The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-28
TIE MILT0NI3.N CONTROVERSY

Tribune the following resume OF tue arguments
for and against the newy-disoovered poem
which has been attributed to Jshn Milton:-
In the London Times Of July 16 there sp-
peared letter from Professor Henry Morley
of University College, London, giving an ac-
count of his discovery OF what he believed to
be hitherto unknown poem by John Milton.
An account of the way in which the discovery
came to be made will not bs unintsresting, as
showing the pains conscientious scholac Will
take, to secure as great accuracy as possible IN
any work he is engaged upon, no matter how
small or apparently uninportant, 1T may b9.
Professor Morley had undertaken to compile
for some publisher a small book OF selections
from the writings of the poets who lived in the
time of Charles l. and the Commonwealth.
On receiving from his printer proof contain
ing passages from Milton, he thought it might
not be useless to compare it with the original
edition of his English and Latin poems pub.
lished in 1915. The British Museum contains
two copies of this edition one in the
General Library, and the other In what is
known as the Kings Library, a magnificent
collection of 20 600 volumes made by George
ILL.,. and presented to the Museum in 1873
by George ". This last was the copy to
which Mr.. Morley referred, aud We will give
his account of what he found in it 10 his own
words:-
"The volume contains first the English, then
the Latin poems of that first period of MlltOn'5
life, each separately PACED. The Latin poems
end on page ST, leaving the reverse of the leaf
blank; and this blank l found covered with
handwriting which, to any one familiar with
the collection of fac-simles in the late Mr..
Sotheby's 'Rambles in Elucidation of Milton's
Autograph would, | think, convey at first
glance the impression it conveyed to
me that this was the handwriting of
John Milton. 1t proved to be a transcript of
poem in fifty-fo lines which Milton, either
L. trf., lnd dAh 70
this volume. 1t is entitled, simply, 'An Epi-
taph,' and signed by him, .. NJ, Ober,
1647.' He was then in his thirty ninth year.
AS the page is about the size OF leaf of note
paper, the handwriting is small. Thirty-six
lines were first written, which filled the left
hand side of the page, then liue was lightly
drawn to the right of them, and the book being
turned sideways the rest of the poem was
packed into three little columns, eight lines in
each of the first two columns, and the other
two lines at the top of the third column, fol-
lowed by the initials and date. Upon the
small blank space left in this corner of the
page, the Museum stamp Is affixed, covering
part of Milton's signature" TO this letter Mr..
Morley appended the newly-found poem, with
its MS. cOntraction5 expanded, and the spell
ing mOderni2ed. Since then it has been several
times reprinted in its original form, but each
successive time with important changes, as the
faded handwriting, with the old cDntractions,
ana peculiarly lOrlnSu letters, mas Deen SUP
jected to more ana more careful scrutiny
with magnifying glasses in the hands of adopts.
But it is probable that we have not yet the
poem exactly as it stands, for in the Times of
July 70, q letter appears from a Mr.. Ingleby,
who states 20 ,itively that the date of the poem
is not Ober (October), but lOOer (December),
and in a letter published in the Times of
the 20h, though bearing the same date as
Mr.. Ingeby's, Mr.. Bond, Keeper of the Dept.
Of MSS. in the British Museum, gives ver-
sion of the poem, intended to be exact, in which
he makes an important change in a word not
hitherto suspected, and also prints the date
l0ber, as read by Mr.. Ingleby. 1t may be
added that Mr.. Bond, who does not believe
that the handwriting is Mjlton's, appeuds the
signature 'P NJ" instead of 81. NJ, to the
version which he gives, that being the way in
which he has read it from the first. Mr..
Bonds conviction that the signature is not
81. NJ" first announced in note to the
Times July 18th, from Mr.. Rye of the
Museum, written with a view to check
the inconvenient rush by the public
to the library to inspect the volume
has had a great influence in the formation Of
opinion on the authenticity of the poem.
Nevertheless it does not appear TO b9 con-
sidered as settling the matter, for both Pro-
fessor Morley and Mr.. Hepworth Dixon, while
unwilling to take position of decided opposi-
tion to the clearly-eXpressed opinion of
such an expert as Mr.. Bond, are yet strong
in their belief that he is mistaken both
as to signature and handwriting.
Beside the changes which have been
made in the reading of the poem by Mr.. Bond
and others, since Mr.. Morley first published
his transcript of it, it is possible that the sus-
piciOn of another Times correspondent may
prove well founded, and that closer exami-
nation may prove that careless slip in gram
mar which has given rather unnecessary
trouble to the critics, seeing that MltOn's
grammatical constructions are sometimes care
less, and often un-English, does not really
exist in the manuscript. If this correction
of "appears" for ''appear" Cline 44) shall
come to be finally allowed, there will then have
been eight changes made in the body of the
poem since Mr.. Morley first published it. OF
these changes, one is essential for grammatical
accuracy, and four are necessary to the sense;
the remaining three are, perhaps, not of i'm
portance. 1t cannot be long, we think, especi-
ally if Mr.. Morley shall publish, as he pro-
poses, a fac simile of the poem, before the true
reading of every word will be settled beyond
aquestion, and we shall be in full possession
of the facts on which to found a decided
opinion from internal evidence whether the
poem was really written by Milton or not.
1t seems, however, that Prof. Morley is not
the first discOverer of this poem. Mr.. David
Mason, well known as a writer, and particu-
larly as the author OF "Life of Milton in
connection with the History of his Times" oi
which work only one volume has been pub.
lished, writes a letter to the Times of July q
in which he says that the lines have been
known to him for a considerable time-in
letter written later, he says, "for about ter
years"-and that he has copy of them which