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 MILTON 
 
 AREOPAGITICA 
 
 « 
 
 /OffN W. HALES 
 
HENRY FROWDE, M.A. 
 
 i»UBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OP OXFORD 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK 
 
^hxtnban ^r^ss Series 
 
 MILTON 
 
 AREOPAGITICA 
 
 EDITED 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 BV 
 
 JOHN W. HALES, M.A., 
 
 Professor of English Lattgitage and Literature at King's College, London % 
 
 Formerly Fellow and Assistant Tutor of Christ's College, Cambridge; 
 
 Barristtr-at'Larw tif Lincoln's Inn; Editor of "^Longer English Poems t' 
 
 Co-Editor of the 'London Series of English Classics, difc 
 
 New Edition 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 M DCCC XCVIII 
 \All rights reserved] 
 
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 BY HORACE HART, M.A. 
 PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
^3B 
 
 ajxju 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SECTION I. THE YEAR (1644). 
 
 Of the circumstances under which the Areopagitica was 
 written, Milton has himself given an account in his Second 
 Defence of the People of England (Defensio Secunda pro Populo 
 Anglicano contra infamem libelliim anonymum cut titulus Regit 
 Sanguinis Clamor ad Cceluin adversus Parricidas Anglicanos), 
 Jij_ihat work, to refute fully the calumnies heaped on his name 
 by his enemy, he gives a rapid sketch of his past life. After 
 speaking of his earlier days, he mentions his travels abroad, and 
 then how, coming home, he was drawn into the great struggle 
 that he found prevailing, or beginning to prevail. 
 
 * Then pursuing my former route through France I returned 
 to my native country, after an absence of one year and about 
 three months, at the time when Charles, having broken the 
 peace, was renewing what is called the episcopal war with the 
 Scots, in which the Royalists being routed in the first encounter, 
 and the English being universally and justly disaffected, the 
 necessity of his affairs at last obliged him to convene a parlia- 
 ment. As soon as I was able I hired a spacious house in the 
 city, for myself and my books ; where I again, with rapture, 
 resumed my literary pursuits, and where I calmly awaited the 
 issue of the contest, which I trusted to the wise c onduct of 
 Providence, and to the courage of the people.] The vigour of 
 the Parliament had begun to humble the pride of the bishops. 
 As long as the liberty of speech was no longer subject to con- 
 trol, all mouths began to be opened against the bishops. They 
 said that it was unjust that they alone should differ from the 
 model of other Reformed Churches ; that the government of 
 the Church should be according to the pattern of other churches, 
 and particularly the word of God. This awakened all my at- 
 tention and my zeal. I saw that a way was opening for the 
 estabhshment of real liberty; that the foundation was laying 
 for the deliverance of man from the yoke of slavery and super- 
 stition ; that the principles of religion, which were the first 
 
 M601490 
 
vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 objects of our care, would exert a salutary influence on the 
 manners and constitution of the republic. And as I had from 
 my youth studied the distinctions between religious and civil 
 rights, I perceived that, if ever I wished to be of use, I ought at 
 least not to be wanting to my country, to the Church, and to so 
 many of my fellow-Christians, in a crisis of so much danger. ^ I 
 therefore detenu ined to relinquish the other pursuits in which 
 I was engaged, and to transfer the whole force of my talents and 
 my industry to this one important object. I accordingly wrote 
 two books to a friend concerning the Reformation of the Church 
 of England. Afterwards when two bishops of superior dis- 
 tinction vindicated their privileges against some principal 
 ministers, I thought that on those topics, to the consideration 
 of which I was led solely by my love of truth and my reverence 
 for Christianity, I should not probably write worse than those 
 who were contending only for their own emoluments and usurp- 
 ations. I therefore answered the one in two books, of which 
 the first is inscribed * Concerning Prelatical Episcopacy,' and 
 the other * Concerning the Mode of Ecclesiastical Government' ; 
 and I replied to the other in some animadversions, and soon 
 after in an apology. On this occasion it was supposed that I 
 brought a timely succour to the ministers, who were hardly a 
 match for the eloquence of their opponents, and from that time 
 I was actively employed in refuting any answers that appeared. 
 When the bishops could no longer resist the multitude of their 
 assailants, I had leisure to turn my thoughts to other subjects ; 
 to the promotion of real and substantial Uberty, which is rather 
 to be sought from within than from without ; and whose 
 existence depends, not so much on the terror of the sword 
 as on sobriety of conduct and integrity of life. When, therefore, 
 r^ perceived that there were three species of liberty which are 
 \ essential to' the happiness of social life — religious, domestic, and 
 Icivil ; and as I had already written concerning the first, and the 
 magistrates were strenuously active in obtaining the third, I | 
 determined to turn my attention to the second, or the domestic \ 
 species. yAs they seemed to involve three material questions — \ 
 the conditions of the conjugal tie, the education of children, and j 
 the free publications of the thoughts — I made them objects of \ 
 distinct consideration. I explained my sentiments, not only | 
 concerning the solemnization of matrimony, but the dissolution^ j 
 if circumstances rendered it necessary, and I drew my argu- 1 
 ments from the divine law, which Christ did not abolish, or 
 publish another more grievous than that of Moses. I stated 
 my own opinions, and those of others, concerning the exclusive 
 exception of fornication, which our illustrious Selden has since, 
 
INTRODUCTION, vii 
 
 in his " Hebrew Wife," more copiously discussed ; for he, in 
 vain, makes a vaunt of liberty in the senate, or in the forum, 
 who languishes under the vilest servitude to an inferior at 
 home. On this subject, therefore, I published some books, 
 which were more particularly necessary at that time, when man 
 and wife were often the most inveterate foes ; when the man 
 often staid to take care of his children at home, while the 
 mother of the family was seen in the camp of the enemy, 
 threatening death and destruction to her husband. I then dis- 
 cussed the principles of education in a summary manner, but 
 sufficiently copious for those who attend seriously to the subject, 
 than which nothing can be more necessary to principle the 
 minds of men in virtue, the only genuine source of political and 
 individual liberty, the only true safeguard of states, the bulwark 
 of their prosperity and renown, j Lastly, I wrote my " Areopa-' 
 gitica" after the true Attic style, in order to deliver the press 
 from the restraints with which it was encumbered ; that the 
 power oi determining what was true and what was false, what 
 ought to be published and what to be suppressed, might no 
 longer be entrusted to a few illiterate and illiberal individuals, 
 who refused their sanction to any work which contained views ; 
 or sentiments at all above the level of the vulgar superstition. 
 On the last species of civil liberty I said nothing, because I saw 
 that sufficient attention was paid to it by the magistrates ; nor 
 did I write anything on the prerogative of the Crown till the, 
 King, voted an enemy by the parliament, and vanquished in 
 the field, was summoned before the tribunal which condemned] 
 him to lose his head^' 
 
 Such is the account Milton himself gives of his writings jusl 
 before the outbreak of the Civil War and during the continuance 
 of it. The order of them is not indeed minutely accurate ; for 
 the * some books ' on the subject of divorce were not all pub- 
 lished before he proceeded to the questions of Education and 
 Unlicensed Printing ; but it probably represents precisely 
 enough the succession in which the various subjects discussed 
 engaged his attention. The year of his life that especially 
 concerns us here isi644^ It was in the November of that 
 year that i\iQ Areopagitzca was published. Besides this master- 
 piece, there appeared also these other works : — In Februaiy, a 
 second edition of his first Divorce treatise (The Doctrine and 
 
 * See Milton's Prose Works, the one-volume edition, pp. 934, 935. For 
 the original Latin, see ibid. pp. 719, 720. 
 
viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Discipline of Divorce restored to the good of both sexes from 
 the bondage of Canon Law and other Mistakes to the true 
 meaning of Scripture in the Law and Gospel compared, where- 
 in also are set down the bad consequences of abolishing or 
 condemning as sin that which the law of God allows and 
 Christ abolished not) ; in June, his tractate Of Education to 
 Master Samuel Hartlib ; in July, his Second Divorce Book 
 (The Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce, written 
 to Edward the Sixth in his second book of the Kingdom of 
 Christ, and now Englished ; wherein a late book restoring the 
 Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce is here confirmed and 
 justified by the authority of Martin Bucer). So that the year 
 1644 was one of memorable activity in Milton's life. 
 
 This activity, it will have been noticed, was all in the direc- 
 tion of certain social and other reforms. It was all, as Milton 
 himself puts it, in behalf of * liberty ' — of the * domestic species ' 
 of ^ liberty.' ' Liberty's defence ' was always his * noble task ' ; 
 and there was never a time in his career when he strove with 
 more fervent hope, or more brilliant skill, to secure for his age 
 the freedom without which, as it seemed to him, life was 
 cramped and starved, and the world a mere prison. In the 
 ^terest of this great cause he had abandoned for a while those 
 high studies to which his previous years had been devoted. Of 
 his poetical writings only a few sonnets belong to this period 
 of his life. * God, by His secretary Conscience,' enjoined a far 
 different * service,' and * it were sad for me if I should draw 
 
 back-^ 
 
 This particular year formed a crisis in Milton's life. It wit- 
 nessed the culmination of his hopefulness. There is especially 
 noticeable in the Areopagitica a certain sanguineness and an- 
 ticipation, which subsequent events were bitterly to reprove. 
 In fact Milton was yet but faintly conscious of the immense 
 discrepancies between his age and himself. To him, when the 
 .Long Parliament met in the autumn of 1640, it had seemed 
 that a new day was dawning for England and for mankind. 
 
 * The world's great age begins anew, 
 The golden years return.* 
 
 And he had hailed with a profound exultation the opening acts 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 of that great assembly. When the Star Chamber and its 
 kindred iniquities were suppressed, it seemed once more 
 possible to breathe, and hopes sprang up in him of a new 
 and perfecter reformation. This confidence appeared justified 
 by the fall of the bishops, who had identified themselves with 
 what was held to be the cause of tyranny. Surely there was 
 now at hand a splendid regeneration. As one thinks of Milton 
 in those hours of elation, there rises before the mind the image 
 of another poet, whose experience was strangely similar. Words- 
 worth, on the tiptoe of expectation at the beginning of the 
 French Revolution, reminds one sadly of Milton just a century 
 and a half before. 
 
 * Oh ! pleasant exercise of liope and joy. 
 For m ghty were the auxiliars which then stood 
 Upon our side, we who were strong in love I 
 Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. 
 But to be young was very heaven I Oh ! times 
 In which the meagre, stale, forbidden ways 
 Of custom, law, and statute took at once 
 The attraction of a country in romance I 
 When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights, 
 When most intent on making of herself 
 A prime Enchantress — to assist the work 
 Which then was going forward in her name.' 
 
 The Areopagitica reflects Milton still sanguine a^d confident,) 
 It is true that, as we shall see, the work in fact originated from 
 what might well have taught the writer that his dreams of a 
 complete emancipation were not to be reaHsed ; but Milton 
 could not recognise this conclusion, so Mame and impotent.* 
 He could not yet bring himself to beHeve that the dawn, whose 
 Vising he had greeted with such joy, was presently to be over- 
 cast — that the sun was not to rise higher, but to be stayed in its 
 bright course, as by some malignant Joshua, and presently 
 blurred and obscured with mist and fog. As we see him in 
 this Speech to the Parliament of England he is filled with pride 
 and with hope. No nobler panegyric has been pronounced on 
 our country than that he here pr onounces with his richest 
 eloquence : — K^r^ ^> <fi^ '"" " 
 
 * Lords and Commons of England, consider what Nation it is 
 wherof ye are the governours : a Nation not slow and dull, but 
 
r INTRODUCTION, 
 
 of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent,^ subtle 
 and sinewy to discours, not beneath the reach of any point the 
 highest that human capacity can soar to. Therefore the studies 
 of learning, in her deepest sciences, have bin so ancient and 
 so eminent among us that writers of good antiquity and ablest 
 judgement have bin perswaded that ev'n the school of Py- 
 thagoras, and the Persian wisdom, took beginning from the old 
 Philosophy of this Hand. And that wise and civill Roman Julius 
 Agricola, who govem'd once here for Caesar, preferr'd the 
 naturall wits of Britain before the labour'd studies of the French. 
 Nor is for nothing that the grave and frugal Transilvanian sends 
 out yearly from as farre as the mountanous borders of Russia, 
 and beyond the Hercynian wildemes, not their youth, but their 
 stay'd men, to learn our language and our theologic arts. Yet 
 that which is above all this, the favour and the love of heav'n, 
 ^e have great argument to think in a peculiar manner propitious 
 and propending towards us. Why else was this Nation chosen 
 before any other that out of her, as out of Sion, should be 
 proclaim'd and sounded forth the first tidings and trumpet of 
 ^Reformation to all Europ .f* . . . . Behold now this vast city ; 
 a city of refuge, the mansion house of liberty, encompast and 
 surrounded with his protection ; the shop of warre hath not there 
 more anvils and hammers making, to fashion out the plates and 
 instruments of armed Justice, in defence of beleaguer'd Truth, 
 than there be pens and heads there, sitting by their studious 
 camps, musing, searching, revolving new notions and idea's 
 wherewith to present, as with their homage and their fealty, the 
 approaching Reformation ; others as fast reading, trying all 
 things, assenting to the force of reason and convincement. 
 What could a man require more from a Nation so pliant and 
 so prone to seek after knowledge ? What wants there to such 
 a towardly and pregnant soile, but wise and faithfull labourers, 
 to make a knowing people — a Nation of Prophets, of Sages, and 
 ^of Worthies ?* 
 
 It must be remembered that in this year, 1644, the Par- 
 liamentary cause had achieved triumphs that left little room for 
 doubt as to what would be the issue of the war. The Scots had 
 entered England in January. In the summer the Earl of Essex 
 had advanced westward into Cornwall. July had brought the 
 utter defeat of Prince Rupert at Marston Moor. A gleam of 
 light was, it is true, thrown on the Royal banner by the rising of 
 Montrose, in the autumn ; and in England the King's side had 
 not been without its successes, of which the most important was 
 
INTRODUCTION, xi 
 
 the dispersion of Essex's army in September ; but, on the whole, 
 the Parliament had gained strength and confidence, and the 
 fortune of their opponents was becoming highly dubious, if not 
 quite desperate. In the very November in which the Areopa- 
 gitica was published the * New Model ' of the army was pro- 
 posed, for there were arising into note men resolved to prose- 
 cute the war with a dispatch and an energy not yet conceived. 
 Clearly Milton was troubled by no misgivings as to the event 
 of this military conflict. His mind had passed away from it 
 into other fields, and he thought himself at leisure to open a 
 .spiritual campaign. 
 
 in strange contrast with the buoyancy and pride of the 
 Areopagitica is the tone of certain later writings. The high 
 expectations he had cherished were to be disappointed. It was 
 to be his sad lot to discover that the overthrowers of tyranny 
 
 jnight.themselves prove tyrants. 
 
 * New foes arise 
 Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains.* 
 
 The Presbyterians were presently to display an intolerance not 
 
 exceeded by the Episcopalians whom they had displaced : 
 
 *New presbyter is but old priest writ large/ 
 
 And it was to prove impossible to reconstruct a new political 
 
 order which should be not dependent on the strength and 
 
 wisdom of a great dictator, and so tottering to its fall the instant 
 
 he was removed, but, in itself, strong, and stable, and enduring. 
 
 The age was to be found unequal to the maintenance, or rather 
 
 the attainment, of the ideal entertained by Milton's lofty spirit. 
 
 * Bondage with ease ' was to be dearer than * strenuous liberty.' 
 
 One may easily believe that Milton expected too much ; that^ 
 
 he misinterpreted the signs of the times ; that he too readily 
 
 supposed others to be actuated by the same high-mindedness 
 
 and pure enthusiasm that moved himself ; but the discovery of 
 
 his misapprehensions must have been none the less afflicting ; 
 
 and with a lesser nature would have ended in mere disgust 
 
 and contempt for his race. As it was, though some bitter words 
 
 escaped him, he did not argue 
 
 * Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
 Of heart or hope ; but still ' bore up and steered 
 •Right onward.* 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 He was not left comfortless. 
 
 *Thou hast great allies; 
 Thy friends are exultations, agonies, 
 And love, and man's unconquerable mind/ 
 
 And the difference just mentioned between his earlier and his 
 later political writings appears not in any growing predominance 
 of scorn and of satire, but in a certain enforced sobriety of 
 expectation; He is prepared for the worst rather than sanguine 
 of the best. If we remember what his dreams had been, and 
 "what were the realities he saw, there is a profound pathos in 
 these following words of his, uttered just before the Restoration. 
 When he wrote them, he, like his Samson, was not * in the list 
 of them that hope'; but, when he wrote the Areopagitica^ he 
 felt himself called to be a * great deliverer,' Heaven's ' nursling 
 and choice delight,' led on 
 
 * To mightiest deeds 
 Above the nerve of mortal arm, 
 Against the Uncircumcised, our enemies.* 
 
 The passage now to be quoted forms the conclusion of * The 
 Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, and 
 the excellence thereof, compared with the inconveniences and 
 dangers of readmitting Kingship in this Nation,' published in 
 1660 : — 
 
 * I have no more to say at present ; few words will save us, well 
 considered ; few and easy things now seasonably done. But if 
 the people be so affected as to prostitute religion and liberty to 
 the vain and groundless apprehension that nothing but kingship 
 can restore trade, not remembering the frequent plagues and 
 pestilences that then wasted this city, such as, through God's 
 mercy, we never have felt since ; and that trade flourishes no- 
 where more than in the free commonwealths of Italy, Germany, 
 and the Low Countries, before their eyes at this day ; yet if trade 
 be grown so craving and importunate, through the profuse living 
 of tradesmen, that nothing can support it but the luxurious ex- 
 penses of a nation upon trifles or superfluities ; so as if the people 
 generally should betake themselves to frugality it might prove 
 5 dangerous matter, lest tradesmen should mutiny for want of 
 trading ; and that, therefore, we must forego and set to sale re- 
 ligion, liberty, honour, safety, all concernments divine or human, 
 to keep up trading ; if, lastly, after all this light among us the 
 
INTRODUCTION, xiii 
 
 same reason shall pass for current to put our necks again 
 under kingship, as was made use of by the Jews to return 
 back to Egypt, and to the worship of their idol queen, 
 because they falsely imagined that they then lived in more 
 plenty and prosperity ; our condition is not sound but rotten, 
 both in religion and all civil prudence ; and will bring us 
 soon the way we are marching to those calamities which 
 attend always and unavoidably on luxury, all national judg- 
 ments under foreign and domestic slavery, so far we shall 
 be from mending our condition by monarchising our govern- 
 ment whatever new conceit now possesses us. However, with 
 all hazard, I have ventured what I thought my duty to speak 
 in season, and to forewarn my country in time ; wherein I 
 doubt not but there be many wise in all places and degrees, 
 but am sorry the effects of wisdom are so little seen among us. 
 Many circumstances and particulars I could have added in 
 those things whereof I have spoken, but a few main matters 
 now put speedily in execution will suffice to recover us and set 
 all right ; and there will want at no time who are good at 
 circumstances, but men who set their minds on main matters, 
 and sufficiently urge them in these most difficult times, I find 
 not many. What I have spoken is the language of that which 
 is not called amiss "The Good old Cause"; if it seem strange 
 to any, it will not seem more strange, I hope, than convincing to 
 backsliders. Thus much I should perhaps have said, though I 
 were sure I should have spoken only to trees and stones ; and 
 had none to cry to but with the prophet " O earth, earth, earth ! " 
 to tell the very soil itself what her perverse inhabitants are deaf 
 to. Nay, though what I have spoke should happen (which thou 
 suffer not, who did'st create mankind free ! Nor thou next, who 
 did'st redeem us from being servants of men,) to be the last 
 words of our expiring liberty. But I trust I shall have spoken 
 persuasion to abundance of sensible and ingenuous men ; to 
 some, perhaps, whom God may raise from these stones to be- 
 come children of reviving liberty ; and may reclaim though they 
 seem now choosing them a captain back for Egypt, to bethink 
 themselves a little, and consider whither they are rushing ; to 
 exhort this torrent also of the people not to be so impetuous, 
 but to keep their due channel, and at length recovering and 
 uniting their better resolutions, now that they see already how 
 open and unbounded the insolence and rage is of our common 
 enemies, to stay these ruinous proceedings, justly and timely 
 fearing to what a precipice of destruction the deluge of this 
 epidemic madness would hurry us, through the general defection 
 of a misguided and abused muititude.' (Works, pp. 451-2.) 
 
Xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SECTION II. THE SUBJECT. 
 
 And yet Milton's own experience might well have made him 
 mistrustful of his conceptions of the future. The attempt made 
 
 _to reimpose restrictions upon the freedom of expressed thought, 
 against which he raises his voice in the Areopagitica with so 
 noble a vehemence, so that it will still be heard to the very end 
 of time, was only too significant of the temper and tendencies 
 of the Presbyterian rule that then lay upon his country. From 
 the meeting of the Long Parliament in November, 1640, to 
 June, 1643, the Press had been practically free\ Even the 
 custom of registering publications in the books of the Stationers' 
 Company had been widely neglected. On June 14, 1643, the 
 
 . following Ordinance was ordered by the Lords and Commons 
 assembled in Parliament : — 
 
 /'An Order of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parlia- 
 'ment, for the Regulating of Printing, and for suppressing the 
 great late abuses and frequent disorders in Printing many false, 
 Scandalous, Seditious, Libellous, and unlicensed Pamphlets, to 
 the great defamation of Religion and Government. 
 
 * Also, authorizing the Masters & Wardens of the Company 
 of Stationers to make diligent search, seize and carry away all 
 such Books as they shall finde Printed, or reprinted by any 
 man having no lawfull interest in them, being entred into the 
 Hall Book to any other man as his proper Copies. 
 
 * Die Mercurii. 14 June. 1643. — Ordered by the Lords and 
 Commons assembled in Parliament that this Order shall be 
 
 forthwith printed and published. — J. Brown Cler. Parliamen- 
 torum : Hen. Elsing Cler. De Com*^. 
 
 ^ Die Mercurii, 14 Junii. 1643. 
 
 * Whereas divers good Orders have bin lately made by both 
 Houses of Parliament, for suppressing the great late abuses and 
 frequent disorders in Printing many false, forged, scandalous, 
 seditious, libellous, and unlicensed Papers, Pamphlets, and 
 Books to the great defamation of Religion and government. 
 Which orders (notwithstanding the diligence of the Company 
 of Stationers, to put them in full execution) having taken little 
 
 * See Masson's Life of John Milton and History of his Time, iii. 265 
 $t seg. 
 
 « 'LONDON, Printed for /. Wright in the Old-baily, lune 16, 1643.' 
 See Arbcr's Areopagitica, pp. 25-8. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 or no effect : By reason the bill in preparation, for redresse of 
 the said disorders, hath hitherto bin retarded through the pre- 
 sent distractions, and very many, as well Stationers and Printers^ 
 as others of sundry other professions not free of the Stationers 
 Company, have taken upon them to set up sundry private Print- 
 ing Presses in comers, and to print, vend, publish and disperse 
 Books, pamphlets and papers, in such multitudes, that no in- 
 dustry could be sufficient to discover or bring to punishment, all 
 the severall abounding delinquents : And by reason that divers 
 of the Stationers Company and others being Delinquents (con- 
 trary to former orders and the constant custome used among 
 the said Company) have taken liberty to Print, Vend and pub- 
 lish, the most profitable vendible Copies of Books, belonging to 
 the Company and other Stationers^ especially of such Agents 
 as are imployed in putting the said Orders in Execution, and 
 that by way of revenge for giveing information against them to 
 the Houses for their Delinquences in Printing, to the great 
 prejudice of the said Company of Stationers and Agents, and 
 to their discouragement in this publik service. 
 
 * It is therefore Ordered by the Lords and Commons in Par- 
 /iament, Thsit no Order or Declaration of both, or either House 
 of Parliament shall be printed by any, but by order of one or 
 both the said Houses : Nor other Book, Pamphlet, paper, nor 
 part of any such Book, Pamphlet, or paper, shall from hence- 
 forth be printed, bound, stitched or put to sale by any person 
 or persons whatsoever, unlesse the same be first approved of 
 and licensed under the hands of such person or persons as 
 both, or either of the said Houses shall appoint for the licensing 
 of the same, and entred in the Register Book of the Company 
 of Statiofiers, according to Ancient custom, and the- Printer 
 thereof to put his name thereto. And that no person or persons 
 shall hereafter print, or cause to be reprinted any Book, or 
 Books or part of Book, or Books heretofore allowed of and 
 granted to the said Company of Stationers for their relief and 
 maintenance of their poore, without the licence or consent of 
 the Master, Wardens, and Assistants of the said Company; 
 Nor any Book or Books lawfully licenced and entred in the 
 Register of the said Company for any particular member 
 thereof, without the licence and consent of the owner or owners 
 thereof. Nor yet import any such Book or Books, or part of 
 Book or Books formerly Printed here, from beyond the Seas, 
 upon paine of forfeiting the same to the Owner, or Owners of 
 the Copies of the said Books, and such further punishment as 
 shall be thought fit. 
 
XVi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 *And the Master and Wardens of the said Company, the 
 Gentleman Usher of the House of Peers, the Sergeant of the 
 Commons House and their deputies, together with the persons 
 formerly appointed by the Committee of the House of Commons 
 for Examinations, are hereby Authorized and required, from 
 time to time, to make diligent search in all places, where they 
 shall think meete, for all unlicensed Printing Presses, and all 
 Presses any way imployed in the printing of scandalous or un- 
 licensed Papers, Pamphlets, Books, or any Copies of Books 
 belonging to the said Company, or any member thereof, without 
 their approbation and consents, and to seize and carry away 
 such Printing Presses, Letters, together with the Nut, Spindle, 
 and other materialls of every such irregular Printer, which they 
 find so misimployed, unto the Common Hall of the said Com- 
 pany, there to be defaced and made unserviceable according to 
 Ancient Custom ; And likewise to make diligent search in all 
 suspected Printing-houses, Ware-houses, Shops and other places 
 for such scandalous and unlicensed Books, papers. Pamphlets, 
 and all other Books, not entred, nor signed with the Printers 
 name as aforesaid, being printed, or reprinted by such as have 
 no lawfuU interest in them, or any way contrary to this Order, 
 and the same to seize and carry away to the said common hall, 
 there to remain till both or either House of Parliament shall 
 dispose thereof, And likewise to apprehend all Authors, Printers, 
 and other persons whatsoever imployed in compiling, printing, 
 stitching, binding, pubUshing and dispersing of the said scan- 
 dalous, unlicensed, and unwarrantable papers, books and 
 pamphlets as aforesaid, and all those who shall resist the said 
 Parties in searching after them, and to bring them afore either 
 of the Houses or the Committee of Examinations, that so they 
 may receive such further punishments, as their Offences shall 
 demerit, and not to be released untill they have given satis- 
 faction to the Parties imployed in their apprehension for their 
 paines and charges, and given sufficient caution not to offend 
 in like sort for the future. And all Justices of the Peace, Cap- 
 taines. Constables and other officers, are hereby ordered and 
 required to be aiding, and assisting to the foresaid persons in 
 the due execution of all, and singular the premisses and in the 
 apprehension of all Offenders against the same. And in case 
 of opposition to break open Doores and Locks. 
 
 *And it is further ordered, that this Order be forthwith 
 Printed and Published, to the end that notice may be taken 
 thereof, and all Contemners of it left inexcusable. 
 
 'Finis.' 
 
INTRODUCTION'. xvii 
 
 For some account of the previous history of Book-censorship 
 the reader may be referred to the Areopagitica itself, where, 
 in the opening part of his argument, Milton rapidly surveys the 
 conduct of other countries and times in this respect^ It is clear 
 that books enjoyed an immunity from restriction in the Middle 
 Ages, only because they were held to be of comparatively slight 
 account. As soon as ever their influence began to extend, and the 
 printing press to multiply copies without limit, so soon were they 
 regarded with jealous eyes and threatened with a rigorous super- 
 vision. From the close of the fifteenth century a formal cen- 
 sorship became a more and more common institution. 
 
 * The oldest mandate, for appointing a book-censor,* says Beck- 
 mann, * is, as far as I know at present, that issued by Berthold, 
 Archbishop of Mentz, in the year i486, and which may be found 
 in the fourth volume of Guden's Codex Diplomaticus. In the 
 year 1501, Pope Alexander VI. published a bull, the first part of 
 which may form an excellent companion to the mandate of the 
 Archbishop of Mentz. After some complaints against the devil, 
 who sows tares among the wheat, his holiness proceeds thus : — 
 " Having been informed that, by means of the said art, many books 
 and treatises containing various errors and pernicious doctrines, 
 even hostile to the holy Christian religion, have been printed, 
 and are still printed in various parts of the world, particularly in 
 the provinces of Cologne, Mentz, Trier, and Magdeburg : and 
 being desirous, without further delay, to put a stop to this de- 
 testable evil, . . . we, by these presents, and by authority of the 
 Apostolic Chamber, strictly forbid all printers, their servants, 
 and those exercising the art of printing under them, in any 
 manner whatsoever, in the abovesaid provinces, under pain of 
 excommunication, and a pecuniary fine, to be imposed and ex- 
 acted by our venerable brethren the Archbishops of Cologne, 
 Mentz, Trier, and Magdeburg, and their vicars-general or official 
 in spirituals, according to the pleasure of each in his own pro- 
 vince, to print hereafter any books, treatises, or writings, until 
 they have consulted on this subject the archbishops, vicars, or 
 officials above-mentioned, and obtained their special and express 
 
 ^ See also Standard Library Cyclop, s. v. Press Censorship ; Beckmann's 
 Hist, of Inventions, on Book Censors, and on Exclusive Privilege for Printing 
 Books (ii. 512-522, of the 4th Engl, edit.) ; Knight's London, vol. 5, The 
 Old London Booksellers ; Hart's Index Expurgatorius Anglicanus, Parts i and 
 ji ; Hallam's Constitut. Hist, of Engl, passim ; D'Israeli's Curiosities of Liter- 
 ature, on Licensers of the Press ; Hunt's Fourth Estate 1850 ; Buckle's Hist, 
 of Civilization Iq England, &c. 
 
 b 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION, 
 
 licence, to be granted free of all expense, whose consciences 
 we charge, that before they grant any licence of this kind, they 
 will carefully examine, or cause to be examined, by able and 
 catholic persons, the works to be printed ; and that they will 
 take the utmost care that nothing may be printed wicked or 
 scandalous, or contrary to the orthodox faith." The rest of the 
 bull contains regulations to prevent works already printed from 
 doing mischief. All catalogues and books printed before that 
 period were to be examined, and those which contained any- 
 thing prejudicial to the Catholic religion were to be burned. 
 In the beginning of the sixteenth century it was ordered by the 
 well-known Council of the Lateran, held at Rome in the year 
 1 5 1 5, that, in future, no books should be printed but such as had 
 been inspected by ecclesiastical censors. In France, the faculty 
 of Theology usurped, as some say, the right of censuring books ; 
 but in the year 1650, when public censors, whom the faculty 
 opposed, were appointed, without their consent, they stated the 
 antiquity of their right to be two hundred years. For they said, 
 "It is above two hundred years since the doctors of Paris have 
 had a right to approve books without being subjected but to their 
 own faculty, to which they assert they are alone responsible for 
 their decisions."' 
 
 In countries where the Inquisition was established the work 
 of the censorship was undertaken by the Holy Office. Else- 
 where it was taken up by the bishops. In England it was 
 especially discharged by the Star Chamber, a Court that was 
 in fact, whatever the theoretic constitution, mainly in the hands 
 jof the bishops \ Long before Archbishop Laud's time this Court 
 had exercised authority over the Press (as, for example, at Whit- 
 gift's instance in 1585) ; but it was under him that its restrictive 
 power was put forth in its severest form. On the nth day of 
 July, 1637, was passed the notorious * Decree of Starre- Chamber 
 Concerning Printing.' This document may be found entire in 
 Mr. Arber's Reprint of the Areopagitica. We quote here only 
 the more relevant of its thirty-three clauses. 
 
 *In Camera Stellata coram Concilio ibidem, vndecimo die 
 lulii. Anno decimo tertio Caroli Regis. 
 
 * Imprimis^ That no person or persons whatsoeuer shall pre- 
 sume to print, or cause to bee printed, either in the parts beyond 
 the Seas, or in this Realme, or other his Maiesties Dominions, 
 
 * See Gardiner's Personal Government of Charles I, i.. 161. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 any seditious, scismaticall, or offensive Bookes or Pamphlets, to 
 the scandall of Religion, or the Church, or the Government, or 
 Governours of the Church or State, or Commonwealth, or of any 
 Corporation, or particular person or persons whatsoeuer, nor 
 shall import any such Booke or Bookes, nor sell or dispose of 
 them, or any of them, nor cause any such to be bound, stitched, 
 or sowed, vpon paine that he or they so offending, shall loose all 
 such Bookes and Pamphlets, and also haue, and suffer such cor- 
 rection, and severe punishment, either by Fine, imprisonment, or 
 other corporall punishment, or otherwise, as by this Court, or by 
 His Maiesties Commissioners for causes Ecclesiasticall in the high 
 Commission Court, respectiuely, as the several causes shall re- 
 quire, shall be thought fit to be inflicted upon him, or them, for 
 such their offence and contempt. 
 
 * II. Ite7n^ That no person or persons whatsoeuer, shall at any 
 time print, or cause to be imprinted, any Booke or Pamphlet 
 whatsoever vnlesse the same Booke or Pamphlet, and also all and 
 euery the Titles, Epistles, Prefaces, Proems, Preambles, Intro- 
 ductions, Tables, Dedications, and other matters and things 
 whatsoeuer thereunto annexed, or therewith imprinted, shall be 
 first lawfully licenced and authorized onely by such person and 
 persons as are hereafter expressed, and by no other, and shall be 
 also first entred into the Registers Booke of the Company of 
 Stationers ; vpon paine that every Printer offending therein, shall 
 be for euer hereafter disabled to use or exercise the Art or 
 Mysterie of Printing, and receiue such further punishment, as by 
 this Court or the high Commission Court respectiuely, as the 
 severall causes shall require, shall be thought fitting. 
 
 * III. Item^ That all Bookes concerning the common Lawes of 
 this Realme shall be printed by the especiall allowance of the 
 Lords chiefe lustices, and the Lord chiefs Baron for the time 
 being, or one or more of them, or by their appointment : And 
 that all Books of History, belonging to this State, and present 
 times, or any other Booke of State affaires, shall be licenced 
 by the principall Secretaries of State, or one of them, or by their 
 appointment ; And that all Bookes concerning Heraldry, Titles of 
 Honour and Armes, or otherwise concerning the Office of Earle 
 Marshall, shall be licenced by the Earle Marshall, or by his ap- 
 pointment ; And further, that all other Books, whether of Diuinitie, 
 Phisicke, Philosophie, Poetry, or whatsoeuer, shall be allowed by 
 the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury^ or Bishop of London for the 
 time being, or by their appointment, or the Chancellours, or Vice 
 Chancellors of either of the Vniuersities of this Realme for the 
 time being. 
 
 *Alwayes prouided, that the Chancellour or Vice-Chancellour. 
 
 b2 
 
XX INTRODUCTION, 
 
 of either of the Vniuersities, shall Licence onely such Booke or 
 Bookes that are to be Printed within the limits of the Vniuersities 
 respectiuely, but not in London^ or elsewhere, not medling either 
 with Bookes of the common Law, or matters of State. 
 
 *IV. Item^ That euery person and persons, which by any 
 Decree of this Court are, or shall be appointed or authorized to 
 Licence Bookes, or giue Warrant for imprinting thereof, as is 
 aforesaid, shall haue two seuerall written Copies of the same 
 Booke or Bookes with the Titles, Epistles, Prefaces, Proems, 
 Preambles, Introductions, Tables, Dedications, and other things 
 whatsoeuer thereunto annexed. One of which said Copies shall 
 be kept in the publike Registries of the said Lord Arch-Bishop, 
 and Bishop of London respectiuely, or in the Office of the Chan- 
 cellour, or Vice-Chancellour of either of the Vniuersities, or with 
 the Earle Marshall or principall Secretaries of State, or with the 
 Lords chiefe Justices, or chiefe Baron, of all such Bookes as shall 
 be licenced by them respectiuely, to the end that he or they may 
 be secure, that the Copy so licensed by him or them shall not bee 
 altered without his or their priuitie, and the other shall remain 
 with him whose Copy it is, and vpon both the said Copies, he or 
 they that shall allow the said Booke, shall testifie vnder his or 
 their hand or hands, that there is nothing in that Booke or Books 
 contained, that is contrary to Christian Faith, and the Doctrine 
 and Disciphne of the Church oi Eiigland^ nor against the State or 
 Gouernment, nor contrary to good life, or good manners, or 
 otherwise, as the nature and subiect of the work shall require, 
 which licence or approbation shall be imprinted in the beginning 
 of the same Booke, with the name, or names of him or them that 
 shall authorize or license the same, for a testimonie of the allow- 
 ance thereof. 
 
 * VIL Item^ That no person or persons shall within this King- 
 dome, or elsewhere imprint, or cause to be imprinted, nor shall 
 import or bring in, or cause to be imported or brought into this 
 Kingdome, from, or out of any other His Maiesties Dominions, 
 nor from other, or any parts beyond the Seas, any Copy, book or 
 books, or part of any booke or bookes, printed beyond the 
 seas, or elsewhere, which the said Company of Stationers, or any 
 other person or persons haue, or shall by any Letters Patents, 
 Order, or Entrance in their Register book, or otherwise, haue the 
 right, priuiledge, authoritie, or allowance soly to print, nor shall 
 bind, stitch, or put to sale, any such booke or bookes, vpon paine 
 of losse and forfeiture of all the said bookes, and of such Fine, or 
 other punishment, for euery booke or part of a booke so im- 
 printed or imported, bound, stitched, or put to sale, to be leuyed 
 of the party so offending, as by the power of this Court, or the 
 
INTRODUCTION". XXi 
 
 high Commission Court respectiuely, as the severall causes shall 
 require, shall be thought fit. 
 
 'VIII. Item, Euery person and persons that shall hereafter 
 Print, or cause to be Printed, any Bookes, Ballads, Charts, Por- 
 traiture, or any other thing or things whatsoeuer, shall thereunto 
 or thereon Print and set his and their owne name or names, as 
 also the name or names of the Author or Authors, Maker or 
 Makers of the same, and by, or from whom any such booke, 
 or other thing is, or shall be printed, vpon pain of forfiture of all 
 such Books, Ballads, Chartes, Portraitures, and other thing or 
 things, printed contrary to this Article ; And the presses. Let- 
 ters and other instruments for Printing, wherewith such Books, 
 ballads, Chartes, Portraitures, and other thing or things shall be 
 printed, to be defaced and made vnseruiceable, and the party and 
 parties so offending, to be fined, imprisoned, and haue such other 
 corporall punishment, or otherwise, as by this Honourable Court, 
 or the said high Commission respectiuely, as the seuerall causes 
 shall require, shall be thought fit. 
 
 *XII. Iteyn, That no stranger or forreigner whatsoeuer, be 
 suffered to bring in, or vent here, any booke or bookes printed 
 beyond the seas, in any language whatsoeuer, either by themselues 
 or their secret Factors, except such onely as bee free Stationers of 
 London, and such as haue beene brought vp in that profession, 
 and haue their whole meanes of subsistance, and liuelihood de- 
 pending thereupon, vpon paine of confiscation of all such Books 
 so imported, and such further penalties, as by this Court, or the 
 high Commission Court respectiuely, as the seuerall causes shall 
 require, shall be thought fit to be imposed. 
 
 *XIII. Ite^n, That no person or persons within the Citie of 
 London, or the liberties thereof, or elsewhere, shall erect or cause 
 to be erected any Presse or Printing-house, nor shall demise, or 
 let, or suffer to be held or vsed, any house, vault, seller, or other 
 roome whatsoeuer, to, or by any person or persons, for a Printing- 
 house, or place to print in, vnlesse he or they which shall so 
 demise or let the same, or suffer the same to be so vsed, shall 
 first giue notice to the said Master and Wardens of the Company 
 of Stationers for the time being, of such demise, or suffering to 
 worke or print there, upon paine of imprisonment, and such 
 other punishment as by this Court, or the said high Commission 
 Court respectiuely, as the seuerall Causes shall require, shall bee 
 thought fit. 
 
 * XV. Item, The Court doth declare, that as formerly, so now, 
 there shall be but Twentie Master Printers allowed to haue the 
 vse of one Presse or more, as is after specified, and doth hereby 
 nominate, allow, and admit these persons whose names hereafter 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 follow, to the number of Twentie, to have the vse of a Presse, or 
 Presses and Printing-house, for the time being, viz. Felix King- 
 stone^ Adam Islip, Thomas Purfoot, Miles Flesher, Thomas 
 Harper, lohn Beale, lohn Legal, Robert Young, lohn Haviland, 
 George Miller, Richard Badger, Thomas Cotes, Bernard Alsop, 
 Richard Bishop, Edward Griffin, Thomas Purslow, Richard 
 Hodgkinsonne, lohn Dawson, lohn Raworth, Marmaduke 
 Parsons. And further, the Court doth order and decree. That 
 it shall be lawfull for the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, or the 
 Lord Bishop of London, for the time being, taking to him or 
 them six other high Commissioners, to supply the place or places 
 of those which are now already Printers by this Court, as they 
 shall fall void by death, or Censure, or otherwise ; Prouided that 
 they exceed not the number of Twentie, besides his Maiesties 
 Printers, and the Printers allowed for the Vniuersities. 
 
 ^XXIL Item, The Court doth hereby declare, that it doth not 
 hereby restraine the Printers of either of the Vniuersities from 
 taking what number of Apprentices for their seruice in printing 
 there, they themselues shall thinke fit. Prouided alwayes, that 
 the said Printers in the Vniuersities shall imploy all their owne 
 lourney-men within themselves, and not suffer any of their said 
 lourney-men to go abroad for imployment to the Printers of 
 London (vnlesse vpon occasion some Printers of London desire 
 to imploy some extraordinary Workman or Workmen amongst 
 them, without preiudice to their owne Journeymen, who are 
 Freemen) vpon such penalty as the Chancellor of either of the 
 Vniuersities for the time being, shall thinke fit to inflict vpon the 
 delinquents herein. 
 
 'XXV. Item, That for the better discouery of printing in 
 Corners without licence ; The Master and Wardens of the Com- 
 pany of Stationers for the time being, or any two licensed Master- 
 Printers, which shall be appointed by the Lord Arch-Bishop of 
 Canterbury, or Lord B. of London for the time being, shall haue 
 power and authority, to take vnto themselues such assistance as 
 they shall think needfull, and to search what houses and shops 
 (and at what time they shall think fit) especially Printing-houses, 
 and to view what is in printing, and to call for the license to see 
 whether it be licenced or no, and if not, to seize vpon so much as 
 is printed, together with the seuerall offenders, and to bring them 
 before the Lord Arch-Bishop oi Canterbury, or the Lord Bishop of 
 London for the time being, that they or either of them may take 
 such further order therein as shall appertaine to Justice. 
 
 * XXVL Item, The Court doth declare, that it shall be lawfull 
 also for the said Searchers, if, vpon search they find any book or 
 bookes, or part of booke or books which they suspect to contains 
 matter in it or them, contrary to the doctrine and discipHne of 
 
INTRODUCTION-. xxiii 
 
 the Church of England^ or against the State and Government, 
 upon such suspition to seize upon such book or books, or part of 
 booke or books, and to bring it, or them, to the Lord Arch- 
 Bishop oi Canterbury^ or the Lord Bishop oi London for the time 
 being, who shall take such further course therein, as to their 
 Lordships, or either of them shall seeme fit. 
 
 *XXVn. Item^ The Court doth order and declare, that there 
 shall be foure P'ounders of letters for printing allowed, and no 
 more, and doth hereby nominate, allow, and admit these persons, 
 whose names herefter follow, to the number of foure, to be letter- 
 Founders for the time being, (viz.) John Gris7nand, Tho?nas 
 Wright, Arthur Nichols, Alexander Fifeild. And further, the 
 Court doth Order and Decree, that it shall be lawfull for the 
 Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, or the Lord Bishop of London 
 for the time being, taking unto him or them, six other high Com- 
 missioners, to supply the place or places of these who are now 
 allowed Founders of letters by this Court, as they shall fall void 
 by death, censure, or otherwise. 
 
 Prouided, that they exceede not the number of foure, set 
 downe by this Court. And if any person or persons, not being 
 an allowed Founder, shall notwithstanding take vpon him, or 
 them, to Found, or cast letters for printing, vpon complaint and 
 proofe made of such offence, or offences, he, or they so offending, 
 shal suffer such punishment, as this Court, or the High Commis- 
 sion court respectiuely, as the seuerall causes shall require, shall 
 think fit to inflict vpon them. 
 
 *XXXIIL Itefn, That whereas there is an agreement betwixt 
 Sir Thomas Bodley, Knight, Founder of the Vniuersity Library at 
 Oxford, and the Master, Wardens, and Assistants of the Company 
 of Stationers {viz^ That one Booke of euery sort that is new 
 printed, or reprinted with additions, be sent to the Vniuersitie of 
 Oxford for the vse of the publique Librarie there ; The Court 
 doth hereby Order, and declare. That euery Printer shall reserue 
 one Book new printed, or reprinted by him, with additions, and 
 shall before any publique venting of the said book, bring it to the 
 Common Hall of the Companie of Stationers, and deliuer it to the 
 Officer thereof to be sent to the Librarie at Oxford accordingly 
 vpon paine of imprisonment, and such further Order and Direction 
 therein, as to this Court, or the high Commission Court respec- 
 tiuely, as the seuerall causes shall require, shall be thought fit.' 
 
 At the very time this rigorous edict was passed, Prynne\ 
 Burton, and Bastwickwere lying in various prisons, the earless and 
 
 * See Gardiner's Pers. Gov. of Charles I (ii. 39, 41), as to Prjnne's previous 
 appearances before the Star Chamber. 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 branded victims of the Court that issued'it ; but they were presently 
 to be the victors. Their treatment excited the deepest commise- 
 ration throughout the country. The Star-Chamber might make 
 its * Decrees/ but its days were numbered. With the meeting 
 of the Long ParHament its elaborate edict became mere waste 
 ^aper. In July 1641 an Act was passed for * regulating the 
 Privy Council, and for taking away the Court commonly called 
 the Star Chamber': and so this jealous Court expired, never, 
 happily, to be revived, though there were not wanting at the 
 Restoration those who would have rejoiced over its renascence. 
 
 ^But the spirit that moved it did not die with it, and was 
 ^oon perceived merely to have transmigrated into a new body. 
 For a time indeed it was comparatively inoperative and dumb ; 
 but in less than three years it began to make its presence once 
 more felt. There soon arose complaints of the unmitigated free- 
 dom of discussion that was found to prevail. Those who opened 
 the lips of the nation were astonished at the thronging cries that 
 proceeded from them. Freedom of speech was all very well 
 when an enemy was the object of attack ; but when it was them- 
 selves that were irreverently canvassed and exposed, it was not 
 quite so free from objection. Moreover * new heresies,' so called, 
 were springing up every day. Men were striking away from 
 all the proper and respectable highways of thought into paths 
 no decorous person had ever heard of. Whose * views ' were 
 safe from assault ? It was altogether uncomfortable to have to be 
 perpetually reconsidering and defending one's creed. This state 
 of things was felt to be singularly * unsettling.' 
 
 Not the least amongst the innovating offenders was Milton 
 himself. His Divorce treatises had greatly scandalized many who 
 had exulted in his succour in the controversy with the bishops 
 in 1 64 1 and 1642. They were denounced from the pulpit in a 
 sermon^ preached before the two Houses of Parliament in August 
 J 664, and shortly afterwards ^ petitioned against by the Stationers' 
 Company. 
 
 Milton then had personal reasons for coming forward as the 
 champion of Unlicensed Printing, and, apart from these personal 
 motives, he was well aware of the animosity his Divorce writings 
 
 * See Masson's Milton, iii. pp. 162-4 ^"^ 263. ^ Ibid, 165. 
 
INTRODUCTIOI^. XXV 
 
 had aroused, for he speaks of * the world of disesteem' in which 
 he found himself. Possibly, in some pew at St. Margaret's, West- 
 minster, he heard himself spoken of as * impudent' enough to *set 
 his name ' * to a wicked book which was abroad, and uncensured, 
 though deserving to be burnt.' Perhaps there was never incar- 
 nate a spirit so impatient of all petty regulation and control as^^ 
 was that of Milton. Not that he meant ^Ijcensei? when he cried ^ 
 'liberty,' for his sense of law was as deep as his nature ; and, bold 
 
 thinker as he was, he was ever ready and eager to acknowledge all i 
 
 just and eternal restrictions upon human thought. But for any 
 meaner limitings, they moved in him disdain and indignation. 
 
 * For me,' he writes in The Reason of Church Govemme7it urged 
 against Prelaiy, ^ I have determined to lay up as the best treasure 
 and solace of a good old age, if God vouchsafe it me, the honest 
 liberty of free speech^irom my youth, where I shall think it available 
 in so dear a concernment as the Church's good* 
 
 His was eminently * a free and knowing spirit,' and resented, as 
 a fearful ignominy, any attempts to bind and shackle it. Our 
 supreme dramatic poet tells us, in one of his sonnets, of certain 
 sights that * tired ' him, and made him cry for * resffull death '^ 
 and amongst the sickening spectacles are 
 
 Strength by limping sway disabled^ 
 
 And art made tongue-tied by authority. 
 
 And folly doctor^like controlling skill.' 
 
 Not other are the visions Milton sees in his Areofagitica :— 
 
 * What is it but a servitude, like that imposed by the Philistines, 
 not to be allowed the sharpening of our own axes and coulters, 
 but we must repair from all quarters to twenty licensing forges ? 
 
 * What advantage is it to be a man over it is to be a boy at 
 school, if we have only scapt the ferular to come under the fescue 
 of an imprimatur ? ' 
 
 But these things do not 'tire' and dishearten Milton. Rather > 
 ^ey inflame him with a noble rage \ and so, in a very splendour of 
 wrath, he rouses himself to strike them down. He seems 'larger 
 than human,' as he advances to the fray, and the air around is 
 filled with lightnings, and a clear way cleft in front of him with 
 thunderbolts no shields can stay. 
 
 ^^ Si Sid -npon&xojv KeKopvO/jiivos aXOom X^^'^V 
 
 • . . . <l)\oyl €l/C(\0t 'H0€U<7TO(O 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION, 
 
 It need scarcely be said that Milton's fitness for the cham- 
 pionship he assumed was recognised by others. Indeed it was 
 partly in deference to the urgency of others that he stood for- 
 ward as he did. Learned men were complaining of the new 
 tyranny — 
 
 * And that so generally that when I disclosed myself a com- 
 panion of their discontent, I might say, if without envy, that he 
 whom an honest quaestorship had endeared to the SiciHans was 
 not more by them importuned against Verres, than the favourable 
 opinion which I had among many who honour ye, and are known 
 and respected by ye, loaded me with entreaties and persuasions 
 that I would not despair to lay together that which just reason 
 should bring into my mind toward the removal of an undeserved 
 thraldom upon learning.' 
 
 SECTION III. THE FORM. 
 
 As Milton wished directly to appeal to. the Parliament, and not 
 merely to talk at them, it seemed to him well to cast what he had 
 to say in the form of a Speech addressed straight to them. Not 
 that the speech was ever meant to be delivered in the ordinary 
 ^sense. Just as the best dramatic pieces of the present century 
 were written to be read — not to be seen acted — so this work was 
 meant to be read, not heard de livered ^. It was meant for the 
 closet, not for the forum. The author ascends an imaginary 
 tribune, and conceives the Lords and Commons of England 
 gathered around to listen. This direct expression suited better 
 the mood of Milton's spirit at . the time. He was terribly in 
 earnest, and zealous to strike home. He did not propose merely 
 to discuss the general question at issue, but he longed also to 
 expostulate immediately and fervently with the Government on 
 the character of the policy they were enforcing. It seemed to 
 Jiim no idle 'matter fit "for leisurely disquisition, but a matter of 
 life and death ; and so far as might be, he would put aside all 
 mtervening obstacles, and say out in the very ears of those 
 whom he would move the thoughts that burned within him. 
 Moreover, it gave no trifling charm in his judgment to this treat- 
 ment of his subject that precedents for it were, as we shall see, 
 to be found in that Greek literature which was his delight. 
 
INTRODUCTION, XXvH 
 
 It is to be remembered then, that the Parliament is immer. 
 diately before the eye of his mind throughout this discour se. 
 
 ^"The exordium or opening passage is altogether devoted to their__ 
 praises, and the deprecation of any annoyance that might pos- 
 sibly be created by his boldness in intruding his voice upon them. 
 
 ''He says that the mere thought of whom it is his address * hath 
 recourse to,' stirs in him a strange excitement — *hath got the 
 
 ~power within me to a passion far more welcome than incidental 
 to a preface.' And, indeed, this was no wonder, when we 
 think of the immortal services that * High Court' had done for 
 England. In the subsequent history of the Long Parliament 
 there may be something that is ignoble and mean. It may be 
 that it outlived its vigour, and in its senility sank into folly and 
 contempt ; but it is not possible to recall its illustrious youth and 
 the prowess of it without pride and admiration. Milton's au- 
 dience was at the time he spoke not unworthy of Milton. And 
 amidst all the eulogies that contemporaries and writers since 
 of all shades of political opinion have bestowed upon that memor- 
 able House of Commons, no higher compliment was ever paid 
 to it'than when the ardent soul of Milton turned so impetuously 
 towards it to pray for the relaxation of bonds that seemed to 
 stifle the very spirit of freedom. Its past career filled him with 
 confidence for the future. 
 
 'For this is not the liberty which wee can hope, that no 
 grievance ever should arise in the Commonwealth, that let no 
 man in this World expect ; but when complaints are freely heard, 
 deeply consider'd, and speedily reform'd, then is the utmost 
 bound of civili liberty attained that wise men looke for. To 
 which if I now manifest by the very sound of this which I shall 
 utter that we are already in good part arriv'd, and yet from such 
 a steepe disadvantage of tyranny and superstition grounded into 
 our principles as was beyond the manhood of a Roman recovery, \ 
 it will bee attributed first, as is most due, to the strong assistance N 
 pFGod,~^our deliverer ; next, to your faithfull guidance, and un- ' 
 daunted Wisdome, Lords and Commons of England.' 
 
 It has been already said that for this Reading Speech, if we 
 may call it so (as we speak of a Reading Play as opposed to 
 an Acting Play), Milton found Greek example. Indeed it is 
 possible enough that Greek example may have, in the first 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION'. 
 
 instance, suggested the form of the work. Perhaps no one has 
 ever lived in modern times who appreciated more intensely than 
 Milton the excellence of Greek art. His writings abound with 
 professions and testimonies of this distinguishing Hellenism. 
 Thus, in a letter to Leonard Philaros, the Athenian, in 1654, 
 he speaks of himself as * A pueritia totius Graeci nominis tua- 
 rumque in primis Athenarum cultor, si quis alius ^ ' ; i.e. * as from 
 his boyhood a worshipper, if ever there was one, of all that bore 
 the Greek name, and especially of your Athens.' In the re- 
 marks with which he prefaces Samson Agonistes^ he pronounces 
 ^ Aeschylos, Sophokles, and Euripides, * the three tragic poets un- 
 equalled by any, and the best rule to all who endeavour to write 
 tragedy.' See the famous passage in the Fourth Book of Paradise 
 Regained, where he describes Athens with an accurate minuteness 
 that is not slightly significant of the frequency and the devotion 
 with which, in thought at least, he had visited that fair metropolis 
 of the world of mind. 
 
 'Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount. 
 Westward, much nearer by southwest, behold, 
 i Where on the iEgean shore a city stands, 
 / Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil ; 
 Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts 
 And eloquence, native to famous wits 
 Or hospitable, in her sweet recess. 
 City or suburban, studious walks and shades. 
 See there the olive grove of Academe, 
 Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird 
 Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long ; 
 There flowery hill Hymettus, with the sound 
 Of bees* industrious murmur, oft invites 
 To studious musing; there Ilissus rolls 
 His whispering stream : within the walls then view 
 The schools of ancient sages ; his, who bred 
 Great Alexander to subdue the world, 
 Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next.* 
 
 It was one of the dearest hopes of his youth to visit this Athens 
 in the body, but *when I was preparing to pass over into Sicily 
 and Greece, the melancholy intelligence which I received of the 
 civil commotions in England made me alter my purpose ; for 1 
 thought it base to be travelling abroad while my fellow-citizens 
 
 * Epist. Fam. 15. 
 
INTRODUCTIO^r, Xxix 
 
 were fighting for liberty at horned* It may well be believed that 
 this resignation of his Greek tour was not the least of the sacri- 
 fices Milton made at the call of Duty. Such was the fascination 
 of Greek artistic form over him that, as is well known, his fijst 
 design for his great poem was formed on the model of the Greek 
 drama. Towards the close of his life he did so plan and compose 
 his Samson Agonistes, 
 
 The Areopagitica illustrates the influence of Greece upon hirn^^ 
 scarcely less than the Samson Agonistes. \Xs name is Greek, and 
 its model was Greek. In the prose work, Isokrates is to the 
 author what Euripides was to him in the dramatic poem. And 
 it is introduced with a Greek motto ^. 
 
 In looking round for parallels to himself, in his oration to the 
 English Parliament in behalf of a Free Press, he naturally turned^ 
 his eyes to Greece, and the men who in the days of Greece' 
 *profest the study of wisdom and eloquence.' ^He saw the 
 nearest resemblance to his own case in the Adyoy 'ApeoTrayiriKOff, 
 the Areopagitic Discourse of Isokrates, and he adopted the name, 
 or a mere variation of it*. It is Isokrates he means when he 
 speaks of him * who from his private house wrote that discourse 
 to the Parliament of Athens that perswades them to change the 
 form of Democracy which was then established^ To this same 
 writer he alludes in his Sonnet to the Lady Margaret Ley. The 
 Lady Margaret's father, the Earl of Marlborough, was said to 
 have died broken-hearted by the dissolution of the Parliament of 
 1628*^ (Charles I's third Parliament), and Milton finds a parallel 
 in the story that the news of Philip of Macedon's victory over 
 the Athenians in 338 B.C. killed Isokrates. *The good Earl,' he 
 says, after his retirement from public life, lived on, 
 
 * The Second Defence. 
 
 ' From the Suppliants of Euripides, a favourite author with Milton. See 
 Suppl. 438-41. The readings given are such as could not be retained when 
 once the structure of the Iambic was understood. The first line now runs : 
 
 rovk€v6€pov 5* ^Kfivo' ris 0€k€i vSXd, 
 the last, more satisfactorily perhaps : 
 
 aiy^' ri rovroiv tar laairtpov it6\(i ; 
 
 * See p. 4, 1. 5. * Ibid. 1. I. 
 
 * The Parliament was dissolved March 10, 1628-9. Lord Marlborough, 
 died on March 14th. 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 *more in himself content. 
 Till the sad breaking of that Parliament 
 
 Broke him ; as that dishonest victory 
 
 At Chaeronea, fatal to liberty, 
 Kill'd with report that old man eloquent.* 
 
 This ' old man eloquent ' was at the time of his death some 
 ninety-eight years of age, being born in 436 B.C. As a young 
 man he had won the highest praise from Sokrates. See 
 Plato's Phaidros, 279 A, when, Lysias having been discussed, 
 Phaidros asks Sokrates what he has to say for I sokrates : — 
 AoKel /ixoi, answers the Sage, aix^ivcov t) Kara rovs nepl Avaiav duai 
 \6yovs TO. TTJs (f)v(r€a)Sf 'in re fjdei yevviKcoTepco KeKpaadai' (octtc ovdev 
 civ yevoiTO davfxacTToVf TrpoLovarjs rrjs ffKiKias cl 7rep\ avTOvs re rovs 
 \6yovs, ois vvv enix^Lpel, irXeov r) Traidcov bitveyKoi tojp TrcoTTore 
 dv/^a/ieVo)!/ Xoycop, ert re, ei aura) fxr] diroxprja^'' favra, eVt /xeif««> ^f 
 Ti9 avTOV ayoL opfir) OeioTepa. (f)V(T€i yap, da 0iXe, epecTTL tls (J)l\o' 
 ao^ia Tjj Tov dvbpos biavola, * I think he deserves a higher esti- 
 mate than we have given Lysias as to natural gifts, and further 
 that he is compounded with a nobler nature ; so that it would 
 prove no wonder, as he advances in years, if in respect of the 
 very rhetoric, which he now takes in hand, he should excel al? 
 who have ever yet applied themselves to it as if they were 
 scarcely children at it ; and further, should such success not 
 suffice him, if a certain diviner impulse should lead him to greater 
 things ; for, my friend, there is an inborn philosophical power in 
 his intellect.' I sokrates scarcely fulfilled this high prophecy ; but 
 as a rhetorician he became supremely eminent. Physical weak- 
 ness incapacitated him from the public practice of his art ; but 
 he became the most famous teacher of his day, and, what more 
 nearly concerns us, the great composer of Reading Speeches, 
 which enjoyed a wide circulation throughout Greece. Especially 
 noticeable was he for connecting oratory and politics ; for be^ 
 fore his time the art of speaking, * with the exception of the 
 panegyrical species, had hitherto been cultivated chiefly for the 
 contest of the courts \' 
 
 The drift of his Areopagiticos has already been quoted from 
 Milton himself. Its purpose was in fact to bring back to Athens 
 
 * See Lewis' MUller's Hist, of the Literature of Ancient Greece, p. 505. 
 
INTRODUCTION, XXXi 
 
 the old democracy. It was written *in the beginning of the 
 Philippic times V at a critical period in Attic history, t^s TroXews 
 €1/ Kivdvvois ov(rT)s 17 (r(f)a\€poi}s avrrj tcdv npayfju'iTCJv Ka^eoTcoro)!/, 
 though men shut their eyes to the perils that encompassed them^ ; 
 and he urges that the only way to avert future dangers, and de- 
 liver themselves from those already present, is to resolve to recall 
 the democracy, * which Solon, who proved so great a friend of the 
 people ordained by law, and Kleisthenes, who cast out the tyrants 
 and brought back the people, once more established afresh.* 
 This was not perhaps the program of a great statesman, but 
 rather of a visionary, or a * professor ' ; for decayed forms of 
 government are not so easily recalled to life. Certainly, the 
 wails of a rhetorician over the pulseless body have no power to 
 re-inspire it Isokrates proceeds to insist more particularly on 
 the revival and reinstatement of the Court of the Areopagos ^, 
 
 "and hence the name of his discourse. He praises its composition, 
 and the functions it exercised, which he sums up as * the caring 
 for good order' (tVi/xcXcio-^at rrjs cv/coo-ftia? ) *. 
 
