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ing for itself, not for lucre, or any other end, but, perhaps, for that lasting fame and perpe- tui^ of praise, which God and good men have consented shall be the reward of those whose published labours advance the good of mankind."
Milton's mind, having now reached maturity, yielded in profusion those rich and incomparable firuits whicn are the natural produce of genius and learning. The Areopagitica, and the Trac- tate on Education, were written with the design of convincing the presbyterians — who, being now in power, were mimicking the intolerant ex- ample set them by the prelates — of the iniquity and impolicy of endeavouring the suppression of opinions by force. He saw, with that quick in- tuition which belongs to elevated minds, bow vain the attempt must always prove to confine thought, or the active expression of it, by mate- rial shackles : and, with the honesty and magna- nimity of a devout Christian, he sought to vin- dicate for others the liberty he had, while his party was the weaker, contended for himself.
One part of this unparalleled effusion turns on " the quality which ought to be in every licenser." It wilt suit our new licensers of public opinion, a laborious corps well known, who constitute themselves without an act of star-chamber. The following sentences, are some little facts, casually preserved, of the ineptitude of such an officer.
" He who is made judge to sit upon the birth or death of books, whether they may be wafted into this world or not, bad need to be a man above the common measure, both studious, learned, and judicious; there may be else no mean mistakes in his censure. If he be of such worth as behoves him, there cannot be a more tedious and unpleasing journey-work, a greater loss of time levied upon his head, than to be made the perpetual reader of unchosen books and pamphlets. There is no book acceptable, unless at certain seasons ; but tu be enjoined the reading of that at all times, whereof three pages would not down at any time, is an imposition which I cannot believe bow he that values time and his own studies, or is but of a sensible nostril, should be able to endure. — ^What advan- tage is it to be a man over it is to be a boy at school, if we have only scaped the ferula to come under the fescue of Imprimatur — if serious and elaborate writings, as if they were no more than the theme of a grammar lad under his pedagogue, must not be uttered without the cursory eyes of a temporising licenser? When a man writes to the world, he summons up all his reason and deliberation to assist him ; he searches, meditates, is industrious, and likely consults and confers with his judicious friends, as well as any that writ before him ; if in this, the most consummate act of his fidelity and ripeness, no years, no industry, no former proof of his abilities, can bring him to that state of maturity, as not to be still mistrusted and sus- pectedjUnless he carry all his considerate diligence, all_hi8 m idnight watchings, and expense of Palla- dflp9D)lp the hasty view of an unleisured licenser, g|naps nuch his younger, perhaps far inferior
in judgment, perhaps one who never knew the labour of book writing; and if he be not repulsed or slighted, must appear in print like a Punie with his guardian, and his censor's hand on the back of his title to be his bail and surety that he is no idiot or seducer ; it cannot be but a dis- honour and derogation to the author, to the book, to the privilege and dignity of learning."
The following is worth preserving for its ex- quisite sarcasm :
" Debtors and delinquents walk about without a keeper: but inoffensive books must not stir forth without a visible jailor in their title ; nor is it to the common people less than a reproach : for if we dare not trust them with an English pamphlet, what do we but censure them for a giddy, vitious, and ungrounded people, in such a sick and weak state of faith and discretion, as to be able to take nothing but through the glis- ter pipe of a licenser !"
I^e ignorance and stupidity of these censors were often, indeed, as remarkable as their ex- terminating spirit.
The literary fate of Milton was remarkable: his genius was castrated alike by the monarchi- cal and the republican government. The royal licenser expunged several passages from Mil- ton's history, in which Milton had painted the superstition, the pride, and the cunning of the Suon monks, which the sagacious licenser ap- plied to Charles II. and the bishops ; but Mil- ton had before suffered as merciless a mutilation from his old friends the republicans ; who sup- pressed a bold picture, taken from life, which oe had introduced into his Hittory of the Long Parliament and Auembly of IHvtne$. Milton gave the unlicensed passages to the earl of Anglesea, a literary nobleman, the editor of WkitelocVt MemoruUt ; and the castrated pas- sage, which could not be licensed in 1670, was received with peculiar interest when separately published in 1681.*
After the death of the king, Milton obtained the situation of Latin secretary to the Common- wealth. No sooner was he placed in this office, than he was applied to by those who were then in power, to write — first a rejoinder to the cele- brated royalist pamphlet, named Eikun Banlike, which he published under the title of Eikono- clattet; and secondly, an answer to the Defentio Reifiapro Carolo Prima, by Salmasius.
Never did any book more fulfil the ends for which it was produced, than this work of Milton. It was every where received on the continent with astonishment and applause. The ambas- sadors of the different governments of Europe, at that time resident in London, paid visits of com-
- It la a 4to tract, enbtled Mr. Jokn Milton't Ckancttr
of the Long Parliament and Auembljf of DMnet, <n 1641 : omitted In his other works, and never before printed, and very seasonable for these times. lOsi. It is inserted in the uncastrated edition of Milton's pitMe works in 1738. It is aretort on the Presbyterian CSement Walker's Huiorp of the Independents, and Warburton, in hit admlnU>le oiaracters of the historians of this period, allndlng to Clement Walker, says, " Milton was even with him in the line and severe chumcter he draws of the Presbyterian administration.
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