46 JOHN MILTON 
son has observed that “it was a strange caprice of 
fortune that made the future poet of the Puritan epic 
the last composer of a Cavalier mask.” But in truth, 
while Milton was a typical Puritan for earnestness 
and strength of purpose, he was far from sharing the 
bigoted and narrow whims of Puritanism. He had 
no sympathy whatever with the spirit that condemned 
the theatre and tore the organs out of churches and 
defaced noble works of art and frowned upon the love 
of beauty as a device of Satan. He was independent 
even of Puritan fashions, as is shown by his always 
wearing his long, auburn locks when a cropped head 
was one of the distinguishing marks of a Puritan. 
With the same proud independence he approved the 
drama and kept up his passion for music. In his 
seriousness there was no sourness. A lover of truth 
and righteousness, he also worshipped the beautiful. 
In his mind there was no antagonism between art and 
religion, — art was part of religion; the artist, like the 
saint, was inspired by God’s grace. Listen to what 
he says of the power of poetic creation, “ This is not 
to be obtained but by devout prayer to that Eternal 
Spirit that can enrich with all utterance and know- 
ledge, and sends out His seraphim with the hallowed 
fire of His altar, to touch and purify the life of whom 
He pleases.” There is the Puritan doctrine of grace 
applied in a manner which few Puritans would have 
thought of. 
The blithe and sunny temper of Milton is illus- 
trated in the two exquisite little poems with Italian 
titles he wrote while at Horton,—‘“L’Allegro” or 
“The Cheerful Man,” and “Il Penseroso” or ‘“ The 
Thoughtful Man.” In them the delicious life he was 