 Between this speech and that of Milton, as respects subject 
 matter, there is clearly but a slight resemblance ; there is rather 
 an opposition ; for Isokrates aims at recalling an interfering 
 power, Milton at removing one. What recommended the name 
 to Milton is, as has already been remarked,. the likeness between 
 his position and that of the Greek. He too * wrote' *from his 
 
 "private house' * a discourse' on a high political question. As 
 Isokrates addressed the Bould, so Milton the Parliament. But it 
 cannot be said that Milton was happy in christening his treatise 
 as he did. The name is, and will be, a perpetual stumbling- 
 
 * 'Eypaiprj 5' 6 K6yos iv dpxcus raiv ^iKinmKuiv xpovcuv. See the ^TitoOeais 
 
 dvQJVVflOV ypafJLfMTlKOV. 
 
 ^ EvpiaKQj yoLp TavTrjv fjiovrjv Slv y€vofi€Vrjv Kal ruv fjieWSvTOoi/ Kivhvvojv 
 diror poirriv Kal ruv trapcvrajv KaKwv dtraWay^v, rjv kO^X-qaoJix^v eKcivrju rrjv 
 brjfiOKpaTiav avaXa^iiv, fjv 'S.oXoiv fieu 6 drjfxoTiKcuraTOS yivofXivos kvop.o- 
 6€Trj(T€y K\(ia0€vrjs 8' 6 tovs Tvpdvvovs iK^aXwv Kol rbv dijfwv Karayayuiv 
 -nd\iv ff dpxrjs KaTiarrjatv. Isokrates' Areop. 1 43 a. 
 
 ' On the Areopagos see Smith's Diet, of Antiquities ; Miiller's Disserta- 
 tions on the Eumenides of Aeschylus; Hermann's Manual of Grecian 
 Antiquities; Grote's Greece, ii. 281, &c. 
 
 * See a quotation from this same speech in Ascham's Scholcmaster, 
 p. 58, ed. Arber. .-*- 
 
XXXii INTRODUCTION, 
 
 block to the Englishman. How it must have made, and how it 
 makes now, the ordinary Briton * stare and gasp' ! It is essen- 
 tially an unpopular title, and may be taken as a sign of Milton's 
 indifference to merely popular approval. He cared for * fit au- 
 dience, though few' {Par, Lost, vii. 31) ; to 'be heard only,' if it 
 might be, by the * elegant and learned reader, to whom princi- 
 pally for a while I shall beg leave I may address myself {Reason 
 of Church Government, p. 43 of Works) ; to 'have the good wishes 
 of here and there some,' ' by whom, ever "SO few though they be, 
 I, for my part, would rather be approved, than by countless com- 
 panies of unskilled ones, in whom is nothing of mind, or right 
 reason, or sound judgment ' (Prolusion I) ; ' not to seduce the 
 simple and ilHterate,' but *to find out the choicest and the 
 learnedest, who have this high gift of wisdom to answer solidly 
 or to be convinced.' 
 
 For the rest there is but little likeness between the styles of the 
 two works. But in this respect, too, a sharp contrast, — that of 
 Isokrates is exquisitely refined and clear, the marble is smoothed 
 to the utmost — * ne quid possit per leve morari.' The immense 
 care he bestowed upon the composition of his orations, and the 
 time he spent in working them out and polishing them, may be 
 inferred from the statement that he was engaged for a period 
 of ten, and, according to others, of fifteen years upon his 
 Panegyric Oration ^ The style is the man, and Isokrates' style 
 well reflects Isokrates. Like our poet Pope, he says perspicu- 
 ously and well what he has to say, but then it is not so very much. 
 The water is pellucid, but then it is not deep. With Milton 
 it was far different. He had more to say than he could say. 
 His thoughts rush upon him in a throng that he can at times 
 scarcely order and control. His utterance is almost choked. 
 He brought to his work an immense mass of knowledge, such as 
 won for him the title of 'learned' in an age of learned men ; and 
 at the same time, as we have seen, the profoundest depths of a 
 profound nature were stirred and moved by the character of 
 his enterprise. No wonder then, if at times his eloquence 
 wellnigh overmastered him, bursting forth torrent-like, or 
 
 1 See Smith's larger Diet, of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,. 
 8. V. • hocrates/ and the reference there given to Quintilian, x. 4. 4. 
 
INTRODUCTION, xxxiii 
 
 flashing out in a fiery shower that would not be confined. The 
 fact is that for the expression of such a genius as that of 
 Milton, a genius so quick and fertile by nature, so splen- 
 didly cultivated and enriched by long and eager study, metre 
 was absolutely necessary, not only as its natural form but 
 for the very restraints it imposed. He judged quite justly of 
 himself, when, called by Duty, as he thought, to write prose, 
 he felt himself comparatively inefficient and maimed. *If I 
 were wise only to mine own ends,' he wrote, * I should not 
 choose this manner of writing, wherein knowing myself inferior 
 to myself, led by the genial power of nature to another task, 1 
 have the use, as I may account, but of my left hand\' It was 
 not natural for him to write in *the pedestrian manner.' Of him 
 Quintilian's words of Plato are true, but they scarcely say 
 enough : * Plato multo supra prosam orationem et quam pedes- 
 trem (Trcfo'i/) Graeci vocant surgit.' Beneath all his prose periods 
 the fire of his poetry may be seen gleaming, and ever and anon 
 it breaks through and blazes up supreme. It is an incalculable 
 loss to our poetical literature that Milton's part in it is com- 
 paratively so scanty. Poetry was his ^ calling ' ; he had, in his 
 very youth, recognised it to be so ; with a singular devotion and 
 an unparalleled industry he had striven to ripen himself for his 
 work ; his ' clear spirit ' raised 
 
 * To scorn delights and live laborious days ; 
 But the fair guerdon when wc hope to find. 
 And think to burst out into sudden bLze, 
 Comes the blind Fury.* 
 
 She came to Milton not to * slit the thin-spun life,' but to ap- 
 point him a far different lot from that of which he had fondly 
 dreamt. With * small willingness ' he ventured ' to interrupt the 
 pursuit of no less hopes than these, and leave a calm and pleasing 
 solitariness, fed with cheerful and confident thoughts, to em- 
 bark in a troubled sea of noises and hoarse disputes, put from 
 beholding the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still 
 air of delightful studies.' 
 
 Occasionally the difficulty found in the style of the Areopagiiica 
 
 ^ Reason of Church Government, 
 C 
 
xxxiv INTKODUCTIOJSr. 
 
 is due to Milton's attempting a Greek arrangement of the words ; 
 but, most commonly, it is due to the obscurityto which Elizabethan 
 prose, with its periodic structure, was signally liable in the hands 
 of a writer so impetuous and so abundant as Milton. In his use 
 of this periodic structure Milton was no doubt encouraged by the 
 example of Isokrates, who was famous for his full-flowing ex- 
 panded sentences. ' In his earlier labours,' says Miiller, * he took 
 as much pains with this symmetrical structure [the antithetical, 
 previously most cultivated] as any Sophist could have done ; but 
 in the more flourishing period of his art he contrived to melt 
 down the rigidity and stiffness of the antithesis, by breaking 
 through the direct and immediate opposition of sentences, and 
 by marshalling them in successive groups and a longer series.' 
 With him the result, thanks partly to his own nature, as we 
 have said above, and partly to the character of the language in 
 which he wrote — a language in which, through the variety of its 
 inflexions, and, still more, through its richness in particles, or 
 links (SeV/xot), as they were called, complexity is possible with- 
 out intricacy — is not obscurity but clearness. With Milton, it 
 must be allowed, the danger of obscurity is not always avoided 
 The reader had needs be careful, or he will lose the main path, 
 and find himself in what seems at first a hopeless labyrinth. It 
 is easy, however, to exaggerate this peril. Perhaps all that is 
 really needed by the student is great care. Milton's periods 
 are not really mere confused tangles of ornate phraseology, as 
 listening to some critics one might be led to suppose. 
 
 MiltjDn is the last_greaLwn^ Not a 
 
 greater change came over our poetry than over our prose in the 
 latter half of the seventeenth century. Dryden's Essays differ in 
 style from Milton's pamphlets as much as \i\s Fables from Para- 
 dise Lost There is no one who does not admire the brilliant 
 transparency of the style of the later writer, and the good ser- 
 vice he did for us in impressing that virtue upon our literature. 
 It would be a narrow criticism, that, fascinated by that sovereign 
 charm, should fail to recognise what is worthy and noble in the 
 older writer. Milton's sentences possess a stately majesty that 
 belongs to a different sphere from that which gave birth to 
 Dry den. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXV 
 
 • Another race hath been, and other palms are won.* 
 
 * There were giants in those days ' ; and let not the generation 
 that succeeds disparage their mighty predecessors. In a sense 
 Milton was the last of the Titans, and his style is Titanic. 
 
 * Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the Sea.' 
 
 SECTION IV. THE RESULT. 
 
 It was not till * after many days ' — not till after his own eyes 
 were closed in death — that the bread Milton cast upon the waters 
 was seen. The Press was not delivered from Licensers till 1694 — 
 
 Just twenty years after the decease of their great opponent ; just 
 half a century after the publication of the Areopagitica, 
 
 **^ From the Presbyterians indeed, who were in power in 1644, 
 there was nothing to be hoped. Mention has already been made 
 of the bitter discovery which Milton and kindred free spirits were 
 to have forced upon them — that, in exchanging Convocation for 
 Synod, they had but substituted one tyranny for another. And 
 thus, for all the impassioned appeals of the Areopagiticay the 
 Parliament did not relax the Ordinance, which was, in fact, as we 
 have seen, but an old Star-Chamber decree re-enacted \ This 
 Ordinance was in some sort repealed or re-inforced in 1647, 
 1649, and 1652. A warrant of Lord-General Fairfax, dated 
 January 9, directs Captain Richard Lawrence, Marshal-General 
 of * the Army under my command,' in virtue of the Parliamen- 
 tary Ordinance of 1649 (dated January $), to put in execution 
 the previous enactments concerning * scandalous and unlicensed 
 pamphlets.' The Marshal-General is * required and authorized 
 to take into custody any person or persons who have offended 
 or shall hereafter offend, against the said Ordinances, and inflict 
 upon them such corporal punishments, and levy such penalties 
 upon them for each offence, as are therein mentioned, and not 
 discharge them till they have made full payment thereof, and 
 received the said punishment accordingly.' And he is further 
 authorized and required to make diligent search * from time to 
 ' See Kerr's Blackstone, iv. 161, note; Scobell's Acts and Ordinances. 
 
 C 2 
 
xxxvi INTRODUCTION, 
 
 time, in all places wherein he shall think meet, for all unlicensed 
 printing presses any way employed in printing scandalous and 
 unlicensed papers, pamphlets, books, or ballads, and to search for 
 such unhcensed books, papers, treatises,' &c. But even in those 
 dark days Milton made at least one convert, and we may well 
 believe that throughout the country those who had ears to hear 
 heard him, although there might be no public response. This 
 one convert was one of the Licensers, Gilbert Mabbott by name. 
 When in May 1649 he resigned his post, he gave reasons for 
 this step that were clearly derived from the Areopagitica^. 
 
 When the Independents rose into power, though there was no 
 formal repeal of the stringent ordinances of the Long Pailiament, 
 yet they were no longer executed, at least so far as matters of 
 religious opinion were concerned, with the rigour their prede- 
 cessors had practised, or desired. The office of Licenser fell into 
 abeyance. ReHgious tolerance had long been the watchword 
 of the Independents, and it redounds to their glory that they 
 did not, after attaining power, discredit the professions they had 
 made when smarting under the coercions of others. It is true 
 that their notion of tolerance was imperfect, as indeed was 
 that of Milton and of Jeremy Taylor ; that they excepted Roman 
 Catholics ; that they once or twice inflicted punishment on anti- 
 trinitarians ; that they ordered certain blasphemous books to be 
 burned ; that they prohibited the Episcopalian worship. Some- 
 thing might readily be said by way of apology for these de- 
 flections from the highest ideal. But this defence unattempted, 
 it remains true that they were the first party in England, perhaps 
 in Europe, that distinctly professed the principle of religious 
 toleration as a practical principle of their politics, and that after 
 the overthrow of the Presbyterians they adhered in success to 
 the creed of their adversity. With regard to political writings 
 during the Commonwealth, the peculiar position of the govern- 
 ment must be remembered. It is clear that a free political Press 
 is not easily compatible with a rule that is not firmly based on 
 the national consent. And, however decidedly we may reject 
 the old royalist legends of Cromwell's selfish ambition and 
 
 ^ See Birch's Life of Milton, Birch quotes from * A Perfect Diunial of 
 some Passages in Parliament,' &c., No. 304, for May, 21-29, 1649. 
 
JNTROpUCTIO.V, xxxvii 
 
 remorseless tyranny, — to whatever degree we may sympathize 
 with Milton's admiration for 
 
 * Our chief of men, who through a cloud 
 Not of war only, but del factions rude. 
 Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, 
 To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed, 
 And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud 
 
 Hast rear'd God's trophies, and His work pursu'd,' — 
 
 whatever pride we may take in his foreign policy, that made 
 the English name respected and potent throughout Europe as 
 scarcely ever before or since, — yet it must be confessed that 
 the Protector governed a reluctant people, and was encom- 
 passed at home by discontents and threatenings and treacheries. 
 Not all his merits could overcome the enormous difficulties of 
 the situation : for partly they were not recognised at all ; partly 
 they were in the eyes of a great mass of the nation more than 
 counterbalanced by what were thought to be egregious errors 
 and defects. Hence, in mere self-defence, it seemed that private 
 presses could not be allowed, and that allowed presses must be 
 regulated. It was ordered in October 1653 (some two months 
 before the Protectorate was formally established) that no person 
 should presume to publish in print any matter of publrc news 
 or intelligence without leave and approbation of the Secretary 
 of State. 
 
 A government obnoxious to the prejudices of the country, and 
 that could not with safety to itself permit political matters to be 
 freely discussed, could not be expected to stand. When the 
 strong hand of Cromwell was relaxed by death, there was no 
 vital force left in the political system he had organized ; and 
 after nine months of imminent chaos the nation, whose loyalty 
 had never expired, but had of late years burned fervently, how- 
 ever silently, turned once more to its old traditions. 
 
 With the Restoration the old regime was for the most part 
 revived. It was even proposed by some ardent spirits to recall 
 the Star Chamber into life ; but, wild as was the reactionary 
 enthusiasm of the day, they failed to achieve such a dismal re- 
 surrection. But the old restrictions of the Press were once 
 more rigorously enforced. In 1662 the office of Licenser was 
 
xxxviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 revived, the Judges, certain officers of state, and the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, being appointed to supervise various depart- 
 ments of literature. In 1663 Roger L'E strange was appointed 
 Licenser — an appointment he seems to have held, possibly with 
 an intermission, till the Revolution, when he was succeeded by 
 one Fraser, who, probably for some negligence in the discharge 
 of his functions — it is said for having allowed to be printed Dr. 
 Walker's True Account of the Author of Eikon Basilike — was 
 presently dismissed, when Edmund Bohun, a Suffolk justice, 
 took his place. Bohun was to be the last of the Licensers, for 
 the system had entered upon its last generation when it was 
 reinstituted by Charles IL 
 
 The Act of 1662^ was, in short, but a new version of the 
 previous parliamentary ordinances ; and a proclamation was 
 issued 'for suppressing the printing and publishing unlicensed 
 news-books and pamphlets of news, because it has become a 
 common practice for evil-disposed persons to vend to his Ma- 
 jesty's people all the idle and malicious reports that they could 
 collect or invent, contrary to law ; the continuance whereof 
 would, in a short time, endanger the peace of the kingdom ; the 
 same manifestly tending thereto, as has been declared by all 
 his Majesty's subjects unanimously.' L'Estrange, himself a 
 virulent pamphleteer and acrid journalist both before and after 
 the Restoration, was not idle in his office ; and so our literature, 
 under his dictatorship, was subjected to perpetual mutilation. 
 'The sponge^' was ever in his hand, and he slurred and rubbed 
 without compunction. Out of many instances of the manner in 
 which this censorial jurisdiction was exercised by him, or by his 
 assessors, Milton himself may be cited. It appears that Para- 
 dise Lost was itself in danger. The suspicious eye of the 
 licenser — the Rev. Thomas Tomkyns, one of the chaplains of 
 Archbishop Sheldon — had Hghted upon certain lines in Book I ; 
 see 594-600. 
 
 *As when the sun new ris'n 
 Looks through the horizontal misty air 
 Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon 
 In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds 
 
 * 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 33. ^ Sec p. 12. 
 
INTRODUCTION, xxxix 
 
 On half the nations, and with fear of change 
 Perplexes monarchs, Dark'nM so, yet shone 
 Above iheni all th' Archangel.* 
 
 The sensitive royalist, it is said, smelt treason in this mention 
 of monarchs perplexed with fear of change, and pondered 
 whether he should not suppress the whole work, though indeed 
 a free excision might have satisfied the requirements of the case. 
 That he permitted to pass unchallenged other passages of the 
 poem, as 1. 497-502, VII. 23-38, XII. 13-104, may perhaps excite 
 surprise. Possibly he may have thought it not ^yorth his while 
 to revise too severely a work that seemed so little in harmony 
 with the taste of the time, and therefore so little likely to enjoy 
 any wide popularity. In the case of another of his writings 
 Milton did not escape so easily. His History of Britain actually 
 suffered laceration. Several passages, describing the pride and 
 superstition of the * Saxon* monks were, it is said, taken to be 
 aimed at the prelates of his own time, and were accordingly 
 expunged. If this was his interpretation, the licenser blundered 
 oddly, for the passages certainly portray the Long Parliament 
 and the Assembly of Divines. The current story may not per- 
 haps do the Hcenser justice. According to Richardson the 
 passages had been excised * as being a sort of digression, and in 
 order to avoid giving offence to a party quite subdued, and whose 
 faults the government were then willing to have forgotten.' The 
 licenser might expunge, but he could not destroy them. * Milton 
 gave a copy of the proscribed remarks to the Earl of Anglesea, 
 v/hich were published in 1681, with a preface declaring that 
 they originally belonged to the third book of his history, and 
 they are now found in their proper placed' Thus Milton suffered 
 himself the degradation he mentions with such keen abhorrence 
 in the Areopagitica^, Amongst the many bitternesses his great 
 heart was destined to know, in the course of his vexed life, this 
 assuredly was not the least. Not to be counted * fit to print his 
 mind without a tutor and examiner,' was, he held, * the greatest 
 
 ^ See Todd's Milton's Poetical Works, i. 20Q, ed. 1826. 
 
 ' See the passage in Prose Works, 502-504. It begins, ' Of those who 
 swayed most in the late troubles,' &c.; and ends, 'which give us matter of 
 this digression.* 
 
xl INTRODUCTION, 
 
 displeasure and indignity to a free and knowing spirit that can 
 be put upon him.' One may imagine the profound contempt, 
 and also the sad anguish — one may scorn one's foes, but yet 
 their arrows pierce us — with which, in his retired house in 
 Artillery Walk, he would hear of the insolent scrutinies of the 
 precious life-blood of his * master spirit,' with whose embalming 
 and treasuring up on purpose to a life beyond life, coarse 
 hands were thus rudely interfering^ 
 
 The Act of 1662 expired in 1679. It was formally renewed in 
 1685^, and continued till 1692. In 1692 it was re-enacted for two 
 more years. When it lapsed in 1694 it lapsed for ever, in spite 
 of various advocacies and clamours repeated from time to time. 
 
 In his account of the final extinction in 1694 of a power so 
 formidable and so perilous, Macaulay well points out how 
 quietly and unobservedly it happened. When the question was 
 put in the House of Commons * That the House do agree with 
 the Committee on the Resolution that the Act, entitled an Act 
 for preventing Abuses in printing Seditious, treasonable, and un- 
 licensed Pamphlets, and for regulating of Printing and Printing 
 Presses be continued,' *the Speaker pronounced that the Noes 
 had it,' and the Ayes did not think fit to divide. The Lords, 
 indeed, proposed to continue it ; but when the Commons 
 presently set forth their objections in a paper delivered to the 
 Lords, and these objections all related to matters of detail, being 
 many of them what Milton would have called * arguments of 
 merchandize,' * the Lords yielded without a contest.' 
 
 * The Lords yielded without a contest. They probably ex- 
 pected that some less objectionable bill for the regulation of the 
 press would soon be sent up to them, and, in fact, such a bill was 
 brought into the House of Commons, read twice, and referred to 
 a Select Committee. But the Session closed before the Com- 
 mittee had reported, and English literature was emancipated, 
 and emancipated for ever, from the control of the Government ^' 
 
 In subsequent years — in 1697, in 1703, in 17 13 — the subject 
 was again mooted, for there were not wanting outside the walls 
 of Parliament those who called upon the House to re-impose 
 
 ^ See p. 6. 2 See Macaulay 's Hist, of England, ii. 162, ed. 1861. 
 
 ^ Ibid. vii. 169, ed. l86x. 
 
INTRODUCTION, xli 
 
 the old restraints. Thus there appeared a Modest Plea for the 
 Due regulation of the Press, in Answer to reasons lately 
 printed against it, humbly submitted to the judgment of au- 
 thority, by Francis Gregor)% D.D., and Rector of Hambledon, in 
 the County of Bucks : London, 1698' ; * A Letter to a Member 
 of Parliament showing the Necessity of regulating the Press : 
 Oxford, 1699^'; and other similar appeals. But they were 
 made in vain. In later times there have been some who have 
 sighed or cried aloud for the old supervision, or, at least, have 
 been prone to believe that the absence of it begat not so much 
 liberty as license. Thus Hume writes of the event of 1694, 
 projecting, it may be thought, his own views into his account 
 of it :— 
 
 *To the great displeasure of the King and his Ministers, who 
 seeing nowhere, in any Government during present or past ages, 
 any example of such unlimited freedom, doubted much of its 
 salutary effects, and probably thought that no books or writings 
 would ever so much improve the general understanding of men 
 as to render it safe to entrust them with an indulgence so easily 
 abused.' 
 
 * And the present moment,' remarks the author of the Curiosities 
 of Literature^ first published 1 791-18 17, after quoting the above 
 words, 'verifies the prescient conjecture of the philosopher. 
 Such is the licentiousness of our press that some, not perhaps 
 the most hostile to the cause of freedom, would not be averse 
 to manacle authors once more with an Imprimatur.' 
 
 And so there will be always some who will forget, under the 
 pressure of certain disadvantages, all the blessings that a Free 
 Press has conferred upon us, who, in the sun, will see nothing 
 but spots, or, in the spring time, a mere carnival of east 
 winds. Moreover, is the abuse of a thing to be truly and per- 
 manently cured by restraining the uSe of it ? If a man handles 
 his sword awkwardly, so that he wounds his friends and himself 
 rather than the enemy, will his dexterity be improved by taking 
 his weapon from him ? Or shall we not better teach him a 
 more judicious management 1 
 
 * The pamphlet especially referred to is * A Letter to a Member of 
 Parliament, showing that a restraint on the Press is inconsistent with the 
 Protestant religion, and dangerous to the liberties of the nation.* 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 But, to return to the Areopagitica^ it may appear perhaps, 
 from the account given above of the end of Press-Hcensing, that 
 Milton did little or nothing towards the achievement of it, inas- 
 much as the general question with which his work deals was not 
 at all discussed when that end came. But it would be rash for 
 this reason to conclude that Milton spent his strength for 
 nought. It is, in fact, impossible to estimate what the influence 
 of his discourse may have been between 1644 and 1694. The 
 influence of a book is not to be judged so much by the quantity, 
 as by the quality, of its readers. And one can scarcely doubt 
 that the words of the Areopagitica sank deep into the hearts of 
 the better spirits of the time. To them it was addressed, and 
 only to them was it fully intelligible. It could not be expected 
 to have a large general circulation, but it was held a sovereign 
 work in its own sphere. It was regarded as a central spring, to 
 which others might resort. 
 
 * Hither as to their fountain other stars 
 Repairing, in their urns draw golden light.* 
 
 We have noticed its influence upon Mabbott ; and so in other 
 cases we find its arguments reproduced. Thus a pamphlet 
 called ^ A Just Vindication of Learning, or an Humble Address 
 to the High Court of Parliament in behalf of the Liberty of the 
 Press, by Philopatris : London, 1679,' is neither more nor less 
 than a mutilated copy of the Areopagitica, A work entitled 
 * Reasons humbly offered for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing, 
 1693,' is simply an abridgment of it. ^(^ ^c^ rf*'-^ /,i^ ^^'' 
 
 Nor is our estimate of the result of the Areopagitica to be 
 limited by the year 1694. All that it had to teach was not 
 finally taught when the licensing system formally ceased ; nor 
 was it then to be thrown away, like a ticket that has served its 
 purpose. It was published separately in 1738, in 1772, in 1792, 
 in 1819, in 1868 ; with the *Tractat of Education' in 1780 ; with 
 other tracts in 1809. Mirabeau's tract, *Sur la Libert^ de la 
 Presse,' 1788, is merely a reproduction of it. *Le titre de ce 
 morceau tres singulier, ou j'ai suivi de beaucoup plus pr^s mon 
 Auteur que ne voudront le croire ceux qui ne consulteront pas 
 Poriginal, et ou j'ai plutot retranchd qu'ajout^ ; ce titre est .: 
 
INTRODUCTIOiW xliii 
 
 Areopagitica : A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicens'd Printing; 
 to the Parliament of England ^' 
 
 Lastly, our judgment of what power the Areopagitica has^ 
 exercised in the world must not confine itself to the Printing 
 Press and its history ; for the work is indeed not only a mag- 
 nificent protest in behalf ofjmlic ensed books, but an ii m nortal ^ 
 Hpfpnrp c\i Free Tho^ ht. Jeremy Taylor's Libertyof Pro- 
 phesying, Locke's Letters on Toleration^ John Stuart Mill's 
 Liberty — these are works of no temporary and transient value, 
 however they may have been called forth by passing circum- 
 stances ; and amongst these, and not the least amongst them, 
 is to be ranked the Areopagitica, It is inspired by the very 
 spirit of freedom. It is the own voice of a mind resolute to be 
 free and fetterless, and to dare usurpation to its face. •-t/ 
 
 SECTION V. THE PRESENT EDITION. 
 
 The text of the present edition is that of the original edition 
 of 1644, with only one intentional difference, viz. warfaring^ foi 
 wayfarings on p. 18 ; on which see the note. It was printed in 
 the first instance from Mr. Arber's Reprint, and then collated 
 with the 1644 edition, of which Mr. Arber's reprint was found 
 to be an extremely faithful reproduction, the corrections that 
 had to be made being very few and very slight. 
 
 For the rest, I have to express great obligations to Holt 
 White's edition of 1819, as indeed every one must who studies 
 the Areopagitica, His ' Prefatory Remarks, Copious Notes, and 
 Excursive Illustrations,' are a very storehouse of information, of 
 which frequent mention is made in the Notes, where I have, I 
 believe, always acknowledged any debt incurred in this and all 
 other cases. Next in value to Holt White's volume is Mr. 
 Lobb's * Modern Version of Milton's Areopagitica, with Notes, 
 Appendix, and Tables : Calcutta, 1872.' Possibly enough, if 
 Mr. Lobb designed his work for Indian readers, he was right in 
 translating the original into modern English ; but there can 
 scarcely be any Englishmen who would accept Mr. Lobb's 
 ^ See Buckle's Civilization, ii. 225. 
 
xliv INTRODUCTION-, 
 
 version, however vigorously executed, in exchange for Milton's 
 own. The notes contain much valuable matter ; it is a pity they 
 are not made more accessible by a better arrangement. ^ Mil- 
 ton's Areopagitica, a Commentary,' privately printed, by Mr. R. 
 C. Jebb, the Public Orator of Cambridge, for a copy of which I 
 have to thank the author, contains some excellent suggestions. 
 There is also an edition by Mr. T. G. Osborn, Head Master of 
 New Kingswood School, Bath, with some notes that are * mainly 
 taken from sources obvious and easily accessible and make no 
 pretensions to original or extensive research.' 
 
 Lastly, I must do myself the pleasure of thanking my friend, 
 Mr. Skeat, the well-known Old English scholar, for various 
 valuable suggestions. I have also to thank for sundry kind 
 services the Rev. G. W. Kitchin, of Christ Church, Oxford ; 
 Professor Morley, University College, and Dr. Morris, King's 
 College School, London ; Professor Seeley, Cambridge ; and 
 Professor Ward, Owens College, Manchester. 
 
 I Oppidans Road, Primrose Hill, London ; 
 August 1st, 1874. 
 
 In the second issue of *the present edition' certain misprints 
 have been corrected, one or two notes withdrawn as un- 
 necessary, and a few additions made. 
 
 I had intended to add some remarks on the fact that Milton 
 himself, after writing this ^ discourse,' acted as a Licenser of the 
 Press. But the urgent demand for this edition leaves no time 
 now for this consideration. 
 
 I may just say that though 1 have given here the original or- 
 thography, I am by no means of opinion this should always be 
 done in reprinting old books for school or for general use. Mr. 
 R. C. Browne, in his well-known useful edition of Milton's 
 English Poems, has, I do not doubt, acted judiciously in moder- 
 nising the spelling. But it will be allowed that occasionally an 
 exacter reproduction should be given ; and here is one. 
 Oct. 8, 1878. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xlv 
 
 This Third Edition is a mere reprint of the Second. 
 
 I had intended to consider here at some length the fact 
 hastily mentioned in the Preface to the Second Edition — that 
 Milton himself, after writing this * discourse/ acted as a Licen- 
 ser of the Press. But this fact is so fully discussed by Pro- 
 fessor Masson in the fourth volume, pp. 324-335, and pp. 432, 
 433, of his exhaustive and invaluable work *The Life of Milton 
 in Connexion with the History of his Time,' that little remains 
 to be said, or rather, if one went into the subject, one could 
 only repeat what has been already written : therefore I will 
 merely briefly state how the case really stood, referring the 
 reader for an ampler account to Professor Masson's volume. 
 
 Milton acted as a * Licenser of the Press,' merely so far as 
 this : he was for a time — from the beginning of the year 165 1 
 to the beginning of 1652 — connected as a sort of supervisor 
 with one of the current journals published in the interest of the 
 Commonwealth. Each one of these organs had a censor 
 attached to it. The Several Proceedings in Parliament was 
 inspected, so to speak, and allowed by Mr. Henry Scobell, the 
 Clerk of the Parliament ; A Perfect Diiirnall of some Passages 
 of the Armies^ by Mr. John Rushworth, the Army Secretary; 
 A Brief e Relation of Some Affairs and Tra7isactio7is^ by Mr. 
 Gualter Frost, the General Secretary of the Council of State. 
 And just in the same way the Mercurius Politicus was en- 
 trusted to the discretion of Mr. John Milton, Latin Secretary 
 to the Council for their Letters to foreign Princes and States. 
 
 There is no sign of Milton's acting as a Press-licenser in any 
 other way. ,He was * often employed to report on papers or 
 pamphlets after they were published ' — to officially review them 
 in fact ; but not to authorize or license them. 
 
 It thus appears that Milton's * licensing' r/ieant little, or 
 nothing, more than acting as a superior — a final — editor to one 
 of the newspapers issued by the party to which he belonged. 
 We presume that the unfriendliest eye could scarcely discover 
 in such a function anything irreconcilable with the views so 
 nobly and ardently asserted in the Areopagitica 
 King's College, London, 
 Jan. 7. 1882, 
 
AREOPAGITICA, 
 
// 
 
 .i 
 
Il'" 
 
 AREOPAGITICA, 
 
 Jpor tfte Hibertg of unlirenc'ir printing. 
 
 They who to States and Governours of the Common- 
 wealth direct their Speech, High Court of Parlament, or 
 wanting such accesse in a private condition, write that 
 which they foresee may advance the publick good, I 
 
 5 suppose them, as at the beginning of no meane en- 
 deavour, not a litde alter'd and mov'd inwardly in their 
 mindes : some with doubt of what will be the successe, 
 others with feare of what will be the censure ; some 
 with hope, others with confidence of what they have 
 
 loto speake. And me perhaps each of these disposi- 
 tions, as the subject was whereon I entered, may have 
 at other times variously affected; and likely might in 
 these formost expressions now also disclose which of 
 them sway'd most, but that the very attempt of this ad- 
 
 15 dresse thus made, and the thought of whom it hath re- 
 course to, hath got the power within me to a passion, 
 farre more welcome then incidentall to a Preface. Which 
 though I stay not to confesse ere any aske, I shall be 
 blamelesse, if it be na^otherjhenthejoy a gratulation 
 
 20 which it brings to all who wish and promote their 
 Countries liberty ; whereof this whole Discourse proposed 
 will be a certaine testimony, if not a Trophey. For this 
 is not the liberty which wee can hope, that no grievance 
 
 
 
2 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 ever should arise in the Commonwealth, that let no man 
 in this World expect; but when complaints are freely 
 heard, deeply consider'd, and speedily reformed, then is 
 the utmost bound of civill liberty attained, that wise 
 
 5 men looke for. To which if I now manifest by the very 
 sound of this which I shall utter that wee are already in 
 good part arrived, and yet from such a steepe disadvantage 
 of tyranny and superstition grounded into our principles 
 as was beyond the manhood of a Roman recovery, it 
 
 lowill bee attributed first, as is most due, to the strong 
 assistance of God our deliverer, next to your faithfull 
 guidance and undaunted Wisdome, Lords and Commons 
 oi England. Neither is it in Gods esteeme the diminu- 
 tion of his glory, when honourable things are spoken of 
 
 15 good men and worthy Magistrates; which if I now first 
 should begin to doe, after so fair a progresse of your 
 laudable deeds, and such a long obligement upon the 
 whole Realme to your indefatigable vertues, I might be 
 justly reckn'd among the tardiest and the unwillingest 
 
 20 of them that praise yee. Neverthelesse there being 
 three principall things, without which all praising is but 
 Courtship and flattery, First, when that only is prais'd 
 which is solidly worth praise : next, when greatest likeli- 
 hoods are brought that such things are truly and really 
 
 25 in those persons to whom they are ascribed : the other, 
 when he who praises, by shewing that such his actuall 
 perswasion is of whom he writes, can demonstrate that 
 he flatters not, the former two of these I have hereto- 
 fore endeavoured, rescuing the employment from him 
 
 30 who went about to impaire your merits with a triviall and 
 malignant Encomium; the latter as belonging chiefly to 
 mine owne acquittal!, that whom I so extoll'd I did not 
 flatter, hath been reserved opportunely to this occasion. 
 
AREOPAGiriCA. 3. 
 
 For he who freely magnifies what hath been nobly done, 
 and fears not to declare as freely what might be done 
 better, gives ye the best covenant of his fidelity, and 
 that his loyalest affection and his hope waits on your 
 
 5 proceedings. His highest praising is not flattery, and 
 his plainest advice is a kinde of praising; for though I 
 should afiirme and hold by argument, that it would fare 
 better with truth, with learning, and the Commonwealth, 
 if one of your publisht Orders which 1 should name, were 
 
 locaird in, yet at the same time it could not but much 
 redound to the lustre of your milde and equall Govern- 
 ment, when as private persons are hereby animated to 
 thinke ye better pleas'd with publick advice then other 
 statists have been delighted heretofore with publicke 
 
 IS flattery. And men will then see what difference there 
 is between the magnanimity of a trienniall Parlament 
 and that jealous hautinesse of Prelates and cabin Coun- 
 sellours that usurpt of late, when as they shall observe 
 yee in the midd'st of your Victories and successes more 
 
 20 gently brooking writt'n exceptions against a voted Order 
 then other Courts, which had produc't nothing worth 
 memory but the weake ostentation of wealth, would have 
 endur'd the least signifi'd dislike at any sudden Procla- 
 mation. If I should thus farre presume upon the meek 
 
 II demeanour of your civill and gentle greatnesse. Lords 
 and Commons, as what your publisht Order hath directly 
 said, that to gainsay, I might defend my selfe with ease, 
 if any should accuse me of being new or insolent, did 
 they but know how much better I find ye esteem it to 
 
 30 imitate the old and elegant humanity of Greece then the 
 barbarick pride of a Hunnish and Norwegian state-lines. 
 And out of those ages, to whose polite wisdom and 
 letters we ow that we are not yet Gothes and Juilanders^ 
 
 B 2 
 
4 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 I could name him who from his private house wrote 
 that discourse to the Parlament of Athens ^ that per- 
 swades them to change the forme of Democraty which 
 was then establisht. Such honour was done in those 
 
 5 dayes to men who profest the study of wisdome and elo- 
 quence, not only in their own Country, but in other 
 Lands, that Cities and Siniories heard them gladly and 
 with great respect, if they had ought in publick to 
 admonish the State. Thus did Dion Prusaem a stranger 
 
 10 and a privat Orator counsell the Rhodians against a 
 former Edict: and I abound with other like examples, 
 which to set heer would be superfluous. But if from 
 the industry of a life wholly dedicated to studious labours, 
 and those naturall endowments haply not the worst for 
 
 15 two and fifty degrees of northern latitude, so much must 
 be derogated as to count me not equall to any of those 
 who had this priviledge, I would obtain to be thought 
 not so inferior as your selves are superior to the most of 
 them who received their counsell: and how farre you 
 
 20 excell them, be assured, Lords and Commons, there can 
 no greater testimony appear then when your prudent 
 spirit acknowledges and obeyes the voice of reason from 
 what quarter soever it be heard speaking; and renders 
 ye as willing to repeal any Act of your own setting forth 
 
 25 as any set forth by your Predecessors. 
 
 If ye be thus resolv'd, as it were injury to thinke ye 
 were not, I know not what should withhold me from 
 presenting ye with a fit instance wherein to shew both 
 that love of truth which ye eminently professe, and that 
 
 30 uprightnesse of your judgement which is not wont to 
 be partiall to your selves, by judging over again that 
 Order which ye have ordain'd to regulate Printing : That 
 no Book, pamphlet, or paper shall he henceforth Printed^ 
 
AREOPAGITICA, 5 
 
 unlesse ike same be first approved and licenct by such, or at 
 least one of such as shall be thereto appointed. For that 
 part which preserves justly every mans Copy to himselfe, 
 or provides for the poor, I touch not, only wish they be 
 5 not made pretenses to abuse and persecute honest and 
 painfull Men, who offend not in either of these particu- 
 lars. But that other clause of Licencing Books, which 
 we thought had dy'd with his brother quadragesimal and 
 matrimonial when the Prelats expir'd, I shall now attend 
 
 10 with such a Homily as shall lay before ye, first the in- 
 ventors of it to bee those whom ye will be loath to own ; 
 next what is to be thought in generall of reading, what 
 ever sort the Books be ; and that this Order avails no- 
 thing to the suppressing of scandalous, seditious, and 
 
 15 libellous Books, which were mainly intended to be sup- 
 prest; last, that it will be primely to the discourage- 
 ment of all learning, and the stop of Truth, not only by 
 the disexercising and blunting our abilities in what we 
 know already, but by hindring and cropping the discovery 
 
 20 that might bee yet further made both in religious and 
 civill Wisdome. 
 
 I deny not but that it is of greatest concernment in 
 the Church and Commonwealth, to have a vigilant eye 
 how Bookes demeane themselves as well as men ; and 
 
 25 thereafter to confine, imprison, and do sharpest justice 
 on them as malefactors: For Books are not absolutely 
 dead things, but doe contain a potencie of life in them 
 to be as active as that soule was whose progeny they are; 
 nay, they do preserve as in a violl the purest efficacie 
 
 30 and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. 
 I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, 
 as those fabulous Dragons teeth ; and being sown up 
 and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And 
 
d AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 yet on the other hand, unlesse warinesse be us'd, as good 
 almost kill a Man as kill a good Book ; who kills a Man 
 kills a reasonable creature, Gods Image; but hee who 
 destroyes a good Booke, kills reason it selfe, kills the 
 5 Image of God as it were in the eye. Many a man lives 
 a burden to the Earth ; but a good Booke is the pretious 
 life-blood of a master spirit, imbalm'd and treasured up 
 on purpose to a life beyond life. 'Tis true, no age can 
 restore a life, whereof perhaps there is no great losse ; 
 
 lo and revolutions of ages doe not oft recover the losse of 
 a rejected truth, for the want of which whole Nations 
 fare the worse. We should be wary therefore what per- 
 secution we raise against the living labours of publick 
 men, how we spill that seasoned life of n^an preserved 
 
 15 and stor'd up in Books; since we see a kinde of homicide 
 may be thus committed, sometimes a martyrdome, and 
 if it extend to the whole impression, a kinde of massacre, 
 whereof the execution ends not in the slaying of an ele- 
 mentall life, but strikes at that ethereall and fift essence, 
 
 20 the breath of reason it selfe, slaies an immortality rather 
 then a life. But lest I should- be condemn'd of intro- 
 ducing licence, while I opposeiLicencing, I refuse not 
 the paines to be so much Historicall as will serve to 
 shew what hath been done by ancient and famous Com- 
 
 25 monwealths against this disorder, till the very time that 
 this project of licencing crept out of the Inquisition^ was 
 catcht up by our Prelates, and hath caught some of our 
 Presbyters. 
 
 In Athens where Books and Wits were ever busier 
 
 30 then in any other part of Greece, I finde but only two 
 sorts of writings which the Magistrate car'd to take no- 
 tice of: those either blasphemous and Atheisticall, or 
 Libellous. Thus the Books of Protagoras were by the 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 7 
 
 Judges of Areopagus commanded to be burnt, and him- 
 selfe banisht the territory, for a discourse begun with 
 his confessing not to know whether there were gods, or 
 whether not: And against defaming, it was decreed that 
 5 none should be traduc'd by name, as was the manner 
 of Vetus Comoedia, whereby we may guesse how they 
 censur'd Hbelling: And this course was quick enough, 
 as Cicero writes, to quell both the desperate wits of 
 other Atheists, and the open way of defaming, as the 
 
 lo event shew'd. Of other sects and opinions though 
 tending to voluptuousnesse and the denying of divine 
 providence they tooke no heed. Therefore we do not 
 read that either Epicurus, or that libertine school of 
 Cyrene, or what the Cynick impudence utter'd, was ever 
 
 15 question'd by the Laws. Neither is it recorded that the 
 writings of those old Comedians were supprest, though 
 the acting of them were forbid; and that Plato com- 
 mended the reading oi Aristophanes the loosest of them 
 all to his royall schoUer Dionysius, is commonly known, 
 
 20 and may be excused, if holy Chrysostome, as is reported, 
 nightly studied so much the same Author and had the 
 art to cleanse a scurrilous vehemence into the stile of a 
 rousing Sermon. That other leading City of Greece, 
 Lacedaemon, considering that Lycurgus their Law-giver 
 
 25 was so addicted to elegant learning as to have been 
 the first that brought out of Ionia the scatter'd workes 
 of Homer, and sent the Poet Thales from Greet to pre- 
 pare and mollifie the Spartan surlinesse with his smooth 
 songs and odes, the better to plant among them law 
 
 30 and civility, it is to be wondered how museless and un- 
 bookish they were, minding nought but the feats of 
 Warre. There needed no licencing of Books among 
 them, for they disliked all but theh: owne Laconick Apo- 
 
8 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 thegms, and took a slight occasion to chase Archilochus 
 out of their City, perhaps for composing in a higher 
 straine then their owne souldierly ballats and roundels 
 could reach to; Or if it were for his broad verses, they 
 5 were not therein so cautious but they were as dissolute 
 in their promiscuous conversing ; whence Euripides af- 
 firmes in Andromache, that their women were all un- 
 chaste. Thus much may give us light after what sort 
 Bookes were prohibited among the Greeks. The Ro- 
 
 10 mans also for many ages trained up only to a military 
 roughnes, resembling most of the Lacedaemonian guise, 
 knew of learning little but what their twelve Tables, 
 and the Pontifick College with their Augurs and Flamins 
 taught them in Religion and Law, so unacquainted with 
 
 15 other learning that when Carneades and Critolaus with 
 the Stoick Diogenes, comming Embassadors to Rome, 
 tooke thereby occasion to give the City a tast of their 
 Philosophy, they were suspected for seducers by no lesse 
 a man then Caio the Censor, who mov'd it in the Senat 
 
 20 to dismisse them speedily, and to banish all such Attick 
 bablers out of Italy, But Scipio and others of the 
 noblest Senators withstood him and his old Sahin aus- 
 terity ; honoured and admir'd the men ; and the Censor 
 himself at last in his old age fell to the study of that 
 
 25 whereof before hee was so scrupulous. And yet at the 
 same time Naevius and Plautus the first Latine come- 
 dians had filFd the City with all the borrowed Scenes of 
 Menander and Philemon, Then began to be considered 
 there also what was to be don to libellous books and 
 
 30 Authors ; for Naevius was quickly cast into prison for 
 his unbridrd pen, and releas'd by the Tribunes upon his • 
 recantation ; We read also that libels were burnt, and 
 the makers punisht by Augustus, The like severity no 
 
AREOPAGITICA, 9 
 
 doubt was us'd if ought were impiously writt'n against 
 their esteemed gods. Except in these two points, how 
 the world went in Books, the Magistrat kept no reck- 
 ning. And therefore Lucretius without impeachment 
 5 versifies his Epicurism to MemmiuSy and had the honour 
 to be set forth the second time by Cicero so great a 
 father of the Commonwealth ; although himselfe disputes 
 against that opinion in his own writings. Nor was the 
 Satyricall sharpnesse, or naked plainnes of Lucilius, or 
 
 10 Catullus y or Flaccus, by any order prohibited. And for 
 matters of State, the story of Titius Livius^ though it 
 extoU'd that part which Pompey held, was not therefore 
 supprest by Octavius Caesar of the other Faction. But 
 that Naso was by him banisht in his old age for the 
 
 15 wanton Poems of his youth, was but a meer covert of 
 State over some secret cause ; and besides, the Books 
 were neither banisht nor call'd in. From hence we shall 
 meet with little else but tyranny in the Roman Empire, 
 that we may not marvell if not so often bad as good 
 
 20 Books were silenc't. I shall therefore deem to have 
 bin large anough in producing what among the ancients 
 was punishable to write, save only which all other argu- 
 ments were free to treat on. 
 
 By this time the Emperours were become Christians, 
 
 25 whose discipline in this point I doe not finde to have 
 bin more severe then what was formerly in practice. 
 The Books of those whom they took to be grand Here- 
 ticks were examined, refuted, and condemned in the 
 generall Councels; and not till then were prohibited, 
 
 30 or burnt by autority of the Emperor. As for the 
 writings of Heathen authors, unlesse they were plaine 
 invectives against Christianity, as those of Porphyrius 
 and ProcluSy they met with no interdict that can be 
 
to AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 cited till about the year 400 in a Carthaginian Councel, 
 wherein Bishops themselves were forbid to read the 
 Books of Gentiles, but Heresies they might read : while 
 others long before them on the contrary scrupl'd more 
 5 the Books of Hereticks then of Gentiles. And that 
 the primitive Councels and Bishops were wont only to 
 declare what Books were not commendable, passing no 
 furder, but leaving it to each ones conscience to read 
 or to lay by, till after the year 800, is observed already by 
 
 10 Padre Paolo the great unmasker of the Trentine Councel. 
 After which time the Popes of Rome, engrossing what 
 they pleas'd of Politicall rule into their owne hands, 
 extended their dominion over mens eyes, as they had 
 before over their judgements, burning and prohibiting 
 
 15 to be read what they fansied not; yet sparing in their 
 censures, and the Books not many which they so dealt 
 with ; till Martin the 5. by his Bull not only prohibited, 
 but was the first that excommunicated the reading of 
 hereticall Books ; for about that time Wicklef and Husse 
 
 20 growing terrible were they who first drove the Papall 
 Court to a stricter policy of prohibiting. Which cours 
 Leo the 10 and his successors followed, untill the Coun- 
 cell of Trent and the Spanish Inquisition engendring 
 together brought forth or perfeted those Catalogues 
 
 25 and expurging Indexes that rake through the entrails 
 of many an old good Author with a violation wors then 
 any could be offered to his tomb. Nor did they stay 
 in matters Hereticall, but any subject that was not to 
 their palat they either condemned in a prohibition, or 
 
 30 had it strait into the new Purgatory of an Index. To 
 fill up the measure of encroachment, their last inven- 
 tion was to ordain that no Book, pamphlet, or paper 
 should be Printed (as if S, Peter had bequeath'd them 
 
AREOPAGITICA. II 
 
 the keys of the Presse also out of Paradise) unlesse it 
 were approv'd and Hcenc't under the hands of 2 or 3 
 glutton Friers. For example : 
 
 Let the Chancellor Cini be pleas'd to see if in this 
 5 present work be contain'd ought that may withstand the 
 Printing, 
 
 Vincent Rahatta Vicar of Florence. 
 
 I have seen this present work, and finde nothing athwart 
 the Catholick faith and good manners; In witnesse whereof 
 10 1 have given, &c. 
 
 Nicolh Cini, Chancellor of Florence, 
 
 Attending the precedent relation, it is allowed that this 
 present work of Davanzali may be Printed, 
 
 Vincent Rahatta^ &c. 
 15 It may be Printed, /w/^' 15. 
 
 Friar Siuion Mompei d' Amelia Chancellor of 
 the holy office in Florence, 
 
 Sure they have a conceit, if he of the bottomlesse pit had 
 not long since broke prison, that this quadruple exorcism 
 20 would barre him down. I feare their next designe will 
 be to get into their custody the licencing of that which 
 they say * Claudius intended, but went not through with. 
 Voutsafe to see another of their forms the Roman stamp : 
 
 Imprimatur^ If it seem good to the reverend Master of 
 25 the holy Palace, 
 
 BelcastrOy Viceregent 
 Imprimatur, 
 
 Friar Nicolb Rodolphi Master of the holy Palace. 
 Sometimes 5 Imprimaturs are seen together dialoguewise in 
 
 • Quo veniam daret flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi. 
 Sueton. in Claudio. 
 
1 2 AREOPA GITICA. 
 
 the Piatza of one Title page, complementing and ducking 
 each to other with their shav'n reverences, whether the 
 Author, who stands by in perplexity at the foot of his 
 Epistle, shall to the Presse or to the spunge. These are 
 5 the prety responsories, these are the deare Antiphonies that 
 so bewitcht of late our Prelats and their Chaplaines with 
 the goodly Eccho they made ; and besotted us to the gay 
 imitation of a lordly Imprimatur, one from Lambeth 
 house, another from the West end of Pauls ; so apishly 
 
 10 Romanizing that the word of command still was set 
 downe in Latine ; as if the learned Grammaticall pen 
 that wrote it, would cast no ink without Latine; or 
 perhaps, as they thought, because no vulgar tongue was 
 worthy to expresse the pure conceit of an Imprimatur ; 
 
 15 but rather, as I hope, for that our English, the language 
 of men ever famous and formost in the achievements of 
 liberty, will not easily finde servile letters anow to spell 
 such a dictatorie presumption English. And thus ye have 
 the Inventors and the originall of Book-licencing ript 
 
 20 up, and drawn as lineally as any pedigree. We have 
 it not, that can be heard of, from any ancient Statb, 
 or politic, or Church, nor by any Statute left us by our 
 Ancestors, elder or later; nor from the modeme custom 
 of any reformed Citty, or Church abroad ; but from the 
 
 25 most Antichristian Councel, and the most tyrannous 
 Inquisition that ever inquired. Till then Books were 
 ever as freely admitted into the World as any other 
 birth; the issue of the brain was no more stifl'd then 
 the issue of the womb ; no envious Juno sate cros-leg'd 
 
 30 over the nativity of any mans intellectual off- spring; 
 but if it prov'd a Monster, who denies but that it was 
 justly burnt, or sunk into the Sea. But that a Book, 
 in wors condition then a peccant soul, should be to 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 1 3 
 
 Stand before a Jury ere it be borne to the World, and 
 undergo yet in darknesse the judgement of Radamanth 
 and his Colleagues, ere it can passe the ferry backward 
 into light, was never heard before, till that mysterious 
 
 5 iniquity, provokt and troubl'd at the first entrance of 
 Reformation, sought out new limbo's and new hells 
 wherein they might include our Books also within the 
 number of their damned. And this was the rare morsell 
 so officiously snatcht up and so ilfavourdly imitated by 
 
 loour inquisiturient Bishops and the attendant minorites 
 their Chaplains. That ye like not now these most 
 certain Authors of this licencing order, and that all 
 sinister intention was farre distant from your thoughts, 
 when ye were importuned the passing it, all men who 
 
 15 know the integrity of your actions, and how ye honour 
 Truth, will clear yee readily. 
 
 But some will say, what though the Inventors were 
 bad, the thing for all that may be good? It may so; 
 yet if that thing be no such deep invention, but obvious, 
 
 20 and easie for any man to light on, and yet best and 
 wisest Commonwealths through all ages and occasions 
 have forborne to use it, and falsest seducers and op- 
 pressors of men were the first who tooke it up, and to 
 no other purpose but to obstruct and hinder the first 
 
 25 approach of Reformation, I am of those who beleeve 
 it will be a harder alchymy then Lullius ever knew, 
 to sublimat any good use out of such an invention. 
 Yet this only is what I request to gain from this reason, 
 that it may be held a dangerous and suspicious fruit, 
 
 30 as certainly it deserves, for the tree that bore it, untill 
 I can dissect one by one the properties it has. But I 
 have first to finish as was propounded, what is to be 
 thought in generall of reading Books, what ever sort 
 
14 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 they be, and whether be more the benefit or the harm 
 that thence proceeds ? 
 
 Not to insist upon the examples of Moses^ Daniel 
 and Paulf who were skilfull in all the learning of the 
 
 5 Egyptians, Caldeans, and Greek?, which could not 
 probably be without reading their Books of all sorts, 
 in Paul especially, who thought it no defilement to 
 insert into holy Scripture the sentences of three Greek 
 Poets and one of them a Tragedian, the question 
 
 lowas notwithstanding sometimes controverted among the 
 Primitive Doctors, but with great odds on that side 
 which affirmed it both lawfull and profitable, as was 
 then evidently perceived, when Julian the Apostat and 
 sutdest enemy to our faith made a decree forbidding 
 
 15 Christians the study of heathen learning; for, said he, 
 they wound us with our own weapons, and with our 
 owne arts and sciences they overcome us. And indeed 
 the Christians were put so to their shifts by this crafty 
 means, and so much in danger to decline into all igno- 
 
 20 ranee, that the two Apollinarii were fain as a man 
 may say to coin all the seven liberall Sciences out 
 of the Bible, reducing it into divers forms of Orations, 
 Poems, Dialogues, ev'n to the calculating of a new 
 Christian Grammar. But saith the Historian Socrates : 
 
 25 The providence of God provided better then the in- 
 dustry of Apollinarius and his son by taking away that 
 illiterat law with the life of him who devis'd it. So 
 great an injury they then held it to be deprived of 
 Hellenick learning; and thought it a persecution more 
 
 30 undermining and secretly decaying the Church then the 
 open cruelty of Decius or Dioclesian, And perhaps it 
 was the same politick drift that the Divell whipt St. Jerom 
 in a lenten dream, for reading Cicero ; or else it was a 
 
AREOPAGITICA. IS 
 
 fantasm bred by the feaver which had then seis'd him. 
 For had an Angel bin his discipliner, unlesse it were 
 for dwelling too much upon Ciceronianisms, and had 
 chastized the reading, not the vanity, it had bin plainly 
 
 5partiall, first, to correct him for grave Ckero, and not 
 for scurrill Plauius whom he confesses to have bin 
 reading not long before, next, to correct him only, 
 and let so many more ancient Fathers wax old in those 
 pleasant and florid studies without the lash of such a 
 
 10 tutoring apparition; insomuch that Basil teaches how 
 some good use may be made of Margiies a sportfull 
 Poem, not now extant, writ by Homer; and why not 
 then of Morgante an Italian Romanze much to the 
 same purpose ? But if it be agreed we shall be try'd by 
 
 15 visions, there is a vision recorded by Eusebius far an- 
 cienter then this tale oi Jerom to the nun Euslochium^ 
 and besides has nothing of a feavor in it. Dtonysius 
 Alexandrinus was about the year 240 a person of great 
 name in the Church for piety and learning, who had 
 
 20 wont to avail himself much against hereticks by being 
 conversant in their Books; untill a certain Presbyter 
 laid it scrupulously to his conscience, how he durst 
 venture himselfe among those defiling volumes. The 
 worthy man loath to give off'ence fell into a new de- 
 
 25 bate with himselfe what was to be thought ; when sud- 
 denly a vision sent from God, it is his own Epistle 
 that so averrs it, confirm'd him in these words : ^ Read ^ 
 any books what ever come to thy hands, for thou art 
 sufficient both to judge aright and to examine each 
 
 30 matter. To this revelation he assented the sooner, as 
 he confesses, because it was answerable to that of the 
 Apostle to the Thessalonians : Prove all things, hold 
 fast that which is good. And he might have added 
 
1 6 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 another remarkable saying of the same Author : To the 
 pure all things are pure, not only meats and drinks, but 
 all kinde of knowledge whether of good or evill; the 
 knowledge cannot defile, nor consequently the books, 
 5 if the will and conscience be not defil'd. For books 
 are as meats and viands are, some of good, some of 
 evill substance; and yet God in that unapocryphall 
 vision said without exception. Rise Peter, kill and eat, 
 leaving the choice to each mans discretion. Whole- 
 
 10 some meats to a vitiated stomack differ little or nothing 
 from unwholesome ; and best books to a naughty mind 
 are not unappliable to occasions of evill. Bad meats 
 will scarce breed good nourishment in the healthiest 
 concoction; but herein the difference is of bad books, 
 
 15 that they to a discreet and judicious Reader serve in 
 many respects to discover, to confute, to forewarn, and 
 to illustrate. Wherof what better witnes can ye expect 
 I should produce then one of your own now sitting 
 in Parlament, the chief of learned men reputed in 
 
 20 this Land, Mr. Selden, whose volume of naturall and 
 national laws proves, not only by great autorities 
 brought together, but by exquisite reasons and theorems 
 almost mathematically demonstrative, that all opinions, 
 yea^ errors, known, read, and collated, are of main ser- 
 
 25 vice and assistance toward the speedy attainment of 
 what is truest. I conceive therefore, that when God 
 did enlarge the universall diet of mans body, saving 
 ever the rules of temperance, he then also, as before, 
 left arbitrary the dyeting and repasting of our minds; 
 
 30 as wherein every mature man might have to exercise his 
 owne leading capacity. How great a vertue is tem- 
 perance, how much of moment through the whole life 
 of manl yet God committs the managing so great a 
 
AREOPAGITICA, r?, 
 
 trust, without particular Law or prescription, wholly to 
 the demeanour of every grown man. And therefore 
 when he himself tabl'd the Jews from heaven, that 
 Omer which was every mans daily portion of Manna is 
 
 5 computed to have bin more then might have well sufficed 
 the heartiest feeder thrice as many meals. For those 
 actions, which enter into a man rather then issue out 
 of him and therefore defile not, God uses not to cap- 
 tivat under a perpetuall childhood of prescription, but 
 
 lo trusts him with the gift of reason to be his own chooser ; 
 there were but little work left for preaching, if law and 
 compulsion show^ grow so fast upon those things which 
 hertofore were governed only by exhortation. Salomon 
 informs us that much reading is a wearines to the flesh ; 
 
 15 but neither he nor other inspired author tells us that 
 such or such reading is unlawful!: yet certainly had 
 God thought good to limit us herein, it had bin much 
 more expedient to have told us what was unlawful! 
 then what was wearisome. As for the burning of those 
 
 2oEphesian books by St. Pauls converts, tis reply'd the 
 books were magick, the Syriack so renders them. It 
 was a privat act, a voluntary act, and leaves us to 
 a voluntary imitation; the men in remorse burnt those 
 books which were their own ; the Magistrat by this ex*- 
 
 25 ample is not appointed ; these men practiz'd the books, 
 another might perhaps have read them in some sort use- 
 fully. Good and evil! we know in the field of this World 
 grow up together almost inseparably ; and the knowledge 
 of good is so involved and interwoven with the know- 
 
 30 ledge of evill and in so many cunning resemblances 
 hardly to be discerned, that those confused seeds, which 
 were impos'd on Psyche as an incessant labour to cull 
 * Read 'should.* 
 
1 8 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 out and sort asunder, were not more intermixt. It 
 was from out the rinde of one apple tasted that the 
 knowledge of good and evill as two twins cleaving to- 
 
 • gether leapt forth into the World. And perhaps this is 
 5 that doom which Adam fell into of knowing good and 
 evill, that is to say of knowing good by evill. As 
 therefore the state of man now is, what wisdome can 
 there be to choose, what continence to forbeare with- 
 out the knowledge of evill? He that can apprehend 
 
 10 and consider vice with all her baits and seeming plea- 
 sures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet pre- ,/ 
 fer that which is truly better, he is the true wayfaring V 
 Christian. I cannot praise a fugitive and cloister' q 
 vertue, unexercised and unbreath'd, that never sallies 
 
 15 out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, 
 where that immortall garland is to be run for not 
 without dust and heat. Assuredly we bring not inno- 
 cence into the world, we bring impurity much rather: 
 that which purifies us is triall, and triall is by what is 
 
 20 contrary. That vertue therefore which is but a young- 
 ling in the contemplation of evill, and knows not the 
 utmost that vice promises to her followers, and rejects 
 it, is but a blank vertue, not a pure ; her whitenesse is 
 but an excrementall wliitenesse ; Which was the reason 
 
 25 why our sage and serious Poet Spencer, whom I dare 
 be known to think a better teacher then Scotus or 
 Aquinas, describing true temperance under the person 
 of Guton, brings him in with his palmer through the 
 cave of Mammon and the bowr of earthly blisse, that 
 
 30 he might see and know, and yet abstain. Since there- 
 fore the knowledge and survay of vice is in this world 
 so necessary to the constituting of human vertue, and 
 * Read ' warfaring'? See note. 
 
