recorded, that in the year 1674 the An. Etat. 67 Gout put a period to his life at Bunbill near London; from whence his body was convey'd to St. Giles's Church by Cripplegate, where it lyes inter'd in the chancel; but neither has, nor wants a monument to perpetuate his memory. In his youth he is faid to have been extremely handfome: the color of his hair was a light brown; the symetry of his features exact; enliven'd with an agreeable air, & a beautiful mixture of fair & ruddy: which occafion'd the Marquis of villa to give his * Epigram the fame turn of thought, which Gregory Arch-Deacon of Rome had employ'd above a thousand years before, in praising the amiable complexions of fome English Youths, before their converfion to Christianity. His flature ( † as we find it measur'd by himself) did not exceed the middle-fize; neither too lean, nor corpulent: his limbs well-proportion'd, nervous, and active; serviceable in all respects to his exercising the Sword, in which he much delighted; & wanted neither skill nor courage to resent an affront, from men of the most athletic conftitutions. In his diet he was abstemious; not delicate in the choice of his dishes; and strong liquors of all kinds were his averfion. Being too fadly convinc'd how much his health had fuffer'd by night-studies in his younger years, he used to go early (seldom later than nine) to reft; and rose commonly before five in the morning. It is reported, (and there is a passage in one of his Latin Elegies to countenance the tradition) that his fancy made the happiest flights in the spring: but one of his Nephews used to deliver it as MILTON's own observation, that his Invention was in its highest perfection from September to the vernal Equinox: however it was, the great inequalities to be found in his * Ut mens, forma, decor, facies, mos, fi pietas fic, Non Anglus, verùm hercle Angelus ipfe fores. * Defenfio secunda. p. 87. Fol. his composures are incontestable proofs, that in some seasons he was but one of the people. When blindness reftrain'd him from other exercises, he had a machine to swing in, for the preservation of his health; and diverted himself in his chamber with playing on an Organ. His deportment was erect, open, affable; his conversation easy, chearful, instructive; his wit on all occafions at command, facetious, grave, or fatirical, as the fubject requir'd. His judgement, when dis-engag'd from religious and political speculations, was just and penetrating; his apprehenfion, quick; his memory, tenacious of what he read; his reading, only not so extensive as his genius, for that was universal. And having treasur'd up such immense stores of Science, perhaps the faculties of his Soul grew more vigorous after he was depriv'd of his fight: and his imagination (naturally fublime, and inlarg'd by reading Romances, * of which he was much inamor'd in his youth.) when it was wholly abstracted from material objects, was more at liberty to make such amazing excursions into the ideal world, when in compofing his divine work he was tempted to range Beyond the visible diurnal sphere. And with so many accomplishments, not to have had fome faults, & misfortunes, to be laid in the balance with the fame, and felicity, of writing PARADISE Lost, wou'd have been too great a portion for humanity. * His Apology for Smectymnus, p. 177. Fol. POST xiv POSTSCRIPT. THE works of inferior Geniuses have their in fancy, and often receive additions of strength and beauty, in the several Impressions they undergo whilft their Authors live: but the following Poem came into the world, like the Persons whom it celebrates, in a state of maturity. However, though in the first Edition it was dispos'd into Ten Books only, MILTON thought proper in the Second to make a new divifion of it into Twelve: not, I suppose, with respect to the Æneis (for he was, in both senses of the phrafe, above imitation) but more probably, because the lenth of the Seventh and Tenth requir'd a pause in the narration, he divided them, each into two: on which distribution, to the beginning of those books which are now the Eighth and Twelfth, he added the following verses, which were necessary to make a connection. Book VIII. ver. r. The Angel ended, and in Adam's ear To whom thus Adam gratefully reply'd. As one who in bis journey bates at noon, Then, with transition sweet, new speech refumes. At the same time the Author made some few additions in other places of the Poem, which are here inserted for the fatisfaction of the curious. Book |