and That when Theocritus was not forgot; Theocritus, of whom Virgil was but an Imi tator in his Paftorals, as he was of Homer in his Eneis. the Allegro and Penferofo are Exquifite Pictures. his Latin Poems have the Same Gravity andDignity, andMoft of them remarkably Excellent, though All Written while he was a Young Man, or Almoft Before. even his Few Love Poems have a fort of Dignity and Gravity in them. I will prefent the English Reader with the Concluding Stanza's of One of Those in Italian. Speaking of his Heart, he says, 'tis Honeft, Steddy, and not foon Afraid, Genteel of Thought, but knows no Cunning Art: When the Deep World roars, and the blue Lightnings dart,

Self-Adamantine-Arm'd, 'tis not Difmay'd.
As much of Envy Careless, and of Chance,
and Hopes, and Fears that Vulgar Minds
Abufe,

as in Lov'd Vertue Ardent to advance, and Win the Tuneful Lyre and Gentle Muse. There only you will find it Lefs Secure Where Love bath fixt a Wound no Time can Cure.

nor does he fail to tell his Miftrefs what he Loves her for; what fhould Excite even That Paffion in a Wife and Good Breast.

Some of his moft Particular and Diftinguifh'd Good Qualities I have Noted, but a General Love of Vertue appears throughout

the

Thus he writes
It is impof-

the whole Courfe of his Life. to Diodatus, Ep. VII. 1637. fible for Me not to Love and Cherish Such as You, for, what God has Otherwife Decreed of Me I know not, This I am Sure of, He hath InStill'd into Me, if into Any One on Earth, a moft Severe Love of Vertue. never did Ceres feck with Half fo much Labour Her Proferpine as I perfue This fame Idea of Beauty, as Some moft Amiable Object, through all the Forms and Faces of things, (for the Gods have many Forms;) Searching through Day and Night, and Eye her often Leading before me, and Diftinguish'd by certain Undoubted Footsteps. 'tis for This, My Diodatus, that when I meet with Any one who defpifes the Vulgar, and Dares to Think, and Speak, and Be Her, to Him I bind my Self, my Friend, and Cling to the Utmost of my Power. for if I, whether by a Poorness of Nature, or by Some Fate, am So Made that I can not be ever Able, with all my Contention and Ardent Labour to Emerge to that Dear Splendour and Height of Glory, yet Sure both God and Men will Allow me the Humble Praife of Loving and Admiring Thofe who have Gain'd it, or Alpire to it with Succefs.

What Milton meant by Vertue is what All should mean by it, a Conftant, Uniform, Univerfal Regularity of Manners. Vertue that Wavers is not Vertue, but Vice revolted from it Jelf, and after a While returning. Thefe are his own Words. but of This More hereafter.

for I fear it will be to little Purpofe if I proceed on Milton's Moral or Religious, 'till I have quenched or abated the Prejudices of Moft of my Readers with Regard to his Political Character. 'tis Certain he was a Republican: So was Cato, So was Brutus, So was Phocion, Ariftides. Such were by Much the Most of the Greatest Names of Roman and Greek Antiquity. We have none of These Prejudices against Them, but Admire, and are Delighted with their Abilities and Vertues; and, if we are Wife and Good Our Selves, will become Wifer and Better by their Example notwithstanding they were Republicans, and Did, or Encourag'd the Doing, what We who happen to poffefs Other Notions of Government would Abhor to Think of. in Judging of a particular Man, let us Confider him as an Individual of the Species, as a Rational Creature, not as of any Particular Country, or as having had his small Portion of Being in whatsoever Point of the Vaft Circle of Eternity. We all judge Thus when we Read Plutarch; Reading Mee alters not the Cafe in That; or if we cannot Intirely diveft our Selves of all Kind of Prejudices; if we find a Byas towards a Greek or Roman upon Account of the Great Idea we have of Thofe People, let our own Country-man have a Share of our Partiality; and Confider Milton as a Briton, and a Brave One too, and One who facrific'd More than Most

of

of us will Care to do, and Ventur'd Still More in the Cause of Civil and Religious Liberty, as He thought, though upon Principles, and in a Manner, as You and I are Far from Approving. be That to God and his Own Confcience.

and Who art Thou that Judgeft Another? That Other has an Equal Right to Return the Reproach; and if he has not more Wit, Good Manners or Charity will do fo, and with Appellations Equally Opprobrious. Whenever we differ in Our Opinions, Each Difputant Alike Thinks the Other in the Wrong: Which is So must be left to Him, whose Thoughts are not as Our Thoughts, but who is a Common, and an Indulgent Father to Both Parties, How much foever they are Imbitter'd against Each Other. Difference in Opinion will Always be, but All should agree in Mutual Good Will, Forbearance and Charity. Humanum eft Errare.

Not only his Political Principles have been Cenfur'd, but his Behaviour under them as Virulent, and Dishonest.

Milton appears to have had a Natural Greatnefs, Warmth and Vigour of Mind, together with an Openness and Generofity, all which is True Magnanimity. This Blazes wherever he goes from One End of his Life to the Other. Such Minds are apt to take Strong and Deep Impreffions; and as He was Fully perfuaded he was Engag'd in the Caufe

of God, and of Liberty, he exerted every Nerve. if Hercules Grapples with Anteus, Ceremony is Forgotten, the Bones must Crash. When He was a Young Man, Setting out to Travel, Sir Henry Wootton recommended to him that Wife Maxim, I Penfieri Stretti, e il Vifo Sciolto. (Clofe Thoughts, and an Open Countenance.) he difdain'd to be the Tyrant of his own Sentiments, They were Free as Himfelf defir'd to be; he could not Stoop to Diffimulation. He facrific'd his Prudence to his Zeal. at Rome he Talk'd as Occafion offer'd, not as a Traveller, but rather as an Apoftle. and when Afterward at Naples he was Advis'd by no means to return home That Way, he Defpis'd the Danger he was told Threat'n'd him, and went Thither, haft'ning back to his Country from all his New Acquir'd Friends, Men the Moft Remarkable for Wit and Learning in Italy at That time, and whom he Much Lov'd, and who Equally Lov'd Him, Young as he was, and Notwithfinding his Known Difference in Opinion, and though they had feen but a Few of his Italian and Latin Poems, nor the Beft of Thefe Neither as not being Yet written.

he came,

Denying Himself the Pleafure he had Refolv'd on of Vifiting Sicily, and Chiefly Greece, Athens in Particular; a Nation and City he was Always Enamour'd of as the Great Fountain from whence flow'd thofe Streams which Gladded his Heart, for he was more a Greek

than