AREOPAGITICA. I9 
 
 the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how 
 can we more safely and with lesse danger scout into 
 the regions of sin and falsity then by reading all man- 
 ner of tractats, and hearing all manner of reason ? And 
 
 5 this is the benefit which may be had of books promis- 
 cuously read. But of the harm that may result hence 
 three kinds are usually reckn'd: First, is fear'd the 
 infection that may spread ; but then all human learning 
 and' controversie in religious points must remove out 
 
 10 of the world, yea, the Bible it selfe; for that oftimes 
 relates blasphemy not nicely, it describes the carnall 
 sense of wicked men not unelegantly, it brings in 
 holiest men passionately murmuring against providence 
 through all the arguments of Epicurus : in other great 
 
 15 disputes it answers dubiously and darkly to the com- 
 mon reader: And ask a Talmudest what ails the 
 modesty of his marginall Keri, that Moses and all the 
 Prophets cannot perswade him to pronounce the tex- 
 tuall Chetiv. For these causes we all know the Bible 
 
 20 it selfe put by the Papist into the first rank of prohi- 
 bited books. The ancientest Fathers must be next 
 removed, as Clement of Alexandria, and that Eusebian 
 book of Evangelick preparation, transmitting our ears 
 through a hoard of heathenish obscenities to receive 
 
 25 the Gospel. Who finds not that Irenaeus, Epiphanius, 
 Jerom, and others discover more heresies then they 
 well confute, and that oft for heresie which is the truer 
 opinion? Nor boots it to say for these, and all the 
 heathen Writers of greatest infection, if it must be 
 
 30 thought so, with whom is bound up the life of human 
 learning, that they writ in an unknown tongue, so long 
 as we are sure those languages are known as well to 
 the worst of men, who are both most able and most 
 
 c 2 
 
20 AREOPAGITJCA. 
 
 diligent to instill the poison they suck, first into the 
 Courts of Princes, acquainting them with the choicest 
 delights and criticisms of sin. As perhaps did that 
 Petronius whom Nero calFd his Arbiter y the Master of 
 5 his revels; and that notorious ribald of Arezzo, dreaded, 
 and yet dear to the Italian Courtiers. I name not him 
 for posterities sake, whom Harry the 8. nam'd in merri- 
 ment his Vicar of hell. By which compendious way all 
 the contagion that foreine books can infuse will finde a 
 
 10 passage to the people farre easier and shorter then an 
 Indian voyage, though it could be sail'd either by the 
 North of Cataio Eastward or of Canada Westward, while 
 our Spanish licencing gags the English presse never so 
 severely. But on the other side, that infection which is 
 
 15 from books of controversie in Religion, is more doubtfull 
 and dangerous to the learned then to the ignorant; and 
 yet those books must be permitted untoucht by the 
 licencer. It will be hard to instance where any ignorant 
 man hath bin ever seduc't by Papisticall book in English, 
 
 2ounlesse it were commended and expounded to him by 
 some of that Clergy; and indeed all such tractats 
 whether false or true are as the Prophesie of Isaiah was 
 to the Eunuch^ not to be understood without a guide. But 
 of our Priests and Doctors how many have bin corrupted 
 
 25 by studying the comments of Jesuits and SorbonistSy and 
 how fast they could transfuse that corruption into the 
 people, our experience is both late and sad. It is not 
 forgot since the acute and distinct Arminius was per- 
 verted meerly by the perusing of a namelesse discours 
 
 30 writt'n at Del/, which at first he took in hand to confute. 
 Seeing therefore that those books, and those in great 
 abundance which are likeliest to taint both life and 
 doctrine, cannot be supprest without the fall of learning 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 21 
 
 and of all ability in disputation, and that these books of 
 either sort are most and soonest catching to the learned, 
 from whom to the common people what ever is hereticall 
 or dissolute may quickly be convey'd, and that evill 
 
 5 manners are as perfectly learnt without books a thousand 
 other ways which cannot be stopt, and evill doctrine not 
 with books can propagate, except a teacher guide, which 
 he might also doe without writing and so beyond 
 prohibiting, I am not able to unfold how this cautelous 
 
 10 enterprise of licencing can be exempted from the number 
 of vain and impossible attempts. And he who were 
 pleasantly disposed could not well avoid to lik'n it to the 
 exploit of that gallant man who thought to pound up the 
 crows by shutting his Parkgate. Besides another in- 
 
 15 convenience, if learned men be the first receivers out of 
 books and dispredders both of vice and error, how shaU 
 the licencers themselves be confided in, unlesse we can 
 conferr upon them, or they assume to themselves above 
 all others in the. Land, the grace of infallibility and un- 
 
 20 corruptednesse ? 1 And again if it be true, that a wise 
 man like a good refiner can gather gold out of the 
 drossiest volume, and that a fool will be a fool with the 
 best book, yea, or without book, there is no reason that 
 we should deprive a wise man of any advantage to his 
 
 25 wisdome, while we seek to restrain from a fool that 
 which being restrained will be no hindrance to his folly/ 
 Fo r if there should be so much exactnesse always us'd to 
 keep that from him which is unfit for his reading, we 
 should in the judgement of Aristotle not only but of 
 
 10 Salomon and of our Saviour, not voutsafe him good 
 precepts, and by consequence not willingly admit him to 
 good books, as being certain that a wise man will make 
 better use of an idle pamphlet then a fool will do of 
 
22 AREOPAGITICA, 
 
 sacred Scripture. 'Tis next alleged we must not expose 
 our selves to temptations without necessity, and next to 
 that, not imploy our time in vain things. To both these 
 objections one answer will serve, out of the grounds 
 
 5 already laid, that to all men such books are not temp- 
 tations, nor vanities; but usefull drugs and materialls 
 wherewith to temper and compose effective and strong 
 med'cins, which mans life cannot want. The rest, as 
 children and childish men, who have not the art to 
 
 10 qualifie and prepare these working mineralls, well may be 
 exhorted to forbear, but hindered forcibly they cannot be 
 by all the licencing that Sainted Inquisition could ever 
 yet contrive ; which is what I promised to deliver next : 
 That this order of licencing conduces nothing to the end 
 
 15 for which it was fram'd; and hath almost prevented me 
 by being clear already while thus much hath bin ex- 
 plaining. See the ingenuity of Truth, who when she gets 
 a free and willing hand, opens her self faster then the 
 pace of method and discours can overtake her. It was 
 
 20 the task which I began with. To shew that no Nation, or 
 well instituted State, if they valu'd books at all, did ever 
 use this way of licencing ; and it might be answer'd, that 
 this is a piece of prudence lately discovered ; To which I 
 return, that as it was a thing slight and obvious to think 
 
 25 on, so if it had bin difficult to finde out, there wanted not 
 among them long since who suggested such a cours; 
 which they not following, leave us a pattern of their 
 judgement, that it was not the not knowing, but the not 
 approving, which was the cause of their not using it. 
 
 30 Plato, a man of high autority indeed, but least of all for 
 his Commonwealth, in the book of his laws, which no 
 City ever yet received, fed his fancie with making many 
 edicts to his ayrie Burgomasters, which they who other- 
 
AREOFAGITICA, %% 
 
 wise admire him wish had bin rather buried and 
 excused in the genial cups of an Academick night-sitting. 
 By which laws he seems to tolerat no kind of learning, 
 but by unalterable decree, consisting most of practical! 
 5 traditions, to the attainment whereof a Library of smaller 
 bulk then his own dialogues would be abundant. And 
 there also enacts that no Poet should so much as read 
 to any privat man what he had written, untill the Judges 
 and Law-keepers had seen it and allow'd it; But that 
 
 lo Plato meant this Law peculiarly to that Commonwealth 
 which he had imagin'd, and to no other, is evident. 
 Why was he not else a Law-giver to himself, but a 
 transgressor, and to be expell'd by his own Magistrats, 
 both for the wanton epigrams and dialogues which he 
 
 15 made, and his perpetuall reading of Sophron Mimus 
 and Aristophanes^ books of grossest infamy, and also 
 for commending the latter of them, though he were 
 the malicious libeller of his chief friends, to be read by 
 the Tyrant Dionysitis, who had little need of such 
 
 20 trash to spend his time on? But that he knew this 
 licencing of Poems had reference and dependence to 
 many other proviso's there set down in his fancied 
 republic, which in this world could have no place; and 
 so neither he himself, nor any Magistrat, or City ever 
 
 25 imitated that cours, which tak'n apart from those 
 other collaterall injunctions must needs be vain and 
 fruitlesse. For if they fell upon one kind of strictnesse, 
 unlesse their care were equall to regulat all other things 
 of like aptnes to corrupt the mind, that single endea- 
 
 30 vour they knew would be but a fond labour : to shut 
 and fortifie one gate against corruption, and be neces- 
 sitated to leave others round about wide open. If we 
 think to regulat Printing, thereby to rectifie manners, 
 
24 AREOPAGITICA, 
 
 we must regulat all recreations and pastimes, all that is 
 delightfull to man. No musick must be heard, no song 
 be set or sung, but what is grave and Dorick, There 
 must be licencing dancers, that no gesture, motion, or 
 
 5 deportment be taught our youth but what by their al- 
 lowance shall be thought honest; for such Plato was 
 provided of. It will ask more then the work of twenty 
 licencers to examin all the lutes, the violins, and the 
 ghittarrs in every house; they must not be suffered to 
 
 lo prattle as they doe, but must be licenced what they may 
 say. And who shall silence all the airs and madrigalls, 
 that whisper softnes in chambers? The Windows also, 
 and the Balconis must be thought on; there are shrewd 
 books with dangerous Frontispices set to sale; who 
 
 15 shall prohibit them? shall twenty licencers? The vil- 
 lages also must have their visitors to enquire what lec- 
 tures the bagpipe and the rebbeck reads, ev'n to the 
 ballatry and the gammuth of every municipal fidler, 
 for these are the Countrymans Arcadia s and his Monte 
 
 20 Mayors, Next, what more Nationall corruption, for 
 which England hears ill abroad, then houshold gluttony? 
 who shall be the rectors of our daily rioting ? and what 
 shall be done to inhibit the multitudes that frequent 
 those houses where drunk'nes is sold and harbour'd? 
 
 25 Our garments also should be referr'd to the licencing of 
 some more sober work-masters to see them cut into a 
 lesse wanton garb. Who shall regulat all the mixt con- 
 versation of our youth, male and female together, as is 
 the fashion of this Country ? who shall still appoint what 
 
 30 shall be discoursed, what presumed, and no furder? 
 Lastly, who shall forbid and separat all idle resort, all 
 evill company? These things will be, and must be; 
 but 'how they shall be lest hurtfull, how lest enticing, 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 25 
 
 herein consists the grave and governing wisdom of a 
 State. To sequester out of the world into Atlantick and 
 Euiopian polities, which never can be drawn into use, 
 will not mend our condition; but to ordain wisely as 
 
 5 in this world of evill, in the midd'st whereof God hath 
 placet us unavoidably. Nor is it Plaids licencing of books 
 will doe this, which necessarily pulls along with it so 
 many other kinds of licencing, as will make us all both 
 ridiculous and weary, and yet frustrat ; but those unwrit- 
 
 10 t'n, or at least unconstraining laws of vertuous education, 
 religious and civill nurture, which Plato there mentions 
 as the bands and ligaments of the Commonwealth, the 
 pillars and the sustainers of every written Statute; these 
 they be which will bear chief sway in such matters as 
 
 15 these, when all licencing will be easily eluded. Impu- 
 nity and remissenes, for certain, are the bane of a Com- 
 monwealth ; but here the great art lyes to discern in what 
 the law is to bid restraint and punishment, and in what 
 things perswasion only is to work. If every action 
 
 20 which is good, or evill in man at ripe years, were to be 
 under pittance and prescription and compulsion, what 
 were vertue but a name, what praise could be then due 
 to well-doing, what grammercy to be sober, just, or 
 continent? Many there be that complain of divin 
 
 25 Providence for suffering Adam to transgresse. Foolish 
 tongues 1 when God gave hrnTreaSon, he gave him free- 
 dom to choose, for reason is but choosing; he had bin 
 else a meer artificiall Adam, such an Adam as he is in 
 the motions. We our selves esteem not of that obedi- 
 
 30 ence or love or gift, which is of force : God therefore 
 left him free, set before him a provoking object, ever 
 almost in his eyes ; herein consisted his merit, herein the 
 right of his reward, the praise of his abstinence. Where- 
 
26 AREOPAGITICA, 
 
 fore did he creat passions within us, pleasures round 
 about us, but that these rightly tempered are the very 
 ingredients of vertu? They are not skilful! considerers 
 of human things, who imagin to remove sin by remov- . 
 
 5 ing the matter of sin ; for, besides that it is a huge heap'^ 
 increasing under the very act of diminishing though 
 some part of it may for a time be withdrawn from some 
 persons, it cannot from all in such a universall thing as^> 
 books are; and when this is done, yet the sin remains // 
 
 10 entire. Though ye take from a covetous man all his /// 
 treasure, he has yet one Jewell left: ye cannot bereave l|j 
 him of his covetousnesse. Banish all objects of lust,/|// 
 shut up all youth into the severest discipline that caii( if 
 be exercised in any hermitage, ye cannot make them /\| 
 
 15 chaste that came not thither so ; such great care ani I 
 wisdom is required to the right managing of this point. J\ 
 Suppose we could expell sin by this means ; look -how 
 much we thus expell of sin, so much we expell of ver- 
 tue : for the matter of them both is the same ; remove 
 
 20 that, and ye remove them both alike. This justifies 
 the high providence of God, who though he command 
 us temperance, justice, continence, yet powrs out before 
 us ev'n to a profusenes all desirable things, and gives 
 us minds that can wander beyond all limit and satiety. 
 
 ^5 Why should we then affect a rigor contrary to the man- 
 ner of God and of nature, by abridging or scanting 
 those means, which books freely permitted are, both 
 to the triall of vertue and the exercise of truth? It 
 would be better done to learn that the law must needs 
 
 30 be frivolous which goes to restrain things uncertainly 
 and yet equally working to good and to evill. And 
 were I the chooser, a dram of well-doing should be pre- 
 ferred before many times as much the forcible hindrance 
 
ARE0PAGIT2CA. 2? 
 
 of evill-doing. /For God sure esteems the growth and 
 
 fTcompleating ot one vertuous person more then the 
 
 wjrestraint of ten vitious. And albeit what ever thing we 
 hear or see, sitting, walking, travelling, or conversing 
 
 5 may be fitly call'd our book, and is of the same effect 
 that writings are, yet grant the thing to be prohibited 
 were only books, it appears that this order hitherto is 
 far insufficient to the end which it intends. Do we not 
 see, not once or oftner, but weekly that continued Court- 
 
 lolibell against the Parlament and City, Printed, as the 
 wet sheets can witnes, and dispers't among us for all 
 that licencing can doe? yet this is the prime service a 
 man would think, wherein this order should give proof 
 of it self. If it were executed, you'l say. But certain, if 
 
 15 execution be remisse or blindfold now and in this par- 
 ticular, what will it be hereafter and in other books? 
 If then the order shall not be vain and frustrat, behold 
 a new labour, Lords and Commons : ye must repeal and 
 proscribe all scandalous and unlicenc't books already 
 
 20 printed and divulg'd ; after ye have drawn them up into 
 a list, that all may know which are condemned and 
 which not; and ordain that no forrein books be deli- 
 ver'd out of custody, till they have bin read over. This 
 office will require the whole time of not a few overseers, 
 
 25 and those no vulgar men. There be also books which 
 are partly usefull and excellent, partly culpable and 
 pernicious; this work will ask as many more officials 
 to make expurgations and expunctions, that the Com- 
 monwealth of learning be not damnify'd. In fine, when 
 
 30 the multitude of books encrease upon their hands, ye 
 must be fain to catalogue all those Printers who are 
 found frequently off'ending, and forbidd the importation 
 of their whole suspected typography. In a word, that 
 
28 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 this your order may be exact, and not deficient, ye must 
 reform it perfectly according to the model of Trent and 
 Sevil^ which I know ye abhorre to doe. Yet though 
 ye should condiscend to this, which God forbid, the 
 
 5 order still would be but fruitlesse and defective to that 
 end whereto ye meant it. If to prevent sects and 
 schisms, who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story, 
 that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a 
 hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for 
 
 10 many ages only by unwritten traditions. The Christian 
 faith, for that was once a schism, is not unknown to 
 have spread all over Asia^ ere any Gospel or Epistle 
 was seen in writing. If the amendment of manners 
 be aym'd at, look into Italy and Spain, whether those 
 
 15 places be one scruple the better, the honester, the wiser, 
 the chaster, since all the inquisitionall rigor that hath bin 
 executed upon books. 
 
 Another reason, whereby to make it plain that this 
 order will misse the end it seeks, consider by the quality 
 
 20 which ought to be in every licencer. It cannot be deny'd 
 but that he who is made judge to sit upon the birth or 
 death of books, whether they may be wafted into this 
 world or not, had need to be a man above the common 
 measure both studious, learned, and judicious; there 
 
 25 may be else no mean mistakes in the censure of what 
 is passable or not; which is also no mean injury. If 
 he be of such worth as behoovs him, there cannot be 
 a more tedious and unpleasing journey-work, a greater 
 losse of time levied upon his head, then to be made the 
 
 3operpetuall reader of unchosen books and pamphlets, 
 oftimes huge volumes. There is no book that is accept- 
 able unlesse at certain seasons ; but to be enjoyn'd the 
 reading of that at all times, and in a hand scars legible, 
 
AREOPAGITICA, 2^ 
 
 whereof three pages would not down at any time in the 
 fairest Print, is an imposition which I cannot beleeve 
 how he that values time and his own studies, or is but 
 of a sensible nostrill, should be able to endure. In this 
 
 5 one thing I crave leave of the present licencers to be 
 pardon'd for so thinking; who doubleese^ took this office 
 up looking on it through their obedience to the Par- 
 lament, whose command perhaps made all things seem 
 easie and unlaborious to them ; but that this short triall 
 
 lo hath wearied them out already, their own expressions and 
 excuses to them who make so many journeys to sollicit 
 their licence, are testimony anough. Seeing therefore 
 those who now possesse the imployment, by all evident 
 signs wish themselves well ridd of it, and that no man 
 
 15 of worth, none that is not a plain unthrift of his own 
 hours is ever likely to succeed them, except he mean 
 to put himself to the salary of a Presse-corrector, we may 
 easily foresee what kind of licencers we are to expect 
 hereafter, either ignorant, imperious, and remisse, or 
 
 20 basely pecuniary. This is what I had to shew wherein 
 this order cannot conduce to that end, whereof it bears 
 the intention. 
 
 I lastly proceed from the no good it can do, to the mani- 
 k} fest hurt it causes, in being first the greatest discourage- 
 
 25ment and affront that can be offered to learning and to 
 learned men.3 It was the complaint and lamentation of 
 Prelats upon every least breath of a motion to remove 
 pluralities and distribute more equally Church revennu's, 
 that then all learning would be for ever dasht and dis- 
 
 30 courag'd. But as for that opinion, I never found cause 
 to think that the tenth part of learning stood or fell with 
 the Clergy ; nor could I ever but hold it for a sordid and 
 * Read * doubtlesse.' 
 
30 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 unworthy speech of any Churchman who had a com- 
 petency left him. If therefore ye be loath to dishearten 
 utterly and discontent, not the mercenary crew of false 
 pretenders to learning, but the free and ingenuous sort 
 5 of such as evidently were born to study and love lerning 
 for it self, not for lucre or any other end but the service 
 of God and of truth, and perhaps that lasting fame and 
 perpetuity of praise which God and good men have con- 
 sented shall be the reward of those whose publisht 
 
 TO labours advance the good of mankind, then know, that 
 so far to distrust the judgement and the honesty of one 
 who hath but a common repute in learning and never yet 
 offended, as not to count him fit to print his mind with- 
 out a tutor and examiner, lest he should drop a seism 
 
 15 or something of corruption, is the greatest displeasure 
 and indignity to a free and knowing spirit that can be 
 put upon him. What advantage is it to be a man over 
 it is to be a boy at school, if we have only scapt the 
 ferular to come under the fescu of an Imprimatur? if 
 
 20 serious and elaborat writings, as if they were no more 
 then the theam of a Grammar lad under his Pedagogue 
 must not be utter'd without the cursory eyes of a tem- 
 porizing and extemporizing licencer? He who is not 
 trusted with his own actions, his drift not being known 
 
 25 to be evill, and standing to the hazard of law and penalty, 
 has no great argument to think himself reputed in the 
 Commonwealth wherein he was born for other then a 
 fool or a foreiner. When a man writes to the world, 
 he summons up all his reason and deliberation to assist 
 
 30 him; he searches, meditats, is industrious, and likely 
 consults and conferrs with his judicious friends; after 
 all which done he takes himself to be inform'd in what 
 he writes as well as any that writ before him ; if in this 
 
AREOFAGITICA. 3 1 
 
 the most consummat act of his fidelity and ripenesse, no 
 years, no industry, no former proof of his abilities can 
 bring him to that state of maturity as not to be still 
 mistrusted and suspected, unlesse he carry all his con- 
 
 5 siderat diligence, all his midnight watchings, and ex- 
 pence of Palladian oyl, to the hasty view of an unleasur'd 
 licencer, perhaps much his younger, perhaps far his in- 
 feriour in judgement, perhaps one who never knew the 
 labour of book-writing, and if he be not repulst or 
 
 10 slighted, must appear in Print like a punie with his 
 guardian and his censors hand on the back of his title 
 to be his bayl and surety, that he is no idiot or seducer, 
 it cannot be but a dishonor and derogation to the author, 
 to the book, to the priviledge and dignity of Learning. 
 
 15 And what if the author shall be one so copious of fancie 
 as to have many things well worth the adding come 
 into his mind after licencing, while the book is yet under 
 the Presse, which not seldom happ'ns to the best and 
 diligentest writers; and that perhaps a dozen times in 
 
 20 one book ? The Printer dares not go beyond his licenc't 
 copy ; so often then must the author trudge to his leav- 
 giver, that those his new insertions may be viewd; and 
 many a jaunt will be made, ere that licencer, for it must 
 be the same man, can either be found, or found at 
 
 25 leisure ; mean while either the Presse must stand still, 
 which is no small damage, or the author loose his 
 accuratest thoughts and send the book forth wors then 
 he had made it, which to a diligent writer is the greatest 
 melancholy and vexation that can befall. And how can a 
 
 30 man teach with autority, • which is the life of teaching, 
 how can he be a Doctor in his book as he ought to be, 
 or else had better be silent, whenas all he teaches, all he 
 delivers, is but under the tuition, under the correction 
 
3 2 ARE OP A GITICA, 
 
 of his patriarchal licencer to blot or alter what precisely 
 accords not with the hidebound humor which he calls 
 his judgement; when every acute reader upon the first 
 sight of a pedantick licence, will be ready with these like 
 
 5 words to ding the book a coits distance from him : I hate 
 a pupil teacher, I endure not an instructer that comes 
 to me under the wardship of an overseeing fist ; I know 
 nothing of the licencer, but that I have his own hand 
 here for his arrogance ; who shall warrant me his judge- 
 
 loment? The State Sir, replies the Stationer; but has a 
 quick return. The State shall be my governours, but not 
 my criticks; they may be mistaken in the choice of a 
 licencer as easily as this licencer may be mistaken in an 
 author: This is some common stuffe; and he might 
 
 15 adde from Sir Francis Bacon, That such authorized hooks 
 are hut the language of the times. For though a licencer 
 should happ'n to be judicious more then ordnary, which 
 will be a great jeopardy of the next succession, yet his 
 very ofiice and his commission enjoyns him to let passe 
 
 20 nothing but what is vulgarly received already. Nay, 
 which is more lamentable, if the work of any deceased 
 author, though never so famous in his life time and even 
 to this day, come to their hands for licence to be Printed 
 or Reprinted, if there be found in his book one sentence 
 
 25 of a ventrous edge, utter'd in the height of zeal, and who 
 knows whether it might not be the dictat of a divine 
 Spirit, yet not suiting with every low decrepit humor of 
 their own, though it were Knox himself the Reformer 
 of a Kingdom that spake it, they will not pardon him 
 
 30 their dash; the sense of that great man shall to all 
 posterity be lost for the fearfulnesse or the presumptuous 
 rashnesse of a perfunctory licencer. And to what an 
 author this violence hath bin lately done, and in what 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 33 
 
 book of greatest consequence to be faithfully publisht, I 
 could now instance, but shall forbear till a more con- 
 venient season. Yet if these things be not resented 
 seriously and timely by them who have the remedy in 
 5 their power, but that such iron moulds as these shall 
 have autority to knaw out the choisest periods of ex- 
 quisitest books, and to commit such a treacherous fraud 
 against the orphan remainders of worthiest men after 
 death, the more sorrow will belong to that haples race 
 
 10 of men, whose misfortune it is to have understanding. 
 Henceforth let no man care to learn, or care to be more 
 then worldly wise; for certainly in higher matters to be 
 ignorant and slothfull, to be a common stedfast dunce will 
 be the only pleasant life and only in request. 
 
 15 And as it is a particular disesteem of every knowing 
 person alive, and most injurious to the writt'n labours 
 and monuments of the dead, so to me it seems an un- 
 dervaluing and vilifying of the whole Nation. I cannot 
 set so light by all the invention, the art, the wit, the 
 
 20 grave and solid judgement which is in England, as that 
 it can be comprehended in any twenty capacities how 
 good soever ; much lesse that it should not passe except 
 their superintendence be over it, except it be sifted and 
 strain'd with their strainers, that it should be uncurrant 
 
 25 without their manuall stamp. Truth and understanding 
 are not such wares as to be monopoliz'd and traded in 
 by tickets and statutes and standards. We must not 
 think to make a staple commodity of all the knowledge 
 in the Land, to mark and licence it like our broad 
 
 3ocloath and our wooll packs. What is it but a servi- 
 tude like that impos'd by the Philistims, not to be 
 allowed the sharpning of our own axes and coulters, 
 but we must repair from all quarters to twenty licencing 
 
 D 
 
34 AREOPAGITICA, 
 
 forges. Had any one written and divulg'd erroneous 
 things and scandalous to honest life, misusing and for- 
 feiting the esteem had of his reason among men, if 
 after conviction this only censure were adjudg'd him, 
 
 5 that he should never henceforth write but what were 
 first examin'd by an appointed officer, whose hand should 
 be annext to passe his credit for him that now he might 
 be safely read, it could not be apprehended lesse then 
 a disgraceful! punishment. Whence to include the 
 
 10 whole Nation, and those that never yet thus offended, 
 under such a diffident and suspectfull prohibition, may 
 plainly be understood what a disparagement it is. So 
 much the more, when as dettors and delinquents may 
 walk abroad without a keeper, but unoffensive books 
 
 15 must not stirre forth without a visible jaylor in thir title. 
 Nor is it to the common people lesse then a reproach ; 
 for if we so jealous over them as that we dare not trust 
 them with an English pamphlet, what doe we but cen- 
 sure them for a giddy, vitious, and ungrounded people, 
 
 30 in such a sick and weak estate of faith and discretion, as 
 to be able to take nothing down but through the pipe 
 of a licencer? That this is care or love of them, we 
 cannot pretend, whenas in those Popish places where 
 the Laity are most hated and despis'd the same strictnes 
 
 25 is us'd over them. Wisdom we cannot call it, because it 
 stops but one breach of licence, nor that neither ; whenas 
 those corruptions which it seeks to prevent, break in 
 faster at other dores which cannot be shut. 
 
 And in conclusion it reflects to the disrepute of our 
 
 30 Ministers also, of whose labours we should hope better, 
 and of the proficiencie which thir flock reaps by them : 
 then that after all this light of the Gospel which is, and 
 is to be, and all this continuall preaching, they should 
 
AREOPAGITICA, 35 
 
 be still frequented with such an unprinciprd, unedi- 
 fy'd, and laick rabble, as that the whiffe of every new 
 pamphlet should stagger them out of thir catechism 
 and Christian walking. This may have much reason 
 5 to discourage the Ministers when such a low conceit is 
 had of all their exhortations and the benefiting of their 
 hearers, as that they are not thought fit to be turn'd 
 loose to three sheets of paper without a licencer; that 
 all the Sermons, all the Lectures preacht, printed, vented 
 
 10 in such numbers and such volumes as have now well- 
 nigh made all other books unsalable, should not be armor 
 anough against one single enchiridion, without the castle 
 St. Angela of an Imprimatur. 
 
 And lest som should perswade ye. Lords and Com- 
 
 15 mons, that these arguments of lerned mens discourage- 
 ment at this your order, are meer flourishes and not 
 reall, I could recount what I have seen and heard in 
 other Countries, where this kind of inquisition tyran- 
 nizes ; when I have sat among their lerned men, for 
 
 20 that honor I had, and bin counted happy to be born 
 in such a place of Philosophic freedom as they suppos'd 
 England was, while themselvs did nothing but bemoan 
 the servil condition into which lerning amongst them 
 was brought; that this was it which had dampt the 
 
 25 glory of Italian wits, that nothing had bin there writt'n 
 now these many years but flattery and fustian. There 
 it was that I found and visited the famous Galileo 
 grown old, a prisner to the Inquisition, for thinking 
 in Astronomy otherwise then the Franciscan and Do- 
 
 3ominican licencers thought. And though I knew that 
 England then was groaning loudest under the Prelati- 
 call yoak, neverthelesse I tooke it as a pledge of future 
 happines, that other Nations were so perswaded of her 
 
 D 2 
 
36 AREOPAGITICA, 
 
 liberty. Yet was it beyond my hope that those Worthies 
 were then breathing in her air, who should be her 
 leaders to such a deliverance as shall never be forgotten 
 by any revolution of time that this world hath to finish. 
 
 5 When that was once begun, it was as little in my fear, 
 that what words of complaint I heard among lerned 
 men of other parts utter'd against the Inquisition, the 
 same I should hear by as lerned men at home utter'd 
 in time of Parlament against an order of licencing ; 
 
 10 and that so generally, that when I disclosed my self a 
 companion of their discontent, I might say, if without 
 envy, that he whom an honest quaesiorship had indear'd 
 to the Sicilians, was not more by them importun'd 
 against Verres then the favourable opinion which I had 
 
 15 among many who honour ye and are known and re- 
 spected by ye, loaded me with entreaties and perswa- 
 sions, that I would not despair to lay together that 
 which just reason should bring into my mind toward 
 the removal of an undeserved thraldom upon lerning. 
 
 20 That this is not therefore the disburdning of a par- 
 ticular fancie, but the common grievance of all those 
 who had prepared their minds and studies above the 
 vulgar pitch to advance truth in others and from others 
 to entertain it, thus much may satisfie. And in their 
 
 25 name I shall for neither friend nor foe conceal what 
 the generall murmur is ; that if it come to inquisitioning 
 again and licencing, and that we are so timorous of 
 our selvs, and so suspicious of all men, as to fear each 
 book, and the shaking of every leaf, before we know 
 
 30 what the contents are, if some who but of late were 
 little better then silenc't from preaching, shall come 
 now to silence us from reading except what they please, 
 it cannot be guest what is intended by som but a second 
 
AREOPAGITICA, 37 
 
 tyranny over learning ; and will soon put it out of con- 
 troversie that Bishops and Presbyters are the same to 
 us both name and thing. That those evills of Prelaty 
 which before from five or six and twenty Sees were dis- 
 
 5 tributivly charg d upon the whole people, will now light 
 wholly upon learning, is not obscure to us : whenas 
 now the Pastop of a small unlearned Parish on the 
 sudden shall be exalted Archbishop over a large dioces 
 of books, and yet not remove, but keep his other cure 
 
 10 too, a mysticall pluralist. He who but of late cry'd 
 down the sole ordination of every novice Batchelor of 
 Art, and deny'd sole jurisdiction over the simplest Pa- 
 rishioner, shall now at home in his privat chair assume 
 both these over worthiest and excellentest books and 
 
 15 ablest authors that write them. This is not, Yee Co- 
 venants and Protestations that we have made, this 
 is not to put down Prelaty; this is but to chop an 
 Episcopacy; this is but to translate the Palace Me- 
 fropolitan from one kind of dominion into another ; 
 
 20 this is but an old cannonicall slight of commtifwg our 
 penance. To startle thus betimes at a meer unlicenc't 
 pamphlet will after a while be afraid of every conven- 
 ticle, and a while after will make a conventicle of 
 every Christian meeting. But I am certain that a State 
 
 25 governed by the rules of justice and fortitude, or a 
 Church built and founded upon the rock of faith and 
 true knowledge, cannot be so pusillanimous. While 
 things are yet not constituted in Religion, that freedom 
 of writing should be restrained by a discipline imitated 
 
 30 from the Prelats and learnt by them from the Inquisi- 
 tion, to shut us up all again into the brest of a licencer, 
 must needs give cause of doubt and discouragement to 
 all learned and religious men. Who cannot but discern 
 
38 AREOFAGITICA, 
 
 the finenes of this politic drift, and who are the con- 
 trivers : that while Bishops were to be baited down, then 
 all Presses might be open ; it was the people's birthright 
 and priviledge in time of Parlament, it was the breaking 
 5 forth of light ? But now the Bishops abrogated and 
 voided out of the Church, as if our Reformation sought 
 no more but to make room for others into their seats 
 under another name, the Episcopall arts begin to bud 
 again, the cruse of truth must run no more oyle, liberty 
 
 loof Printing must be enthralled again under a Prelaticall 
 commission of twenty, the privilege of the people nulli- 
 fy'd, and which is wors, the freedom of learning must 
 groan again and to her old fetters, all this the Parla- 
 ment yet sitting. Although their own late arguments and 
 
 15 defences against the Prelats might remember them that 
 this obstructing violence meets for the most part with 
 an event utterly opposite to the end which it drives at : 
 instead of suppressing sects and schisms, it raises them 
 and invests them with a reputation. The punishing of 
 
 20 wits enhaunces their autority, saith the Vicount St. Albans y 
 and a forhidd'H writing is thought to he a certain spark 
 of truth that flies up in the faces of them who seeke to tread 
 it out. This order therefore may prove a nursing mother 
 to sects, but I shall easily shew how it will be a step- 
 
 25 dame to Truth : and first by disinabling us to the main- 
 tenance of what is known already : 
 
 Well knows he who uses to consider, that our faith 
 and knowledge thrives by exercise as well as our limbs 
 and complexion. Truth is compared in Scripture to a 
 
 30 streaming fountain; if her waters flow not in a per- 
 petuall progression, they sicken into a muddy pool of 
 conformity and tradition. A man may be a heretick 
 in the truth ; and if he beleeve things only because his 
 
AREOPAGITICA, 39 
 
 Pastor sayes so, or the Assembly so determins, without 
 knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the 
 very truth he holds becomes his heresie. There is not 
 any burden that som would gladier post off to another 
 
 5 then the charge and care of their Religion. There be, 
 who knows not that there be, of Protestants and profes- 
 sors who live and dye in as arrant an implicit faith as 
 any lay Papist of Loretto. A wealthy man addicted to his 
 pleasure and to his profits finds Religion to be a traffick 
 
 10 so entangled and of so many piddling accounts, that of 
 all mysteries he cannot skill to keep a stock going upon 
 that trade. What shoulde he doe ? Fain he would have 
 the name to be religious, fain he would bear up with 
 his neighbours in that. What does he therefore but 
 
 15 resolvs to give over toyling, and to find himself out 
 som factor, to whose care and credit he may commit 
 the whole managing of his religous affairs, som Divine 
 of note and estimation that must be. To him he ad- 
 heres, resigns the whole ware-house of his religion with 
 
 20 all the locks and keyes into his custody; and indeed 
 makes the very person of that man his religion ; esteems 
 his associating with him a sufficient evidence and com- 
 mendatory of his own piety. So that a man may say 
 his religion is now no more within himself, but is be- 
 
 25 com a dividuall movable, and goes and comes neer 
 him according as that good man frequents the house. 
 He entertains him, gives him gifts, feasts him, lodges 
 him ; his religion comes home at night, praies, is libe- 
 rally supt, and sumptuously laid to sleep, rises, is saluted, 
 
 30 and after the malmsey, or some well spic't bruage, and' 
 better breakfasted then he whose morning appetite would 
 have gladly fed on green figs between Bethany and leru^ 
 ialeniy his Religion walks abroad at eight, and leavs his 
 
40 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 kind entertainer in the shop trading all day without his 
 religion. 
 
 Another sort there be who when they hear that all 
 things shall be ordered, all things regulated and setl'd, 
 5 nothing written but what passes through the custom- 
 house of certain Publicans that have the tunaging and 
 the poundaging of all free spoken truth, will strait give 
 themselvs up into your hands, mak'em and cut'em out 
 what religion ye please. There be delights, there be 
 
 I o recreations and jolly pastimes that will fetch the day 
 about from sun to sun, and rock the tedious year as 
 in a delightfuU dream. What need they torture their 
 heads with that which others have tak'n so strictly and 
 so unalterably into their own pourveying ? These are 
 
 15 the fruits which a dull ease and cessation of our know- 
 ledge will bring forth among the people. How goodly, 
 and how to be wisht were such an obedient unanimity 
 as this, what a fine conformity would it starch us all 
 into? Doubtles a stanch and solid peece of framework 
 
 20 as any January could freeze together. 
 
 Nor much better will be the consequence ev'n among 
 the Clergy themselvs. It is no new thing never heard 
 of before for a parochiall Minister, who has his reward 
 and is at his Hercules pillars in a warm benefice, to be 
 
 25 easily inclinable, if he have nothing else that may rouse 
 up his studies, to finish his circuit in an English con- 
 cordance and a topic folio, the gatherings and savings of 
 a sober graduatship, a Harmony and a Catena, treading 
 the constant round of certain common doctrinall heads, 
 
 30 attended with their uses, motives, marks and means, out 
 of which as out of an alphabet or sol fa by forming and 
 transforming, joyning and disjoyning variously a little 
 book-craft, and two hours meditation might furnish him 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 4 1 
 
 unspeakably to the performance of more then a weekly 
 charge of sermoning, not to reck'n up the infinit helps 
 of interlinearies, breviaries, synopses^ and other loitering 
 gear. But as for the multitude of Sermons ready printed 
 sand pil'd up, on every text that is not difficult, our 
 London trading St. Thomas in his vestry, and adde to 
 boot St. Martin, and St. Hugh, have not within their 
 hallow'd limits more vendible ware of all sorts ready 
 made ; so that penury he never need fear of Pulpit pro- 
 
 10 vision, having where so plenteously to refresh his ma- 
 gazin. But if his rear and flanks be not impal'd, if 
 his back dore be not secured by the rigid licencer, but 
 that a bold book may now and then issue forth, and 
 give the assault to some of his old collections in their 
 
 15 trenches, it will concern him then to keep waking, to 
 stand in watch, to set good guards and sentinells about 
 his receiv'd opinions, to walk the round and counter- 
 round with his fellow inspectors, fearing lest any of his 
 flock be seduc't, who also then would be better in- 
 
 20 structed, better exercis'd and disciplined. And God fend 
 
 that the fear of this diligence which must then be us'd, 
 
 doe not make us affect the lazines of a licencing Church. 
 
 For if we be sure we are in the right, and doe not 
 
 hold the truth guiltily, which becomes not, if we our- 
 
 25 selves condemn not our own weak and frivolous teach- 
 ing, and the people for an untaught and irreligious 
 gadding rout, what can be more fair then when a man 
 judicious, learned, and of a conscience, for ought we 
 know, as good as theirs that taught us what we know, 
 
 30 shall not privily from house to house, which is more 
 dangerous, but openly by writing publish to the world 
 what his opinion is, what his reasons, and wherefore 
 that which is now thought cannot be sound? Christ 
 
4 2 AREOPA GITICA, 
 
 urg'd it as wherewith to justifie himself, that he preacht 
 in publick ; yet writing is more publick then preaching, 
 and more easie to refutation, if need be, there being so 
 many whose businesse and profession meerly it is, to be 
 
 5 the champions of Truth ; which if they neglect, what can 
 be imputed but their sloth, or inabilty ? 
 
 Thus much we are hinder'd and dis-inur'd by this 
 cours of licencing towards the true knowledge of what 
 we seem to know. For how much it hurts and hinders 
 
 10 the licencers themselves in the calling of their Ministery, 
 more then any secular employment, if they will discharge 
 that office as they ought, so that of necessity they must 
 neglect either the one duty or the other, I insist not, 
 because it is a particular, but leave it to their own con- 
 
 15 science, how they will decide it there. 
 
 There is yet behind of what I purposed to lay open, 
 the incredible losse and detriment that this plot of licenc- 
 ing puts us to. More then if som enemy at sea should 
 stop up all our hav'ns and ports and creeks, it hinders 
 
 20 and retards the importation of our richest Marchandize, 
 Truth; nay, it was first establisht and put in practice 
 by Antichristian malice and mystery on set purpose to 
 extinguish, if it were possible, the light of Reformation, 
 and to settle falshood, little differing from that policie 
 
 25 wherewith the Turk upholds his Alcoran by the prohi- 
 bition of Printing. 'Tis not deny'd, but gladly confest, 
 we are to send our thanks and vows to heav'n louder 
 then most of Nations for that great measure of truth 
 which we enjoy, especially in those main points between 
 
 30 us and the Pope with his appertinences the Prelats ; but 
 he who thinks we are to pitch our tent here, and have 
 attained the utmost prospect of reformation, that the 
 mortalle glasse wherein we contemplate can shew us, till 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 43 
 
 we come to beatific vision, that man by this very opinion 
 declares that he is yet farre short of Truth. 
 
 Truth indeed came once into the world with her 
 divine Master, and was a perfect shape most glorious 
 
 5 to look on ; but when he ascended, and his Apostles 
 after him were laid asleep, then strait arose a wicked 
 race of deceivers, who, as that story goes of the ^Egyptian 
 Typhon with his conspirators how they dealt with the 
 good OsiriSy took the virgin Truth, hewd her lovely 
 
 10 form into a thousand peeces, and scattered them to the 
 four winds. From that time ever since, the sad friends 
 of Truth, such as durst appear, imitating the careful! 
 search that Isis made for the mangl'd body of Osiris, 
 went up and down gathering up limb by limb still as 
 
 15 they could find them. We have not yet found them 
 all. Lords and Commons, nor ever shall doe, till her 
 Masters second comming; he shall bring together every 
 joynt and member, and shall mould them into an im- 
 mortall feature of loveliness and perfection. Suffer not 
 
 20 these licencing prohibitions to stand at every place of 
 opportunity forbidding and disturbing them that con- 
 tinue seeking, that continue to do our obsequies to 
 the torn body of our martyred Saint. We boast our 
 light; but if we look not wisely on the Sun it self, it 
 
 25 smites us into darknes. Who can discern those planets 
 that are oft Combust, and those stars of brightest mag- 
 nitude that rise and set with the Sun, untill the opposite 
 motion of their orbs bring them to such a place in the 
 firmament, where they may be seen evning or morning ? 
 
 30 The light which we have gain'd, was giv'n us, not to 
 be ever staring on, but by it to discover onward things 
 more remote from our knowledge. It is not the un- 
 frocking of a Priest, the unmitring of a Bishop, and the 
 
44 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 removing him from off the Presbyterian shoulders that 
 will make us a happy Nation ; no, if other things as great 
 in the Church and in the rule of life both economical! 
 and political} be not lookt into and reformed, we have 
 
 5 lookt so long upon the blaze that Zuinglius and Calvin 
 hath beaconed up to us, that we are stark blind. There 
 be who perpetually complain of schisms and sects, and 
 make it such a calamity that any man dissents from their 
 maxims. 'Tis their own pride and ignorance which 
 
 10 causes the disturbing, who neither will hear with meek- 
 nes nor can convince ; yet all must be supprest which 
 is not found in their Syntagma, They are the troublers, 
 they are the dividers of unity, who neglect and permit 
 not others to unite those dissever'd peeces which are 
 
 15 yet wanting to the body of Truth. To be still search- 
 ing what we know not by what we know, still closing 
 up truth to truth as we find it (for all her body is 
 homogeneal, and proportionall), this is the golden rule 
 in Theology as well as in Arithmetick, and makes up the 
 
 20 best harmony in a Church, not the forc't and outward 
 union of cold and neutrall and inwardly divided minds. 
 
 Lords and Commons of England, consider what Na- 
 tion it is wherof ye are and wherof ye are the gover- 
 nours : a Nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, 
 
 25 ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent, suttle 
 and sinewy to discours, not beneath the reach of any 
 point the highest that human capacity can soar to. 
 Therefore the studies of learning in her deepest Sciences 
 have bin so ancient and so eminent among us, that 
 
 30 Writers of good antiquity and ablest judgement have 
 bin perswaded that ev'n the school of Pythagoras and 
 the Persian wisdom took beginning from the old Philo- 
 sophy of this Hand. * And that wise and civill Roman, 
 
AREOPA Gl TIC A. 4 5 
 
 Julius Agncolay who govem'd once here for Caesar ^ pre- 
 ferr'd the naturall wits of Britain before the labour'd 
 studies of the French. Nor is it for nothing that the 
 grave and frugal Transikanian sends out yearly from 
 5 as farre as the mountanous borders of Russia and 
 beyond the Hercynian wildernes, not their youth, but 
 their stay'd men, to learn our language and our iheo- 
 logic arts. Yet that which is above all this, the favour 
 and the love of heav'n, we have great argument to think 
 
 10 in a peculiar manner propitious and propending towards 
 us. Why else was this Nation chos'n before any other, 
 that out of her as out of Sion should be proclam'd and 
 sounded forth the first tidings and trumpet of Reforma- 
 tion to all Europ ? And had it not bin the obstinat per- 
 
 i5versnes of our Prelats against the divine and admirable 
 spirit of Wicklef, to suppresse him as a schismatic and 
 innovator y perhaps neither the Bohemiaii Husse ^iXi^Jeroniy 
 no, nor the name of Luther or of Calvin had bin ever 
 known; the glory of reforming all our neighbours had 
 
 20 bin compleatly ours. But now, as our obdurat Clergy 
 have with violence demean'd the matter, we are become 
 hitherto the latest and the backwardest Schollers, of whom 
 God offer'd to have made us the teachers. Now once 
 again by all concurrence of signs and by the generall in- 
 
 25 stinct of holy and devout men, as they daily and solemnly 
 expresse their thoughts, God is decreeing to begin some 
 new and great period in his Church, ev'n to the reform- 
 ing of Reformation it self. What does he then but 
 reveal Himself to his servants, and as his manner is, 
 
 30 first to his English-men; I say as his manner is, first 
 to us, though we mark not the method of his counsels 
 and are unworthy ? Behold now this vast City : a City 
 of refuge, the mansion house of liberty, encompast and 
 
46 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 surrounded with his protection ; the shop of warre hath 
 not there more anvils and hammers waking, to fashion 
 out the plates and instruments of armed Justice in 
 defence of beleaguer'd Truth, then there be pens and 
 
 K heads there, sitting by their studious lamps, musing, 
 searching, revolving new notions and idea's wherewith 
 to present as with their homage and their fealty the 
 approaching Reformation, others as fast reading, trying 
 all things, assenting to the force of reason and convince- 
 
 loment. What could a man require more from a Nation 
 so pliant and so prone to seek after knowledge ? What 
 wants there to such a towardly and pregnant solle but 
 wise and faithfull labourers, to make a knowing people, 
 a Nation of Prophets, of Sages, and of Worthies? We 
 
 15 reckon more then five months yet to harvest; there need 
 not be five weeks ; had we but eyes to hft up, the fields 
 are white already. Where there is much desire to learn, 
 there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, 
 many opinions; for opinion in good men is but know- 
 
 20 ledge in the making. Under these fantastic terrors of 
 sect and schism, we wrong the earnest and zealous thirst 
 after knowledge and understanding which God hath 
 stirr'd up in this City. What some lament of, we rather 
 should rejoyce at, should rather praise this pious for- 
 
 25 wardnes among men, to reassume the ill deputed care 
 of their Religion into their own hands again. A little 
 generous prudence, a little forbearance of one another, 
 and som grain of charity might win all these diligences 
 to joyn and unite in one generall and brotherly search 
 
 30 after Truth, could we but forgoe this Prelaticall tradi- 
 tion of crowding free consciences and Christian liberties 
 into canons and precepts of men. I doubt not, if some 
 great and worthy stranger should come among us, wise 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 47 
 
 to discern the mould and temper of a people and how 
 to govern it, observing the high hopes and aims, the 
 diligent alacrity of our extended thoughts and reason- 
 ings in the pursuance of truth and freedom, but that he 
 5 would cry out as Pirrhus did, admiring the Roman 
 docility and courage : If such were my Epirois, I would 
 not despair the greatest design that could be attempted 
 to make a Church or Kingdom happy. Yet these are 
 the men cry'd out against for schismaticks and sectaries; 
 
 10 as if, while the Temple of the Lord was building, some 
 cutting, some squaring the marble, others hewing the 
 cedars, there- should be a sort of irrationall men who could 
 not consider there must be many schisms and many dis- 
 sections made in the quarry and in the timber, ere the 
 
 15 house of God can be built. And when every stone is laid 
 artfully together, it cannot be united into a continuity, it 
 can but be contiguous in this world; neither can every 
 peece of the building be of one form; nay, rather the 
 perfection consists in this : that out of many moderat 
 
 20 varieties and brotherly dissimilitudes that are not 
 vastly disproportionall arises the goodly and the grace- 
 full symmetry that commends the whole pile and struc- 
 ture. Let us therefore be more considerat builders, 
 more wise in spirituall architecture, when great refor- 
 
 25mation is expected. For now the time seems come, 
 wherein Moses the great Prophet may sit in heav'n re- 
 joycing to see that memorable and glorious wish of his 
 fulfill' d, when not only our seventy Elders but all the 
 Lords people are become Prophets. No marvell then 
 
 30 though some men, and some good men too perhaps, 
 but young in goodnesse, as Joshua then was, envy them. 
 They fret, and out of their own weaknes are in agony, 
 lest those divisions and subdivisions will undoe us. The 
 
48 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 adversarie again applauds, and waits the hour; when 
 they have branch t themselves out, saith he, small anough 
 into parties and partitions, then will be our time. Fool ! 
 he sees not the firm root, out of which we all grow 
 5 though into branches ; nor will beware untill hee see our 
 small divided maniples cutting through at every angle 
 of his ill united and unweildy brigade. And that we 
 are to hope better of all these supposed sects and schisms, 
 and that we shall not need that solicitude honest perhaps 
 
 lo though over timorous of them that vex in this behalf, 
 but shall laugh in the end at those malicious applauders 
 of our differences, I have these reasons to perswade me : 
 
 First, when a City shall be as it were besieg'd and 
 blockt about, her navigable river infested, inrodes and 
 
 15 incursions round, defiance and battell oft rumor'd to 
 be marching up ev'n to her walls and suburb trenches, 
 that then the people, or the greater part, more then 
 at other times, wholly tak'n up with the study of 
 highest and most important matters to be reform' d, 
 
 20 should be disputing, reasoning, reading, inventing, dis- 
 coursing, ev'n to a rarity, and admiration, things not 
 before discourst or writt'n of, argues first a singular 
 good will, contentednesse and confidence in your pru- 
 dent foresight and safe government, Lords and Com- 
 
 25mons; and from thence derives it self to a gallant 
 bravery and well grounded contempt of their enemies, 
 as if there were no small number of as great spirits 
 among us, as his was, who when Rome was nigh be- 
 sieg'd by Hanihal, being in the City, bought that peece 
 
 30 of ground at no cheap rate, whereon Hanibal himself 
 encampt his own regiment. Next it is a lively and 
 cherfull presage of our happy successe and victory. 
 For as in a body, when the blood is fresh, the spirits 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 49 
 
 pure and vigorous not only to vital but to rational! 
 faculties and those in the acutest and the pertest 
 operations of wit and suttlety, it argues in what good 
 plight and constitution the body is, so when the cher- 
 5 fulnesse of the people is so sprightly up, as that it has 
 not only wherewith to guard well its own freedom and 
 safety but to spare, and to bestow upon the solidest 
 and sublimest points of controversie and new inven- 
 tion, it betokens us not degenerated, nor drooping to a 
 
 10 fatal! decay, but casting off the old and wrincl'd skin 
 of corruption to outlive these pangs and wax young 
 again, entring the glorious waies of Truth and pros- 
 perous vertue destin'd to become great and honourable 
 in these latter ages. Methinks I see in my mind a 
 
 J 5 noble and puissant Nation rousing herself like a strong 
 man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks. 
 Methinks I see her as an Eagle muing her mighty 
 youth, and kindling her undazl'd eyes at the full mid- 
 day beam, purging and unsealing her long abused 
 
 20 sight at the fountain it self of heav'nly radiance, while 
 the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with 
 those also that love the twilight, flutter about, amaz'd 
 at what she means, and in their envious gabble would 
 prognosticat a year of sects and schisms. 
 
 25 What should ye doe then, should ye suppresse all 
 this flowry crop of knowledge and new light sprung up 
 and yet springing daily in this City, should ye set an 
 Oligarchy of twenty ingrossers over it, to bring a famin 
 upon our minds again, when we shall know nothing 
 
 30 but what is measured to us by their bushel? Beleeve 
 it, Lords ^ and Commons, they who counsell ye to such 
 a suppressing doe as good as bid ye suppresse your- 
 ^ 'Lord,' ed. oi 1644. 
 S 
 
50 AREOPA GITICA . 
 
 selves; and I will soon shew how. If it be desir'd to 
 know the immediat cause of all this free writing and 
 free speaking, there cannot be assigned a truer then 
 your own mild and free and human government; it 
 
 5 is the liberty, Lords and Commons, which your own 
 valorous and happy counsels have purchast us, liberty 
 which is the nurse of all great wits ; this is that which 
 hath rarify'd and enlightnM our spirits like the influence 
 of heav'n ; this is that which hath enfranchis'd, enlarged 
 
 loand lifted up our apprehensions degrees above them- 
 selves. Ye cannot make us now lesse capable, lesse 
 knowing, lesse eagarly pursuing of the truth, unlesse 
 ye first make your selves, that made us so, lesse the 
 lovers, lesse the founders of our true liberty. We can 
 
 15 grow ignorant again, brutish, formall, and slavish, as ye 
 found us; but you then must first become that which 
 ye cannot be, oppressive, arbitrary, and tyrannous, as 
 they were from whom ye have free'd us. That our 
 hearts are now more capacious, our thoughts more 
 
 20 erected to the search and expectation of greatest and 
 exactest things, is the issue of your owne vertu propa- 
 gated in us ; ye cannot suppresse that unlesse ye rein- 
 force an abrogated and mercilesse law, that fathers may 
 dispatch at will their own children. And who shall then 
 
 25 sticke closest to ye, and excite others ? Not he who takes 
 up armes for cote and conduct and his four nobles of 
 Danegelt. Although I dispraise not the defence of just 
 immunities, yet love my peace better, if that were all. 
 Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue 
 
 30 freely according to conscience, above all liberties. 
 
 What would be best advis'd then, if it be found so 
 hurtful! and .so unequall to suppresse opinions for the 
 newnes or the unsutablenes to a customary acceptance, 
 
AREOPAGITICA, 5 1 
 
 will not be my task to say; I only shall repeat what I 
 have learnt from one of your own honourable number, 
 a right noble and pious lord, who had he not sacrificed 
 his life and fortunes to the Church and Commonwealth, 
 
 5 we had not now mist and bewayl'd a worthy and un- 
 doubted patron of this argument. Ye know him I am 
 sure ; yet I for honours sake, and may it be eternall to 
 him, shall name him, the Lord Brook. He writing of 
 Episcopacy, and by the way treating of sects and 
 
 lo schisms, left Ye his vote, or rather now the last words 
 of his dying charge, which I know will ever be of dear 
 and honoured regard with Ye, so full of meeknes and 
 breathing charity, that next to his last testament, who 
 bequeath'd love and peace to his Disciples, I cannot 
 
 15 call to mind where I have read or heard words more 
 mild and peaceful!. He there exhorts us to hear with 
 patience and humility those, however they be mis- 
 call' d, that desire to live purely, in such a use of Gods 
 Ordinances, as the best guidance of their conscience 
 
 20 gives them, and to tolerat them, though in some dis- 
 conformity to our selves. The book it self will tell us 
 more at large being publisht to the world and dedi- 
 cated to the Parlament by him who both for his hfe 
 and for his death deserves, that what advice he left be 
 
 25 not laid by without perusall. 
 
 And now the time in speciall is by priviledge to 
 write and speak what may help to the furder dis- 
 cussing of matters in agitation. The Temple oi Ja7ius 
 with his two controversal faces might now not unsignifi- 
 
 30 cantly be set open. And though all the windes of 
 doctrin were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth 
 be in the field, we do injuriously by licencing and 
 prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and 
 
 £ 2 
 
62 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 Falshood grapple ; who ever knew Truth put to the 
 wors in a free and open encounter? Her confuting 
 is the best and surest suppressing. He who hears what 
 praying there is for Hght and clearer knowledge to be 
 5 sent down among us, would think of other matters to 
 be constituted beyond the discipline of Geneva^ fram'd 
 and fabric't already to our hands. Yet when the new 
 light w^hich we beg for shines in upon us, there be who 
 envy and oppose, if it come not first in at their case- 
 
 joments. What a collusion is this, whenas we are ex- 
 horted by the wise man to use diligence, to seek for 
 wisdom as for hidden treasures early and late, that 
 another order shall enjoyn us to know nothing but by 
 statute ! When a man hath bin labouring the hardest 
 
 15 labour in the deep mines of knowledge, hath furnisht 
 out his findings in all their equipage, drawn forth his 
 reasons as it were a battell raung'd, scattered and de- 
 feated all objections in his way, calls out his adver- 
 sary into the plain, offers him the advantage of wind 
 
 20 and sun, if he please, only that he may try the matter 
 by dint of argument, for his opponents then to sculk, 
 to lay ambushments, to keep a narrow bridge of licenc- 
 ing where the challenger should passe, though it be 
 valour anough in shouldiership, is but weaknes and 
 
 25 cowardise in the wars of Truth, For who knows not 
 that Truth is strong next to the Almighty ? She needs 
 no policies, no stratagems, nor licencings to make her 
 victorious ; those are the shifts and the defences that 
 error uses against her power. Give her but room, and 
 
 30 do not bind her when she sleeps, for then she speaks 
 not true, as the old Proteus did, who spake oracles 
 only when he was caught and bound ; but then rather 
 she turns herself into aU shapes except her own, and 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 53 
 
 perhaps tunes her voice according to the time, as 
 Micaiah did before Ahab, untill she be adjur'd into 
 her own likenes. Yet is it not impossible that she may- 
 have more shapes then one. What else is all that rank 
 
 5 of things indifferent, wherein Truth may be on this side 
 or on the other without being unlike her self? What 
 but a vain shadow else is the abolition of those ordi- 
 nances ^ that hand writing nayVd to the crosse, what 
 great purchase is this Christian liberty which Paul so 
 
 10 often boasts of? His doctrine is, that he who eats or 
 eats not, regards a day or regards it not, may doe 
 either to the Lord. How many other things might be 
 tolerated in peace and left to conscience, had we but 
 charity, and were it not the chief strong hold of our 
 
 15 hypocrisie to be ever judging one another. I fear yet 
 this iron yoke of outward conformity hath left a slavish 
 print upon our necks; the ghost of a linnen decency 
 yet haunts us. We stumble and are impatient at the 
 least dividing of one visible congregation from another, 
 
 20 though it be not in fundamentalls ; and through our 
 forwardnes to suppresse, and our backwardnes to re- 
 cover any enthralled peece of truth out of the gripe of 
 custom, we care not to keep truth separated from 
 truth, which is the fiercest rent and disunion of all. 
 
 25 We doe not see that while we still affect by all means 
 a rigid externall formality, we may as soon fall again 
 into a grosse conforming stupidity, a stark and dead 
 congealment of wood and hay and stubble forc't and 
 frozen together, which is more to the sudden degene- 
 
 30 rating of a Church then many subdichotomies of petty 
 schisms. Not that I can think well of every light sepa- 
 ration, or that all in a Church is to be expected gold 
 and silver and pretious stones ; it is not possible for man 
 
64 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 to sever the wheat from the tares, the good fish from 
 the other frie ; that must be the Angels Ministery at the 
 end of mortall things. Yet if all cannot be of one mind, 
 as who looks they should be? this doubtles is more 
 
 5 wholsome, more prudent, and more Christian : that 
 many be tolerated rather than all compell'd. I mean 
 not tolerated Popery and open superstition, which as 
 it extirpats all religions and civill supremacies, so it 
 self should be extirpat, provided first that all charitable 
 
 10 and compassionat means be us*d to win and regain 
 the weak and misled ; that also which is impious or evil 
 absolutely either against faith or maners no law can 
 possibly permit, that intends not to unlaw it self; but 
 those neighboring differences, or rather indifferences, 
 
 15 are what I speak of, whether in some point of doctrine 
 or of discipline, which though they may be many, yet 
 need not interrupt the unity of Spirit, if we could but 
 find among us the bond of peace. In the mean while if 
 any one would write, and bring his helpfuU hand to the 
 
 20 slow-moving Reformation which we labour under, if 
 Truth have spok'n to him before others, or but seem'd 
 at least to speak, who hath so bejesuited us that we 
 should trouble that man with asking licence to doe so 
 worthy a deed? And not consider this, that if it come 
 
 25 to prohibiting, there is not ought more likely to be 
 prohibited then truth it self; whose first appearance to 
 our eyes blear'd and dimmed with prejudice and custom, 
 is more unsightly and unplausible then many errors, 
 ev'n as the person is of many a great man slight and 
 
 30 contemptible to see to. And what doe they tell us 
 vainly of new opinions, when this very opinion of theirs, 
 that none must be heard but whom they like, is the 
 worst and newest opinion of all others; and is the 
 
AREOPA GITICA, 55 
 
 chief cause why sects and schisms doe so much abound, 
 and true knowledge is kept at distance from us? 
 Besides' yet a greater danger which is in it: for when 
 God shakes a Kingdome with strong and healthfull 
 
 5 commotions to a generall reforming, 'tis not untrue 
 that many sectaries and false teachers are then busiest 
 in seducing; but yet more true it is, that God then 
 raises to his own w^ork men of rare abilities and more 
 then common industry not only to look back and revise 
 
 ic what hath bin taught heretofore, but to gain furder and 
 goe on some new enlightn'd steps in the discovery of 
 truth. For such is the order of Gods enlightning his 
 Church, to dispense and deal out by degrees his beam, 
 so as our earthly eyes may best sustain it. Neither 
 
 15 is God appointed and confind, where and out of what 
 place these his chosen shall be first heard to speak ; for 
 he sees not as man sees, chooses not as man chooses, 
 lest we should devote our selves again to set places and 
 assemblies and outward callings of men, planting our 
 
 20 faith one while in the old Convocation house, and 
 another while in the Chappell at Westminster; when 
 all the faith and religion that shall be there canonized, 
 is not sufficient, without plain convincement and the 
 charity of patient instruction, to supple the least bruise 
 
 25 of conscience, to edifie the meanest Christian, who de- 
 sires to walk in the Spirit, and not in the letter of 
 human trust, for all the number of voices that can be 
 there made; no, though Harry the 7. himself there, 
 with all his leige tombs about him, should lend them 
 
 30 voices from the dead, to swell their number. And 
 if the men be erroneous who appear to be the leading 
 schismaticks, what witholds us but our sloth, our self- 
 will, and distrust in the right cause, that we doe not 
 
56 AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 give them gentle meetings and -gentle dismissions, that 
 we debate not and examin the matter throughly with 
 liberall and frequent audience; if not for their sakes, 
 yet for our own, seeing no man who hath tasted 
 5 learning, but will confesse the many waies of profiting 
 by those who not contented with stale receits are able 
 to manage and set forth new positions to the world? 
 And were they but as the dust and cinders of our 
 feet, so long as in that notion they may serve to polish 
 
 lo and brighten the armoury of Truth, ev'n for that respect 
 they were not utterly to be cast away. But if they be 
 of those whom God hath fitted for the speciall use of 
 these times with eminent and ample gifts, and those 
 perhaps neither among the Priests nor among the 
 
 15 Pharisees, and we in the hast of a precipitant zeal shall 
 make no distinction, but resolve to stop their mouths, 
 because we fear they come with new and dangerous 
 opinions, as we commonly fore-judge them ere we un- 
 derstand them, no lesse then woe to us, while, thinking 
 
 20 thus to defend the Gospel, we are found the persecutors. 
 
