in the Restoration, he hailed with delight the opportunity to fulfil
in peace his destiny, which is revealed in his prayer:
" . . . What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert Menial Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men."
He had revolved many subjects in his mind and spent much
time in deliberation, until finally he conceived the theme of Para
dise Lost. He had begun the poem in 1658. Now he was able
to devote all his time to it, and it was finished in 1663. Then he
spent some time in revising and perfecting it, publishing it in
1667.
In 1663 he contracted his third and happiest marriage, and his
last wife outlived him by half a century.
In submitting some of the manuscript of Paradise Lost to a
friend for criticism, he was reminded that the poem contained
much of happiness lost, but nothing of happiness regained.
After some deliberation he decided to write the great sequel.
Paradise Regained was begun in 1665 and finished the following
year. In 1667 Samson Argonistes was written, and the two last
named works published in one volume in 071. In 1673 lie pub
lished a reprint of the volume of 1645, and the following year, on
the Bth of November, the great poet died, being sixty-six years
of age. He was buried in St. Giles Church, Cripplegate.
The literary work of Milton, briefly summed up, consists of
twenty-three sonnets, ten of which were published in 1645, and
nine more in his reprint of 1673, four being suppressed on account
of political tone; the numerous prose pamphlets. of his political
career, of which Areopagitica, his speech before parliament for
freedom of the press, is best known; a number of short poems and
his Latin verse, which is unexcelled; and the masterpieces to
which lie owes his fame, namely, the five lyrics written at Horton,
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Argonistes. Thus
we see that Milton wrote comparatively little; but the world is
full of poetry,'and is not one crowning poem of more value than
an infinite number of lesser ones? Milton's pastoral, Lycidas, has
no superior in literature; his, epic, Paradise Lost, no equal.
In L'Allegro and Il Pensoroso Milton reveals his own nature,
woven into Horton scenes. Later conies Comus, teaching the hal-
The Free Lance
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