more valuable faculties, those which constituted my principal strength and consequence, to the assistance of my country and her honorable cause."

155. Ecclesiastical Controversy. In 1641 he published his first work in prose, “Of Reformation in England, and the Causes that hitherto Have Hindered it." It is an attack upon the bishops and the Established Church. The same year appeared two other controversial works, "Of Prelatical Episcopacy," which he maintains is without warrant from apostolic times, and The Reason of Church Government," which is an argument against prelacy. With these works Milton threw himself into the bitter controversies of the age. It was a matter, not of choice, but of duty. He felt called to add the weight of his learning and eloquence to the side of the Puritans, who were perhaps inferior to their prelatical opponents in scholarship. He tells us himself that he was not disposed to this manner of writing, wherein knowing myself inferior to myself, led by the genial power of nature to another task, I have the use, as I may account it, but of my left hand."

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156. Marriage.- In 1643, in his thirty-fifth year, Milton married Mary Powell, daughter of a justice of the peace in Oxfordshire. She was of Royalist family and had been brought up in the leisure and gayety of affluence. It is not strange, therefore, that she found the meagre fare and studious habits of her husband's home distasteful. After a month in this. scholastic abode, she made a visit to her father's home, from which she refused to return. Her husband's letters were left unanswered, and his messenger was dismissed with contempt. Milton felt this breach of duty on her part keenly, and resolved to repudiate his wife on the ground of disobedience and desertion.

157. Reconciliation. At last a reconciliation between him and his wife was effected. When one day she suddenly appeared before him, and on her knees begged his forgiveness, his generous impulses were deeply moved. He received her into his home again, and ever afterward treated her with affection; and when her family, because of their Royalist sympathies, fell into distress, he generously extended his protection

to her father and brothers. The incidents of this reconciliation are supposed to have given rise to a beautiful passage in “Paradise Lost," where Eve is described as humbly falling in tears and disordered tresses at the feet of Adam, and suing for pardon and peace. And then

"She ended, weeping; and her lowly plight,
Immovable till peace obtain'd from fault
Acknowledged and deplored, in Adam wrought
Commiseration; soon his heart relented
Towards her, his life so late, and sole delight,
Now at his feet submissive in distress;
Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking,

His counsel, whom she had displeased, his aid."

158. "Tractate on Education."- This same year, 1644, saw the publication of two treatises that will long survive. The one is the "Areopagitica, or Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing," the other is his Tractate on Education." In the latter he has set forth in brief compass his educational views and made many suggestions for the improvement of the current system. It has been pronounced Utopian in character, but it is to be noted that many educational reforms of recent years have been in the line indicated by Milton.

His definition of education, which has been often quoted, •presents a beautiful ideal. "I call a complete and generous education," he says, “that which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war." But he does not contemplate practical efficiency in the secular duties of life as the sole end of education. Its highest aim is character. "The end of learning is," he says, to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection."

159. A Turning-point.- Milton continued to live in private, giving his life to instructing his pupils and to discussing questions relating to the public weal. In 1649, two weeks after

the execution of Charles I., he published his "Tenure of Kings and Magistrates," in which he undertook to prove that it is lawful, and has been held so in all ages, for any who have the power, to call to account a tyrant or wicked king, and, after due conviction, to depose and put him to death. This treatise marked a turning-point in his career. The Council of State of the new commonwealth, pleased with his courage and republicanism, called him to the secretaryship for foreign tongues. It became his duty to prepare the Latin letters which were addressed by the Council to foreign princes. Later he served as Cromwell's Latin Secretary- an office he held throughout the Protectorate.

160. Political Controversy. His literary and controversial activity, however, did not cease in his official life. His "Eikonoklastes," or Imagebreaker, was written in 1649, to counteract the influence of "Eikon Basilike," or Royal Image, a book that had an immense circulation and tended to create a reaction in public sentiment in favor of the monarchy. A still more important work was his Latin "Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio," which was written in reply to a treatise by Salmasius, a scholar of Leyden, in which an effort was made to vindicate the memory of Charles I. and to bring reproach upon the commonwealth. In spite of failing vision and the warning of his physicians, Milton threw himself with great ardor into his task, and in 1651 published his "Defensio," one of the most masterly controversial works ever written. He practically annihilated his opponent. The commonwealth, it was said, owed its standing in Europe to Cromwell's battles and Milton's books.

161. Blindness. During the Protectorate Milton's life was uneventful. He bore his blindness, which had now become total, with heroic fortitude, upheld by a beautiful faith, to which he gave expression in a sonnet "On his Blindness": "God doth not need

Either man's work, or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best; his state

Is kingly thousands at his bidding speed,

:

And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

162. Solitude and Dejection. At the Restoration, though specially named for punishment, he somehow escaped the scaffold. His life, however, was for some years one of solitude and dejection. His own feelings are put into the mouth of his Samson: :

"Now blind, disheartened, shamed, dishonored, quelled,

To what can I be useful? Wherein serve

My nation, and the work from heaven imposed?

But to sit idle on the household hearth,

A burdensome drone, to visitants a gaze,

Or pitied object."

To add to his distress, his three daughters, whose rearing had been somewhat neglected, failed to prove a comfort to their father in his sore afflictions. They treated him with disrespect, sold his books by stealth, and rebelled against the drudgery of reading to him. Under these circumstances it is hardly to be wondered at that he allowed himself to be persuaded (his second wife having died eight years before) into contracting a third marriage-a union that greatly added to the comfort and happiness of his last years.

163. "Paradise Lost." But in all this period of trial, Milton had the solace of a noble task. He was slowly elaborating his "Paradise Lost," in which he realized the dream of his youth. Its main theme is indicated in the opening lines:

"Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,

Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,

In the beginning, how the heavens and earth

Rose out of chaos."

But the poem must be read before its grandeur can be appreciated. It is one of the world's great epics; and in majesty of

plan and sublimity of treatment it surpasses them all. The Eternal Spirit, which he invokes, seems to have touched his lips with hallowed fire. The splendors of heaven, the horrors of hell, and the beauties of Paradise are depicted with matchless power. The beings of the unseen world-angels and demons - exercise before us their mighty agency; and in the council chambers of heaven we hear the words of the Almighty. The poem comprehends the universe, sets forth the truth of divine government, and exhibits life in its eternal significance

a poem that rises above the petty incidents of earth with monumental splendor. It met with appreciation from the start. With a clear recognition of its worth, Dryden said, "This man cuts us all out, and the ancients too." Milton's modest house became a pilgrim's shrine, and men from every rank, not only from his native land, but also from abroad, came to pay him homage.

164. Other Poems.- Milton's literary activity continued to the last, and enriched our literature with two other noble productions, "Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes." The former may be regarded as a sequel to "Paradise Lost"; the latter is the most powerful drama in our language after the Greek model. The poet, unconsciously perhaps, identified himself with his Samson, and gave utterance to the profoundest emotions which had been awakened by the mighty conflicts and sorrows of his own life.

165. Character. He died Nov. 8, 1674. He was a man of heroic mould. In his solitary grandeur only one man of his age deserves to be placed beside him—the great Protector, Oliver Cromwell. His greatness was austere. In his life he had no intimate and tender companionships; and now our feeling toward him is admiration rather than love. His character was without blemish, his aspirations pure and lofty, his courage undaunted, his intellectual vigor and power almost without parallel. But he was conscious of his greatness, and, finding ample resources within himself, he did not seek human sympathy. Wordsworth has spoken truly,