eratum in our literature,” he had in view, among other things, the fact that almost every Life till then published had been written as an introductory memoir to some edition or other of the Poet's works, and on a scale corresponding to that purpose. Useful as such summaries of facts are, they do not answer to the notion that might be formed of a Biography of Milton considered as an independent work. It is surely not consistent with proper ideas of Biography, for example, that such a man as Milton should be whirled on to the thirty-second year of his life in the course of a few pages, the more especially when, in that period of his life, he had already done much that we now associate with his name, and had shown himself potentially all that he was ever to be. In preparing the present volume, I have, of course, availed myself of such information as I could find gathered by my predecessors; but, on the whole, from the rapidity with which they pass over this period of the Life, the amount of such information, in addition to that yielded by the original authorities, has not been great. I except the Notes of Warton and Todd in the Variorum Edition, which contain so many particles of biographical material that the substantial Biography of the Poet in that edition may be said, for this period at least, to exist in a scattered state through the Notes, rather than in an organized state in Todd's preliminary Life. I except, also, the results of some of the recent biographical researches alluded to. Mr. Marsh's Papers refer rather to the later parts of the Life, but have not been without their use even in the present part; and Mr. Hunter's Gleanings refer chiefly to this part, and clear up several points in it. Some of Mr. Mitford's references and illustrations have also been of service; and I have studied the Pedigree of the Poet furnished to Mr. Mitford by Sir Charles Young, Garter King. My own researches, whether for actual facts in the life, or for collateral illustrations, have been very various. By the kindness of the Rev. J. Dix, M. A., rector of Allhallows, Bread-street, I was permitted to inspect the Registers of that parish. My inquiries into the pedigree led me to the Bishop's Registry, in Oxford ; where also I found some advantage in looking at the original MS. of Aubrey’s Life in the Ashmolean, and at some of Wood's MSS., produced to me in the readiest manner. By the courtesy of the Rev. Dr. Cartmell, Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, I saw the admission book of that College; and I have been materially assisted by extracts from the register and by answers to my queries respecting them, furnished me by the Rev. Joseph Wolstenholme, M. A., Fellow of the College. To the Registrar of the University, the Rev. J. Romilly, M. A., I also owe my thanks for permission to inspect the University books and to make extracts, as well as for his explanations. Towards the illustration of the same Cambridge period of the poet's life, I have derived much from MSS. in the British Museum, and from one MS. in particular. An examination of the Registers of the Stationers' Company, open to me by the kindness of the authorities, furnished me with many dates, and altogether, with clearer ideas of Milton's relations to the literature of the reign of Charles I. To my great surprise I found that, though Milton was known to have lived with his father at Horton in Buckinghamshire for nearly six years of his life after leaving Cambridge - and these years unusually rich in literary results - no one had thought of examining the Registers of Horton parish for traces of the family. On application to the Rev. R. G. Foot, B. A., rector of Horton, I had every facility afforded me; and I have derived from the Registers several new facts, besides much general and local illustration. The Milton MSS. in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, have been examined by me with some care - not for the purpose of noting the various readings furnished by these first drafts of some of the poems (a duty already carefully performed by Todd); but for the purpose, if possible, of determining, by the handwriting, dates and other biographical particulars. Some conclusions thus arrived at will have their natural place in the succeeding volume; but the examination has assisted me somewhat in the present. I have made pretty extensive researches in the State Paper Office, at points where Milton or his connections might percbance leave their marks in contemporary public documents; and in several cases elucidations of the Biography have thus arisen. It is unnecessary to add to this enumeration of manuscript sources any account of my miscellaneous obligations at every point to printed books. These obligations, as well as some of a private nature, are acknowledged in the notes. I ought to add, however, that, for access to almost all the rare books consulted, I am a debtor