 There have bin not a few since the beginning of this 
 
 Parlament, both of the Presbytery and others, who by 
 
 their unlicen't books to the contempt of an Imprimatur 
 
 first broke that triple ice clung about our hearts, and 
 
 25 taught the people to see day. I hope that none of those 
 were the perswaders to renew upon us this bondage 
 which they themselves have wrought so much good by 
 contemning. But if neither the check that Moses gave 
 to young Joshua, nor the countermand which our Saviour 
 
 30 gave to young John, who was so ready to prohibit those 
 whom he thought unlicenc't, be not anough to admonish 
 our Elders how unacceptable to God their testy mood 
 of prohibiting is, if neither their own remembrance what 
 
AREOPAGITICA. 57 
 
 evill hath abounded in the Church by this lett of licenc- 
 ing, and what good they themselves have begun by trans- 
 gressing it, be not anough, but that they will perswade 
 and execute the most Dominican part of the Inquisition 
 5 over us, and are already with one foot in the stirrup so 
 active at suppressing, it would be no unequall distribu- 
 tion in the first place to suppresse the suppressors them- 
 selves; whom the change of their condition hath puft 
 up more then their late experience of harder times hath 
 
 10 rnade wise. 
 
 And as for regulating the Presse, let no man think to 
 have the honour of advising ye better then your selves 
 have done in that Order publisht next before this : that 
 no book be Printed, unlesse the Printers and the Authors 
 
 15 name, or at least the Printers be registered. Those which 
 otherwise come forth, if they be found mischievous and 
 libellous, the fire and the executioner will be the time- 
 liest and the most eifectuall remedy, that mans prevention 
 can use. , For this authentic Spanish policy of licencing 
 
 20 books, if I have said ought, will prove the most unlicenc't 
 book it self within a short while ; and was the immediat 
 image of a Star-chamber decree to that purpose made 
 in those very times when that Court did the rest of those 
 her pious works, for which she is now fall'n from the 
 
 25 Starres with Lucifer, Whereby ye may guesse what kinde 
 of State prudence, what love of the people, what care 
 of Religion, or good manners there was at the con- 
 triving, although with singular hypocrisie it pretended to 
 bind books to their good behaviour. And how it got 
 
 30 the upper hand of your precedent Order so well con- 
 stituted before, if we may beleeve those men whose pro- 
 fession gives them cause to enquire most, it may be 
 doubted there was in it the fraud of some old patentees 
 
58 AREOPAGITICA, 
 
 and monopolizers in the trade of book-selling ; who under 
 pretence of the poor in their Company not to be de- 
 frauded, and the just retaining of each man his severall 
 copy, which God forbid should be gainsaid, brought 
 
 5 divers glosing colours to the House, which were indeed 
 but colours, and serving to no end except it be to exer- 
 cise a superiority over their neighbours, men who doe 
 not therefore labour in an honest profession to which 
 learning is indetted, that they should be made other 
 
 10 mens vassals. Another end is thought was aym'd at by 
 some of them in procuring by petition this Order, that 
 having power in their hands, malignant books might the 
 easier scape abroad, as the event shews. But of these 
 Sophisms and Elenchs of marchandize I skill not. This 
 
 15 I know, that errois in a good government and in a bad 
 are equally almost incident; for what Magistrate may 
 not be mis-inform*d, and much the sooner, if liberty of 
 Printing be reduc't into the power of a few? But to 
 redresse willingly and speedily what hath bin err'd, and 
 
 ?o in highest autority to esteem a plain advertisement more 
 then others have done a sumptuous bribe, is a vertue 
 (honour'd Lords and Commons) answerable to Your 
 highest actions, and whereof none can participat but. 
 greatest and wisest men. 
 
NOTES. 
 
NOTES, 
 
 Page 1. Observe that the Speech opens with what the Greek gram- 
 marians called an ' anacoluthon,' = a syntactical ' non sequitur ' or inco- 
 herence. The sense is plain enough; only the grammatical letter is 
 violated. Such carelessnesses are common in Milton's prose writings, as 
 in Clarendon's and others of the seventeenth century, till Dryden introduced 
 a more correct style. With the instance in the text compare such Latin and 
 Greek uses of the nominative as in Virgil, ^neid, xii. i6i, &c. ; of the 
 accusative in Sophocles, Antigone 21, &c. ; and Thucydides* use of the 
 dative, as in v. ili, voWois 'ycip irpoopcvfxcvois k.t.\. 
 
 Line i. They who to States^ &c., i.e. (i) orators, and (ii) writers. 
 
 jS'/a/es = heads of states. Holt White quotes from Milton*s translation of 
 Psahn Ixxxii : 
 
 • God in the great assembly stands 
 Of kings and lordly States* 
 Also from Sidney's Arcadia : * I can do nothing without all the States of 
 Arcadia ; what they will determine I know not,' &c. Compare how the 
 names of their kingdoms are used to denote the kings themselves ; as e. g. 
 in King Lear France = King of France, &c. 
 
 3. wanting^ not = wishing for, or needing, but being without. See below, 
 p. 102. 
 
 in a private condition. These words explain how * access* is * wanted * = as 
 being private men. 
 
 6. a//er'c?= changed, perturbed. Alter is literally to make other or different. 
 
 7. sttccfss = issue. The word was by no means confined in Milton's time 
 to a favourable sense. Thus Paradise Regained, iv. i : 
 
 * Perplex'd and troubled at his had success^ 
 The tempter stood.' 
 
 8. r«nswr^ = opinion. This word in Milton's time was not limited to 
 denote only unfavourable judgment. See Shakspere passim ; as Hamlet, i, 
 3. 69 : * Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.* 
 
 of what, &c. = born of, springing from, based on what. 
 
 as the subject was, 8cc, This speech was published in November, 1644; 
 see Introduction. The works that had preceded it were, Of Reformation in 
 England, Prelatical Episcopacy, Reason of Church Government, Animadver- 
 sions, &c., all published in 1641 ; Apology for Smectymnuus in 1642. The 
 Tractate on Education, The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, and Martin 
 Bucer's Judgment were published in the same year with the Areopagitica. 
 
6% AREOPAGITICA. [P. i. 
 
 12. likely. This adverb is still retained in Lowland Scotch, and in the 
 phrase most likely. 
 
 [might disclose. What is the grammatical subject to might disclose f] 
 
 13. formost. See Morris's English Accidence, § 123. 
 
 16. to a passion = into a state of intense feeling, of excitement and enthu- 
 siasm. Milton is often * carried away * — • rapt ' — by his subject in this splendid 
 work. 
 
 then = OUT than. See Morris*s English Accidence, § 312, 
 
 [17. Explain incidentall to a Preface."] 
 
 18. though I stay not, &c. = though I confess at once. 
 
 it = to wish and promote their countries liberty. 
 
 22. a certain testimony, if not a Trophey. It will show how ready I am 
 to fight for my country, whether I conquer or not. In this particular cause 
 he was not to conquer for some fifty years. The Areopagitica became a 
 
 * trophy* as well as a * testimony* in 1694. ^^^ Introduction. 
 
 P. 2, 1. 5. to which, &c. Milton had not yet perhaps fully discovered the 
 disheartening fact that the Presbyterian party when in power was to show 
 itself as little capable of an enlightened tolerance as the Episcopalians whom 
 they had overthrown — that * new foes* were arising 
 
 * Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains,* 
 
 and re-enlhrall ' free conscience * — that, really as well as etymologically, 
 
 * New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ large.* 
 
 are , . . arrived, A more accurate phrase than our have arrived. 
 
 7. and yet from such a steep disadvantage, &c. We were so sunken 
 that our rising again might well have seemed hopeless and impossible, as was 
 the rising again of the Romans after their decline and fall, all whose 
 
 * manhood * ( = Lat. virtus, manliness, valour) could not recover them ; and 
 yet we have recovered ourselves. 
 
 [13. Neither is it^ &c. Explain // here.] 
 
 15. which if I now first, &c. His Of Reformation in England, for instance, 
 is filled with delight at what he was witnessing, and praise of those who were 
 accomplishing it. See also An Apology for Smectymnuus, passim. 
 19. unwillingest. See below, p. 93. 
 22. courtship. See Comus, 321-5 : 
 
 * Shepherd, I take thy word, 
 And trust thy honest ofFer'd courtesy. 
 Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds 
 With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls 
 And courts of princes, where it first was named 
 And yet is most pretended* 
 The word court is itself of humble origin — from Lat. cohortem = z farm- 
 yard ; see Max Miiller's Lectures on the Science of Language, 2nd Series. 
 
 25. the other here denotes the third of the * three principal things ' = what 
 is called the latter just below. So sometimes in Elizabethan English both, 
 the conjunction, is used when more than two objects arc linked together ; so 
 
p. 3.] NOTES, 6^ 
 
 also neither. This use of other is the more odd, because it is in fact the 
 native word for second. Second is a French word. 
 
 28. heretofore. See especially Animadversions upon the Remonstrant's 
 Defence against Smectymnuus, and An Apology for Smectymnuus. 
 
 29. rescuing, 8cc. See An Apology for Smectymnuus; especially Sect. viii. 
 p. 89, Of Works : * And can this private concoctor of malecontent at the 
 very instant when he pretends to extol the parliament, afford thus to blur 
 over rather than to mention that public triumph of their justice and con- 
 stancy, so high, so glorious, so reviving to the fainted commonwealth, with 
 such a suspicious and murmuring expression as to call it " some proceedings"? 
 [He is dealing with Hall's remarks on the execution of Strafford.] And yet 
 immediately he falls to glossing, as if he were the only man that 
 rejoiced at these times. But I shall discover to ye, readers, that this his 
 praising of them is as full of nonsense and scholastic foppery as his meaning 
 he himself discovers to be full of close malignity. His first encomium is,' 
 &c. &c. For another eulogy of the Long Parliament see The Judgment of 
 Martin Bucer concerning Divorce : * And having now perfected a second 
 edition, I referred the judging thereof to your high and impartial sentence, 
 honoured lords and commons. For I was confident, if anything generous, 
 anything noble and above the multitude were left yet in the spirit of 
 England, it could be nowhere sooner found, and nowhere sooner understood 
 than in that house of justice and true liberty where ye sit in council.' 
 
 him who went about, &c. = Hall, Bishop of Norwich, * the Remonstrant,* 
 who had answered Smectymnuus, and in his answer had 'damned* the 
 Parliament * with faint praise,' as Milton thought; see above. See Hall's Modest 
 Confutation of a Slanderous and Scurrilous Libel intituled Animadversions 
 upon the Remonstrant's Defence against Smectymnuus. Milton calls the 
 praise Hall confers * trivial, since it deals in commonplaces ; malignant (dis- 
 loyal to the Commonwealth), since it assumes that the Parliament is 
 inseparable from the Crown.* (Jebb.) Hall was of no mean note in literature, 
 quite apart from the Smectymnuus controversy, in which he was so mercilessly 
 derided. He was one of our earliest writers of formal satire ; his Virgideniiae 
 was first published in 1597-9 ; but his prose is better than his verse. His 
 Occasional Meditations enjoyed and deserved a wide popularity. He was 
 bom at Bristow Park, Leicestershire ; died at Heigham, whither he retired 
 after his deposition from his bishopric, in 1656. 
 
 went about to, &c. = found and took the way to, set himself to. Hooker's 
 Ecclesiastical Polity, Li: * He that goeth about to persuade a multitude,' 
 &c. 
 
 P. 3, I. 3. ye. • The confusion between ye and you did not exist in Old 
 English. Ye was always used as a nom., and you as a dat. or ace. In 
 the English Bible this distinction is very carefully observed, but in the 
 dramatists of the Elizabethan period there is a very loose use of the two 
 forms. Not only is ^q«. used as a nom., but ye is used as an ace' Morris's 
 Historical Outlines of English Accidence, § 1 55* ' ..... 
 
64 AREOPAGITICA, [P. 3. 
 
 11. «gwaZ/ = fair, equitable ; Lsit.aequus; Ezek. xxxill. 20. Cp. uneqimll, 
 below, p. 50. 
 
 12. when as, Cp. whereas, whenso, whereso, whoso, &c. As ( = al so=s 
 all so) and so may have been affixed to certain relative words to give 
 greater precision of meaning; thus whereas =]ust where, whenas = ]usl when. 
 Comp. Gr. S^ as in kmi^ri, &c. 
 
 14. s/a//s/s = statesmen. Johnson quotes Shakspere, Cymb. ii. 4. 1 7, 
 and Par, Reg. iv. 354 (where see Jerram's note) : 
 
 * Their orators thou then extoll'st, as those 
 The top of eloquence, statists indeed 
 And lovers of their country.* 
 See also Hamlet, v. 2. 33. 
 
 16. a triennial Parlament. It was provided by the Act passed Feb. 15, 
 1641, * for the prevention of inconveniences happening by the long intermission 
 of parliaments' (16 Car. I. c. i), that Parliament should meet at least once 
 in three years^ &c. This Act was repealed in 1664 (16 Car. II. c. i). It 
 must not be confounded with what is called * the Triennial Bill,' passed in 
 1694, repealed in 1 7 16, which enacted that no Parliament should in future 
 sit more than three years, 
 
 17. that jealous hautinesse. Sec, He refers generally to those vin famous 
 courts, the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission ; and more 
 particularly to the Committee of Council, or Committee of State, * which 
 was reproachfully after called the Junto, and enviously then in the Court the 
 Cabinet.' (Clarendon.) Cp. 'the politic Cabin at Whitehall.' (Eikonoklastes.) 
 
 cabin Counsellors, The diminutive form cabinet, which we now prefer, 
 is also found in Elizabethan writers; thus Bacon's Essays, Of Counsell : *The 
 doctrine of Italy and practice of France, in some kings' times, hath intro- 
 duced cabinet councils.' Cabin* is the Fr. cabane, the Low Lat. capanna, 
 which is perhaps of Keltic origin ; see Brachet, Diez, Wedgwood. Brachet 
 quotes from Isidore of Seville: *Tuguri*m parva casa est; hoc rustici capanna 
 vocant.* 
 
 [19. in the midd*st of your victories and successes. Make a list of these.] 
 
 20. brooking. This brook is from the Oldest Eng. brucan, cognate with 
 Germ, braucken, Lat. fruor^ fructus, &c. It occurs in the sense of * enjoy' 
 in the older version of Chevy Chase, 1. 129: 
 
 * But, perse, and I brook my lyffe, thy deth well quyte shall be.' 
 See Skeat's Specimens from 1394 to 1 5 79, p. 74; also Morris's Chaucer's 
 Prologue, Glossary. Brook, a streamlet, is cognate with break, Sec, 
 
 25. cw7/ = refined, polished, cultivated. So civility = civilisation ; thus 
 Davies on Ireland, apud Johnson : * Divers great monarchies have risen from 
 barbarism to civility, and fallen again to ruin.* See Jerram's Par. Reg. 
 iv. 83. 
 
 28. of being new or insolent ^o^ doing anything that seems strange or 
 overweening. Or insolent may have its older meaning of * unusual/ ' eiira- 
 ordinary * ; see Trench's Sdect Glossary. 
 
p. 4.] NOTES. 55 
 
 30. the old and elegant humanity of Greece. Perhaps no one — at least 
 no modem — has ever studied the Greek writers with intenser appreciation 
 and delight than Milton. See his Letter to Leonard Philaras the Athenian 
 (1654) • * ^ h^^^ always been devotedly attached to the literature of Greece, 
 and particularly to that of your Athens.' See his works passim. The 
 Areopagitica itself is an illustration : scarcely more notable even in point of 
 form is the Samson Agonistes. In the medieval universities the term 
 * humanity' was used especially of Latin culture, as still in Scotland. Greek 
 culture was a comparatively new, and still a rare thing in the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 2,1, of a Hunnish and Norwegian sta/elines = o^ the dictatorial overbearing 
 Huns and Goths of the $o-callCd Dark Ages. On the Huns see Smith's 
 Gibbon, iii. ch. 26. 
 
 33. />o///tf = polished, refined. * Polite learning* was a common phrase 
 in the last century. For some account of the Revival of Learning, see 
 Hallam's Middle Ages, last chapter, and the first chapter of his Literature of 
 Europe. A worthy history of that great movement has yet to be written. 
 
 33. ytf/ = still. See II Penseroso 30, and note in Longer English Poems. 
 
 Jutlanders^ i.e. rude and barbarous as were our ancestors before they 
 were refined by southern civilisation. Jutes are said to have settled in 
 Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. See Smith's Marsh's Lectures on the 
 English Language, p. 10; Vernon's Anglo-Saxon Guide, p. 118, &c. 
 
 P. 4. I. Jum who from his private house, &c. = Isokrates. See Intro- 
 duction. 
 
 3. perswades = \% for persuading. So often the present in Latin. 
 
 7. C///« = States, Lat. civitates, 
 
 5/mor/M = lordships, baronies. So Shakspere, Tempest, i. 2. 70-72: 
 
 • As at that time 
 Through all the signiories it was the first, 
 And Prospero the prime duke,* &c. 
 Richard II, iii. i. 22, iv. i. 89, 
 
 9. Dion Prusaeus was surnamed Chrysostomos, or of the golden lips, for 
 his eloquence. He was born at Prusa in Bithynia, about the middle of the 
 first century of onr aera ; presently went to Rome. Expelled with other 
 philosophers by Domitian, he travelled in Thrace, Mysia, Scythia, and 
 amongst the Getae ; he returned to Rome immediately after the accession 
 of Nerva ; then to Prusa about loo a.d., whence in disgust with the petty- 
 mindedness of his fellow-citizens he went back to Rome, where he died about 
 117 A.D. Niebuhr, in his Lectures on Roman History, iii. 235, 3rd edit. ed. 
 Schmitz, speaks with great admiration of his talents. See Smith's larger Greek 
 and Roman Biography. The speech here referred to is the Rhodian Discourse 
 ('Po5ta«dy A.(570s), in which the orator makes his protest against the Rhodian 
 habit of re-using, $0 to speak, their public statues, which were from time 
 to time made to do duty for the reigning favourites, the inscriptions altered, 
 
 13. a life wholly dedicated to studious labours. See Eleg. i. 35 : 
 
 F 
 
66 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 4, 
 
 •Tempora nam I'.cet hie placidis dare libera Musis, 
 Et totum rapiunt me, mea vita, libri.' 
 Ad Familiares, Ep. vi : * It is also in my favour that your method of study 
 is such as to admit of frequent interruptions, in which you visit your friends, 
 write letters, or go abroad ; but it is my way to suffer no impediment, no 
 love of ease, no avocation whatever, to chill the ardour, to break the 
 continuity, or divert the completion of my literary pursuits.* Also Ep. vii, 
 where he gives some account of his studies : ' I went through the perusal 
 of the Greek authors to the time when they ceased to be Greeks,' &c. 
 Apology for Smectymnuus : * . . , the wearisome labours and studious 
 watchings, wherein I have spent and tired out almost a whole youth.* 
 On Education : ' But if you can accept of these few observations which have 
 flowered off, and are as it were the burnishing of many studious and con- 
 templative years, altogether spent in the search of religious and civil 
 knowledge and such as pleased you so well in the relating, I here give you 
 them to dispose of.* A Treatise on Christian Doctrine : ' I entered upon an 
 assiduous course of study in my youth,' &c. 
 
 14. those natural endowments. Sec. He was not always without doubt 
 as to whether his genius could flourish in our latitude, so * far from the sun 
 and summer gale' (see Gray's Progress of Poesy, 83), whose beams and 
 breath had fostered the wits of Greece. See Reason of Church Govern- 
 ment, ii : * If to the instinct of nature and the imboldening of art, aught may 
 be trusted ; and that there be nothing adverse in our climate or the fate of 
 this age, it haply would be no rashness, from an equal diligence and inclin- 
 ation, to present the like offer in our own ancient stories.* Paradise Lost, ix, 
 41-47 : 
 
 • Me of these 
 Nor skilled nor studious, higher argument 
 Remains, sufficient of itself to raise 
 That name, unless an age too late, or cold 
 Climate, or years, damp my intended wing 
 Depress'd ; and much they may, if all be mine. 
 Not hers, who brings it nightly to my ear.* 
 the worst. It is possible worst may be a misprint for worse; but there is 
 no authority for saying that it is so. Certainly the worst gives a quite 
 satisfactory meaning,— one wholly different from that which the worse 
 would give. [State distinctly the respective meanings.] 
 
 16. derogated ==suhtT2iciGd, the opp. of arrogated. See Cicero, pro Roscio 
 Amerino 32: * Non mihi tantum derogo, tametsi nihil arrogo.^ Milton means 
 that, studious as he has been and happy as he is in his birth country, yet he 
 cannot equal himself with those orators to whom he has just referred ; what 
 is wanting in him as compared with those orators must be more than com- 
 pensated for by the superiority of the audience he addresses to those whom 
 they for the niost part addressed. 
 
 1 7. obtain, Cp. Dryden apud Johnson : * The conclusion of the story I 
 
p. 5] NOTES. 67 
 
 forbore, because I could not obtain from myself to shew Absolom unfor- 
 tunate.* 
 
 3 1 . that Order. See Introduction. 
 
 P. 5, 1. 3. that part which preserves, &c. = which acknowledges and protects 
 • copyright.* See in the Order the sentence beginning, ' And that no person 
 or persons shall hereafter print, or cause to be printed/ &c. Cp. Clause vii. 
 of the Star Chamber Decree. 
 
 4. or provides for the poor. See that same sentence. 
 
 6. painful = painstaking, laborious. See Trench's Select Glossary, s. v. 
 Fuller's Holy State, ii. 6 : * O the holiness of their living and painfulness of 
 their preaching.' 
 
 7. Observe the divisions of the Speech here proposed. He will point 
 out who are 
 
 I. The Authors of the book-licensing system, pp. 5-13. 
 
 II. * What is to be thought in general of reading books, whatever sort they 
 be, and whether be more the benefit or harm that thence proceeds,* 
 pp. 13-23. 
 
 III. * That this order of licensing conduces nothing to the end for which it 
 was framed,' pp. 22-29. 
 
 IV. It will not only do no good ; it will do immense harm in discouraging 
 the pursuit of learning and the search after truth, pp. 29 to end. 
 
 that other clause, &c. See the sentence beginning 'It is therefore 
 ordered,* &c. 
 
 brother is adjectival here, = brother-like, i.e. kindred, cognate. Comp. 
 'brother-love* in Henry VIII, v. 3. 1 73. For the meaning comp. the Greek 
 dScX^of, as in Soph. Antig. 192: Koi vvv ddfXcpcL rupSe Kijpv^as €X<y. 
 Notice too our common use of 'sister* in a metaphorical sense. 
 
 8. his. Its was scarcely yet admitted into literary English. See note on its 
 in Longer English Poems, p. 223; also Morris's English Accidence, § 172. 
 
 quadragesimal = Leiiten. Thus Sanderson rt/>Md/ Johnson : * I have com- 
 posed prayers out of the Church Collects adventural, quadragesimal, paschal, 
 or Pentecostal.* Holt White quotes from Cartwright's Ordinary ; 
 ' But quadragesimal wits and fancies leane 
 As Ember weeks.* 
 (Hazlitt's Dodsley's Old English Plays, xii. 268.) Comp. Quadragesima 
 Sundays 1st Sunday in Lent. Milton here refers to the restrictions as to 
 food during Lent, which were in some degree retained by the English Church 
 after the Reformation. Certain days were appointed for * fish-days,' for the 
 non-observance of which ' licenses* were granted. * Queen Elizabeth used to 
 say that she would never eat flesh in Lent without obtaining license from her 
 little black husband' ( = Archbishop Whitgift). (Walton's life of Hooker.) 
 See also 2 Henry IV, ii. 4. 375. 
 
 9. matrimonial = marriage licenses. Milton regarded marriage simply 
 as a civil contract, not at all as a * sacrament.' It was formally made so by 
 an Ordinance, and in 1653 by an Act of Parliament, ratified in 1656. Seo 
 
68 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 5. 
 
 The Likeliest Means to remove Hirelings out of the Church: *As for 
 marriages, that ministers should meddle with them, as not sanctified or 
 legitimate without their celebration, I find no ground in Scripture either of 
 precept or example. Likeliest it is (which our Selden hath well observed, 1. ii. 
 c. 58 Ux. Eb.) that in imitation of heathen priests, who were wont at 
 nuptials to use many rites and ceremonies, and especially judging it would be 
 profitable and the encrease of their authority not to be spectators only in 
 a business of such concernment to the life of man, they insinuated that 
 marriage was not holy without their benediction, and for the better colour 
 made it a Sacrament, being of itself a civil ordinance, a household contract/ 
 &c., &c. (Works, p. 431.) 
 
 when the Prelats expired. Episcopacy was not formally abolished till 
 October 9, 1646 ; but the bishops had lost their 'status' some years before. 
 They wera ejected from the House of Peers early in 1641, and so had 
 •expired* as 'prelates,* the title 'prelates* denoting their civil position: 
 see Holt White's note on Prelaty and Episcopacy, ^. 122. 
 
 atiend =lmn towards, direct my mind to. So the Latin attendot as Cicero, 
 Philippics, ii. 12. 30: * Stuporem hominis attendite.* 
 
 10. homily. Cp. As You Like It, iii. 2. 164: 'What tedious homily of 
 love have you wearied your parishioners withal, and never cried Have 
 patience, good people.' The word originally means (i) * communion,* 
 'intercourse'; (ii) then especially the association of pupil with master, and 
 so instruction ; and (iii) lastly, a special form of ecclesiastical instruction. 
 For (ii) see Xenophon's Memorabilia, i. 2. 6 : Tovs be Kafi/SdvovTas ttjs 
 6|jiiXCas fiicOov avhpaiTohKTThs kavrwv dTT€Kd\€i did t6 dva-yKoiov avToii 
 uvai bia\€y€(T6ai trap* ojv dv Kd^oiev rbv fiiaOov. So lb. 15; comp. 
 ojjuXtjtA in 12. (Comp. <pondv cts riva, as Aristophanes, Equites 1235.) 
 
 18. disexercising. I cannot find any other occurrence of this word. 
 
 19. cropping. The A.S. cro/> = top, bunch, craw of a bird. According 
 to Wedgwood the radical notion is a knob; Gael, crapy cnap, Welsh crob^ 
 crwb, crub, Ital. groppo. In Piers Plowman, xvi. 42, B. text, it = a tree- 
 top; cp. Chaucer's Prologue 7. To crop = to take the top oflf; comp. io 
 top, to skirtf to peel, &c. 
 
 22. He now addresses himself to Point I, see p. 6*^. 
 
 27. but doe contain, &c. Cp. Bacon's Advancement of Learning, T. 
 viii. 6, p. 72, ed. Aldis Wright: * It is not possible to have the true pictures 
 or statues of Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar, no, nor of the kings or great person- 
 ages of much later years ; for the originals cannot last, and the copies cannot 
 but leese of the life and truth. But the images of men*s wits and knowledges 
 remain in books, exempted from the wrong of time and capable of perpetual 
 renovation. Neither are they fitly to be called images because they generate 
 still and cast their seeds in the minds of others, provoking and causing in- 
 finite actions and opinions in succeeding ages.' &Ct 
 
p. 6.] NOTES. 69 
 
 29. wo// = vial = phial, Gr. <pia\ri. 
 
 32. /Aose fabulous Dragons teeth. See the story of Jason, how by 
 Medea's direction he sowed the teeth of the Colchian dragon, and there 
 sprang up men all armed. Ovid's Metamorphoses, vii. 1 21, et seq. : 
 ' Galea tum sumit ahena 
 Vipereos dentes, ct aratos spargit in agros. 
 Semina moUit humus,* &c. 
 The story is charmingly told in the eighth book of Morris's Jason. Cp. the 
 story of Cadmus, also that of Deucalion. 
 [P. 6, 1. 2. What does almost qualify?] 
 
 6. a burden to the Earth. Cp. the Homeric dxOos dpovprjs (Iliad, xviii. 
 104; Odyssey, xx. 379). So Lat. pondera terrae. (Liddcll and Scott.) 
 
 7. life-blood. Shakspere, 3 Henry VI, i. 4. 138: 
 
 •How couldst thou drain the life blood of the child?* 
 Merchant of Venice, iii. 2. 269, &c. ; Paradise Lost, viii. 467. The word 
 probably points to some old physiological theory as to the identity of life 
 and blood. Cp. Genesis ix. 4 : * But flesh with the life thereof which is 
 the blood thereof ^ shall ye not eat.' 
 
 [8. What is meant by on purpose here ?] 
 
 10. revolutions of ages, &c. Thus the wisdom of the ancient world was 
 lost with the fall of the Roman empire, and not recovered in any consider- 
 able degree for many a long century ; and certainly Europe fared the worse. 
 
 12. the worse. * The* here is an old ablative = /Ai, the. Cp. Latin tfo. 
 See Morris's English Accidence, § 178. 
 
 14. Spill — destroy. Sometimes = to die. See Morris and Skeat's Speci- 
 mens 1 298-1 393, Glossary. 
 
 18. fl« elementall life, &c. Cp. Paradise Lost, iii. 714-2 1 : 
 
 * Swift to their several quarters hasted then 
 The cumbrous element, earth, flood, air, fire; 
 And this etherial quintessence of heaven 
 Flew upward, spirited with various forms. 
 That rolled orbicular and turned to stars/ &c. 
 So Uriel, the sun-angel, to Satan, of the creation of the world. * This notion 
 our author borrowed from Aristotle and others of the ancient philosophers, 
 who supposed that besides the four elements there was likewise an ethereal 
 quintessence or fifth essence, and its motion was orbicular : ilvai hi napd 
 rd ricaapa aroixfia kouL aXKo irifjurrov^ e£ ov rd aWcpia (Tvpeardvar 
 dWoiav 5* avTov riju Kivrjaiv cTvai, KvK\o<popiK^v yap ; which are the 
 very words of Diogenes Laertius in his life of Aristotle.* (Newton.) 
 
 19. fift essence = quintessence. Lat. quinta essentia. Essentia is Cicero*$ 
 translation of the Gr. ovaia. On the form fift see Variorum Shakspere, ed. 
 1813, ii. 183. 
 
 21. condemned of, &c. We should say ' condemned for*; but we still 
 say * accused of,* * convicted of.' Holt White quotes from Lily's Euphues : 
 • That thou shouldst condemn me 0/ rigor,' &c. 
 
70 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 6. 
 
 [22. licence. State clearly the two different meanings onicense, on which 
 there is a play here.] 
 
 26. the Inquhition. * The Holy Inquisition,' or * The Holy Office ' 
 {Sanctum Ojfficium), was first conceived by Pope Innocent III, when, about 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Albigenses dared to entertain 
 irregular doctrines. After that execrable inauguration, it was presently 
 introduced into other parts of France, into Italy, and, in the face of much 
 notable opposition, into Spain ; but its power declined everywhere, partly 
 because there arose no fresh victims for its energy. In the last-named 
 country, towards the close of the fifteenth century, it was revivified and 
 organized by Ferdinand and Isabella, to whom it recommended itself as an 
 excellent instrument for plundering the Jews and crushing the Mahom* 
 medans of the peninsula. The Cardinal Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza lent 
 his help. Thomas de Torquemada, prior to the Dominican convent at 
 Segovia and father-confessor to Mendoza, was appointed first Grand In- 
 quisitor in 147S. * He had two hundred familiars and a guard of fifty horse- 
 men.' The new court was opened at Seville in 1481. 'Spanish writers 
 relate that above seventeen thousand gave themselves up to the Inquisition ; 
 more than two thousand were condemned to the flames the first year, 
 and great numbers fled to neighbouring countries.* In 1483 the Pope, who 
 had opposed the new institution, as the conversion of an ecclesiastical 
 into a secular tribunal, formally acknowledged Torquemada. In 1484 the 
 jurisdiction was accurately defined. As late as 1763 'heretics' were burned 
 by this deadly Office. It was abolished by Napoleon in 1808, revived in 
 1814, abolished again and finally in 1820. See Popular Encyclopaedia, s. v., 
 which quotes from Llorente's History of the Spanish Inquisition (Paris, 18 15; 
 in English, London, 1827). 
 
 27. catcht . . . caught. Observe the two forms of the past participle. 
 Milton seems to regard * catch up ' as a compound, and inflects it differently 
 from the simple verb. 
 
 28. Presbyters, Presbyterianism had now superseded Episcopalianism. 
 Milton was presently to discover that the new -ism was as little liberal 
 as the old. See above, p. 62. 
 
 29. Athens where, &c. See Paradise Regained, iv. 240-43 : 
 
 'Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts 
 And eloquence, native to famous wits 
 *0r hospitable, in her sweet recess, 
 City or suburban, studious walks and shades.* 
 Cp. the great speech of Pericles, Thucydides, ii. 36-44, especially 41 : 
 ^w(\6)V T€ Xiyoj r-qv r€ ttaaav vSkiv ttjs 'EAAdSo* naldevaty elyai, 
 H.T.X. See Jerram's Par. Reg. iv. 239. 
 
 33. Thus the Booh of Protagoras, 8cc. He does not aim at being 
 exhaustive, or he might have mentioned the indictments of Anaxagoras 
 and of Aspasia for 'impiety.' See Grote's Greece, iv. 231, edit. 1862. 
 Protagoras, the first 'Sophist,' was born at Abdera in Thrace, about 
 
p. 7.] NOTES. 7 1 
 
 B.C. 480. Before 445 he was living at Athens, where, in 41 1, he was 
 accused of impiety by one Puthodoros, on the ground that in a book on the 
 gods {nepl Oewv) he had stated that he was unable to know whether they 
 existed or not. See Diogenes Laertius, ix. 54. Socrates in Plato's Theaitetos, 
 162 D, makes Protagoras or dWos rit vw^p avrov speak of the gods as ots 
 €70; (K T€ Tov \iy€iv Kcu Tov ypd<p€iy n(pl avrwy, ws ilaiv ^ ws ovk eiaivt 
 k^aipS), 
 
 P. 7, 1. 1. Areopagus. See Introduction. 
 
 6. Vetus Comoedia=^\\it earlier Greek comedy— the comedy of Kratinos, 
 Eupolis, Aristophanes ; Horace's ' Comoedia prisca.* (Satires, i. 4. I-5.) It 
 indulged in the broadest personalities (see Aristophanes' plays passim^ e. g. 
 his representations of Kleon, of Sokrates, of Euripides) ; and at last was 
 muzzled. See Horace, Ep. ad Pisones, 281-84: 
 
 *Successit vetus his comoedia, non sine multa 
 Laude ; sed in vitium libertas excidit et vim 
 Dignam lege regi ; lex est accepta, chorusque 
 Turpiter obticuit sublato jure nccendi.* 
 
 7. 7w/V^ = vital, vigorous, &c. See Heb. iv. 12. 
 
 8. as Cicero writes. See his De Natura Deorum, i. 23: *Quid? DIagoras, 
 atheos qui dictus est, posteaque Theodorus, nonne aperte deorum naturam 
 sustulerunt? Nam Abderites quidem Protagoras, cujus a te modo mentio facta 
 est, Sophistes temporibus illis vel maximus, cum in principio libri sui sic posu- 
 isset, " De divis neque ut sint neque ut non sint habeo dicere," Atheniensium 
 jussu urbe atque agro est exterminatus librique ejus in concione combusti. 
 Ex quo quidem existimo tardiores ad banc sententiam profitendam multos esse 
 faclos, quippe cum poenam ne dubitatio quidem effugere potuisset.* 
 
 quell = \i\\\. See 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 59; Macb. i. vii. 72 ; Par. Reg. iv. 634. 
 
 9. as the event thew'd. Observe * obticuit * in the quotation given above 
 from Horace. 
 
 13. Epicurus was bom in Samos B.C. 342, went to live at Athens in 
 306, there founded a famous school, and died in 270. His leading ethical 
 tenet, that men were to be virtuous in order to be happy, was soon distorted. 
 All that was observed was the end he proposed. The means for acquiring 
 it which he enjoined were ignored ; and thus Epicureanism was degraded 
 into mere self-indulgence, and the garden became * a sty.* 
 
 that libertine school of Cyrene = the school founded by Aristippos about 
 B.C. 370. He identified the chief good with pleasure. Cicero's Academica, 
 ii. 42. 131 : * Alii voluptatem finem esse voluerunt, quorum princeps Aristippus, 
 qui Socratem audierat, unde Cyrenaici*; see also Tusculanae Disputationes, 
 ii. 6. 15. He would let nothing trouble him if he could help it. When on 
 a journey his gold impeded his progress, he ordered it to be thrown away. 
 See Horace, Satires, ii. 3. 99-102 ; also Epistles, i. 17. I3-I5f and i. I. 17-18 : 
 'Nunc in Aristippi furtim praecepta relabor, 
 Et mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor.* 
 
 libertine ^^or'igmsiUy a manumitted slave, as always in pure Latin. So 
 
"]% AREOPAGITICA. [P. y. 
 
 Acts vi. 9. In various modern languages the word has been adopted in 
 a secondary sense to denote one released from all proper moral restraint, 
 who acknowledges no law. See Shakspere, Hamlet, i. 3. 49 ; Bacon's Essays, 
 on Marriage, &c. In the seventeenth century, in religious matters libertines 
 = 'free-thinkers/ See Trench's Select Glossary. The moral the word conveys 
 — how unregulated liberty becomes license — may be illustrated from Words- 
 worth's Ode to Duty; see especially 
 
 * Me this unchartered freedom tires ; 
 I feel the weight of chance desires.* 
 14. the Cynich impudence. The phrase, as Holt White notes, is from 
 Diogenes Laertius {vpos t^v kvvik^v avaiax^^''''^^v ^ P* 164, fol. 1664). 
 Antisthenes, a pupil of Sokrates — he had previously been a pupil of Gorgias 
 — formed a school on Sokrates' death, and chose for his place of meeting 
 a public place in that quarter of Athens called the Cynosarges, from which 
 some say the sect of Cynics derives its name ; others derive it from the 
 snarling propensities of the founder, who was frequently called * the Dog.' 
 The fame of Antisthenes has been surpassed by that of his disciple Diogenes 
 of Sinope. Milton means by ' the Cynic impudence ' that insolence of 
 manner and of language, that rude and unqualified contempt of humanity, 
 that especially characterised the philosopher of the tub. See the various 
 anecdotes of him ; e. g. he said he had never seen men ; at Sparta he had 
 seen children; at Athens, women. Lewes' Biographical History of Philo- 
 sophy; Ritter and Preller's Hist. Phil. Gr. et Rom. §§ 2 2 1-8. 
 
 17. Plato commended, &c. Holt White quotes from Petit's (Samuel 
 Petit, 1 594-1643, author also of Leges Atticae) De Vita et Scriptis Aristo- 
 phanis : ' Quod autem magis mirandum, Plato, tantus Socratis propugnator, 
 Dionysio regi Syracusano statum reipublicae Atheniensis et linguam ex 
 Optimo autore perdiscere cupienti Aristophanis Comoedias misit ut ex iis 
 linguam et ingenium Atheniensium simul cognosceret.* On the intercourse 
 between Plato and Dionysius, see Grote, vii, ch. 83, edit. 1862. 
 
 18. Aristophanes. Born about 444, died about 380 B.C. See Donald- 
 son's Mflller's Literature of Ancient Greece. 
 
 the loosest of them all. Aristophanes is * loose * as Chaucer is * loose ; 
 that is, he is at times altogether plain-spoken. There is nothing in 
 him of the infinitely worse * looseness * of innuendo and suggestion, no under- 
 current of indecency beneath a respectable surface. 
 
 19. Dionysius f the elder. Tyrant of Syracuse from 405-367 B.C. See 
 Grote's Greece, vii. chap. 83. 
 
 20. holy Chrysostome = ' S2imi* Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, the 
 eloquent ' Father * ; born at Antioch about 347, died at Comana in Asia 
 Minor 407 a.d. See Gibbon's Roman Empire, iv. ch. 32 : * The sixth 
 book of Socrates, the eighth of Sozomen, and the fifth of Theodoret, afford 
 curious and authentic materials for the life of John Chrysostom.* 
 
 as is reported, &c. See a letter from ^milius Portus, in an epistle to 
 Bisetus, one of the scholiasts of Aristophanes, quoted in the Encyclopaedia 
 
p. 7J NOTES. 73 
 
 Metropolitana, History of Greek Literature. Holt White quotes from 
 Menage's vindication of himself for reading Rabelais : * Clement Alexandrin 
 cite a toute heure Aristophanes. S. Jan. Chrysostome le lisoit continuellement, 
 et le mettoit la nuit sous son chevet, si on en croit Aide Manuce dans la 
 Dedicace dcs OEuvres de ce Comique ; car je ne say point d'auteur plus 
 ancien qui ait fait mention de cette amitid de S. Jan Chrysostome pour les 
 Comedies d*Aristophane.' (Avis au Lecteur, prefixed to the second part 
 of his Observations sur la Langue Fran^oise.) But here, as elsewhere, 
 Menage's knowledge was at fault. Plato is said to have pillowed his head 
 on a copy of Sophron's Mimes. 
 
 24. Lycurgus^ the Spartan lawgiver, flourished in the ninth century B.C. 
 See Grote, ii. chapi 6, * Laws and Discipline of Lykurgus at Sparta.* 
 
 25. was so addicted^ &c. Milton's authority here is Plutarch's Life of 
 Lykurgos : iKil hi [in * Asia *] Koi TOit 'Ofi-fjpov iroi^fmaiv €Vtvx(*JV Trpwrov, 
 ws €OiK€, itf.T.X. = * There also, probably, he met with Homer's poems, which 
 were preserved by the posterity of Cleophylus. Observing that many moral 
 sentences and much political knowledge were intermixed with his stories, 
 which had an irresistible charm, he collected them into one body and tran- 
 scribed them with pleasure, in order to take them home with him. For his 
 glorious poetry was not yet fully known in Greece ; only some particular 
 pieces were in a few hands, as they happened to be dispersed. Lycurgus 
 was the first that made them generally known.* (Langhorne.) 
 
 27. the poet Thales, or Thaletas, not to be confounded with 'the Wise 
 Man ' of Miletus. See Plutarch's Lykurgos: 'Among the friends he gained at 
 Crete was Thales, with whom he had interest enough to persuade him to go 
 
 and settle at Sparta For his Odes were so many persuasives to 
 
 obedience and unanimity; as by means of melody and numbers they had great 
 grace and power, they softened insensibly the manners of the audience, drew 
 them off from the animosities which then prevailed, and united them in zeal 
 for excellence and virtue.* (Langhorne.) See the account of Thaletas — he 
 
 * inakes the third epoch in the history of Greek music * — in Donaldson's 
 Miiller : * In fact Thaletas lived several centuries [probably two] later thau 
 Lycurgus, having been one of the musicians who assisted in perfecting 
 Terpander's musical system at Sparta and giving it a new and fixed form.* 
 
 28. surlinesse, iS«r/y = etymologically, sour-like. In A.S. the zd], surelic 
 does not seem to occur ; but there is the adv. presumably formed from it, 
 viz. surelice, Cp. Germ, sduerlich. Wedgwood's suggestion that it is from 
 
 * sirlike, magisterial, arrogant,* seems not very valuable. 
 
 30. museless = dfxov(roi, as Euripides, Ion 526: 
 
 ov <pi\u> <l>p(vovv dfjLovaovs nal fiefirjvoras ^ivovs. 
 Aristophanes, Vespae 1074, &c. Plato couples dfxovaia with dnfipoKaXtat 
 Republic, 403 C. 
 
 33. their owne Laconick Apothegms. Plato speaks of Ppaxvkoyla tis 
 Aaxojvitcfj = * z sort of laconic terseness* (Protagoras, 343 B). In his De 
 Legibus (641 E) he speaks of Lacedaemon being commonly known as fipaxv- 
 
74 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 7. 
 
 \oyos, Crete as iroXvXoyos, 8cc. The ancient writers, and indeed the 
 modern, abound with references to, and instances of, this Spartan charac- 
 teristic. See Plutarch's Lives passim, and his (or his son's) collection of 
 Apothegms; Cicero's Ep. Fam. xi. 25. 2, &c. It has given us the word 
 laconic in the sense of terse. 
 
 apothegms. Properly spelled apophthegms. Gr. airocpOiyiw., lit. = some- 
 thing said plainly. 
 
 P. 8,1. I. Archilochis. Flor. 714-676 B.C. * Plutarch (Inst. Lacon. 
 239 B) states that Archilochus was banished from Sparta the very hour 
 that he arrived there because he had written in his poems that a man had 
 better throw away his arms than lose his life. But Valerius Maximus 
 (vi. 3. extr. 1) says that the poems of Archilochus were forbidden at Sparta 
 because of their licentiousness, and especially on account of the attack on the 
 daughter of Lycambes. It must remain doubtful whether a confusion has 
 been made between the personal history of the poet and the fate of his 
 works,* &c. (Smith's Diet.) For further account of him see Donaldson's 
 Miiller, Grote, iii. chap. 29, &c. The lines which, according to Plutarch's 
 account, disgusted Spartan fortitude may be found in Schneidewin's Delectus 
 Poet. Elegiac. Graec. p. 173: 
 
 dairidi fjitv 2aiW tis dydWerai, -fjv wapcL Oajxycy 
 
 €VTOS dfidjfxrjToy KaWiirov ovk kOiXojv' 
 avTos 5' €^€<pvyov Oavdrov T€\os' dams €K€ivrf 
 
 €pp€TOJ' k^aVTlS KT7j(T0fmi OX) KaKlCO. 
 
 2. perhaps for composing^ &c. Unhappily what remains of Archilochus' 
 writing is too fragmentary to enable us to form any adequate idea of him. 
 Horace imitated him in his Epodes * as to form and spirit, but not as to sub- 
 ject*; see Horace, Ep. i. 19. 23-25: 
 
 * Parios ego primus iambos 
 Ostendi Latio, numeros animumque secutus 
 Archilochi, non res et agentia verba Lycamben.* 
 
 3, their otvne souldiery ballats, &c. The most famous writer of these war 
 songs was in all probability not a Spartan born, but a native of Aphidnae in 
 Attica : it was Tyrtaeus. See what remains of him in Schneidewin. 
 
 ballats and roundels are often mentioned together. See e. g. Warton's 
 Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. 1840, ii. 222 note: * About this time [1380] a Prior 
 of Genevieve at Paris wrote a small treatise, entitled VArt de dictier 
 Ballades et Rondelles* &c. 
 
 ballats, Ballat or ballad, Fr. ballade, is by no means confined in older 
 usage to its present meaning of a certain kind of popular narrative poem. 
 It came to be so confined, I think, only in the last century on the revival of 
 medieval literature. In the older writers it means a song of any sort ; thus 
 Shakspere in As You Like It (ii. 7. 148) speaks of 
 
 *the lover 
 Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad 
 Made to his mistress* eyebrow,' &c. 
 
p. 8.] NOTES, 75 
 
 No doubt it originally denoted a dance-song (cp. the following note on 
 Roundel) ; and is cognate with our ball (a dance-party), ballet^ &c., from 
 Low Lat. ballare, Ital. ballare, to dance. For the spelling, comp. ballet. 
 
 roundels^ Fr. rondelles. Cp. roundelay, Fr. rondelet. Roundel properly 
 means * anything round,' as a shield, a trencher, &c. ; see Nares' Glossary. 
 In Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 3. 1, &c., roundel = z dance; not what we 
 call 'a round dance,* but a dance in a ring. From meaning 'a ring dance* 
 it was used for a song sung by the dancers, or during a dance ; cp. 1. c. : 
 
 * Come, now a roundel and a fairy song* 
 (So at this day in the Faroe Islands : * They use no instrumental music, but 
 
 dance to songs The object of the song is not only to regulate the 
 
 steps, but at the same time to awaken certain feelings by its meaning.' See 
 Prior's Ancient Danish Ballads, Introduction, p. v.) Steevens says it was 
 sometimes used to signify *a Jong beginning or ending with the same 
 sentence; redit in orbeni.* Johnson quotes from the Dictionnaire de Trevoux 
 a not inconsistent but much more minute definition. See what Spenser calls 
 a *roundle' or 'roundelay' in the Shepherd's Calendar, August. 
 
 6. cont/«rsm^ = manner of life. Cp. 'conversation,' I Pet. i. 15, &c. 
 When Eve says 'with thee conversing' &c. (Paradise Lost, iv. 639) she 
 means not merely * with thee talking,* but * with thee associating.* It is the 
 Latin use ; thus Seneca's Ep. 99 : ' nemo libenter tristi conversatur, nedum 
 tristitiae.' 
 
 whence EuripideSf &c. See the Andromache, 590 et seq., where Peleus 
 enters to arrest Menelaus in his seizure of the heroine, and abuses roundly 
 both him and Helen and Spartan ways in respect of women. The lines 
 specially alluded to are : 
 
 ouS* av €1 0ov\oit6 Ttt 
 <rd)(ppcjv ytvoiTO XirapTiaTid<ui/ teSprj, k.t.K 
 On the 'promiscuous conversing* of Spartan life — how the women lived 
 a public life strangely contrasting with that of the women in other Greek 
 cities — how they despised spinning and weaving, and exercised themselves 
 in running, boxing and wrestling — see Grote's Greece, ii. chap. 6. See 
 Cicero, Tusc. Disp. ii. 15, &c. As to the charge here quoted against them 
 see Plutarch's Lykurgos, chap. 15, who says it was different in the ok'er 
 times, so different uiaTC o\(u» dmarov iXvai rb rTjs iioix^iat trap* avrois = 
 that amongst them the crime of adultery was altogether incredible. 
 
 8. a//^ = according to, as to, regarding. Cp. 'after our iniquities,' in the 
 Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 10. for many ages, &c. See Horace, Ep. ii. I. 156-163: 
 'Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes 
 Intulit agresti Latio; sic horridus ille 
 Defluxit numerus Saturnius, et grave virus 
 Munditiae pepulere; sed in longum tamen aevum 
 Manserunt hodieque manent vestigia ruris,' &c. 
 Sec also Cicero, Tusc. Disp., i. i, 2. 
 
76 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 8. 
 
 1 1. resembling . . . o/= bearing the semblance of, 
 
 12. iheir twelve Tables = the famous code formed by the Decemvirs; see 
 Dickson's Mommsen's History of Rome, book ii. chap. 2. There were 
 originally ten, * passed' in 451; * but as a supplement appeared necessary, 
 decemvirs were again nominated in the year 304 [a.u.c. ; B.C. 450], who 
 added two more tables. Thus originated the first and only legal code of 
 Rome.* 
 
 13. the PontificJi College. See Dickson*s Mommsen, book i. chap. 12: 
 *The five "bridge-makers" (pontifices) derived their name from their 
 function, as sacred as it was politically important, of conducting the building 
 and demolition of the bridge over the Tiber. They were the Roman 
 engineers, who understood the mystery of measures and numbers ; whence 
 there devolved upon them also the duties of managing the calendar of 
 the state, of proclaiming to the people the time of new and full moon, and 
 the days of festivals, and of seeing that every religious and every judicial 
 
 act took place on the right day Thus they acquired (although not 
 
 probably in its full extent till after the abolition of the monarchy) the general 
 oversight of Roman worship and of whatever was connected with it — and 
 what was there that was not so connected?' &c. 
 
 their Augurs, * The six Augurs were skilled in interpreting the language 
 of the gods from the flight of birds, an art which was prosecuted with great 
 earnestness and reduced to a quasi-scientific system.* Dickson's Mommsen, 
 i. 1 78, &c. The au- — avt- •■= bird. 
 
 The Flamens were priests attached to the service of certain special gods, 
 as of Mars, Jupiter, Pomona, &c., and in laler times of the deified empeirors. 
 Three were of superior distinction (maiores) — those of Jupiter, Mars, and 
 Quirinus ( = Mars. See Dickson's Mommsen, i. 87), Varro derives the 
 name from the fillet worn round the head — ' quod in Latio capite uelato 
 erant semper ac caput cinctum habebant filo.' More probably the word is 
 connected with Jlare, and means the * kindler,* as the priest * was designated 
 from presenting burnt-ofi^erings.' See Dickson's Mommsen, i. 175, &c. 
 
 14. So unacquainted^ &c. On Roman un-culture, see Mommsen, book iii. 
 chap. 14. 
 
 15. that when, &c. This was in 155 B.C. The object of the embassy 
 was to deprecate the fine of 500 talents imposed on the Athenians for the 
 destruction of Oropus. See Cicero, Tusc. Disp. iv. 3 ; Polybius, xxxiii. I. 
 
 CarneadeSf born at Cyrene circ. 213, died 129 B.C., was founder of the 
 New Academy at Athens. It was at Rome during his ambassadorial visit 
 in 155 B.C. that he delivered his lectures on Justice, in the second of which 
 he dexterously refuted the arguments advanced in the first. 
 
 CritolauSf born at Phaselis in Lycia, succeeded Ariston as the head of the 
 Peripatetic school. 
 
 16. the Stoick Diogenes = Diogenes Babylonios (born at Seleucia in 
 Babylonia), succeeded Zeno of Tarsus as the head of the Stoic school. Be 
 sure not to confound him with the Cynic Diogenes. On the Stoics see 
 
p. 8.] NOTES. 77 
 
 Lewes; also Paradise Regained, W. 300-318. They derived their name from 
 Zeno's having opened his school in the Stoa Poikile. 
 
 Embassadors. For the e cp. Embassy. The word is of Teutonic origin, 
 Cp. Mod. Germ. AnU. 
 
 19. Cato the Censor = the famous Marcus Portius Cato, *Cato Major/ 
 Censor in 184. See Dickson's Mommsen, ii. 349 et seq. *It has been the 
 custom to laugh at Cato for his dogged opposition to everything Greek; but 
 there was much truth in his denunciations. We have heard much of young 
 Bengal — young Hindus who read Byron and Voltaire, play at billiards, drive 
 tandems, laugh at their priests, patronise missionaries, and believe nothing. 
 The description which Cato gives of the young idlers at Rome reminds 
 lis very much of young Bengal.' (Max Miiller's Lectures on the Science of 
 Language, 1st Series, 2nd ed. pp. 98, 99.) Cp. Mommsen, iii. 429: *0n this 
 occasion at least Cato could not be found fault with when he not only bluntly 
 enough compared the dialectic arguments of the philosophers to the tedious 
 dirges of the wailing women, but also insisted on the senate dismissing a 
 man who understood the art of making right wrong and wrong right, and 
 whose defence was in fact nothing but a shameless and almost insulting 
 confession of injustice.* See Bacon's Adv. of Learning, pp. 10, II, Clar. 
 Press ed. 
 
 mnvd // = brought forward a motion. This use of iV is common enough 
 in 'Elizabethan* English; thus *trip it* in L*Allegro 33, * dance it* in 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, v. I. 403, &c. See an attempt to explain it in 
 Longer English Poems, p. 236. 
 
 21. bablers. So Acts xvii. 18. 
 
 Scipio. This was the younger Scipio, the destroyer of Carthage, the 
 friend of Polybius, Terence, Panaetius, and Lucilius ; a Scipio by adoption, by 
 birth the son of Lucius .^milius Paulus. Cicero makes him the chief 
 speaker in his De Republica. 
 
 others of the noblest Senators, as Laellus. 
 
 22. his old Sabin austerity. Cato was brought up at his father's farm 
 in the Sabine territory ; and to that farm he returned at intervals in his later 
 life, living plainly and frugally after the old fashion, and so protesting by his 
 practice, as always by his theory, against the luxury beginning to prevail in 
 the Rome of his day. He would find the Sabines congenial neighbours. They 
 became proverbial for their rough simple life. See Juvenal, x. 298-9 : 
 
 *Sanctos licet horrida mores 
 Tradiderit domus, ac veteres imitata Sabinos,* &c. ; 
 also iii. 85 and 169, vi. 164; cp. * Curibusque severis,* Aen. viii, 638, &c. ; 
 see other passages referred to by Mayor in his note to Juvenal, I. c. Livy 
 (i. 18) speaks of ' disciplina tetrica ac tristis vctcrum Sabinorum quo genere 
 nullum quondam incorruptius fuit.' 
 
 24. at last in his old age, &c. Near the close of his life he set himself to 
 study Greek literature. Cornelius Nepos, after mentioning other accomplish- 
 ments, says of him: * cupidissimus literarum fuit; quarum studium etsi senior 
 
78 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 8* 
 
 arripuerat, tamen tantum progressum fecit ut non facile reperiri possit neque 
 de Graecis neque de Italicis rebus quod ei fuerit incognitum.* In Cicero de 
 Senectute, Cato is made to speak of himself as one * qui Graecas literas senex 
 didici.* * He misliked and cried out upon all Greek learning ; and yet being 
 80 years old, began to learn it ; belike fearing that Pluto understood not 
 Latin/ (Sidney's Apol. for Poetrie, p. 56, ed. Arber). Bacon's Adv. of 
 Learning, p. 1 7 of Clar. Press ed. 
 
 26. Naevius and Plautus, &c. See Dickson's Mommsen, book iii. chap. 
 14. Mommsen speaks of Naevius as * the first Roman who deserves to be 
 called a poet, and, so far as the accounts preserved regarding him and the 
 few fragments of his works allow us to form an opinion, to all appearances 
 one of the most remarkable and most important names in the whole range 
 of Roman literature/ &c. He was born between 274 and 264 B.C., died 
 about the close of the century. Plautus was born circ. 254, died in 184. 
 
 27. the borrowed scenes, &c. See Mommsen, 1. c. Menander lived from 
 342 to 291 B.C. He was more particularly imitated by Terence. Philemon 
 was in date a little senior to Menander. A third * new comedian ' much 
 followed by the Roman playwrights was Diphilus. For what remains of 
 these poets see Meineke's Fragmenta Comicorum Graecorum, and the works 
 of Plautus and Terence passim. Donaldson's Miiller's Anc. Gr. Lit. 
 
 30. for Naevius, &c. See Dickson's Mommsen, ii. 431 : 'Although he 
 did not write exactly original Roman comedies, the few fragments of his, 
 which we possess, are full of references to circumstances and persons ia 
 Rome. Among other liberties he not only ridiculed one Thcodotus a 
 painter by name, but even directed against the victor of Zama . . verses, of 
 which Aristophanes need not have been ashamed : as he himself says, 
 
 "Libera lingua loquemur ludis Liberalibus," 
 he probably often wrote offensively and put dangerous questions, such as 
 
 *'Cedo qui vestram rem publicam tantam amisistis tam cito?" 
 which he answered by an enumeration of political sins, such as 
 
 " Proveniebant oratores novi, stulti adulescentuli.** 
 But the Roman police was not disposed like the Attic to hold stage-invectives 
 and political diatribes as privileged, or even tolerate them at all,* &c. His 
 sarcasm against the Metelli — 
 
 * Fato Metelli Romae fiunt consules ' — 
 is said to have specially caused his imprisonment. In his confinement he 
 composed two of his comedies — the Hariolus and the Leon; and * for the 
 sake of these, which were a sort of recantation of his former lampoons, he 
 was set at liberty by the tribunes of the Commons.' (Encycl. Metropol. 
 Rom. Lit.) See Aulus Gellius, i. 24, vi. 18, &c. Plautus is supposed to 
 allude to his confinement in his Miles Gloriosus, ii. 2. 58 : 
 
 * Ecce autem aedificat ; columnam mento sufFulsit suo. 
 
 Apage! non placet profecto mi ilia inaedificatio; 
 
 Nam OS columnatum poetae esse indaudiui barbaro, 
 
 Quoi bin! custodes semper totis horis accubant.' 
 
p. 9.] NOTES. 79 
 
 32. that libels were burnt, &c. See Tacitus* Annals, 1. 72: 'Primus Au- 
 gustus cognitionem de famosis libellis specie legis ejus [ = legis Corneliae 
 majestatis] tractavit, commotus Cassii Severi libidine, qua viros feminasque 
 illustres procacibus scriptis diffamaverat,* &c. ; see also Suetonius, Augustus 
 55, and Dio Cassius, Ivi. 27. A clause of the Eighth of the Twelve Tables 
 had in fact dealt with libel ; see Orelli's Tacitus, 1. c. 
 
 P. 9, 1. 4. Lucretius, &c. Lucretius' great poem De Rerum Natura, in 
 which he attacks the monster 'religio* — the degraded and degrading notions 
 of godhead prevailing amongst men — is dedicated to C. Memmius Gemellus, 
 praetor in 58. 
 
 5. his Epicurism. His poem is a splendid exposition of the doctrines of 
 Epicurus, to whom the poet looked up as to a great deliverer from supersti- 
 tions, and so one of the greatest benefactors of humanity. See i. 63-79 » 
 also V. 1-54, especially 8-12 : 
 
 *Deus ille fuit deus, inclyte Memmi, 
 Qui princeps vitae rationem invenit eam quae 
 Nunc appellatur sapientia, quique per artem 
 Fluctibus e tantis vitam tantisque tenebris 
 In tam tranquiUo et tam clara luce locavit/ 
 had the honour, &c. The authority for the statement that Cicero * set 
 forth' ( = edited) Lucretius' poem is the phrase *Tullii lima dignissimis* 
 applied to his verses by Saint Jerome; see his additions to Eusebius* 
 Chronicon. For Milton's second time there is no explicit authority. Jerome 
 would seem to mean that Cicero Jirst edited the poem ; but his language is 
 not inconsistent with. Milton's statement. That he edited it at all cannot be 
 pronounced a fact. It is certain that Cicero speaks with no great enthusiasm 
 of the poem; see Epistolae ad Qiiintum Fratrem, ii. 11 : * Lucretii poemata 
 ut scribis ita sunt, multis luminibus ingenii, multae tamen artis/ See Munro's 
 Lucretius, text and notes, p. 398, and p. 313, third ed. 
 
 7. himself disputes, &c. As in his De Finibus Bonorum ct Malorum, i 
 and ii ; Tusc. Disp. ii and iii ; De Nat. Deorum, i and ii, &c. 
 
 9. Satyricall. The correct form is satire, not satyr. The latter form 
 was suggested by a supposed derivation of the word from the Greek ffarvpos, 
 whereas it is the Latin (Janx) satira or satura (satura is the purer form). 
 
