M I L 



S13 



M I N 



Milion. Milton was distinguished in his youth for personal 

 ""Y"' 1 *' beauty, and continued to be a well-looking man to the 

 last.* He was a skilful swordsman, vigorous and ac- 

 tive in his exercises, manly and erect in his deport- 

 ment. He was also like his father, accomplished in 

 mu-ic, though not a composer. His learning embraced 

 the (Icb-ew, Greek, Latin, and Spanish, and if not 

 absolutely versed in the sciences, he had penetrated 

 more than their surface. Though from parts of his 

 controversial writings, we might presume his temper 

 to have been harsh, he indulged in no enmities except 

 on public grounds, and in private he was mild and 

 courteous. This we have on the authority of F. Junius, 

 the author of De Pictura Veteruin, and H. Heiiwius 

 mentions the general report of the amenity of his man- 

 ners " Virum esse miti comique ingenio aiunt." 



H;-i prose compositions vary in merit. The earliest 

 of them possess a more crude and unwieldy character 

 of strength. As he continued to write prose, there is 

 visible, though not equally progressive improvement. 

 In a general view of them, there is a strength and spi- 

 rit of genius rising often to grandeur, but a deficiency 

 of taste to purify, and harmonise, and perfect, the 

 powers of expression. The picturesque is often redun- 

 dant and out of keening, and the structure of his sen- 

 tence* laboriously scholastic. 



The homage paid to his poetical genius is so univer- 

 sal, that we shall not distend our article with a critical 

 dissertation on them Addison made his own genera- 

 tion sensibly alive to the beauties of Paradine Lost, 

 though there is reason to beiiere, that even before the 

 time of Addison, the great Epic was not so much ne- 

 glected as ha* been often alleged. Since the middle o* 

 the last century, the public attention has been snore 

 and more drawn to his minor poems, till it may be 

 aid to be now n them with almost unquali- 



fied extacy. Of Paradise Lost it has been justly re- 

 marked, that, in forming our estimate of the powers 

 of mind possessed by different races of men, it raises 

 our opinion of the strength and magnificence of the 

 li imagination. It is a sublime work that adorns 

 our country more than " cloud-rapt towers or gorgeous 

 palaces." l'.<-:i it- imperfections seem to be unavoid- 

 able, and to have arisen out of its theological subject 

 in a way in whit-h, with few exceptions, it is difficult 

 to coi v the author could have well avoided 



them. But taking the subject all in all, (we quote 

 Mr. CampbettN F.say on English Poetry,) his powers 

 could no where el*e have enjoved the same scope. It 

 was only from the height of this great argument that 

 he could look back upon eternity past, and forward 

 n|K.n eternity to roine, that he could surrey the abyss 

 of infi-rnal darkneis, open visions of Paradise, ascend 



not with his substantial English purity. In delineating 

 the blessed spirits, he has exhausted all the conceivable 

 variety that could be given to pictures of unshaded 

 sanctity ; so that his excellence above every thing, ancient 

 or modern, is conspicuous. Tasso had indeed pour- 

 trayed an infernal council, and had given the hint to 

 our poet of ascribing the origin of Pagan worship to 

 those rtyrobatc spirits. But how poor and squalid in 

 comparison of the .\littonic pandemonium are the Scyl- 

 las, the Cyclopses, and the chimeras of the infernal 

 council of the Jerusalem. Tasso' s conclave of fiends is 

 a den of ugly incongruous monsters : 



" O emu *trajtt come orribite forme," <Jx. c. 

 LA GsavsALEMME, Cento iv. 



The powers of Milton's hell are godlike shapes and 

 forms. Their appearance dwarfs every poetical con- 

 ception, when we turn our dilated eyes from contem- 

 plating them. It is not their external attributes alone 

 which expand the imagination, but their souls which 

 are as colossi I as their suture their thoughts that 

 wander through eternity the pride that burns amidst 

 the ruins of their divine natures and their genius 

 which feels with the ardour, and debates with the elo- 

 quence of heaven. 



The subject of " Paradise Lost " was the origin of 

 evil an era in existence an event more than all 

 others dividing past from future time an isthmus in 

 the ocean of eternity the theme was in its nature con- 

 nected with every thing important in the circumstances 

 of human existence, anil amidst these circumstances, 

 Milton saw that the fables of Paganism were too im- 

 portant and poetical to be omitted. As a Christian he 

 was entitled wholly to neglect them, but as a poet he 

 chose to treat them not as the dreams of the human 

 mind, but as the delusions of infernal existences. Thus 

 anticipating a beautiful propriety for all classical allu- 

 sions, thus connecting and reconciling the co-existence 

 at fable and of truth, and thus identifying the fallen 

 angels with the denies of " gay religions full of pomp 

 ana gold," he yoked the heathen mythology in triumph 

 to his subject, and clothed himself in the spoils of su- 

 perstition." (i) 



\IIVDANA. See MACINDANAO. 



MINIM A, r MUNDKN, a city in the kingdom of 

 Hanover, and principality of Cairn burg, is situated on 

 the Wc*er. which is crossed by a bridge fiOO feet long. 

 It i< about two miles in circuit, and encircled with 

 walli and ramparts. The principal public buildings 

 are the Hotel de Ville, the cathedral, which is a fine 

 edifice, the church of St. John, the Gymnasium, and 

 the Orphan's Houre, where there is a manufactory of 

 stocking*. It has three Lutheran, one Calvinist, and 



'! '"' real air." On the style two Catholic churches. The principal manufactures in 



of Milton, and on the most sublime trait of excellency this place are those of wax candles, hats, leather, and 

 in liis poem, namely, his delineation of the celestial and soap. T; 



i, we beg to conclude with a quotation 



I work already mentioned. " If we call 



M the garb of thought. Milton in his style may be 



said to wear the costume of sovereignty. The idioms 



of otlxT lan<;ii.'i: contriliuted to adorn it. He was 



the mot learned of poets, yet his learning interferes 



soap. There are also refineries of sugar and bleacli- 

 fit liN. The white beer of Minden has been long cele- 

 brated. An account of the battle of Minden, fought 

 here in 1759, will be found in our Article BRITAIN, 

 vol. iv. p. 633. Population, 7000. East long. & 53' 26". 

 North Ut. 52 17 



eoeabi* figure of Milton it described 07 Richardton at he *at tiuing (according to custom) before bii door, in a great cost of 

 oane cloth in m\rm weather to enjoy the firth lit, ami ihui receiving i.it of penoot en Unit or coniideniion. Kkhaidioo 



ptwcedt to <ajr, " Very lately I had the good fortune to hare soother picture of him from an ancient clcrgyir.an in Muriel Jj 

 *-* Me found him in - " ' ...... 



'Hfthi. He found i. J I home," be thinki but on* man an s'floor ; in that, up one pair of flair*, "which wat hung wilh nHjr 



, h. found John Mlton HI** ia aa elbnr chair, black dotho. and neat enough ; pak, but not cadaverou. ; hi. band* sod finger* 

 aad sdi chalk tMsn. Among other tlucounc, bs Msirmj bJajntf ta tha furaos, that WM be tan from lac puo thi gave bun, 



Miltou 



II 

 Minden. 



* Hhfae-j would be loanable. 

 VOL. XIT. PART I. 



