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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 1908)
1903. NTE tarn I ffA jSlt'x,i, Unf tor. cK of emlt- m . JV1. 1 ,?iy.'tc'tr,wffvv r-. a c) b a v (DeCfinber 9.) Born on Bread street. Clieapside, London, to John tSenlorl, a srrivenpr, who wrote realms as well as legal documents, scttfn;r them to music Tutored by Thomas Young, a Puri tan divine. lKO-IS At St. Paul's School, studying langungo and philosophy. ISiVE In "the studious cloisters pale" of Christ's College. Cambridge, devoting himself to the classics, abstrue mathe matics, music as a science, theology and logu Took both B. A. and M. A. de Krees; receiving an M. A. from Oxford In '35. ltSK-37 At his father's home, at Horton. Bui'kinphamshire. "letting his winga grow' for poes", having decided he could not enter the church. His mother died at tim close of '37. liSi-; On the Continent, meeting Gro Tlus in Paris and Galileo In Italy. Dropped nil plans for further travel and returned liome, on the news of the outbreak of t.ie Scotch Covenanters against King Charles I. Itii9 (August 1.) Began tutoring and pamphlet writing In a rented bouse In St. Bride's Churchyard. (Lived In later years In many London iecalities, Alderzgate, eic). ltfll Execution of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. ("ThoroughX'). 1642 Outbreak of war between the Roy alists and Parliamentarians. ' - 13 Man-led Mary Powell, daughter of an Oxfordshire Justice of the Peace; "A bit of pink-and-white protoplasm, aged 17." A few months later she left him, returning to live with her father. lbli Reunited to liis wife, who lived witii hiin till '53; there were three daughters born to the union Anne. Mary and Icborah. WW Charles I surrendered to the Scotch, who old him to the English. It It) (January H. Execution of King Charles. li4! (March J.. Made "Secretary for Foreign Tongues," in the Cromwell Cab inet, all diplomatic correspondence being then carried on in Latin. Jtfv3 Cromwell, made Lord Protector, appoints Milton his Latin Secretary. ItiH His blindness became total. ltii (November). Retired from public life and married Catherine Woodcock, who died 15 months later. loTh Restoration. Two of Mil ton's books publicly burned (June 16) by the hangman, and a proclamation issued for his arrest. He lay hid in St. Bar tholomew's Close tilt the Act of Indem nity appeared. Irtl Married Elizabeth Minshull. lM55-rTrlvn from the city by the plague, hrt resided several months at C'halfont St. Giles, . Buckinghamshire. lwi-Took up residence in Artillery Walk, Buuhill Fields. London, where he livid for the eipht years remaining to liim. 1674 (November S) Died, at tho age of "departing so peacefully from his citiwdcd life that those in tho room with him knew not the moment uf his pa'ss nf." He was buried In St. Giles' Church yard, Crlpplegate, where he had attend ed service (and where his master, Crom well, had been married.) Milton's family became extinct Just a century later (1770) with the deatb. In i'ire!"t poverty, of the poet's great-grand-d.itigh'or. Mrs. Elizabeth Foster. LI K 1 0 SOMK IMTRIAltClI OP OLI A I'STKR K, PIKE .VXD IAI XTLKSS. 1,N' his university years. Milton's looks of unocratio refinement and Ilia gen tle manner, won hiin the name of "The Jidv of Christ's." Tie waa under mid dle height, with the oval face and fair complexion; his nose was delicately arched, his Hps full, his dark gray eyes kindly and soft, his hair long and au burn. "But there was whipcord fibre in tho makeup of the youth who united the toughness of a Calvin to the tenderness i f ari Erasmus1." - The earnest unselfishness of the young man whose boyish ambition had been "to be myself a true poem" that he might "write well of laudable things," appeared in '3S. when hu who loved the beautiful turned back from Italy to a life of austerity and harshness; "when he who had chosen to be a poet went home to write himself blind over parti san tracts." "Milton was not a Puritan. He was "at not a free-thinker. He was not a Roy alist. In his character the noblest qual ities of every fiarty were combined in harmonious union. From the Parliament and from the court, from the conventl ele and from the Gothic cloister, from the gloomy and sepulchral circles of the Roundheads and from the Christmaa revel of the cavalier, his nature selected and drew to Itself whatever was great and good, while It rejected all which was base and pernicious." T. B. Mac aulay. Compound of Puritan and the scholar, he was essentially of the austere type, with no tenderness In his mind, no intimacies In Ilia life. "From the first," wrote Lowell, "he looked upon himself as a man dedicated and set apart," and Wordsworth said of him: "Thy soul was like a star that dwelt apart."-? Impracticable and IdealUtic, he yet was one of the two men of the time of gen uine heroic mould Cromwell Was the other. "Of firm convictions and daunt less In pursuit of their fulfillment; stub bornly honest and pure in life, grandeur Ie the prime characteristic of the man whom we yet admire rather than love." Cloaked la sry threadbare poverty, and blind. Ace-weak, and desolate, and beloved of !od; Hifh-heartediieia to lonr repulse resigned, Vol beating nut one 3ot of hope, he trod The sua and vkylesa streets he could not see ; By those falni (set made sacrosanct to me F. T. PAU!RAVE.' KLEVKX TITLES IX irXDER LYIXG VERSE; MORE Ol' STATELY, .MASSIVE PROSE. 