272 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



science of Trigonometry and from thence to Forti- 

 fication, Architecture, Enginry or Navigation/' 



At the time of the writing of " Paradise Lost," 

 the learned had accepted the theory of Copernicus, 

 although the mathematical proof afforded a few 

 years later by Newton was still lacking. But 

 the world at large still accepted the Ptolemaic 

 system, a system which, as a schoolmaster, Milton 

 taught. Mark Pattison has pointed out that 

 these two " systems confront each other in the 

 poem, in much the same relative position which 

 they occupied in the mind of the public. The 

 ordinary, habitual mode of speaking of celestial 

 phenomena is Ptolemaic* ; the conscious or 

 doctrinal exposition of the same phenomena is 

 Copernican.f" 



But the incongruity between these two state- 

 ments is no greater than will be found to-day in 

 authors writing of subjects still sub judice. Fur- 

 ther, we must not forget that Milton never saw 

 either of his great epics in writing or in print. 

 His power of impressing his visions on the world 

 was, however, such that Huxley held that it 



* Mark Pattison cites " Paradise Lost," VII. 339-356 I III. 

 420-481, And yet, in 1639, Milton had visited Galileo. 

 f See ibid., VII. 77, 122-140. 



