Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/37

 got the artist to engrave some Greek verses ridiculing it as a caricature. Sonnets written just after this express the antipathy with which he now regarded the presbyterians.

In 1647 the number of Milton's pupils had slightly increased, according to Phillips. Phillips, however, is anxious to explain that he was not a professional schoolmaster. He was only persuaded to impart learning to the sons of some intimate friends. Among his pupils were Cyriac Skinner, grandson by his mother of Sir Edward Coke, and the second Earl of Barrymore, son of Lady Ranelagh, the elder and attached sister of Robert Boyle, well known to literary circles in London, and afterwards a friend of Milton. She also sent to him her nephew,, afterwards first earl Ranelagh [q. v.] In the autumn of 1647, however, Milton moved to a small house in High Holborn, opening at the back into Lincoln's Inn Fields. He gave up teaching, and as, in spite of the many claims upon him, he was able to dispense with this source of income, it may be inferred that he had inherited a competence from his father.

Milton fully sympathised with the army in their triumph over the parliamentary and presbyterian party. His feelings are expressed in the sonnet to Fairfax upon the siege of Colchester (August 1648). About the same time he was composing his doggerel version of the Psalms, of which he turned eight into rhyme in 1648, adding nine more in 1653. He also employed himself upon compiling the ‘History of Britain,’ of which he had written four books (Defensio Secunda). He was recalled to public affairs by the events which led to the execution of Charles I. Immediately after the king's death appeared his ‘Tenure of Kings and Magistrates’ (13 Feb. 1648-9), an argument in favour of the right of the people to judge their rulers. The newly formed council of state invited Milton directly afterwards to become their Latin secretary. He accepted the offer at once, and was sworn in on 15 March 1648-9. His salary was 15s. 10½d. a day (or 289l. 14s. 4½d. a year). The chief secretary received about 730l. a year. Milton's chief duty was to translate foreign despatches into dignified Latin. He was employed, however, upon a number of other tasks, which are fully indicated by the extract from the ‘Proceedings of the Council’ given in Professor Masson's book. He was concerned in the various dealings of the government with the press; he had to examine papers seized upon suspected persons; to arrange for the publication of answers to various attacks, and to write answers himself. He also appears as licensing the official ‘Mercurius Politicus,’ of which [q. v.] was the regular writer. Needham became ‘a crony’ according to Wood, and during 1651 Milton super-intended the paper, and may probably have inspired some articles. Stern (bk. iii. 287-297) gives a previously unpublished correspondence of Milton in his official capacity with Mylius, envoy from Oldenburg. By order of the House of Commons he appended ‘Observations’ to the ‘Articles of Peace’ between Ormonde and the Irish, published 16 May 1649. He was directed also to answer the ‘Eikon Basilike,’ written, as is now known, by [q. v.], and published 9 Feb. 1648-9. Milton's ‘Eikonoklastes,’ the answer in question, appeared 6 Oct. 1649, a work as tiresome as the original, and, like Milton's controversial works in general, proceeding by begging the question. By the council's order a French translation of the ‘Eikonoklastes’ by (1596-1680) [q. v.] was published in 1652. Milton hints a suspicion that Charles was not the real author of the ‘Eikon.’ He attacks with special severity the insertion of a prayer plagiarised from Sidney's ‘Arcadia,’ and enlarged this attack in a second edition published in 1650. The prayer had only been appended to a few copies of the ‘Eikon.’ This led to the absurd story, unfortunately sanctioned in Johnson's ‘Life,’ that Milton had compelled [q. v.], then in prison, to insert the prayer in order to give ground for the attack. The impossibility of the story is shown by Professor Masson (iv. 249-50 n., 252). Dugard was concerned in printing the ‘Eikon,’ was imprisoned upon that ground in February 1649-50, a year after the publication, and, on being released at Milton's intervention, published Milton's book against Salmasius. Salmasius (Claude de Saumaise, 1588-1653), a ‘man of enormous reading and no judgment’, was now a professor at Leyden. He had been invited by the Scottish presbyterians to write in their behalf Charles II, who was at the Hague, induced him to write the ‘Defensio Regia pro Carolo I,’ published in November 1649. Milton was ordered to reply by the council on 8 Jan. 1650, and his ‘Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio’ appeared in March 1650. Hobbes, in his ‘Behemoth’ (English Works, vi. 368), says that it is hardly to be judged which is the best Latin or which is the worst reasoning, and compares them to two declamations made by the same man in a rhetoric school. Milton did not, as has been said, receive ‘1.000l.’ for his defence. A hundred pounds was voted to him by the council of state;