his pen and his thought.' 'Irresponsible paradox and nonsense' may be 'a useful and pleasant recreation-ground.' I will not argue the point. To me it seems that fierce indignation might have been turned to better purposes. His good genius might have persuaded him to remain upon the level of his 'Areopagitica,' and to keep clear of the personalities which only injured his cause. But a man's good genius rarely secures the attention which he deserves. Without arguing 'might-have-beens,' we can admit that Milton was going through an ordeal which was not thrown away when it bore fruit in Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes. The prose works are not easy reading; but it is worth while to study them in order to understand more clearly the sources of the unapproachable majesty of Milton at his best. The heroic attitude of his last days shows the essentially noble elements of the old passion, and is in turn made intelligible by the previous emotion.
When Milton at last turned to his true function, and spoke to a backsliding generation as a prophet of high thinking, he had to fulfil two conditions. He was to announce a theodicy, or in his own words 'to justify the ways of God to man'; and he had decided that his teaching was
