Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-08
PARADISE LOST.
Rev. Calvin s,ebbins Gives His Second
Lecture on. Milton


Lecture on Milton.
Mr.. Stebbins' second lecture, Monday
evening, was on the Puritan epic, the
Paradise LOST That Milton was haunt
ed from his youth by presentiment
that he was called to write something
that the world would not willingly let
| die" is a well-attested fact. This feel
| ing came to possess him as an impera-
tive duty. 1t was always uppermost in
| his mind, the ever-present incentive to
| his studies in youth, and it did not die
away during the stormy years of his
manhood. In his notebook commenced
at the age of 81, we find the names of
| 80 subjects for poems. Some were scrip
tural, others on English history; some
were cast as dramas, others as epicS.
Among these are four drafts of drama
on the subject of Paradise Lost" It
seems to have been a favorite theme
with him. 1t grew upon his mind until
| he came to believe that 1t was the most
heroic subject ever chosen by a poet.
| 1t is generally believed that he began
to work on an epic poem soon after the
death of Cromwell, in 1868, and COM
| pleted it in five or six years He had
some trouble in getting it licensed, on
| account of the conscientious Scruples of
| the little ecclesiastical licenser, who
mistook the very innocent figure as dan
| gerouS to both church and state. He
evidently did not read but about half
of the first book, and it is just as well.
| Milton parted absolutely and forever
with the copyright of Paradise Lost"
to one Henry Simmons, for $3.50 in
our money in hand, and, if the book was
a success, $3.50. Milton's autograph sold
a few years ago for $215, or about three
| fifths of what he got for Paradise
Lost" Paradise Lost is an epic poem
on an altogether novel and original
PLAN It celebrates, except incidentally,
no heroic deed in human history. 1t is
an epic based on the favorite dogmaS
| of Calvinism-upon dogmas a Puritan
| would have loved-and the Ptolemaic
| system of the universe, with the earth
in the centre and heavenly bodies re-
| volving around it, is a very small part
of the sphere of it's action. The diff
culties of the subject seem insuperable,
and the great wonder of Paradise
Lost is the dexterity with which the
| poet handles this amazing theme.
| There are many photographed pas
sages in the poem, and the poet put into
| the mouth of all its characters-human,
| Internal and supernal-his own opinion.
! But it will not do 20 carry this analogy
| too far. Milton, although looked upon by
a great majority of Engl:shmen as an
| incorrigible rebel was very far from
| being a rebel in his own estimation.
I Everywhere he saw that Diabolus was
at odds with Emmanuel, and he took the
side of Emmanuel.
| There are three places of interest de-
scribed in the poem-heaven, paradise
| and hell. The heaven of Milton is
created out of his love of light. It is
| diversified like the earth, with hills and
wales, mountains and wide-extended
4 1Irt,a fe., .t,t1 ~, hat Sc
earth. His heaven and earth are
very beautiful and full of light, and
he intensifies their beauty by asking us
on frequent visits to "a dismal situa-
ton, waste and wild" His hell, now
| ever, is by no means as large as his
| heaven. If you take d map of our west
ern hemisphere, heaven will fill all the
space above the equator. He'll is below
| the antarctic circle, and was built for
| fallen angels only. 1t is diversified by
| many frozen many a fiery Alp" 1t
was a universe of death. Its distance
from heaven was three times as far
from the centre of the earth as to an
| infinite distance beyond the remotest
| star.
| Upon paradise Milton showers all the
wealth of his imagination. The great
character in this Puritan epic after the
| imperator of hell is the mistress Of the
| paradise In Eden, the mother of man
kind Milton has created three great
| ideal women-the Lady Of Comus, the
Eve of paradise Lost" the Delilah of
Samson Agonistes. One is to be admired,
one to be loved and one to be detested
| Milton very evidently loved his Eve.
! He bestows upon her every beauty of
body and mind; and, strange to say, he
puts into her mouth his own sentiments
in regard to the origin of moral virtue
which led to the fall Of man. He repre-
sents her as a creature full of wonder,
and even in the hands of Satan she is
/ strong. After the fall She is full of in
genuity, resources and strength. You
cannot help but admire her, she is so
| courageous and plucky. She says alike
to Satan and the angel: Lead on, in
| me is no delay"
The poem closes in triumph on leav-
ing the blessed paradise of God" The
human pair are told by the angel that
they shall possess a paradise Within
happier far.