unsuspecting engraver added in a tablet beneath, little aware of the meaning of the words he had engraved. The verses may be translated as follows: That an unskilful hand had carved this print In 1647 Milton moved again, now taking a house in High Holborn, which had a back entrance into Lincoln's Inn Fields. His means by this time had probably become augmented owing to the decease of his father, and on leaving the Barbican he ceased to take pupils, and devoted his whole time to literary work. In the following year his second daughter, Mary, was born, and in the early part of 1648 the poet appears to have definitely thrown the weight of his influence on to the side of the Republican party, and to have attached himself warmly to the advanced section of the Puritans. During the King's trial, he was at work upon his pamphlet called "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates," which was issued on the 13th February, 1648-9, and clearly announced his strong attachment to the Regicide party. It was a courageous and very skilfully composed argument, but was not couched in so agreeable a literary style as had been the case with many of his preceding pamphlets. It marked, however, the turning-point in his career, and within a few 1 'E 542 (12) B. M. weeks after its appearance he was waited upon by a deputation from the newly-created Council of State, offering him the position of Latin Secretary to the Council, and pressing him to accept a place in which his literary powers would be placed at the service of the State. His stipend was to be a sum of money, which in present currency would represent about a thousand a year, so highly were his services esteemed; and although even at this stage of his life his eyesight was beginning to fail him, he was nothing loth to accept the office, and was delighted to throw in his lot with the turbulent usurpers who were taking upon themselves to govern the country. On the 20th March, 1648-9, Milton took office with the Council of the State, and his first Latin letter was addressed to the Senate at Hamburg, and dated 2nd April. In it he paraphrased the grand old Roman expression, and wrote his epistle as from Senatus populusque Anglicanus. His work took him to Whitehall, and it was desirable that he should be in residence close at hand. He appears to have been promised apartments in Whitehall Palace, but until they were ready he took lodgings at Charing Cross close to Spring Gardens, where he remained for seven months, residing close to the place now occupied by the offices of the London County Council. Then he moved to Whitehall Palace, into rooms opening out of Scotland Yard, close to the Guard House, and there it was that his only son, John, was born. A very few days after the death of Charles I there appeared that momentous work called "Eikon Basilike, the True Portraiture of His Majesty in his Solitude and Sufferings." The first edition' appeared on 9th February, 1648-9, and was issued without license and bearing the name of neither printer nor publisher. It created a great sensation, and no less than fifty editions of it were produced in the year. If it had but appeared three weeks earlier it might have saved the King's life. It was seized upon by his supporters as a weapon of the strongest quality with which to attack the Council of State, and despite every effort to proscribe its issues no decree had the slightest effect in preventing edition after edition being turned out. It was firmly believed to have been the composition of the King himself, and it seems to be most probable from investigations made a few years ago, by Mr. Almack, and gathered up in his remarkable bibliography of "The King's Book," that the popular belief was the correct one, and that the bulk of the little volume was actually the work of Charles I, and is not to be attributed, as it was by his enemies, to Dr. Gauden. It appears to be at least certain that a considerable part of the materials for the book was prepared by the King. Perhaps no book ever issued in England created a greater sensation. It was read with the strongest emotion through the length and breadth of the kingdom, and it stirred 1 E 1096 B. M. From the miniature by Samuel Cooper at Montagu House. (By permission of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.) |