et secundarum rerum corruptelas, quæ subigunt cæteras gentes hominum, ostenderitis posse vos etiam inermes mediâ in pace omnium mortalium fortissimè debellare; si, quam in repellendâ servitute fortitudinem præstitistis, eam in libertate conservandâ justitiam, temperantiam, moderationem præstiteritis. His solis argumentis et testimoniis evincere potestis, non esse vos illos, quos hic probris insequitur, "Perduelles, latrones, sicarios, parricidas, fanaticos:" non vos ambitionis aut alieni invadendi studio, non seditione, aut pravis ullis cupiditatibus, non amentiâ aut furore percitos regem trucidasse, sed amore libertatis, religionis, justitiæ, honestatis, patriæ denique charitate accensos tyrannum puniisse. Sin autem, (quod, bone Deus, ne unquam siveris,) aliter in animum induxeritis, si in bello fortes, in pace turpes eritis, qui manifestum sensistis numen vobis tam propitium, hostibus tam grave, neque exemplo tam insigni et memorando ante oculos posito, Deum vereri et justitiam colere didiceritis; quod ad me attinet, concedam sanè et fatebor, neque enim potero negare ea omnia, quæ nunc maledici et mendaces de vobis pessimè aut loquuntur aut sentiunt, vera esse: vosque multò iratiorem brevi tempore experturi estis Deum,

quâm aut infensum inimici vestri, aut vos benignum et faventem et paternum, præ cæteris omnibus terrarum orbis gentibus hodiernis, experti estis."

"So far, with God's assistance, have I accomplished my original purpose of defending, both at home and abroad, the proud achievements of my countrymen against the insane and malignant fury of a frantic sophist; and of vindicating, (as the enemy, not of kings but of tyrants,) the general rights of the subject from the unjust despotism of the prince. Nor have I consciously left unanswered a single argument, instance, or evidence adduced by my antagonist, which appeared to possess the smallest portion either of strength or conclusiveness, having rather perhaps inclined to the opposite fault of replying too frequently even to his irrelevant and trivial sophistries; and of treating them, as arguments, with a degree of attention of which they were undeserving. One thing alone, but perhaps the most important, remains, that you also, my countrymen, should yourselves unite with me in the confutation of your enemy: and this, in my opinion, can no otherwise be effected than by a

P. W. v. 194.

perpetual effort on your part to rise above his calumnies and to crush them with your virtues. To your ardent vows and supplications the Almighty indulgently listened when, under the yoke of your double servitude, you sued to him for deliverance. You are the first among the nations whom he has gloriously rescued from the oppression of tyranny and superstition, those two mighty evils which are the most hostile to the perfection of man: to you, the first of the human race, did he impart the magnanimity to submit to the solemnity of a judicial trial, and, when legally found guilty, to punish with a just death your vanquished and captive king. After a deed so illustrious, nothing low or narrow, nothing but what is great and exalted should enter into your thoughts and actions. To this lofty superiority of character you can rise only by showing that, as you have quelled your enemies in war so, with fortitude equally unexampled, without arms and in profound peace, you can subdue ambition and avarice, the power of wealth and the corruption of prosperity which triumph over the rest of your species; and by exhibiting in the preservation of your freedom a degree of justice, temperance, and moderation proportioned to the valour which you have evinced

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in its attainment. By these arguments and evidences alone can you satisfactorily prove that you are not, (as your calumniator affirms,)"Rebels," Rebels," "Robbers," Ruffians," "Parricides," and "Fanatics;" and that you have not under the impulse of ambition or of a wish to plunder, not incited by sedition or by any depraved passions, not in a paroxysm of folly or of phrenzy murdered a king; but that, elevated and kindled with the love of liberty, of religion, of equity, of honour, and of your country, you have inflicted punishment upon a tyrant. If however, (which God avert!) your projects and purposes be different; if, notwithstanding your signal experience of a Deity so propitious to yourselves and so destructive to your foes, after all your bravery in war you are resolved to be corrupt in peace, and, unaffected by the memorable and awful example before your eyes, to disdain " to learn to do justice, and to walk humbly with your God"-for my part, I must indeed be constrained reluctantly to acknowledge the truth of all those infamous charges against you which are now uttered or conceived by the slanderers of your fame, and you will but too quickly feel the wrath of the Almighty in a much more afflicting degree than it has ever

visited your enemies; or than you yourselves have ever experienced, beyond the other na tions of modern times, his kind, indulgent, and paternal love."

I must in this place, assign a note to the vindication of Milton from an aspersion unwarily thrown on him by a most respectable prelate; and unhappily inserted into the biogra phical compilation which is prefixed to the last edition of his poetical works. "It must not be omitted," says Mr. Todd,+ "that Salmasius, in his Defensio Regia, had pressed hard upon his adversary in a particular point; and that Milton, to maintain the point, was tempted to put on the fragile armour of untruth."-A harsh imputation this on the warmest votary of principle and truth, who ever wielded the pen of controversy!-but let us proceed." A learned Prelate, in modern times, has detected this diminished brightness of Milton. 'When Salmasius upbraided Cromwell's faction with the te nets of the Brownists, the chosen advocate of that execrable faction," (Milton) "replied that, if they were Brownists, Luther, Calvin, Bucer, Zuïnglius, and all the most celebrated theo. logians of the orthodox must be included in the same reproach, A grosser falsehood, as far as Luther, Calvin, and many others are concerned, never fell from the unprincipled pen of a partywriter. However sedition might be a part of the puritanic creed, the general faith of the reformers rejects the infamous alliance." For this remark, Mr. Todd refers us to the appendix to Bishop Watson's sermon preached before the House of Lords, on Jan. 30, 1795. For this liberal and worthy prelate I feel very unfeigned respect; but I must protest against the rashness, for I cannot think it an intention to misrepresent, which has incited him to this violent paragraph. To refute the incautious charge nothing more can be necessary than the production of the passage in Milton's work to which the reference is made. It concludes the fifth chapter of the Defensio pro Populo Angli

*Todd's Life of Milton, lxxx.