Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/41

Milton ‘Paradise Lost’ is given in ‘Milton and Vondel: a Curiosity of Literature,’ by G. Edmundson (1885). At an uncertain date Milton obtained a license for ‘Paradise Lost’ from Thomas Tomkyns, chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Tomkyns, according to Toland (Life, 1709, p. 130), hesitated for a time, on account of the lines in the first book about fear of change perplexing monarchs. The fire of 1666 destroyed the house in Bread Street which Milton had inherited from his father, and diminished his income. Many booksellers were ruined by the loss of their stock. On 27 April 1667, however, Milton signed an agreement with Samuel Simmons or Symons for the copyright. The original of Simmons's copy of the work came into the possession of the Tonsons, who had become proprietors of the copyright, and was finally presented to the British Museum by Samuel Rogers. Milton was to receive 5l. down, and 5l. more upon the sale of each of the first three editions. The editions were to be accounted as ended when thirteen hundred copies of each were sold ‘to particular reading customers,’ and were not to exceed fifteen hundred copies apiece. Milton received the second 5l. in April 1669, that is 10l. in all. His widow in 1680 settled all claims upon Simmons for 8l., and Simmons became proprietor of the copyright, then understood to be perpetual.

The reception of ‘Paradise Lost’ has been the subject of some controversy. No poet ever put more of himself into his work, and Milton's singular loftiness of character and contemptuous tone of superiority to the dominant political and religious parties of his day might be expected to keep readers at a distance. The degree to which the poetry is saturated with the reading of a fine classical scholar might also alienate the unlearned. Milton rather conquers than attracts unless his readers be men of highly cultivated taste, or, like Landor, of congenial temperament. On the other hand, little merit of other kinds is generally required for the popularity of a religious poem. Although ‘Paradise Lost’ has been mentioned as an instance of popular neglect, it would seem on the whole that the sale of thirteen hundred copies in eighteen months and some 4,500 by 1688 marks, as Johnson maintained, a fair degree of success. Richardson (Explanatory Notes, p. cxix) preserved a tradition that Sir John Denham had, upon reading a sheet ‘wet from the press,’ pronounced ‘Paradise Lost’ to be the noblest poem ever written. He adds that it was unknown for two years, when Buckhurst, afterwards Lord Dorset, found it on an old stall, that it was given to him as waste paper, and that Dryden, to whom he showed it, declared that ‘this man cuts us all out and the ancients too.’ Dryden's phrase may be accepted, and is characteristic of his generosity in criticism; but the anecdotes, which involve various inaccuracies, are obviously so distorted, if at all founded on fact, as to prove nothing. Phillips tells us that Milton in his later years was much visited by foreigners and by men of rank, especially Arthur Annesley, earl of Anglesey; and Toland says that Sir Robert Howard, Dryden's brother-in-law, was a ‘particular acquaintance.’ Edward Phillips says in his edition of the ‘Thesaurus’ of Buchler (1675) that many persons thought Milton to have reached the perfection of epic poetry. The commendatory poems by Samuel Barrow and Marvell, prefixed to the second edition of ‘Paradise Lost’ (1674), imply that Milton's position was already regarded as established. Marvell's poem contains a reference to a well-known anecdote of Dryden. Dryden, according to Aubrey, asked Milton's leave to put ‘Paradise Lost’ into a drama in rhyme. Milton told Dryden that he might ‘tag his verses.’ The result was Dryden's ‘Heroick Opera,’ ‘The Fall of Angels and Man in Innocence’ (licensed 17 April 1674). The performance is a contemptible travesty; but in the preface to it, as published in 1675, Dryden speaks emphatically of the sublimity of the original. He told Dennis twenty years afterwards that he knew not at this time ‘half the extent of Milton's excellence.’ Wentworth Dillon, fourth earl of Roscommon [q. v.], inserts a passage from ‘Paradise Lost’ into his ‘Essay on Translated Verse’ (2nd edit. 1685), which is generally mentioned as the first public recognition of Milton's merits. A few other notices are collected by Professor Masson (vi. 781-5). In 1688 Tonson published by subscription a sumptuous edition in folio. Among the subscribers were Somers, who is said to have exerted himself greatly for its success, and Atterbury, who was always an enthusiastic admirer. Dryden's well-known flashy epigram is placed under the portrait. In 1708, when a monument was erected to John Philips (1676-1708) [q. v.] in Westminster Abbey, the dean (Sprat) suppressed the words ‘soli Miltono secundus,’ as that name was too detestable to be used in a sacred building. Atterbury withdrew the prohibition. A monument was erected to Milton himself by William Benson [q. v.] in 1737 (, Memorials, pp. 306-8 ;, Lives of Milton and Philips). Milton's fame was now established, and the triumph of the