Other examples of this kind could be added, almost without number. Of his felicity of illustration, the following are specimens. Speaking of scepticism, he said, "The eyes of the mind are like the eyes of the body, they see only at such a distance; but because they cannot see beyond this point, is there nothing beyond it?" Of memory he said, “In general, a person can remember one thing as well as another; otherwise it would be like a person complaining that he could hold silver in his hand, but could not hold copper." Again, "People are not born with a particular genius for particular employments or studies, for it would be saying that a man could see a great way east, but not west."

Dr. Johnson's character presents a singular mixture of good and evil. He was so credulous as to believe firmly in ghosts-yet his incredulity in some things was a sort of disease. He said himself that he did not believe in the great earthquake of Lisbon, in 1755, for six months after the news was received and its authority established. He was harsh, sneering and merciless with his tongue; yet he was all tenderness to his cat; he gave protection in his own house for years to blind Mrs. Williams; and when he saw poor children lying asleep on the pavement for a bed, he put pennies in their hands to cheer them when they awoke.

He was a man whose bosom was full of opposites -of noble emotions and low prejudices. In religion and politics, he was bigoted, holding most who differed with him in the first, as infidels, and in the last as rascals. During the war with America, he was a stern enemy of our cause. With a vast deal of re

ligious feeling and ceremonial devotion, he was still constantly beset with doubts, fears and anxieties. He was sometimes seized with such an inward fear of sin, that even in the midst of company he has been known to retire to a corner of the room and pray audibly for grace and assistance. His whole life was dimmed by hypochondriac shadows, and it closed in darkness, save only the sunset beam that illumined his death-bed.

THIS Sublime poet was born in Bread Street, Cheapside, London, December 9th, 1608. His father was an eminent scrivener, who gave notoriety to his residence by a sign, representing the armorial bearings of the family-a spread eagle. The greatest care was bestowed upon the education of young Milton, from an early period. After the proper elementary acquirements, he was sent to St. Paul's school, London, and at the age of fifteen, to Christ College, Cam

bridge. Here he completed his academical education. In the garden of this college is still to be seen a mulberry tree which he planted while a student there.

Milton was extremely beautiful in his youth, and upon this, an interesting anecdote is founded, though we are obliged to admit that its authority is somewhat questionable. He wandered one day, according to the legend, to a considerable distance into the country, when, feeling himself fatigued, he laid himself down at the foot of a tree, and fell asleep. It chanced that two ladies were passing by in a carriage. They were foreigners, but, attracted by the beauty of Milton's face, they stepped lightly from the carriage and approached him. One of them, struck with his appearance, took out her pencil and wrote the following verse from the Italian poet Guarini :

"Ye eyes! ye human stars! ye authors of my liveliest pangs! If thus, when shut, ye wound me, what must have been the effect, had ye been open."

The young lady, who was very beautiful, with trembling fingers, put the paper into Milton's hand, and departed with her companion. When he awoke he noticed the paper, and some of his friends, who were at a little distance, and had witnessed the adventure, explained to him what had happened. The imagination of the youthful poet was greatly excited by the event, which remained in his memory, and in his visit to Italy, long after, he sought with great diligence to discover the fair unknown. All his researches, however, proved abortive.

After leaving Cambridge, Milton went into Buckinghamshire, where his father, having retired from

business, had purchased an estate at Horton. He now devoted himself to study with great assiduity, and made himself not only master of the Greek and Roman classics, but of a vast field of general literature. It is supposed, also, that during this period he wrote several of his poems, and among them L' Allegro, and Il Penseroso, two pieces, which are as distinguished for sweetness and beauty, as is his Paradise Lost for sublimity. He also wrote at this time the Arcades, a dramatic composition, which was performed at Harefield Place, in the vicinity, by the children of the Countess Dowager of Derby, as the actors.

In 1637, Milton's mother died. He now visited Italy, where he spent a considerable period, making himself acquainted with Italian literature and distinguished individuals of the time. Among other persons of eminence, he was introduced to Grotius, at Paris, and Galileo at Padua. Hearing of the political troubles which now began to agitate his country, he returned to England, and took up his residence in London. For a time, he devoted himself to the educa tion of his nephews, the Philips's, on a system of his own formation, in which he rejected the university routine, and sought to give a more vigorous exercise to the thinking faculties.

In 1641, he began his political career by writing several pamphlets upon the agitating topics of the day, which, however, had relation to ecclesiastical matters. In 1643, he married the daughter of a justice of the peace of Oxfordshire, by the name of Powell. This union was at first unhappy, for the lady, about a month after her marriage, having gone home to her