| Show LX r OU on the NYS CharaC character Cr of jolia john milton by prof J fl A macesic Ma cEsin early life of th poet feet contemporary Oon temporary comments his Ecat Ra atlon ioa to barita parita niam Dome domestic Do mastic atia aspiri lifa eui and works no apology U nc el be offered for attempting to dichuso before you the personal character of the author of Pa paradise Par adias last lie he was the handsomest handsom eat manthe moat comprehensively ly educated man can the most solitary and rid independent man the moil unhappy man the purest and most pious man and tile most bitter and man of hh bia times ile he was wag a man whom no danger or labor ever deterred from whatever efforts the love of raws marls highest interests interest iti prom prompted pled for says emerson we are better belter all men are fortified by the remembrance of his hia bravery tua his purity ins his temperance ter his toll toil his bib independence his angelic devotion taking counsel only of himself he endeavored by thoa glit and action to carry the life of man to new heights heigh is of spiritual grace a and a d dignity 11 milton is a theme vast and and varied we ve might profitably study the scholar the sta statesman the puritan the patriot the citi zen en or what is chiefly glorious glori Stor ouy lour the tha malaou also TH 1 01 IP principles in in tia of thought and activity so BO lofty and majestic his is character that milton the man is a more worthy theme tor for consideration than milton tile the scholar the poet or the patriot so no ED englishman gl ishman has ever had biographers so numerous s and so diverse tributes have been rendered to ilis his work and genius by almost in ost all the supreme e masters of of our language from the doss dogs justi justice ct 21 in the growl of samuel johnson to tile the grand flourish in the rhetorical panegyric of thomas macau macaulay lay all I 1 degrees of praise and blame admiration and condemnation have been given g nen n en by divines 8 scholars cho lars critics editors and sc naters ibe ahe knowledge of the chief incidents in his lite is therefore easily attained and may be briefly stated john was don just when puritanism puritan isra wit WAS gs gathering adhering st strength for its approach ing struggle ilia father and mother were quiet good d people gently in inclined to th the 01 puritan from his father the by boy inherited literary tastes and a love of I 1 music from his hia mother he ha inherited a refined refine nature and a beautiful face ile he was first instructed by a eriv private te tutor a puritan pui ilan then sent to a private priva t e school als puritan and at sixteen be was sent tj C cambridge ambridge lie he had some borne kind of disagreement with the authorities if he e rebelled against rhetorical exercises exercised exacted by y mr fr Bh crapell Cb apell and smoked ed at prayer ir ayer but ut he took the usual degrees in regular order or der and came home bonie of II li orton where he spent five pace fuli ly flowing years reading classics classic admiring the beau ties of rural scenery and willing his lighter poems ile he traveled on the continent con U rient making the acquaintance quai n tance of ganv great men and notably galileo and Gro grotius tills lie he fed his imagination on oil italian scenery art a rt and letters ile he re turned home from his 1114 travels at tile the sound of the war trump and whit while e waimir ig for a call to public service opened a private vate school chool 1 lie he threw himself into tile the raging ra 0 ing sea em of controversy against the hie and the established church at thirty five after a short courtship he made a sorry ma arriage irria ge which lie follow up with four treatises tre alises on divorce ills ilia sixteen year old wife repelled by ills his austere mau manners ners beare diet and the wai linga lingi of castigated young gentlemen deserted him ile he courted another young lady but by the intervention of friends was reconciled to his first wife who in a lew few bems presented him with four dauO daughters liters like herself and then died lie ile married agan again and yet again ite ile was made latin secretary to cromwell a aid id willingly lo 10 t ills his sight in the wordy war of pamphlet which lie waged with puritanical uri savageness sav agenes lie ile defended fend ed the execution of charles 1 I ile he was a republican of a peculiar sort and of buo ouo no church which dr samuel johnson job thought very dangerous dan erous lie ife survived the burial of the republic the proscription of his doctrines 0 and nil the tha burning I 1 of hi his 4 books by the common ht hangman ingman ile he was com compelled pilled to hide he was imprisoned and then released lie lived for a time in the expectation of beino being assassinated lie ile lost throe three fourths of his fortune by confiscation fis cation banki and the great fire he was not loved lored or even respected by his daughter daugh tore ano complained IIa ined of his exactions and at hii last wedding prayed for his death IS his last wife WAS a good houie keeper cooked to suit him stole lis his books and too took k them to the second hand band store oppressed his hia beautiful and undutiful daughters duding his life and al a atit their share of his estate at his death in boyhood milton was a devourer of books and always remained a se verey studious man lie ile never failed in heart nor hope but after the destruction of all for which he be had labored he sought solace in serene retirement and in meditation and is aa an old man in pain danger clanger poverty obloquy and blindness he testified alone before a fallen world of righteous ness and a jud judgment 0 men cro litt geatar jE atar alha hl ha lt tian ian epic c Par paradise adiele lost what at 1 kind ind of a man was milton as be e lived aud and moved among men rn in the ic tirsa fi st alae he was a good looking mao man nature had done her best beat for him in feature as well as in mind ile he had an exceedingly ex ce eding 0 fair complexion an oval