as they are said to have been unwilling, with the exception of Deborah the youngest, to perform the irksome service required from them by Milton, that, viz., of reading to him in various languages, and writing from his dictation. Accordingly in 1661 he married, as his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull, of a genteel family in Cheshire, and related to his friend Dr Paget, who indeed recommended her to him. This lady, who survived him in a state of widowhood fifty-five years, nursed him with assiduous care, but never won the affections of his daughters; so that, though thrice married, Milton seems to have enjoyed throughout life but little domestic happiness. Completely retired from the arena of politics, Milton bent all his powers to the completion of Paradise Lost, which he is supposed to have begun in 1655 after the publication of his "Second Defence," and when he had become totally blind. It would appear from verses presented to the Marquis of Villa by Milton, before leaving Naples, that he had once thought of making the renowned King Arthur the hero of a great poem, and it is certain from manuscripts preserved at Cambridge that, after selecting Paradise Lost for his theme, he had at first intended an allegorical drama, in the manner of the so-called mysteries or miracle plays which abounded in England about the time of the Reformation. Whether he worked at all upon these outlines, and when he ultimately decided on the epic form is not known; but the spectacle of Milton hesitating and groping his way, like other purblind mortals, is recommended to the attention of those, who, because genius is often impulsive, conclude that it is independent of labour, experience, and forethought. As he could not himself use the pen, Milton was in the habit of composing in his mind twenty or thirty lines at a time, which he then dictated to his wife, or any other person who might be with him capable of acting as his amanuensis. The whole was completed in 1665; but the agreement for its sale to Mr Symons the publisher bears a much later date, 27th April 1667. According to this document Milton was to receive £5 on handing over the manuscript, and the same sum on the sale of 1300 copies of each of the first three impressions, none of which His body was interred in the chancel of St Giles Church, Cripplegate in 1737 a monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey; but his memory is embalmed in his writings, and will endure till the English language, and even the fame of it, shall have passed away. By the whole story of Milton's life, respect rather than affec tion is inspired; it is a constant development of strength; he does not so much buffet with the ills of life as simply override them; and we can feel little sympathy with a man who, though exposed to ordinary human calamities, betrays no sign of ordinary human weakness. The same exuberance of intellectual power, with the same absence of passion, and consequently the same powerlessness to excite human sympathy, is characteristic of Milton's writings. Rarely have learning so extensive and genius so exalted been united in one man; nor could genius and learning be employed in the maintenance of a nobler cause, or the celebration of a grander theme than those selected by Milton; yet, from the want of geniality, the perusal of his works, whether prose or poetry, is to most men an intellectual discipline, rather than an intellectual treat. Had Milton written no poetry, he would still have been among the first of English controversalists; but the laurels with which posterity have crowned him are those of the poet, not of the combatant; and Paradise Lost is held to be the chief cornerstone in his self-erected monument, though he himself would not allow Paradise Regained to be of inferior execution. Many other poems excite a more powerful sympathy in the reader than Paradise Lost; but none make so great demands by sublimity of conception on his astonishment, and by dignity of style on his admiration. Exception has been taken to varicus parts of it; but these, as Addison observes, are like spots on the face of the sun |