16i'5 (The year he left St. Paul's School) Poetio paraphrases of the 114th and 136th Psalms. IKS "An Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity," which Hallam cnlled "The .finest ode in the English lang uage." 1613 "Arcades," a masoue in honor of tho Countess of Derby; "the first of his poems to make a noise in the world." 1634 "Coraus'V the best of masques in a period when masques were at their best." First acted in Ludlow Castle on Michaelmas Night. 1635 "L' Allegro," The Day of "The Cheerful Man." "There is In it a certain Doric delicacy whereunto I must plalnly confess to have seen yet nothing paral lel in our language." Sir Henry Wotton. 1636 "II Penseroso," The Day of "The, Though ful Man." "In its sphere It is unexcelled; it is as attar of roses com pared with ordinary rose-water." T. B. Macau lay. , 3637 "Lycidas'; a pastoral elegy in memory of Edward King, a college-mate of the poet's, h ho had been drowned in the Irish Channel. "Unmatched In the wholo rans i of EngliPh poetry and never again equaled by Milton himself; it leavea all criticism behind. . . . It marks the point of transition frum the early Milton of masque and idyl to the quito other Milton who, after 20 years of hot party struggle, returned to poe try in another vein." Mark .rattison. 1641 "Of tho Reformation in England end the Causes that hitherto Have Hind ered It." This, with two other attacks upon Episcopacy, in tho same year, wa& the first of Milton's prose. "His earlier prose has fire and violence and elo quence, but it Is too diffuse." Stopford Brooke. . 1644 "The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, restored to the Good of Both Sexes." In this, and three other works on the same subject, written just after his wife had left him, Milton anticipated every one of today's radical arguments for divorce, even to "probationary mar riages." 1644 "Areopagetica: A Speech for the Liberty of 1'nlicensed Printing." Jtself unlicensed, it Is Milton's most brilliant piece of prose. "It is a perfect field of cloth of gold; stiff with gorgeous em broidery." T. B. Macaulay. 1644 "A Tractate on ' Education." "A Utopian curriculum of heroic mould." 1616 (January I). The minor poems first published together, including most of his Latin verse (the, best ever com posed by an 'Englishman) and ten of the sonnets. 1649 (February 13) "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates'" upholding the act of the Council in putting Charles to death. Following the ex ecution by only a fortnight, it pro- TO BE HONQRED THST WEK BT THE EWGUJH lTPEAKBSTO WORLD AS kfTANDING FOR .AIZ,TIMEi NEXT TOIMMORT JliAKBvTPSARE V ww, 4 Sfair-Ci2sT2Vts, .ay . cured him prompt recognition at the hands of the new state. 1649 (October) " EikdVioklastes " ("The Image Breaker"), in answer to a Continental Royalist work, "Eikou Baslleke." ("The Royal Image"). 1651 "Pro populo Anglicauo De fenslc contra almaei Defensionam ltcRium." in answer to SalmasiiiH de fense or royalty. "Literature knows no more masterly a piece of contro versial writing: tho commonwealth owed its standing In Europe as much to Milton's tracts aa to Cromwell's sword." 1654 (May) "Defensio Secunda." A largely autobiographic reply to an at tack upon himself. 1658 The 23 sonnets, completed; "Soul-animating trains, alas too few!" was Wordsworth's comment upon them, though Dr. Johnson remarked In their connection: "His was a genius that could hew a colossus out of a rock, but could hot carve heads on cherry stones." 166" (April) "Paradise Lost" (which Clianning called "Perhaps the loftiest monument of human genius"), sold to Samuel Simmons for f5, another' 5 to be paid if 1300 copies were sold. The Idea of the poem had come to the author when he was tutoring youths in St. Bride's Churchyard, but actual work upon it had been postponed till '58.. Then, dropping the idea of traglo form, as he bad at first planned, he worked upon it something more than five years, dictating it to" his (unwill ing!) daughters and a young Quaker friend, Thomas Ellwood. A second edition ,was put put in '74 and a third in '78; the first Illustrated edition bears date of 1688. "It is, not the greatest epic only because it is not the flrot." Samuel Johnson. "It speaks to us of feeling, character, understand ing, learning, poetical and oratorical genius. ... It will maintain its place triumphantly In virtue of the' majestice personality which It reveals." Goethe. 167a--A history famous for the which prefaces it. 1671 "Paradise of Britain, mainly Fajthurne portrait Regained" and I III ! 1 "Samson Agonistes." The former, a telling of the temptations of, Jesus in the wilderness, is "poorer" than the 'Paradise Lost' in that error, sin, and defeat had burned more strongly than redemption Into the Puritan life." The latter, a dramatic paraphrase of the 16th chapter of the Book of Judges, is a powerful poem, much in the Greek manner.. SOME IMMORTAL JIILTOX IC FRAGMENTS, OFTEX QUOTED IX LETTERS AXJJ LI EE. "From Paradise Lost." Flown with insolence and wine. VJnrespited, unpltled, unreprievd. The reign of Chaos and Old Night. Qorgons and Hydras and VThimaeras dire. Death grinned norrfbl a ghastly smile. Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth. Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. Thick as Autumnal leaves that strow the hrookp In Vallombrosa. The mind is its own place, and in itself mm -- ... J 5w Mmjmm A 3 i .-'..s... . 21E7V Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. Of man's first disobedienoe, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree w ho mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woes. From morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve. A Summer's day: and with the setting sun Dropp'd from the Zenith like a falling star. . Deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat, and public care: And princely counsel in his face yet shone, Mejcstic though, in ruin. High on a throne of royal state, which far Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind. Or where the gorgeous east with richest hand Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold. Satan exalted sat, by merit raised To that bad eminence. From "Paradise Regained": As children gathering pebbles on the shore. Of whom te i be dlsprais'd were no small praise. ' Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts and eloquence. From Samson Agonistes": For evil news rides post, while good news waits. What boots it at one gate to make defense. And at another to let in the foe? From ,"Lycidaa"c Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new. And strictly meditates the thankless Muse. To sport with Amaryllis in the shade. Or with th tangles of Neaera's hair. From "L'Allegro": -Linked sweetness, long drawn out. The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty. Come and trip' it as ye go. On the light, fantastic toe. Such sights as youthful poets dream, On- Summer eves by haunted stream. From "II Penseroso": Casting axdlm religious light. " , Y a. Where more is meant than meets the ear. Where glowing embers through a room Teach light to counterfeit a gloqm. Peace hath her victories, , no less re nown'd than war. To Lord Cromwell, They also serve who only stand and wait. Sonnet on his blindness. As good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Areopagetic. TRIBUTES OF POETS AXI CRITICS TO THE CARD OF REPUBLICAXISM. T I think it would" take many Newtons to make one Milton. S. T. Coleridge. The third among the sons of light. P. B. Shelley.. Milton almost requires a solemn service of music to be played before you enter upon him. Charles Lamb. In Homer's craft Jack Milton thrives. Robert Burns. Milton, who was the stair, or liigh table land, to lead down the English genius from the summits of Shakespeare. Ralph Waldo Emerson. That mighty orb of song, divine Milton. W. Wordsworth. He piit new life into the masque, the" song, the sonnet, the descriptive lyric, the elegy, the choral drama; and lie cre ated the epi- in England. Stopford Brooke. . Milton's mind Shall dwell with us, an Influence and a power. Itobert Southey. If Milton resembled a Roman Republi can in the severe and stoic elevation of his character, i.e also shared the aristo cratic intellectualism of the classical type. Mark Pattlson. O miRhty-moiit hed invenlor of harmonies. The White THEKB is Hearing completion White House at Washington the most interesting historical in the one of collec- tions to be found in the country, writes Abhy (3. Baiter in the Century, it Is a collection of Presidential ware largely composed of pieces of china, but also containing a few pieces of plate be gun by Mrs. Koosevclt soon after she be came mistress of the famous, old mansion. The inception of the collection was al most by accident. While General Theo dore A. Bingham, now Police Commis sioner of Greater New York, was super intendent of public 'buildings and grounds at Washington, a position which entails supervision ot the White House he found that there warf comparatively little of the china or the plate left which had been used through the administrations of the various Chief Executives, r Before his appointment as superintend ent hu had served as military aide to our American embassies at both Berlin and Rome, and while there hud noted veneration anil care heel owed upon royal residences and their belongings the tho . It the did not take him long to discover painful lack in that regard in the Presi- dent's house. Meetin the. writer of tins article one day in the early Summer of 1901, he asked her why she did not write a "story" on the Presidential china in the White House and awaken an interest in it that would lead to its preservation. "If somebody does not do that pretty sooii," he added energetically. "there won't be any left to preserve.'' When the article was published Presi dent Roosevelt and his family occupied the White House and Colonel Thomas W. Svmons had succeeded as superintendent of public buildings and grounds. The article, however, came under- his notice and he called it to the attention of the President's wife. Mrs. Roosevelt has always, taken the greatest Interest in everything pertaining to American history, and she saw that It lay within her power to preserve at least specimens of the historic ware. She de signed two cabinets and had them placed in the lower east corridor of the mansion; where they