lar proof of genuine public fpirit that ever patriot had occasion to display; fince, at the time of his engaging in this work, the infirmity in his eyes was fo alarming, that his phyficians affured him he muft inevitably lose them if he perfifted in his labour. "On this occafion," (fays Milton to a savage antagonist, who had reproached him with blindnefs) "* I reflected that many had purchased with a supe"rior evil a lighter good, glory with death; to me, on the contrary, greater good was propofed with an inferior evil; "fo that, by incurring blindness alone, I might fulfil the "moft honourable of all duties, which, as it is a more folid advantage than glory itself, ought to be more eligible in "the estimation of every man; I refolved therefore to make "what short ufe I might yet have of my eyes as conducive as poffible to public utility: you fee what I preferred, and "what I lost, with the principle on which I acted; let flan"derers therefore ceafe to talk irreverently on the judgment "of God, and to make me the fubject of their fictions; let "them know that I am far from confidering my lot with Hac * Unde fic mecum reputabam, multos graviore malo minus bonum, morte gloriam, redemiffe; mihi contra majus bonum minore cum malo proponi; ut poffem cum cæcitate fola vel honeftiffimum officii munus implere quod ut ipfa gloria per fe eft folidius, ita cuique optatius atque antiquius debet effe. igitur tam brevi luminum ufurâ, quanta max- ́ ima quivi cum utilitate publica, quoad liceret, fruendum effe ftatui. Videtis quid prætulerim, quid amiferim, quâ inductus ratione : definant ergo judiciorum Dei calumniatores maledicere, deque me fomnia fibi fingere: fic denique habento me fortis meæ neque pigere "forrow or repentance; that I perfift immovable in my "fentiment; that I neither fancy nor feel the anger of "God, but, on the contrary, experience and acknowledge "his paternal clemency and kindness in my most import"ant concerns, in this especially, that, by the comfort and "confirmation which he himself infufes into my spirit, I ac"quiefce in his divine pleasure, continually confidering rather "what he has bestowed upon me, than what he has denied. Finally, that I would not exchange the consciousness of my own conduct for their merit, whatever it may be, or part with a remembrance, which is to my own mind a perpetual source of tranquillity and fatisfaction." Whenever he is induced to mention himself, the purity and vigour of Milton's mind appear in full luftre, whether he speaks in verse or in profe: the preceding paffage from his Second Defence is confonant to the fonnet on his blindness, addressed to Syriac Skinner, which, though different critics have denied the author to excel in this minute fpecies of compofition, has hardly been furpaffed; it deferves double praise for energy of expreffion and heroism of fenti ment. Cyriac, this three-years day these eyes, tho' clear Bereft of fight their feeing have forgot, Nor to their idle orbs does day appear, Or fun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, Against Heav'n's hand or will, nor bate one jot, Of Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer Right onward. What fupports me doft thou ask? In liberty's defence, my noble task, Of which all Europe talks from fide to fide: This thought might lead me thro' the world's vain mask The ambition of Milton was as pure as his genius was fublime; his first object on every occafion was to merit the approbation of his confcience and his God; when this most important point was fecured, he seems to have indulged the predominant paffion of great minds, and to have exulted, with a triumph proportioned to his toil, in the celebrity he acquired: he must have been infenfible indeed to public applause, had he not felt elated by the fignal honours which were paid to his name in various countries, as the eloquent defender of the English nation. "* This I can truly affirm," (fays Milton, in mentioning the reception of his great political performance) "that as soon as my defence of the people was published, and read with avidity, there was not, in our metropolis, any ambaffador from any state or "fovereign, who did not either congratulate me if we met by chance, or exprefs a defire to receive me at his house, or vifit me at mine. Hoc etiam vere poffum dicere, quo primùm tempore noftra defenfio eft edita, et legentium ftudia incaluere, nullum vel prin cipis vel civitatis legatum in urue tum fuiffe, P 2 qui non vel fortè obvio mihi gratuleretur, vel conventum apud fe cuperet yel domi inviferet.-Profe Works, vol. 2. p. 394. Toland 1 Toland relates, that he received from the parliament a prefent of a thousand pounds for the defence. The author does not include this circumftance among the many particulars he mentions of himfelf; and if fuch a reward was ever beftowed upon him, it must have been after the publication of his Second Defence, in which he affirms, that he was content with having discharged what he confidered as an honourable public duty, without aiming at a pecuniary recompence; and that instead of having acquired the opulence with which his adverfary reproached him, he received not the slightest gratuity for that production *. Yet he appears to have been perfectly fatisfied with the kindness of his associates; for, in speaking of his blindness, he says, that “far from being neglected on this account by the highest characters in the republic, they conftantly regarded him with indulgence and favour, not feeking to deprive him either of diftinction or emolument, though "his powers of being useful were diminished;" hence he compares himself to an ancient Athenian, fupported by a decree of honour at the expence of the public +. Among the foreign compliments he received, the applause of *Contentus quæ honefta factu funt, ea propter fe folum appetiffe, et gratis perfequi : id alii viderint tuque fcito me illas "opimi"tates," atque "opes," quas mihi exprobas, non attigiffe neque eo nomine quo maxime accufas obolo factum ditiorem.-Profe Works, vol. ii. p. 378. + Quin et fummi quoque in republica viri quandoquidem non otio torpentem me, fed impigrum et fumma difcrimina pro libertate inter primos adeuntem oculi deferuerunt, ipfi 6 non deferunt; verum humana qualia fint fecum reputantes, tanquam emerito favent, indulgent vacationem atque otium faciles concedunt; fi quid publici muneris, non adimunt; fi quid ex ea re commodi, non minuunt ; et quamvis non æquè nunc utili præbendum nihilo minus benignè cenfent ; eodem plane honore, ac fi, ut olim Athenienfibus mos erat, in Prytanéo alendum decreviffent.Profe Works, vol. ii. p. 376. Chriftina Christina afforded him the highest gratification; for he regarded it as an honourable proof of what he had ever affirmed, that he was a friend to good fovereigns, though an enemy to tyrants: he understood that the queen of Sweden had made this diftinction in commending his book, and in the warmth of his gratitude he bestowed on the northern princess a very splendid panegyric, of which the subsequent conduct of that fingular and fantastic perfonage too clearly proved her unworthy; yet Milton cannot fairly be charged with servile adulation. Chriftina, when he appeared as her eulogist, was the idol of the literary world. The candour with which she spake as a queen on his defence of the people would naturally strike the author as an engaging proof of her difcernment and magnanimity; he was also gratified in no common degree by the coolness with which she treated his adverfary; for Salmafius, whom she had invited to her court for his erudition, was known to have loft her favour, when his literary arrogance and imbecility were exposed and chastised by the indignant fpirit 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 fettled in Leyden as an afylum 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 trusted too much to his great reputation as a scholar; his antagonist, on the contrary, was fo little known as a Latin writer before the defence |