that pure and lofty minds should keep themselves aloof from the world and the world's business; for if our object in congregating together in society be to render each other happy-not to seek our own happiness at the expense of whomsoever may stand in our way-then they who are endued with intellectual and moral qualities superior to the generality, should, above all things, strive to infuse into public affairs as much as possible of their own spirit; since in this way only can governments be converted into anything better than associations of the powerful to enslave the weak. Poets should never forget they are men and citizens. On the contrary, in their peacefullest and most retired moments, the love of humanity should be with them, to direct the lightnings of their genius against the oppressors of mankind. Consider the prophets, a kindred race: do they not constantly exhibit the strongest sympathy for the feeble, the friendless, the obnoxious to injury? Are not their voices lifted up for the people, against those who would grind the faces of the poor, and subsist, in pride and luxury, on the sweat of other men's brows? The poetaster, with a base admiration of everything superior to his own

mean soul, may celebrate and approve the excesses of men in authority; of all, in fact, who have anything to give: but the poet, whose lips the seraphim have touched with fire snatched from the altar, will never mistake for greatness the mere possession of the trappings of state, or confound regal pomp with genuine grandeur, which can have no existence independently of virtue.

The spirit of poetry is a spirit of power, which, in him who is possessed by it, cannot fail to engender a consciousness of dignity. He feels that he bears within him mines richer than those of gold or diamonds, which, so soon as art shall supply the proper tools for working them, must place him among the peers of intellect, or, rather, prove his title to a kingdom in the realms of thought, by subduing into praise and admiration whole masses of those whom fortune may have blindly thrust before him. And therefore the true poet scorns to be a parasite, scorns to owe anything to insolent wealth; or, if distress and lack of virtue sometimes lead such a man to prostitute his divine gift, rather than eat the sweeter bread of indigence, and herd with his misfortunes in a cottage or a garret, we may be well assured that he abhors whom he lauds, and burns to give birth to the vituperation and satire which he feels struggling to leap forth from his brain, and strangle his ill-paid eulogies. Nature never designed the muses to be the handmaids of despotism; nor can their servant, without betraying his high trust, touch the lyre they have placed in his hands for any but who practise virtue.

Milton, as he ought, experienced that noble pride and enthusiasm which the consciousness of genius inspires. He could, therefore, not behold without abhorrence an order of things in which the accidental possessor of wealth, or place, or a title, assumed the air of a superior, or of a master; while he acknowledged no master but God, no controlling power but the law, which, when just, is God's minister. He never forgot that man was created in the image of God; that by putting on the human form, Christ had raised and sanctified it; and, therefore, that whoever sought to debase and vilify human nature, -and what can do this more effectually than oppression ?--was in fact, the enemy of God and Christ, and to be opposed accordingly. Such were the considerations which led Milton to engraft the politician on the poet, and caused him to employ all the energies of his gifted mind in effecting the overthrow of a government fatal to the interests of society, and in which civil precedence was obtained on other grounds than virtue and public services. He saw not, nor is it very clear what useful or worthy purpose could be served by considering the religious, the learned, the able, inferior in the scale of society to court-sycophants, or the routine intermeddlers with politics. His indignation was roused at beholding the tranquillity of three kingdoms disturbed by the perverse ambition of one man; and, afterwards, when the contest was terminated, by the insolence of a hired sophist, who, for a paltry bribe, brandished his mercenary

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The Prose Works of John Milton, Volume 1