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And I—yes! I, your humble servant, wrote?
I trow he could not: wherefore I contend
'Tis most unjust my corn to measure by
John Milton's bushel. Do you think that he,
Were he to come to life again, would choose
To write another "Paradise"? Not he!
He was a man (considering the times
He lived in) of advanced opinions; not
By any means a man to take unquestioned
His principles from masters and from pastors.
His Epic owes far more to his invention
Than to the Book which he professed to follow:
His Jesus and Jehovah were but Miltons
"Writ large," through whom the bard ventriloquised.
Did he live now and know the proved results
Of Biblical research in modern times,
He would be counted in the foremost ranks
Of those who have cast off the chains of dogma:
But that is scarcely what I meant to urge:
I dare say folks have no design to hurt
My feelings when they ask if I'm descended
From the great Milton. It's a natural question—
That is it's natural inconsiderate folk
(Most folk are inconsiderate) should ask it;
But don't you see (and here's the sting of it,)
Most people ask as though within their minds
There lurked the thought "A long descent indeed."
Now this is aggravating you must own:
I don't by choice bear so renowned a name;
Could I have chosen my own patronymic
I'd have preferred Smith, Brown, Jones, Robinson,
Or any other undistinguished surname,
Which I perchance by merits of my own,
O'ershadowed by no famous ancestor,
I trow he could not: wherefore I contend
'Tis most unjust my corn to measure by
John Milton's bushel. Do you think that he,
Were he to come to life again, would choose
To write another "Paradise"? Not he!
He was a man (considering the times
He lived in) of advanced opinions; not
By any means a man to take unquestioned
His principles from masters and from pastors.
His Epic owes far more to his invention
Than to the Book which he professed to follow:
His Jesus and Jehovah were but Miltons
"Writ large," through whom the bard ventriloquised.
Did he live now and know the proved results
Of Biblical research in modern times,
He would be counted in the foremost ranks
Of those who have cast off the chains of dogma:
But that is scarcely what I meant to urge:
I dare say folks have no design to hurt
My feelings when they ask if I'm descended
From the great Milton. It's a natural question—
That is it's natural inconsiderate folk
(Most folk are inconsiderate) should ask it;
But don't you see (and here's the sting of it,)
Most people ask as though within their minds
There lurked the thought "A long descent indeed."
Now this is aggravating you must own:
I don't by choice bear so renowned a name;
Could I have chosen my own patronymic
I'd have preferred Smith, Brown, Jones, Robinson,
Or any other undistinguished surname,
Which I perchance by merits of my own,
O'ershadowed by no famous ancestor,
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