face dark gray eyes and light aburn hair his countenance combined feminine beauty and manly madly dignity add to this an exquisite ear for music and a sweet melodious voice and we have in him a perfect type of the pure ingenuous english gentleman gent lemau milton was so liand handsome bonie that the st paul schoolboys called him the brig bright bt haired little girt girl gral grandson idson and the students at ahn ats called him bint the lady of the coi college lege ills his face tosy rosy as a girls in youth retained its fresh fre 1 english 0 bloom till his death he always wore ills hia hair long and parted in the middle and never became bald lie he was an all apollo of the northern rn clime but he be narrowly escaped being short and dumpy ile he went ith a smart manly gait had a quick eye was a match for an any y with the sword and come sometimes times role on hon horseback leback if ugliness the ih only cause of shame milton need never have beautiful body was tha temple of a soul pure and unsoiled fit i the mccond place milton was a man of powerful intellect great wonderful accomplishment ment his diligence iu in the use of means granted him put him in po possession poses session gion of all the wisdom of all clo countries uri tried where intellect had been cultivated ive e might justly expect to find him almost absolutely perfect his hia tuned in concord with the order of the world for no man ever had better opportunities tuni ties for the symmetrical development of natural powers so rare lie he came of a family where courage moral nobility piety and a love iove of art and literature as well as of the beautiful in everything r surrounded his cradle llis ilia mother was a lovely cultured moman exemplary in conduct and famous for benevolence ills his father bulher was college bred and although disinherited for protestant ism w ile he was rich through his hia own honest hard work lie ile was a man of pure anil and liberal tastes a bad poet but fine musician the boyd boya preparation for college embraced honis homa vigilance and school I 1 discipline his home wai I 1 not disfigured by the tha eccentricities which marked later puritanism ile he and his brother were taken to pt play iby and at home were taught in addition to and hymns anti and spiritual bpi ritual conga the good old love soup songs of Elizabet lid time it was a home of high thinking and plain living parental pa renal authority torn lein pored with kindness and filial reverence softened with love while grave puri piety watt wa the order of the household while his tutor his hia school and all his hia surroundings were strictly puritan there was nothing narrow or ill illiberal ib in them chaucer spenser ben toil are massing er and certain other fine old queen elizabeth gentlemen afforded the staple household literature from iii hia A twelfth year our hero bero had been a dilip diligent rit student at home sitting up lip regularly till twelve k at night with his hia books when lie he went to cambridge t s sa exemplary had been his faithfulness in ia study so great had been his big advantages that thai he too took k with him bim a sto store r e of geli general eral and linguistic is lear learning tsat that the he doctors in scholars scholarship bip and potter oer of mind lie ha was already the superior of some same of his brofee professors sors lie ile acquired in the measure whatever tover of learning and d i 1 11 n e cambridge could give in logic c or r philosophy v in the tha sciences ui if languages in history or literature lie ile kleiv thoroughly ili the masterpieces er of if greek G reek historians poets and dramatists dra matista Us lie knew latin literature in all its lie he was naster master 1 of old as well as modern english literature liera ture and familiar with nith biblical and ra bini cal hebrew and all the accey accessories bories of christian theology ills his knowl browl edge of both ancient an and d modern I 1 nations was extensive it and n 1 I var dulci lie e h a aa 1 I I 1 learned e a r n ed to 6 r speak pe ak an and d avit w itte french fluently and was profound ly versed in italian in mathematics and music he was anex an expert never was a more accod cholar sent out from cambridge never did coutil leave ac academic halls with fairer promise than milton when he came to reside with his fath father erzi family at horton As lie he stood hereon here on the threshold thie of life he was what might be ba called a very lofty high minded young man even if he was so something 0 0 ot a prig I 1 his priggishness priggish nesa was of a grand style and of magnificent re with euch unbroken leisure such euch unusual advantages 0 such solitary tranquility such charming surroundings of natures beauties his youth presents a strong contrast to the misery toil oil turmoil struggles with poverty and abandonment to dissipation which have bli blighted eted tile the carl birly y years of so many men of letters at the age of thirty two never yut yet having earned a penny lie he avas iv as to be sent abrott for two or tores three years by his fathers generosity for travel and still further culture in the great schools and galleries and among the great men of the continent in all the various fields where milton exercised his vast powers as student scholar poet pit pariot riot mar man certain traits of character are exhibited one n which all his admirers would be glad to pass over lightly is his egotism lie he never was vain for his dignity was wag toa enormous for patty faults but his reverence for himself probably heightened somewhat by his bis remarkable mar kible beauty and marvelous acquirements acquire ments developed into a I 1 superb and ingenuous egotism we must confess then that in it ike third place milton was an egotistical man from youth he never doubted that he was ore of the stewards to whom god had committed ten talents all through I 1 his hia life hi hii self consciousness his belf assertion always active identified hit his personality with whatever cause he undertook and gave him |
