1652 he became totally blind. Thus with this infirmity, and the loss of his wife, Milton led a cheerless and lonely life until 1656 when he again married. With Catherine Woodcock, his second wife, he seems to have lived contentedly until her death fifteen months after the marriage. Milton's home was not a happy one until after his third marriage in 1663, when he succeeded in securing a careful and loving wife in Elizabeth Minshull, who survived him. He continued as secretary to the Commonwealth throughout Cromwell's life, and to the end advocated the cause of the Protector. Finally, however, in 1660, the Royalists gained the upper hand and the Restoration was accomplished. It is strange that the great poet and the writer of so many anti-royalist works was not condemned to death with many other of the regicides. The only punishment he seems to have suffered was that of having all his political writings burned. He devoted the remaining years of his life to poetical labors.

In 1658 Milton had begun to write Paradise Lost. He was assisted in this by his friends, some of his earlier pupils, by his nephews and his daughters who read and wrote for him. But his daughters soon tired of the incessant labor of reading to him books that they could not understand, and at last deserted him. It was then that Milton married his third wife. In 1665 he finished Paradise Lost, and in 1671 Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes appeared. These were his last important

writings. On Nov. 8, 1674, he died, at the age of sixtyfive, and was buried in the church of St. Giles, Cripplegate.

III. MACAULAY'S STYLE.

"Lord Macaulay must be classed among the popular writers of English Prose in the first half of the present century. His prose may be said to have been inferior to that of no one of his contemporaries in the hold which it had upon the respect and admiration of the English people. Since his death his prose still has a substantial place in English Letters. The one who denies his claim to be ranked among the first examples of English prose style, must see to it that he be prepared to maintain his difficult position. It is probably true, that even at this day no history of England, covering the era which Macaulay treats, is oftener read, or read with more intelligent interest, than is his. It is also probable that the modern English student is as familiar with Macaulay's Essays as with those of any other prominent essayist of the century." What is the reason for this?

When, in 1825, Francis Jeffrey, the Editor of the Edinburgh Review, wrote to Macaulay the often quoted sentence: The more I think, the less I can conceive where you picked up that style," he pointed out the mainspring of our author's popularity. That style which has made Macaulay's writings so popular with all classes, owes its

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charm largely to a few well defined elements. In the first place stands clearness, the prime requisite of all good writing. As Dean Milman has well said, One may read a sentence of Macaulay's twice to judge of its full force, never to comprehend its meaning." (Vide Essay on Addison, Par. 22.) The reasons for this great clearness are not far to seek. Macaulay avoids complications of clauses that may confuse; he is straightforward and positive; but above all he has at his command, besides his powerful faculty of organization and arrangement, a wealth of illustration that throws light upon his every paragraph. point that he wishes to make, so that it can by no means be misunderstood, is his abundant use of repetition. He seems, as Taine has said, to have made a wager with his reader and said to him, "Be as absent in mind as you will, as stupid, as ignorant; in vain you will be ignorant, you shall learn ; I will repeat the same idea in so many forms." (Vide Essay on Milton, Par. 81.)

A favorite method of enforcing the

In addition to this main feature of Macaulay's style the student should note its strong rhetorical quality. Macaulay is fond of contrast, balance, or antithesis; he delights in setting word over against word, clause against clause, and sentence against sentence. (Vide Essay on Milton, Par. 61.) "Of climax, the coping-stone of the emphatic style," says T. E. Kebbel, Macaulay is a master, and this it is which gives to his rapid antitheses a strength and cogency of their own. After he has accu

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mulated his evidence and brought out point after point in his own favor . . he never fails at the right moment to give the final blow which drives his conclusion home and leaves it embedded in our own minds to the exclusion of all subordinate ideas which might weaken our perception of its force." (Vide Essay on Addison, last half of Par. 167.).

Macaulay, however, through his desire for effect, was too frequently led to obtain force by the use of rhetorical devices, and he thereby at times sacrificed fact to form.

Exact balance cannot long be kept up without damage to strict truth," and in this practice of Macaulay's lies his chief defect as an historian. (Vide Essay on Milton, Par. 77.) In this connection it is also to be observed that Macaulay is a partial historian, an historian with a bias, allowing not infrequently his Whig propensities to get the better of strict justice" and truth.

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One more characteristic of Macaulay's writings which it is well to note, is his keen perception and delineation of character his power of bringing before our mind's eye, as living beings, the personages of whom he is writing. Many instances of this personal portraiture, often done with only a few bold but vivid strokes, may be found throughout his writings. (Vide Essay on Addison, Par. 70.)

The following essays, and especially the Essay on Milton, illustrate well the following characteristics of Macaulay's style his fondness for balanced sentences, antithesis,

periodic sentences, similes, metaphors and climax, his clearness, narrative power, eloquence, invective, repetition, illustration and erudition.

IV. SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS.

The following suggestions, though few in number, will, it is hoped, prove useful to those students who wish to derive the greatest benefit from their study of the essays.

I. Read in the Introduction the sketch of Macaulay and also the section dealing with his style.

II. Read the essays through, merely for pleasure, noticing the clearness, directness and force of the author's style, and the abundance, variety and aptness of his allusions. Many of the references and illustrations will be obscure, but the general scope and plan of the essays will be clear. III. After this rapid reading the student should make himself familiar with the period of history covered by each essay. In the case of the essay on Milton, he should read some account of Milton's life; should read about the Stuart Kings, about Cromwell, the Puritans, the Civil War, and the Revolution of 1688. The following list may be helpful :

Mark Pattison.
J. R. Lowell.

Walter Bagehot.

T. B. Macaulay.

S. R. Gardiner.

Life of Milton. (E. M. L.)

Milton. Among My Books. Vol. II.
John Milton. Literary Studies. Vol. I.
History of England. Vol. I. chs. i., ii.
History of the Civil War.