The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-16
THE VIE w


Life of John Milton Narrated in Connection with the
Political Fec 'esias iical, and Literary History Of his
Time BY David hasson, A M, Professor of English
Literature in Univ ersiiy College. London; Vol =
from I6O5 to 1889 Boston Reprinted by Gould Lin
coin. Vol 1, PIP. 65s, with Porrnits, &c
This is the first volume of the first exhaustive
life of Milton as yet written, and is TO be fol-
| lowed by two others of like size. This com.
prises his childhood education, and minor
poems the second volume will extend from
| l640 to 1860, or, from the beginning of the
civil wars to the Restoration of Charles II, form
ing the middle period of Millions activity as
prose writer; the third volume will extend from
1860 to 1874, which was the period of his later
muse, and the publication of Paradise Lost.
| We have said this is the first life of Milton
which is at all commensurate with his claims
to the veneration of mankind. Brief biogra-
phies have been written, beginning with thatof
his nephew, Edward Phillips, by Toland, by
Johnson, by Hayley, by Todd, and one thick
volume by Doctor SUMMONS, but all have al.
lowed their political predictions to bias their
views of the life and labors of the great epic
poet of England
with vast research and unwearying industry, he
has brought together every fact and incident,
however remote, which will illustrate the life
and times of Milton. This volume contains the
ancestry and kindred of the poet-his school
boy days in London, his companions in st.
PauFs School, and his earliest poetical attempts.
Next we have his College life at Cambridge
a oboptar full &c ;ptoraotnc, facts lpstrot;va Of
life at the University in those days-l625 to
1852. The authors next chapter presents the
condition of the Church and State, and then
gives a survey of English literature this is
followed by Milton and his times from 1852 to
1888. The volume closes with Millions Cont
mental tour He was received everywhere with
distinguished courtesy by the scholars of that
day. In Florence, he visited Calico we give
his words: There it was found and visited
the famous Calico, grown old, prisoner of the
Inquisiton for thinking in Astronomy other
wise than the Franciscan and Dominican
licensers thought" This visit laid long in the
memory of Milton; and when he had become,
like Calico frail and blind, in the composition
of Paradise Lost, he has this alusion to his
visit to the great Tuscan. He is describing
the skull of Satan
1.-THE broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like The moon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan ausl views,
At evening, fiom the top of FesOle,
Or in Valdarno, drscry new lands,
Rivers, and mountains, in her spOuy globe ="
On his return, Milton visited Geneva and
Paris, and having been absent one year and
| IL "a
faint in body or soul, in July, 1859. How few
of all who are tourists in this year of 1853 will
be able to affirm, as Milton does, while review
ing the many destinations which attended upon
him in his travels take G cd to witness that
in all these places, where so many things are
considered law. ul, lived sound and untouched
from all proHigacy and vice, having this thought
perpetually with me, that though l might es-
!, cape the eyes of men, l certainly could not
f the eyes of God"
: There is much matter in this volume which
hangs very loosely as connected with the life of
Milton, but it is all readable, and presented in
: clear and attractive style.
Lectutes on Metaphysics BY Sir William Hamilton,
Baronet Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the
Universiiy Of Edinburgh. Edited by Rev Henry Lon
guevilIe Msnsel D Oxford, and John veitch NJ d
Edinburgh. Boston; Gould Lincoln 1853
keaahes .xpluWs Of Sir .., William i'll! n.
contribution to the science ofthe mind, which,
ifnot all its author would have made it, had he
lived to edit his own works in complete from,
yet gives decisive proof of the right claimed for
E him by his pupils and admirers to be numbered
among the most gifted men of his age Indeed
we lately heard one of no mean capacity to
form such an estimate, both from his intellect
ual powers and habits of pursuit, pronounce
Sir William Hamilton the very master mind of
his age. However this may be, he has left his
stamp on the subjects he discussed, impressed
as with gigantic force; and whether or not all
his conclusions be accepted, the notifications
and improvements he has furnished to meta
physical philosophy will ever be regarded as
among those Of the highest value for future
progress. His classification of the mental
faculties and their phenomena are particularly
valuable in this respect, as is also his examina-
ton of the Genevan systems
Fortunate has it indeed been for the great
Scotch professor, that so able men as Mansel
and Veitch have had the arrangement and
editorship of his writings in their unfinished
state. Fortunate, too, is the same fact for the
public, as we have no doubt but for this little
comparatively would have been done at once
towards issuing his lectures and other produc-
tons in form so well adapted as the present
one to meet the wants of the reader. And we
| may likewise congratulate the readers of this
volume in our own country, that this treasure
Of modern mental science is placed in their
hands so well printed, and at SO moderate
cost compared with the price of the English
edition.
1t would be idle to attempt in such a notice
to enter upon a consideration of the particular
merits of the volume before u.s. 1t must be
read to be appreciated. Many ought to read it,
and some, we doubt not, will do so with de-
light which such an intellectual treat is adapted
to present to them. No one, we will venture to |
say, can carefully and thoughtfully examine
these pages without finding the benefit of the
exercise, in increased knowledge, added vigor
Of mental development, and clear ideas in re-
lation to important truth. The subject itselfis
one which must, to a high degree, require close
attention, because the topics ranged under its
general name, Of necessity, task the faculties
for thought and reflection. Idlers, therefore, and
those who read books by merely skimmiRg their
contents, and but for the amusement of few
hOurs that Ea haavv m, their Mill not /