to enrich his library and his soul with 'the sustained, cheerful, and majestic calmness' of this stately [unspoken] oration, this gem of 'English'-the language of men ever famous and foremost in the achievements of liberty— for sixpence." It may be interesting to the reader to gain a glimpse of the occasion, the purpose, and the character of this notable tract, and this we shall present to them in the words of James Montgomery : : "The occasion was this:-the Presbyterian party in the Commonwealth, having planted themselves in that power from which they had uprooted both the monarch and the nobles, became as tenacious of continuing the bondage of the press as they had been indignant against the yoke when it was found galling and intolerable to themselves. This is probably the most complete and perfect oration in our language, a few only of Burke's masterpieces being so successfully elaborated as to stand in competition with it. Between the eloquence of Milton and that of the 'old man eloquent,' whom the French Revolution did not indeed destroy, but converted into a prophet, as inspired as Cassandra, and by the multitude as little regarded when he gave note of evil tidings, there is considerable resemblance. The characteristics of both are intellectual strength, exuberant imagination, and impassioned utterance, while the style of each is marked by implicated sentences, with frequent parenthetic clauses breaking out, as though safetyvalves of over-pressed thought, into additional illustration, or matter unexpected by the reader, and apparently unpremeditated by the writer himself. "This specimen of Milton's rhetorical power as an advocate presents a galaxy of current thought, thick sown with stars, clustered or single, of every lustre, hue, and magnitude. Argument, illustration, fancy, wit, sarcasm, and noble sentiment, are here so closely arrayed, arranged, and concatenated, as are not often found in Milton himself; while the temper of the whole-except in a few passing strokes at the prelates-is not only blameless, but commendable. The theme is magnificent-the vindication of man's prerogative on earth above the brutes that perish-his realm of reason, and his sovereignty of speech. No brief quotations can give a just idea of the force and authority of plain truths with which the undaunted republican addresses the rulers of his own party, when they were meditating to impose on the people whom their prowess in the field had set free, the most hateful of all tyrannies, the enslavement of the press. 'Give me,' he exclaims, 'the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely, above all liberties.' "This treatise exemplifies all the excellences of Milton's manner, with fewer of its perplexities of syntax and encumbrances of phrase; whereas, on other occasions, his sentences, in verse as well as in prose, too often resemble trees so loaded with fruit, that their branches are bent down to the ground, and sometimes even trail along it; while the symmetry and grace of his finest periods are disfigured by lumbering parentheses. In many passages of his polemics, there is an intensity of eloquence that seems to fuse the multitude of his thoughts, and send them glowing white from the crucible of his mind into the mind of the reader, scarcely able to contain them in the mould of his narrower conception." We surely could not adduce better evidence of the worth of this defence of the press than that of James Montgomery, the advocate of reform, of civil and religious liberty, of the abolition of slavery, and who himself underwent an imprisonment in York Castle, in futherance of the liberty of the press. in 1796; and who had, besides these political, many poetical sympathies with Milton. We regret that the author has not been more considerate of the general ignorance of readers in his notes, which are all contained on one page. We would gladly have learned who was meant by "him who went about to impair your merits with a trivial and malignant encomium" (p. 32), Henry the VIII.'s "Vicar of Hell" (p. 47), the Discourse written at Delft," by which Arminius was "perverted" (p. 47), &c. The present writer is not quite sure, but he is almost certain, that the Imprimatur quoted by Milton appears in Bernardo Duvanzati Bostichi's "History of the Schism in England," to which we would refer the editor, who may be able to verify our suggestion. It might also, perhaps, have been usefully noted that this splendid "appeal was not successful; and it was not till 1694 that England was set free from the censors of the press." The volumes which are intended to succeed this-Hugh Latimer's "Sermon on the Ploughers," Stephen Gosson's "Schoole of Abuse," Sir P. Sidney's "Apologie for Poetrie," &c. We wish the editor and the scheme all success. The Formation of Tenses in the Greek Verb. By C. S. Jerram, M.A., Oxon. London: Rivingtons. THE verb is the copestone of the sentence, and therefore a thorough knowledge of the verb is essential to the correct composition of any language or the accurate comprehension of the precise signification and implication of sentences. The Greek verb is very elaborate in its forms, and is most metaphysically built up. This small treatise does not deal with the metaphysics, but with the mechanics of the structure of the verb. It treats of it as an element in word-building, not in thought-expression. Indeed, a similar treatise to this on the philosophy of the tense-formations of Greek verbs would be a very valuable help to students. This work concerns itself with nothing of that sort, but is notwithstanding one of great utility, as an endeavour to reduce to principle that which has for a very long time been taught empirically. It is in part a supplement and in part an exposition of the rules of the ordinary grammars; but it is also in part an application of the philosophy of speech to the explanation of the mysteries of verbal growth. According to the author's opinion-one in which we thoroughly agree with him-the theory of the formation of the Greek tenses contained in the old grammars is arbitrary and unscientific in the extreme; and he therefore endeavours to show that all the tenses are in reality formed from the pure stem of the verb, and that the changes which each tense makes in the stem