to the British Museum. Although I have sought to indicate the fact in the title of the work, and also in the general announcement, it is right that I should here distinctly repeat that I intend it to be not merely a Biography of Milton, but also, in some sort, a continuous History of his Time. Such having been my plan from the first, there are large portions of the present volume which, though related to the Biography, and in my idea not unnecessarily so, considering what a man of his time Milton was, may yet, if the reader chooses, stand apart as so much attempt at separate contemporary History. The suggestions of Milton's life, have, indeed, determined the tracks of these historical researches and expositions— sometimes through the Literature of the period, sometimes through its Civil and Ecclesiastical Politics; but the extent to which I have pursued them and the space which I have assigned to them, have been determined by my desire to present, by their combination, something like a connected historical . view of British society in general prior to the great Revolution. In this portion of British History — much less studied, I think, than the Revolution itself, though actually containing its elements — I have based my narrative on the best materials, printed or documentary, that I could find. The Registers of the Stationers' Company have been among the MS. authorities of greatest service to me in the department of the Literature ; and, in all departments alike, the documents in the State Paper Office, both domestic and foreign, have furnished me here with verifications, there with more exact impressions, and sometimes with facts and extracts. The Portrait of Milton as a boy is from a photograph taken, by permission, from the original in the possession of Edgar, Disney Esq., of the Hyde, Ingatestone, Essex; of which, and of the other portrait, engraved after Vertue, accounts are given at p. 43, and pp. 233, 234 of this volume. The fac-similes from the Milton MSS. at Cambridge are by the permission of the Master and Fellows of Trinity. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, December, 1858. CONTENTS. BIRTH OF MILTON FATHER A SCRIVENER PROSPEROUS BUSINESS-DOUBTFUL GENEALOGY OF FATHER AND MOTHER CONFLICTING AUTHORITIES - CHARAC- DISTRICT BURNT AND REBUILT-THE MILTON HOUSE THE POET'S EARLY ASSOCIA- TIONS THE MERMAID TAVERN CHEAPSIDE ST. PAUL'S FAMILY CIRCLE- CULTURE OF THE FATHER-MUSIC-VISITORS — NATIONAL POLITICS-RE-ORGAN- EARLY PROMISE - PORTRAIT — EDUCATION — ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF — THOMAS YOUNG, A PURITAN TEACHER-ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL FOUNDATION AND HISTORY - THE GILLS, FATHER AND SON- MILTON'S HABITS AS SCHOOL-BOY — GREAT PROFI- CIENCY ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THAT AGE SYLVESTER'S DU BARTAS- EARLY POETICAL ATTEMPTS-VERSION OF TWO PSALMS-COMPANIONS AT SCHOOL 1 PENSIONER OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE FELLOW-STUDENTS LIST OF COLLEGES - HEADS OF COLLEGES - MEADE'S LETTERS — OTHER NOTABILITIES-MASTER AND FELLOWS OF CHRIST'S — TUTOR CHAMBERS TERMS AND VACATIONS - COLLEGE ROUTINE -IRREGULARITIES CURRICULUM — EXTERNAL HISTORY OF MILTON'S UNIVER- SITY LIFE DEATH OF JAMES I. - ACCESSION OF CHARLES I. MARRIAGE OF CHARLES-PLAGUE-DEATH OF BACON — UNIVERSITY REFORM - CONTEST FOR A NEW CHANCELLOR - THE KING URGES THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM - HE IS ELECTED - MILTON'S COLLEGE DIFFICULTY - NEW TUTOR LATIN VERSE- JEREMY TAYLOR-DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S INSTALLATION—A SUSPECTED JESUIT -ROYAL FAVORS TO UNIVERSITY — KING AND PARLIAMENT LOVE ROMANCE AND REALITY — COMMENCEMENT — MILTON'S SHARE IN IT-ASSASSINATION OF DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM — YOUNG GILL IN TROUBLE - PARDONED — CROMWELL'S IN PARLIAMENT - PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED MILTON RECEIVES DEGREE OF B. A. - VISIT OF LORD HOLLAND AND FRENCH AMBASSADOR - DRA- MATIC PERFORMANCES ODE ON THE NATIVITY AND OTHER POEMS COLLEGIANS AND MATRIMONY — THE PLAGUE COMES COLLEGES DESERTED - NOBLE CONDUCT OF VICE-CHANCELLORA VACANT FELLOWSHIP FILLED BY THE KING — HOBSON, THE CARRIER MILTON'S EPITAPHS CHRISTOPHER, THE BROTHER-ENTERS CAMBRIDGE DEATH OF MARQUESS OF WINCHESTER LINES OF BEN JONSON AND MILTON - MILTON'S LAST YEAR NO ODE FOR ROYALTY -NEW STUDENTS OF NOTE PEARSON — CUDWORTH - MORE VISIT OF KING AND QUEEN -RIVAL COMEDIES SUICIDE OF VICE-CHANCELLOR -MILTON RECEIVES DEGREE OF M. A. -CAMBRIDGE IN A TRANSITION PERIOD REVOLUTION AT HAND MILTON'S ATTAINMENTS - STANDING DISSATISFIED WITH UNIVERSITY COURSE COLLEGE RHETORICAL ESSAYS-PERSONAL APPEARANCE AT LEAVING COLLEGE-PORTRAITS -PURITY OF LIFE - DOGMATISM - WANT OF HUMOR- INQUISITIVENESS, MILTON DESIGNED FOR THE CHURCH-HIS OWN RELUCTANCE CATHOLICS AND DIS. PURITAN PARTY IN CHURCH OF ENGLAND — THEIR PETITION - NEW - SENTERS |