 Lucilius, born at Suessa Auruncorum (* magnus Auruncae . . . alumnus,' 
 Juvenal, i. 20) 148, died at Naples 103 B.C. He is generally accounted as 
 the founder ('inventor,* Horace, Satires, i. 10. 48) of the school of satire of 
 which Horace, Persius, and Juvenal were subsequently such brilliant members. 
 In Horace's time he was much read and admired. See Horace, Satires, i..4v 
 I-13, also 10; and ii. i. 29-34, where Horace declares himself his follower; 
 
 * Sequor hunc, Lucanus an Appulus, anceps ;' 
 Juvenal, i. 165-168; Persius, i. 114; Quintilianus, x. l,&c. See Mommsen, 
 book iii. chap. 14; Sellar's Roman Poets of the Republic. The * fragments' 
 of Lucilius, of which there are upwards of eight hundred, have been several 
 times printed. 
 
8o AREOPAGITICA. [P. 9. 
 
 10. Catullus, born at or close by Verona 87, died about 47 B.C. 
 2^/acctts = Horace, whose full name was Quintus Horatius Flaccus. So 
 
 Juvenal, vii. 227, &c. Similarly Vergil is sometimes designated by his 
 cognomen — the * family* as distinguished from the *clan* name — * Maro,' as 
 Juvenal, ibid., Ausonius, Idyllia, iv. 56; Ovid as *Naso,' &c. Conversely, 
 Cicero is sometimes called by his nomen * TuUy.' On Roman names see 
 Smith's Diet, of Antiq. 
 
 11. the s/ory = the history. The word story is in foct but the word 
 history * decapitated * ; cp. censer and incense^ Lat. centum and decern, cess 
 and assess, size and assize, &c. 
 
 Titus Livius, born at Patavium (Padua) 59 B.C., where, after a life spent 
 mostly at Rome, he died 1 7 a.d. 
 
 though it extolVd, &c. Time has done what Augustus did not — it has 
 
 * suppressed' the passage here referred to. Books cix-cxvi, which dealt with 
 the Caesar and Pompey war, are only known to us by extremely meagre 
 epitomes, or rather 'arguments.* Milton's authority for the tolerance shown 
 by Augustus is Tacitus; see Annales, iv. 34, where Cremutius Cordus, 
 prosecuted for eulogising Brutus and Cassius, in his defence maintains the 
 right of free speech, quoting amongst other pertinent precedents : * Titus 
 Livius, eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in primis, Cn. Pompeium tantis laudibus 
 tulit ut Pompeianum cum Augustus appellaret ; neque id amicitiae eorum 
 offecit.' 
 
 that part. So Lat, pars, as Cicero, Ep. Fam. x. 31 ; more commonly in 
 the plural, as Philippics, xiii. 20, &c. 
 
 13. Octavius Caesar. This never was his name. Originally he was 
 called 'Caius Octavius *; after his adoption by his great uncle, ' Caius Julius 
 Caesar Octavianus': to this name * Augustus' was added by the Senate and 
 the people in 27 B.C. 
 
 faction, here used in a neutral, has generally in Latin, as in English, a bad 
 sense; thus Sallust, Jugurtha 31, in the accusation of Bestia by Memmius : 
 
 * Sed haec [the combination of men bound together by common desires and 
 hatreds and fears] inter bonos amicitia, inter malos /acrto est.* 
 
 14. that Naso, 8cc. The cause of Ovid's banishment ('relegatio,* not 
 ' exsilium ') remains, and probably will always remain, in obscurity. That it 
 was not really his having written the Ars Amatoria, which was the nominal 
 pretext, seems proved by the fact that that work had been published 
 some ten years when in a.d. 9 the poet was suddenly transported to Tomi. 
 He himself speaks of the matter mysteriously; he says his fault was 
 involuntary. See his Tristia, and his Ex Ponto passim. See also Ben 
 Jonson's Poetaster, 
 
 iVaso = Publius Ovidius Naso, born at Sulmo B.C. 43, died at Tomi on the 
 Euxine a.d. 18. See especially Tristia, iv. 10, 
 
 in his old age, Oyid was some fifty-two years old at the time of his 
 banishment. 
 
 15. a meer covert 0/ state =^z mere state pretext. 
 
p. 10.] NOTES. 8 1 
 
 16. the Books were neither banisht, &c. This is not quite accurate. At 
 the time of the poet's banishment the Ars Amatoria was ejected from the 
 public Hbraries by the Emperor's command. 
 
 17. from hence we shall meet^ &c. See e.g. Tacitus' Annals and History 
 passim; as Ann. i. 7 : * at Romae ruere in servitium consoles, patres, 
 eques.* &c. 
 
 19. that we may not marvell, &c. See e.g. the account of the burn- 
 ing of Cremutius Cordus' Annals of Brutus and Cassius in Tacitus' Annals, 
 
 »v. 35- 
 
 2 1 . anough, Cp. Scotch aneuch. Enough comes nearer the A.-S. genoh. Germ. 
 genug. The Moes.-Goth. is ga-nohsy an adj. ; see Skeat's Moeso-G thic 
 Glossary. Other English forms are ynough^ ynow, enow, anow; see Morris's 
 English Accidence, 235. 
 
 the emperours, &c. Constantine reigned from 306 to 337. See Smith's 
 Gibbon, ii and iii ; Milman's Hist, of Christ., ii. 
 
 27. Heretichs. In classical Greek aip«T£/fos = able to choose ; intelligent, as 
 in Aristotle, Magn. M. i. 21 ; and heresy, aipfan = a choosing. In later Greek 
 aiptais, from meaning * what is chosen,* came to mean a set of views or 
 principles, and so a school, a sect. In ecclesiastical Greek the word denoted 
 specially a choice of other views than the received or so-called orthodox; 
 see I Cor. xi. 19; 2 Pet. ii. 1, &c. 
 
 29. the generall Councels. The first general or oecumenical council was 
 that convened at Nicaea in Bithynia in»325, when the Nicene Creed was 
 drawn up. They were called * general' or • oecumenical' ( = world-repre- 
 senting) to distinguish them from the local and provincial synods. 
 
 30. Autority. Down into the first half of the i6th cent, the common 
 forms of the primary substantive seem to have been auctour and auctor; 
 so in Chaucer, Tyndale, Elyot, &c. (See Skeat's Specimens of Eng. Lit, 
 pp. 173, 202, &c.) 
 
 32. Porphyrins, Porphyry, whose original name was Malchus (s=the Syro- 
 Phoenician Melech), born 233, died circ. 305 a.d., was successively a pupil of 
 Origen, of ApoUonius, of Longinus, and of Plotinus. His treatise against 
 the Christian religion * called forth replies from above thirty different 
 antagonists, the most celebrated of whom were Methodius, ApoUinaris, and 
 Eusebius.' The public destruction of the work by order of the Emperor 
 Constantine seems to have succeeded in its object ; no copy is extant. 
 Smith's Gibbon, ii. 266 n. ; Mosheim's Eccles. Hist., i. 70, ed. 1826. 
 
 35. ProcluSt named Diadochos, as the genuine successor of Plato in 
 doctrine, was born at Byzantium 412, died 485 a.d. See Smith's Gibbon, v. 
 92 ; Morell's Tennemann's Manual of the History of Philosophy, pp. 192-9. 
 He was principally off"cnded in the Christian religion by the doctrine of the 
 creation of the world. 
 
 P. 10. I. about the year 400 in a Carthaginian Councel. The fourth 
 Council of Carthage met in 398. See Hallam's Middle Ages, iii. 273, cd, 
 1856 ; Student's ed. p. 510. 
 
 A 
 
82 • AREOPAGITICA. \V, lo. 
 
 4. scrupTd more the hoolis, &c. This is a common construction in 
 Elizabethan English; thus 'she wander'd many a wood* (Spenser), * roam'd 
 the utmost isles* (Paradise Lost), *walk*d the waves* (Lycidas), * smile 
 you my speeches * (King Lear), * I cannot too much muse such shapes * 
 (Tempest), &c. 
 
 7. />assm^ = advancing. Pass znd pace are identical words. See Shaksp. 
 Jul. Caes. \. i. 47. 
 
 8. furder. In the case of murder and murther, the d form has been 
 retained. The A.-S. form is/r/rSor, where fS = dkf the ih of thine. Comp. 
 A.-S. feeder with father^ moder with mother » 
 
 9. lay by = lay aside, put on one side, i. e. not to read. 
 
 10. Padre Paolo = the monastic name of Pietro Sarpi, born at Venice 
 1552, died 1623. Drawn from his cell — he was a monk of the Servite 
 order — into public life, he became the champion of Venice in its resistance 
 to papal supremacy over its secular government. Of his subsequent years, 
 which were spent mainly in his monastery, the great work was his History 
 of the Council of Trent, * faithfully translated into English by Nathanael 
 Brent,' 1620. See a short life of him by Dr. Johnson, Works, ii. 109-11, 
 ed. 1862. For the passage of the work referred to in the text, see the 
 1620 ed., book vi. pp. 471-6, where the discussion at the council as to the 
 Index Expurgatorius is introduced by a * Discourse of the Author concerning 
 the Prohibition of Books.* It has been pointed out by Mr. Osborn in his 
 edition of the Areopagitica that this * Discourse' would seem to have been 
 in Milton's mind at the time he wrote the Areopagitica, as several of the 
 facts it quotes are also quoted by him in the same connection. The para- 
 graph that immediately illustrates the present text is this : ' After the year 
 800 the Popes of Rome, as they assumed a great part of the politick govern- 
 ment, so they caused the Books, whose authors they did condemn, to be 
 burned, and forbad the reading of them.' 
 
 the great unmasker, 8cc. Cp the inscription placed under a portrait of 
 Father Paul by Sir Henry Wotton : * Concilii Tridentini Eviscerator.* See 
 Holt White. In Of Reformation in England, p. 13 of Works, Milton calls 
 him * the great Venetian antagonist of the Pope;' also * the great and 
 learned Padre Paolo.* 
 
 the Trentine Covncel, which first met Dec. 13, 1545, was finally dissolved 
 Dec. 4, 1 563. [Where is Trent ?] 
 
 11. after which time, &c. On the growth of the power of the Popes in 
 the ninth and tenth centuries, see Milman's Latin Christianity, vols, iii and 
 iv. This growth was not without interruptions. It reached its greatest 
 height in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. For the immediate illustration 
 of the text, see, for instance, Milman's account of Pope Nicholas I (858-867). 
 
 the Popes of Rome. The title Pope was originally given to all bishops. 
 It was confined to the prelates ot Rome by the order of Phocas, Emperor of 
 the East, at the instance of Boniface III, 606 a.d. 
 
 engrossing. Engross = to buy in large quantities of corn, or of anything. 
 
p. loj NOTES, 83 
 
 Cp. engrosser = grocer t which means properly one who buys in large quan- 
 tities. See Promp. Parv. s. v. grocere^ where Way quotes from 37 Edw. III. 
 ^S^S* respecting * merchauntz nomez grossers,' so called because they * En- 
 grossent totes maners des marchandises vendables/ As such large pur- 
 chases were commonly made with a view to raising the price of the 
 commodity, the word engross came to have a bad meaning. {Cp. forestall- 
 ing, regrating, badgering.) See Blackstone and Craik's History of British 
 Commerce, i. 1 33-1 35. 
 
 15. fansied. This spelling comes nearer to the original phantasy ^ 
 <pavTaaia, of which /ancy is a contracted form. 
 
 17. Martin the 5 (Otto Colonna) was Pope 1417-I431. See Milman. 
 Bull. Bulla, meaning in classical Latin a round boss-like object, and 
 
 especially the ornamental boss worn round the necks by Roman boys, came 
 in the Middle Ages to be used specially of the waxen (originally leaden) 
 seal attached by a band to legal instruments, and then of the instrument itself. 
 
 18. [What is meant by excommunicated the reading? Explain the word 
 excomtnunieated.'l 
 
 19. Wicklef, born circ. 1324, died Dec. 31, 1384. See Milman, viii. c. 6; 
 Lebas' Life of Wiclif ; Shirley's Catalogue of the Original Works of John 
 Wyclif, T. Arnold's Wyclifs Eng. Works, &c. See Of Reformation in 
 England : * Although indeed our Wickliffe's preaching, at which all the 
 succeeding reformers more effectually lighted their tapers, was to his 
 countrymen but a short blaze, soon damped and stifled by the Pope and 
 prelates for six or seven kings' reigns,* &c. 
 
 Huss, born circ. 1376, burnt at the stake July 7, 1415. See Milman. 
 
 23. Leo the 10 (John de Medici) was Pope from 151 3-1521. See 
 Roscoe's Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth. 
 
 24. perfeted. So 'perfet' in Lycidas, ed. 1637. ^^ ^^ the Yr. patfait, 
 
 25. expurging Indexes. The Index Expurgatorius, first made by the 
 Inquisitors in Italy, was approved by the Council of Trent in 1559. See 
 Sarpi, p. 476, ed. 1620. 
 
 29. in a prohibition. There was, and is, an Index Librorum Prohibitorura 
 as well as an Index Expurgatorius. 
 
 30. Purgatory. On the growth of this belief, see Milman, ix. c. 2. 
 [What is meant by strait here? Explain the word.] 
 
 31. encroachment. The root is croc: * mot d'origine germanique (neer- 
 landais kroh, croc). D. crochet, crochu, croche, accrocher, decrocher* 
 (Brachet.) The radical meaning therefore is * a hooking on to,* * a seizing 
 with a hook;' cp. Piers the Plowman, Text B. viii. 95, ed. Skeat; 
 whence generally *a seizing;' so that the verb ought to be used with a 
 direct object. And so it is in older English ; see Richardson's Dictionary. 
 Thus Bale in his Pageant of Popes speaks of * the monks who h2id encroached 
 their places ; * Drayton in his Barons' Wars of 
 
 * their unbridled rage 
 That did our ancient liberty encroach,^ 
 
84 AREOPAGITICA. [P. n. 
 
 •To encroach upon* is then an inaccurate phrase; probably formed by a 
 false analogy from * to trespass on/ &c. 
 
 P. 11. 3. glutton Friers. The epithet is somewhat truculent. See Pierce 
 the Ploughman's Crede, 1. 67, ed. Skeat. 
 
 glutton = Fr. glouton, Lat. glutto. 
 
 7. Vicar means literally one who acts in place of another, a delegate ; cp. 
 vicarious^ viceroy, vicegerent, &c. With the use here cp. our Eng. ' vicar- 
 general' =* an officer having powers from the chancellor of a diocese.* 
 
 8. athwart = ^CTosSj at variance with (the Ital. has ' contro') ; etymologi- 
 ci\\y = on-thwart, on-cross, cross-wise. Cp. a in across, ashore, aloft, 
 aboard, &c. (The prefix a has no less than twelve different meanings. See 
 Morris and Skeat's Specimens 0/ Early Eng. Part II, 2nd ed. p. xxxv.) 
 
 9. [What is the proper meaning of the word Catholic ?] 
 
 maTtners = L.2it, mores. So i Cor. xv. 33; cp. Goldsmith's Traveller, 
 127, &c. 
 
 12. relation = lta\. relazione. 
 
 13. Davanzati. Bernardo Davanzati Bostichi, of Florence, born 1529, 
 died 1606. He wrote several works, Scisma d* Inghilterra, La coltivazione 
 toscana, &c. ; see Brunei's Manuel du Libraire. For some account of his 
 translation of Tacitus, said to have been * accomplished in fewer words than 
 the original,' see Hallam's Literature of Europe, ii. 402. The book referred to 
 in the text was his Scisma d' Inghilterra con altre operette, printed at Florence 
 in 1638. On the last page of the original edition, after the Errata, may be seen 
 the passages here translated. The book may have been published during 
 Milton's stay at Florence. Obviously the subject would attract his notice. 
 
 15. It may be printed, * Si puo stampare.' In the original this Imprimatur 
 is signed also by * Alessandro Vettori Senatore Auditor di S. A. S.' 
 
 19, broke prison. The full phrase occurs in Midsummer Night's Dream, 
 i. 2. 36: * break the locks of prison gates.* 
 
 exorcism, k^opKia/xos = an administering an oath to — a * sweaTing* — any one, 
 a binding by oath. The common modern sense of the word was acquired in 
 Ecclesiastical Greek. 
 
 23. [What is the grammatical construction o( the Roman stamp f] 
 
 P. 12. I. P/atea = market-place, meeting-place, dyopd ; = Sp, plaza, Fr. 
 place, Germ, platz, from the Gr. irXariia: see Diez. Shakspere seems to 
 use place in this sense in The Taming of the Shrew, i. i. ' Padua, a public 
 place^ ; see C. A. Brown's Shakespeare's Autobiographical Poems, p. 104. 
 
 complementing. The word coupled with this word — ducking — would seem 
 to shew that our complimenting is here meant. But some sort of word-play 
 may be intended. In derivation complement and compliment are not akin, 
 the former being ultimately connected with compleo, the latter with complico. 
 
 ducking. See Comus, 960-2 : 
 
 * Here be without duck or nod. 
 Other trippings to be trod 
 Of lighter toes,' &c. 
 
p. 12.J NOTES. 85 
 
 Richard III, i. 3. 49 : 
 
 * Duck with French nods and apish courtesy/ 
 King Lear, ii. 2. 109 : 
 
 * twenty silly ducking observant* 
 That stretch their duties nicely.' 
 Todd on Comns, 1. c, quotes from Brathwaite's English Gentleman (p. 324, 
 ed. 1641) : * a scru'd face, an artful! cringe, or an Italionate duck.' Duck 
 means originally to bow, stoop, &c. Cp. Germ, ducken, and also tauchen. 
 The duck is the head-stooping, the dipping bird ; cp. Germ, taucher. 
 
 2. with their shav'n reverences, i. e. with their tonsured heads making 
 signs of reverence. The language is somewhat pleonastic. Observe the 
 boldness of the personification. 
 
 4. the spunge. Par. Reg. iv. 329, where see Mr. Jerram's note. So 
 * spunged out,' Hooker's Eccles. Pol., v. 19, &c. See Suetonius* life of 
 Augustus, where the emperor tells those who made enquiries after a play he 
 had begun to write, ' Ajacem suum in spongiam incubuisse.* Quite different 
 in derivation, though similar in meaning, is expunge, 
 
 5. responsories is a secondary substantive formed from responses. Jeremy 
 Taylor speaks of * that responsory in the Roman breviary/ &c. (Rule of 
 Conscience, iii. 3. 6) ; see Richardson. 
 
 antiphonies. The word anthem is a corruption of Eccl. Lat. antiphona,^ 
 Gk. avri(p(uvov. The A -S. form was antefne^ which became antemne 
 (cf. woman from wi/man, Lammas from Hlce/mcesse) ; whence anthem 
 (cf. Anthony, &c.). 
 
 8. one from Lambe'h house, &c. * Pursuant to the decree of the Star 
 Chamber in 1637 concerning the Press, all books of Divinity, Physic, 
 Philosophy and Poetry were licensed either by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 or the Bishop of London, or by substitutes of their appointment. This docu- 
 ment is in Rushworth, Hist. Coll, iii. 306, Appendix ; and is reprinted in the 
 Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, p. 641/ (Hoh White.) 
 
 Lambeth house, the residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury, * from at 
 least the thirteenth century/ (Cunningham.) 
 
 9. the west end of Pauls. The Bishop of London had once a palace in the 
 precincts of St. Paul's, 'bordering on the church;' see Milman's St. Paul's, 
 p. 131. See it mentioned in More's Edw. V and Rich. HI : * the Bishop of 
 London's palace near St. Paul's church/ 
 
 1 2. would cast no ink. Cp. the Americanism ' to sling ink.* 
 
 13. no vulgar tongue. So all modern languages were called in contra- 
 distinction to Latin, the language of the learned. 
 
 14. the pure conceit 0/ an Imprimatur. Cp. ' lordly Imprimatur'' just above; 
 and in The Remonstrant's Defence : * your proud Imprimaturs not to be 
 obtained without the shallow surview, but not shallow hand of some 
 mercenary, narrow-souled, and illiterate chaplain/ 
 
 conceit = idea, notion, thought. So commonly in Eliz. Eng., as M. oj Ven. 
 J. i. 92, &c. 
 
86 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 12. 
 
 18. dictaforie. We should say dictatorial. So ' professory learning* 
 in Bacon's Adv. of Learning, p. 79, Clar. Press Ed. 
 
 [Parse English here.] 
 
 19. ript up= torn open and investigated, exposed. So Faerie Queene,!. 7. 39* 
 
 * Such hclplesse harmes yts better hidden keep 
 Then rip up griefe, where it may not availe.' 
 See other instances from Jewell, Hackluyt, North, &c., apud Richardson. 
 2T. [What is the grammatical construction of that can be heard 0/?] 
 23. ancestors is ultimately a corruption of antecessores = fore-goers, 
 through the French. 
 
 28. birth is here used in a concrete sense; so partus in Latin, &c. So 
 Paradise Lost, v. 180 : 
 
 * Air and ye elements, the eldest birth 
 Of nature's womb,* &c. 
 Tennyson*s Godiva : 
 
 * Not only we, the latest birth of time,* &c. 
 no envious Juno &c. See the story of Hercules' birth. When in her 
 travail Alcmena cried out for Iliihyia, Ilithyia came, but not to succour, for 
 Hera had pledged her to retard. She sat cross-legged at the door, muttering 
 spells. One of Alcmena's maidens, seeing her obstructiveness, deceived her 
 by pretending that the mother's pains were over ; whereupon startled she 
 changed her posture, and then at once Hercules was born. See Alcmena'i 
 own account of this wrong, and how it was outwitted, and how the goddess 
 avenged herself, in Ovid's Metamorphoses, ix. 281-323 ; especially 297-301: 
 * Utque meos audit gemitus, subsedit in ilia 
 Ante fores ara ; dextroque in poplite laevum 
 Pressa genu, digitis inter se pectine junctis, 
 Sustinuit nixus. Tacita quoque carmina voce 
 Dixit, at inceptos tenuerunt carmina nixus.* 
 Hom. II. xix. 119. See also Prior's Anc. Dan. Ballads, n. 364-7. 
 Mr. Lobb aptly quotes Browne's Vulgar Errors, v. 23. 9 : * To sit cross- 
 legged, or with our fingers pectinated or shut together, is accounted bad, and 
 friends will persuade us from it. The same conceit religiously possessed 
 the ancients, as is observable from Pliny: ** poplites alternis genibus imponere 
 nefas olim;** and also from Athenaeus that it was an old veneficious practice, 
 and Juno is made in this posture to hinder the delivery of Alcmena,* &c. 
 See Le Bas' Life of Archbishop Laud, p. 38, ed. 1836: 'His [Laud's] old 
 detractor Archbishop Abbot had been constantly on the spot, sitting crosS' 
 legged (if the phrase may be allowed) upon the fortunes of the Papist, and 
 providing him with abundant opportunities of showing how well he could 
 endure the pains of hope deferred, which maketh the heart sick.* Also Peele's 
 Edw. I, p. 409, ed. Dyce. 
 
 33. [in wors condition, &c. How so ?] 
 
 shoidd be to stand, &c. We could say * it was to stand,* &c. Comp. 
 28. 
 
p. 13.] NOTES. 87 
 
 P. 13. I. ere it be borne to the world. The belief in our antenatal 
 existence was held by Plato and others. See e. g. the passage in Plato's 
 Republic, p. 618, of yet unbodied souls choosing the lives they will lead: 
 <j<pas ovVt €ir€i5i} d<piK€a6at, €v0v$ deiy Uvai vpos ttju Adx^a^iy, k. t. \, 
 3. yet in darknesse, that is, while still in darkness. See p. 3, 1. 33. 
 Radamanth was one of the three great Justices of Hades, according to 
 Greek myths. His colleagues were Minos and Aiakos. See the Latin poets, 
 passim, as Vergil, Aeneid, vi, 565 : 
 
 •Gnosius haec Rhadamanthus habet, durissima regna, 
 Castigatque auditque dolos, subigitque fateri, 
 Quae quis apud superos, furto laetatus inani, 
 Distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem.' 
 
 3. the ferry. See Aeneid, vi. 395-330, &c. ; Richard III, i. 4. 46-8: 
 
 * Who pass'd methought the melancholy flood. 
 With that grim ferryman which poets write of. 
 Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.* 
 
 4. that mysterious iniquity. See Revelation xvii. 5, of the woman 'arrayed 
 \i\ purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and 
 pearls :' * Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, 
 the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth,' &c. The Church 
 reformers of the sixteenth century confidently identified this woman with 
 the Papacy. 
 
 6. limbo's. In classical Latin limbus = z border, a fringe, &c.; as in 
 • Vergil, Aeneid, iv. 137. In the Middle Ages it was used to denote a 
 border land of hell, the infernal ' marches.* ' The old schoolman supposed 
 there to be, besides hell (infernus damnatorum), i. a limbus puerorum, where 
 the souls of infants =-unbaptized remained [cp. Vergil's ** limen primum " of 
 Hades, Aeneid, vi. 426-433] ; 2. a limbus pa/rum, where the fathers of the 
 church, saints, and martyrs awaited the general resurrection; [see De 
 Doctrina Christiana, chap, xiii, and Apology for Smectymnuus, &c.] ; and 3. 
 Purgatory. To which in popular opinion was added, 4. a limbus fatuorum, or 
 fool's paradise, the receptacle of all vanity and nonsense.' (Nares.) See Dante's 
 Inferno, iv, where the poet enters Limbo, the first circle of Hell, and his guide 
 explains that it is the region of such as himself, who ' before the Gospel lived.* 
 (Cary.) See especially Paradise Lost, iii. 440-497, for sense No. 4. (Milton 
 contradicts those who placed that paradise in the moon, as e. g. Ariosto, Or- 
 lando Furioso, xxxiv. 70, &c., whom Pope fo.lows in the Rape of the Lock, 
 canto V.) Commonly limbo was used for hell itself ; so Shakspere, All's well 
 that ends well, v. 3. 256 : ' for indeed he was mad for her, and talked of Satan 
 and of Limbo, and of Furies, and I know not what.' Faerie Queene, i. 2. 33 : 
 
 * What voice of damned ghost from limbo lake ?' 
 la the Comedy of Errors, iv. 2. 32, where Dromio of Syracuse describes his 
 master who had just been arrested as 
 
 •in Tartar limbo, worse than hell. 
 A devil in an everlasting garment hath him;* 
 
88 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 13. 
 
 the 'border' is more fearful than the * land' itself. In Henry VIII, v. 3. 67, 
 limbo Patrum = iprison. 
 
 9. iV/avowrJ/y — unhandsomely, foully. Favour in Elizabethan English 
 frequently = face, feature, 'looks;* thus Bacon's Essays, 43: 'In beauty, 
 that of favour is more then that of colour, and that of decent and gracious 
 motion more then that of favour,' &c. See Eastwood and Wright's Bible 
 Word Book. As Craik suggests in his English of Shakespeare, /avowr came to 
 mean countenance by the same * natural transference of meaning' as counte- 
 nance came to mean favour; (cp. * the light of thy countenance,' Psalm xliv. 
 3, &c.), i. e. favour is used for that which expresses favour = the 
 countenance. 
 
 10. inquisiturient. — turio in Latin, whence the participle -turient, denotes 
 a yearning or desire; thus esurio = \ desire to eat, I hunger. These 
 desiderative verbs are formed from the 'participle in rus;' thus esurio comes 
 from esurus (stem ed-), scripturio from scripturus, &c. So petiturire (to 
 long to be a candidate, Cicero, Ad Atticum, i. 14), parturire, empturire, 
 Sullaturire, proscripturire ('ita Sullaturit animus ejus et proscripturit^ 
 Cicero, Ad Att., ix. 10. 6.). See Donaldson's Varronianus, p. 421 ; Key's 
 Latin Grammar, pp. 135 and 136. 
 
 minorites, i. e. quasi minorites or friars. Cp. above, p. 1 1 : ' Under the 
 hands of two or three glutton Friers* Strictly the Minorites were the 
 Franciscan, or Grey Friars. See Milman's Latin Christianity, vi. 34: 
 *The very name of his [St. Francis'] disciples, the Friar Minors, implied 
 their humility.' 
 
 11. [What is meant by these most certain authors fl 
 
 18. for all that. This phrase is probably elliptical ; fully, we should say 
 * for all that can do,' or ' for all that that weighs,' or ' for all that can be 
 said on that head,* &c. See note on ' for all the morning light ' in Longer 
 English Poems, p. 218. 
 
 20. light on = to drop upon by accident, to find without effort. Slightly 
 different is the sense in the Te Deum : * O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon 
 us,' &c. This light is the A.-S. lihtan. Alight, of which the sense is not 
 quite the same, is a compound. 
 
 23. [to no other purpose. What preposition should we rather use ?] 
 
 25. I am of those who, &c. Cp. Samson's 
 
 ' Nor am I in the list of them that hope.* 
 [What is the force of of here ?] Macb. i. 3. 80. 
 
 26. alchymy, here distributively for a process or achievement of alchemy. 
 For the derivation of the word, the al- is the Arabic ' article * (so the a/- 
 in a/-cohol, a/-gebra, a/-cove, a/-embic, a/-Cairo, a/-Koran, a/-kali, perhaps in 
 a/-batross, the el in el-ixk) ; -chemy is probably ultimately from the Gr. x^f^^^* 
 juice, &c. In derivation then, alchemy = chemistry ; and in respect of what 
 the two words denote, they are related to each other very much as are 
 astrology sixid astronomy. The classical pieces of English literature that deal with 
 alchemy are Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale, and Ben Jonson's Alchemist. 
 
p. 14.J NOTES. 89 
 
 LrJ/ms = Raymond Lully, a famous writer on medicine and chemistry, 
 and on other subjects, of the latter part of the thirteenth century and the 
 early fourteenth; born at Palma in Majorca in 1234, stoned to death 
 in Mauretania in 1315 by the Mohammedans, whom he had zealously visited 
 Africa to convert. See Bacon's Advancement of Learning, p. 176, ed. Aldis 
 Wriiiht. On his missionary ardour, and what came of it, see Maclear's History 
 of Christian Missions in the Middle Ages, chap. xvi. 
 
 27. sttW/ma/ = extract. Technically * to raise by the force of chemical 
 fire.' 
 
 30. [for the tree, &c. What is the meaning of for here?] 
 
 32. He now passes on to his Second Point, see p. 67. 
 P. 14. 3. Moses. See Acts vii. 22 : * And Moses was learned in all the 
 wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds/ 
 
 3. Daniel. See Daniel i. 17: * As for these four children [Daniel, 
 H^aniah, Mishael, and Azariah »= Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, Abed- 
 nego] God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom ; and 
 Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.' 
 
 4. Paul. It may perhaps be doubted whether St. Paul's Greek learning 
 was so very extensive. 
 
 6. in Paul = in the case of Paul ; so often in in Latin. 
 
 8. the sentences of three Greek Poets. See Acts xvii. 28 (from Aratos, or 
 possibly Cleanthes) ; I Cor. xv. 33; Titus i. 12 (from Epimenides). Cp. 
 Sidney's ApoUfor Poetrie, p. 58, ed. Arber. 
 
 the sentences = stn\.tn\\ze, yvwfxai. 
 
 9. one of them a Tragedian^ i. e. Euripides. See Milton's Preface to 
 Samson Agonistes, p. 204, vol. ii, Clar. Press Ed. : * The Apostle Paul 
 himself thought it not unworthy to insert a verse of Euripides into the text 
 of Holy Scripture, I Cor. xv. 33/ This line, 
 
 <f)0(ipov<jiv ijOr) XPV^^ dfuXiai KaKai, 
 is ascribed to Euripides by Sokrates in his Ecclesiastical History, iii. 16. 
 Jerome and Grotius assign it to the Thais of Menander; see Newton's and 
 also Todd's note to Samson Agonistes, Preface. Clemens Alexandrinus 
 (Paidagogos, ii. 6. § 50) says indefinitely : 7) iroirjTiKij Xiyei ; see Dindorfs 
 Poetae Scenici, Euripides, Fragments, 962. That there should be any 
 confusion is intelligible enough, if it is remembered how Menander was in 
 fact the dramatic oflfspring of Euripides, and much resembled him in style. 
 
 II. odds. The first notion of the subst. odd seems to be a point, or 
 something projecting (Norse oddr, &c.) ; hence it means what is eminent or 
 singular in any way, &c. Here odds = advantage, superiority. So Arcades, 
 
 *Juno dares not give her odds.* 
 See Shakspere, passim, as Winter's Tale, v. i. 207; Henry V, iv. 3. 5, &c. 
 The adj. odd seems to be of diflferent origin from the Welsh orf, notable. 
 13. Julian the Apostat, See Gibbon, chap, xxiii, &c. 
 
90 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 14. 
 
 the A post at. See Smith's Milman's Gibbon, iii. 136: * The independent 
 spirit of Julian refused to yield the passive and unresisting obedience which 
 was required, in the name of religion, by the haughty ministers of the 
 church. . . He was educated in the Lesser Asia amidst the scandals of the 
 Arian controversy. . . As soon as Gallus was invested with the honours of 
 the purple, Julian was permitted to breathe the air of freedom, of literature, 
 and of Paganism,' &c. Voltaire (Philosophical Dictionary, s. v. Apostate) 
 says it is a question whether he was ever truly a Christian. Julian himself 
 assures the Alexandrines he was so. See Mr. Lobb's note. 
 
 14. a decree, &c. See Smith's Milman's Gibbon, iii. 163. It prohibited 
 the Christians from teaching the arts of grammar and rhetoric. See it 
 among the Epistles of Julian (xlii). * The Christians were directly forbid to 
 teach, they were indirectly forbid to learn ; since they would not frequent 
 the schools of the Pagans.' (Gibbon, 1. c. note.) See Bacon's Advance- 
 ment of Learning, p. 49, ed. Aldis Wright : * So again we find that many of 
 the ancient bishops and fathers of the church were excellently read and 
 studied in all the learning of the heathen ; insomuch that the edict of the 
 Emperor Julianus (whereby it was interdicted unto Christians to be admitted 
 into Schools, lectures, or exercises of learning) was esteemed and accounted a 
 more pernicious engine and machination against the Christian faith than 
 were all the sanguinary prosecutions of his predecessors.* 
 
 for, said he, &c. * He vainly contends that, if they refuse to adore the 
 gods of Homer and Demosthenes, they ought to content themselves with 
 expounding Luke and Matthew in the churches of the Galileans.' (Gibbon, 
 I.e.) 
 
 1 8. shifts. The radical notion of the word shift is division, change, &c. ; 
 or the A.-S. scyftan is cognate with Icel. skifta, ultimately with shed (in 
 wsittX'shed), a-xi^aj, scindo, &c. ; and in this radical sense the verb is still com- 
 mon enough. Then it came to mean a change of plan, a ready device, &c. 
 See Titus Andronicus, iv. 2. 176: 
 
 * For it is you that puts us to our shifts* 
 Cp. the Gr. iravToios yiyvcaOai, as Herodotus, ix. 109; so vavToSairbs 
 yiyveaOai, Plato, Republic, 398 A. 
 
 [19. in danger to decline. What construction should we rather use?] 
 22. the two Apollinarii = ApoWinzr'ios of Alexandria and his son the Bishop 
 of Alexandria. The Christians, says Gibbon, in a note to the passage of the 
 text describing Julian's oppressions, * had recourse to the expedient of com- 
 posing books for their own schools. Within a few months Apollinaris 
 produced his Christian imitations of Homer (a sacred history in twenty-four 
 books), Pindar, Euripides, and Menander ; and Sozomen is satisfied that they 
 equalled or excelled the originals.* Apollinaris is the Latin, Apollinarios the 
 Greek form of the name. 
 
 20. fain is the A.-S. fcegen, joyful. Cp. hail and hcBgel, nail and ncegel, 
 stile and stigel, &c. 
 
 21. the seven liberall sciences = the 'trivium' and * quadrivium.' 
 
P, 15.] NOTES. 91 
 
 • Gramm. loquitur ; Dia. vera docet ; Rkei. verba colorat ; 
 Mus. canit ; Ar. iiumerat; Geo. ponderat; Asi, colit astra/ 
 See Hallam's Lit. of Europe, i. 4 n. ed. 1837. 
 
 24. the Historian Socrates. See his Ecclesiastical History, iii. 16. This 
 Sdkrates ' flourished' in the fifth century. His Church History was a continua- 
 tion of that of Eusebius down to 440 a.d. 
 
 26. by taking away, &c. JuHan died in 363. Jovian, who was elected 
 to succeed him, proclaimed universal toleration. 'Under his reign Chris- 
 tianity obtained an easy and lasting victory.* (Gibbon.) 
 
 30. decaying. Observe the causative use of decay here. So Surrey, 
 The Constant Lover Lamenteth : 
 
 * And now though on the sunne I drive 
 
 Whose fervent flame all thinges decaies* Sec. 
 (aptid Richardson). The verb is properly neuter, derived ultimately from the 
 Lat. decadere. Cp. the causative uses of the 2nd aorist of XavOavca and 
 Xa-yx^vQ)- Perhaps the verb in the text should be taken as a mere verb- 
 alising of the noun, as is common in Elizabethan English; = afflict 
 with decay, &c. Cp. e.g. 'smile you my speeches?* in King Lear, ii. 2. 
 88. 
 
 31. Decius was emperor from 249 to 251. See Milman's History of 
 Christianity, vol. ii. 
 
 Dioclesian. Emperor 284-305. 
 
 32. St. Jerom. Born circ. 345, died 420. His Life has been written by 
 Erasmus, Stigelius, Siguenza, Martianay, Collombet (Holt's Biographical 
 Dictionary) ; see Milman*s Christianity, iii. 190-237. The Vulgate transla- 
 tion of the Bible is commonly attributed to him. 
 
 that the Divell, &c. See Jerome's Epistolae, 18, * Ad Eustochium de Virginit.' 
 Epistle xxii. in Migne's Patrologiae Carsus Compietus; see vol. i. of Hieronymi 
 Opera, pp. 394-425. The letter was written in 384. In a dream he 
 thought himself brought before the tribunal of Heaven ; and when, in answer 
 to the question of what profession he was, he said he was a Christian, 
 
 * Thou liest,* cried the judge ; * thou art a Ciceronian, for the works of that 
 author possess thy heart;* and thereupon condemned him to be severely 
 scourged by angels. See Butler's Lives of the Saints ; also Sarpi's Council of 
 Trent, p. 472, ed. 1620. 
 
 • 33. in a lenten dream. It was dreamed by him when seized by a fever 
 one Lent. See the letter to the nun Eustochium : * Dum ita me antiquus 
 serpens [al. hostis] illuderet [he could not give up his old library], in media 
 ferme Quadragesima meduUis infusa febris corpus invasit exhaustum et sine 
 ulla requie (quod dictu quoque incredibile est) sic infelicia membra depasta 
 est ut ossibus vix haererem,' &c. 
 
 P. 15. I. s«Vfl? = possessed, as still in law language. Seize is from the 
 Fr. saiser, which is from the Low Lat. sacire, which is from the O. H. G. 
 sazjan, H. G. besetzen. See Brachet. 
 
 3. Ciceronianisms. On the Ciceronianism of the Renaissance, see 
 
92 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 15. 
 
 Hallam's Literature of Europe, i. chap. 5, and the chapter in Encyclopaedia 
 Metropolitana, * History of Roman Literature,* pp. 321-325. 
 
 [4. Explain the readings not the vattity.'] 
 
 6. not for scurrill Plautus, &c. See the Epistle ad Eustochium : * Itaque 
 miser ego lecturus TuUium jejunabam. Post noctium crebras vigilias, post 
 lacrymas, quas mihi praeteritorum recordatio peccatorum ex imis visceribus 
 eruebat, Plautus sumebatur in manus.* 
 
 scurrill. Milton seems to have used this form to avoid the occurrence of 
 the same sound at the end of two contiguous words. To his ear such a 
 recurrence as Scurrillous Plautus would be offensive. See his ridicule of 
 Bishop Hall's * teach each : ' 
 
 * Teach each hollow grove to sound his love, 
 Wearying echo with one changeless word.' 
 pp. 91, 92 of Works. But scurrill is found elsewhere; e.g. in The Two 
 Noble Kinsmen, v. I. 136, ed. Skeat. 
 
 8. so many more ancient Fathers. E. g. St. Augustine. 
 
 10. Easily Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia from 370-379. 
 
 11. Margites . , . writ by Homer. * The Margites bears the same rela- 
 tion to comedy that the Iliad and Odyssey bear to tragedy.* (Aristotle, 
 Poetics, chap, iv.) See Miiller's Literature of Greece, &c. The ancients 
 agreed in assigning its authorship to Homer, but without authority. One or 
 two lines are preserved, as the well-known one : 
 
 TToW* ijiriffTaTo €pya, Kaicws 5* ymaraTO Travra, 
 See another in Aristotle, Ethics, vi. 7. 
 
 13. Morgante. The Morgante Maggiore of Luigi Pulci, printed at 
 Venice in 1488. See Hallam's Literature of Europe, i. 270-273 and 421; 
 Roscoe's Lorenzo de Medici ; Sismondi's Literature of Southern Europe, &c. 
 * The Morgante is generally regarded as the prototype of the " Orlando 
 Furioso" of Ariosto.' (Roscoe.) See a translation of the first book in 
 Byron's works. 
 
 much to the same purpose. *It has been a question among Italian 
 critics whether the poem of Pulci is to be reckoned burlesque,* &c, 
 (Hallam. 1. c.) 
 
 15. EusebiuSj born in Palestine circ. 264, chosen Bishop of Caesarea 
 circ. 315, died circ. 340. 
 
 ancienter. *Ascham writes inventivest; Bacon honourablest and crn- 
 cienter; Fuller eminentest^ eloquenter^ learnedst^ solemnest, famousest, 
 virtuousest, with the comparative and superlative adverbs wiselier^ easilier, 
 hardliest; Sidney even uses repiningest; Coleridge sqfeliest,* (Marsh.) 
 See also Morris* English Accidence, chap. xi. 
 
 17. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria 247-265. 
 
 19. had wont = h!id accustomed himself = the more usual was wont, 
 
 [20. What is the force of avail here ?] 
 
 21. conversant = wt\\ versed. See above p. 8, I. 6. 
 
 24. to give offence = to cause any one to stumble, to be a (XK&vZaXov ; as, 
 
p. 16.] NOTES. 93 
 
 passim, in the New Testament, Authorised Version, e. g. Romans ix. 33 ; 
 I Peter ii. 8, &c. 
 
 31. answerable. See note on 'variable* in Longer English Poems, Spenser's 
 Prothalamion, 13. 
 
 that of the Apostle, &c. See i Thessalonians v. 21. 
 
 32. ^rove = test. So Lukexiv. 19, &c. So 'the exception /rov« the rule.' 
 P. 16. I. another remarkable saying. See Titus i. 15. 
 
 6. viands = victuals. Each word is derived from Lat. vivo. Sir Thomas 
 More uses the singular (yiande) ; see Richardson. 
 
 7. in that unapocryphall vision. See Acts x. 9-16. 
 
 II. naughty = \it. of naught, good for nothing. See Shakspere, /oss/m, 
 as Merchant of Venice, v. i. 91. So * naughty figs,* Jeremiah xxiv. 2, 
 
 14. concoction. See * concoct' in Paradise Lost, v. 412, and 'concoctive^ 
 heat,* ib. 437. 
 
 20. Selden was born 1584, died 1654. ^** ^^^^ ^^^ httn written by 
 Wilkins (1726), Aikin (1773), ^^^ Johnson (1835). See also Hallam's 
 Literature of Europe, iii. 334, &c. ; Constitutional History, &c. He was 
 * now sitting in Parliament' for Oxford University. 
 
 whose volume of naturall and national laws, &c. = his De Jure Natural! 
 ct Gentium juxta Disciplinam Ebraeorum, published in 1640. See Hallam's 
 Literature of Europe, 1. c. Hallam speaks of the 'superb display of erudition, 
 especial'y oriental,' with which his work is illustrated, of his * unparalleled 
 stores of erudition,' &c. The words Milton particularly refers to are perhaps 
 these on p. 2 of the 1641 edition of the work. He insists that men should 
 collect all opinions, however discrepant with their own, and this * non sine 
 causis certe gravissimis. Nam non sua modo sic auxiliaribus suffragiis baud 
 parum firmant sed et insuper adversa refellendi, obscuriores quae suas dissi- 
 dentesque sententias intermeant confiniorum ipsissimas lineas detegendi 
 designandique . . , ansam commodius arripiunt.* Milton again quotes the 
 work in his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, speaking of it there as * that 
 noble volume written by our learned Selden ... a work more useful and 
 more worthy to be perused by whosoever studies to be a great man in 
 wisdom than all those decretals and sumless sums which the pontifical clerks 
 have doted on.* 
 
 22. exquisite — CTLveinWy sought out, as in Latin; thus, ' exguisitis rati- 
 onibus confirmare,* Cicero, De Finibus, i. 9. 30. 
 
 theorems. We commoidy use 'theory' with this meaning; but strictly 
 'theory* is abstract, 'theorem* is concrete, as in Euclid. Cp. 'telegraphy* 
 and • telegram,' &c. We use * speculation * in both senses. 
 
 [24. Explain collated.'] 
 
 27. saving ever the rules of temperance. See Paradise Lost, xi. 530-538: 
 ' There is, said Michael, if thou well observe 
 The rule of not too much, by temperance taught 
 In what thou eatest and drinkest, seeking from thence 
 Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,' &c. 
 
94 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 17, 
 
 29. repasting. See Hamlet, iv. 5. 145-148: 
 
 * To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms^ 
 And like the kind life-rendering pelican 
 Repast them with my blood.* 
 Pope's Homer, xxiv : 
 
 *And now they reach'd the naval walls, and found 
 The guards repasting^ while the bowls go round.* 
 (apiid Richardson s. v.) 
 
 31. How great a vertue, &c. It was one of the four cardinal virtues. 
 (See Piers Plowman, Prol. 104, Clar. Press ed.) 
 
 P. 17. 2. demeanour = m2in!igemtnt. The ultimate stem of demean is 
 the Lat. minare. 
 
 [3. Explain tahVd here.] 
 
 4. Omer. See Exodus xvi. The omer is mentioned only in Exodus. 
 (The homer — a much larger measure — several times in the Bible, as Leviticus 
 xxvii. 16, &c.) Its absolute value is given by Josephus as .8669 gall., by 
 the Rabbinists as .4428 gall. See Smith's Bible Diet. 
 
 7. which enter into a man, &c. See Matthew xv. 17-20; Mark vii. 
 
 14-23- 
 
 JO. to he his own chooser. See Paradise Lost, iii. 97-99' 
 * Ingrate, he had of me 
 All he could have. I made him just and right. 
 Sufficient to have stood, through free to fall.' 
 
 14. that much reading, &c. See Ecclesiastes xii. 12. 
 
 19. As for the burning, &c. See Acts xix. 19; Conybeare and Howson's 
 Life and Epistles of St. Paul, People's Edition, ii. 13-17. See also Smith's 
 Diet, of Biog., s. n. Alexander of Tralles. 
 
 [25. Explain practiz'd the fcooArs.] 
 
 31. those confused seeds, &c. See the story of Cupid and Psyche in The 
 Golden Ass of Apuleius, books iv-vi. Psyche has fallen into the hands of 
 Venus, who is wroth with her for having won the love of her son Cupid, 
 and afflicts her grievously. She bids Anxiety and Sorrow scourge and 
 torment her. After further abuse, Venus ' flew upon her, tore her clothes 
 in a great many places, pulled out her hair, shook her by the head, and 
 grievously maltreated her. Then taking wheat, barley, millet, poppy, vetches, 
 lentils and beans, and mixing them altogether in one heap, she said to her : 
 *• You seem to me, such an ugly slave as you now are, to be likely to gain 
 lovers in no other way than by diligent drudgery. I will therefore myself, 
 for once, make trial of your industrious habits. Take and separate this 
 promiscuous mass of seeds, and having properly placed each grain in its 
 place, and so sorted the whole, give me proof of your expedition by finishing 
 the task before evening." Then having delivered over to her the vast heap 
 of seeds, she at once took her departure for a nuptial banquet. But Psyche, 
 astounded at the stupendous task, sat silent and stupefied, and did not move 
 a hand to the confused and inextricable mass. Just then a tiny ant, one of 
 
p. 18.] NOTES. 95 
 
 the inhabitants of the fields, became aware of this prodigious difficulty, 
 and pitying the distress of the partner of the mighty god, and execrating 
 the mother-in-law's cruelty, it ran busily about and summoned together the 
 whole tribe of ants in the neighbourhood, crying to them, "Take pity 
 on her, ye active children of the all-producing earth. Take pity, and make 
 haste to help the wife of Love, a pretty damsel, who is now in a perilous 
 situation." Immediately the six-footed people came rushing in whole 
 waves, one upon another, and with the greatest diligence separated the 
 whole heap, grain by grain. Then having assorted the various kinds into 
 different heaps, they vanished forthwith. At night-fall Venus returned home 
 from the nuptial banquet, exhilarated with wine, fragrant with balsams, and 
 having her waist encircled with blooming roses. As soon as she saw with 
 what marvellous expedition the task had been executed, *' This is no work 
 of your hands, wicked creature,'* she said, "but his whom you have charmed, 
 to your sorrow and his," and throwing her a piece of coarse bread, she went 
 to bed.* (Bohn's Class. Lib., Apuleius, p. 116.) 
 
 P. 18. I. sort asunder = diTTAuge in sorts or classes. 
 
 2. from out the rinde^ &c. See Genesis iii. 5, and 22; Paradise Lost, 
 780-101 1. 
 
 5. that doom, &c. See Genesis ii. 16, 17. 
 
 11. Notice the emphasis given by the triple repetition of and yet. 
 
 12. the true warfaring Christian. In the edition of 1644 the reading is 
 wayfarins^. * Baron,' says Holt White, * who saw the quarto edition of the 
 prose works through the press, unwarrantably changed "wayfaring" into 
 " warfaring.'* There was no need of emendation — " wayfaring" is in oppo- 
 sition to "cloister'd." It is beside more consonant to Scripture, and therefore 
 more likely to have come from Milton : " The wayfaring men, though fools, 
 shall not err therein." Isaiah ch. 35. v. 8.* But (i) there is some 
 warrant for the change, as I can show, whether Baron knew it or not ; and 
 (2) the change is certainly an improvement. The warrant is to be found in 
 a copy of the Areopagitica presented by Milton himself to one Thomason 
 (• ex dono Authoris * is written in Thomason's hand on the title-page), now 
 preserved in the British Museum (Press-mark 182 E 18), where the *y* 
 is crossed out and * r ' written above, credibly by the author himself. See 
 The AthencBum for Oct. 11, 1873. That the change is an improvement 
 the context, I think, makes clear. Wayfaring is not an adequate word 
 for the occasion. It does not imply such activity and resistance as the con- 
 text demands. More than mere movement must be expressed. It is of the 
 Christian militant and struggling that Milton speaks. Cp. Bishop Hall's Con- 
 templations, Gideon's Preparation and Victory : * How many make a glorious 
 show in the warfaring church which when they shall see danger of persecu- 
 tion shall shrink from the standard of God V Hooker also has the word, 
 Ecclesiastical Polity, viii ; see Richardson. 
 
 13. I cannot praise, &c. Cp. what Cicero says of oratory, De Oratore, 
 i. 34. 157: 'Educenda deinde dictio est ex hac domestica exercitatione et 
 
g6 AREOPAGITICA. [P. i8. 
 
 umbratili medium in agmen, in pulverem, in clamorem, in castra atque aciem 
 forensem.* 
 
 1 6. that immortall garland. That = that famous; so Lat. tile, as Cicero, 
 de Oratore, ii. 14. 58: 'Xenophon, Sokraticus ille,' &c.; and Greek kKHvos, 
 as Homer, Iliad, xxiv. 90 : 
 
 TfTTTC /x€ Kctvos dv(uy€ fjieyas Ocos; 
 not without dust and heat. Compare Horace, Ad Pisones, 412-413: 
 * Qui cupit optatam cursu contingere metam, 
 Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit.* 
 
 23. a hlanJi vertue = 2. colourless, neutral, ineffectual thing. 
 
 24. but an excrementall whiteness = \s but superficial, not essential, only 
 * skin-deep,' (Mr. Lobb.) A mere outgrowth. jE';ccrtfmtf«/ = excrescence = 
 an outgrowth. See Comedy of Errors, ii. 2. 79: *Why is Time such a 
 niggard of hair, being, as it is, so plentiful an excrement "i"* &c. So 'my 
 pedlar*s excrement' ( = my pedlar's beard) in Winter's Tale, iv. 4. 733. 
 See Nares' Glossary. 
 
 25. our sage and serious Poet Spencer, &c. Milton told Dryden that 
 Spenser was his * original.' (See Dryden's Fables, Preface.) Without 
 any such confession, it would have been evident from Milton's earlier 
 works how great was the influence of Spenser over his youthful mind. To 
 say nothing of numerous Spenserian echoes that may be detected, it is to 
 the Faerie Qiieene that he especially alludes in II Penseroso after his mention 
 of the Squire's Tale of Chaucer : 
 
 ' If aught else great bards beside 
 
 In sage and solemn tunes have sung 
 
 Of turneys and of trophies hung. 
 
 Of forests and enchantments drear, 
 
 Where more is meant than meets the ear.* 
 He quotes at length from the fifth book of the Shepherd's Calendar in his 
 Animadversions upon the Remonstrant's Defence, &c. : ' Let the novice 
 learn first to renounce the world, and so give himself to God, and not 
 therefore give himself to God that he may close the better with the world, 
 like that false Palinode in the Eclogue of May, under whom the poet lively 
 personates our prelates, whose whole life is a recantation of their pastoral 
 vow, and whose profession to forsake the world, as they use the matter, 
 bogs them deeper into the world. Those our admired Spenser inveighs 
 against, not without some presage of these reforming times : 
 * The time was once and may again return 
 (For oft may happen that hath been beforn),* &c. 
 
 26. a better teacher^ &c. Cp. Horace, Epistles, i. 2. 3, 4, of Homer 
 
 * Qui quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non, 
 Planius ac melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicit.' 
 Scotus = ]ohv\ Duns Scotus, the famous schoolman, whose second name has 
 so unfairly acquired the sense of dullard, born circ. 1265, died at Cologne 
 
p. 19.] NOTES. 97 
 
 1308. Be sure not to confound him, as is sometimes done, with Johannes 
 Scotus Erigena of the ninth century. 
 
 27. Aquinas. *The Angelic Doctor,' the 'Angel of the Schools,' bom 
 circ. 1224, died 1 2 74, On certain radical questions of thought his views 
 were exactly opposed to those presently urged by Scotus. See Butler's 
 Hudibras, i. 151, ed. Zachary Grey: 
 
 * In school divinity as able 
 As he that hight Irrefragable; 
 A second Thomas, or at once, 
 To name them all, another Dunce; 
 Profound in all the nominal 
 And real ways, beyond them all ; 
 For he a rope of sand could twist 
 As tough as learned Sorbonist; 
 And weave fine cobwebs fit for skull 
 That *s empty when the moon is full ; 
 Such as take lodgings in a head 
 That's to be let unfurnished/ 
 
 28. Guion, See Faerie Queene, ii. 
 
 wiih his palmer. The Palmer was not with him in the Cave of Mam* 
 mon ; see ii. 8. 3. For a description of the Palmer see ii. I, 7. 
 
 39. the Cave 0/ Mammon, See ii. 7. 26-66. 
 
 the Bower 0/ Earthly Bliss. See ii. 12. 
 
 P. 19. 2. scout is from Old Fr. escouter = Lat. auseultare. Paradise Lost, 
 ii. 131: — 'Oft on the bordering Deep 
 
 Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing 
 
 Scout far and wide into the realm of night 
 
 Scorning surprise.' 
 
 For the noun see Paradise Lost, iii. 543-55^4. In Comus 138 the Morning is 
 
 described as * the babbling eastern scout.* Scout, to reject with disdain, is 
 
 a quite different word. 
 
 4. tractat. The Latin wprd is * Classical' in this sense, as Pliny, xiv. 4. 5 : 
 *Separatim toto tractatu sententia ejus judicanda est.* Our tract is a mere 
 abbreviation of tractate. Treatise comes from the same stem through the 
 French. 
 
 10. [for that of times, &c. Illustrate what is said here.] 
 
 11. tiot nicely = in a plain-spoken way, without mincing. See what is 
 said of God's * tart rhetoric ' in An Apology for Smectymnuus, On nice see 
 Mr. Jerram's note to Par. Reg. iv. 157. 
 
 12. not unelegantly, i.e. elaborately. 
 
 it brings in holiest men, &c. See the book of Job. 
 
 19. Talmudest, On the Babylonian Talmud see Milman's History of the 
 Jews, iii. 4-6. On both Talmuds — the ' Gemara * of Jerusalem, as well as 
 that of Babylon — see Smith's Bible Diet., s. v. Talmud. See also Literary 
 Remains of Emanuel Deutsch, The name means * doctrine.* 
 
 H 
 
98 AREOPAGiriCA. [P. 19. 
 
 • 
 
 what ails, &c. * What is the matter with, or the character of the modesty 
 of his marginal readings?' &c. So The Judgment of Martin Bucer concern- 
 ing Divorce : * But when I was told that the style (which whai it ails to be 
 so soon distinguishable I cannot tell),* &c. 
 
 1 7. his marginall Keri^ Sec. The language of the text (Chetiv, or cethib 
 s= written), when it seemed too strong or plain, was glossed in the margin, 
 (jSren = read) ; see An Apology for Smectymnuns, where is discussed the out- 
 spoken phraseology of Scripture. (Works, p. 84.) Are we to believe * that 
 Jonathan or Onkelos the targumists were of cleaner language than he that 
 made the tongue ?* Mentioning a special case, and remonstrating against any 
 enfeebling substitution, he continues : ' Whereas God, who is the author both 
 of purity and eloquence, chose this phrase as fittest in that vehement 
 character wherein he spake. Otherwise that plain word might easily 
 have been forborn ; which the masoreths and rabbinical scholiasts, not 
 well attending, have often used to blur the margent with Keri instead 
 of Ketiv, and gave us this insulse rule out of their Talmud, " That all 
 words which in the law are written obscenely, must be changed to more 
 civil words ;'* fools who would teach men to read more decently than God 
 thought good to write. And thus I take it to be manifest, that indignation 
 against men and their actions notoriously bad hath leave and authority oft- 
 times to utter such words and phrases, as in common talk were not mannerly 
 to use. That ye may know, not only as the historian speaks, "that all 
 those things for which men plough, build, or sail, obey virtue," but that all 
 words, and whatsoever may be spoken, shall at some time in an unwonted 
 manner wait upon her purposes.' Holt White quotes also Defensio Secunda : 
 * Non Prophetarum scripta tuam turpiculi immo nonnunquam plane obscaeni 
 censuram effugerint, quoties Masorethis et Rabinis pro eo quod diserte scrip- 
 tum est suum libet Keri adscribere. Ad me quod attinet fateor malle me 
 cum sacris scriptoribus evOvpp-fjfjiova quam cum futilibus Rabinis thax^l^'-ovo. 
 esse.' 
 
 12. Clement of Alexandria. See Mosheim, i. 52, Of the Second Century. 
 His Hortatory Address to the Greeks {\6yos irporpewTiKos npbs tovs 
 "EWrjvas) dealt with the impurities of polytheism. 
 
 Eusebiust born circ. 264 in Palestine, died circ. 340. Besides The Evan- 
 gelical Preparation (EvayycXiK^s dtroSci^ €cos irpoirapaaKcvrj)^ the work here 
 referred to, he wrote an Ecclesiastical History, Life of Constantine, The 
 Chronicon, &c. See Mosheim. 
 
 [23. Explain transmitting our ears, &c.] 
 
 25, Irenaeus, chosen bishop of Lyons in 177* All his works are lost 
 except that against Heresies, which is preserved in a Latin version. 
 
 Epiphanius, chosen bishop of Salamis in Cyprus in 367. His work en- 
 titled Panarium was written against all the heresies that were, 
 
 26. discover = uncover, display, exhibit, as Mer. of Ven. ii. 6. 7* 
 
 31. writ. This form of the preterite is probably due to the tendency to 
 assimilate perfect and past-participial forms, assisted by the fact that the plural 
 
p. 20.] NOTES, 99 
 
 form of certain verbs contained the vowel of the past-participle. Thus the 
 pi. pret. of lorite was writen. See Morris and Skeat's Specimens, vol. ii. 
 p. xxxiii. (The A.-S. pret. is wrdt.) So in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries we find driv = drove, smit = smote, rid = rode, ris = rose; see 
 Morris's Engh'sh Accidence, p. 165. 
 
 P. 20. 3. criticisms = refinements, niceties, * elegantiae,* &c. ; the sins 
 which a critic accomplished in that line would select as choice and laudable. 
 So criticism here = not a judgment or sentence, but that which is selected by 
 a judgment. Cp. Tacitus* * crudito luxu * of Petronius, and the quotation in 
 the following note. 
 
 4. Petronius^ died by * necessity* in 66. See Tacitus, Annals, xvi. 18, 19 : 
 * Inter paucos familiarium Neroni adsumptus est, elegantiae arbiter, dum nihil 
 amoenum et molle adfluentia putat nisi quod ei Petronius adprobavisset.' 
 
 the Master of his Revels. This was an official title in Tudor England. 
 See Collier's History of English Dramatic Poetry. 
 
 5. That notorious ribald of Arezzo = ATet'mo, 1^^2-1 e,e^'j. See Roscoe's 
 Leo the Tenth, ii. -271-6: *The life of Aretino may be denominated the 
 triumph of effrontery.* See Milton*s Commonplace Book, published by the 
 Camden Society. 
 
 ribald^ Fr. riband^ It. ribaldo, is derived ultimately from an old Germ, 
 word meaning a prostitute, with the suffix aid; see Diez's Rom. Lexicon. 
 For the medieval use of the word Diez quotes from Matthew Paris : * lures, 
 exules, fugitivi, excommunicati, quos omnes ribaldos Francia vulgariter con- 
 suevit appellare.* 
 
 dreaded. Sec. The pungency of his satires made him formidable to the 
 objects of them, as it also made them intensely popular with the general 
 reader. Sometimes he was bribed into silence ; once or twice soundly flogged. 
 