proceed on fixed and intelligible principles, being chiefly regulated by what are called the Laws of Euphony. To those who know the ordinary rules of aug ment and reduplication in the Greek verb this small treatise will be found of great service. It traces the formation of the tenses upon a uniform principle, provides an appendix of irregular forms, and subjoins miscellaneous questions for examination. To those who wish not only to know but to understand Greek we commend this book. Its author deserves the thanks of scholars, and especially of self-culturists, for lessening difficulties and lightening the burdens of students of Greek. THE CREED OF "CIVILISATION" BUCKLE. "I believe in fire and water, Consciousness I set aside; The dissecting-knife's my guide. In what strikes the outward sense- As for truth, the ancients lost her; Not in Latin or in Greek As a means to raise the masses: An anonymous skit quoted by "The Flaneur," in Tinsley's Magazine. LOOK AT BOTH SIDES OF THE SUBJECT.-"There is a soul of goodness in things evil," I said to a neighbour, an American lady of English parentage who had come to our verandah; "and the all-wise Creator has made nothing in vain. Yet, with the fullest faith in this doctrine, I could never find out of what use the mosquito was, or what were its purposes in the great scheme of the world." 66 Perhaps not," replied the fair one; "but may not that be your own fault, Mr. Philosopher? In the first place, mosquitoes breed in the marshes. May they not warn us of the necessity of draining the marshes, and carrying off the stagnant waters, so as to increase the arable surface of the land? In the second place, mosquitoes, in countries where there are no marshes, breed in the running streams; and larvæ of the mosquitoes are the favourite food of young trout. And if you are fond of trout, why should the trout not have his dinner of mosquito larvæ, to be fatted for your enjoyment? In the third place, the sting of the mosquito inoculates, as I have heard say, against the attacks of fevers that are prevalent in all marshy and undrained countries; and surely a mosquitobite is better than a fever, Mr. Philosopher?" It is always in vain to argue with a lady, so I said no more, inwardly content that so much could be urged in behalf even of the pestilential little creature, which was in those days a veritable thorn in the flesh of me and mine.-All the Year Round. 1868. L Our Collegiate Course. STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. MILTON'S MINOR POEMS. ON TIME. (Intended to have been set in a clock-case.) [The probable date is 1630. The tone is high and solemn, and the measure-consisting of verses of five feet with some of four feet interspersed is finely modulated, and shows great mastery over the language of verse.] Fly. envious Time, till thou run out thy race; So little is our loss, So little is thy gain! For when as each thing bad thou hast entombed, Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss With an individual kiss; And joy shall overtake us as a flood, When everything that is sincerely good And perfectly divine, And Truth, and Peace, and Love, shall ever shine Helps to paraphrasing. Line 1. Pass quickly; ill-natured; exhaust; course. 5. Deceptive; worthless. 6. Nothing more than perishing trash. 7. Insignificant; the damage we suffer. 8. Advantage. 9. Because that; evil; engulfed. 10. Insatiable; brought to destruction. 11. At that time; welcome us to happiness. 12. Inseparable. 13. Delight; come upon; like. 14. Indisputably advantageous. 15. Altogether God-like. 16. Constantly cast light. Above the supreme throne Of Him, to whose happy-making sight alone Attired with stars, we shall for ever sit, Triumphing over death, and chance, and thee, O Time! ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT DYING OF A COUGH. ["Towards the end of 1625, or about a year after the marriage of the poet's sister with Mr. Edward Phillips, of the Crown Office, there has been born to the young pair a little girl, making the scrivener (John Milton, sen.) for the first time a grandfather and the poet an uncle. But the little stranger has appeared in the world at an untoward time. It is in the winter, when the pestilence is abroad. Not to the pestilence, however, but to death in one of its commoner and less awful forms was the child to fall a victim. The poet has just seen her and learnt to scan her little features, when the churlish and snowy winter nips the delicate blossom, and after a few days of hoping anguish over the difficult little breath, the mother yields her darling to the grave. Ere he goes back to Cambridge for the Lent term, Milton writes the little elegy, which helped to console the mother then, and which now preserves her grief. The heading Anno Ætatis 17' fixes the year, and the allusions in the poem determine the season."—Masson's "Milton," p. 144. So far as is known to us, this elegy is Milton's earliest attempt at original poetic composition. It did not appear in the collection of verses published by him in 1645, but nearly half a century after its occasion, in 1673. "Milton commences by representing the subject of his verse under the figure of a flower, and he supposes that Winter, envious of the success of Aquilo (i. e., Boreas), his charioteer, in carrying off Orithyia, resolved to purvey himself a wife in like fashion. Mounting then his 'icy-pearled' car, he wandered through the air till he espied this fair one; but unaware of his cold, kind embrace,' he 'unhoused her virgin soul from her fair biding-place. The poet consoles her by calling to mind the parallel fate of Hyacinthus; but he cannot persuade himself that she is really dead, and be prays her to inform him whether she has become a dweller of Empyrean, or of Elysian field, and what was the cause of her so speedy departure. He asks if she was a star fallen from the sky, which Jove had restored to its place, or a goddess who had fled to conceal herself on earth during a late attack of Earth's sons on the sheeny heaven;' was she Astrea, or Mercy, 'that sweet smiling youth,' or the matron 'white-robed' Truth, or any other of 'that heavenly brood,' or finally one of 'the golden-winged' host of angels come down to show to mankind' what creatures heaven doth breed.' |