could be inspected by all vis itors, and then asked the writer to come O skilled to sing of Time anil Eternity, Ood-gited organ voice of England, Miltoti, a; name to resound for t,K-5. LORD TENNYSON. All he wrote is eloquent in hU plea for human liberty. He advocated the catiso of the rights of mankind with the enthus iasm that afterwards characterized, to a still greater degree, tho utterances of Shelley. Edmund Clarence Stedmau. Chief nf organic number! Old scholar o the spheres! Thy '.spirit never Hlilinliers, But rolls about our cars Forever and forever. JOHN KEATS. He was a man whom England ncvef produced another more worthy of her pride: a man raised by his .endowments almost above the level and lot of human ity. In whom a genius that resembled inspiration, and attainments which might have teen thought too various and ex tensive for human rapacity, wore sancti fied by the graco of God. ami devoted t the freedom, the advancement and tho happiness of num. C. R. Edmonds. Milton's, the prince of ports so e say: A littlo heavy, but no less dlvlno: An Independent being In his day Learn'd, pluus, temperato In love and wins. LOUD 13YKON. In our race are thousands of readers, presently there will be millions, who know not a word of Greek and Latin and will never learn those languages. If this host of readers is ever to gain any senso of the power and charm of tho great poets of antiquity,' their way lo gain It is not through translations of the ancients but Ahrotigh the original poetry of Milton, who-has the like power and charm, be cause -he lias the like great style. Mat thew Arnold. In nuijestie cadence rise and fall The mighty undulations uf thy seng, O sightless lytrd, Knxland's Maeonides! And ever and anon, high over all Vplifted, a ninth wove, superb and strong. Floods all the soul with Its melodious seas. LONilFKI.LOW. He has none of the intellectual sub tlety of Donne, none of the psychological intensity of Pope, none of the spiritual tenderness of. Words worth; i.is merits de pend almost entirely upon a factuliy of lofty and grandiose vein coupled with a complete mastery or the resources of verbal sound. His Imagination, within its own province, was supreme; but It was, so to speak, a material imagination, per petually concerned with objects which, however, vast and however splendid, still remained objects of sense. Augustine Birrell. Three poets, in three distance ages horn. Oreeee. Italy and England did adorn. The tlrM ill leftinops of thought siupa.s'd ; The next In majesty; in both the last. TIih force of nature could no further go: To niaj'e a third she joined tho fi rmer two. j JOHN lUlVDUX. There arc some of us who don't like,' Milton. We dare not say so. in so many words, anil we try to pretend we have read the "Paradise. Lost" quite through. But when, in our secret hearts, we admit the truth to our most confidential selves, let us remember that it is not always wise to find fault with tho treasures of the past, merely because we Cannot see treas ures in thein today. It is Just as possible the fault may lie not with Milton. Pro fessor Saintshury. House China to the -White House and select the pieces of china which should be placed In the cabinets. While tills work was being done the new slate dlnl.ig set which llr.. RooBCVRlt had ordered for the White Houre arrived anrl, including the pieces rhosen from It, eight shelves were filled with china which wai used during tlic administrations of Lin-i-oln. Grunt. Hayes. Arthur, Har,rimin. Cleveland. McKlnley and Roosevelt a shelf to each administration. The china selected by Mm. Roosevelt for the state dining set could not he in better taste. It is Wedgewood and is deco rated in a simple Colonial pattern in gold, with ihc obverse of the great seal enam eled In colors on each dish. Tere are over 1 LHiO pieces In the pet, anil lo accom pany It sho ordered 114 pieces of glass ware. A dinner platter, dinner, breakfast, tea and eoup plates, with a tea cup and a coffee ciip ami the saucers, were select ed from this set for the collection. Neither Mrs. McKlnley nor Mrs. Clove land ordered much china for the Execu tive Mansion, but plates and cups and saucers -uf their selection were placed, in' tlic cabinets. Mrs. Harrison wan very artistic in her tastes, as well as patriotic, ami ehe great ly desired to have the goldenrod adopted as the National flower. When she found that she would have to order some new china she designated the decoi Mt ion for it. combining the gohlenmd ami lent Willi the Indian corn and stalk, fin each piece this design, witli the coat-ot'-arni.s of the United States and a rim of golden stars, was emblazoned. In addition she selected many pieces of cut i-'lass. ' Through the public press it was made known that the collection had been start ed and in order to secure their co-operation wherever it was possible the descend ants of the Presidents were corresponded with or keen personally, and a number of invaluable contributions were secured in that way. From the first Mrs. Roosevelt desired that the collection should be patri otic, and that the pieces for it should bo either given or loaned rather than pur chased. While this lias sometimes added to the difficulty of obtaining tho ware, it has made the collection of vastly more worth.
