60 ARTISTS AND AUTHORS to administer the last consolations to a player and the author of "Tartuffe." A third, of better principles, came too late ; Moliere was insensible, and choked by the quantity of blood which he could not discharge. Two poor Sisters of Char- ity who had often experienced his bounty, supported him as he expired. Bigotry persecuted to the grave the lifeless reliques of the man of genius. Harlai, Archbishop of Paris, who himself died of the consequences of a course of continued debauchery, thought it necessary to show himself as intolerantly strict in form as he was licentious in practice. He forbade the burial of a come- dian's remains. Madame Moliere went to throw herself at the feet of Louis XIV., but with impolitic temerity her petition stated, that if her deceased hus- band had been criminal in composing and acting dramatic pieces, his majesty, at whose command and for whose amusement he had done so, must be criminal also. This argument, though in itself unanswerable, was too bluntly stated to be favor- ably received ; Louis dismissed the suppliant with the indifferent answer, that the matter depended on the Archbishop of Paris. The king, however, sent private orders to Harlai to revoke the interdict against the decent burial of the man, whose talents during his lifetime his majesty had delighted to honor. The fu- neral took place accordingly, but, like that of Ophelia, " with maimed rites." The curate of Saint Eustace had directions not to give his attendance, and the corpse was transported from his place of residence and taken to the burial-ground with- out being, as usual, presented at the parish church. This was not all. A large assemblage of the lower classes seemed to threaten an interruption of the funeral ceremony. But their fanaticism was not proof against a thousand francs which the widow of Moliere dispersed among them from the windows, thus purchasing for the remains of her husband an uninterrupted passage to their last abode. JOHN MILTON (1608- i 6 74) >ohn Milton was born in London on December 9, 1608. His father, in early life, had suffered for conscience sake, having been disin- herited upon his abjuring the Catholic faith. He pursued the la- borious profession of a scrivener, and having realized an ample fort- une, 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 rea- son to believe that Puritan politics prevailed among the fellows of his college.
