Delighted with my bauble coach, and wrapt That thou mightst know me safe and warmly laid; The biscuit, or confectionary plum; The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestow'd By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glow'd; Thy constant flow of love, that knew no fall, Not scorn'd in heaven, though little noticed here. I prick'd them into paper with a pin, (And thou wast happier than myself the while, Wouldst softly speak, and stroke my head, and smile,) Could those few pleasant days again appear, Might one wish bring them, would I wish them here? Thou, as a gallant bark from Albion's coast So thou, with sails how swift! hast reach'd the shore, And, while the wings of fancy still are free, 182.-THE LIBERTY OF UNLICENSED PRINTING. MILTON. We [It is not creditable to the present age that Milton is neglected as a poet, and that many persons approach the Paradise Lost' and the Paradise Regained, as if they were entering upon a hard and disagreeable task. This is one of the caprices of fashion which will not last. There is nothing in our language, with the exception perhaps of Shakspere, Spenser, and Wordsworth, that can so fill and satisfy the mind which conceives of poetry as possessing higher capacities than that of mere entertainment, as the poetry of Milton. cannot expect that his prose works should be equally read, nor have they any just claim to the pre-eminence of his poems. They are formed upon Latin models; and, however eloquent and grand in occasional passages, are necessarily constrained and artificial. The extract which we give is from one of the most famous of his prose compositions, Areopagitica, a Speech for the Liberty of unlicensed Printing.' John Milton was the son of John and Sarah Milton. He was born on the 9th of December, 1608, in London. He was educated at St. Paul's School, and at Christ's College, Cambridge. He spent seven years in the university, and afterwards resided for five years in his father's house, during which time it is supposed he wrote Comus,' and his other minor poems. In 1637 he travelled into Italy; he returned after an absence of fifteen months, and, whilst devoting himself to the education of his nephews, became deeply interested in the great political questions of his day. In 1641 he published his first political tract on Reformation.' In 1643 he married Mary Powell; but repudiated her shortly afterwards, and in consequence published his four Treatises on Divorce.' Milton and his wife became reunited after a brief separation. In 1644 he published his Tractate on Education,' and his Areopagitica.' After the execution of Charles I., appeared his tract on the Tenure of Kings and Magistrates;' and after his appointment as Latin secretary to Cromwell in 1649, his Eiconoclastes,' and other tracts. In 1654 he became blind, after his second marriage. He married for the third time in 1660. He published Paradise Lost' in 1667, and Paradise Regained' and Samson Ago nistes' in 1671. He died on the 8th of November, 1674, and was buried in St. Giles's, Cripplegate.] 4 Lords and Commons of England! consider what nation it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the governors; a nation not slow and VOL. III. C |