woman and her brute yoke-fellow. So much for the wordy pomps of French gallantry. In England, we trust, and we believe, that any man caught in such a situation, and in such an abuse of his power (supposing the case otherwise a possible one), would be killed on the spot. SLANDER OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.-Page 58. In a little memoir of Milton which the author of this article drew up some years ago for a public society, and which is printed in an abridged shape,1 he took occasion to remark that Dr. Johnson, who was meanly anxious to revive the slander against Milton, as well as some others, had supposed Milton himself to have this flagellation in his mind, and indirectly to confess it, in one of his Latin poems, where, speaking of Cambridge, and declaring that he had no longer any pleasure in the thoughts of revisiting that university, he says,— "Nec duri libet usque minas perferre magistri, This last line the malicious critic would translate-" And other things insufferable to a man of my temper." But, as we then observed, ingenium is properly expressive of the intellectual constitution, whilst it is the moral constitution that suffers degradation from personal chastisement -the sense of honour, of personal dignity, of justice, &c. Indoles is the proper term for this latter idea; and, in using the word ingenium, there cannot be a doubt that Milton alluded to the dry scholastic disputations, which were shocking and odious to his fine poetical genius. If, therefore, the vile story is still to be kept up in order to dishonour a great man, at any rate let it not in future be pretended that any countenance to such a slander can be drawn from the confessions of the poet himself. SHAKSPEARE'S STATION IN LITERATURE.-Page 70. It will occur to many readers that perhaps Homer may furnish the sole exception to this sweeping assertion. Any but Homer is clearly and ludicrously below the level of the competition; but even Homer, "with his tail on " (as the Scottish Highlanders say of their chieftains when belted by their ceremonial retinues), musters nothing like the force which already follows Shakspeare; and be it remembered that Homer sleeps, and has long slept, as a subject of criticism or commentary, while in Germany as well as England, and now even in France, the gathering of wits to the vast equipage of Shakspeare is advancing in an accelerated ratio. There is, in fact, a great delusion current upon this subject. Innumerable references to Homer, and brief critical remarks on this or that pretension of Homer, this or that 1 In the present volume, pp. 86-102.-M. scene, this or that passage, lie scattered over literature ancient and modern; but the express works dedicated to the separate service of Homer are, after all, not many. In Greek we have only the large Commentary of Eustathius, and the Scholia of Didymus, &c.; in French little or nothing before the prose translation of the seventeenth century which Pope esteemed "elegant," and the skirmishings of Madame Dacier, La Motte, &c. ; in English, besides the various translations and their prefaces (which, by the way, began as early as 1555), nothing of much importance until the elaborate preface of Pope to the Iliad and his elaborate postscript to the Odyssey,-nothing certainly before that, and very little indeed since that except Wood's Essay on the Life and Genius of Homer. On the other hand, of the books written in illustration or investigation of Shakspeare, a very considerable library might be formed in England, and another in Germany. CALIBAN.-Page 77. Caliban has not yet been thoroughly fathomed. For all Shakspeare's great creations are, like works of nature, subject of inexhaustible study. It was this character of whom Charles I. and some of his ministers expressed such fervent admiration; and, among other circumstances, most justly they admired the new language almost with which he is endowed for the purpose of expressing his fiendish and yet carnal thoughts of hatred to his master. Caliban is evidently not meant for scorn, but for abomination mixed with fear and partial respect. He is purposely brought into contrast with the drunken Trinculo and Stephano, with an advantageous result. He is much more intellectual than either,-uses a more elevated language, not disfigured by vulgarisms, and is not liable to the low passion for plunder, as they are. He is mortal, doubtless, as his "dam" (for Shakspeare will not call her mother) Sycorax. But he inherits from her such qualities of power as a witch could be supposed to bequeath. He trembles indeed before Prospero; but that is, as we are to understand, through the moral superiority of Prospero in Christian wisdom; for, when he finds himself in the presence of dissolute and unprincipled men, he rises at once into the dignity of intellectual power. LIFE OF MILTON 1 THAT sanctity which settles on the memory of a great man ought, upon a double motive, to be vigilantly sustained by his countrymen: first, out of gratitude to him as one column of the national grandeur; secondly, with a practical purpose of transmitting unimpaired to posterity the benefit of ennobling models. High standards of excellence are among the happiest distinctions by which the modern ages of the world have an advantage over earlier; and we are all interested, by duty as well as policy, in preserving them inviolate. To the benefit of this principle none amongst the great men of England is better entitled than Milton, whether as respects his transcendent merit or the harshness with which his