The publication of this reply to Milton, which was delayed, as we have noticed, for some years, was preceded by that of two others, produced with different degrees of power, but equally envenomed and aimed equally at the heart. The earliest of these anonymous replies, which was erroneously imputed by Milton to bishop Bramhall, appeared in 1651 with the strange title of " Apologia pro Rege et Populo Anglicano contra Johannis Polypragmatici (alias Miltoni Angli) Defensionem destructivam, &c.-and the second, written by Peter du Moulin, (the son of an obscure French satirist of Sedan, but who subsequently obtained by his party merits a prebendal stall in Canterbury,) was published at the Hague in 1652, and called, "Regii sanguinis clamor ad cœlum adversus parricidas Anglicanos," or "The Cry of Royal Blood to Heaven against the English Parricides." To the former of these works, which was altogether a contemptible production, and which came from the pen of John Row

And a little after he adds;

Miror intemperiem profecto hominis furiosi et quietis impatientem animum. Tot præstantium animarum ultrices scilicet. illum

Exagitant Furiæ et Furiarum maxima conjux.
Burm, Syll, iii. 274.

This letter bears date July 50th 1651.

land,' an English ecclesiastic of whom we

We have this information from himself in a subsequent production; which was published in 1653, and dedicated to the Emperor Ferdinand III. The title of the work is " Polemica, sive supplementum ad Apologiam Anonymam pro Rege & Populo Anglicano, adversus Jo. Miltoni Defensionem populi Anglicani, per Jo. Rowlandum. Pastorem Anglicum."

In this work, Mr. Rowland refers in several places to his preceding publication against Milton; and seems pleased with the circumstance of his being mistaken for the courtly bishop of Derry.

P. 22. "Hæc in Apologia med obscurè tacta sunt."

P. 41, 42. "Ego interea, post ante dictos pugiles, Salmasium et Miltonum, unus è turbâ sine nomine, veritatis solius patrocinio nixus, pacis semper cupidus, indignatione potius quam animo scribendi, me ad aliquid scribendum applicavi.

Semper ego auditor tantum, nunquamne reponam
Vexatus toties ?

Ut verò Regem et Populum, quos Salmasius suâ defensione regiâ, Miltonus sua defensione populi, diviserant, conciliarem; nec enim Rex sine Populo nec Populus sine Rege tam felix esse poterit, utrumque conjungendo, (testis non arbiter,) quantam, quantam mea tenuitas pateretur, pro Rege et Populo Anglicano Apologiam edidi.”

P. 48." Cui," (speaking of his antagonist Philips,)" ratio non est quod ipse succenserem, qui errando circa authorem Apologiæ, me dignitate Episcopali honoravit; et Episcopum Dirrhæum, aulicorum sacerdotum primipilum, omni vitiorum labe maculavit."

P. 49. Non sum enim Johannes Bramalius, Episcopus Dirr hæus aulicus, sed Johannes Rowlandus, Anglicus-Pastor Ecclesiæ particularis."

What is meant by the expression, "Ecclesiæ particularis,” I am at a loss to discover: but I am frequently puzzled by Mr. Rowland; the barbarisms and solecisms of whose

page forbade me

know nothing but by his own report," an answer was written by John Philips, Milton's youngest nephew, who had not then attained his twentieth year: against the latter Milton drew his own formidable pen; and we shall soon have occasion to speak of the brilliant result.

Before we finally dismiss from our notice the "Defence of the People of England," it may be proper to mention that the curiosity respecting its author, which it generally excited, gave rise to a correspondence, among the leading scholars of that age, which supplies us with some valuable

to ascribe it, before I was acquainted with its author, to a man of such respectable learning and talents as Bramhall.

