That tyranny or fortune can inflict.
Either of these is in thy lot,

Samson, with might endued

Above the sons of men; but sight bereaved
May chance to number thee with those
Whom patience finally must crown.

In his description of the Philistines, he is clearly thinking of the indulgent Court, and when he refers to "sword-players and every sort of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners, jugglers and dancers, antics, mummers, mimics," he is but picturing the frivolous trivialities then so popular. When he decides to go with the Philistine warrior, the chorus breaks out into an impassioned and eloquent prayer.

Go, and the Holy One

Of Israel be thy guide

To what may serve His glory best, and spread His

name

Great among the heathen round;

Send thee the Angel of thy birth, to stand
Fast by thy side, who, from thy father's field,
Rode up in flames after his message told
Of thy conception, and be now a shield
Of fire; that Spirit, that first rushed on thee
In the camp of Dan,

Be efficacious in thee now at need!

And then as we near the conclusion of the whole matter, in touching words he describes himself as

I among these, aloof obscurely stood,

The Feast and noon grew high and sacrifice

Had filled their hearts with mirth, high cheer and wine,

When to their sports they turned;

while the destruction of the great temple is vividly presented in the following fine phrases:

This uttered, straining all his nerves, he bowed;
As with the force of winds and waters pent,
When mountains tremble, those two massy pillars
With horrible convulsion to and fro

He tugged, he shook, till down they came, and drew

The whole roof after them with burst of thunder
Upon the heads of all who sat beneath,
Lords, ladies, captains, counsellors, or priests,
Their choice nobility and flower, not only
Of this, but each Philistian city round,
Met from all parts to solemnize this feast.
Samson, with these immixed, inevitably
Pulled down the same destruction on himself;
The vulgar only scaped who stood without.

Chorus. O dearly bought revenge, yet glorious!

The poem concludes with a prophesy of the final triumph of virtue which shows us the mournful and dejected old poet rising up under the crushing blow of all his afflictions and looking forward to a distant future of happiness which was certain to arrive.

Its last phrases bear witness to the perfection of Divine justice and to the final triumph of peace.

All is best, though we oft doubt
What the unsearchable dispose
Of Highest Wisdom brings about

And ever best found in the close.

Oft He seems to hide His face,
But unexpectedly returns,

And to His faithful champion hath in place
Bore witness gloriously; whence Gaza mourns,
And all that band them to resist

His uncontrollable intent.

His servants He, with new acquist

Of true experience from this great event,
With peace and consolation hath dismissed,
And calm of mind, all passion spent.

THE

BOOKS ABOUT MILTON

HE student who desires to study the life and works of John Milton has an advantage over the student of any other English poet, in the fact that in Masson's "Life of Milton" he possesses an exhaustive treatise unequalled in the history of literature. This monumental work in its six great volumes treats most exhaustively with every episode of importance in the period during which Milton lived and worked, and as the production of a man of boundless enthusiasm and limitless powers of research, it stands preeminent amongst memoirs. It is almost impossible to obtain any facts, or to present any view of the career or the works of the poet not already penned within the pages of this book, and every student since 1859 has had to confess that from Masson's work he has derived almost everything he knows concerning the poet.

3

As far back as the times of Addison 2 and Dr. Johnson, the poems of John Milton have received careful and critical examination, and although the decision arrived at by both these writers was not such as would commend itself 2 11626 b 33 (2) B. M. 3 11601 c 3-5 B. M.

1 2040 d B. M.

to the present generation, yet many of their remarks are of great value in appreciating the qualities of the poet. Masson deals with all previous accounts of Milton, but it is well for the student to refer at first hand to the writings of Johnson and Addison before perusing the illuminating comment made by the learned Scotsman, upon the earlier workers in the same field.

There are numerous important lives of Milton in existence, but most of them derive their facts from the memoir of the poet by E. and J. Phillips, and from the collections for the "Life of Milton" written by Aubrey. Such memoirs as those by Carpenter, Diderot, Hayley, Hunter, Hood, Ivimey, Keightley, Macaulay, Symmons, Todd, Tulloch, Garnett, Acton, and Burney, may be mentioned, but the contents of all are gathered up in the volumes by Masson already alluded to. Almost the only other author who has been able to bring thoroughly original influence to bear upon the subject was Mark Pattison, who, in 1879, in his "Milton," in the English Men of Letters Series, wrote with that rare discrimination, historical accuracy, and wonderful charm which characterized his best works.

To the student who has not the opportunity of reading through Masson's exhaustive work, the treatise by Mark Pattison may be recommended. A book entitled "The Age of Milton," by Professor Masterman, is an excellent intro

1

134 b 5 B. M.

2

2326 b 27 B. M.