78 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



luable for their developcment of Milton's studies and amusements, than 

 for their poetry, by proving his love of nature, of books, of solitude, 

 of contemplation, and of all that is beautiful and all that is romantic, 

 than for those bold figures and that glorious fiction which were his 

 chief power and his chief delight." Johnson's pure and elegant cri- 

 ticism is" No part of * L' Allegro' is made to arise from the pleasures 

 of the bottle." 



Sir Egerton traces and analyses the various productions of Milton 

 with singular acuteness and force, as well as delicacy of conception. 

 Himself imbued with pure poetical feelings, he tests his Author by the 

 truest of all methods ; and he places Milton before us in his native 

 grandeur and dignity. Neither has he permitted his partizanship to 

 embarrass his judgment ; he has truly felt that his subject was too noble 

 to be judged by political bias. 



44 Of this ' greatest of great men,' the private traits and whole life 

 were congenial to his poetry. Men of narrow feelings will say that his 

 political writings contradict this congeniality. His politics were no doubt 

 violent and tierce, but it cannot be doubted that they were conscientious. 

 He lived at a crisis of extraordinary public agitation, when all the prin- 

 ciples of government were moved to their very foundations, and when 

 there was a general desire to commence institutions de novo. * * * 



" Milton's imagination was not at all suited to the cold and dry 

 hypocrisy of a Puritan; but his gigantic mind gave him a temper that 

 spurned at authority. This was his characteristic through life : it 

 showed itself in every thought and action, both public and private, from 

 his earliest youth, except that he did not appear to rebel against parental 

 authority. 



4 ' His great poems require such a stretch of mind in the reader, as to 

 be almost painful. The most amazing copiousness of learning is sub- 

 limated into all his conceptions and descriptions. His learning never 

 oppressed his imagination, and his imagination never dimmed or obli- 

 terated his learning : but even these would not have done without a great 

 heart, and a pure and lofty mind. 



" That mind was given up to study and meditation from his boyhood 

 till his death : he had no taste for the vulgar pleasures of life : he was 

 all spiritual ; but he loved fame enthusiastically, and was ready to 

 engage in the great affairs of public business, and, when he did engage, 

 performed his part with industry, skill, and courage. * * * * 



*' If intellect is the grand glory of man, Milton stands pre-eminent 

 above all other human beings above Homer, Virgil, Dante, Petrarch, 

 Tasso, Spenser, and Shakspeare. To the highest grandeur of invention 

 upon the sublimest subject he unites the greatest wisdom and learning, 

 and the most perfect art. What has issued from the French schools of 

 poetry seems to be the production of an inferior order of beings." 



Sir Egerton Brydges has performed his part of Critical Biographer 

 with rare skill and knowledge ; and has produced a work of great value 

 to readers, and one highly honourable to himself. It deserves high 

 praise, and, we think, cannot fail to meet with the success it undoubtedly 

 merits. He has proceeded boldly and judiciously, and the work will be 

 an addition to our literature. The illustrations are a vignette from the 

 pencil of Turner, and it is eminently grand in conception it possesses 

 the sublimity and spiritualisation characterising the subject it is intended 

 to illustrate. The frontispiece is a finely engraved portrait of the 

 Bard in his old age. 



