tic perfonage too clearly proved her unworthy; yet Milton cannot fairly be charged with fervile adulation. Chriftina, when he appeared as her eulogift, was the idol of the literary world. The candour with which the fpake as a queen on his defence of the people would naturally strike the author as an engaging proof of her discernment and magnanimity; he was alfo gratified in no common degree by the coolness with which fhe treated his adverfary; for Salmafius, whom she had invited to her court for his erudition, was known to have lost her favour, when his literary arrogance and imbecility were expofed and chastised by the indignant spirit of Milton. The wretched Salmafius, indeed, was utterly overwhelmed in the encounter; he had quitted France, his native country, where he honourably difdained to purchase a penfion by flattering the tyranny of Richlieu, and had settled in Leyden as an asylum of liberty; he feemed, therefore, as one of his Parifian correfpondents obferved to him,

to cancel the merit of his former conduct by "writing against England." Salmafius was extravagantly vain, and trufted too much to, his great reputation as a fcholar; his antagonist, on the contrary, was fo little known as a Latin writer before the defence appeared, that several friends advised Milton not to hazard his credit against a name fo eminent as that of Salmafius. Never did a literary conflict engage the attention of a wider circle; and never did victory declare more decidedly in favour of the party from whom the public had least expectation. Perhaps no author ever required a more

rapid

rapid and extenfive celebrity than Milton gained by this conteft. Let us however remark, for the interest of literature, that the two combatants were both to blame in their reciprocal ufe of weapons utterly unworthy of the great caufe that each had to fuftain; not content to wield the broad and bright fword of national argument, they both defcended to use the mean and envenomed dagger of perfonal malevolence. They have indeed great authorities of modern time to plead in their excuse, not to mention the bitter difputants of antiquity. It was the opinion of Johnson, and Milton himself feems to have entertained the fame idea, that it is allowable in literary contention to ridicule, vilify, and depreciate as much as poffible the character of an opponent. Surely this doctrine is unworthy of the great names who have endeavoured to fupport it, both in theory and practice; a doctrine not only morally wrong, but prudently defective; for a malevolent spirit in eloquence is like a dangerous varnish in painting, which may produce, indeed, a brilliant and forcible effect for a time, but ultimately injures the fuccefs of the production; a remark that may be verified in perufing the Latin profe of Milton, where elegance of language and energy of fentiment fuffer not a little from being blended with the tirefome afperity of perfonal invective.

It is a pleasing transition to return from his encmies to his friends. He had a mind and heart peculiarly alive to the duties and delights of friendfhip, and seems to have been peculiarly happy in this important article of human life. In fpeaking

of

of his blindness, he mentions, in the moft interefting manner, the affiduous and tender attention, which he received on that occafion from his friends. in general; fome of them he regarded as not inferior in kindness to Thefeus and Pylades, the ancient demigods of amity. We have loft, perhaps, fome little poems that flowed from the heart of Milton, by their being addreffed to perfons who, in the viciffitudes of public fortune, were fuddenly plunged into obfcurity with the honours they had received. Some of his fonnets that we poffefs did not venture into public till many years after the death of their author for political reasons; others might be concealed from the fame motive, and in fuch concealment they might eafily perifh. I can hardly believe that he never addreffed a verse to Bradshaw, whom we have feen him praising fo eloquently in profe; and among thofe whom he mentions with esteem in his Latin works, there is a less known military friend, who seems still more likely to have been honoured with fome tribute of the poet's affection, that time and chance may have destroyed; I mean his friend Overton, a foldier of eminence in the fervice of the parliament, whom Milton defcribes "as endeared to him through many σε years by the fimilitude of their purfuits, by the "fweetnefs of his manners, and by an intimacy furpaffing even the union of brothers *."

A

*Te, Overtone, mihi multis ab hinc annis et ftudiorum fimilitudine, et morum fuavitate, concordiâ plufquam fraternâ conjunctiffime.Profe Work, Vol. II. p. 400.

character

character fo highly and tenderly esteemed by the poet has a claim to the attention of his biographer. Overton is commended by the frank ingenious Ludlow as a brave and faithful officer; he is also ridiculed in a ballad of the royalifts as a religious enthusiast. He had a gratuity of 3col. a year conferred on him for his bravery by the parliament, and had rifen to the rank of a major general. Cromwell, apprehenfive that Overton was confpiring against his ufurpation, firft imprifoned him in the Tower, and afterwards confined him in the ifland of Jerfey. A letter, in which Marvel relates to Milton his having prefented to the Protector at Windfor a recent copy of the Second Defence, expreffes at the fame time an affectionate curiofity concerning the business of Overton, who was at that time juft brought to London by a myfterious order of Cromwell. He did not escape from confinement till after the death of Oliver, when, in confequence of a petition from his fifter to the parliament, he obtained his release. Soon after the restoration, he was again imprisoned in the Tower with Colonel Desborow, on a rumour of their being concerned in a treasonable commotion; but as that rumour seems to have been a political device of the royalifts, contrived to ftrengthen the new government, he probably regained his freedom, though we know not how his active days were concluded. The anxiety and anguish that Milton must have indured in the various calamities to which his friends were exposed on the viciffitude of public affairs, formed, I apprehend, the fevereft fufferings of his extraor

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dinary life, in which genius and affliction feem to have contended for pre-eminence.

Some traces of the fufferings I allude to, though mysteriously veiled, are yet vifible in his poetry, and will be noticed hereafter. Not to anticipate the feverest evil of his destiny, let me now speak of a foreign friend, in whofe lively regard he found only honour and delight. On the publication of his defence, Leonard Philaras, a native of Athens, who had distinguished himself in Italy, and rifen to the rank of envoy from the duke of Parma to the court of France, conceived a flattering defire to cultivate the friendship of Milton. With this,view he fent him his portrait, with very engaging letters, and the highest commendation of the recent defence. The reply of Milton is remarkable for its elegance and spirit; after thanking his correspondent for presents fo agreeable, he fays, "If Alexander ❝ in

Cum enim Alexander ille magnus in terris ultimis bellum gerens, tantos fe militiæ labores pertuliffe teftatus fit, ons wag' Alnraiwr ev dožías evexa; quidni ergo mihi gratuler, meque ornari quam maxime putem, ejus viri laudibus, in quo jam uno prifcorum Athenienfium artes, atque virtutes illæ celebratiffimæ, renafci tam longo intervallo, et reflorescere videntur. Quâ ex urbe cum tot viri difertiffimi prodierint, eorum potiffimum fcriptis ab adolefcentia pervolvendis, didiciffe me libens fateor quicquid ego literis profeci. Quod fi mihi tanta vis dicendi accepta ab illis et quafi transfufa ineffet, ut exercitus noftros et claffes ad Liberandam ab Ottomanico tyranno Græciam, eloquentiæ patriam, excitare poffem; ad quod facinus egregium noftras opes pene implorare videris, facerem profecto id quo nihil mihi antiquius, aut in votis prius effet. Quid enim vel fortiffimi olim viri, vel eloquentiffimi