The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851, 1844-05-02
MILTON.

er; and like Dante, he has been unfortunate in
ambition and in love. He had survived his
health and his sight, the comforts of his home,
and the prosperity of his party. OF the great
men, by whom he had been distinguished at his
entrance into life, some had been taken away
from the evil TO come some had carried into
foreign climates their unconquerable hatred to
of oppression; some were pining in dungeons; :;
and some had poured forth their blood on scat
folds. That hateful prescription, facetiousIy
termed the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion, had
set mark on the poor, blind deserted poet, and
held him up by name to the hatred ofa prohgate
court and an inconstant people!
Venal and licentious scribblers, with Just sufi-
cient talent to clothe the thoughts of pander
in the style of bellman, were now the favorite
writers of the sovereign and the public. 1t was
a loathesome herd-which could be compared
to nothing SO fitly as to the rabble of Comus,
grotes9ae monsters, half beastial, half human,
dropping with wine, bloated with gluttony, and
reelng TO obscene dances Amidst these his
Muse was placed like the chaste lady of the
Masque, lofty, spotless, and serene-to be chat
ted at, and pointed at, and grinned at, by the
whole rabble of Satyrs and Goblins. If ever
| ldespondency and asperity could be excused in
any man, it might have been excused in Milton
But the strength of his mind overcame every ca
lamity.
Neither blindness, nor gout, nor age, nor penu-
ry, nor domestic affections, nor political disap-
pontments, nor abuse, nor prescription, nor neg
lect, had power to disturb his sedate and maies-
tic patience. His spirits do not seem to have
been high, but they were sngularly equable.
Ills temper was serious, perhaps steme; but it
was temper which no sufferings could render
sulIen or fretful. Such as it was when, on the
eve ofgreat events, he returned from his travels,
in the prime of health, and manly beauty, loaded
with literary distinctions, and glowing with patri-
otic hopes, such it continued to be-when, after
having experienced every calamity which is in
cident to our nature, old, poor, sightess, and dis
graced, he retired to his hovel to die!
Hence it was, that though he wrote the Para
disc Lost at a time oflifc when images Of beauty
and tenderness are in general beginning to fade,
even from those minds in which they have not
been ofaccd by anxiety and disappointment, he
adorned it by all that is most lovely and delight
full in the physical and moral world. Neither
j Theocritus nor Ariosto had a finer or a more
healthful sense of the pleasantness of external
objects, or loved better to luxuriatc amidst sun
beams and flowers, the songs Of nightingales, the
|iuice of summer fruits and the GOODNESS of shady
fountains. His conception of love unites all the
yoluptuousness Of the oriental harem, and all the
gallantry of the chivariC tournament, with all the
pure and quiet affection of an English tiresde
4 His poetry reminds us of the miracles of Alpine
scenery. Nooks and dells beautiful as fairy land
are embosomed in its most rugged and gigantic
elevations. The roses and myrtles bloom I'M
chilled on the verge of the avalanche.
/ Traces indeed, of the peculiar character of
Milton may be found in all his works; but it is
most strongly displayed in the sonnets. Those
remarkable poems have been undervalued by
critics, who have not understood their nature
They have no epgrammatic point. There is
none Of the ingenuity Of Filicaj in the thought
none Of the hard and brilliant enamel of fPetrarch
in the style. They are simple but majestic le-
cords of the feelings Of the poet as little trcked
out for the public eyes as his diary would have
been. A victory, an unexpected attack upon
the city, momentary fit Of depression or exulta-
tion, Jest thrown out against one Of his books,
a dream, which for short time restored to him
that beautiful face over which the world had clo-
sed forever, led him TO musings which without
effort, shaped themselves into verse The unity
of sentiment and the severity of style, which
characterize these little pieces, reminds us Of
Greek Anthology; or perhaps still more of the
Collects of the English Iiturgy--tho noble poem
lon the Massacres of Piedmont is strictly col.
lect in verse.
The Sonnes are more or less striking accord
ling as the occasions which gave birth to them
are more or less interesting. But they are al
most without exception, dgnifed by a sobriety
and greatness of mind to which we know moi
, where TO look for parallel 1t would indeed be
scarcely safe to draw any decided inferences as
to the character of writer, from passages direct
ly egotstical. But the qualities which we have
ascribed to Milton, though perhaps most strongly
, marked in those parts of his works which treat:
ofhis personal feelings, are distngushable in ev
ery pane, and mpart to all his writings, in prose
and poetry, English, Latin, and Italian, strong
family likeness.
| OHJ-Some one ingoniously proves that a tailor
instead of being the ninth part of man, posses
ses the qualities of nine men combined, as fol.
| lows:
l. AS n'economist--hc cuts his garments ac
cordng to his cloth.
r 2 As a garedner--he is careful of his cab
bage.
3, AS a cook he provides hmselfwith ho
goose.
,, 4. As a shcriA's oflicer-he does much a
sponging.
!, 5. As an cxecutioncr--hc furnishes grea
; many gollowses.