ceus:

Frenchman, and was unhappily married to a fcold. Tu es Gallus, fays Milton, &, ut aiunt, nimium gallinaBut his fupreme pleasure is to tax his adver fary, fo renowned for criticifm, with vitious Latin. He opens his book with telling that he has ufed Perfona, which, according to Milton, fignifies only a Mask, in a sense not known to the Romans, by applying it as we apply Perfon. But as Nemefis is always on the watch, it is memorable that he has enforced the charge of a folecifm by an expreffion in itfelf grofsly folecistical, when for one of those fuppofed blunders, he fays, as Ker, and I think fome one before him, has remarked, propino te grammatiflis tuis vapulandum. From vapulo, which has a paffive fenfe, vapulandus can never be derived. No man forgets his original trade: the rights of nations, and of kings, fink into queftions of grammar, if grammarians difcufs them.

Milton, when he undertook this anfwer, was weak of body and dim of fight; but his will was forward, and what was wanting of health was fupplied by zeal. He was rewarded with a thoufand pounds, and his book was much read; for paradox, recommended by spirit and elegance, eafily gains attention; and he, who told every man that he was equal to his King, could hardly want an audience.

That the performance of Salmafius was not difperfed with equal rapidity, or read with equal eagernefs, is very credible. He taught only the ftale doctrine of authority, and the unpleafing duty of fubmiffion; and he had been fo long not only the monarch but the tyrant of literature, that almoft all

man

mankind were delighted to find him defied and infulted by a new name, not yet confidered as any one's rival. If Chriftina, as is faid, commended the Defence of the People, her purpose must be to torment Salmafius, who was then at court; for neither her civil ftation, nor her natural character, could. difpofe her to favour the doctrine, who was by birth a queen, and by temper defpotick.

That Salmafius was, from the appearance of Milton's book, treated with neglect, there is not much proof; but to a man, fo long accustomed to admiration, a little praife of his antagonift would be fufficiently offenfive, and might incline him to leave Sweden, from which however he was difmiffed, not with any mark of contempt, but with a train of attendance scarceless lefs than regal.

He prepared a reply, which, left as it was imperfect, was published by his fon in the year of the Reftoration. In the beginning, being probably moft in pain for his Latinity, he endeavours to defend his ufe of the word perfona; but, if I remember right, he miffes a better authority than any that he has found, that of Juvenal in his fourth fatire :

· Quid agas, cum dira & fœdior omni Crimine Perfona eft?

As Salmafius reproached Milton with lofing his eyes in the quarrel, Milton delighted himself with the belief that he had shortened Salmafius's life, and both perhaps with more malignity than reafon. Salmafius died at the Spa, Sept. 3, 1653; and, as controvertifts are commonly faid to be killed by their laft dif

pute,

pute, Milton was flattered with the credit of destroying him.

Cromwell had now difmiffed the parliament by the authority of which he had deftroyed monarchy, and commenced monarch himself, under the title of Protector, but with kingly and more than kingly power. That his authority was lawful, never was pretended; he himself founded his right only in neceffity; but Milton, having now tafted the honey of publick employment, would not return to hunger and philofophy, but, continuing to exercife his office under a manifeft ufurpation, betrayed to his power that liberty which he had defended. Nothing can be more just than that rebellion fhould end in flavery; that he who had juftified the murder of his king, for fome acts which feemed to him unlawful, fhould now fell his fervices, and his flatteries, to a tyrant, of whom it was evident that he could do nothing lawful.

He had now been blind for fome years; but his vigour of intellect was fuch, that he was not difabled to discharge his office of Latin fecretary, or continue his controverfies. His mind was too eager to be diverted, and too ftrong to be fubdued.

About this time his firft wife died in child-bed, having left him three daughters. As he probably did not much love her, he did not long continue the appearance of lamenting her; but after a fhort time married Catharine, the daughter of one captain Woodcock of Hackney; a woman doubtlefs educated in opinions like his own. She died, within a year, of childbirth, or fome diftemper that followed

it; and her husband honoured her memory with poor fonnet.

The first reply to Milton's Defenfio Populi was publifhed in 1651, called Apologia pro Rege & Populo Anglicano, contra Johannis Polypragmatici (alias Miltoni) defenfionem deftructivam Regis & Populi. Of this the author was not known; but Milton and his nephew Philips, under whofe name he published an answer fo much corrected by him, that it might be called his own, imputed it to Bramhal; and, knowing him no friend to regicides, thought themselves at liberty to treat him as if they had known what they only fufpected.

Next year appeared Regii Sanguinis clamor ad Cælum. Of this the author was Peter du Moulin, who was afterwards prebendary of Canterbury; but Morus, or More, a French minifter, having the care of its publication, was treated as the writer by Milton in his Defenfio Secunda, and overwhelmed by fuch violence of invective, that he began to fhrink under the tempeft, and gave his perfecutors the means of knowing the true author. Du Moulin was now in great danger; but Milton's pride operated against his malignity; and both he and his friends were more willing that Du Moulin fhould escape than that he fhould be convicted of mistake.

In this fecond Defence he fhews that his eloquence is not merely fatirical; the rudenefs of his invective is equalled by the groffnefs of his flattery." De"ferimur, Cromuelle, tu folus fuperes, ad te fumma "noftrarum rerum rediit, in te folo confiftit, infu"perabili tuæ virtuti cedimus cuncti, nemine vel obloquente, nifi qui æquales inæqualis ipfe honores

"fibi quærit, aut digniori conceffos invidet, aut non intelligit nihil effe in focietate hominum magis vel "Deo gratum, vel rationi confentaneum, effe in "civitate nihil æquius, nihil utilius, quam potiri "rerum digniffimum. Eum te agnofcunt omnes, "Cromuelle, ea tu civis maximus & gloriofiffimus *, "dux publici confilii, exercituum fortiffimorum imperator, pater patriæ geffifti. Sic tu fpontanea "bonorum omnium & animitus miffa voce falu"taris."

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Cæfar, when he affumed the perpetual dictatorship, had not more fervile or more elegant flattery. A tranflation may fhew its fervility; but its elegance is lefs attainable. Having expofed the unfkilfulness or selfishness of the former government, "We were " left," fays Milton, "to ourselves: the whole na❝tional intereft fell into your hands, and fubfists only in your abilities. To your virtue, over"powering and refiftlefs, every man gives way, except fome who, without equal qualifications, afpire "to equal honours, who envy the diftinctions of "merit greater than their own, or who have yet to "learn, that in the coalition of human fociety no"thing is more pleafing to God, or more agreeable "to reason, than that the highest mind should have "the fovereign power. Such, Sir, are you by gene"ral confeffion; fuch are the things atchieved by you, the greateft and moft glorious of our countrymen, the director of our public councils, the

*It may be doubted whether gloriofiffimus be here ufed with Milton's boafted purity. Res gloriofa is an illuftrious thing; but vir gloriofus is commonly a braggart, as in miles gloriofus. Dr. J. "leader

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