death communicated by his nephew to Toland, who imparted them to the public. i Milton gave yet another proof of his unwearied attention to public affairs, by publishing brief notes on a fermon preached by Dr. Griffith, at Mercer's Chapel, March 25th, 1660, wherein (fays the annotator) many notorious wreftings of fcripture, and other falfities, are obferved." When the repeated proteftations of Monk to support the republic had ended in his introduction of the king, the anxious friends of Milton, who thought the literary champion of the parliament might be exposed to revenge from the triumphant royalifts, hurried him into concealment. The folicitude of those who watched over his fafety was so great, that, it is faid, they deceived his enemies by a report of his death, and effectually prevented a search for his perfon (during the first tumultuary and vindictive rage of the royalists) by a pretended funeral.. A few weeks before the restoration (probably in April) he quitted his house in Westminster, and did not appear in public again till after the act of oblivion, which paffed on the 29th of August.: In this important interval fome events occurred, which greatly affected both his fecurity and reputation. The' House of Commons, on the 16th of June, manifested their refentment against his perfon as well as his writings, by ordering the attorney general to commence a pro- · fecution against him, and petitioning the king, that his two books, the Defence of the People, and his Answer to Eikon Bafilike, might be publicly burnt. Happily for the honour of England, the perfon of the great author was more fortunate than his writings in efcaping from the fury of perfecution. Within three days after the burning of his books, he found himself relieved from the neceffity of concealment, and sheltered under the common protection of the law by the general act of indemnity, which had not included his name in the lift of exceptions. It has been thought wonderful by many, that a writer, whofe celebrated compofitions had rendered him an object of abhorrence to the royal party, could elude the activity of their triumphant revenge, and various conjectures have been ftarted to account for the fafety of Milton, after his enemies had too plainly difcovered an inclination to crush him. One of these conjectural causes of his escape represents two contemporary poets in fo amiable a light, that though I am unable to confirm the anecdote entirely by any new evidence, I shall yet dwell upon it with pleasure. Richardfon, whose affectionate veneration for the genius and virtue he celebrates makes ample amends for all the quaintnefs of his style, has the following paffage on the subject in question: Perplexed and inquifitive as I was, I at length found "the fecret, which he from whom I had it thought he "had communicated to me long ago, and wondered he had << not. I will no longer keep you in expectation :--'twas "Sir William Davenant obtained his remiffion, in return " for his own life procured by Milton's intereft, when "himself was under condemnation, anno 1650-a life was "owing to Milton (Davenant's) and 'twas paid nobly; "Milton's for Davenant's, at Davenant's interceffion.—It it me. "will now be expected I fhould declare what authority I "have for this ftory;-my first answer is, Mr. Pope told Whence had he it? From Mr. Betterton-Sir "William was his patron-Betterton was prentice to a “bookseller, John Holden, the fame who printed Dave"nant's Gondibert. There Sir William faw him, and, perfuading his master to part with him, brought him "first on the stage. Betterton then may be well allowed to know this tranfaction from the fountain head." On this interesting anecdote Johnson makes the following remark: “ Here is a reciprocation of generofity and gratitude so pleasing, that the tale makes its own way to "credit, but if help were wanted I know not where to "find it; the danger of Davenant is certain from his own "relation, but of his escape there is no account. This paffage of the critical biographer affords a fingular proof, that he is fometimes as inaccurate in narration as he is defective in fentiment. Impreffed as I am with the clearest conviction of his repeated endeavours to depreciate the character of Milton, I will not fuppofe that Johnson could defignedly fupprefs an evidence of the poet's generofity, which, while he is speaking of it in terms of admiration, he ftill endeavours to render problematical; yet certain it is, that of Milton's protection of Davenant a very obvious evidence exifts in Antony Wood, who fays, under the article Davenant," he was carried prifoner to the Ifle "of Wight, anno 1650, and afterwards to the Tower of "London, in order to be tried for his life in the High Court "of Justice, anno 1651; but upon the mediation of John "Milton, U 2 “Milton and others, especially two godly aldermen of York "(to whom he had shewn great civility when they had been "taken prisoners in the north by fome of the forces under "William Marquis of Newcastle) he was faved, and had liberty allowed him as a prisoner at large." Thus far the pleafing ftory is fufficiently proved to the honour of Milton. That Davenant endeavoured to return the favour is highly probable, from the amiable tenderness and benevolent activity of his character. Perhaps this probability may seem a little strengthened by the following verfes of Davenant, in a poem addreffed to the king on his happy return: Your clemency has taught us to believe If Davenant was in any degree inftrumental to the fecurity of Milton, it is probable that he ferved him rather from gratitude than affection, as no two writers of the time were more different from each other in their religious and political opinions. That the poet-laureat of Charles was utterly unconscious of those ineftimable poetic powers, which the blind fecretary of the republic was providentially reserved to display, we may infer from a very remarkable couplet, towards the clofe of a fecond poem, addreffed by Davenant Davenant to the King, where, fpeaking of Homer, he ventures to affert that Heav'n ne'er made but one, who, being blind, Was fit to be a painter of the mind. It is however very poffible that Davenant might doubly conduce to the production of Paradise Lost; first, as one of those who exerted their influence to fecure the author from molestation; and secondly, as affording by his Gondibert an incentive to the genius of Milton to fhew how infinitely he could furpafs a poem which Hobbs (whose opinions he despised) had extravagantly extolled as the most exquifite production of the epic muse. In Aubrey's manufcript anecdotes of Milton it is faid, that he began his Paradise Loft about two years before the return of the king, and finished it about three years after that event; the account appears the more probable, as the following lines in the commencement of the seventh book pathetically allude to his prefent fituation: More fafe I fing with mortal voice unchang'd Purples the east, ftill govern thou my fong, Urania, and fit audience find though few ; Of |