NOTES. PAGE 17. States.] Persons of rank and power, rulers; cf. 'God in the great assembly stands Of Kings and lordly States.'-Milton, Psalm lxxxii. The longer form 'estates' is used in the same way, e.g. 'Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains and chief estates of Galilee' (Mark vi. 21). Confidence of what they have.] Of is often used for about,' 'concerning;' cf. 'You make me study of that' (Shakspeare, Tempest). Passion.] Impetuosity, ardour. The word was used to express any mental emotion (Tábos); e.g. The passion of pity' (Milton); The passionate Shepherd to his Love' (Marlowe). Trophey.] A memorial or monument, but not necessarily a monument of victory. Cf. This is the trophey of their antiquity' (Milton On Reformation); and 'If Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise' (Gray, Elegy). PAGE 18. Beyond the manhood of a Roman recovery.] Comparing the tyranny of the Tudors and Stuarts with that of the Roman Emperors, he points out that what was beyond the reach of the cowed and servile Roman senate had been acquired by the boldness of the English Parliament. Unwillingest.] The comparison of adjectives by 'more' and 'most' was probably due to Norman-French, and first appeared in English at the end of the 13th century. It arose probably from the awkwardness of the genuine English suffix with adjectives in -ous: E as these all have two and most three syllables, the rule was gradually shifted from the termination to the number of syllables. Thoroughly English authors have always kept to the inflexion as far as possible: e.g. 'repiningest' (Sidney); 'honorablest' (Bacon); 'violentest' (Shakspeare); 'beautifulest' (Carlyle). We find even ‘avarousere,' 'merveillousest' in Piers Ploughman. A triviall and malignant Encomium.] Malignant was used by the Puritans as a term of opprobrium for the Royalist party, and it is used in this special sense here. The reference is to a work by Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, in which, while replying to Milton's treatise Of Reformation touching Church Discipline in England,' he spoke of the recent proceedings of Parliament in terms of faint or doubtful praise. This led to his famous controversy with the Puritan divines who adopted the name of 'Smectymnuus' from the initials of their names (Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, William Spurstow). joined in the fray and wrote An Apology for Smectymnuus.' His loyalest affection and his hope waits.] This use of two singular nouns with a verbal inflection in 's' is very common. In Milton it may well be regarded as a Latinism, the singular verb agreeing with the nearer subject; but it may be only a relic of the Early English North country inflexion of the plural in -es, and its frequent occur. rence in Shakspeare favours the latter explanation. Cf. 'Women's fear and love holds quantity' (Hamlet). PAGE 19. Milton Whenas.] So and as are affixed to words that were originally interrogative to give them a relative meaning, as, whereas, whoso. When these became recognised as relatives the tendency of the affix was to make the relative more general and indefinite, thus whoso is nearly equivalent to whosoever (Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar). A trienniall Parlament.] A Parliament that met at least once in three years, not, as we use the term, a Parliament elected every three years. An Act in the reign of Edward III. provided for annual meetings (or more frequent, if necessary), but this had fallen into disuse. The Triennial Bill was carried in 1641 on the proposal of Lord Digby. Cabin Counsellours.] Cabinet or Privy Councillors. The reference is to Laud, Strafford and other advisers by whose means Charles I. ruled without a Parliament from 1629-1640. The recognised institution of a 'Cabinet' dates from the last years of William III. Then.] Then and than are different forms of the same word, the accusative singular of the O.E. demonstrative 'the.' They are used interchangeably in early writers, meaning in that way, at that time. Cf. To break upon the galled shore and than Retire again' (Shakspeare, Rape of Lucrece). Thus ' He is taller than (then) I' means 'In the way in which I am tall, he is taller' (Abbott). Other Courts.] The Star Chamber was remarkable for the pomp and ceremony with which it was attended and its severe repression of all adverse criticism. Civil and gentle.] Civil (Lat. civilis=Grk. TOXITIKÓS) means 'belonging to the government of a state,'' political; ' gentle=highborn, noble. Humanity.] Lat. humanitas, politeness, polish, civilisation. Cf. *Belial in act more graceful and humane' (Paradise Lost, ii. 109). Barbarick.] In its Greek use for 'non Greek' and so uncivilised, Hunnish.] The Huns were a Turkish or Tartar race of barbarians who overran Europe under their king Attila, 430-450 a.d. Polite.] A Latinism (politus) for polished, cultivated. Gothes and Jutlanders.] The Goths were a tribe originally settled on the south shore of the Baltic, and closely connected with the ancestors of the English. The Jutlanders (or Jutes) from Schleswig or South Jutland are said by Bede to have been the earliest of the German tribes to settle here, in Kent, 449 A.D. Discourse to the Parlament of Athens.] See Introduction. This speech by Isocrates was supposed to be delivered in the public assembly (ékkλnola) at Athens at the close of the Social War (357355 B.C.). Its main object was the removal of the abuses introduced by the Thirty Tyrants, and a return to the pure democracy of Pericles. PAGE 20. Siniories.] (It. signoria, from Lat. senior used for dominus.) Generally used by old English writers as the title of Italian Republics, and thence for States generally. Cf. 