Benson, amounts merely to his having said. in the plainest manner, that he raised the monument; and to his having added to his name a common enumeration of the offices he possessed; a circumstance in which candour might have discovered rather more modesty than pride. Affluence appears particularly amiable when paying a voluntary tribute to neglected genius, even in the grave; nor is Benson the only individual of ample fortune, who has endeared himself to the lovers of literature by generous endeavours to promote the celebrity of Milton. Affectionate admirers of the poet will honor the memory of the late Mr. Hollis, in recollecting that he dovoted much time and money to a similar pursuit; and they will regret that he was unable to discover the Italian verses, and the marble bust, which he diligently sought for in Italy, on a suggestion that such memorials of our poetic traveller had been carefully preserved in that country. But from this brief digression on the recent admirers of Milton, let us return to his family at the time of his decease.

His will was contested by the daughters, whose undutiful conduct it condemned; being deficient in form, it was set aside, and letters of administration were granted to the widow, who is said to have allotted an hundred pounds to each daughter, a sum which being probably too little in their opinion, and too much in her's, would naturally produce reciprocal animosity and censure between the contending parties.

It has been already observed, that the recent discovery of this forgotten will, and the allegations annexed to it, throw considerable light on the domestic life of Milton; and the more insight we can gain into his social and sequestered hours, the more we shall discover, that he was not less entitled to private affection, than to public esteem; but let us contemplate his person before we proceed to a minuter examination of his mind and manners.

So infatuated with rancour were the enemies of this illustrious man, that they delineated his form, as they represented his character, with the utmost extravagance of

malevolent falshood: he was not only compared to that monster of deformity, the eyeless Polypheme, but described as a diminutive, bloodless, and shrivelled creature. Expressions of this kind, in which absurdity and malice are equally apparent, induced him to expose the contemptible virulence of his revilers by a brief description of his own. figure. He represents himself as a man of

Veniamus nunc ad mea crimina; estne quod in vita aut moribus reprchendat? Certe nihil. Quid ergo ? Quod nemo nisi immanis ac barbarus fecisset, formam mihi ac cæcitatem objectat.

Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ad

emptum.

Nunquam existimabam quidem fore, ut de forma, cum Cyclope certamen mihi esset; versum statim se revocat. "Quanquam nec ingens, quo nihil est exilius exsanguius contractius." Tametsi virum nihil attinet de forma dicere, tandem quando hic quoque est unde gratias Deo agam et mendaces redarguam ne quis (quod Hispanorum vulgus de hereticis, quos vocant, plus nimio facerdotibus suis credulum opinatur) me forte cynocephalum quempiam aut rhinocerota esse putet, dicam. Deformis quidem a nemine quod sciam, qui modo me vidit sum unquam habitus ; formosus necne minus laboro; statura fateor non sum procera; sed quæ mediocri tamen quam

moderate stature, not particularly

and so far endued with strength and that as he always wore a sword, he not, in his healthy season of life, eith or courage to use it; having practise ing with great assiduity, he consider

parvæ proprior sit; sed quid si parva, qua sæpe tum pace tum bello viri fuere, quanqua cur dicitur, quæ ad virtutem satis magna est? exilis admodum eo sane animo iisque viribus ætas vitæque ratio sic ferebat, nec ferrum tra stringere quotidiano usu exercitatus nescirem cinctus, ut plerumque eram, cuivis vel multo exæquatum me putabam, securus quid mihi riæ vir viro inferre posset. Idem hodem hodie cædem vires, oculi non iidem; ita tamen ex illæsi isa sine nube clari ac lucidi, ut eorum tissimum cernunt; in hac solum parte, mem 'simulator sum. In vulto quo "nihil exsang

dixit, is manet etiamnum color exsangui et pall contrarius, ut quadragenario major vix sit cui prope annis videar natu minor; neque corpore neque cute. In his ego si ulla ex parte menti millibus popularium meorum qui de facie me exteris etiam non paucis, ridiculus meritò sim in re minimè necessaria tam impudentur gratu dax comperietur poteritis de reliquo eandem con facere. Atque hæc de forma mea vel coactus.

self as a match for any antagonist, however superior to him in muscular force; his countenance (he says) was so far from being bloodless, that when turned of forty, he was generally allowed to have the appearance of being ten years younger; even his eyes (he adds) though utterly deprived of sight, did not betray their imperfection, but on the contrary appeared as speckless and as lucid as if his powers of vision had been peculiarly acute" In this article alone" says Milton" and much against my will, I am a bypocrite."

Such is the interesting portrait, which this great writer has left us of himself. Those who had the happiness of knowing him personally, speak in the highest terms even of his personal endowments, and seem to have regarded him as a model of manly grace and dignity in his figure and deportment.

"His harmonical and ingenious soul". says Aubrey" dwelt in a beautiful and well proportioned body."

"In toto nusquam corpore menda fuit.”

His hair was a light brown, his eyes dark