memory has been treated. John Milton was born in London on the 9th day of December 1608. His father, in early life, had suffered for conscience' sake, having been disinherited upon his abjuring the Popish faith. He pursued the laborious profession of a 1 After some search, I have identified this sketch with an anonymous article on Milton which had appeared in a miscellany of short popular biographies, in four volumes, with the title Distinguished Men of Modern Times, issued in London in 1838 by Charles Knight, as one of the publications of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. De Quincey, on reprinting it thence in 1859, as part of vol. xi. of his Collected Writings, made hardly any change in the text, but added footnotes,— of which there were none in the original. The sketch, though inaccurate in some particulars, and too slight for its subject, shows a real familiarity with the materials for Milton's life.-M. scrivener, and, having realized an ample fortune, retired into the country to enjoy it. Educated at Oxford, he gave his son the best education that the age afforded. At first, young Milton had the benefit of a private tutor: from him he was removed to St. Paul's School; next he proceeded to Christ's College, Cambridge; and finally, after several years' preparation by extensive reading, he pursued a course of continental travel. It is to be observed that his tutor, Thomas Young, was a Puritan; and there is reason to believe that Puritan politics prevailed among the fellows of his college. This must not be forgotten in speculating on Milton's public life and his inexorable hostility to the established government in Church and State; for it will thus appear probable that he was at no time withdrawn from the influence of Puritan connexions. In 1632, having taken the degree of M.A., Milton finally quitted the University, leaving behind him a very brilliant reputation, and a general good-will in his own college. His father had now retired from London, and lived upon his own estate at Horton in Buckinghamshire. In this rural solitude Milton passed the next five years, resorting to London only at rare intervals, for the purchase of books or music. His time was chiefly occupied with the study of Greek and Roman, and no doubt also of Italian, literature. But that he was not negligent of composition, and that he applied himself with great zeal to the culture of his native literature, we have a splendid record in his "Comus," which, upon the strongest presumptions, is ascribed to this period of his life. In the same neighbourhood, and within the same five years, it is believed that he produced also the "Arcades "" and the "Lycidas," together with "L'Allegro and "Il Penseroso." 1 In 1637 Milton's mother died, and in the following year he commenced his travels. The state of Europe confined his choice of ground to France and Italy. The former excited in him but little interest. After a short stay at Paris he pursued the direct route to Nice, where he embarked for 1 The dates of the Horton poems here mentioned by De Quincey are these:-L'Allegro and Il Penseroso in 1632, Arcades in 1633, Comus in 1634, Lycidas in 1637.—M. Genoa, and thence proceeded to Pisa, Florence, Rome, and Naples. He originally meant to extend his tour to Sicily and Greece; but the news of the first Scotch War, having now reached him, agitated his mind with too much patriotic sympathy to allow of his embarking on a scheme of such uncertain duration.1 Yet his homeward movements were not remarkable for expedition. He had already spent two months in Florence and as many in Rome; but he devoted the same space of time to each of them on his return. From Florence he proceeded to Lucca, and thence, by Bologna and Ferrara, to Venice, where he remained one month, and then pursued his homeward route through Verona, Milan, and Geneva. Sir Henry Wotton had recommended as the rule of his conduct a celebrated Italian proverb, inculcating the policy of reserve and dissimulation.2 And so far did this old fox carry his refinements of cunning that even the dissimulation was to be dissembled. I pensieri stretti, the thoughts being under the closest restraint, nevertheless il viso sciolto, the countenance was to be open as the day. From a practised diplomatist this advice was characteristic; but it did not suit the frankness of Milton's manners, nor the nobleness of his mind. He has himself stated to us his own rule of conduct; which was to move no questions of controversy, yet not to evade them when pressed upon him by others. Upon this principle he acted, not without some offence to his associates, nor wholly without danger to himself. But the offence, doubtless, was blended with respect; the danger was passed; and he returned home with all his purposes fulfilled. He had conversed with Galileo; he had seen whatever was most interesting in the monuments of Roman grandeur or the triumphs of Italian art; and he could report with truth 1 This war, which was in 1639, was the "First Bishops' War," so called because it was undertaken by Charles I. for the purpose of reimposing upon the Scots that episcopal church-system which they had repudiated and thrown off in the previous year.-M. 2 The reference is to the kindly letter of advice sent to Miltor, just before his continental journey, by Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton. "I pensieri stretti ed il viso sciolto" ("thoughts close, countenance open") had been the old ex-ambassador's counsel to the young traveller for his behaviour among the Italians.-M. |