Though I wrote this note with Rowland's " Polemica," in my hand, and drew my information respecting him from a source of my own, it would be uncandid in me not to acknowledge that Mr.Todd has preceded me on the ground, and, that his correction of my former ignorance, on the subject immediately before us, is at this moment under my eye. To Rowland's assertion of the "Apologia, &c." as the issue of his own brain, Mr. Todd has been enabled to add an express disavowal of this work, with an assignment of it to its proper author, by the prelate to whom it had been so injuriously attributed. In a letter to his son, from Antwerp in May 1654, which has lately been discovered among the bishop's papers, Bramhall says, "That silly book, which he, (Milton,) imputes to me, was written by one John Rowland, who since hath replied upon him. I never read a word either of the first book or of the reply in my life." [Todd's Life of Milton, 2d ed. p. 82, 83.]

g

and interesting information, Isaac Vossius, who after the Restoration was made one of the Canons of Windsor, being at the court of Stockholm when the " Defence" was published, relates the warm approbation which Christina expressed of Milton's work, and unites his own applauses with those of the Queen. Francis Junius, the writer of " De

h

In a letter from Stockholm dated on the 12th of April 1651, Isaac Vossius writes to N. Heinsius-Liber Miltoni heri huc est allatus. Exemplar meum petiit a me Regina. Ipse non nisi cursim dum perlustravi. Nihil tale ab Anglo expectaram: et certe, nisi me animus fallit, placuit quoque, uno tantum excepto, incomparabili nostræ Dominæ, Dicit tamen Salmasius se perdifurum auctorem cum toto Parlamento. [Burm. Syll. iii. 595.] In a letter written a few days afterwards to the same correspondent, Vossius says, Miltoni apologiam pro Parlamento suo priori accepimus hebdomade. Legit istud scriptum incomparabilis nostra Domina, et, nisi fallor, valde ei placuit. Certe et ingenium istius viri et scribendi genus multis præsentibus collaudavit. [Ib. 596.]

h De Miltono (says Isaac Vossius in a letter to N. Heinsius, dated on the 8th of June 1651) jam certior factus sum ab avunculo meo Junio, qui cum eo familiaritatem colit. Is mihi sigui ficavit eum Parlamento esse a Secretis in negotiis externis, esse, multarum linguarum peritum, non quidem nobili, sed tamen generosâ, ut ipsi loquuntur, ortum stirpe, discipulum Patricii Junii, comem, affabilem, multisque aliis præditum virtutibus. Burm. Syll. iii. 618.] In the library of Trin. Coll. Dublin, [as I am informed by the kindness of Mr. J. Cooper Walker,] is preserved a volume of Milton's prose-tracts, which had been presented with an inscription by the Author to this Junius; who was not less celebrated for his Anglo-Saxon than for his classical erudition. Junius in his report to his nephew, mistakes the Christian name of Milton's tutor, and substitutes Patrick for Thomas.

Picturâ Veterum," a learned treatise on the painting of the Ancients, and who was intimate with our author, speaks in the most favourable terms of the extent of his literary acquisitions, of his unblemished morals, of his mild and pleasing manners. i Nicholas Heinsius, who then resided at Venice, bears testimony, from information collected on the spot, to the purity (the Italians called it austerity) of Milton's conduct during his visit to Italy, and rescues him in this instance from the slanders of Salmasius. N. Heinsius also professes his admiration of the "Defence of the People of England,” but

k

In a letter to Isaac Vossius dated from Venice on the 18th of Feb. 1653, N. Heinsius, after treating the abominable calumnies of Salmasius respecting Milton with contempt, proceeds to say-Imo invisus est Italis Anglus iste (Miltonus) inter quos multo vixit tempore, ob mores nimis severos; cum et de religione libenter disputaret, &c.-A little before, the letter-writer had spoken of Milton's Latin poetry: Poemata ejus mihi ostendit Holstenius. Nihil illa ad elegantiam apologiæ. In prosodiam peccavit frequenter. Magnus igitur Salmasianæ crisi campus hic apertus: sed quâ fronte alienos iste versus notabit cujus Musis nihil est cacatius? [Ib. iii. 669.]

* In a letter to J. F. Gronovius dated from Amsterdam, on the 1st of June 1651, N. Heinsius says "Misit (Salmasius) duas in hanc urbem nuper epistolas, rabiei Sycophanticæ non inanes, quibus omne se virus in me conversurum minatur quod Miltoni scriptum probari a me intelligat. Ego vero et dixi et dicam porro malam a Miltono causam tam benè actam quam Regis infelicissimi causam pessime egit Scrilonius. Burm. Syll. iii. 270.