 7. for posterities sake. This would seem to mean that some known de- 
 scendants of Skelton or of Wolsey were living when Milton wrote. Skelton 
 was of a Cumberland family; see Fuller's Worthies, i. 346. 
 
 whom Harry the 8., &c. perhaps = Skelton of Diss in Norfolk. See note 
 on p. d. of Mr. Lobb's Areopagitica. Diss was ' in merriment* identified 
 with Dis, the god of the infernal regions, and the god's name used for 
 those regions themselves. It is perhaps scarcely worth noticing that 
 Skelton was Rector, not Vicar of Diss. Diss is often spelt with one s, as 
 by Fuller. Skelton was at one time tutor to Prince Harry. See Warton*s 
 History of English Poetry, ii. 489-513, &c., ed. 1840 ; also Fuller's Worthies, 
 ii. 461, 462, ed. 1840. Erasmus gives Skelton a very different title, in 
 a letter to Henry the Eighth, styling him • Britannicarum literarum lumen et 
 decus.' By the * Vicar of Hell ' others have supposed Wolsey was meant 
 (see Lord Herbert's Henry the Eighth : * Briefly, to use Polydore's words, he 
 made his private house *' Voluptatum omnium sacrarium quo regem frequenter 
 ducebat***); others Thomas Cromwell; others Andrew Borde ; others one 
 Gray, a maker of * certaine merry ballades.' The phrase itself is obviously 
 a travesty of the Pope's title of ' Vicar of Christ.* 
 
 H 2 
 
lOO AREOPAGITICA. [P. 20. 
 
 9. foreine. There should be no g in the word, any more than in sovereign. 
 The Yr.forain is from the Lsit.foraneus. 
 
 10. an Indian voyage. The * overland' route to India under such con- 
 ditions as controlled it in the seventeenth century was excessively protracted 
 and tedious. It was believed that some much shorter route might be dis- 
 covered by sea, either by a North-East or a North-West passage. See 
 Paradise Lost, x. 289 : 
 
 * As when two polar winds, blowing adverse 
 Upon the Cronian sea, together drive 
 Mountains of ice that stop the imagined way 
 Beyond Petsora eastward to the rich 
 Cathaian coast.' 
 
 Where the Cronian = the Northern, the Arctic Sea, and Petsora is the most 
 N.W. province of Muscovy, 
 
 1 2. Cataio = Cathay, a province of Tartary, the ancient seat of the Chams. 
 See Paradise Lost, xi. 388 ; see also Milton's Brief History of Muscovy, 
 chap, iii. Of Tingoesia and the Countries adjoining eastward as far as 
 Cathay ; Maundevile's Voiage and Travaile, chap, xx ; Marco Polo's Travels, 
 Book ii ; Smith's Gibbon, viii. 10. n. From the bad character given the 
 inhabitants by travellers, Ca/aza« = cheat, sharper, as Merry Wives, ii. i, &c. 
 See Nares' Gloss. 
 
 by Canada Westward. The discovery of a North-West passage, or passages, 
 has, as is well known, been made in our own time. Whether it is of any 
 great value, except as promoting geographical science, may perhaps be 
 doubted. For a brief general account of efforts towards this discovery, 
 and of the achievement of it, see Milner's Gallery of Geography, Introd. 
 chap. V, North-Eastern, North-Western, and North-Polar Voyages. See also 
 Lardner's Cab. Cycl., History of Maritime and Inland Discovery, ii. 136-203 ; 
 Hakluyt Society's Narratives of Voyages towards the N.W. in search of a 
 passage to Cathay and India 1496- 1 63 1, ed. T. Randall. 
 
 [13. Explain our Spanish licencing.'] 
 
 15. f/ottfeZ/w/ = fearful. Cp. King John, iv. I. 130: 
 
 *And, pretty child, sleep doubtless and secure,* 
 &c. Halliwell, in his edition of Nares* Glossary, quotes from Beaumont and 
 Fletcher : 
 
 * I'll tell ye all my fears : one single valour. 
 The vertues of the valiant Caratach 
 More doubts me than all Britain.' 
 
 1 7 . permitted = 1 et pa ss . 
 
 22. as the Prophesie of Isaiah, Sec. See Acts viii. 30. 
 
 25. Sorbonists = the scholars of the Sorbonne, the great theological school 
 of Paris, founded in 1252 by Robert de Sorbon, confessor and chaplain to 
 Louis IX. * This institution, the teachers in which were always doctors and 
 professors of theology, acquired so much fame that its name was extended to 
 the whole theological faculty of the university of Paris, which was called till 
 the end of the eighteenth century Sorbonne. Its opinions and decrees had a 
 
p. 21.] NOTES. lOI 
 
 decided influence upon the character of Catholicism in France,* &c. (Pop. 
 Encycl., s. v. Sorbonne.) The building had been splendidly restored, or 
 rather a new building had been raised, by Richelieu some twenty-five years 
 before Milton wrote the Areopagitica. * It is now the seat of three of the five 
 Faculties of the Academy of Paris, Theology, Sciences and Letters,' &c. ; see 
 Murray's Handbook of Paris, &c. Milton mentions the Sorbonists again in 
 his Defence of the People of England, chap, xiv : * Finding yourself destitute 
 of any assistance or help from orthodox Protestant divines, you have the 
 impudence to betake yourself to the Sorbonists, whose college you know 
 is devoted to the Romish religion, and consequently but of very weak 
 authority amongst Protestants,* &c. The reading in Butler's Hudibras in 
 all editions till 1704 in i. i. 158-9 was — 
 
 * For he a rope of sand could twist 
 As tough as learned Sorbonist* 
 and how fast, &c. Cp. Lycidas, 128-9 • 
 
 * Beside what the grim wolf with privy paw 
 Daily devours apace, and nothing said.' 
 
 28. distinct^ not = distinguished, but rather clear-headed, definite, decided. 
 Arminius, or Harmensen, 1 560-1609. The change in his views alluded 
 
 to in the text took place after he had settled at Amsterdam in 1 588. See 
 Mosheim, ii. 242, 261 ; Hallam's Constitutional Hist, of England, chap, vi, &c. 
 
 29. perverted. What favour Arminianism had in Milton's time found in 
 this country, it had found with Laud and the High Church party. The 
 anti-Episcopalians were for the most part staunchly Calvinistic. Hence per- 
 verted, not converted. The Lat. pervertere — to overturn, destroy, corrupt ; 
 as Tacitus, Ann. xiii. 45 : * Ollium honoribus nondum functum amicitia 
 Sejani pervertity &c. 
 
 a namelesse discours. * A ce moment [just when he became Professor of 
 Theology at Leyden] il fut charge par Martin Lydius, professeur de th^ologie 
 a Franeken, de d^fendre la doctrine de Theodore de B^ze sur la predestina- 
 tion, qui 4tait attaquee par les ministres de Delft. Arminius examina 
 Touvrage des ministres, le compara au systeme de Calvin et de Beze, balanya 
 les raisons de part et d'autre, et finit par adopter les sentiments quMl s'^tait 
 propose de combattre. II manifesta ses opinions dans ses theses du 7 fevrier, 
 1 614.* (Nouvelle Biog. Univ.) 
 
 nameless = anonymous. 
 
 P. 21. I. [Explain of either sort."] 
 
 8. beyond prohibiting is grammatically co-ordinate with tvtthout writing, 
 
 9. cautelous is from Lat. cautela, a * post-class.' word. Shakspere has 
 the word twice. Cor. iv. i. 33, and Jul. Caes. ii. I. 129. For other Eliza- 
 bethan instances, see Nares. The noun occurs in Hamlet in the sense of 
 deceit; i. 3 14-16: 'Perhaps he loves you now, 
 
 And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch 
 The virtue of his will.' 
 So ' cautels and subtelties ' in Berners' Froissart, apud Richardson. 
 
 12. the exploit of that gallant man, &c. Cp. the story of the inhabitants 
 
lO^ 
 
 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 22. 
 
 of Borrowdale in Harriet Martineau's Complete Guide to the English Lakes, 
 how they • determined to build a wall to keep in the cuckoo, and make the 
 spring last for ever.' The wall was built, but was a failure ' because it was 
 not built one course higher/ 
 
 1 3. pound is from the A.-S. pyndan, to shut in ; pen is in fact the same 
 word. Pound, a weight, is of quite different origin. 
 
 ig.uncorruptedness = \ucon\x^l\h\\\iy, Cp. ' unreproved,' L'Allegro, 40, 
 &c. ; so the Lat. invicius, &c, 
 
 29. Aristotle. See Ethics, i. 3 : * Now each individual judges well of what 
 hie knows, and of these he is a good judge. In each particular science, 
 therefore, he is a good judge who has been instructed in them ; and uni- 
 versally, he who has been instructed in all subjects. Therefore a young 
 man is not a proper person to study political science, for he is inexperienced 
 in the actions of life ; but these are the subjects and grounds of this treatise. 
 Moreover, being inclined to follow the dictates of passion, he will listen in 
 vain, and without benefit, since the end is not knowledge, but practice. But 
 it makes no difference whether he be a youth in age or a novice in character, 
 for the defect arises not from age, but from his life and pursuits being accor- 
 ding to the dictates of passion ; for to such persons knowledge becomes 
 useless, as it does to the incontinent ; but to those who regulate their appe- 
 tites and actions according to reason, the knowledge of these subjects must 
 be very beneficial.' (Browne.) 
 
 30. Salomon, See Prov. xvii. 7, xxvi. 5, &c. 
 our Saviour. See Matt. vii. 6. 
 
 [33. What is meant by idle pamphlet?] 
 
 P. 22. I. we must not expose, &c. * Trial will come unsought.* Paradise 
 Lost, ix. 366. 
 
 8. ivant = be without, as not uncommonly in sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries; thus Tempest, iii. I, when Ferdinand asks Miranda why she 
 weeps, she answers (77-79) : 
 
 • At mine unworthiness, that dare not ofler 
 What I desire to give, and much less take 
 What I shall die to want* 
 &c. We still speak of ' supplying what is wanting.* 
 
 10. qualijie, Cp. Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 7' 21-23: 
 * I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire, 
 But qualify the fire's extreme rage. 
 Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason.* 
 
 13. contrive is the Fr. controuver, 
 
 [What is the grammatical subject oi prevented?'] 
 
 14. He now proceeds to Point HI, see p. 67. 
 
 15. />rei;e«/e^ = anticipated, fore-run, &c. ; Fr. prevenir, Lat. praevenire. 
 See The Bible Word-book, and Trench's Select Glossary, s. v. The transition 
 of meaning from fore-arriving to obstruction is well illustrated in the former 
 work from Paradise Lost, vi. 1 29 : 
 
p. 2 2.] NOTES, 103 
 
 * Half way he met 
 His daring foe, at this prevention more 
 Incens'd.' 
 
 16. hath bin explaining. Explaining here is not a part, but a verbal 
 subs., what is called in Latin grammars a * gerund.* The prep. * governing* 
 the subst. has dropped out. The full phrase would be • hath been on or in 
 explaining.' Cp. 'while the ark was a [ = on] preparing* (i Pet. iii. 20). 
 See Longer English Poems, pp. 228, 234; also Smith's Marsh's Lectures on 
 the En^. Lang., pp. 462, 472 ; Morris's Eng. Ace., § 293. In some cases, 
 where the subject is not an inanimate thing but a living, the 'ifig does 
 represent a present part.; thus * he is going' = Old Eng. *he is gangende,* 
 tiot ' he is on gaiigung.' See Morris, § 291 (3). * 
 
 17. ingenuity = (Alt 'ingenuousness,* openness, frankness — a common 
 Elizabethan sense. So Locke apud Johnson : * If a child when questioned for 
 anything directly confess, you must commend his ingenuity and pardon the 
 fault, be it what it will.* 
 
 when she gets a free and willing hand, &c. See Bacon's Adv. of Learning : 
 * It appeareth also that logic differeth from rhetoric not only as the fist from 
 the palm, the one close, the other at large ; but much more in this, that logic 
 handleth reason exact and in truth, and rhetoric handleth it as it is planted 
 in popular opinions and manners.* 
 
 19. ^//scowrs = reason. Hamlet, i. 2. I49: *a beast that wants discourse 
 0/ reason.* lb. iv. 4. 36-39 : 
 
 • Sure, he that made us with such large discourse. 
 
 Looking before and after, gave us not 
 
 That capability and godlike reason 
 
 To fust in us unused.* 
 See Monboddo on 'discursus mentis* and *di6,voia* ap7/<f Fleming's Vocabulary 
 of Philosophy. 'Reasoning (or discourse),' says Whately, *is the act of 
 proceeding from certain judgments to another founded on them (or the result 
 of them).* (Logic, ii. i. § 2.) 
 
 20. which I began with. So the prep, was usually placed in Elizabethan 
 English. Cp. Morris and Skeat's Specimens, ii. p. 272, 1. 59, 1872. Later 
 in the seventeenth century it became common to prefix it to the rela- 
 tive. The difference in this matter of collocation between the first and 
 the second editions of Dryden's Essay on Dramatic Poesy has been often 
 noticed. 
 
 21. did use. The modern usage as to this form of the preterite began to 
 prevail in the latter part of the seventeenth century. By Pope's time it was 
 well established ; see Essay on Criticism, 346, &c. 
 
 [24. Explain return here.] 
 
 30. Plato, On this * man of high authority indeed' let the English 
 reader consult Grote and Jowett. 
 
 31. in the booh 0/ his laws = his De Legibus, a distinct work from the 
 De Republica. 
 
I04 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 23. 
 
 33. St/r^omas/£rs = f own-rulers, magistrates, mayors, provosts; A.-S. hurh' 
 gerefas. See the word in the general sense of important persons, I Henry IV, 
 ii. I. 84. Cp. 'third borough,' Taming of the Shrew, Induction. Burgh = 
 hiry, borough^ &c. ; see Taylor's Words and Places. The root is found in 
 A.-S. heorgan. Germ, bergen, &c., to protect. Cp. Sidney's * honest burgesses 
 of Athens' {Apol.for Poetrie^ p. 21, ed. Arber). 
 
 P. 23. 2. an Academick night-sitting = 7l symposium in the Academia. 
 See Paradise Regained, iv. 244 : 
 
 * See there the olive-grove of Academe, 
 Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird 
 Trills her thick- warbled notes the summer long.* 
 
 3. By which laws, &c. See De Legibus, vii. pp. 810, 811 ; Grote's Plato, 
 
 i». 379-381. 
 
 4. but by unalterable decree, &c. The language is elliptical here. The 
 sense seems to be : He tolerates no learning but that which he fixes by un- 
 alterable decree; and this learning, so fixed, consists, &c. See a similar 
 looseness in Pepys' Diary, p. 314, Chandos edition: * Having staid, and 
 in an hour's time seen the fire rage every way, and nobody to my sight 
 endeavouring to quench it but to remove their goods and leave all to the 
 fire,' &c. 
 
 7. that no Poet, &c. MrjSe riva roXfiav id(iv ahoKifxov p.ovaav firj 
 KpivavTOJV rwv vofJio(pv\aKOJv firjb' av ^StW ^ twv Qanvpov rt koX '0/J^€iW 
 vjxvuv. See Jowett's Plato, iv. 315. 
 
 9. Law-keepers = vofjLO(()v\aKes. 
 
 10. /o = to apply to, with a view to, &c. 
 
 12. Why was he not else, &c. Cp. Milton's Latin lines De Idea Platonica 
 quemadmodum Aristoteles intellexit, 35-39 • 
 
 * At tu, perenne ruris Acadcmi decus, 
 Haec monstra si tu primus induxti scholis, 
 Jamjam poetas, urbis exules tuae, 
 Revocabis, ipse fabulator maximus: 
 Aut institutor ipse migrabis foras.' 
 
 14. the wanton epigrams and dialogues. The dialogues meant probably 
 are the Symposium and the Phaedrus ; but, if so, the epithet is certainly too 
 violent and unsparing. 
 
 15. Sophron Mimus. Sophron, the mime writer, flourished in Sicily circ. 
 460-420 B.C. His Fragments are collected by Ahrens, in his De Graecae Lin- 
 guae Dialectis. See An Apology for Smectymnuus : ' Nor yet doth he tell us 
 what a mime is, whereof we have no pattern from ancient writers, except 
 some fragments, which contain many acute and wise sentences. And this we 
 know in Laertius, that the mimes of Sophron were of such reckoning with 
 Plato as to take them nightly to read on and after make them his pillow. 
 Scaliger describes a mime to be a poem imitating any action to stir u^ 
 laughter,' &c. (Works, p. 78.) 
 
 16. Aristophanes, See above, p. 7» 
 
p. 24.] NOTES. 105 
 
 booh 0/ grossest infamy. Certainly there are some indecent passages in 
 Aristophanes' works ; but as certainly there are passages of exquisite beauty 
 and noble tone. He is anything but an essentially gross writer. 
 
 17. for commending the latter, &c. See above, p. 7. 1 7-1 9. Of Plato's 
 admiration for Aristophanes there can be no doubt ; see the Symposium 
 (translated by Shelley) where Aristophanes is introduced in person. An epi- 
 gram attributed to Plato runs thus : 
 
 hi XdpireSf T€fji€v6s ri \a0(iv ov€p ovxi irtafTTOi 
 (rjTOvaat, if/vx^v €vpov *Api(TTO<pavovs. 
 
 1 8. the malicious libeller of his chief friends, as of Sokrates in the Clouds, 
 of Nikias (see Plato's Laches) in the Knights, &c. 
 
 19. the Tyrant Dionysius. See above, p. 7, 1. 18. 
 
 20. trashy or trousse, signified clippings of trees. See Wedgwood, who 
 quotes from Robert of Gloucester, 552 : 
 
 * Gret fur he made ther a night of wode and sprai, 
 And tresche ladde ther aboute that me wide sai.* 
 2 J. fell upon = threw themselves upon, addressed themselves vigorously 
 to, adopted and enforced with rigour. Cp. *faU to,* as I Henry VI, iii. i. 
 89, 90 : * Nay, if we be forbidden stones, we'll fall to it with our teeth.' 
 Measure for Measure, i. 2. 3 : * . . . why then all the dukes fall upon the 
 King,' &c. Cp. Lat. incumbere, as * incumbe toto pectore ad laudem,' 
 Cicero, Ad Fam. x. 10. 2 ; Georgics, i. 213, * incumbere aratris/ 
 30. to shut and fortifie. Sec. Cp. Sams. Agon. 560-562 : 
 •What boots it at one gate to make defence. 
 And at another to let in the foe 
 Effeminately vanquished ? ' 
 P. 24. 1, No musick, &c. Plato accepts this necessity in his elaborately 
 regulated republic. See a passage, which was probably in Milton's mind as 
 he wrote the text, viz. Republic, 398 C-399 E. 
 3. Dorick. Paradise Lost, i. 549-551 : 
 
 *Anon they move 
 In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood 
 Of flutes and soft recorders.' 
 The Doric was the style of military music, contrasting with the soft Lydian 
 mode (cp. L* Allegro, 136) and the harsh, wild Phrygian. See Muller's 
 Dorians, 4. 6; 1) Acupiarl ap^ovia, Aristotle, Politics, viii. 5. 22; Aristophanes, 
 Equites, 989 (where observe the word-play) ; Plato, Republic, 399 A : 
 TtVc* oxfv fwXa/cai T€ koI avfjnroTiKal tSjv dpfioviwv ; *laari, ^v S* 5«, 
 Ka\ AvdiffTit atrives xo^apat KoXovuTai. Tavrais oZv, S> tpiKe, kwl iroXf- 
 fiiKOfv dvdpojv eaO o ti xP'?^'** J Ovdafxuis, c^i;' oAAd tciybvyfvti cot AwpiaTi 
 KiiTTiaOai Koi ^pvyiari. k.t.\. 
 
 6. for such Plato, &c. See Republic, 400. 
 
 8. all the lutes, &c. Cp. Plato, Republic, 399 C : Tpiydn/a)v &pa Kci 
 vrjKrihojv Kal ttolvtoju 6pydv<uv, oaa iroKvxop^a xai iroXvapfidvia, bTjfAiovpyovt 
 
 Oif 0p€lf/Ofl€V, k.tJ<, 
 
I06 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 24. 
 
 9. ghttiarrs. The Ital. form is chitarra; the original word is Lat, 
 cithara, Gr. KiOapa. Amongst the Greeks the instrument so called ' seems 
 to have been identical with the (popfJLiy^, and can have differed little from 
 the Kvpa,' (Liddell and Scott.) 
 
 10. prattle is a secondary verb from prate. Cp. dab, dapple; drip (drop), 
 dribble, &c. 
 
 [How would you parse what they may say ?] 
 
 11. madrigalls. The first part of the word is said to be Lat. mandra 
 (Martial, v. 22 ; Juvenal uses it for *a herd,' iii. 236: *stantis convicia 
 mandrae*) ; Gr. /xdvSpa, a fold, byre, pen, stable; Sophocles, Fragments, 587, 
 fidvdpais kv InireiaKTiv; Theocritus, iv. 61. (In Eccles. Gr. a monastery; 
 whence Archimandrite.) Spanish forms are mandrial and mandrigal. The 
 'gal is said to be connected with the Teutonic verb galan (A.-S.), to sing ; 
 cp. nightingale. So the word would properly mean a herd song, a pastoral 
 song, 'hirtenhed' (Diez), 'chanson de berger;' but it came to be used in a 
 general sense. See * that smooth song by Kit Marlowe:* 
 
 * There will we sit upon the rocks, 
 And see the shepherds feed their flocks 
 By shallow rivers, by whose falls 
 Melodious birds sing madrigalls^ 
 
 With Milton's ' that whisper softnes in chambers,' cp. Dryden's Art of Poetry: 
 
 * The madrigal may softer passions move, 
 And breathe the tender ecstacie of love.* 
 
 (Apud Richardson.) See Diez's Lex. Rom. 
 
 13. Balcone's. Diez holds this word to be derived from a Germ, stem — 
 the stem of balken, a beam, rafter. The -one is the common Ital. -one, as 
 in pallone, and in our balloon. The penult is long with Sherburne (1618- 
 1702), and with Jenyns (1704-87), and in Cowper's John Gilpin ; Swift has 
 it short. See Richardson. 
 
 shrewdy strictly = shrewish. Cp. the double sense of sharp. Sec. Mid- 
 summer Night's Dream, iii. 2. 323: 
 
 * O when she *s angry, she is keen and shrewd* 
 
 14. Frontispices. This is the correcter orthography; the vulgar spelling 
 is due to an erroneous notion that the latter part of the word is connected 
 with 'piece;* whereas it is from the Lat. specio. (For other instances of 
 false etymologies corrupting orthography, see Max Miiller's Lectures on the 
 Science of Language, second series, Lect. xi, &c.) Frontispicium properly =i 
 the front-look ; in architecture, a house-front. See Paradise Lost, iii. 
 506-7 : * The work as of a kingly palace-gate 
 
 With frontispice of diamond and gold 
 
 Embellished.' 
 16. visitors. Cp. the use of this word at the Universities ; also visitation, 
 as Tsaiah x. 3, &c. ; visit, Exod. xx. 5, &c. Visitant seems rather to have 
 been used in our sense of visitor; thus, 'the great visitant,' Paradise 
 Lost, xi. 225. 
 
p. 24.] NOTES. 107 
 
 lectures = readings. The word was used specially of the Sunday afternoon 
 discourses of Puritan preachers. 
 
 17. the bagpipe^ now happily almost confined to the North parts of this 
 island, once pervaded the South also. See Chaucer's Prologue (568-9), 
 of the»Mellere:' 
 
 *A haggepipe cowde he blowe and sowne. 
 And therwithal he brought us out of towne/ 
 See Chappeirs Popular Music of the Olden Time. 
 
 rebbeck. * An instrument of music, having cat-gut strings and played with 
 a bow ; but originally with only two strings, then with three, till it was 
 exalted into the more perfect violin with four strings. It is thought to be 
 the same with ribible^ being a Moorish instrument, and in that language 
 called rebeb. Thence it passed into Italy, where it became ribeca, or 
 ribeba, whence our English word. See Hawkins's History of Music, vol. ii. 
 p. 96, note.* (Nares.) See also Chappell's Popular Music. Du Cange, 
 s. v. Baudosa, quotes from one Aimericus : 
 
 * Quidam rebecam arcuabant, 
 Muliebrem vocem confingentes.* 
 L'AlIegro, 91 : • the jocund rebecks,' &c. 
 
 ev'n tOt &c., i. e. even down to, even as low as, &c. 
 
 18. 6a//a/ry = balladry. The -ry has a collective force, as in yeomanry, 
 cavalry, peasantry, &c. See note on trashtrie in Longer English Poems, 
 p. 3^8; Morris* English Accidence, § 33 and 325. Various forms oi ballad 
 are balade, ballet, &c. ; see above, p. 8, 1. 3, and the note. 
 
 gammuth is from Gamma^ * the first letter of the musical notation In- 
 vented by Guido,' and Lat. w/, • the syllable used in singing the first note of 
 the scale ' (the present do). Ital. gamma; Fr. gamme. See Taming of the 
 Shrew, iii. i. 72-8. 
 
 18. municipal = country. See the next line. Cp. Burke's Reflections: 
 
 * We provide first for the poor and with a parental solicitude we have not 
 relegated religion (like something we were ashamed to show) to obscure 
 municipalities or rustick villages.* This use is * Classical.' * As the muni' 
 cipia were subordinate to the capital cities,* municipalis * is sometimes used 
 in a contemptuous sense, analogous to our provincial: municipalis eques 
 (of Cicero), Juv. viii. 236 [238] ; m. et cathedrarii oratores, Sidonius, Ep. 
 iv. 3 ; poetae, id. Carm. ix. 310.' (Andrews' Freund.) Cicero, PhU. iii. 15: 
 
 • Videte quam despiciamur omnes, qui sumus e municipiis.* 
 
 19. Arcadians. The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia was first printed 
 in 1590, four years after Sir Philip Sidney's death. A more complete 
 edition, differently arranged — the work was left unfinished— was published 
 in 1593. See Hallam's Lit. of Europe, ii. 411, 438 ; Taine*s Hist, of Eng. 
 Lit. i. 164-173; Dunlop's Hist, of Fiction, chap. xi. &c. The Arcadia 
 was immensely popular in the early seventeenth century. See Hallam, iv. 
 94, &c. 
 
 Monte Mayors. Monte Mayor (circ. 15 20- 1562), a Portuguese by birth. 
 
Io8 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 24. 
 
 was the author of the Diana, a pastoral romance, whose popularity spread 
 from Spain, the especial land of romances, all over Europe. See Hallam, ii. 
 282, 435; Dunlop, chap, xi ; Ticknor's Spanish Literature, iii, 82-84, ^^* 
 1863; Sismondi*s Literature of the South of Europe, chap, xxvi, &c. 
 Shakspere is said to have drawn something of his picture of Proteus and 
 Julia, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, from the Felix and Felismena of 
 the Diana. 
 
 21. hears ill. A Greek idiom. Cp. KaicofS d/cov€iv, nanus k\v€iv. So 
 the Lat. audio, as Horace, Epistles, i. 16. 17 : 
 
 * Tu recte vivis, si curas esse quod audis, 
 
 &c. : clueo, frequent in Plautus and Lucretius. See Ben Jonson passim ; in the 
 Dedication to the Fox he speaks of his age being one * wherein poetry and 
 the professors of it heare so ill on all sides;* see also his masque Love 
 Restored: *They are these make mee heare so ill both in towne and 
 countrey as I do.' See also Faerie Queene, i. 5. 23 : 
 
 * O what of gods then boots it to be borne, 
 If old Aveugles sonnes so evill heare V 
 
 Paradise Lost, iii. 7 : 
 
 * Or hear*st thou rather pure ethereal stream,* &e. 
 ( = Horace's * libentius audis,' Satires, ii. 6. 20.) 
 
 houshold gluttony. Cp. Chaucer's Franklin (Aldine Ed.) ; 
 
 * Wei loved he in the morn a sop of wya. 
 To liven in delite was al his wone. 
 
 For he was Epicurius owne sone, 
 That heeld opynyoun that pleyn delyt 
 Was verraily felicite perfyt. 
 An househaldere, and that a gret, was he; 
 Seynt Julian he was in his countre. 
 His breed, his ale, was alway after oon ; 
 A bettere envyned man was nowher noon, 
 Withoute bake mete was never his hous, 
 Of fleissch and fissch, and that so plentyvous, 
 It snewed in his hous of mete and drynke, 
 Of alle deyntees that men cowde thynke, 
 Aflur the sondry sesouns of the yeer, 
 He chaunged hem at mete and at soper, 
 Ful many a fat partrich had he in mewc. 
 And many a brem and many a luce in stewe. 
 Woo was his cook but if his sauce were 
 Poynant and scharp and redy al his gere. 
 His table dormant in his halle alway 
 Stood redv covered a. the longe day.* 
 • English Epicures,' Macbeth, v. 3. * It is not for nothing that other coun- 
 tries whom we upbraid with drunkenness call us ** bursten bellied gluttons,"* 
 Nash's Piets Penniless. Sir Andrew Aguecheek's view has found and finds 
 
P 25.] NOTES. 109 
 
 much favour with us. *Does not our life consist of the four elements?* 
 asks Sir Toby. * Sir Andrew. Faith, so they say; but I think it rather 
 consists of eating and drinking. Sir Toby. Thou'rt a scholar ; let us 
 therefore cat and drink. Marian, I say 1 a stoup of wine I* What Hamlet 
 says of Denmark in i. 4. 14-23, is surely meant to describe England. Cp. 
 Scott's picture of the Saxon Athelstane in Ivanhoe. 
 
 32. and what shall be done to inhibit^ &c. A question still agitated, and 
 far from settlement. 
 
 25. Our garments also, &c. In the later Middle Ages laws were passed 
 defining the dress material that was to be used. See the Statute of Apparel, 
 1363, &c.; Fairholt's Costume in England, second edit., p. 116, &c. * Acts 
 of Apparel * were also passed in the reigns of Edward IV, Henry VIII, Mary, 
 and Elizabeth. See the decree of 1597 in the Egerlon Papers (Camden 
 Society), pp. 247-256. Such interferences have now long been desisted 
 from. Listen to Adam Smith : *It is the highest impertinence and presump- 
 tion therefore in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy 
 of private people, and to restrain their expense either by sumptuary laws or 
 by prohibiting the importation of foreign luxuries.* (Wealth of Nations, 
 book II. chap, iii.) See Lecky's Rationalism in Europe, ii. 285, ed. 
 
 1875. 
 
 27. garb. 'Formerly applied to the mode of doing anything, but latterly, 
 confined to the fashion of dress.* (Wedgwood.) Cp. Span, and Ital. garbo, 
 &c. See Diez, who connects the stem with * Old H. Germ, garawi, garwi, 
 schmuck.' This garwi = A.-S. gearwa, our gear. 
 
 conversation. See p. 8, 1. 6. 
 
 28. as is the fashion of this Country. See almost any foreign work on 
 English life and manners. 
 
 30. what presumed; i. e. what degree of presumption — of liberty and 
 boldness generally — may be permitted, how far we may go. This seems 
 the sense rather than what Mr. Lobb suggests, who paraphrases ' what should 
 be only implied,* opposing the words to * what may be only talked about * 
 {=what shall be discoursed). The rhythm of the sentence is against con- 
 fining the words and no furder to what presumed. They apply just as much 
 to what discoursed, 
 
 P. 25. 2. to sequester =to withdraw, retire. The verb is generally transi- 
 tive ; thus Sir T. More, Workes, p. 1046, apud Richardson : ' For hym 
 hathe God the father sealed. This is to sai that him hath God the father 
 specially sequestred and severed and set aside out of the number of al 
 creatures.* So Gray's Elegy, 75. The word is of Latin law origin. 
 
 Atlantick. See Bacon's New Atlantis. Bacon took the name from 
 Plato's Timaeus (24 E-25 A), and his Critias; see Critias, chap. vii. 
 
 3. Eutopian. See More's Utopia, printed in Latin in 1516, translated 
 into English by Ralph Robinson, and printed first in 155 1, and again in 
 1556. See a re-issue of the second edition among Arber's English Reprints. 
 For the orthography, the first syllable represents the Gr. ov (though perhaps 
 
no AREOPAGITICA. [P. 25. 
 
 Milton thought (v, to judge from his spelling, which is also Sidney's in the 
 Apol, for Poetrie), the whole word signifying * Nowheria.' Sir Thomas 
 More's knowledge of Greek was evidently not unlimited. Cp. Erewhon^ 
 the title of a book lately published, which is nowhere^ written as nearly 
 backwards as may be. 
 
 polities = iro\iT€ias, political systems. Not politics^ as is commonly 
 printed ; e. g. in Bohn's edition. 
 
 [6. Explain unavoidably here.] 
 
 II. which Plato there mentions. See Republic, iv. 
 
 13. these they be, &c. Cp. Horace, Odes, iii. 24. 35, 36, and 51-54 : 
 
 * Quid leges sine moribus 
 
 Vanae proficiunt? 
 • • • • 
 
 Eradenda cupidinis 
 
 Pravi sunt elementa, et tenerac nimis 
 Mentes asperioribus 
 Formandae studiis.* 
 21. pittance, Fr. pitance. It. pietanza, &c. The word * au sens propre 
 d^signe la portion que re9oit un moine a chacun de ses repas. II est encore 
 employe aujourd'hui avec cette signification dans le langage monastique.* 
 It is the Med. Lat. pietantia, which * derive de pietatem et designe le pro- 
 duit de la charite, de la piete des fideles. On appelait de meme au 
 moyen age misericordia (pitie, compassion) certains repas monastiques.* 
 (Brachet.) See also Du Cange. See Chaucer's Prologue, 223, 224, of the 
 Friar : 
 
 'He was an esy man to yeve penance 
 Ther as he wiste to han a good pitance? 
 Cp. Prynne*s Treachery and Disloyalty^ part ii. p. 33, apud Richardson : 
 * They have beene allowed only a poore pittance of Adam's ale and scarce 
 a penny bread to support their lives.* The monastic officer who distributed 
 the doles was called pitanciarius ; Fr. pitancier, Wedgwood derives the 
 word from apidangant or apitangant = appetissant ; wrongly, I should say. In 
 the text it seems to mean not so much * an allowance,' as * allowancing,* 
 i. e. a system of allowance. 
 
 23. grammercy. Cp. 'What thank have ye?* Luke vi. 32, &c. Chaucer 
 gives the word in the agglutinative stage; see the Canterbury Tales, ed, 
 Wright, 8964, 8965 : 
 
 * Grajmtmercy, lord, God thank it you, quod sche, 
 That ye han saved me my children deere.* 
 So in The Dream, wrongly attributed to Chaucer. For the use here cp. 
 Utopia, ii. 8 : • For many of them they bring home sometimes, paying very 
 little for them, yea, most commonly getting them for gramercy.' Coleridge 
 uses the word, somewhat inaccurately, but according to Johnson's account 
 of it (see Dictionary), as an exclamation, in Ancient Mariner, 164: 
 
 • Gramercy I they for joy did grin/ 
 
p. 27.] NOTES. Ill 
 
 24. many there be that, &c. He wrote Paradise Lost to 
 • assert eternal Providence, 
 And justify the ways of God to men/ 
 See esp. iii. 80-134. 
 
 28. a meer artificiall Adam, &c. = an automaton, a vfvpSffnaa-TOv dyaXfia 
 (Herodotus, ii. 48), a thing moved di//yx<w»' biKtjv opydvoiv (Clemens Alexan- 
 drinus, 598). 
 
 artificiall. See Bacon's Adv. of Learning, ed. Wright, Gloss, s. v. 
 
 in the motions = m the puppet-shows. See Ben Jonson's Bartholomevv 
 Fair, 5th Act, passim; Winter's Tale, iv. 2, 102 ; * Then he compass'd a motion 
 of the Prodigal Son,* &c. This kind of entertainment is of very ancient origin. 
 Herodotus says it was introduced from Egypt (ii. 48) ; see Bekker's Charicles, 
 185 n. ed. 1854 ; Hone's Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People of Eng- 
 land, pp. 165-167 ; Hone's Ancient Mysteries Described, 225, 229, 230; 
 Spectator, No. 14, &c. See also Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprentice- 
 ship, chaps, ii-viii. 
 
 21. esteem not of = do not think highly of. So Spenser, To Sir Walter 
 Raleigh : • seeing all things accounted by their shows and nothing esteemed of' 
 &c. 
 
 31. ^roi/oK«^ = inviting, enticing, &c. Heb. x. 24 : * And let us consider 
 one another to provoke unto love and to good works,' &c. 
 
 P. 26. 22. yet powrs out before us^ &c. Comp. Comus, 762-779. 
 
 23. gives us mindSf &c. Hamlet, ii. 2. 315: *What a piece of work is 
 man,* &c. 
 
 26. scanting. The adj. scan/ = that which is measured exactly, and so = 
 spare; from Norse skamla, a measure, connected with skamr, short; see 
 Cleasby and Vigfusson. 
 
 29. better done. Lycidas, 67 : * were it not better done* &c. 
 
 32. dram is contracted with drachm, Gr. SpaxftiJ* ^^^ *^® sense here 
 cp. Hamlet, i. 4. 36. 
 
 P. 27. I. [What ' part of speech * is sure here ?] 
 
 3. whatever thing we hear or see, &c. Cp. the Duke's experience in Af 
 You Like It, ii. i. 15-17: 
 
 * And this our life exempt from public haunt 
 Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
 Sermons in stones, and good in everything.* 
 9. that continued Court-libell, &c. = the Mercurius Aulicus, a virulent 
 Royalist paper, published regularly once a week from the beginning of 1642 
 to the latter end of 1645, and afterwards occasionally, by Sir John Birken- 
 head, Reader in Moral Philosophy at Oxford ; see Holt White's note. The 
 Civil Wars of the seventeenth century were the birth-time of newspapers. 
 l^The English Mercurie of 1588 has been shown to be a forgery.) See 
 Disraeli's Cur. of Lit., art. Origin of Newspapers. 
 15. blinrffold. The full form would be blindfolded. 
 • 17. frusfrat. This form comes straight from the Latin. 
 
lia AREOPAGITICA. [P. 28. 
 
 20. rf/i;tt7^'fl?= promulgated, published, or made public. Par. Reg. iii. 62. 
 
 27. officials. A most odious term at the time Mihon wrote. • An Official 
 was the name of the Officer in the Ecclesiastical Courts to whom the Bishops 
 deputed the cognizance of spiritual offences. Laud had let them loose over 
 the country.* So Holt White, who quotes from Of Reformation (* a band of 
 rooking Officials,^ &c.), from Cartwright's Ordinary, and from Clarendon the 
 statement that Sir Edward Deering presented ' a Bill for the utter eradication 
 of Bishops, Deans, and Chapters; with all Chancellors, Officials^ and all 
 Officers and other Persons belonging to either of them.* 
 
 28. that the Commonwealth^ &c. He is thinking of the decree of the 
 Roman senate in critical times — * darent operam Consules ne quid Respublica 
 detrimenti caperet.* 
 
 29. damnify* d. Faerie Queene, ii. 6. 43 : 
 
 •"Harrow now out and well away!" he cryde; 
 " What dismal day hath lent this cursed light 
 To see my Lord so deadly damnifyde'i*** 
 The compound indemnify is common enough. 
 
 P. 28. 2. according to the models &c. See above, p. 6. 1. 26. 
 4. condiscend. So Faerie Queene, v. I. 25 : 
 
 * Thereto they both did franckly condiscend* 
 Carew, Survey of Cornwall, f. 88, has *condiscended;* Fabyan, an. 1361, 
 * condyscendid.' See Richardson. 
 
 7. s/ory = history. See above, p. 9, 1. 11, 
 
 8. of many sects, &c. See Drayton's Polyolbion and Selden's notes — a 
 work with which Milton often shows familiarity ; Song x, where some com- 
 plaining of the want of evidence there is for the older history of Britain, 
 
 • Thus do I answer these : 
 That th* ancient British priests, the fearless Druides, 
 That minister'd the laws, and were so truly wise, 
 That they determin'd states, attending sacrifice. 
 To letters never would their mysteries commit^ 
 For which the breasts of men they deemed to he more fit : 
 Which questionless should seem from judgment to proceed. 
 For, when of ages past we look in books to read, 
 We retchlessly discharge our memory of those. 
 So when injurious time such monuments doth lose 
 (As what so great a work, by time that is not wrackt?) 
 We utterly forego that memorable act; 
 But when we lay it up within the minds of men 
 They leave it their next age ; that leaves it hers agen ; 
 So strongly which (me thinks) doth for tradition make, 
 As if you from the world it altogether take, 
 You utterly subvert antiquity thereby,* 
 The note compares the Cabalists, * which until of late time wrote not, but 
 taught and learnt by mouth and diligent hearing of their rabbins.' * 
 
p. 29.] NOTES. 113 
 
 10. The Christian fatthi &c. The earliest Gospel in point of date is said 
 to be that of St. Matthew ; the earliest Pauline Epistle is the 1st to the 
 Thessalonians. Possibly St. Peter's and St. James* may be older than any of 
 St. Paul's. However this may be, all the Epistles imply an already established 
 Christianity. 
 
 [21. What is the force of sit here?] 
 
 22. he wafted^ &c.= to float over the river which according to the ancient 
 mythology divides life from death. 
 
 28. y'owrnfy-tt/or^ = day-work, day-labourer's work, the work of a journey- 
 man or un homme dejournee, set, mechanical, servile work. 
 
 29. vpon his head. Cp. poll-tax, &c. ; also the use of Lat. caput, Gr. /cdpa. 
 33. in a hand scars legible. Milton himself took pains to write as clearly 
 
 as possible. Cp. Hamlet, v. 2. 33-36. 
 
 hand. So ^s/ also is used: see below, p. 32. 1. 7. Cp. Lat. manws, as Cicero, 
 Ad Att. viii. 13: * Lippitudinis meae signum tibi sit librarii manuSf* &c. 
 * Know you the hand?' Hamlet, iv. 7. 52. 
 
 P. 29. I. tvould not down. Cp. the verbal use of up, away, &c. 
 The emphatic word absorbs into itself, so to speak, the power of the 
 formal verb; thus to down = to go down, &c. So drd, as Homer, II. vi. 
 331, &c. 
 
 4. 0/ a sensible nostrUl. A Latin phrase ; see Horace, Satires, i. 3. 29 
 and 30 : 
 
 • Iracundior est paulo, minus aptus acutis 
 Naribus horum hominum.' 
 Cp. lb. iv. 8, * Emunctae naris ;* Epod. xii. 3, * naris obesae ;' Epistles, i. 19. 
 45, * naribus uti;* also Satires, i. 6. 5, *naso suspendis adunco Ignotos;' ii. 
 8, 64, &c. Orelli compares Plato's use of Kopv^doi, Republic, 343 A. Cp. 
 also Cowper's Task, ii. 256 ; 
 
 * Strew the deck 
 With lavender, and sprinkle liquid sweets, 
 That no rude savour maritime invade 
 The nose of nice nobility.* 
 (See Shakspere, i Henry IV, i. 3. 45.) But onr corresponding metaphor is 
 taken not from the nose but the palate. We speak of a * man of taste.' Cp. 
 the French de bon gout. 
 
 sensible — our sensitive. So Dryden apud Johnson : 
 * Even I the bold, the sensible of wrong, 
 Restrain'd by shame, was forced to hold my tongue.* 
 Cp. sensibility. Locke speaks of * sensitive knowledge,' meaning know- 
 ledge * reaching no further than the existence of things actually present to 
 the senses,* ( = our sensuous), 
 
 5. crave, A.-S. crqfian, to ask. 
 
 [7. What part of the sentence is looking on it, &c.?] 
 
 14. ridd. Rid is cognate with Germ, retten, to save, rescue, 
 
 15. ««//tr(// = prodigal. 'Some in Parys sayde: "It is pytie these 
 
 T 
 
114 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 301 
 
 vnthrifts be vnhanged or drowned for tellyng of suche lies," * Berners* Froissart, 
 apud Richardson. 
 
 17. salary. The Latin salarium originally denoted salt-money, money 
 given the soldiers for salt, and then generally an allowance, stipend, &c. The 
 •word, which of course came to us through the French, is certainly as old in 
 England as Piers the Plowman, where it occurs in the form salerye, 
 
 23. He now comes to Point IV, see p. 67. 
 
 the no good. Cp. the use of ov in Gr. ; as, 17 touv y€<pvpafv ov ^laXv* 
 <Tis, Thucydides, i. 137 ; 1) ov irepireixKris, lb. iii. 95; 1^ ovk e^ovaia, lb. v. 
 50, &c. So rd fxr^ koXov^ Sophocles, Antigone, 370, &c. 
 
 26. // was the complaint ^ &c. Mr, Osborn notes that * when the Bill for 
 abolishing Bishops, Deans, and Chapters was before the House of Commons, 
 Dr. Hackett was heard in their defence (1641), and urged " that their endow- 
 ments were encouragements to Industry and Virtue, and were serviceable for 
 the advancement of Learning.** These were the arguments usually adopted 
 in their favour.* 
 
 28. pluralities. Plurality was a crying offence in Milton's eyes ; see 
 Apology for Smectymnuus : * The Prelate himself, being a pluralist, may 
 under one surplice, which is also linnen, hide four benefices, besides the 
 metropolitan toe,' &c. On the New Forcers of Conscience, 1-6: 
 
 ^ * Because you have thrown off your prelate-lord, 
 And with stiff vows renounced his Liturgy, 
 To seize the widowed whore Plurality 
 From them whose sin ye envied, not abhorred, 
 Dare ye for this adjure the civil sword 
 
 To force our consciences that Christ set free?* 
 See also The Second Defence, &c. 
 
 29. dasht. Comus, 451-2 : 
 
 * noble grace that dashed brute violence 
 With sudden adoration and blank awe.* 
 Psalm vi. 21 : 
 
 * Mine enemies shall all be blank and dashed 
 With much confusion.* 
 
 30. I never found cause, &c. See Remonstrant's Defence: * It had been 
 happy for this land, if your priests had been but only wooden .... If you 
 mean by wooden, illiterate or contemptible, there was no want of that sort 
 among you ; and their number increasing daily, as their laziness, their tavern- 
 hunting, their neglect of all sound literature, and their liking of doltish and 
 monastical schoolmen daily increased.* Also The likeliest Means to Remove 
 &c. : * ... as if with divines learning stood and fell, wherein for the most 
 part their pittance is so small.' 
 
 P. 30. 3. discontent. Suckling's Sessions of the Poets : 
 
 * Those that were there thought it not fit 
 To discontent so ancient a wit.* 
 
p. 30.] NOTES. 115 
 
 17. over it is, &c. The full phrase would be * over what it is/ &c. ; but 
 • what ' having occurred just before in what advantage, Milton does not care 
 to repeat it. 
 
 18. scapt. So scape-go2it, Cp. crawfish with ecrevisse, craze with ecraser, 
 &c. Escape is perhaps ultimately cognate with ship ; see Mr. Jerram's Par. 
 Reg., Gloss. 
 
 19. ferular = the rod, the cane, the *tawse' (see Jamieson). Mr. Skeat 
 sends me a sketch of the thing from an old seal in his possession. It ex- 
 panded at the end — the end designed for the victim — into a flat round ; that 
 is, it was in shape like a battledore with the handle lengthened and the bat 
 diminished, and so well adapted for effect on the palm of the hand, which 
 was the part of application ; see Gerard Dow's picture of the Schoolmaster in 
 the Fitz -William Museum, Cambridge. See Defence of the People of 
 England : * If I had leisure, or that if it were worth my while, I could reckon 
 up so many barbarisms of yours in this one book as, if you were to be 
 chastiz'd for them as you deserve, all the school-boys' /<?rw/as in Christen- 
 dome would be broken upon you.' See other instances — from Bishop Hall's 
 Censure of Travel and Feltham's Resolves — apud Richardson ; also Gosson's 
 School of Abuse, p. 24, ed. Arber. The stem is the L^it, ferula, which is of 
 the same root as ferire, to strike; see Horace, Satires, i. 3. 120; Juvenal, 
 i. 15, where see Mayor's note. See Martial, Epigrams, xiv. 80, * Ferulae* : 
 
 • Invisae nimium pueris grataeque magistris 
 Clara Prometheo munere ligna sumus.' 
 The form ferularis is not found in Classical Latin ; the Classical adjs. are 
 ferulaceus and feruleus. Ferularis would seem an analogue of regularis. 
 But it may be the ferular of the text is a misprint for ferula. 
 
 fescu = the wand or pointer ; another form is festu. Lat. festuca, a stalk, 
 stem, small stick. See Remonstrant's Defence : * A minister that cannot be 
 trusted to pray in his own words without being chewed to, zndfescued to a 
 formal injunction of his rote lesson, should as little be trusted to preach, &c.* 
 See Sir T. More's Workes, p. 1 102 : * But I shall afterward anon lay it afore 
 him agayne and sette him to it with zfestue that he shall not say but he saw 
 it.* See Way's Promptorium Parvulorum, s. v. festu, note : * In Piers 
 Ploughman's Vision, line 6183 [Mr. Skeat 's B-Text, x. 278, festu"], where 
 allusion is made to Matth. vii. 3, the mote in the eye, festuca, is termed fescu. 
 [So in the Wyclifiite version.] The Medulla likewise renders " festuca, a 
 festu or lytul mote." The name was applied to the straw, or stick, used for 
 pointing in the early instruction of children : thus Palsgrave gives " festue, to 
 spell with, festev." Occasionally the name is written with c or k, instead of t; 
 but it is apparently a corruption [probably due to writing, as there is often 
 confusion in MSS. between c and t]. *' Festu, a feskue, a straw, rush, little 
 stalk or stick, used for a fescue. Touche a fescue ; also a pen or a pin for a 
 pair of writing tables." Cotg.' In the Puritan, one of the plays falsely ascribed 
 to Shakspere,/«c«e = dial-hand ; see iv. 2, Sir Godfrey Plus log. : * Nay, put 
 by your chats nowe; fall to your business roundly; the fescue of the dial is 
 
1 1 6 A REOPA GITICA . [P. 3 1 . 
 
 upon the christ-cross of noon.' The form feaselrau, given by Halliwell, 
 Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, is clearly due to some crude 
 popular etymology. In Somersetshire occurs the form vester ; see Jennings* 
 Glossary of West Country Words. 
 
 21. the theam. This was the old grammar-school word for an essay; cp. 
 Fr. theme. See Locke, On Education, §171: * As to themes they have I confess 
 the pretence of something useful, which is to teach people to speak hand- 
 somely and well on any subject.' 
 
 a Grammar lad = a. grammar-school lad. The phrase is still so used 
 provincially, as in Durham. 
 
 22. uttered. To utter = to outer, send out, issue. We still speak of 
 
 • uttering coin.* 
 
 22. without the cursory eyes, &c. = without his eyes running over or survey- 
 ing it. Henry V, v. 2. 77-8 : 
 
 * I have but with a cursorary eye 
 O'er-glanced the articles.* 
 
 a temporizing and extemporizing licencer = a licencer who considers only the 
 expediencies of the moment, and arranges offhand the • means to satisfy 
 them. 
 
 25. standing to, &c. = standing close to, in near connection with, &c. 
 So 'Sir John stands to his word,' I Henry IV, i. 2. 130, &c. ; and so our 
 present usage. 
 
 P. 31. 4. considerat. On the active sense of passive participles in Eliza- 
 bethan English see Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, § 294 and 374. 
 Considerate has retained its active sense. 
 
 5. watchings. Watch, wake, wait are but various forms from A.-S. 
 wacian, 
 
 6. expence of Palladian oyl. * Operam et oleum perdere* was a common 
 Latin phrase. See Cicero, Ad. Fam. vii. I. 3 (perhaps in the Latin phrase 
 there is allusion to athletes' oil ; see 1. c.) ; Ad. Att. ii. 17 ; see also xiii. 38 : 
 
 * ante lucem quum scriberem contra Epicurios, de eodeni oleo et opera exaravi 
 nescio quid ad te et ante lucem dedi.* Lucubration means originally a 
 working by lamplight. 
 
 Palladian oyl = le3ivned oil. The olive-tree was sacred to Pallas Athena; 
 of which dedication Milton perhaps here suggests a meaning. The old my- 
 thology was never a dry and forceless thing to him. He, like Bacon, discerns 
 in it * the wisdom of the ancients.* The oil-light, by which men of learning 
 studied, was a gift of the goddess of learning. In the Latin poets Pallas 
 sometimes = oil, as Ovid, Tristia, iv. 5. 3. 
 
 unleasur'd = dax^^^^' 
 
 10. punie. Puny=puifie=puis-ne, i.e. post-natus or after-born. See 
 Bishop Hairs Resolutions for Religion, apud Richardson : * Or [if any shall 
 usurp] a motherhood to the rest .... and make them but daughters and 
 punies to her,' Sec. Of the Evil Angels : * If still this priviledge were ordinary 
 left in the church, it were not a work for puisness and novices, but for the 
 
p. 32.] NOTES. 117 
 
 greatest master and most learned and eminently holy doctors which the 
 times can possibly yield.* 
 
 1 2. bayl is ultimately from Latin hajulus, a bearer, porter. 
 
 idiot. See Trench's Select Glossary, also his Study of Words. 
 
 1 7. under the Presse, We say * iu.' * Sub prelo ' is the common sixteenth 
 century Latin phrase. 
 
 19. diligentest. See above, note to p. 15, 1. 15. 
 
 20. dares. Commonly, when we use dare with another verb, we do 
 not inflect the 3rd person ; we treat it like the auxiliary verbs ; but when it 
 
 * governs an accusative,' then we inflect it. We say ♦ he dare not go,* but * he 
 dares him to go.* See Morris's Eng. Ace, p. 184. The fact is that the 
 words are different. The auxiliary dare is really an old preterite, like wot, 
 wont, oT^, &c. See Grein's Bibliothek der Angelsitchsischen Poesie, Glossar., 
 s. V. durran; also Skeat's Moeso-Gothic Diet. p. 304. 
 
 2-^. jaunt. Old English ^'at/nc^. Old French jancer, *to jolt, or jog,* 
 (Wedgwood.) See Shakspere, Richard II, v. 5. 94; 
 
 * Spurr'd, gall'd, and tri'd by jauncing Bolingbrokc* 
 Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub, ii. I : 
 
 * Faith, would I had a few more geances on*t.* 
 
 27. accuratest = most carefully considered, soundest. 
 
 29. [What is the meaning of melancholy here ?] 
 
 31. Doctor is literally a teacher, as Cicero, Ad Fam. vii. 19, &c. 
 
 P. 32. I. patriarchal licencer. There is an allusion to Laud here. There 
 was a popular rumour that he wished to become the Patriarch of the Western 
 Church. See the quotation from Somers* Tracts, iv. 434, Scott's edition, 
 apud Holt White ; also Of Reformation, where Milton says that * whenever 
 the Pope shall fall' the Bishops w'Jl try to get what they can out of 
 the ruin, * hee a Patriarchdome, and another what comes next hand ; as 
 the French Cardinal [Richelieu] of late, and the See of Canterbury hath 
 plainly aflfected.* 
 
 /)a/n'arc/fa/ = patriarch-like, who assumes the authority of a patriarch or 
 head of * the House.' UaTpidpxrjs, compounded of Trarpid and apxos^ = race- 
 chief. In Eccl. Greek it was the title borne by the Bishops of Rome, Jeru- 
 salem, Antioch, and Alexandria. 
 
 2. hidebound is used of beasts, and of trees that cannot grow because their 
 hides or barks are so thick ; similarly of corn. See Overbury's Characters, 
 The Franklin: * He is never known to go to law; understanding to be law- 
 bound among men is like to be hidebound among his beasts — they thrive 
 not under it.* See from Boyle's Works, vi. 483, apud Richardson. Cp. 
 barkbound: see Mahn's Webster. 
 
 which he calls his judgement. Cp. the late Lord Westbury*s phrase: 
 
 * what he is pleased to call his mind.' 
 
 4. pedanlick = ^choo\TmsieT'\ike, pedagogic. With the latter word it is said 
 by some to be etymologically almost identical; pedant, they say, is contracted 
 from pedagogant (is there such a word ?), which is a secondary form from 
 
Il8 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 32. 
 
 pedagogue. More probably, as Diez holds, it is from a Latinized form of the 
 Gr. naid€v€iVy the Ital. pedante. For pedant in the sense of ' schoolmaster * 
 see e.g. Love's Labour's Lost, iii. i. 179 : 
 
 * A domineering pedant o'er the boy,* &c. 
 What is now the common use began to prevail in the course of the seventeenth 
 century. See Spectator, 105: 'A man that has been brought up among books 
 and is able to talk of nothing else, is a very indifferent companion and what 
 we call a pedant.* Coleridge, Biographia Literaria, chap. 10, says that 
 * pedantry consists in the use of words unsuitable to the time, place, and 
 company.' 
 
 g. J/«^ = fling; originally, to strike, as Havelok the Dane, I. 215, the 
 king 
 
 *Ofte dede him sore swinge 
 And wit hondes smerte dinge ; 
 So that the blod ran of his fleys, 
 That tendre was, and swithe neys/ 
 lb. 227. 
 
 * Thanne he hauede ben ofte swungen, 
 Ofte shriven and ofte dungen* &c. 
 See Skeat's Gloss, to Havelok, also Jamieson's Scot. Diet., Stratmann's Diet, 
 of Old Eng., Halliwell's Diet, of Archaic and Provincial Words, Vigfusson's 
 Icel. Diet., s. V. defigja, &c. 
 
 5. a coit's distance. Cp. Gr. SicKovpa, as Homer, Iliad, xxiii. 523 ; 
 lb. 431: 
 
 ocTffa 8^ hlaKOV ovpa Karcufxadioio neXovTat, 
 ovT* ai^Tjos aKprjKiv dvrjp, Treipunevos ijPrjSf 
 rocffov (iredpafxiTrjv. 
 7. Jist. Cp. above, note, p. 28, L 33. See Roister Doister, iii. 5. 43, 
 where the Scrivener bids Ralph 
 
 * Loke on your own Jist* &c. 
 
 10. Stationer = the bookseller, or the publisher. All that the word meant 
 to begin with was one who had a station or stall in the market-place. See 
 Trench's Select Glossary, s. v.; Dryden's Mac Flecknoe, 95 ; Dunciad, ii. 31, 
 &c. Trench quotes from Fuller's Appeal of Injured Innocence: *I doubt not 
 but that the Animadverter's Stationer doth hope and desire that he hath thus 
 pleased people in his book for the advancing of the price and quickening the 
 sale thereof.* 
 
 11. [What is meant by return here ?] 
 
 14. this, i.e. the licensed book under consideration. 
 
 15. from Sir Francis Bacon. See Bacon's tract entitled An Advertisement 
 touching the Controversies of the Church of England, written 1589, first pub- 
 lished in 1640 (he is speaking of the attempts of the bishops to suppress 
 certain pamphlets) : * And indeed we see it ever falleth out that the for- 
 bidden writing is always thought to be certain sparks of a truth that fly up 
 in the faces of those that seek to choke it and tread it out ; whereas a book 
 
p. 32.] NOTES. 119 
 
 authorized is thought to be but " temporis voces," the language of the time.* 
 Milton quotes again from this tract, below, p. 38 ; again in the Animad- 
 versions, p., 57 of Prose Works: *. , . insomuch that Sir Francis Bacon 
 in one of his discourses complains of the bishops' uneven hand over these 
 pamphlets, confining those against bishops to darkness, but licensing those 
 against Puritans to be uttered openly, though with the greater mischief of 
 leading into contempt the exercise of religion in the persons of sundry 
 preachers, and disgracing the higher matter in the meaner person.* See also 
 Apology for Smectymnuus, p. 84 of Prose Works. See Spedding's Letters 
 and Life of Bacon, i. 78. 
 
 17. which will be, &c. He will be a difficult man to succeed, as we say. 
 It is too much to hope that there should be two hcensers of extraordinary 
 judgment one after the other. Mr. Lobb takes the words differently. He 
 paraphrases : ' and if this should be the case the further continuance of the 
 system would be seriously imperilled.* 
 
 22. never so famous. So Psalm Iviii. 5: 'charmers charming never so 
 wisely,* Midsummer Night's Dream, iii, 2. 442 ; 
 
 * Never so weary, never so in woe, 
 
 I can no further crawl, no further go,* &c. 
 See Abbott's Shak. Gr., § 52. 
 
 25. vfn/roMS = venturesome, daring, audacious. Dryden's Knight's Tale: 
 *The vent'rous knight is from the saddle thrown.* 
 Faerie Queene, iv. 11. 7; 
 
 * Who sore against his will did him retaine. 
 For feare of perill which to him mote fall 
 
 Through his too ventrous prowess proved over all.' 
 
 27. decrepit means originally noiseless, and so forceless, weak, effete. 
 Plautus speaks of a *vetulus decrepitus senex,* Mercator, ii. 2. 43. * In de- 
 crepitos me numera et extrema languentes,* writes Seneca, Ep. 26. 
 
 28. though it were Knox, &c. Possibly he alludes to an edition of Knox's 
 History of the Reformation in Scotland, in which that work appeared with 
 passages expunged. Disraeli refers to this mutilation in his article on ' The 
 Licensers of the Press' in Curiosities of Literature: * Knox, whom Milton 
 calls "the Reformer of a Kingdom," was also curtailed;' (also = as well as 
 Buchanan's History of Scotland). But was this edition mutilated by the 
 licensers, or by the editor himself? See Holt White. 
 
 Knox*s life (1515-72) has been written by M^'Crie (181 2) and Brandes 
 (1863). Milton mentions him again in his Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, 
 p. 238 of Prose Works: *In the year 1564 John Knox, a most famous divine 
 and the reformer of Scotland to the presbyterian discipline,' &c. ; and in his 
 Observations on the Articles of Peace, p. 268 of Prose Works : ' But these 
 blockish presbyters of Clandeboy know not that John Knox, who was the 
 first founder of presbytery in Scotland, taught professedly the doctrine of 
 deposing and of killing kings.' 
 
 30. their dash, i. e. their erasure, their • dele.' 
 
I20 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 33. 
 
 32. perfunctory = merely and narrowly official. Richardson gives from 
 Bishop Hall's Sermon on Ecclesiastes iii. 4 : * Let not our mourning be per- 
 functory and fashionable ; but serious and hearty and zealous, so that we may 
 furrow our cheeks with our tears.* 
 
 to what an author^ &c. Holt White suggests that the work referred to 
 is the posthumous volumes of Coke's Institutes, published in 164 1. Or is \\ 
 Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland ? See above, 1. 28. 
 
 P. 33. 2. //// a more convenient season. It would seem that such a season 
 never came, as neither to Festus, whose phrase it is with regard to a second 
 interview with St. Paul (Acts xxiv, 25). 
 
 3. resented. See Trench's Select Glossary, s. v. Resent. 
 
 5. such iron moulds^ i.e. such cancers. 
 
 6. /^MaK' = gnaw. See instances of the form with h from Chaucer, More, 
 and North, apud Richardson. 
 
 9. the more. The = 6y that much; Lat. eo. It is an old ablative. 
 
 13. dunce. See Trench's Study of Words, p. 108, and Select Glossary, 
 s. v., and above, p. 18, 1. 26. 
 
 15. every "knowing person. See below, p. 46, 1. 13, *a knowing people.' 
 
