New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-08-21
LITERARY
THE POEM ATTRIBUTED

IllE AOA@au II AANAbC LII
IL ~ Of he Times .....- go
SIR: With your permission | VIII answer
the new arguments which have been uTged against NIL
toms authorship Of tle Epitaph ascrl0ed 10 l'ln'
One OF your correspandents whose name carries great
,uthotv and nv whose knowledge have often prohted,
believes that Milton could not have Written these % mes
OF verse because "rom 1915 until TIE totai loss OF MS
.ibt the oe was engaged upon his roatises on Divorce,
tbe .Tepnre OF Kings and Magisratcs written in his
,tres- uosd on his Defence Of the People OF England
aud in bis duties Latin seertt ary In fact the el
T"rce writings were completed IN 1885, the year IN
which Milton did find time TO prepare volume OF us
on which period she Epitaph belongs, Milton published
nothing The "TeHure of Kings and Magistrates We. was
Of death the King, act which IN Ie4I W. hUv
question The Defense 81 the People OF Esfah1 - ~
stl later and Milton could not have lau hs ule ~
Eorbed by duties Latin Secretary 70 me
before the Commonwealth existed Mntons VIC haa re-
trned 40 nina Iu Iuly 1915 his eldest daughter Anne
had been born 10 March 1861 according 10 fIOl Mas
son hs father died lie had quilted laige mouse ~ 3e
Barbigan for y small IN HOle0rn Whch opeueu back-
rsrd npon 's-ins-nelds and there his nephew
tells that be lived in great privacy end PeIpstny
engased m a variety ef studies AFTER 1872 says bayIy
On his Life Of Milton three wears ealseu ~i.noat any
new publication from his pen silence wheA tle various
affecting occurrences in his family would naturally pro
auce" -Four months after te uate Ol ms EpIsph W,1
the position Of tho country was growing more ciluca
hare nine psalms turned into metre ana dated Aprh
I turn Row to Lord winchllsea's last arguments.
"Calcind into drst" Is ne says, pleonasm. Jolmng
dust and ashes adds nothing 10 the meaning NnaI
amendment does Lord WiDchisea propose then Tor ae
pleouayn. "earth to earth, ashes 70 ashes dnst 10
0uslt IN the Bulldl btlNlCtl ASHES DSCVlhS
Millions thought, the language Of the poet IKE
shat Of tho Burial Service, BENG IN par Pbts
day, furnishes the symbol OF the urn upon our tom
LORD Nincmsea argues thar Thfn woes g so aGdns
vine ogown is meant that me GSET9 S nye S d ~
ougAly than Milton yet 10 another Part Of the wood
that. according 70 him, IitaHa sleeps on a b%k Mieie
hill yoedlaUds am told for example, that any one
NAV now see IN the Upper Cranham woods hear brulP
Goueesterhire Of the finest banks oil wild thy NE
Upon an example Of that occasional oversight Of gram
writer's Lord Wlnchsea ssrely cannot be lgno
rant OF e if{ t Wnn SeS are me verb be- singular
or plural 1t may be epti9aI as mStieF OF 'I 6S
and Williams Think but, the whole, should prefer 70
60 with the grammaTins who accept one ohy oi lh9se
methods Of speaking. But II Lord Nibcsea wishes TOT
another example of oversight in grammar here IT, one
nom C0mus," which has slipped 10y poeich Itisi'on
Such 1es thiek ara gloomy stSlol'' damp
or seq IN esa I,, vaults and sylaehs ss,.