'The manage of my State: as at that time Through all the Signiories it was the first.'-Tempest. 'The Republic or Signiory of Venice' (Howell). Dion Prusaus.] Dion, surnamed Chysostome, was a rhetorician of Prusa and Bithynia, who lived in the reigns of Domitian and Trajan, and died in 117 A.D. A privat Orator.] One who wrote speeches for others or as rhetorical exercises, but did not deliver them in person. Such were Isocrates, Lysias, Dion and others. Provides for the poor.] The Order of 1643 confirmed the privileges of the Company of Stationers 'for their relief and maintenance of their poor.' PAGE 21. Painfull men.] Laborious, painstaking. Cf. 'The painful writer of two hundred books' (quoted by Trench). The fruits Of painful superstition and blind zeal.'-P. L. iii. 451. Quadragesimal.] (Lat. quadragesimus, from the forty days of Lent). These Lenten licences were permissions granted for eating meat in Lent and on days appointed by Act of Parliament as fish days. Matrimonial licences were not issued in the time of the Commonwealth. Marriage was regarded as a civil contract and celebrated by the magistrates. The Prelats expired.] The Bishops were excluded from Parliament and all secular jurisdiction and office in 1641, but the Order was not abolished till 1646. Milton is always careful to distinguish between the station of a Prelate and the office of a Bishop. Those fabulous Dragons teeth.] The reference is to the story that Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, having slain a dragon, sowed its teeth, and armed men sprung up from the furrows, who slew one another. PAGE 22. Fift essence.] The fifth or Quint-essence was supposed to be the highest and least material of the elements of which the universe was made. Cf. 'The cumbrous elements Earth, Flood, Air, Fire, And this ethereal Quintessence of Heaven.'-P.L. iii. 715. Condemned of introducing.] Of is used in this way after verbs of French origin which naturally take de in this sense. Cf. To appeal each other of high treason' (Shakspeare). Protagoras.] The earliest of the Athenian sophists. Flourished about 444 B.C. Milton's reference to him here is translated from Cicero, De Nat. Deor. i. 23: Abderites Protagoras, sophistes temporibus illis vel maximus, quum in principio libri sui sic posuisset, De Diis neque ut sint, neque ut non sint, habeo dicere, Atheniensium jussu urbe atque agro est exterminatus librique ejus in concione combusti. Ex quo equidem existimo tardiores ad hanc sententiam profitendam multos esse factos.' Vetus Comedia.] 'Successit vetus his comœdia' (Horace, Ep. ad Pisones). Greek Comedy is historically divided into the Old, Middle, and New Comedy, or Comedy of Caricature, of Criticism, and of Character. In the old Comedy great licence was allowed in personal abuse. Cratinus Eupolis and Aristophanes were its chief writers. The law Milton refers to (τοῦ μὴ ὀνομαστὶ κωμῳδεῖν τινά) was probably passed about 404 B.C., but it only forbade the introduction of a person by name as one of the dramatis persona, and hence did little to check 'libelling.' PAGE 23. Epicurus.] The founder of a Greek school of philosophy who has been falsely charged with sensual and libertine doctrines. Born at Samos, B.C. 342, died at Athens, 270 B.C. School of Cyrene.] A licentious school of philosophy founded by Aristippus of Cyrene, in N. Africa, a pupil of Socrates (B.c. 399). Milton often refers to his sensual philosophy, e.g. 'Aristippus with his Cyrenaic rout.' The Cynick impudence.] Thy Kvvikǹv åvaιoxvvтíav, Diogenes Laertius. The best known of the Cynics is Diogenes of Sinope (412323 B.C.), who lived at Athens and Corinth, and was distinguished by his ascetic habits and bitter speech. Cf. 'Fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub' (Comus). Plato.] The philosopher of Athens (430-347 B.C.) who recommended the writings of Aristophanes to Dionysius as models of Attic style, and sent him a copy of the Clouds to show him what the Athenian republic was. Dionysius.] The Tyrant of Syracuse (431-367), who was very ambitious of literary fame, and consulted Plato in such matters. Holy (i.e. Saint) Chrysostome.] John, Bishop of Constantinople, born at Antioch, 347 A.D., and died in exile, 407 A.D. He was the most eloquent of the early Christian Fathers, and a man of wide |