 19. set so light by, &c. Cp. 'to set store by,' &c. Perhaps light in this 
 phrase should be lite or little, i. e. represents the old lyte, A.-S. lytel. By = 
 by the side of, in comparison with ; Gr. wapd, and irpos. So * to set so light 
 by,' &c., is *to compare with what is so little,' &c., = to reckon or rate at 
 so little, put so low an estimate upon. 
 
 the invention. Shakspere calls Venus and Adonis * the first heir of my 
 invention.* Henry V, Prologue : 
 
 * O for a Muse of fire that would ascend 
 The brightest heaven of invention,* &c. 
 
 the ar/ = the power to express and embody what 'the invention' suggests. 
 
 21. // = the whole intellectual power of which the specific faculties — if 
 'faculties' is not an obsolete word — have just been mentioned. 
 
 26. monopolizd. The age of State monopolies, which had been felt in- 
 expressibly odious, was only just past. See Hallam's Constit. Hist., chap. vi. 
 
 27. /ic^e/s = perhaps labels describing the quality, price, &c. of the goods 
 on which they were placed; or labels testifying the goods are licensed to be 
 sold ; or better, as Holt White : * Acknowledgements for goods obtained on 
 credit were then called Tickets;* see the instances he quotes. Hence our 
 * slang * phrase * to go on tick.' In derivation ticket is connected with stick, 
 &c. The old Fr. form is esticquette, 
 
 statutes, notes Holt White, ' are securities given for debts contracted by 
 the purchase of merchandise.' See Shaks. Sonnets 134, Hamlet, v. i. 113. 
 
 standards, such as are established in trade matters, as for weights and 
 measures, &c. See Blackstone, On the Royal Prerogative as to Weights 
 »nd Measures, Kerr's ed. i. 270-272. 
 
 28. a staple commodity = z law-defined, chartered commodity. See Kerr's 
 Blackstone, i. 308: * These [customs on wool, skins, and leather] were 
 
p. 35.] NOTES. lai 
 
 formerly called the hereditary customs of the crown; and were due on the ex- 
 portation only of the said three commodities and of none other ; which were 
 styled the staple commodities of the kingdom, because they were obliged to 
 be brought to those ports where the king's staple was established in order* to 
 be there first rated and then exported,' &c. 
 
 31. like that impos'd, &c. See I Sara. xiii. 19-22. 
 
 32. coulter^ or colter, is the Lat. culter, which is from colo. 
 
 P. 34, 12. disparagement means strictly * an ill pairing,* a mesalliance. 
 So disparage. Faerie Qiieene, iv. 8. 50. Cp. Camden's Elizabeth, an. 1563: 
 * They disdained this marriage with Dudley as altogether disparageable and 
 most unworthy of the bloud royal and royal majesty.* The general sense 
 of any unworthy association, and so of degradation, prevailed in the seven- 
 teenth century. 
 
 17. jealous. Lowland Scottish retains this verb; stejealouse znd jalouse 
 in Jamieson. 
 
 26. nor that neither. Observe the double negative. Instances of it occur 
 in this phrase certainly as late as Goldsmith. 
 
 P. 35. 2. laick, strictly = popular, pertaining to the people; Gr. \aXK6s; 
 but has a depreciatory sense. Cp. lewd, vulgar. See Of Church Govern- 
 ment : * We have learnt the scornful term of laick,' &c. 
 
 5. conceit, i. e. conception, Etymologically conceit, Ital. concetto, is a cor- 
 ruption of the Latin conceptum, 
 
 12. enchiridion, l7x«pt5(ov = hand-book, Lat. manuale. Observe the 
 word-play here ; enchiridion also signifies * a dagger,' as Thucydides, iii. 70. 
 Erasmus sports similarly, as Holt White notes : * Dedi Enchiridion [his En- 
 chiridion Militis Christiani] ; ille contra gladiolum, quo non magis adhnc 
 sum usus quam ille libro.' Life by Jortin, i. 358. In the sense of a 
 hand-book the word was common in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 turies. 
 
 the castle St, Angela of an Imprimatur, i. e. without the protection of 
 some Papacy-born license. He refers to the fact that the Castle of St. An- 
 gelo, then the Pope's prison, was once the papal fortress. Originally the 
 Mausoleum of Hadrian, it was first occupied as the papal fortress by Pope 
 John XII in the tenth century. In time it passed to other uses. See 
 Murray's Rome. 
 
 16. flourishes. See Love's Labour's Lost, ii. I. 13, 14: 
 
 * Good lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean. 
 Needs not the painted flourish of your praise.* 
 
 Richard III, i. 3. 241 : 
 
 * Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune.' 
 
 The word was technically used of a blast of trumpets, as Richard III, iv. 
 4. 148. 
 
 1 7. what I have heard, &c. See his account of his travels in his Second 
 Defence, pp. 933, 934 of Prose Works. 
 
 19. their lerned men. In the Second Defence, 1. c, he mentions Jacob 
 
IQ^'Z AREOPAGITICA. [P. 36. 
 
 Gaddi, Carolo Dati, Frescobaldo, &c. at Florence, Lucas Holstein • and other 
 learned and ingenious men * at Rome, Manso Marquis of Villa at Naples. 
 
 26. fustian. In the Apology for Smectymnuus he speaks of * Apuleius, 
 Arnobius, or any modern fustianist* Fustian denotes originally a sort of 
 coarse cloth ; then stuffing, padding ; in literature it denotes words without 
 force, mere verbiage. Cp. bombast, 
 
 27. Galileo, born 1564 (the year of Shakspere's birth), died 1642. See 
 his Life by Brewster; also Hallam's Lit. of Europe, 1 600-1 650, chap. viii. 
 
 28. prisoner to the Inquisition, He seems at the time Milton visited him 
 (1638) to have been in what the Latins called libera custodia, i.e. not con- 
 fined in any dungeon, but only kept under a certain restraint, as that he 
 should not move away from a specified neighbourhood, or perhaps a special 
 house. 
 
 for thinking in astronomy, &c. As is well known, he held that the earth 
 moved round the sun, and not the sun round the earth. Milton himself can 
 scarcely be said to have accepted his views, but evidently they attracted him. 
 See especially Paradise Lost, viii. 122-158: 
 
 *What if the sun 
 Be centre to the world, and other stars,' &c. ; 
 also iv. 591-597. Wilkins (1614-1672) seems to have been one of the first 
 Englishmen who formally supported them. See Morley's First Sketch of 
 English Literature, p. 571. 
 
 29. the Franciscan, &c. On the connection of the Dominicans with the 
 Inquisition see above, note to p. 6, 1. 26. 
 
 30. that England then, &c. See Hallam's Constitutional History, chap, 
 viii. ; also Milton's own Of Reformation in England, &c. 
 
 P. 36. 3. forgotten, i. e. made forgotten, caused to be forgotten. So 
 sometimes in Elizabethan English rememl^r = to make remembered, &c. See 
 below, p. 38, 1. 15. 
 
 7. parts, i. e. of the world. So we may still speak of Foreign Parts. 
 
 9. in time of Parlamefit, From 1629 ^^ ^^4° ^^^ ^^®" ^ ^^"^^ ^^ "° 
 Parliament. See Hallam. 
 
 11. without envy = sine invidiam absit invidia, without exciting any odium 
 against me. Cp. Reason for Church Government, p. 43 of Prose Works : 
 * Yet for me sitting here below in the cool element of prose, a mortal thing 
 among many readers of no empyreal conceit, to venture and divulge unusual 
 things of myself, I shall petition to the gentler sort, it may not be envy to 
 me.' 
 
 12, an honest quaestorship, &c. Cicero was Lilybaean quaestor in Sicily 
 75 B.C. 
 
 quaestorship. The duties of the quaestor were concerned with the public 
 money. 
 
 14. Verres. The extortionate propraetor in Sicily 73-71 B.C.; against 
 whom the famous Verrine Orations of Cicero were delivered, or composed. 
 (Ouly two of the seven were actually delivered.) See Forsyth's Life of Cicero, 
 
p. 37.] NOTES. 123 
 
 18. Just reason = dp$bs Xoyot, 
 
 20. the disburdning, &c. = the expression of a mere whim of my own. 
 
 39. ike shaking of every leaf. Observe the word-play. Milton is not 
 altogether free from the punning plague of his time. See the notorious 
 passage in Paradise Lost, vi. 558-567. 
 
 P. 37. I. tvill soon put it out 0/ controversies &c. See Milton's lines On 
 the New Forcers of Conscience. That bishops and presbyters were iden- 
 tical was one of the points urged by the Puritans. See Of Prelatical Episco- 
 pacy, where he maintains that it is 'clear in Scripture that a Bishop and 
 Presbyter is all one both in name and office.* Of course in the text Milton 
 is speaking with a slightly bitter jocularity. What he now discovers is 
 a moral as well as a historical identity ; and the question so long mooted is 
 settled. Cp. Short's History of the Church of England, § 606. 
 
 8. dioces is from the Gr. SioiKrjattt (i) an administration; (3) the district 
 administered. 
 
 10. a my Stic all pluralist = zn extraordinary, mysterious, perplexing plura- 
 list ; one whose pluralities it would not be easy to define. The Episcopalian 
 pluralist was at least an intelligible monstrosity. 
 
 n. sole ordination, &c. The rights of sole ordination and of spiritual 
 jurisdiction were amongst the points attacked by the Smectymnuans and 
 defended by Bishop Hall. See Animadversions, p. 68 of Prose Works. 
 
 novice is the Lat. noviciusy which in earlier Latin at least is specially used 
 of one recently made a slave; thus Plautus, Captivi, iii. 5. 60: 
 * Recens captus homo nuperus et novitius,* 
 
 Batchelor. * Le bachelier, proprietare d'une baccalaria [ = une m^tairie, 
 derived from Lat. vacca^ d'un bien rural, est audessus du serf, tout en 
 restant un vassal d'ordre inferieur. Ce mot prend ensuite le sens, en droit 
 feodal, de vassal qui marche sous la banniere d'autrui ; puis de gentilhomme 
 trop jeune pour lever banniere, qui sert sous la conduite d'un autre seigneur ; 
 puis dans la langue de I'ancienne University, de jeune homme qui etudie 
 sous un maitre pour acquerir la dignite inferieure a celle de docteur ; enfin 
 de gradu^ d'une Faculty.' (Brachet.) The derivations that used to be given 
 from bas chevalier^ and from bacca lauri are ridiculous enough. 
 
 Batchelor of Art. So Apology for Smectymnuus, sect, viii, p. 89 of Works. 
 Art is here used in a collective sense. 
 
 15. Covenants. * Cov'nants were the engagements which the Commons* 
 House had drawn up for signature the year before and ordered to be sub- 
 scribed by the Members of both Houses of Parliament and by the People. 
 Beside this natural test or pledge of fidelity enjoined by the Parliament there 
 were voluntary covenants by which the individuals of particular bodies 
 mutually bound themselves to sustain "the good old cause" and to be 
 faithful to each other.' (Holt White, who refers to Memoirs of Colonel 
 Hutchinson, &c.) See in any History of England some account of the Scotch 
 Covenant of 1638 and the English of 1643. 
 
 16. Protestations, In May, 1 641, on the discovery of a scheme to call 
 
124 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 37. 
 
 in the English army from the North to overawe the Parh'ament, the 
 Commons drew up a Protestation declaring their resolve to uphold the 
 Protestant faith against Romish innovations, to protect the King's person, 
 the freedom of parliament, and the rights and Hberties of the subject. Tiiis 
 Protestation was also taken by the peers and bishops. See Annals of 
 England, &c. 
 
 17. cAo/> = exchange. The original is the A.-S. cedpan, to buy. Cp. 
 rAop-man, cheap, Chep-stov/, cheapen, &c. Lydgate gives the Dutch form 
 in London Lyckpenny (Skeat's Specimens of Eng. Lit., p. 25) : 
 
 * I gat me out of the doore, 
 Where Flemynges began on me for to cry 
 "Master, what will you copen or by?"* 
 Chop is still common enough in provincial dialects, and amongst schoolboys. 
 
 1 8. the Palace Metropolitan, i. e. Lambeth Palace. See Stow's Kentish 
 Saxons, an. 456, apud Richardson : * It [Kent] hath the Archbishopricke of 
 Canterbury, Metropolitane and Primate of all England, and the Bishopricke 
 of Rochester, and kings as followeth.' 
 
 20. an old cannonicall slight=a. well-known trick allowed by the canon law. 
 cannonicall. * The Apostolical Canons . . are certainly a forgery of 
 
 much later date* than the Apostles. * The Greek church allows eighty-five, 
 the Latin fifty of them. The first ecclesiastical canon was promulgated 
 A.D. 380. Canon law was first introduced into Europe by Gratian, the 
 celebrated canon-law author in 1151 (or 1 127), and was- introduced into 
 England, 19 Stephen, 1 154,* (Haydn's Diet, of Dates.) The second part 
 of the canon law consisted of * the decretals * = a collection of the Popes* 
 edicts and decrees, and the decrees of councils. 
 
 commuting our penance. See Jeremy Taylor's Rule of Conscience, i. 4 : 
 * Vitellescus vows to fast upon the last of February, but, changing his mind, 
 believes he may commute his fasting for alms; he resolves to break his fast 
 and give a ducket to the poor. But when he had new dined, he discourses 
 the question again, and thinks it unlawful to commute and that he is bound 
 to pay his vow in kind ; but the fast is broken, and yet if he refuses upon 
 this new inquest to pay his commutation he is a deceiver of his own soul.* 
 Liberty of Prophesying : * There is so free a concession of indulgences 
 appendant to all these, and a thousand fine devices to take away the fear of 
 purgatory, to commute or expiate penance, that in no sect of men do they 
 with more ease and cheapnesse reconcile a wicked life with the hopes of 
 heaven then in a Roman communion.* See Remains of Archbp. Grindal, 
 Parker Society Ed., p. 457. 
 
 21. startle. Observe the intransitive use. 
 2-2. [How would you parse he afraid?] 
 
 conventicle is properly a diminutive of convent — 9. coming together, a 
 meeting, an assembly. In the seventeenth century it came to be used 
 specially of nonconformist meetings and meeting-houses. Cp. Beaumont's 
 Psyche, xvi. 80 ; 
 
p. 38.] NOTES. 125 
 
 *The fond schismatick and heretick fry 
 Flatter their conventicling cells in vain, 
 As if the sneaking arms of privacy 
 
 The great and catholick spirit could contain/ 
 Taylor (Liberty of Prophesying, xii), speaks of * the conventicles of the 
 Arians.' See Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical ; No. XI. Maintainers of 
 Conventicles censured, and XII. Maintainers of Constitutions made in Con- 
 venticles censured. P. 542 of the ed. of 1 844. 
 26. the rocJe of, &c. See Matt. xvi. 18. 
 
 31. [What is the grammatical construction of /o shut us all up again f] 
 33. Who cannot but discern, &c. There is a pleonastic negative here. 
 Either *who cannot discern* or *who can but discern* would have been 
 sufficient (the latter phrase would have been ambiguous). Cp. the much 
 
 * vexed ' passage in Macbeth, iii. 6, 8 : 
 
 • Who cannot want the thought,* &c. 
 P. 38. 2. baited down. Bear-baiting, as is well known, was a favourite 
 old English sport. See 2 Henry VI, v. i. 148-150 (Clifford to York, ot 
 Warwick, whose cognisance was the bear, and Salisbury) : 
 
 •Are these thy bears? We'll bait thy bears to death, 
 And manacle the bearward in their chains, 
 If thou dar'st bring them to the baiting place.* 
 At the time Milt^ wrote this * sport ' was prohibited, but it was neither 
 forgotten nor extiirct. 
 
 6. voided out 0/ the Church = emptied out of, ejected from the Church. 
 Cp. Chaucer's Legend of Good Women : 
 
 * When that the house voided was of hem all 
 He looked on his doughter with glad chere.' 
 Fabyan's Chronicle, Henry III, an. 1 230: * The people there assemblyd voydyd 
 the churche, and the vycarrys and chanons forsoke theyr deskys.' Void 
 and avoid originally = to make empty. Strictly, therefore, wc should speak 
 of voiding or avoiding a place, not a person. 
 9. run, i. e. let run. 
 13. to her old fetters. See note above to p. 29, 1. 1. 
 
 15. remember /A^m = make them remember, remind them. So King 
 Lear, i. 4. 72 : *Thou but remember' st me of mine own conception,* &c. This 
 factitive use of verbs is very commoa in Elizabethan English. See above, 
 
 p. 36. 1. 3- 
 
 16. this obstructing violence. Sec The shameful 'violence* shown to- 
 wards Leighton, Prynne, Bastwick, Button, and many another had certainly 
 
 * obstructed * the aims of the perpetrators. See Hallam's Constitutional 
 History, chaps, vii, viii. Student's Edition. 
 
 19. The punishing of wits, &c. Cp. Tacitus: *Punitis ingeniis gliscit 
 auctoritas.' 
 
 20. enhaunces = \heT2L\\y , puts forward, advances, 
 
 33. a nursing mother; i. e. not only a producer, but a fosterer and 
 
126 AREOPAGITICA. [p. 38,, 
 
 encourager. Isaiah xlix. 23 : * And kings shall be thy nursing fathers [sc« 
 Numb. xi. 12], and their queens thy nursing mothers^ See Locke's Letters 
 on Toleration, Letter 3, chap. ix. 
 
 24. a step-danie. This is scarcely an accurate word. Step = A.'S. steop, 
 meaning bereft, and thus a step-child — zn orphan. It would seem to have 
 been used specially of a child who has lost one parent ; and, in an odd way, 
 in the case of the surviving parent marrying again, the same prefix was used 
 to denote the parent acquired by the marriage. Thus, while strictly speak- 
 ing a step-mother or father should mean a mother or father who has suffered 
 a bereavement, it does in fact denote just the opposite. In the common 
 usage, all that a step-mother means is one who has to do with a step-child. 
 For a similar misuse cp. the terms grandchild and grandmother. Grand- 
 mother is intelligible enough ; but grandchild ! Contrast the Fr. petite-fille. 
 For the sense of step-dame here, cp. Gr. fxr}rpvia, Lat. noverca, Fr. helle 
 viere. Cp. Sidney's Apol.for Poet., p. 60, ed. Arber : ... 'to inquire why 
 England, the mother of excellent wits, should be grown so hard a step-mother 
 to poets,' &c. See the story of Battos in Herodotus, iv. 154, of Etearchos* 
 second wife and her step-daughter : 1) 8e iiT€ai\&ovaa kSiKaUv cfi'a* koi to; 
 (pyo) fXTjTpvi^ tt) ^povipLTj, irapixovffd t€ KaKci Koi ttSlv kn avrfi /LtT/xavcu/xci/?;. 
 Observe how the dying Alkestis entreats Admetos, for their children's sake, 
 not to marry again (Euripides, Alkestis, 304-310): 
 
 TovTovs [the children] dvaaxov SccTroTas kfiSjv So/ion^, 
 
 Kol pLT) *myripLr}$ roTahi firjrpviav rkKVOis, 
 
 iJTis KaKiQjv ova* kpiov yvv^ <p96v(v 
 
 roTs aoiai Kdfiots iraKJi x^^P^ npoffpaXei, 
 
 firj brjra dpdarjs ravrd 7', airovfJiai a* kydj. 
 
 (X^pd ydp "q 'iriovffa firjrpvid TeKVOis 
 
 ToTs TrpoaB^f kxi^J^rjs ovdei/ Tjiriajrepa^ 
 ^schylus calls a certain perilous coast *a step-mother of ships* (firjTpvid 
 V€uv, Prometheus, 727)* ^P- Horace's 
 
 * Qujd ut noverca me intueris, aut uti 
 Petita ferro bellua ? ' — Epodes, v. 9 ; 
 Vergirs * injusta noverca ' (Eclogues, iii. 33) ; * saevae novercae * (Georgics, 
 ii. 128); Ovid's * scelcratae novercae' (Fasti, iii. 853) ; *terribiles novercae' 
 (Metamorphoses, 1. 147) ; Plautus* * apud novercam queri * = to complain in 
 vain (Pseudolus, i. 3. 95) ; Tacitus* * novercalia odia * (Annals, xii. 2) ; 
 Seneca's (the Elder) * novercalibus oculis intueri * (Controversiae, iv. 6), 
 &c. In the Romaunt of the Rose, Fortune is described to be ' as a step- 
 mother .envious.' See also Shakspere, Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2. 201, 
 Cymb. i. I. 70, &c. 
 
 27. to, i. e. with regard to, in respect of. We should rather say * from.' 
 uses. This present in this sense is almost obsolete. With regard to the 
 preterite, notice how the pronunciation is varied with the sense. In the 
 sense * was wont ' the • s * is sharp ; in the other sense, it is flat. 
 
 ap. complexion = constitution. Berners* Froissart, i. chap. 326: * This 
 
p. 39.] NOTES. 127 
 
 was a man of feble eomplexion and sickly, and endured moche payne more 
 that any other.* Dryden's Death of Oliver Cromwell : 
 
 * For from all tempers he could service draw ; 
 
 The worth of each with its alloy he knew. 
 And, as the confident of nature, saw 
 
 How she complexions did divide and brew.* 
 Bacon speaks of ' empiric physicians which commonly have a few pleasing 
 receipts, whereupon they are confident and adventurous, but know neither 
 the causes of diseases nor the complexions of patients, nor peril of accidents, 
 nor the true method of cures.* (Advancement of Learning, i. a. 3 ; see 
 Glossary in Aldis Wright's edition.) See Chaucer's Prologue, of the Frank- 
 lin, 333 •• 
 
 * Of his complexioun he was sangwyn,' &c. ; 
 where tfom/>/^Af/o« = temperament. The modern meaning appears certainly 
 in the sixteenth century ; as in Shakspere, see Sonnet xviii. 6, ficc See 
 Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon s. v. 
 
 Truth is eompar'd, &c. Cp. Psalm Ixxxv. 1 1 : * Truth shall spring out 
 of the earth * (• shall flourish out of the earth,* Common Prayer). 
 
 P. 39. I. Assembly. This was the proper title of what answered in some 
 degree to the Convocation of the Episcopalians. 
 
 5. There be, who knows not that there be, &c. See The Likeliest Means to 
 Remove, &c., close to the end, p. 438 of Prose Works : • But while Protestants, 
 to avoid the due labour of understanding their own religion, are content to 
 lodge it in the breast, or rather in the books, of a clergyman, and to 
 take it thence by scraps and mammocks, as he dispenses it in his Sunday's 
 dole, they will be always learning and never knowing ; always infants ; 
 always either his vassals, as lay papists are to their priests, or at odds with 
 him, as reformed principles give them some light to be not wholly con- 
 formable ; whence infinite disturbances in the state, as they do, must needs 
 follow.* 
 
 6. [Explain o/here.] 
 
 professors = Puritans. May speaks of * strict Professors of Religion 
 commonly called Puritans.' (History of the Parliament which began in 
 1640.) 
 
 7. arrant is said to be derived from A.-S. arg, or 5ar^ = wicked, bad; 
 cp. Dutch and Germ. arg. Arch is probably cognate. The -ant is probably, 
 as Wedgwood suggests, a corruption of an inflectional -en ; cp. Romaunt and 
 Roman, Alyaunt and alien, tyrant and Fr. tyran, &c. Also the form may 
 have been influenced by some fancied connection of the word with Lat. 
 errans. 
 
 [Explain an implicit faith. "] 
 
 8. any lay Papist of Lor et to = * zny one of the fervent, uncompromising 
 believers who constitute the secular (i. e. uninitiated) population of such a 
 centre of papal superstition as Loretto.* 
 
 LorettOf a town of Central Italy, not far from Ancona, was one of ihe 
 
128 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 39. 
 
 most frequented places of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages. This popu- 
 larity it owed to the asserted presence there of the Santa Casa — the very 
 house whose walls witnessed the birth of the Virgin herself, the Annun- 
 ciation, the Incarnation, and the growth of the Incarnate. This venerable 
 fabric had been moved by angels from its original site in Palestine, when 
 the Saracens destroyed the temple which the Empress Helena had built over 
 it. It rested for three years on the coast of Dalmatia. Then in 1 294 it 
 was moved again — to a grove near Loretto. * After three times changing 
 its position, it at length settled down, in 1295, on the spot it now occupies.* 
 See Murray's Handbook of Central Italy and Florence, Stanley's Sinai and 
 Palestine, &c. 
 
 10. piddling. In Reformation in England, Milton speaks of *the ignoble 
 hucksterage of pidling tithes^ &c. The word is probably connected with 
 petty, Fr. petit^ &c. 
 
 1 1 . mysteries. The spelling should be * misteries ; * for the word in this 
 sense is derived from the Lat. ministerium. Popular etymology connected 
 it with the Gr. fivarrfpiov ; hence the false orthography. See Max Miiller's 
 Lectures on the Science of Language, Second Series, p. 254; cp. Chaucer's 
 Prologue, 613: 
 
 *In youthe he lerned hadde a good mester; 
 He was a wel good wright, a carpenter.* 
 skill = \iQ skilful enough, manage, &c. The verb is more common in 
 Elizabethan English as an impersonal, in the sense of * it matters not,* 
 * makes no difference ; * thus Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity, v. 78 : * Where- 
 fore to passe by the name, let them use what dialect they will, whether we 
 call it a priesthood, a presbytership, ot a ministrie, it skilleth not,* &c. 
 
 13. bear up with, i. e. keep pace with. 
 
 14. What does he therefore hut resolvs, &c. We should rather say * re- 
 solve,' using the infinitive dependent on ' does.* The former usage is the 
 more correct ; for in the latter * does * is in fact used in two different ways — 
 (i) as a complete verb, and (2) as an auxiliary. 
 
 22. commendatory. South 's Sermons : *To sooth and flatter such persons 
 would be just as if Cicero had spoke commendatories of Anthony, or made 
 panegyricks upon Catiline.* 
 
 25. dividuall = divi62ih\e (Cudworth), separable (Paradise Lost, xii. 82) : 
 
 *Yet know withal, 
 Since thy original lapse, true liberty 
 Is lost, which always with right reason dwells 
 Twinned, and from her hath no dividual being.* 
 Something different is the sense in Paradise Lost, vii. 382 ; the moon 
 
 ' iler reign 
 With thousand lesser lights dividual holds.' 
 30. after the malmsey, &c. Breakfast did not become * a stated meal * 
 till the beginning of the eighteenth century. * Previously it had been only 
 occasionally served in the establishments of the great. Queen Elizabeth 
 
p. 40.] NOTES, IZ9 
 
 breakfasted off meat, bread and cheese, and ale; her morning table was 
 sometimes spread sumptuously, but the usual custom among both rich and 
 poor was merely to take a morning draught. *' My diet/' says Cotton, '* is 
 always one glass as soon as I am dressed, and no more till dinner.'* At 
 Harper's or at the Crown, Pepys drank his morning draught, which was 
 usually a glass of buttered ale,' &c. (Our English Home, pp. 188, 189.) 
 Both tea and coffee were introduced into England about the middle of 
 the seventeenth century, but they did not become common for many a 
 long year. 
 
 the malmsey. Chaucer calls it *malvesie.' See the Shipman's Tale 1448 1, 
 Ed. Wright : 
 
 *With him brought he a jubbe of Malvesie, 
 And eek another ful of wyn vernage 
 And volantyn, as ay was his usage.' 
 Another form is mahnesyne, as in The Squire of Lowe Degre : 
 *Ye shal have rumney & malmesyne. 
 Both ypocrasse and vernage wine,' &c. 
 The name was derived from Malvasia, *a town upon the eastern coast of the 
 Morea, near the site of the ancient Epidaurus Limera, within a small distance 
 from Crete.' (Tyrwhitt.) The Hostess describes Bardolph as ' that arrant 
 malmsey-nose knave.* (2 Henry IV. ii. i.) 
 well spic^t bruage. Drant's Horace, Sat. ii. 4 : 
 
 * As if in brewinge spyced wines 
 
 Thou shouldst bestow muche paine,' &c. 
 
 31. he whose morning appetite, &c. See Matthew xxi. 19 ; Mark xi. 13, 
 
 P. 40. 6. Publicans = Lat. publicani, as in the A. V. of the New Test. 
 
 the tunaging and the poundaging, &c. Tunnage and poundage, • the 
 original of our present Customs duties, consisted, beside some less important 
 matters, of a duty of 3s. on each tun of wine imported and of is. in the 
 pound on the value of other goods ; aliens generally paid double.' (Annals 
 of England.) The student need scarcely be reminded that it was the king's 
 levying these duties on his own authority that formed one of the gravest 
 dissatisfactions of the Parliaments of Charles I. See Hallam. 
 
 8. 'em ( = hem, now superseded by them) is here reflexive, as very 
 commonly in Eliz. Eng. 
 
 12. what = whzt for, why; so Lat. quid, Gr. ri. So Julius Caesar, 
 ii. I. 123, 124: 
 
 * What need we any spur but our own cause 
 To prick us to redress?' 
 
 So in older English passim, e. g. in Chaucer. 
 
 18; starch is a softened form of stark, stiff, rigid. 
 
 19. stanch is ultimately connected with stagnant, through Old Fr. estancher. 
 Low Lat. stancare. Cp, Old English stank = a. stagnant pool. 
 
 24. is at his Hercules pillars in a warm benefice, i. e. has reached the 
 furthest point of his expectations, has realised his ntmost hopes in the 
 
 K 
 
1 30 AREOPA GITICA . [P. 40. 
 
 matter of preferment. Hercules pillars = the Straits of Gibraltar (see 
 Spenser's Prothalamiou 148, and note in Longer English Poems), were for 
 many an age the western boundary of the world; see Pindar's Olympia, iii. 77 ; 
 &c. And so the phrase is used by Bacon, and here, in the general sense of 
 a term or limit ; cp. * ultima Thule/ See Adv. of Learning, ed. Wright, 
 ii. 1.3* For why should a few received authors stand up like Hercules' 
 columns, beyond which there should be no sailing or discovering, since we 
 have so bright and benign a star as your Majesty to conduct and prosper 
 us?' 
 
 26. to finish his circuit = coucXmAq his studies. Cp. * When I have neither 
 yet completed to my mind the full circle of my private studies,* &c. {Reason 
 for Church Government^ p. 43 of Prose Works). 
 
 an English concordance. * The first concordance was made under the 
 direction of Hugo de St. Charo, who employed as many as 500 monks 
 on it/ (Haydn.) Jeremy Taylor speaks of * the Latin Concordances of 
 S. Hierom's Bible published by Stephens.* Cruden's Concordance was pub- 
 lished in London in 1737. 
 
 27. a topic folio = ^ a commonplace book.* Aristotle's Ilottol (as Rhetoric, 
 i. 2. 2ii) = Cicero's Communes loci (De Oratore, iii. 27), whence our phrase, 
 though in a slightly altered sense. See Cicero, 1. c. : ' Consequentur etiam 
 illi loci qui quanquam proprii causarum et inhaerentes in earum nervis esse 
 debent, tamen quia de universa re tractari solent, communes a veteribus 
 nominati sunt,' &c. Bacon says a good word for commonplace books, or 
 rather for the theory of them, in the Adv. of Learning, ii. 15. I ; * but,' he 
 adds, *this is true that of the methods of commonplaces that I have seen, 
 there is none of any sufficient worth : all of them carrying merely the face 
 of a school and not of a world, and referring to vulgar matters and pedantical 
 divisions, without all life or respect to action.' Milton himself kept one, 
 but in no servile style ; see the edition of it issued by the Camden Society. 
 
 28. a sober graduatship — a. steady University career. 
 
 a Harmony = 2i handbook bringing into agreement, or attempting to do 
 so, seemingly incongruous Scripture narratives ; a Diatessaron. 
 
 a Catefia = a list or series or * chain ' of authorities. Especially famous 
 in its time was the Catena Aurea of Thomas Aquinas. (The word chain is, 
 in fact, a corruption of catena.) 
 
 31. sol fa. See above, p. 107, note on gammuth, 
 P. 41. 2. charge = di\xty. 
 
 sermoning. Chaucer has the word in a general sense (Knight's Tale) : 
 * I trow ther nedeth litel sermoning 
 To maken you assente to this thing.* 
 Holinshed's Description of Ireland, chap. 4 : 'You sermon to us of a 
 duhgeon appointed for offenders and miscredents.' 
 
 3. ifiterlinearie = line-beneath-line translations. Jeremy Taylor (Sermon 
 iv.) refers to an interlineary translation of the Hebrew Bible, how it renders 
 ' nechosheth ' by * exactores.' See the passage, apud Richardson, 
 
p. 41.] NOTES. 131 
 
 breviaries = abridgments (the Fr. abreger^ whence our abridge, is a * cor- 
 ruption' of the Lat, abbreviare), compendiums. Specially, it denoted a concise 
 form of the Roman Catholic service-book, containing ' the seven canonical 
 hours;' originally called the ' custos.* 
 
 s>'«o/>ses = general views. Synopsis was a common book-title. 
 
 loitering gear = \2Lzy apparatus, slovenly tackle, lifeless stuff. Cp. * loitering 
 books and interlineary translations,' in the Apology for Smectymnuus. Gear 
 is the A.-S. geara or gearwa, preparation. It is used in a very general sense 
 in Eliz. Eng. ; as Troilus and Cressida, i. i. 6, says Pandarus of Troilus* 
 passion for Cressida : 
 
 'Will this gear ne'er be mended?* 
 lb. iii. 2. 220; Merchant of Venice, i. I. lio; ii. 2. 176; Comus, 
 167, &c. 
 
 6. our London trading St. Thomas^ &c. i.e. our largest and busiest 
 marts are as well stocked with sermons as with any other ware whatever. 
 This seems to be the meaning of this very difficult passage ; but the details 
 of the expression are obscure. St. Thomas may refer to the church of 
 St. Thomas Apostle in Knightriders Street in Vintry Ward (see Stow's 
 Survey of London, cd. Thoms, p. 92) ; St. Martin to that of St. Martin le 
 Grand (there were other churches of St. Martin, as in the Vintry, not 
 rebuilt after the fire, &c). What is meant by St. Hugh I do not know. 
 There has never been in London a church dedicated to a saint of that name. 
 (The only Church in England so dedicated is said to be at Quethiock in 
 Cornwall.) Can St. Hugh possibly denote Lincoln ? Not that Lincoln 
 Cathedral is dedicated to him (it is dedicated to the Virgin) ; but because 
 his fame was so especially connected with it. See some account of the 
 famous Bishop Hugh in Murray's Cathedrals. It is perhaps worth noticing 
 that the church and college of St. Thomas Aeon were granted to the 
 Mercers. See Milman's St. Paul's, p. 166. Both of the churches of 
 St. Thomas and that of St. Martin just mentioned were in the midst of old 
 London commerce. And it is to be noted that in the old days commerce 
 gathered round churches, churches standing in central positions. * The 
 market was held before the church door.' (Knight's London, iv. 212.) 
 As for in his vestry, Mr. Lobb suggests that vestry here = clothes-mart ; 
 and this is not an impossible sense for Milton to give the word (Pliny xv. 
 8. 8 uses vestiarum for a clotheschest, wardrobe), but there seems no other 
 instance anywhere of such an use. Nor, on the other hand, can I find any 
 other mention of ' vestries,' in the ordinary sense, used for places of sale. 
 It is possible that buying and selling went on actually inside the churches, as 
 in the Temple at Jerusalem (John ii. 13-17). It is well known that much 
 'business' was transacted inside old St. Paul's (see chap. xi. pp. 286-288 of 
 Milman's St. Paul's, &c.). But the only mention of actual commerce inside 
 a church I have noted is in a Letter of Grosseteste of the thirteenth century ; 
 see p. 71 of Mr. Luard's edition of the Epistolae, where is reported a 
 regulation of the king, a.d. 1236 (?), * ut mercatores de caetero in nundinis 
 
 K 2 
 
132 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 4i- 
 
 suis apud Northamptoniam nullas merces exponant venales, nee emant vel 
 vendatit in ecclesia vel in coemeterio Omnium Sanctorum apud Northamp' 
 toniam^ In the Calendar of State Papers for 1637, Domestic Series, ed. 
 Bruce, p. 508, there is a notice of cockfighting in a church, at Knotting, 
 Bedfordshire. But see Appendix below, p. 153. 
 
 11. /w/)a/'a? = protected by palisading. Holland speaks of * those tmpaVd 
 places where youths prepare themselves for the wrestle.' (Plutarch, p. 925.) 
 Cp. Reason of Church Government, i. 2 : ' And thus we find here that the 
 rules of Church discipline are not only commanded but hedg'd about with 
 such a terrible impalement of commands as he that will break through 
 wilfully to violate the least of them must hazard the wounding of his con- 
 science even unto death.' 
 
 12. his back dore, i.e. the postern. 
 
 15. waking. Watch is orig. a variant of wake ; see p. 31, 1. 5, note. 
 20. fend = forfend, defend. The simple/endo is not found in classical Latin. 
 See Percy Folio MS. i. 21 : 
 
 ' He that does that deed, sayes Robin, 
 He count him for a man ; 
 But that while will I draw ray sword. 
 And fend it, if I can.' 
 Percy Folio MS. i. 365 : y 
 
 ' Men called him Sir Gray Steele ; 
 I assayed him, and he fended weele.* 
 See Jamieson's Sc. Diet. 
 
 24. hold the truth guiltily. Cp. Romans i. 18 : * For the wrath of God 
 is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 
 who hold the truth in unrighteousness.* 
 
 25. Condemn not^ &c. i. e. do not ourselves pronounce our teaching to 
 be feeble and vain. 
 
 27. gadding rout. Cp. Samson Agonistes, 674-677: 
 
 * Nor do I name of men the common rout 
 That wandering loose about 
 Grow up and perish, as the summer fly. 
 Heads without name, no more remembered.* 
 Gadding = going up and down, roving, &c. Bale speaks of * Gadders, 
 pylgrymes, and ydoll seekers' (Apology, fol. 98), and of * gapynges, 
 gaddyngesy ydoll sensynges and watter conjurynges, wyth many other fine 
 toyes, whych all came from Rome,' &c. See Richardson. Cp. Prov. 
 (e. g. Westmoreland), * gad-about.* See ' rout' in Lycidas, 61, and Jerram's 
 note. 
 
 33. Christ, &c. See St. John xyiii. 19, 20: * The high priest then asked 
 Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spake 
 openly to the world ; 1 ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple, 
 whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing,' &c. 
 F. 42. li). stop, i. e. blockade. 
 
p. 43.] NOTES, 133 
 
 creeks. Creek radically = a bend, a winding, conn, with crook, 
 20. our richest Marchandize, Truth. * The kingdom of heaven is like 
 unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls ; who, when he had found one 
 pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.' (St. 
 Matthew xiii. 45, 46.) 
 
 22. Antichristian malice and mystery. The 'Protestants' of Milton's 
 time, as indeed many of the less enlightened of our own, had assurance 
 enough to identify the Church of Rome with the Babylon of the Revela- 
 tion. See Rev. xvii. 3-7. Or mystery here may = craft, fraud; cp. Paradise 
 Regained, iii, 249. 
 
 24. settle = esta.b\\sh. 
 
 25. the Turk, &c. Printing was not allowed in Turkey till just a 
 century and a half ago. Mr. Lobb states that * newspapers seem not to have 
 made their appearance in Turkey till 1 831. The first was a Government 
 Gazette, printed in Constantinople, and called the *' T^tler of Events." ' 
 
 Alcoran. il/ = the; coran, = a reading, or lecture. See Sale's Koran, 
 p. 190, note, edit. 1836. Cp. our Bible ( = the Book). 
 
 30. but he who thinks^ &c. His Of Reformation in England is a masterly 
 protest against any such notion of finality. 
 
 32. prospect = view, aim. 
 
 3.^. the mortalle glasse, &c. G/ass = looking-glass, mirror. So Hamlet iii. 
 I; Gascoigne's Steel glcLss, &c. See I Cor. xiii, 12: 'For now we see 
 through [ = by means of] a glass, darkly ; but then face to face.* Cp. 2 Cor. 
 iii. 18. See also old romances of chivalry; also Chaucer's Squire's Tale, &c. 
 
 P. 43. I. beatijic vision — \hQ sight of God 'face to face:* see Par. 
 Lost, iii. 60 : 
 
 * About him all the Sanctities of Heaven 
 
 Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received 
 Beatitude past utterance.* 
 On which Todd quotes from Sandys' Paraphrase on Job (1637): 
 
 * Againe when all the radiant sons of Light 
 Before his throne appear'd, whose only sight 
 Beatitude infused.* 
 
 Comp. * Him whose happy -making sight,' &c. in lines on Tifne. See Paradise 
 Lost, i. 684; also the splendid passage near the end of Of Reformation in 
 England, beginning * Then, amidst the hymns and hallelujahs of Saints : * 
 . . . 'Where they undoubtedly that by their labours, counsels and prayers, have 
 been earnest for the common good of religion and their country, shall 
 receive above the inferiour orders of the blessed the regal addition of 
 principalities, legions, and thrones into their glorious titles, and in super- 
 eminence of beatijic vision, progressing the dateless and irrevoluble circle of 
 eternity, shall clasp inseparable hands with joy and bliss, in overmeasure for 
 ever.* (Works, p. 21.) Jeremy Taylor's Sermons, ii. I : * As the saints and 
 angels in their state of beatijic vision cannot chuse but love God ; and yet 
 the liberty of their choice is not lessen'd; because the object fills all the 
 
134 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 43. 
 
 capacity of the will and the understanding,' &c. This * vision,' called also 
 ' Intuitive,* was distinguished from the * Abstractive/ and that * of Com- 
 prehension.* 
 
 7. the Egyptian Typhon. This was the brother of Osiris, who was 
 guilty of rebellion, murder, and usurpation. After a long search Isis, the 
 wife of Osiris, found her husband's mangled remains ; and, helped by her 
 son Horus, overthrew Typhon. See Plutarch's Isis and Osiris. This 
 Typhon was, according to the later poets at least, the Greek monster of 
 the name, called also Typhoeus. See Ovid's Met., v. 318-331, where a 
 song which 
 
 ' Falsoque in honore Gigantas 
 Ponit et extenuat magnorum facta deorum* 
 relates how the monster broke from his earth dungeon and drove the gods 
 before him into Egypt, where they disguised themselves as best they might. 
 See, as Jebb notes, Dollinger's Gentile and Jew, tr. by Darnell, i, 445. 
 
 9. the good Osiris. He had civilised a wild and barbarous people. 
 
 12. car ^/w/Z = care-stricken, anxious. So Luke x. 41, &c. 
 
 16. her Masters second comming. See i Thess. iv. 16, 17. 
 
 19. feature. Feature is a corruption of the Latin factura {c^, feat ^ fad, 
 &€.) = shape, fashion, 'make.' See Chaucer's Manciple's Tale: 
 * Therto he was the semlieste man 
 That is or was, sithen the world bigan; 
 What nedith it h.\s fetures to descrive?' 
 Holland's Ammianus, p. 27 : 'A man of goodly presence and well favoured, 
 and comely shape znd feature of body, his lims streight and proportionably 
 compact.* {Apud Richardson.) See As You Like It, III. iii. 3 ; Par. Lost, 
 X. 278: 
 
 • So scented the grim feature, and upturned 
 His nostril wide into the murky air.* 
 Bacon hzsfacture, as Adv. of Learning, ii. 9. 2, ed. Wright: * For Aristotle 
 hath very ingeniously and diligently handled the factures of the body but not 
 the gestures of the body, which are no less comprehensible by art and of 
 greater use and advantage.* Elsewhere he speaks of * the facture or framing 
 of the inward parts.' See Trench's Sel. Gloss., s. v. 
 
 22. obsequies = 3iCis of worship. Cp. obsequious. Sec. The word here is 
 rather from the Lat. obsequium than obsequiae ( = exequiae). So Bale's 
 Image, part ii: 'With all faithful obsequy worshippe hym therefore that 
 created heaven and earthe in wonderfull strength and bewty.' See other 
 instances in Richardson. 
 
 24. // smites, &c. Cp. Par. Lost, iii. 380, 381 : 
 
 * Dark with excessive light thy skirts appear. 
 Yet dazzle heaven.* 
 
 26. Combust. • When a planet is not above eight degrees and a half 
 distant from the sun, either before or after him, it is said to be combust or 
 in combustion.' (Harris, apud Johnson.) See Chaucer's Tr. and Cr. iii. 96 ; 
 
p. 44-3 NOTES. 135 
 
 *An if ich hadde, O Venus ful of myrthe, 
 Aspectes badde of Mars or of Saturne 
 Or thow combust,* &c. 
 Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy : ' Guianerius had a patient could make 
 Latin verses when the moon was combust, otherwise illiterate.' See Skeat's 
 Chaucer's Astrolabe, Gloss. The only planets * oft combust* are those 
 of inferior magnitude — Venus, Mercury, Vulcan. The last is nearly always 
 so ; hence its late discovery. 
 
 29. firmament. Firmamentum is the Vulgate's rendering of the Septua- 
 gint (TTfpicofxa. Trench's Sel. Gloss., s. v. See Par. Lost, iii. 573-579. 
 
 32. imfrockifig. Frock denoted specially the gown worn by ecclesiastics. 
 See 'St. Francis /roc^ ' in The Creed of Piers Plowman 1. 29.^. (quoted by 
 Fairholt, p. 117 of his Costume in England). Cp. old Yx.frocard = 2. monk. 
 See Queen Elizabeth's famous letter to Bishop Cox, when he resisted a cer- 
 tain 'spoliation' she proposed: 'Proud Prelate, you know what you were 
 before I made you what you are. If you do not immediately comply with 
 my request, by God I will unfrock you. Elizabeth.* (Student's Hallam's 
 England, p. 112, note.) 
 
 P. 44. 3. economicall = relating to house management, domestic, &c. 
 The original sense of the word. 
 
 5. Ziiinglius. Zwingli was born 1484, died 1 531. His life has been 
 written by Hess (tr. by Lucy Aikin), and Hottinger (tr. by Porter). 
 
 Calvin. 1 509-1 564. His life has been written by Bungener, Bolsec, Beza, 
 Masson, Paul Henry, Audin, Dyer, Strahelln (Hole's Biog. Diet.). 
 
 6. beacon d up to us = lighted up as a beacon or signal for us. Beacon is 
 A.-S. beacen, a sign, nod. Cp. beck, beckon. 
 
 stark, originally = stiffly, rigidly; and so inflexibly, unalterably, com- 
 pletely. Of the same root is the Gr. artpeus. 
 
 12. Syntagma =*Co\\ect'\on* general handbook, summary. See e.g. 
 Hallam's account of Gassendi's Syntagma Philosophicum, published 1658, 
 Lit. of Europe, iv. 194. 
 
 15. s^arc^mo* = mvestigating, exploring. Psalm cxxxix. i: *0 Lord, 
 thou hast searched me and known me,' &c. 
 
 18. homogeneah and proportionall. It consists only of truth; and each 
 part bears a certain relation to the other parts. One truth does not over- 
 power another. 
 
 the golden nile. The Rule of Proportion was so styled ; see e. g. Barnard 
 Smith's Arithmetic, p. 196, ed. 1862: 'Almost all questions which arise in 
 the common concerns of Hfe so far as they require calculation by numbers, 
 might be brought within the scope of the Rule of Three, which enables us 
 to find the fourth term in a proportion, and which on account of its great 
 use and extensive application is often called the "Golden Rule."* 
 
 26. discours. See above, p. 103. 
 
 27. the highest is grammatically co-ordinate with any point. 
 a8. her. See above, p. 67. 
 
136 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 44. 
 
 Therefore the studies^ &c. Milton ignores the profound change of 
 population in this island in the fifth and sixth centuries. He speaks as 
 if the English were all one with the Britons, So Cowper in his Boa- 
 dicea, &c. 
 
 29. that Writers, &c. In the notes to Drayton's Polyolbion, song i, 
 we are told that 'Lipsius doubts whether Pythagoras received' the doctrine 
 of metempsychosis * from the Druids, or they from him, because in his 
 travels he convers'd as well with Gaulish as Roman philosophers;' and 
 referred to 'Physiol. Stoic, bk. iii. dissertation 12/ See this work in Justi 
 Lipsii Opera Omnia, 1 675, vol. iv. On p. 992, speaking of metempsychosis, 
 he says, ' An a Pythagora Druides hauserint nescio ; an potius ipse ab illis ; 
 nam auctores habeo Gallos eum audisse et Brachmanas.' As an authority, 
 he names in a side-note Clemens Alexandrinus ; in whose Stromata, i. chap. 
 15; p. 770, vol. i. of Clem. Alex. Opera, in Migne's Patrol. Curs. Compl. 
 we find: 6 St liKarojv SrjKov us Oifivvvcpv act rovs ^ap^dpovs evpiff/ccTai 
 /ji€/jLV7]/jL€Vos avTov T€ Kai UvOayopov, TcL TTXiiffTa Koi yei/vaiorara twu 
 SoyfxcLTcov kv Pap^apois fjiaOuvras. The superior antiquity of British to 
 Roman learning is insisted upon in the tenth song of the Polyolbion. For 
 the Persian wisdom, see Pliny's Nat. Hist., xxx. 4 : ' Britannia hodieque earn 
 attonite celebrat tantis caeremoniis ut dedisse Persis videri possit,^ 
 
 31. the school of Pythagoras. There is an old building at Cambridge 
 traditionally known, from the sixteenth century at least, as 'Pythagoras* 
 school.' According to the opinion Milton here quotes, it was, one may 
 suppose, the place where that philosopher received, not gave, instruction. 
 It is the building known as Merton Hall (it stands on a piece of ground be- 
 longing to Merton College, Oxford), and lately devoted to the service of lady 
 students. * Pythagoras* school, in a garden adjoining St. John's College 
 walks, is falsely supposed to have been one of these [inns or hostels], where 
 the Croyland monks read lectures ; but is really the infirmary to St. John's 
 Hospital. Edward the Fourth took it from King's College here, and gave 
 it to Merton College, Oxford ; whose property it has ever since been, and is 
 sometimes called Merton Hall.* (Wilson's Memorabilia Cantabrigiae.) See 
 an account of this 'School' in Grose's Antiquities. See also Mayor's Baker's 
 Hist, of St. John's Coll., Camb. 
 
 33. civill. See p. 3, 1. 25, note. 
 
 P. 45. I. Julius Agricola. 37-93 a.d. See his life by his son-in-law 
 Tacitus. 
 
 who governed once here. From 78 to 85 a.d. 
 
 for Caesar. He governed for Vespasian, for Titus (79-81), and for 
 Domitian. 
 
 preferrd, &c. See Tacitus* Agric. 21, of Agricola's high policy: 'Jam 
 vero principum filios liberalibus artibus erudire et ingenia Britannorum studiis 
 Gallorum anteferre ut qui modo linguam Romanam abnuebant eloquentiam 
 concupiscerent.' See Selden's note to Drayton's Polyolbion, song vi., p. 218 
 of vol. iv of Chalmers' British Poets, 18 10. 
 
p. 45.] NOTES. 137 
 
 2. the naturall unis, &c. So Neckam (see Wright's Biog. Lit., A. N. 
 Period, p. 454) : 
 
 * Ingenium dat ei genius subtile, quod artes 
 Mechanicas subdit ingenuasque sibi.* 
 
 3. that the grave and frugal Transilvanian, &c. I do not know of any 
 other mention of this fact in general literature ; but its accuracy is, I am 
 informed, attested by the Registers of the old Universities. Many 
 Transylvanians went abroad m the seventeenth century to study at the 
 great universities — at Paris, at Prague, in Holland. That some came 
 to England would therefore be probable. See a mention of ' some Mora- 
 vian Students passing through London,' in Masson's account of Hartlib's 
 Correspondence with Comenius, Life of Milton, iii. 202. Transylvania 
 had during the Thirty Years' War made itself conspicuous on the Pro- 
 testant side. This was mainly due to the energy and talent of Bethlem- 
 Gabor ( = Gabriel Bethlem), Prince from 1613 to 1629. As Lobb points 
 out, there is a letter from Cromwell to his successor; see it in Milton's 
 Works amongst the Literae Oliverii Protector's. It is full of good-will and 
 sympathy, and frankly recognises the Prince as co-worker in the great Pro- 
 testant cause. *Cum autem vestra in rempublicam Christianam praeclara 
 merita laboresque suscepti ad nos usque fama pervenerint, et haec omnia 
 certius, et quae amplius rci Christianae vel defendendae vel promovendae 
 causa in animo habeatis, celsitudo vestra suis literis communicata nobis 
 amicissime voluerit, ea uberiorem insuper laetandi materiam nobis attulere : 
 Deum nempe iis in regionibus excitasse sibi tam potentem atque egregium 
 suae gloriae ac providentiae ministrum ; qui, cum virtute atque armis tantum 
 possit, de religione communi Protestantium tuenda, cui nunc undique male 
 ct dictum et factum est, nobiscum una sociare consilia cupiat.' See this 
 letter Englished on pp. 606, 607 of Works. A sufficient specimen of friendly 
 epistolary intercourse. And it is highly credible, without any such decisive 
 authority as the text, that such friendliness existing, and Lutheranism flourish- 
 ing so vigorously in the country, natives of it should have visited England, 
 which in the early seventeenth century was the leading Protestant power 
 of Europe. The glory of Transylvania did not last long. In 1689 it became 
 finally subject to Austria. It was however 'governed by its own princes 
 until the extinction of their line in 171 3, when it was incorporated with 
 Hungary. Maria Theresa erected it into a grand principality in 1765.* 
 (Pop. Encycl.) 
 
 5. the mountanous borders of Russia. Strictly, the S.E. part of the kingdom 
 of Poland and a piece of Moldavia lay between Transylvania and Russia. 
 The mountains referred to are offsets of the Carpathians. It may be noticed 
 that Hartlib, to whom in the year the Areopagitica was written he dedicated 
 his Tractate on Education, was of a Polish family. See Dircks' Memoir of 
 Hartlib; also Masson's Life of Milton, iii. 193 et seq. 
 
 6. the Hercynian wildernes = Hercynia. Silva, or Hercynius Saltus (Pliny 
 and Tacitus), or Hcrcyuium jugum (Pliny). * Under this general name 
 
138 
 
 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 45. 
 
 Caesar appears to have included all the mountains and forests in the 
 south and centre of Germany, the Black Forest, Odenwald, Thiiringerwald, 
 the Harz, the Erzgebirge, the Riesengebirge, &c. As the Romaps became 
 better acquainted with Germany, the name was confined to narrower limits. 
 Pliny and Tacitus use it to indicate the range of mountains between the 
 Thiiringerwald and the Carpathian Mountains. The name is still preserved 
 in the modern Harz and Erz.* (Smith's Class. Diet.) See Caesar's De B. G., 
 vi. 24, et seq. ; Tacitus, Germ., 30, &c. The name Transylvania = the 
 country beyond the forest, i. e. beyond what are called the * Carpathian 
 forests.' The Hungarian name, Erdely, signifies the * mountainous forest.* 
 
 7. their stayed men. Cp. Thucydides' ol vvv en ovres jxaKiffTa Iv t^ 
 Kad€(TTr]Kvia ^kiKiq (ii. 36) ; Cicero's * Constans aetas.' 
 
 8. thai which is above all this, &c, Cp. Samson Agonistes, 1 718-20. 
 
 10. propending. Shakspere, Tr. and Cr. ii. 2. 190: 
 
 * My spritely brethren, I propend to you 
 In resolution to keep Helen still.' 
 
 11. Why else, &c. See Of Reformation in England. In one passage (p. 2, 
 Milton's Works) he speaks of England 'having had this grace and honour 
 from God, to be the first that should set up a standard for the recovery of 
 lost truth, and blow the first evangelic trumpet to the nations, holding up, 
 as from a hill, the new lamp of saving light to all Christendom,* &c. 
 
 12. as out of Sion, &c. See Joel ii. i : * Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, 
 and sound an alarm in my holy mountain,* &c. 
 
 14. and had it not been, &c. See Of Reformation in England: *. . . 
 although indeed our Wickliffe's preaching, at which all the succeeding 
 Reformers more effectually lighted their tapers, was to his countrymen but 
 a short blaze, soon damped and stifled by the pope and prelates for six or 
 seven kings' reigns.' 
 
 16. to suppresse him as a schismatic and innovator. Cp. Jeremy Taylor's 
 Liberty of Prophesying : * . . . the names of heretic and schismatic which 
 they [the Roman Catholics] with infinite pertinacity fasten upon all that 
 disagree with them.* 
 
 17. innovator. See Bacon's Essays, * On Innovations.* 
 
 Husse. See a list of biographies of him in Hole's Biog. Diet. ; see also 
 Milman's Latin Christ., viii. chap. 9. 
 
 Jerom, i. e. Jerome of Prague. See Milman. 
 
 18. Luther. See a list of lives of Luther in Hole. Michelet has 'col- 
 lected and arranged' ' the Life of Luther by himself (tr. by Hazlitt, 1846). 
 See also Stephen's Essays in Eccl. Biog., d propos of D'Aubigne's Hist, of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 27. ev'n to the reformation of Reformation it self. See Of Reformation 
 in England, passim, 
 
 32. a City of refuge. See Numbers xxxv. 9-15. 
 
 33. the mansion house. * When the king had given to any of them two 
 thousand acres of land, this party purposing in this place to make a dwelling 
 
p. 47.] NOTES, 139 
 
 or, as the old word is, his mansion-house or his manor-house, did devise how 
 he might make his land a complete habitation to supply him with all manner 
 of necessaries.* (Bacon's Use of Law, apud Richardson.) 
 
 P. 46. 3. the plates and instruments^ &c., i. e. defensive and offensive 
 armour. P/a/« = breast-plates, almost the only defensive armour still worn 
 in Milton's time. 
 
 14. a Nation of Prophets. See Numbers xi. 29. 
 
 We recVn more then five months, &c. Cp. John iv. 35. The Areopagitica 
 was published in November, 1644. Perhaps 'the harvest* means the suc- 
 cesses to be achieved, as was hoped, by the new modelled army in the cam- 
 paign of 1645. 
 
 19. opinion. This word has very diverse senses in Eliz. Eng. ; hear e.g. 
 Gratiano on 'this fool gudgeon, this opinion,^ in M. of Ven,, i. i. 86-102. 
 
 20. fantastic = ^nxt\y fanciful; as fantastical in Macbeth, i, 3. 139. 
 of='m connection with, about, over. 
 
 27. a little forbearance of qne another. See Ephes. iv. 2, and Col. iii. 13. 
 31. free consciences. See On the New Forcers of Conscience under the 
 Long Parliament : 
 
 * Dare ye for this adjure the civil sword 
 
 To force our consciences that Christ set free?* 
 And the sonnet To the Lord General Cromwell : 
 
 * Help us to save free conscience from the paw 
 Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.* 
 
 P. 47. 3. extended, i.e. advanced, expanded. 
 
 4. he would cry out as Pirrhus did, &c., after the battle of Heraclea, 
 (280 B.C.). Florus' version is — Pyrrhus of course would speak Greek — * O 
 quam facile erat orbis imperium occupare aut mihi Romanis militibus aut me 
 rege Romanis.' (i. 18. 17.) 
 
 5. Pirrhus, 318-272 B.C. 'The fierce Epirot* of the Sonnet to Sir 
 Henry Vane the younger. See Dickson's Mommsen, i. bk. ii. chap. 7. 
 
 6. £[/)/ro/s = *H7r€//)WTat,Epirus-men. Strictly, ^7r€(/>o« = mainland. Epirot 
 sometimes = Asiatic, as Isocrates, 68 A. 
 
 7. despair. See the note on scrupVd, p. 10, I. 4. 
 10. as if while the Temple, &c. See I Kings v, vi. 
 building. See note on explaining, p. 22, 1. 16. 
 
 12. a sort of irrationall men. See M. of Ven., i. I. 88. 
 
 20. brotherly dissimilitudes. Cp. the use of the Gr. aZeXcpos frequent in 
 Plato. See above, p. 67. So Latin geminus and gemellus, as Horace, Sa- 
 tires, ii. 3. 244: 
 
 *Par nobile fratrum, 
 Nequitia nugis pravorum et amore gemellum* 
 
 26. wherein Moses, &c. See Numbers xi. 24-30, especially 29: 'And 
 Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake ? Would God that all the 
 Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon 
 them.* 
 
T40 AREOPAGITICA, . [P. 47.. 
 
 31. as Joshua then was. See 1. c. 28. 
 
 33. ivill undoe us, &c. He adopts the * direct oration/ 
 
 P. 48. 2. anough. See above, p. 81. 
 
 6. maw/p/es = companies. A technical term in the Roman army. The 
 size of it varied at different times. In the fourth century, B.C., it consisted 
 of sixty privates, two centurions, and a standard-bearer. Strictly, the word 
 is supposed to mean a number of men serving under the same ensign, 
 manipUis signifying originally 'a handful* or wisp of hay, straw, fern, or the 
 like which, primitively, did duty as a standard. 
 
 7. brigade. * Brigade venu au seizieme siecle de Tltal. hrigata (division 
 d'armee).* (Brachet.) The stem is said to be Low Latin 6r/^a = strife, 
 which is probably of Celtic origin. Cognate are brigand, brigandine, 
 brigantine. 
 
 13. when a City, &c. See in Knight's Pop. Hist, of Eng., iii. 498, 
 second edition, * a Plan of the Fortifications and City of London.' There 
 were forts from Whitechapel Road to Hyde Park Corner, and on the 
 other side of the river from Vauxhall to * near the Lock Hospital in Kent 
 Street.* The order for this fortifying was issued by the Parliament in Sep- 
 tember or October, 1642. * The population, one and all, men, women, and 
 children, turned out day by day to dig ditches, and carry stones for their 
 bulwarks.* (Knight.) See May's History of the Parliament. On Novem- 
 ber 12 the Royalists occupied Brentford; on the 13th they advanced to 
 Turnham Green, when, faced by Essex, they fell back without fighting to 
 Colnbrook and so through Reading to Oxford. It must have been in this 
 November that Milton wrote his sonnet 'When the assault was intended 
 [ = threatened — a Latinism] to the City' — a piece of pure poetry, his imagi- 
 nation excited by the thought of the poet's power, and how in the old days 
 it had given protection in the midst of wreck and ruin, 
 
 14. inrodes (our mroat/s) = in-ridings, 'raids,* 
 15* defiance. Drayton's Polyolbion : 
 
 * And calling unto him a herald, quoth he, fly 
 To th' Earl of Le'ster's tents, and publickly proclaim 
 Defiance to his face and to the Montfort's name.' 
 I Sam. xvii. 10: *And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this 
 day ; give me a man, that we may fight together.* Shaksp. Hen. V. iii. 
 
 5- 37- 
 
 20. shoidd be disputing, &c. It was about the time Milton wrote that 
 certain eminent men of science were beginning to hold those meetings 
 which eventuated in the formation of the Royal Society. 
 
