defence appeared, that feveral 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 leaft expectation. Perhaps no author ever acquired a more 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 use of weapons utterly unworthy of the great cause 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 same 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 prudentially defective; for a malevolent fpirit in cloquence 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 fuffer not a little from being blended with the tiresome afperity of personal invective. It is a pleafing transition to return from his enemies to his friends. He had a mind and heart peculiarly alive to the duties and delights of friendship, and seems to have been peculiarly happy in this important article of human life. In speaking of his blindness, he mentions, in the most interesting manner, the assiduous 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 addressed 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 reafons; others might be concealed from the fame motive, and in fuch concealment they might cafily perifh. I can hardly believe that he never addressed a verse to Bradshaw, whom we have feen him praifing fo eloquently in profe; and among those whom he mentions with esteem in his Latin works, there is a lefs known military friend, who seems still more likely to have been honoured with some 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 years by the "fimilitude of their purfuits, by the sweetness of his man ners, ners, and by an intimacy furpaffing even the union of "brothers." A character so highly and tenderly esteemed by the poet has a claim to the attention of his biographer. Overton is commended by the frank ingenuous Ludlow as a brave and faithful officer; he is alío ridiculed in a ballad of the royalists as a religious enthusiast. He had a gratuity of 300l. 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 conspiring against his ufurpation, first imprisoned him in the tower, and afterwards confined him in the island of Jersey. 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 mysterious 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 feems to have been a political device of the royalifts, contrived 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 to *Te, Overtone, mihi multis ab hinc annis et ftudiorum fimilitudine, et morum fuavitate, concordia plufquam fraternâ conjunctiffime.Profe Work, Vol. II. p. 400. were were exposed on the viciffitude of public affairs, formed, I apprehend, the feverest sufferings of his extraordinary 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 fevereft 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 risen 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 fpirit; after thanking his correspondent for presents so agreeable, he says, " * If "Alexander *Cum enim Alexander ille magnus in terris ultimis bellum gerens, tantos fe militiæ labores pertuliffe teftatus fit, της παρ' Αθηναίων ευ dogías vexa; 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 reflorefcere videntur. Quâ ex urbe cum tot viri difer-tiffimi prodierint, eorum potiffimum fcriptis ab adolefcentia pervolvendis, didicifle me libens fateor quicquid ego literis profeci. Quod fi mihi tanta vis dicendi accepta ab illis et. quafi transfufa ineffet, ut exercitos noftros et claffes ad liberandam ab Ottomanico tyranno Græciam, eloquentiæ patriam, excitare poftem; 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 gloriofius aut fe dignius effe duxerunt, quam vel fuadendo vel fortiter faciendo ἐλευθερας καὶ ἀυλονόμος ποιείσθαι τὰς Ἕλληνας ? Vee rum et aliud quiddam præterea tentandum eft, mea quidem fententia longe maximum, utquis antiquam in animis Græcorum virtutem, induftriam "Alexander in the midft of his martial toil confeffed, that "he laboured but to gain an eulogy from Athens, I may "think myself fortunate indeed, and esteem it as the highest "honour, to be thus commended by the man in whom "alone the genius and virtue of the ancient Athenians seem, "after fo long an interval, to revive and flourish. As your "city has produced many moft eloquent men, I am perfectly willing to confess, that whatever proficiency I have "made in literature is chiefly owing to my long and in"ceffant study of their works. Had I acquired from them "fuch powers of language as might enable me to stimulate our fleets and armies to deliver Greece, the native feat of eloquence, from the tyranny of the Turks (a fplendid enterprize, for which you almost seem to implore our "affiftance) I would affuredly do what would then be among the first objects of my defire; for what did the "braveft or moft eloquent men of antiquity confider as "more glorious or more worthy of themselves, than by per"fuafive language or bold exploits to render the Greeks "free, and their own legiflators." He closes his letter by observing very justly, that "it is first necessary to kindle in "the minds of the modern Greeks the fpirit and virtue "of their ancestors," (politely adding) that “if this could be accomplished by any man, it might be most reasonably |