Gsiosb 70 leave The BODY that e lOSedS
twas feature Of Bishop Lowth's English Cram am
mar" that its rules Illustrated with examples O the
breach Of them by standard English authors
Lord Wnehlsca then adyerts other argument OF
which he does where the force really hes the use
OF the w0rd its" in the Eptaph shall not take ad-
word it's occurs only times in Shakespeare by
swcrng that il five times in one play, the Win
ters Tale be content simply te show L9rd MHi,,
chseas error in believing that the word MS
Sne Of his Os eafest pieces as well as in his later
writing The difficulty, which has not been quite
met BY Srganents that would dispose their objections
In brief, these are the facts The neuer Eemuye ogm-
he she it; his her Bis. Originally also there was com
pick distribution OF genders among things animate ana
lnauimate as there IA German. As inheNlOns dis
appeared and grammatical forms were supplied we ar
rived at a very convenient solution OF difficulty with
the genders Apart from guratiyo epeecaud with few
logical exceptions as in the word chud, every
male creature was masculine, every female fem
iuine, aud al that was not actually he
or she was neuter. Then gradually there began to he
felt need OF an occasional distinction between mas
euue and neuter the injected cases Of the demonsira
Woman" Act H., -, II kuighthood ana 1t friends"
row long that its at has had q head
bit on by yOuBg" ~" neuter geRitlye, is thus
csuntes but in the construction Of good English it,
served Oas for E gS t a1d form 70 the fsa
beginning 70 come INTO use. IN lIe
mailing way. The authorized translation Of the Bible
based elder version does not contain H. ana the
doing so thus, in Measure for Measure" " Heaven
form Of avoiding what might look like irreverent
hthess between the persons OF Goa ana me klhg OF
Taep ct l., scene y printed before the accession OF
Charles L. in which the word its" most rare as II ls
and that too, where the necessity Tor is not strong
n tcaaeress 'Sd MAKE itsefa las'tae
ofmy boy's face methought dd reeol
IbHy green yeire, coat ny dagger nul.ei
Lest should bite as Master
In the reign Of Charles the use Of otis" established
George Herbert, dead before l6l7 wrote
Saee rose, whose hue , a1gy and brave
~ J 'ss isi s,5 5ri IL i's sla T ''
Loveace wrote for the curtain Of Lucasta picture that
.'-Ier f.r soarsiaan
Sqso ,s1 e. ". ,ae'r to 5.sy b. ti.l,~
Ebai ts shadow, as tbs its-HqH eraw'
''"''' wittpig in my hrea', does reign,
N,.iEr feel too. al GO pa1'
The word in fact, had in 1917 become common. But
that couu0i rs the use Of the word mad become Milton
followed tAe elder poets, master Of tue ls4age'
Nearly % ears before tue date Of the EpEPh, auton.
IN tie Ayea e Hatioily wrote Of Nature that she
To tlns her psrt was done
Put "hs" for its and the for the adoption Of
the new form becomes obvious I9e equiyoeai MS" MS
was 10 De avoided IN the context which Included double
use Of the word her 50 in Paradise Lost Book l.,
.. " lie nisl IN 10 Owl place, and ia Itself
A.. Can make 4 ts g9 o. 5 lei q made the use Of
"its preferable to his in association whit Or take
the famous lines Book ~ l. SOLO
T93.L Of celestial ' +, pr, au t5 return.
discovered and surp5seL'
Had "his" been used for Its" the equyoeal sender
would have itself inconyenienty with the he
Now although a looscr Of its" might have been
permted Tor once Milton IN piece not polished for
The press since find the word used loosely three times
wrote when the employment Of II was Tar more eXcep
tona enter such plea. Lot US rather see whether
Millions own test viii not bear strict application 10 the
occurrence OF the word 'Its" ia the eWtaph
with whom he sp0rt,d ere the DAY
Bodied forth iis teader Tay'
a precisely of the cases in which Milton would avoid
the equivOcal geutYe Substitute "hs for 'its" and
the reason becomes obvious. The other three
reuces OF 'lts" are virtually one since they all
mari OF the same construction. The repetition of his"
would have injured the poetry by not excluding sug
EesOn Of masculine remains which the feminine Psyche
shall q" In her fostering eniOld" To the very
sence Of the thought belonged reduction OF mans body
70 al IT," which yet contains the germ OF life. and absO
Int q sexual relation