22 THOMAS KEN AND IZAAK WALTON 



Elizabethan age as the golden age of literature, and 

 as the fountain head of all true poetic inspiration. 

 It may be true that our country has produced no 

 such unrivalled geniuses as Shakespeare and Milton 

 in these latter days ; but surely there must have been 

 some remnants of ancient savagery to be found even 

 in the breast of the author of " Paradise Lost " 

 which is not to be found in any of the poets of our 

 own time. Could any poet of the 19th century 

 have been capable of such absolute brutality, as is 

 to be found in Milton, when he descends from his 

 lofty Pegasus, and writes on Religious Toleration 

 against the Church of England ? Mr. Bowles 

 quotes Milton as being the writer of the following 

 passage, which immediately succeeds a lofty and 

 divine passage relating to the first conception of 

 " Paradise Lost." (The 109th Psalm is not to be 

 compared with it.) 



" But they contrary, that by the impairing 

 and diminution of the TRUE Faith, the 

 distress and servitude of their country, aspire 

 to high dignity, rule, and promotion here, 

 after a shameful end in this life (WHICH 

 God grant them !) they shall be thrown 

 down eternally into the DARKEST and 



