The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-09-01

l~rEno~n's belief IN ecstasy aiz9 the b.
.et Of the writer Or both ID the CALVIN
.shc doetrne that The elect may fear
Z En1tion, but are assured ~ Co.'s
word Of HIS purpose TO save. The II
stances n Nova Soiyna would seem. how
eFer, r. Push this doctrine TO it, utmo,.
amlt- Cromwell and other no.ed char
acters q the period hal ,hoss severe
Il -i9. - graphically portrayed IN the
ls-t volume q Nova Soiyua my lLus
trious a1i pIou> people have aad wha.
: called the VISION o; AIon4I. In II
Pensero-o occurs TINS c0uIlet.
Dissolve ne into ecstasies
and BRING all Heaven before my eyes.
?. But il IS not 20 much Milton the re
Igious teacher and pamphletecr a. Ml-
ton the poet We need 70 consider with
greatest attention n examining a new
work winch bears some II not most OF his
positive ear-marks. l am one Of these.
Ike the late Daniel r. Goodloe, Of excel
lent repute here and IN North Carolina.
h differ meekly but firmly, a. men may
III America, with Matthew Arnold and
those continental critics Who OF late have
shown a disposition to depre9s the poetic
tame OF Milton in order to elevate that
- &C aA4 - -NAAl1tL Ill
G.. nor myself ever claimed any acumen
III literary criticism. l certainly would
not dare III North Carolina, ii anywhere,
70 lift my pen against a dlctum OF such
g critic as DR.. Klngsbury. He, by the
way, has a great admiration FOR Milton
and | thlnk ranks him next to Shakes
pCare. But | was surprised TO find, even
after peluslng years ago his admirable
papers OH the late Poet Laureate, that
he classed Tennyson among our poets al
e two or three of the very highest.
All OF Us who read nave our own
Opnlons-of poets as well as others. My
own knowledge OF prosody, Latin and
English, Is dim with the distance from
may all-too short school days. As to the
technique OF such apparently flowing and
noble productions as grace the poetIcal
parts OF Nova Solyma l may not, dare
not, judge. OF their literary spirit and
beauty and power | claim with confidence
that they point to a Miltonic origin. Mil
ton IS not the most original IN every
sense of English poets; he Is the most
characteristic, however. On page 215 Of
the Pad volume of Nova Solyma there IS
a sublime ~canticle or slogan or whatever
you may term Engenius' A~rch-angel's
Call to the Dead, which makes the hair
SIGld OH (lc hCdd IhC liz 1ItIldl DOI VI
pines quilts. Bodies at the
resurrection are called out from
the carcases of cannibals and
great fishes and other prodigious things
are recItcd as a part of the mighty pro
gram at the end of the world. Earlier IN
the same volume there are some splendid
Miltonic images in Joseph's Hymn to the
Deity. But the most splendid display of
poetic power Is that IN the 18th and last
chapter of the With and last book of the
romance. 1t is The Bridal Song Of
Heavenly Love- This sponsal song of
Christ and his Church Is equalled IL
beauty only by the sponsal songs of
Spenser and by his rarely sweet and two
little-talked about Hymn Of Heavenly
Beauty. All of Edward Sponsors minor
poems. as his great epic or ballad, The
Faerie Quecne, are nobly eminent IN
English and indeed in modern iteraturc;
but best of all l like these songs or, as he
calls them. hymns" The one | have
noted Is perhaps the finest of all. BY
the way, l do not doubt that Spenscr IS
next to Milton the greatest English poet
not a dramatist, and next to Shakespeare
and Milton the greatest English writer of
imaginative literature, Scott coming
fourth, chiefly on account of his ro-
lIdIlCtS. III ILLS DlludI DoLS III
Solylna Milton or the Unknown has
caught from the Psalms and Solomon's
Song, the glorious inspiration of the old
Hebrew Kings which the knowledge Of
the fulGllment of prophecy enables the
modern poet to supplement IN lines of
magnificent imagery and deepest pathos
and grandeur. l have read few finer
things. What a pity it was not original
ly written in English! l have left my
self space for only one extract from this
song:
where Night eternal reigns and cruel
grief;
Where fortunes fail not through amending
years"
Ny transcript of a third and more pow
! crful line was so bad | am unable IN the
absence of the book itself to give the
reader the benefit of It. 1t is a %personif-
cation Of Horror. a favorlte one of Mil
tons, who is said to beat his iron
| wings" These lines are on page 232 OF
the second volume of the edition Of Nova
Solyna Q902). imported from England by
the Scribners.
8. 1t only remains to speak all too
briefly OF a glorious pageant OF the
Jewish republic IN the With booh. While
| Milton or the Unknown was an ardent
republican he was a beHever ID the et-
feet on the people of d solemn pomp, a
rich and ornate dress and equ1page and
a total Of pageantry far-removed from
| our American ideas of democratic sim
plicity. The real democrats III those
times were Sir Henry Vane and Algernon
Sydney. Cromwell and Milton were not
| democrats, not even republicans OF the
! modern sort. They overthrow the mon
archy and set up the Irotecto-
rate. Nevertheless they deserved
| we'll of posterity. Without them there
would nave been no glorious revolution
OF SO, no American Independence, no
French republic, no constitutional mon
archy IN England
Nova Solyma teaches what the modern
advocates Of the theory OF authority as
the basis of government rather than COM
pact or consent, such writers as Sir Henry
Sumner Maine. for example. lay down "a
a principle. that kingly power IS to De
sought for IN the patrlarchal family lie.
-" T