the interceffion of his friends who were prefent, after a fhort reluctance, he generously sacrificed all his refentment to her tears. ----------Soon his heart relented Tow'rds her, his life fo late, and fole delight, And after this re-union, so far was he from retaining an unkind memory of the provocations which he had received from her ill conduct, that when the King's cause was entirely oppreffed, and her father, who had been active in his loyalty, was expofed to fequeftration, Milton received both him and his family to protection and free entertainment in his own house, 'till their affairs were accommodated by his interest in the victorious faction. For he was now grown famous by his Polemical writings of various kinds, and held in An. Ætat. 4r. great favour and esteem by those who had power to difpofe of all preferments in the ftate. "Tis in vain to diffemble, and far be it from me to défend, his engaging with a party combined in the destruction of our Church and Monarchy. Yet, leaving the justification of a misguided fincerity to be debated in the schools, may I presume to obferve in his favour that his zeal, diftempered and furious as it was, does not appear to have been inspirited by felf-interested views; for it is affirmed, that though he lived always in a frugal retirement, and before his death had dif pofed of his library, (which we may suppose to have been a valuable collection) he left no more than fifteen hundred pounds behind him for the support of his family and whoever confiders the posts to which he was advanced, and the times in which he enjoyed them, will, I believe, confefs he might have accumulated a much more plentiful fortune. In a dispassionate mind it will not require any extraordinary measure of candour to conclude, that though he abode in the heritage of oppreffors, and the spoils of his country lay at his feet, neither his confcience nor his honour could ftoop to gather them. A commiffion to constitute him Adjutant-general An. Etat. 42. to Sir William Waller was promised, but foon fuperfeded by Waller's being laid aside, when his masters thought it proper to new-model their army. However, the keennefs of his pen had fo effectually recommended him to Cromwell's esteem, that when he took the reins of government into his own hand, he advanced him to be Latin fecretary both to himself and the Parliament: the former of thefe preferments he enjoyed both under the Ufurper and his fon; the other 'till King Charles II. was restored. For fome time he had an apartment for his family in Whitehall; but his health requiring a freer acceffion of air, he was obliged to remove from thence to lodgings which opened into St. James's Park. Not long after his fettlement there his wife died in child 2 bed; and much about the time of her death a gutta ferena, which had for several years been gradually increasing, totally extinguished his fight*. In this melancholic condition he was eafily prevailed with to think of taking another wife, who was Catharine the daughter of Captain Woodcock of Hackney; and the too, in less than a year after their marriage, died in the fame unfortunate manner as the former had done; to whofe memory he does honour in one of his Son nets. Thefe private calamities were much heightened by the different figure he was likely to make in the new scene of affairs which was going to be actedin the An. t. 52. It was the fight of his left eye that he loft first; and it was at the defire of his friend Leonard Philaras, the Duke of Parma's minifter at Paris, that he fent him a particular account of his cafe, and of the manner of his growing blind, for him to confult Thevenot the phyfician, who was reckoned famous in cafes of the eyes. The letter is the fifteenth of his Familiar Epiftles. is dated September 28, 1654, and is thus tranflated by Mr. Richardfon: "Since you advife me not to fling away all hopes of re"covering my fight, for that you have a friend at Paris, "Thevenot the phyfician, particularly famous for the eyes, "whom you offer to confult in my behalf, if you receive from me an account by which he may judge of the caufes "and fymptoms of my difeafe, I will do what you advife "me to that I may not feem to refufe any affiftance that is offered, perhaps, from God. "I think 'tis about ten years, more or lefs, fince I began "to perceive that my eye-fight grew weak and dim, and "at the fame time my fpleen and bowels to be oppreft and "troubled with flatus; and in the morning when I began to read, according to cuftom, my eyes grew painful imme"diately, and to refufe reading, but were refreshed after a "moderate exercise of the body. A certain iris began to fur"round the light of the candle if I looked at it; foon af"ter which, on the left part of the left eye (for that was Volume I. B ftate: for all things now confpiring to promote the King's restoration, he was too confcious of his own activity during the ufurpation to expect any favour from the Crown; and therefore he prudently abfconded 'till the act of Oblivion was published; by which he was only rendered incapable of bearing any office in the nation. Many had a very just esteem of his admirable parts and learning who detefted his principles, by whofe interceffion his pardon paffed the feals and I wish the laws of Civil history could have extended the benefit of that oblivion to the memory of his guilt, which was indulged to his perfon; Ne tanti facinoris immanitas aut extitiffe, aut non vindicata fuiffe, videatur. : Having thus gained a full protection from the go "fome years fooner clouded) a mift arofe which hid every "thing on that fide; and looking forward, if I shut my "right eye objects appeared fmaller. My other eye alfo, "for thefe laft three years, failing by degrees, fome months "before all fight was abolished, things which I looked upon "feemed to fwim to the right and left; certain inveterate vapours feem to poffefs my forehead and temples, which "after meat, efpecially quite to evening, generally urge "and deprefs my eyes with a fleepy heavinefs: nor would "Iomit, that whilft there was as yet fome remainder of fight, "I no fooner lay down in my bed, and turned on my fide, but a copious light dazzled out of my fhut eyes; and as "my fight diminished every day, colours gradually more "obfcure flashed out with vehemence; but now that the "lucid is in a manner wholly extinct, a direct blackness, "or elfe fpotted, and, as it were, woven with ash-colour, "is ufed to pour itfelf in. Nevertheless, the conftant and "fettled darkness that is before me. as well by night as by day, feems nearer to the whitifh than the blackifh; and the eye rolling itfelf a little, feems to admit I know "not what little fmalinefs of light as through a chink." vernment, (which was in truth more than he could have reasonably hoped) he appeared as much in public as he formerly used to do; and employing his friend Dr. Paget to make choice of a third confort, on his recommendation he married Elizabeth the daughter of Mr. Minshul, a Cheshire gentleman, by whom he had no iffue. Three daughters by his first wife were then living, two of whom are faid to have been very serviceable to him in his ftudies: for, having been inftructed to pronounce not only the modern, but also the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, they read in their respective originals whatever authors he wanted to confult, though they understood none but their mother-tongue. This employment, however, was too unpleasant to be continued for any long procefs of time; and therefore he difmiffed them, to receive an education more agreeable to their sex and temper. An. Et. • 26. † 29. We come now to take a furvey of him in that point of view in which he will be looked on by all fucceeding ages with equal delight and admiration. An interval of above twenty years, had elapfed fince he wrote the Mask of Comus *, L' Allegro, Il Penferofo, and Lycidas+; all in fuch an exquisite strain, that though he had left no other monuments of his genius behind him, his name had been immortal. But neither the infirmities of age and constitution, nor the viciffitudes of fortune, could |