on a general principle, such as these, are not unlike Dryden's emulous trial of skill, in the angry parley and reconciliation of Dorax and Sebastian; in which he ventured to measure his strength with Shakspeare, and has acquitted himself so ably, that we could hardly hesitate to assign them an equal portion of praise had the wordy contest between Brutus and Cassius not the further merit of priority of production: for if Dryden, I venture to add, must here give way, he gives way only because he was the junior to Shakspeare by birth.

The justification of the People of England was to MILTON a spirit-stirring theme; while with the diffusive means of mental intercourse afforded by the art (I had almost said the divine art) of Printing he figured to himself Europe for his auditory. The exordium of his reply to More's, or speaking more correctly, to du Moulin, the Son's, bitter attack of his first Defensio gives no obscure intimation of the cast of his Elocution when a political Controvertist writing in a classical tongue. He there yields the place to the primitive Fathers of Rhetoric; but challenges a high precedency over their sub

jects of Discussion for the cause of the Parliament. Let him speak for himself in his own lofty tone*. "Devoted from an early age to "the study of polite Learning, and conscious "that I was always less remarkable for strength " of Constitution than for vigour of Intellect, "I left to others the fatigues of a Camp, in "which the robust frame of a private Soldier “would enable him easily to excel me, and "entered on pursuits in which I might ex"ert myself with a fairer promise of success; "that instead of offering the weakest part of my nature to the disposal of my Country, "and the promotion of this excellent Cause, "I might bring to them all the weight in my power by the exercise of what in me is

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best, and, so that I used it wisely, most "availing. This then was the conclusion I "formed; if GOD have been pleased to en"trust to some the achievement of such no

"Nam cùm ab adolescentulo humanioribus essem studiis, ut qui maximè deditus, et ingenio semper quàm corpore validior, posthabitâ castrensi operâ, quâ me gregarius quilibet robustior facile superâsset, ad ea me contuli, quibus plus potui; ut parte met meliore ac potiore, si saperem, non deteriore, ad rationes patriæ, causamque hanc præstantissimam, quantum maximè possem momentum accederem. Sic itaque existimabam, si illos DEUS res gerere tam præclaras voluit,

"ble actions, it must likewise have been his "will that others should record them in lan66 guage which might become their dignity, " and that Reason (our only just and natural safeguard) should be summoned to the de"fence of that Truth which had been first "defended by arms. Whence it arises, that "I could look with admiration upon the "Men who have stood invincible in battle, " and yet utter no complaint that a different province has been assigned to me: nay, I "feel proud of the distinction, and, moreover, offer up repeated thanks to the Di"vine Disposer of bounties, that I sustain

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a part in these events which is more likely "to raise the envy of others than to occasion "in me the slightest repining. Unwilling to "boast of myself, I would not indeed hazard "a comparison with the least distinguished

esse itidem alios à quibus gestas dici pro dignitate atque ornari, et defensam armis veritatem, ratione etiam, (quod unicum est præsidium verè ac propriè humanum) defendi voluerit. Unde est, ut dum illos invictos acie viros admiror, de meâ interim provinciâ non querar; immò mihi gratuler, et gratias insuper largitori munerum cœlesti iterum summas agam obtigisse talem, ut aliis invidenda multò magis, quàm mihi ullo modo pœnitenda videatur. Et me quidem nemini vel infimo libens confero; nec verbum de me ullum insolen

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among them. Yet as often as I recollect "that I am the advocate of a Cause in itself "the most noble, as well as universal in its "interest; and at the same time that I have "been called by the voice and judgment of "the People to the highly honourable task "of defending those who have vindicated "themselves, I cannot but feel an irresistible impulse to a bolder and more elevated

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language than the opening of a question

may justify, and aspire to an Eloquence

worthy the grandeur of the occasion. For "in proportion, that I am unquestionably in"feriour to the illustrious Oratours of An

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tiquity, not in the energies of speech " alone, but in the very powers of expression (having to complain of the unavoidable

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disadvantage of employing a foreign "tongue) in the same proportion do I sur

tius facio: ad causam verò omnium nobilissimam, ac celeberrimam, et hoc simul defensores ipsos defendendi munus ornatissimum ipsorum mihi suffragiis attributum atque judiciis quoties animum refero, fateor me mihi vix temperare, quin altiùs atque audentiùs quàm pro exordii ratione insurgam; et grandius quiddam, quod eloqui possim, quæram: quandoquidem oratores illos antiquos et insignes, quantum ego ab illis non dicendi solùm sed et loquendi facultate, (in extraneâ præsertim, quâ utor necessariò, linguâ, et persæpe

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in the pe

pass every Writer of every age "culiar dignity of the subject. Such indeed "has been the expectation it has raised, and

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so far has its fame travelled, that I feel myself at this instant, not in the Rostrum "or in the Forum, at Rome or at Athens, "surrounded merely by one People, but as it "were in the presence of nearly all Europe, "seated in attentive judgement before me,

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again addressing this like my former De"fence to every public Assembly where the "wisest Men meet together to deliberate "on the affairs of Cities and of Nations. "Methinks I seem to journey over tracts "of continent and wide-extended regions,

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beholding numberless and unknown faces "that bear the impression of sympathy and

mihi nequaquam satisfacio) haud dubiè vincor, tantùm omnes omnium ætatum, materiæ nobilitate et argumento vincam. Quod et rei tantum expectationem ac celebritatem adjecit, ut jam ipse me sentiam non in foro aut rostris, uno duntaxat populo, vel Romano, vel Atheniensi circumfusum; sed attentâ, et confidente quasi totâ penè Europâ, et judicium ferente, ad universos quacunque gravissimorum hominum, urbium, gentium, consessus atque conventus, et priore defensione, dixisse, et hac rursus dicturum. Jam videor mihi, ingressus iter, transmarinos tractus et porrectas late regiones, sublimis perlustrare; vultus innumeros atque