[733] Of these editions of Milton, that of Bentley has always been considered a complete failure. It is remarkable for the boldness of its conjectural emendations, and for the liberties taken with the text. An amusing anecdote is recorded on this subject. To a friend expostulating with him on the occasion, and urging that it was impossible for Milton, in so many instances, to have written as he alleged, he replied with his characteristic spirit, "Then he ought to have written so." Bishop Newton's edition has acquired just celebrity, and has served as the basis of all subsequent editions. It has been deservedly called "the best edited English Classic up to the period of its publication." Warton's edition of "The Juvenile and Minor Poems" discovers a classical and elegant taste. Its merit, however, is greatly impaired by the severity of its censures on Milton's republican and religious principles. It was to rescue that great poet from the animadversions of Warton and Dr. Johnson that Hayley engaged in a life of Milton, which does honour to the manliness and generosity of his feelings. But the most powerful defence is that of the Rev. Dr. Symmons, who, with considerable vigour of thought and language, has taken a most comprehensive view of the character and prose writings of Milton. He would have been entitled to distinguished praise, if, in vindicating the republicanism of Milton, he had not deeply fallen into it himself. In the present day the clouds of prejudice seem to have subsided, and the errors of the politician are deservedly forgotten in the celebrity of the poet. There was a period when, according to Dr. Johnson, a monument to Philips, with an inscription by Atterbury, in which he was said to be soli Miltono secundus, was refused admittance by Dean Sprat into Westminster Abbey, on the ground of its "being too detestable to be read on the wall of a building dedicated to devotion."
The honours of a monument were at length conceded to Milton himself; but the beautiful and elegant Latin inscription, composed by Dr. George, Provost of King's College, Cambridge, shows that it was thought necessary to apologize for its admission into that sacred repository of kings and prelates.*
*We cannot refrain from enriching our pages with this much admired Epitaph.
"Augusti regum cineres sanctæque favillæ
Heroum, Vosque O! venerandi nominis umbræ!
Parcite, quod vestris, infensum regibus olim,
Sedibus infertur nomen: liceatque supremis
Funeribus finire odia, et mors obruat iras.
Nunc sub fœderibus coeant felicibus, una
Libertas, et jus sacri inviolabile sceptri.
Rege sub Augusto fas sit laudare Catonem."
[734] The same expression is used by Cowley:
"Nothing is there to come, and nothing past,
But an eternal Now does always last."
[735] Milton's father was well skilled in music.
[736] Psalm vii. 12.
[737] A popular writer paid the following eloquent tribute to these masterly specimens of professional art.
Yet mark each willing Muse, where Boydell draws,
And calls the sister pow'rs in Shakspeare's cause!
By art controll'd the fire of Reynolds breaks,
And nature's pathos in her Northcote speaks;
The Grecian forms in Hamilton combine,
Parrhasian grace and Zeuxis' softest line,
There Barry's learning meets with Romney's strength,
And Smirke portrays Thalia at full length.
Lo! Fuseli (in whose tempestuous soul
The unnavigable tides of genius roll,)
Depicts the sulph'rous fire, the smould'ring light,
The bridge chaotic o'er the abyss of night,
With each accursed form and mystic spell,
And singly "bears up all the fame of hell!"