Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies I.djvu/502

 ��Essay on

��the plain truth may be stated in a narrow compass. Johnson knew that Milton was a republican ; he says, ' an acrimonious, and surly republican z, for which it is not known that he gave any better reason, than that a popular government was the most frugal ; for the trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth.' Johnson knew that Milton talked aloud of the danger of READMITTING KINGSHIP in this nation 2 ; and when Milton adds, ' that a commonwealth was commended, or rather ENJOINED, by our Saviour himself to all Christians, not without a remarkable disallowance, and the brand of Gentilism UPON KINGSHIP 3 ,' Johnson thought him no better than a wild en thusiast. He knew, as well as Milton, * that the happiness of a nation must needs be firmest and certainest in a full and free council of their own electing, where no single person, but reason only sways 4 ; ' but the example of all the republics, recorded in the annals of mankind, gave him no room to hope that REASON ONLY would be heard. He knew that the republican form of government, having little or no complication, and no consonance of parts by a nice mechanism forming a regular whole, was too simple to be beautiful even in theory. In practice it, perhaps, never existed. In its most flourishing state, at Athens, Rome, and Carthage, it was a constant scene of tumult and commotion. From the mischiefs of a wild democracy, the progress has ever been to the dominion of an aristocracy ; and the word aristocracy fatally includes the boldest and most turbulent citizens, who rise by their crimes, and call themselves the best men in the State. By intrigue, by cabal, and faction, a pernicious oligarchy is sure to succeed, and end at last in the tyranny of a single ruler. Tacitus, the great master of political wisdom, saw, under the mixed authority of king, nobles, and people, a better form of government than

�� ��1 ' His political notions were those with the Inconveniencies and Dan- of an acrimonious,' &c. Works, vii. gers of readmitting Kingship in 116. this Nation: Milton's Works, ed.

2 Murphy is referring to Milton's 1806, iii. 401. work ' The Ready and Easy Way 3 Ib. p. 407. to establish a Free Commonwealth, 4 Ib. p. 409. and the Excellence thereof > compared

Milton's

�� �