 21. ev*n to a rarity, and admiration, i.e. with a degree of acuteness 
 altogether rare and admirable. 
 
 25. derives it se//= flows on, proceeds. 
 
 28. who, when Rome, &c. See Livy, xxvi. II : *Minuere etiam spem 
 ejus [Hannibal's hope of taking Rome] et aliae, parva magnaque, res: magna 
 ilia, quod quum ipse ad moenia urbis Romae armatus sederet, milites sub 
 
p. 49.] NOTES. 141 
 
 vexillis in supplementiim Hispaniae profectos audivit ; parva aiitem, quod 
 per eos dies ei4m forte agrum, in quo ipse castra haheret, venisse nihil oh id 
 deminuto pretio, cognitum ex quodam captivo est. Id vero adeo superbum 
 atque indignum visum ejus soli, quod ipse belio captum possideret haberetque, 
 inventum Romae emptorem ; ut exteniplo vocato praecone, tabernas argen- 
 tarias quae circum forum Romanum tunc essent, jusserit venire.* 
 when Rome, &c. B.C. 211. 
 
 30. at no cheap rate. See Livy's ' nihil ob id deminuto pretio/ 
 
 31. regiment = \.hzt part of the army that was especially under his com- 
 mand. Spenser uses the word for * lesser kingdom,' Faerie Queene, ii. 9. 59. 
 
 32. happy siiccesse. See note above, p. 61. 
 
 P. 49. I. not only to, &c. ; i.e. not only as far as, not only as touching, 
 &c. Cp. * ev'n to the ballatry/ &c. p. 24. 
 
 2, />fr/«s/ = sprightliest, proudest, highest. See Chaucer's Reeve's Tale: 
 * And she was proud and pert as any pie.* 
 Shakspere, Troilus and Cressida, iv. 5. 219 : 
 
 •For yonder walls that pertly front your town,' &c. 
 Perhaps perk is the same word. (Comp. wait and wake, mate and make, cate 
 and cake.) Spenser has 'perke as a peacock,' Shepheardes Calender, ii. 8. 
 Some say the word is of Welsh origin — *pert, smart, spruce, pert' (Spurrell) ; 
 but it is a native Welsh word, or an importation ? 
 
 B- sprightly up, ^^pW^A/Zy is used adverbially here. C7/> = excited. 
 
 10. casting off the old and wrincVd skin, &c. Cp. Shakspere, Henry V, 
 iv. I. 20 : 
 
 * And when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt. 
 The organs, though defunct and dead before. 
 Break up their drowsy grave and newly move, 
 With casted slough and fresh legerity.* 
 
 H. wax young again. Cp. Dryden*s Vergil's Georgics, iii: 
 
 * When he, renew'd in all the speckled pride 
 Of pompous youth, has cast his slough aside, 
 And in his summer livery rolls along 
 
 Erect, and brandishing his forky tongue,' &c. 
 Vergil's words are (437, 438) : 
 
 * Qnum positis novus exuviis nitidusque juventa 
 Volvitur.' 
 
 14. m^/^m^s = meseems, it seems to me (*them seem'd,' Spenser, Protha- 
 lamion, 60). Thinks in this compound is from the A.-S. thincan, to seem, 
 a quite distinct verb from thencan, to think. Comp. Germ, denken, and 
 dunken. 
 
 15. like a strong man, &c. He is thinking of the Samson, long years 
 after to be the hero of his noble drama. See Judges xvi. 13, 14. 
 
 16. her invincible locks. See in the gorgeous allegorising of the story of 
 Samson near the close of The Reason nf Church Government : 'his illustrious 
 and sunny locks, the laws, waving and curling about his god-like shoulders ; 
 
14^ AREOPAGITICA. [P. 49. 
 
 . . . those bright and weighty tresses of his laws and just prerogatives 
 which were his ornament and strength ; ... his puissant hair, the golden 
 beams of law and right.' 
 
 17. muing, literally = renewing by moulting. Commonly mue or mew=- 
 simply, * to moult,' specially of hawks ; strictly, to change, Fr. muer^ Lat. 
 mutare. Thus Bacon's Essays, Of Kingdomes and Estates : * Whatsoever 
 estate or prince doth rest upon them [mercenary forces], he may spread his 
 feathers for a time, but he will mew them soon after,' &c. Mews meant 
 originally places where falcons cast their coats ; then generally places for 
 keeping them ; and then = stables. 
 
 21. noise here in a concrete sense. So 'Sneak's noise* 2 Henry IV, 
 ii. 4. 12, See Nares. 
 
 floching birds, i.e. birds that dare not essay solitary and independent 
 flights, but hover about in companies ; not oiouvoi = lone-flying birds. (OtWos 
 = the eagle, Homer, Iliad, xxiv. 292, &c.) 
 
 23. gabble. See Shakspere, All's Well that Ends Well, iv. i. 22 : * Choughs' 
 language, gabble enough, and good enough' of the lingo Parolles is to be 
 deceived with. 
 
 24. a year. He is thinking of the almanack-makers and their prophecies 
 Prognosticate was specially used of astrologers and almanack-makers ; as in 
 the old song, When the King enjoys his own again : 
 
 * What Booker can prognosticate. 
 Considering now the kingdom's state?* 
 Booker was an almanack-maker of the day. See Percy's MS. Folio, ed. 
 Hales and Furnivall, ii. 24. 
 
 28. ingrossers. See above, p. 83. 
 
 30. bushel. The word is in fact box with a diminutival suffix. 
 
 P. 50. 4. your own mild. Sec. Even Hume admires ardently the early 
 career of the Long Parliament ; see History of England, chap. 54. Hallam, 
 who considers that in th'e end it * subverted the constitution,' speaks of 
 •those admirable provisions by which' in the beginning 'this Parliament 
 restored and consolidated the shattered fabric* See Constitutional History 
 of England, chap. ix. 
 
 6. /)wrcAas/ = procured. So commonly in Old English. The radical 
 meaning is * to chase or seek for.* Fr. pourchasser (pour-chasser). See 
 Chaucer's Prologue, 256: 
 
 * His ptirchace was ful bettur than his rente.* 
 
 8. the influence of heavn. The word influence was specially used of 
 certain occult streams of power believed to emanate from the heavenly 
 bodies. See * all the skiey influences,' Measure for Measure, iii. I. 9; 
 'planetary influence* King Lear, i. 2. 135 ; 'the moist star upon whose 
 influence Neptune's empire stands,' Hamlet i. i. 118; 'the sacred influence 
 ot light,' Paradise Lost, ii. 1034, &c. See Trench's Study of Words. 
 
 23. an abrogated and mercilesse law, &c. ' From the most remote ages 
 the power of a Roman father over his children, including those by adoption 
 
p. 50.] NOTES. 143 
 
 as well as by blood, was unlimited. A father might, without violating any 
 law, scourge or imprison his son, or sell him for a slave, or pui him to deaths- 
 even after that son had risen to the highest honours in the state. This 
 jurisdiction was not merely nominal; but in early times was not unfrequently 
 exercised to its full extent, and was confirmed by the laws of the XII Tables.* 
 This *jus vitae et necis' by degrees * fell into desuetude; and long before 
 the close of the republic the execution of a son by order of his father, 
 although not forbidden by any positive statute, was regarded as something 
 strange and, unless under extraordinary circumstances, monstrous. But the 
 right continued to exist in theory, if not in practice, for three centuries after 
 the establishment of the empire, and was not formally abrogated till a.d. 318.' 
 Ramsay's Roman Antiquities, ' The Patria Potestas.* 
 
 25. sticke closest. Prov. xviii. 24. Cp. adhere, Lat. adhaerere. 
 
 26. for cote and conduct, &c. ; i.e. to resist illegal taxation for the 
 clothing and conveyance of troops, and also for the provision of a navy. 
 See Butler's Characters, The Herald : * He will join as many shields together 
 as would make a Roman testudo or Macedonian phalanx, to fortify the 
 nobility of a new made lord that will pay for the impresting of them, and 
 allow him Coat and conduct money* 
 
 His four nobles ofDanegelt\ i.e. ship-money. A very odd periphrasis. Why 
 *four nobles' it is not easy to see. The noble, first struck in Edward Ill's 
 reign, and current till that of Elizabeth, was worth 6s. ^d. (see the joke, 
 Shakspere, i Henry IV, ii. 4. 317 and 327; the royal = ios.). Twenty 
 shillings, i. e. three nobles, was the amount for which Hampden was sued. 
 See Hallam's Const. Hist. i. 436. * Lord Nugent,' says Hallam in a note, 
 * has published a facsimile of the return made by the assessors of ship-money 
 for the parish of Great Kimble, wherein Mr. Hampden is set down for 31s. 6d., 
 and is returned with many others as refusing to pay. Memoir of Hampden 
 and his Times, vol. i. p. 230. But the suit in the Exchequer was not 
 on account of this demand, but for 20s. as stated in the text for property 
 situate in the parish of Stoke Mandevile.* i)ane^e7/= Dane-money, was the 
 name of an ancient land-tax levied to provide means for bribing off or 
 for repelling the Danes. It was * first raised by Ethelred II in 991, and again 
 in 1003, &c. . . was suppressed by Edward the Confessor in 105 1, revived by 
 William the Conqueror 1068, and formed part of the revenue of the Crown, 
 until abolished by Stephen 1136. Every hide of land . . was taxed at first 
 is., afterwards as much as 7s.* (Haydn's Diet, of Dates.) Upon this highly 
 dubious precedent the King's advisers greatly relied in their advocacy and 
 exaction of ship-money. See St. John's speech and the Solicitor-General's 
 (Sir Edward Littleton) reply at Hampden's trial; State Trials, iii. 825-1316, 
 ed. 1809. The first suggester of the odious tax was Noy. To Finch is due 
 the credit of its extension from the sea-ports to the whole kingdom. See 
 Hallam, i. 434, et seq.; Gardiner's Personal Goverument of Charles I, ii. 
 66, &c. 
 
 27. although J dispraise not, &c. Milton never actually fought in the 
 
144 AREOPAGITICA. [p. 50. 
 
 Parliamentary ranks. So much might be suspected from the passage in the 
 text ; but there is also quite direct and decisive evidence on the point. 
 Professor Masson in the second volume of his valuable Life of Milton dis- 
 cusses the question at length. He finds in the poet's writings such a remark- 
 able familiarity with military details as to create a presumption that he had 
 seen service ; and, from a moral point of view, he conceives that Milton was 
 bound to have served. But he is satisfied by Milton*s eighth sonnet that he 
 did not serve. He seems to overlook a passage in one of the prose works 
 that is as explicit as possible. In the Defensio Secunda Milton defends him- 
 self against the possible imputation of cowardice or sloth because he had not 
 served. He claims no share, he says, in the glory of those who by their 
 most honourable arms had repelled slavery. Far other were the weapons of 
 his warfare. See p. 708 of Works : * Atque illi quidem [those who took up 
 arms for the laws and religion] Deo perinde confisi, servitutem honestissimis 
 armis pepulere ; cujus laudis etsi nullam partem mihi vindico^ a reprehensione 
 tamen vel timiditatis vel ignaviae, siqiia infertur, facile me tueor. Neque 
 enim militiae labores et pericula sic defugi, ut non alia ratione et operam 
 multo utiliorem nee minore cum periculo meis civibus navarim et animum 
 dubiis in rebus neque demissum unquam neque uUius invidiae vel etiam 
 mortis plus aequo metuentem praestiterim. Nam cum ab adolescentulo 
 humanioribus essem studiis ut qui maxime deditus et ingenio semper quam 
 corpore validior, posthabita castrensi opera, qua me gregarius quilibet ro- 
 bustior facile superasset, ad ea me contuli quibus plus potui ; ut parte mei 
 meliore ac potiore, si saperem, non deteriore, ad rationes patriae causamque 
 banc praestantissimam quantum maxime possem momentum accederem. 
 Sic itaqne existimabam, si illos Deus res gerere tarn praeclaras voluit, esse 
 itidem alios a quibus gestas dici pro dignitate atque ornari, et defensam 
 armis veritatem ratione etiam (quod unicum est praesidium vere ac proprie 
 humanum) defendi voluerit. Unde est ut dum illos invictos acie viros ad- 
 miror, de mea interim provincia non querar ; immo mihi gratulor et gratias 
 insuper largitori munerum caelesti iterum summas agam obtigisse talem ut 
 aliis invidenda multo magis quam mihi uUo modo poenitentia videatur.' For 
 a translation see p. 920 of Works. 
 29. utter = vappr](na^€a$ai. 
 
 32. unequall = La.t. iniquum. 
 
 33. to a customary acceptance^ to what is commonly received. 
 
 P. 51. 2. one of your own honourable number. Robert Greville, Lord 
 Brook, adopted son of the ' friend to Sir Philip Sidney * (see the epitaph in 
 St. Mary's Church, Warwick), born 1607, shot from Lichfield Cathedral 
 tower as he was preparing an assault, March i, l64§. See Clarendon, vi ; 
 Neal's History of the Puritans, ii. 185; Murray's Western Cathedrals; 
 Wood's Ath. Oxon. ii. 433, ed. Bliss, 1 81 5, &c. Also Scott's Marmion, 
 vi. 36. 
 
 3. a right noble and pious lord, &c. He was deeply bewailed, as he had 
 been deeply loved and admired. See e. g. England*fi Losse and Lamentation 
 
p. 52.] NOTES. 145 
 
 occasioned by the death of that Right Honourable Robert Lord Brooke, &c., 
 a pamphlet of the time full of enthusiasm and of grief; and also a black- 
 bordered fly-sheet in the British Museum containing 'An Elegy upon the 
 death of the mirrour of magnanimity the right Honourable Robert Lord 
 Brooke,* &c., * ex opere (praesertim) Henrici Haringtoni.' 
 
 8. He writing of Episcopacy, &c. The title of this work was, • A dis- 
 course opening the nature of that Episcopacie which is exercised in England. 
 Wherein, with all Humility, are represented some Considerations tending to 
 the much desired Peace and long expected Reformation of this our Mother 
 Church/ 
 
 10. t;o/tf = Lat. votuntt his earnest wish. 
 
 13. his last testament^ &c. See John xiv. 37. 
 
 16. he there exhorts us, &c. See sect. ii. 7, * Of the danger of Schismes 
 and sects more fully discuss'd ; the nature and danger of Anabaptisme, Sepa- 
 ratisms and Unlicensed Preaching. The conclusion with an affectionate 
 desire of Peace and Union/ Cp. Jeremy Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying, 
 passim, 
 
 20. disconformity. In the Tetrachordon he speaks of * utter unfitness, 
 utter disconformity, not reconcileable because not to be amended without a 
 miracle.' Barrow has : * Dissent from his [St. Peter's] opinion or discon^ 
 formity to his practice/ (Of the Pope's Supremacy, apud Richardson.) 
 
 28. the Temple of Janus, &c. He means it is a time of glorious strife 
 and battle. Truth and Falsehood are opposed face to face. Janus's temple 
 was, as is well known, opened in time of war, closed in peace. See Livy, 
 i. 19, of Numa : * Mitigandum ferocem populum armorum desuetudine ratus, 
 Janum ad infimum Argiletura, indicem pads bellique, fecit : apertus ut in 
 armis esse civitatem, clausus pacatos circa omnes populos significaret.* And 
 the historian goes on to say it had been twice closed since Numa's day. See 
 Aeneid, vii. 601-623, &c. *In all probability' the edifice 'served originally 
 as a gate to the citadel [arched passages were called Jani], and may be iden- 
 tified with the Porta Janualis named by Varro.* (Ramsay's Rom. Antiq.) 
 
 29. with his two controversal faces. He was styled ' Bifrons/ See Aeneid, 
 vii. 180; xii. 198, &c. See Ovid, Fasti, i. 25 : 
 
 * Turn sacer, ancipiti mirandus imagine, Janus 
 Bina repens oculis obtulit ora meis,' &c. 
 Possibly some * pun * is intended on * controversal * and * controversial/ 
 
 P. 52. 2. her confuting^ i.e. confutation by her. See Student's Marsh's 
 Lectures, p. 276 : ' Youre feer ' = the fear of you, &c. So * thy wide alarnies,' 
 in Spenser's Prothalamion 158. 
 
 6. beyond the discipline of Geneva, &c. ; i. e. beyond what seems to the 
 Presbyterians so adequate and perfect. 
 
 discipline = the doctrines, the 'school,* &c. Lat. disciplina, as Cicero, 
 Academica, ii. 3, &c. 
 
 7. fabric* t. We should say fabricated, 
 
 11, to seek for wisdom, See, See Matt. xiii. 44. 
 
1 4^5 AREOPAGITICA, [P. 5a. 
 
 16. in all their equipage; i. e. in all their proper equipment, in their full 
 form and state. See Sonnet to Sir Henry Vane the Younger, 1. 9. The 
 radical notion probably is * with their full rigging/ equip being ultimately 
 connected with ship, skip, the e being a mere vocal prefix. See Brachet. 
 
 17. hattell = 2ixmy, Cp. battalion. So frequently in older English, Mac- 
 beth, V. 6. 2 : 
 
 *You, worthy uncle, 
 Shall with my cousin, your right noble son, 
 Lead our first battle* 
 2 Henry IV, ir. i. 154: 
 
 * Our battle is more full of names than yours.* 
 19. offers him the advantage of wind and sun. Cp. Theocritus, xx. 83, 
 84, ed. Ahrens, of the fight between Amukos and Poludeukes (Pollux) : 
 ivOa noXvs acpiai fxox'^os kTTCiyofxevoiaiv ervx&rj, 
 OTrirorepos kutcL uojra Ka^oi <paos y€\ioio, 
 (Wustemann and Paley read Xd^rj.) Love's Labour 's Lost, iv. 3. 366-369, 
 of the metaphorical combat with * these girls of France :* 
 
 'King. Saint Cupid, then! and, soldiers, to the field! 
 Biron. Advance our standards, and upon them, lords ; 
 
 Pell-mell, down with them ! but be first advised, 
 In conflict that you get the sun of them.' 
 Where Malone notes that our having the sun at our back and in the enemy's 
 face was a great advantage to us at Agincourt. In the fights in the old 
 Romances of Chivalry there is often much striving to get this advantage. 
 See in More's Edw. V, and in Rich. Ill, how Richmond at Bosworth • had the 
 sun in his back, and it shone full in the/acesof his enemies.' See also Lay 
 of the Last Minstrel, v. 18; the Talisman, &c. 
 
 21. by dint of argument ; i.e. by blows dealt or inflicted by argument, 
 by arguments driven home, &c. Cp. ' dynt of launce,* Robert of Brunne ; 
 *dint of sword,' Faerie Queene, vi. 6. I, and 2 Henry IV, iv. i. 128, 
 &c. So, metaphorically, as in the text, * the dijit of pity,* Julius Caesar, 
 iii. 2. 198, &c. 
 
 22. to keep a narrow bridge, &c. It is very common in the Romances of 
 Chivalry for a bridge to be occupied by some knight, with whom every one 
 who passes over must fight, if he will not do obeisance or pay tribute. See 
 Faerie Queene, v. 2. 4, where says the dwarf (' Florimells owne dwarfe*): 
 
 * But in my way a little here beyond 
 A cursed cruell Sarazin doth wonne, 
 That keepes a bridges passage by strong bond, 
 And many errant knights hath there fordonne; 
 That makes all men for feare that passage for to shonne.* 
 In stanzas 11-19 is described the fight between Artegall and this savage 
 toll-keeper. Warton refers to Ariosto, xxix. 35 ; also to La Morte 
 d'Arthur. 
 
 a 8. those are the shifts, &c. * For these winding and crooked courses are 
 
p. 53.] NOTES. 147 
 
 the goings of the serpent ; which goeth basely upon the belly and not upon 
 the feet.' Bacon's Essays, Of Truth. 
 
 31. old Proteus. See Georgics, iv. 387-452, especially 
 *Est in Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates 
 Caeruleus Proteus, &c. 
 
 .... novit namque omnia vates, 
 Quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura trahantur. 
 
 Hie tibi, nate, prius vinclis capiendus ut omnem 
 Expediat morbi causam, eventusque secundet.' 
 
 Ovid, Fasti, i. 367-374, where that same story of Aristaeus is told; 
 
 especially 370 1 
 
 *Impediant geminas vincula firma manus.* 
 
 * That water-sprites have the gift of prophecy has been the belief of many 
 nations.* See Thorpe's Northern Mythology, i. 246. 
 
 33. she turns herself into all shapes except her own. So Proteus. See 
 Ovid, 1. c. : 
 
 'Ille suam faciem transformis adulterat arte;' 
 and Vergil : 
 
 *Ille suae contra non immemor artis 
 Omnia transformat sese in miracula rerum, 
 Ignemque, horribilemque feram, fluviumque liquentem. 
 Also Romaunt of the Rose, 6^22, where says False Semblant: 
 *For Protheus that cowde him chaunge 
 In every shape homely and straunge, 
 Cowde nevere sich gile ne tresoune 
 As I/&C. 
 P. 53. 2. as Micaiahy &c. See I Kings xxii. I-28, especially 13-15 . 
 
 * And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, 
 Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one 
 mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and 
 speak that which is good. And Micaiah said. As the Lord liveth, what the 
 Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. So he came to the king. And the 
 king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, 
 or shall we forbear ? And he answered him, Go, and prosper j for the Lord 
 shall deliver it into the hand of the king.* An answer sadly at variance with 
 the imminent fact, which, happily recovering his integrity, he proceeds ta 
 predict. See also 2 Chron. xviii. 
 
 5. things indifferent. Cp. the Stoic T<i aZi&cpopa^ res mediae, indifferentes. 
 See Cicero, De Finibus, iii. 16. 53. 
 
 7. those ordinances^ &c. Colossians ii. 14 : * Blotting out the handwriting 
 of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out 
 of the way, nailing it to his cross.' 
 
 9. purchase. See above, p. 50, 1. 6, 
 
 Paul so often, &c., e.g. Galatians v. I, 
 
 L 2 
 
148 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 53. 
 
 10. his doctrine is, &c. Romans xiv. 5-9. 
 
 17. the ghost of a linnen decency^ &c. The thing itself had been sup- 
 pressed, but the spirit of it still hovered around. 
 
 a linnen decency = ihe shallow decorum of surplices and vestments, a super- 
 ficial respectability, a mere external orderliness. Milton was no admirer of 
 ecclesiastical ' spinstry,' as he calls it, — of * superstitious copes and flaminical 
 vestures.' See Reason of Church Government, ii. 2, p. 46 of Works; Anim- 
 adversions, Works, p. 72, &c. 
 
 27. stark. See above, p. 43, 1. 18. 
 
 28. wood and hay and stubble. See i Cor. iii. 12. 
 
 30. sub dichotomies = minor divisions. AixoTo/jiia is used by Aristotle; 
 SixoTOfxeo) by Aristotle and Plato (Politicus, 302 E.). 
 
 P. 54. I. to sever the wheat, &c. Matthew xiii. 24-30, especially 29. 
 
 2, frie. Fry properly = the spawn of fish. It is common in a general 
 sense, often with a notion of contempt. Thus, * What a/ry of fools is here,* 
 in Beaumont and Fletcher's Coronation, i. i ; *young/ry of treachery,' Mac- 
 beth, iv. 284, &c. 
 
 the Angels Ministery, See Matthew xiii. 37-43. 
 
 6. / mean not tolerated Popery, &c. See Jeremy Taylor's Liberty of 
 Prophesying, chap, xx.. How far the Religion of the Church of Rome 
 is Tolerable : * If we consider their doctrines in relation to government and 
 public societies of men, then, if they prove faulty, they are so much the 
 more intolerable by how much the consequents are of greater danger and 
 malice. Such doctrines as these — the pope may dispense with all oaths 
 taken to God or man ; he may absolve subjects from their allegiance to their 
 natural prince ; faith is not to be kept with heretics ; heretical princes may 
 be slain by their subjects — these propositions are so depressed and do so 
 immediately communicate with matter and the interests of men that they 
 are of the same consideration with matters of fact, and are to be handled 
 accordingly,* &c. See also Locke, On Toleration, 1st Letter; 'That Church 
 can have no right to be tolerated by the magistrate which is constituted on 
 such a bottom that all those who enter into it do thereby ipso facto deliver 
 themselves up to the protection and service of another prince,* &c. For 
 further exhibition of Milton's views, see A Treatise of Civil Power in Eccle- 
 siastical Causes, p. 417 of Works, and Of True Religion, Heresy, Schism and 
 Toleration, p. 564 : * Let us now inquire whether popery be tolerable or 
 no,' &c. See Dean Nowell's views a century before, in Milman's St. Paul's, 
 
 pp. 303' 304- 
 
 9. extirpat. Cp. frustrate p. 27, 1. 17. 
 
 II. that also which is impious, &c. See Locke, On Toleration, 1st Let- 
 ter ; * Those are not to be tolerated who deny the being of God,' &c. 
 
 17. the unity of Spirit, &c. See Ephesians iv. 3. 
 
 19. would write. Would in this use is virtually a present tense. 
 
 22. hejesuited. In his treatise On Divorce he has belawgiven (' whom 
 they do not deny to have helawgivn his own sacred people with this very 
 
p. 55J NOTES. 149 
 
 allowance.') Cp. be-^nave, befriend, bejade (Animadversions) ; be-dwarf 
 (Donne), befool (Gower), bemartyr (Fuller), &c. J5e-=by; see Earle's 
 Philol. § 559. 
 
 29. ev'n as the person^ &c. It was said of St. Paul that * his bodily 
 presence' was * weak * (2 Cor. x. 10.). Cp. Plutarch, Agesilaos, ch. xxxvi : 
 (■nil b\ Kareirkcvaav els ttju AtyvnTov /c.tA.= ' Upon his arrival in Egypt 
 all the great officers of the kingdom came immediately to pay their court 
 to him. Indeed, the name and character of Agesilaus had raised great 
 expectations in the Egyptians in general, and they crowded to the shore to 
 get a sight of him ; but when they beheld no pomp or grandeur of appear- 
 ance, and saw only a little old man, and in as mean attire, seated on the 
 grass by the sea-side, they could not help regarding the thing in a ridiculous 
 light, and observing that this was the very thing represented in the fable, 
 •• The mountain had brought forth a mouse." ' Aemilius Probus's Life of 
 Agesilaus (commonly assigned to Cornelius Nepos), chap. viii. : * Atque hie 
 tantus vir ut naturam fautricem habuerat in tribuendis animi virtutibus, sic 
 maleficam nactus est in corpore fingendo. Nam et statura fuit humili et 
 corpore exiguo et claudus altero pede. Quae res etiam nonnuUam afferebat 
 deformitatem ; atque ignoti, faciem ejus cum intuerentur, contemnebant ; 
 qui autem virtutes noverant, non poterant admirari satis.' See Bacon's 
 Essays, Of Deformity : * And therefore let it not be marvelled, if sometimes 
 they [deformed persons] prove excellent persons ; as was Agesilaus, Zanger 
 the Sonne of Solyman, ^sope, Gasca President of Peru ; and Socrates may 
 goe likewise amongst them ; with others.* 
 
 30. io see io = to look towards or on. So Comus, 6205 Joshua xxii. lo. 
 
 P. 55. 3. when God shakes a Kingdome, &c. Cp. Joel iii. 16; Haggai 
 ii. 6, 7. 
 
 13. his beam. Par. Lost, iii. 2. 
 
 18. to set places, Cp. Par. Lost, xi. 836-838 : 
 
 * , . . that God attributes to place 
 No sanctity, if none be thither brought 
 By men who there frequent, or therein dwell.' 
 
 19. outward callings of men^ i.e. 'priests.* See Of Reformation in 
 England. 
 
 20. the old Convocation ^owstf = the Chapter-house at Westminster. Till 
 Wolsey's time Convocation met in St. Paul's. See Milman's St. Paul's, 
 p. 289. Convocation was first summoned by writ in 1295. Its power was 
 circumscribed by Henry VIII, but by no means destroyed. See Hallam's 
 Constit. Hist. chap. xvi. of the Student's edition. The Convocations 
 of 1603 and of 1640 had caused great irritation by an ill-timed deluded 
 effort to impose certain regulations on the country at large. 
 
 21. the Chappell at Westminster, ^The Assembly of Divines met in 
 Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster. Their first meeting was held on Sunday, 
 July I, 1643. See Short's History of the Church of England, § 585. 
 
 22. all the faith, &e. The works of the Assembly consisted of a Direc- 
 
150 AREOPAGITICA. [P. 55. 
 
 tory for Worship and Ordination, of a Confession of Faith, and two Cate- 
 chisms, the larger and the shorter. * Besides these there is a form of 
 presbyterian Church government agreed upon by the Assembly, but not 
 authorised.' (Short, § 590.) 
 
 22. canonizd, embodied in canons; so Kavovi^€iv in ecclesiastical Greek. 
 I do not know that the word occurs elsewhere in this sense ; but that is 
 no objection to Milton's using it so. For the common sense, canon denoted 
 the catalogue of saints and martyrs whose memory was by ecclesiastical law 
 preserved in the festivals of the Church ; hence canonize = to enroll in this 
 catalogue. In Hamlet, i, 4. 47 — • 
 
 * bnt tell 
 
 Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, 
 
 Have burst their cerements' — 
 canoniz*d seems to be used loosely for ' that have been buried duly according 
 to the rule with all proper rites.' 
 
 24. to supple the least bruise^ &c. See Jeremy Taylor's chapter ' Of 
 Compliance with disagreeing Persons or weak Consciences in general' in 
 his Liberty of Prophesying. 
 
 25. edifie is strictly to build up. 
 
 28. Harry the 7. See Stanley's Memorials of Westminster. 
 
 29. with all his leige tombs about him. Around him then lay the Lady 
 Margaret his mother. Queen Elizabeth, her rival of Scotland, King James I 
 and his Queen, &c. ; to be joined subsequently by King Charles II, Wil- 
 liam III and Queen Mary, King George II, &c. 
 
 33. that vje doe jiot^ &c. = Lat. quin, &c. 
 
 P. 56. 4. tasted learning. Cp. Gr. yevcaOcu. So Tennyson, In Me- 
 moriam, Ixxxix : 
 
 * He tasted love with half his mind,' &c. 
 See the euphuistic phrase, and Viola's criticism of it, Twelfth Night, iii. i. 
 8S-92. 
 
 7. manage = take in hand. Fr. menager, Lat. ma?tu agere. 
 14. perhaps neither among the Priests, &c. Cp. Luke x. 30-27; Matthew 
 v. 20. 
 
 21. the beginning of this Parlament. November 3, 1640. 
 24. triple ice. Cp. Horace's * aes triplex,' Odes. i. 3. 9. 
 clung. If a *that' has not dropped out of the text, clung — m^idt 
 to cling, attached or fastened on to, gathered. In Par. Lost, x. 512, of 
 Satan's metamorphosis, clung may be either preterite or past participle : 
 • His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare, 
 His arms clung to his ribs, his legs entwining 
 Each other, till supplanted down he fell,' &c. 
 
 28. the check that Moses, &c. See above, p. 47, 
 
 29. the countermand, &c. See Luke ix. 50. 
 
 30. young John. According to tradition he was the youngest of the 
 Apostles. The old Masters often portray him as in the prime of youth ; 
 
p. 57.] NOTES. 151 
 
 so Hans Memling (or Hemling), Isaac von Melem, Raphael, Domenichino, 
 &c. See Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, vol. i. 157-172. 
 
 31. whom he thought unlicenc't. ' Master, we saw one casting out devils 
 in thy name ; and we forbad him, because he/oUoweth not with us.* (Luke 
 ix. 49.) 
 
 32. our Elders. The word presbyterian is derived from the Gr. npicPv- 
 Tfpos = * elderly.* 
 
 testy. Literally = * heady,* from O. Fr. teste ; cp. Lat. cerebrosus. 
 
 P. 57. I. lett. The old verb let, to hinder, is of quite distinct origin 
 from our common verb let, to permit. It is the A.-S. latian. (The other 
 let is the A.-S. Icetan.) See the Glossary in Skeat's Piers the Plowman, 
 Clar. Press ed. ; Shaks. Henry V, v. 2. 65 ; Hamlet, i. 4. 85, &c. ; Exodus 
 V. 4; Romans i. 13 ; 2 Thess. ii. 7, &c. ; also Bible Word-Book. 
 
 4, the most Dominican part, &c. See above, p. 35, 1. 29. 
 
 6. it would be no unequall distribution, &c. See Ovid, Art. Am. i. 655 : 
 *Neque enim lex aequior uUa 
 Quam necis artihces arte perire sua,* 
 
 13. that Order publisht next before this. If the Order of January 29, 
 164^, is meant, that was the Order next but one before this ; for there was 
 another passed March 9, l64§. The date of * this * was June 14, 1643. 
 The Order * made by the Honourable House of Commons Die Sabbati, 
 29 Januarii, 1641,' is as follows (see Arber's Reprint, p. 24) : * It is ordered 
 that the Master and Wardens of the Company of Stationers shall be required 
 to take especial Order, that the Printers doe neither print, nor reprint any- 
 thing without the name and consent of the author. And that if any Printer 
 shall notwithstanding print or reprint anything without the consent and 
 name of the Author, that he shall then be proceeded against as both Printer 
 and Author thereof, and their names to be certified to this House.' 
 
 1 7. thejire. It was common to order obnoxious books, or what were 
 considered so, to be publicly burned. 
 
 the executioner. His function was not only to inflict death, but such minor 
 penalties as branding, nose-slitting, ear-severing, &c. Of course all that the 
 name means is one who fulfils or carries out the doom pronounced by the 
 judge. Langland speaks of * assisours and executours ' (Piers Plowman). 
 
 19. authentic Spanish policy = policy genuinely and really Spanish, Cer- 
 tainly the distinction between genuine and authentic drawn by Bishop 
 Watson in his Apology for the Bible, 1 796, so often quoted (e. g in later 
 editions of Paley's View of the Evidences of Christianity, first published 
 1 794). holds good neither etymologically nor in practice. * A genuine book,' 
 he states, * is that which was written by the person whose name it bears as 
 the author of it. An authentic book is that which relates matters of fact as 
 they really happened.* Authentic is the Gr. avdtvTiKos, * warranted,' op- 
 posed to dSianoTos. (Liddell and Scott.) See Cicero, Ep. ad Att. ix. 14: 
 * Atque eum loqui quidam avdfVTiKws narrabat,' &c. lb. x. 9 : * Id enim 
 av0€yTiKWS nunciabatur,' &c. Av$€vtik65 is the adjective of avOivTrjt, 
 
15^ AREOPAGITICA. [P. 58.. 
 
 contracted from avToivTrjs, * one who does anything with his own hand ; * 
 an actual murderer, a suicide, &c. See Eikonoklastes, chap. 28 : * It were 
 extreme partiality and injustice, the flat denial and overthrow of herself 
 [of Justice] to put her own authentic sword into the hand of an unjust and 
 wicked man.* See Trench's Select Glossary. 
 
 22. a Star-chamber decree, &c. See a copy of this Decree, *made the 
 eleventh day of July last past, 1637,' in Arber's Reprint, pp. 7-23. 
 
 Star-chamber. See Hallam, Student's ed., pp. 28-30, 227-230. This 
 shameful Court was abolished in 1 64 1, along with that of the High Com- 
 mission. There were some who would have revived it in 1661, but happily 
 they were unable. 
 
 25. with Lucifer. See Isaiah xiv. 12. 
 
 29. bind books, &c. ; i.e. ' bind them over,* as we say, 
 
 30. your precedent Order. See above, 
 
 31. those men, &c, ; i.e. the booksellers. 
 
 33. the fraud of some old patentees. Sec. These tradesmen had feared 
 that certain privileges of their own might be encroached upon, should all 
 restrictions upon Printing be removed. 
 
 P. 58. I. monopolizers. See above, p. 33. 
 
 wider pretence of the poor, &c. See the Order : * And that no person or 
 persons shall hereafter print, or cause to be reprinted, any Book or Books 
 or part of Book or Books heretofore allowed of and granted to the said 
 Company of Stationers for their relief and maintenance of their poore, 
 without the licence or consent of the Master, Wardens, or Assistants of the 
 said Company,' &c. 
 
 3. the just retaining, &c. He refers to this matter of copyright above, p. 5. 
 
 severall. Several is etymologically connected with separate. See note io 
 Longer English Poems on Hymn on the Nativity, 234 : 
 
 *Each fettered ghost slips to his severall grave.* 
 
 5. colours = specious arguments, disguisings or misrepresentations, ex- 
 aggerations or extenuations, &c. We still speak of a * highly coloured 
 account,' &c. This use of the word comes to us from the Latin rhetoricians. 
 See Quintilian, iv. 2. 28, et seq. &c. Juvenal, vi. 280 : 
 
 ' Die aliquem, sodes, hie, Qj.iintiliane, colorem* &c. 
 See Chaucer's Squier's Talc, Part ii ; Bacon's Coulers of Good and Evil» 
 a fragment, 1597, printed in the Golden Treasury edition of the Essays, 
 
 6. to exercise, &c. = to retain their advantages over other members of the 
 bookselling trade. 
 
 12. wa/z^naw/ = anti-Parliamentary, Royalist, &c. Says the Tory Dr. 
 Johnson : * It was a word used of the defenders of the church and monarchy 
 by the rebel sectaries in the civil wars.' 
 
 14. these Sophisms and Elenchs ofmarchandize = ihese trade considera- 
 tions; more strictly, these fallacious arguments urged by the booksellers, 
 and their refutations. 
 , elenchs = ^^^yxot, Aristotle, Analytica Priora, ii. 20. i. A syllogism 
 
p. 58.] • NOTE. 153 
 
 by which the adversary is forced to contradict himself was specially so 
 called ; but it is often used in a general sense. See Bacon's Advancement 
 of Learning, 11. 14, 5, 6 : ' The second method of doctrine [the first is that 
 part of logic which is comprehended in the * Ahalytics '] was introduced for 
 expedite use and assurance sake, discovering the more subtile forms of 
 sophisms and illaqueations with their redargutions, which is that which 
 is termed elenches. For although in the more gross sort of fallacies it 
 happeneth (as Seneca maketh the comparison well) as in juggling feats, 
 which, though we know not how they are done, yet we know well it is 
 not as it seemeth to be ; yet the more subtile sort of them doth not only 
 put a man besides his answer, but doth many times abuse his judgement. 
 This part concerning elenches is excellently handled by Aristotle in precept, 
 but more excellently by Plato in example ; not only in the persons of the 
 Sophists, but even in Socrates himself, who, professing to affirm nothing, 
 but to infirm that which was affirmed by another, hath exactly expressed 
 all the forms of objection, fallace, and redargution,' &c. 
 
 19. what hath bin err'd. A classicism. Cp. Quintilian, vi. 5.7: * Si 
 nihil esset erratum,' &c. 
 
 20. in highest authority ; i.e. for those in highest authority. 
 
 a plain advertisement =i 2. mere calling of your attention to the facts of the 
 case, a simple notification, &c. 
 
 21. is a vertue, &c. He concludes, as he began, with a lofty panegyric 
 of the Parliament that had done for us such splendid service. 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTE 
 
 toii.4-9, p. 41. 
 
 I THINK I can now throw a little fresh light on this obscure passage, and 
 sufficiently explain it, though further illustrations will be heartily welcome, 
 if any are forthcoming. 
 
 Milton means to say that sermons are just as much articles of commerce 
 as anything else, and to be bought as easily and commonly as such com- 
 modities as clothes or lace or boots. To paraphrase more closely : not in 
 the Mercery, or in the precincts of St. Martin le Grajid, or in shoe- 
 makers' shops, are there more ready-made wares of all sorts for sale than 
 there are sermons in certain quarters * ready printed and pil'd up, on every 
 text that is not difficult ' ; so that the * parochial minister ' or parish priest, who 
 is too ignorant or indolent to compose his own discourses, need never fear any 
 lack of ' pulpit provision,* having so well stocked a market close at hand. 
 
 5. Our London trading St, Thomas then refers to the Mercery in Cheap- 
 side, the place where the mercers had their shops, which was close by the 
 Mercers* Hall and Chapel. But this chapel was, in fact, the church of the 
 
1 54 ADDITIONAL NOTE. 
 
 ancient college or hospital of St. Thomas of Aeon or Acres, which was 
 founded in his honour by a sister of Thomas a Becket (to use a familiar 
 though inaccurate cognomen) on the site of the house in which he was 
 born. After the mercers bought the premises from King Henry VIII, at 
 the dissolution of the monasteries, the said building was reopened for divine 
 service in accordance with the Reformed ritual, and, as Stow tells us, * was 
 called Mercers' Chapel.* But, probably enough, the old name would still 
 survive in popular usage ; that is, it would still be known as St. Thomas'. 
 At all events, the old name would be familiar to Milton, and it would be 
 after his manner to employ it. Originally, in the Middle Ages, by * mercery ' 
 were meant • small wares,' or * mixed wares ' ' in contradistinction to the 
 larger articles of commerce or the goods of specific branches in manufacture.' 
 But gradually the mercers of Cheap extended their dealings, became vendors 
 of silks and velvets (temp. Henry VI), and formed a mixed body of mer- 
 chants and shopkeepers, leaving the small wares or mercery proper to the 
 haberdashers, who *kept market in adjoining Stalls and Standings' (see 
 Herbert's Twelve Great Companies, and Wheatley's Cunningham's London 
 Past and Present). On the use of the word vestry ^ see the note on p. 131. 
 
 6. Adde to boot St. Martin. The precincts of St. Martin le Grand, which 
 was a collegiate church and sanctuary, became * a kind of Alsatia * at the 
 dissolution of monasteries, its privileges of sanctuary not being suppressed, 
 and also a favourite residence of manufacturers of counterfeit ware, of latten 
 and copper articles, of beads, and of lace, 'a sort of copper lace called 
 St. Martin's lace.' Cunningham gives some excellent quotations to illustrate 
 this local traffic from Westward Ho !, The City Madam, Hudibras, Mrs. 
 Behn's Lucky Chance ; and more might be gathered from the Elizabethan 
 dramatists; e.g. in Northward Hoe, 'Old Jack Hornet,' says Doll, 'shall 
 take upon him to be my father.' * Excellent ! ' cries Leverpoole, ' with 
 a chain about his neck, and so forth.' * For that,' replies Doll, * Saint 
 Martin's and we will talk.' And further on in the play we have the said 
 Hornet exclaiming : * Sfoot, nothing moves my choler, but that my chain is 
 copper. But 'tis no matter ; better men than old Jack Hornet have rode up 
 Holborn with as bad a thing about their necks as this. Your right whiffler 
 indeed hangs himself [i. e. provides himself with a chain to hang on his neck] 
 in Saint Martin's [where the cheap * Sham * things were sold] and not in 
 Cheapside ' (where, at the western end on the southern side, the best gold- 
 smiths carried on business), 
 
 7. St. Hugh remains to be considered ; and what I have to remark is, 
 that a St. Hugh was in some way associated with shoemakers ; that he in 
 some way was their patron along with the well-known Saints Crispin and 
 Crispian. Evidence of this fact is furnished by Dekker in his Shoemakers' 
 Holiday, or the Gentle Craft, with the humorous life of Simon Eyre, Shoe- 
 maker and Lord Mayor of London. Thus, when Eyre introduces his fellow- 
 craftsmen to the king, and his Majesty asks, * My mad Lord Mayor, are 
 all these Shoemakers ? ' ' my mad Lord Mayor ' makes answer : * All Shoe- 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTE. 153* 
 
 makers, my liege, all gentlemen of the Gentle Craft, true Trojans, courageous 
 Cordwainers. They all kneel to the shrine of holy Saint Hugh.' Elsewhere 
 in this play * Saint Hugh's bones ' are mentioned as part of a cobbler's furni- 
 ture — as being amongst the implements of his trade. * Hark you, Shoe- 
 maker,' says Firke to Lacy, who wants a job, * have you all your tools : 
 a good dressing-pin, a good stopper, a good dresser, your four sorts of awls, 
 and your two balls of wax, your paring knife, your hand- and thumb-leathers, 
 and good Saint Hughes bones to smooth up your work ? * In Hone's Every 
 Day Book, vol. i, p. 698, the chapter on St. Crispin and St. Crispian has for 
 its motto a quotation from * St. Hugh's Song,' viz. — 
 
 'Our shoes were sow'd with merry notes, 
 And our mirth expell'd all moan; 
 Like nightingales, from whose sweet throats 
 Most pleasant tunes are nightly blown. 
 The Gentle Craft is fittest then 
 For poor distressed gentlemen.' 
 
 What could be the origin of this phrase? The only mention of a shoe- 
 maker in connexion with one of the' three famous saints of the name 
 that I have noticed occurs in the Magna Vita S. Hugonis Episcopi 
 Lincolniensis. The great Carthusian died in London, at his house on the 
 site of the Old Temple in what is now Chancery Lane, * secus Londinias 
 apud vetus Tempium * ; but his body was carried down to Lincoln to 
 be buried, to that * tempium gloriosissimum ' of which he had himself 
 begun the re-building ; and in the towns through which it passed, it was 
 received with the utmost reverence and devotion. At one of these, at 
 Stamford, a certain cobbler distinguished himself by the ardour of his 
 worship. He is described as * vir innocentis vitae bonisque per omnia 
 studiis deditus, arte sutoria sibi suaeque familiolae victum quaeritans.^ 
 When he saw some way off the bier of that most precious clay (* glebae 
 preciosissimae '), and could not get near it, so dense was the crowd, he was 
 heard praying aloud that Heaven would permit him to kiss the fringe of the 
 pall or place his most unworthy head under those sacred remains, and then 
 let him die (' et sic de hujus nmndi colluvione animam meam tolle '). And 
 at last his fervent wish was granted, and he thanked God for having so pitied 
 him, and prayed again that that night he might share the eternal rest 
 enjoyed by the soul whose now deserted body he had been privileged to 
 approach. His prayer was answered. That selfsame night he passed away 
 in peace (' In extremis positus, praemissa confessione percepta absolutione 
 testamentoque legitime confecto, mox ut percepit, spiritum in pace emisit '). 
 This story must have been well known in the Middle Ages, and may have 
 tended to associate St. Hugh with the shoemaking trade. But it is possible 
 already in some way Bishop Hugh was associated with cordwainers, and that 
 the passionate zeal of the Stamford cobbler was inflamed by a knowledge of 
 this association, and that he regarded him as a recognized friend and patron 
 of his craft, in whose company he would fain travel straight into Paradise. 
 
154* ADDITIONAL NOTE. 
 
 Most probably, however, if not quite certainly, the St. Hugh referred to 
 is not one of the three well-known saints of the name, but yet another — 
 a Welshman by birth, of comparatively little fame. His story is told in 
 Campian's Pleasant and Entertaining History of St. Hugh with a particular 
 account of his constant love to the handsome virgin Winifred, 2nd ed. 1876, 
 to which I have heartily to thank Dr. Sharpe of the Town Clerk's office, 
 Guildhall, London, for having called my attention. This St. Hugh, we are 
 informed, was the son of a King of Powys, and fondly loved Winifred the 
 daughter of Donwallo, King of Tegina, Flintshire. His suit rejected, he 
 travelled abroad, and returning, for reasons best known to himself took up 
 with a shoemaker at Harwich. Then broke out the Diocletian persecution, 
 and amongst its victims were both the disguised cobbler and the lady of his 
 affection. Just before his death, he bequeathed his bones to the craft to 
 which he had apprenticed himself, having nothing else to bequeath them. 
 And the legacy was turned to good account by his fellow-craftsmen : 
 ' My friends, I pray you listen to me 
 
 And mark what St. Hugh's bones shall be: 
 
 First a drawer, and a dresser. 
 
 Two wedges, a more and a lesser, 
 
 A pretty block three inches high, 
 
 In fashion squared like a die,' &c. 
 7. One point remains unexplained, viz. Milton's speaking of ' jhe hallowed 
 limits ' of St. Hugh. As we have stated (see p. 131), there was never a church 
 in London dedicated to any St. Hugh. The original region or neighbour- 
 hood of the shoemakers was the Cordwainers' Ward (see Stow's Survey) ; 
 and it may be presumed that this is the part of London in Milton's mind. 
 But to speak of it as 'the hallowed limits ' of St. Hugh seems a carelessness 
 of expression arising from a wish to make the allusion to the shoemakers 
 uniform with those to the clothiers and the trinket-sellers. 
 
 PS. — H. *H., to whom this volume and I are indebted for many invaluable 
 services, has kindly called my attention to a most pertinent passage in a poem 
 relating to the arrival of King George I, quoted in part by Hogg, jn the 
 first volume of his Jacobite Relics of Scotland : 
 
 ' Next to the knight there rode a true- 
 
 Blue cobbling Protestant, St. Hugh, 
 
 So called because that saint is made 
 
 The leathern patron of his trade, 
 
 Whose wooden bones he worships more 
 
 Than God, his church, or sovereign power, 
 
 Or any thing, except his glorious 
 
 Triumphant idol so victorious, 
 
 Ador'd by all the gentle craft 
 
 That work in garret up aloft, 
 
 As well as cobbling sots that breathe 
 
 His praises out in stalls beneath.' 
 
INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Adam, i8, 25. 
 Aegyptians, 14. 
 Ahab, 53. 
 Andromache, 8. 
 Angelo, St., 35. 
 Apollinarius, 14. 
 Aquinas, 18. 
 Arcadia, 24. 
 Archilochus, 8. 
 Areopagus, 7» 
 Arezzo, 20. 
 Aristophanes, 23. 
 Aristotle, 21. 
 Arminius, 20, 
 Athens, 4, 6. 
 Augustus, 8. 
 
 Bacon, 32, 38. 
 Basil, 15. 
 Belcastro, II. 
 Bethany, 39. 
 Brook, Lord, 51. 
 
 Caldeans, 14, 
 Calvin, 45. 
 Canada, 20. 
 Carneades, 8. 
 Carthaginian Councel, 
 
 10. 
 Calaio, 20. 
 Cato, 8. 
 Catullus, 9. 
 
 Chrysostom, 7. 
 
 Cicero, 9. 
 
 Cini, II. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, 
 
 19. 
 Creet, 7. 
 Critolaus, 8. 
 Cynick, 7. 
 Cyrene, 7. 
 
 D' Amelia, II. 
 Daniel, 14. 
 Davanzati, II. 
 Decius, 14. 
 Delf, 20. 
 Dioclesian, 14. 
 Diogenes, 8. 
 Dion Prusaeus, 4. 
 Dionysius, 7. 
 Dionysius Alexandri- 
 
 nus, 15. 
 Dominican, 35. 
 Dorick, 24. 
 
 England, 2. 
 Epicurus, 7. 
 Epiphanius, 19. 
 Epirots, 47. 
 Euripides, 8. 
 Eusebius, 15. 
 Eustochium, 15. 
 
 Flaccus, 9. 
 Florence, il. 
 Franciscan, 35, 
 
 Galileo, 35. 
 Geneva, 52. 
 Gentiles, 10. 
 Greece, 3, 6, 7, 
 Gothes, 3. 
 Guion, 18. 
 
 Hannibal, 48. 
 Harry 7th. 55. 
 Harry 8th, 20. 
 Hellenick, 14. 
 Hercules, 40. 
 Homer, 7, 
 Hugh, St., 41, 
 Hunnish, 3. 
 Husse, 10. 
 
 lenisalem, 39. 
 Ionia, 7. 
 Irenaeus, 19, 
 Isaiah, 20, 
 Isis, 43, 
 Italy, 8. 
 
 Janus, 51. 
 Jerome, T4, 19. 
 Jesuits, 20. 
 
156 
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 John (the Evangelist), 
 
 Moses, 14, 56. 
 
 Rome, 10. 
 
 56. 
 
 
 Russia, 45. 
 
 Joshua, 56. 
 
 Naevius, 8. 
 
 
 Julian the Apostat, 14. 
 
 Naso, 9. 
 
 Sabin, 8. 
 
 Julius Agricola, 45. 
 
 
 Salomon, 17, 
 
 Juno, 12. 
 
 Octavius Caesar, 9. 
 
 Scipio, 8. 
 
 Jutlanders, 3. 
 
 Osiris, 43. 
 
 Scotus, 18. 
 Selden, 16. 
 
 Knox, 32. 
 
 Paolo Padre, 10. 
 Paul's, 12. 
 
 Sicilians, 36. 
 Socrates, 14. 
 
 
 Paul, 14, 17. 
 
 Sophron, 23. 
 
 Lacedaemon, 8. 
 
 Persian, 44. 
 
 Spartan, 7. 
 
 Lambeth, 12. 
 
 Petronius, 20. 
 
 Spenser, i8. 
 
 Leo X, 10. 
 
 Philemon, 8. 
 
 
 Loretto, 39. 
 
 Philistines, 33. 
 
 Thales, 7. 
 
 Lucilius, 9. 
 
 Plato, 7. 
 
 Thomas, St., 41. 
 
 Lucretius, 9. 
 
 Plautus, 8. 
 
 Titus Livius, 9. 
 
 Lullius, 13. 
 
 Poinpey, 9. 
 
 Transylvanian, 45 
 
 Luther, 45. 
 
 Porphyrins, 9, 
 
 Trent, 10. 
 
 Lycurgus, 7. 
 
 Proclus, 9. 
 
 Turk, 42. 
 
 
 Prota8;oras, 6. 
 
 Typhon, 43. 
 
 Margites, 15. 
 
 Psyche, 17. 
 
 
 Martin the 5th, 10. 
 
 Pyrrhus, 47. 
 
 Verres, 36. 
 
 Martin, St„ 4I. 
 
 Pythagoras, 44. 
 
 
 Memmius, 9. 
 
 
 Westminster, 55, 
 
 Menander, 8. 
 
 Rabatta, II. 
 
 Wicklef, 10, 45. 
 
 Micaiah, 53. 
 
 Radamanth, 13, 
 
 
 Minorites, 13. 
 
 Rhodians, 4. 
 
 Zuinglius, 44. 
 
 Monte Mayor, 24. 
 
 Rodolph, II. 
 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Accuratest, 31, 
 After, 8. 
 Alchymy, 13^ 
 Almost, 6. 
 Ancestors, I3. 
 Ancienter, 15. 
 Anough, 9, 48. 
 Answerable, 15. 
 Antiphonies, 12. 
 Apothegms, 7. 
 Arrant, 39. 
 Art, 33. 
 Artificial, 25. 
 Athwart, II. 
 Attend, 5. 
 Autority, 9. 
 
 Bablers, 8. 
 Bachelor, 37. 
 Bagpipe, 24. 
 Baited down, 38. 
 Balcone's, 24. 
 Ballatry, 24. 
 Ballats, 8. 
 Batfell, 52. 
 Bayl, 31. 
 Beacon'd up, 44. 
 Bear up with, 39. 
 Birth, 12. 
 Blindfold, 27. 
 Breviaries, 41. 
 Brigade, 48. 
 
 Broke prison, 11. 
 Brooking, 3. 
 Brother, 5. 
 Bull, 10. 
 
 Burgomasters, 22, 
 Bushel, 49. 
 
 Cannonicall, 37. 
 Canonized, 55. 
 Carefull, 43. 
 Catcht, 6. 
 Catena, 40. 
 Cautelous, 21, 
 Censure, I. 
 Charge, 41. 
 Chop, 37. 
 Cities, 4. 
 Civill, 3, 44. 
 Clung, 56. 
 Colours, 58. 
 Combust, 43. 
 Commendatory, 39. 
 Commodity, 33. 
 Complementing, 12. 
 Complexion, 38. 
 Conceit, 35. 
 Concoction, 16. 
 Concordance, 40. 
 Condiscend, 28, 
 Conduct, 50. 
 Confuting, 5 1. 
 Considerat, 31. 
 
 Contrive, 22. 
 Conventicle, 37, 
 Conversant, 15. 
 Conversation, 24, 
 Conversing, 8. 
 Cote, 50. 
 Coulter, 33. 
 Courtship, 2. 
 Covenants, 37, 
 Crave, 29. 
 Creeks, 42. 
 Criticisms, 20, 
 Cropping, 5. 
 
 Damnify' d, 27. 
 Dares, 31. 
 Dasht, 29. 
 Decaying, 50. 
 Decrepit, 32. 
 Defiance, 48. 
 Demeanour, 17. 
 Derogated, 4. 
 Despair, 47. 
 Dictatorie, 12. 
 Diligent est, 31, 
 Ding, 32. 
 Dioces, 37. 
 Discipline, 52. 
 Disconformity, 5I, 
 Discontent, 30. 
 Discours, 22, 44, 
 Discover, 19, 
 
158 
 
 GENERAL INDEX, 
 
 Disexerclsing, 5. 
 Disparagement, 34. 
 Distinct, 20. 
 Dividuall, 39. 
 Divulged, 27, 
 Doctor, 31. 
 Dram, 26. 
 Ducking, 13. 
 Dunce, 33. 
 
 Economicall, 44. 
 Edifie, 55. 
 Elenchs, 58. 
 'Em, 40. 
 Enchiridion, 35. 
 Encroachment, 10. 
 Enhaunces, 38. 
 Equall, 3. 
 Exorcism, II. 
 Exquisite, 16. 
 Extended, 47. 
 
 Fabrict, 52. 
 Faction, 9. 
 Fain, 14. 
 Fansied, 10. 
 Fantastic, 46. 
 Feature, 43. 
 Fell upon, 23, 
 Fend, 41. 
 Ferular, 30. 
 Fescu, 30. 
 Fift essence, 6. 
 Firmament, 43. 
 Fist, 32. 
 Flourishes, 35. 
 Foreine, 20. 
 Forgotten, 36. 
 Formost, I, 12, 
 Frustrate, 27. 
 Furder, 10. 
 Fustian, 35. 
 
 Gabble, 49. 
 Gadding, 41. 
 Gammuth, 24. 
 Garb, 24. 
 Garland, 18. 
 Gear, 41. 
 Ghitarrs, 24. 
 Glutton, II. 
 
 Gluttony, 24. 
 Grammercy, 25, 
 
 Hand, 28. 
 Harmony, 40. 
 Hears ill, 24. 
 Her, 44. 
 Hereticks, 9. 
 Hidebound, 32, 
 His, 5. 
 Homily, 5. 
 
 Ilfavouredly, 13. 
 Impaled, 41. 
 Ingrossers, 49. 
 Ink, to cast, 12. 
 Inquisiturient, 13. 
 Innovator, 45. 
 Inrodes, 48. 
 Interlinearies, 41, 
 Invention, 33. 
 
 Jaunt, 31. 
 Jealous, 34. 
 Journey-work, 28. 
 
 Keri, 19. 
 Knaw, 33. 
 Knowing, 33. 
 
 Laick, 35. 
 Lawkeepers, 23. 
 Lay by, 10. 
 Lectures, 24. 
 Lett, 57. 
 Libertine, 7» 
 Licence, 6. 
 Lifeblood, 6. 
 Light on, 13. 
 Likely, i. 
 Limbo*s, 13. 
 Loitering, 41. 
 
 Madrigalls, 24. 
 Malignant, 58. 
 Malmsey, 39. 
 Manage, 56. 
 Maniples, 48. 
 Manners, II. 
 Mansion-house, 45. 
 Matrimonial, 5. 
 
 Methinks, 49. 
 Monopolizers, 58. 
 Motions, 25, 
 Mov'd it, 8. 
 Muing, 49. 
 Municipal, 24. 
 Muselesse, 7. 
 Mysteries, 39. 
 
 Naughty, 16. 
 Never so, 32. 
 Nicely, 19. 
 Noise, 49. 
 Novice, 37. 
 
 Obsequies, 43. 
 Obtain, 4. 
 Odds, 14. 
 Of, 46. 
 Offence, 15. 
 Officials, 27, 
 Omer, 17. 
 Opinion, 46. 
 
 Painful, 5. 
 Passing, 10. 
 Patriarchal, 32, 
 Pedantick, 32. 
 Perfected, 10. 
 Perfunctory, 32. 
 Permitted, 20, 
 Perswades, 4. 
 Pertest, 49. 
 Perverted, 20. 
 Piatza, 12. 
 Piddling, 39. 
 Pittance, 25, 
 Plates, 46. 
 Pluralities, 29, 
 Polite, 3. 
 Politics, 25. 
 Pound, 21. 
 Poundage, 40. 
 Prattle, 24. 
 Prevent, 22. 
 Professors, 39. 
 Propending, 45. 
 Prospect, 42. 
 Prove, 15. 
 Provoking, 25, 
 Publicans, 40, 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 159 
 
 Punie, 31. , 
 Purchast, 50. 
 Purgatory, lO. 
 
 Quadragesimal, 5. 
 Qualifie, 22. 
 Quell, 7. 
 Quick, 7. 
 
 Rebbeck, 24. 
 Regiment, 48. 
 Relation, 11. 
 Remember, 38. 
 Repasting, 16. 
 Resembling of, 8. 
 Resented, 33. 
 Responsories, 13. 
 Ribald, 20, 
 Ridd, 29. 
 Ript up, 12. 
 Roundels, 8. 
 
 Salary, 29. 
 Scanting, 26, 
 Scapt, 30. 
 Scout, 19. 
 Scurrill, 15. 
 Searching, 44. 
 Seised, 15. 
 Sensible, 29. 
 Sentences, the, 14. 
 Sequester, 25. 
 Sermoning, 41. 
 Settle, 42. 
 
 Severall, 58. 
 Shifts, 14. 
 Shrewd, 24. 
 Siniories, 4. 
 Skill, to, 39. 
 Sol-fa, 40. 
 Sort, 18. 
 Spill, 6. 
 
 Spunge, the, 13. 
 Stanch, 40. 
 Standards, 33. 
 Standing to, 30. 
 Starch, 40. 
 Stark, 44. 
 States, I. 
 Stationer, 32. 
 Statist, 3. 
 Statutes, 33. 
 Stay'd, 45. 
 Step-dame, 38. 
 Stop, 42. 
 Story, 9, 28. 
 Sublimat, 13. 
 Success, I. 
 Surlinesse, *J. 
 Synopses, 41. 
 
 Tasted, z,6. 
 Testy, 56. 
 The, (thg), 6. 
 Theam, 30. 
 Then, i. 
 Tickets, 33. 
 To, 23, 38. 
 
 Topic, 40. 
 To see to, 53. 
 Trash, 23. 
 Tannage, 40. 
 
 Uncorruptednesse, 21, 
 Unequal), 50, 
 Unfrocking, 43, 
 Unthrift, 29. 
 Unwillingest, 3, 
 Uses, 38. 
 Utter, 50. 
 Utter to, 30. 
 
 Ventrous, 32. 
 Viands, 16. 
 Vicar, 11. 
 Violl, 5. 
 Visitors, 24, 
 Voided, 38. 
 Vote, 51. 
 
 Waking, 41. 
 Want, 23. 
 Wanting, i. 
 Watchings, 31, 
 What, 40. 
 Whenas, 30, 
 Wont, 15. 
 
 Ye. 3. 
 Yet. 3. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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