MILTON. 



821 



contrary, wished to wait for the auxiliaries from 

 Lacedaemon. The general-in-ohief (polemarch), 

 Callimachus, however, concurred with the proposal 

 of Miltiades, and the attack was determined upon. 

 The chief command, which belonged to all the generals 

 alternately, was unanimously conferred on Miltiades, 

 who nevertheless made no use of it, but waited for 

 the day which regularly called him to the head of the 

 army. He then drew up his troops at the foot of a 

 mountain in a wooded plain, to impede the action of 

 the enemy's cavalry. The Plakeans occupied the left 

 wing ; Callimachus commanded the right, and Aris- 

 tides and Themistocles the centre of the army. Mil- 

 tiades himself was in every part where his presence 

 was necessary. The Greeks began the attack at full 

 speed ; the Persians defended themselves with cool- 

 ness, but with obstinacy, until, after a contest of 

 several hours, both their wings gave way. In the 

 centre, Datis, the Persian general, with his best 

 troops, pressed Aristides and Themistocles hard; 

 but being attacked in the rear by the Greeks, he was 

 compelled to forego his advantages. The rout was 

 now general. Those who escaped the sword were 

 obliged to flee to the waves ; of these many fell 

 into the hands of the Greeks. The Persians lost 

 6400 men, the Athenians 192. Miltiades was him- 

 self wounded. Glorious as this victory was, it would 

 have been fatal to Athens, had it not been for the ac- 

 tivity of Miltiades. Datis determined to fall upon 

 Athens in his retreat, and his fleet had already passed 

 cape Sunium, when Miltiades, .receiving information 

 of it, immediately put his troops in motion, and ar- 

 rived under the walls of the city in time to compel 

 the enemy to return to the coast of Asia. Miltiades 

 was then highly honoured, but was soon both envied 

 and persecuted. His enemies represented that he 

 might easily be tempted to possess himself of abso- 

 lute power. An unsuccessful enterprise, of which he 

 was the projector, facilitated their success. He had 

 desired that a fleet of seventy ships should be placed 

 at his disposal, and promised, by means of it, to put 

 the Athenians in possession of great wealth and ad- 

 vantages. His design was probably to plunder some 

 of the Persian cities on the coasts, and to punish those 

 islands of the JEgean sea which had taken part with 

 the Persians ; but he failed in his attack on Paros, 

 and was compelled to refund the expenses of the ex- 

 pedition, and died of his wounds in prison. 



MILTON, JOHN, the most eminent of English 

 poets, was descended from an ancient family, form- 

 erly proprietors of Milton, near Thame, in Oxford- 

 shire. His grandfather who was under- ranger of 

 the forest of Shotover, being a zealous Roman Catho- 

 lic, disinherited his spn, the father of Milton, for 

 becoming a Protestant, on which account he was 

 obliged to quit his studies at Oxford, and settle in 

 London as a scrivener. This gentleman, who was a 

 good classical scholar, and remarkable for his skill 

 in music, had two sons and a daughter : John, the 

 poet, Christopher, who became a judge in the court 

 of common pleas, and Anne, who married Edward 

 Phillips, secondary at the crown office. John Milton 

 was born at his father's house in Bread-street, 

 December 9, 1608. He received his early education 

 from a learned minister of the name of Young, and 

 was afterwards placed at St Paul's school, whence he 

 was removed in his seventeenth year to Christ's col- 

 lege, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. and dis- 

 tinguished himself by the purity and elegance of his 

 Latin versification. The original purpose of Milton 

 was to enter the church ; but his dislike to subscrip- 

 tion and to oaths, which, in his opinion, required 

 what he termed "an accommodating conscience," 

 prevented the fulfilment of this intention. On leav- 

 ing college, therefore, he repaired to his father's 



house, who, having retired from business, had taker: 

 a residence at Horton, in Buckinghamshire. Here 

 he passed five years in a study of the best Greek and 

 Roman authors, and in the composition of some of his 

 finest miscellaneous poems, including his Allegro 

 and Penseroso, Comus and Lycidas. That his learn- 

 ing and talents had by this time attracted consider- 

 able attention, is proved by the production of Comus, 

 at the solicitation of the Bridgewater family, which 

 was performed at Ludlow castle, in 1634, by some of 

 its youthful members ; as also by his Arcades, part 

 of an entertainment, performed before the countess- 

 dowager of Derby, in the same manner, at Harefield. 

 In 1638, having obtained his father's consent to 

 travel, he visited Paris, where he was introduced to 

 Grotius, and thence proceeded successively to Flo- 

 rence, Rome, and Naples, in which latter capital he 

 was kindly entertained by Manso, marquis of Villa, 

 the patron of Tasso. His general reception in Italy 

 was also highly complimentary, although he would 

 not disguise his religious opinions. After remaining 

 abroad for fifteen months, he returned to England, 

 giving up his intention of visiting Sicily and Greece, 

 in consequence of accounts of the state of affairs in 

 his own country. " I esteemed it dishonourable," he 

 writes, " for me to be lingering abroad, even for the 

 improvement of my mind, while my fellow-citizens 

 were contending for their liberty at home." He set- 

 tled in the metropolis, and undertook the education 

 of his two nephews, the sons of his sister, Mrs 

 Phillips. Other parents being also induced by his 

 high character to apply to him, he engaged a house 

 and garden in Aldersgate-street, and opened an 

 academy for education. However engrossed by 

 tuition, he soon found time to mingle in the contro- 

 versial struggles of the day, and published four trea- 

 tises relative to church government, which produced 

 him antagonists in bishop Hall, and archbishop 

 Usher. A fifth production followed, entitled Reasons 

 of Church Government urged against Prelacy, in 

 ^hich he promises to undertake something, but yet 

 he knew not what, which " might be of use and hon- 

 our to his country ;" a calm anticipation of great 

 performance, which he amply redeemed by his Para- 

 dise Lost. About this time, his father, who was dis- 

 turbed in his residence by the king's troops, came to 

 reside with his son John, who, in 1643, united himself 

 in marriage with Mary, daughter of Richard Powel, 

 Esq., a magistrate in Oxfordshire. In more than one 

 respect, this was an unsuitable connexion ; for the 

 father of the lady being a zealous royalist, who prac- 

 tised the jovial hospitality of the country gentlemen 

 of that party, the residence of her husband so dis- 

 gusted the bride, that in less than a month, under the 

 pretence of a visit, she left him, and remained for the 

 rest of the summer with her parents. His letters 

 and messages for her to return home being treated 

 with neglect, Milton at length became incensed, and 

 regarding her conduct as a desertion of the marriage 

 contract, he sought to punish it by repudiation. To 

 this matrimonial disagreement is to be attributed his 

 treatises, the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce ; 

 the Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce ; 

 and Tetrachordon, or Exposition upon the four 

 chief Places in Scripture which treat of Marriage. 

 The Presbyterian assembly of divines, then sitting at 

 Westminster, alarmed at tins reasoning, had the 

 author called up before the house of lords, which, 

 however, instituted no process. Convinced by his 

 own arguments, Milton begnn to pay attention to a 

 young lady a step which alarmed the parents of his 

 wife, who, having become obnoxious to the ruling 

 powers, had need of the good offices of their son-in- 

 law with his party. Thus disposed, they surprised 

 him into an interview with Mrs Milton, whom, on 



