on "We have this treasure in earthen vessels," as we are told by an inspired apostle, "that the glory may be of God, and not of us.' The "Contemplations" of Sir Matthew Hale are, indeed, full of treasure; the unsearchable riches of Christ, even durable riches and righteousness. It is a sublime lesson to the lawyers, to the statesmen, to the exalted of this world, that one who occupied so high a place amongst them should devote a large portion of two octavo volumes to a "Dissertation on the Knowledge of Christ Crucified," and should fill another with a "Discourse the Knowledge of God and of ourselves." This presents us with a striking comment on the words of the great apostle of the Gentiles, who himself also was a man of vast human attainments-" Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."* Sir Matthew Hale, with all his errors-and one of them, in particular, we have not endeavoured to conceal-presents the world with a brilliant example of an upright judge, an impartial politician, a skilful lawyer, a learned philosopher, a profound theologian; *Philippians, iii. 8, 9. his career forming on the whole a biography which calls to mind those spirit-stirring lines of a transatlantic poet, with which we may aptly conclude this historical sketch. "Lives of great men all remind us Footprints, that perhaps another, Let us then be up and doing, Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labour and to wait."* * Longfellow's "Voices of the Night." "A Psalm of Life." CHAPTER IV. JOHN MILTON. THE people are the fountain of power. The forty centuries that, in the language of the Corsican, look down from the pyramids, have only confirmed, by their varied experience, the truth of this immortal proposition. Yet such is not merely the lesson of the past. The present as forcibly illustrates the fact that society contains within itself the principles of its own government. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that society should be led by minds rightly directed. Amongst those who powerfully influence any community, the poet must rank at least as high as the statesman. It was once said, "Let me make the ballads, and you may make the laws." It might have been said with equal truth, Let me write the dramas and the epics, and then you may attempt to teach moral principles. For it is impossible to estimate the influence which polite literature -above all, poetry-exerts upon the moral tone of a nation. Where the writers are before the age, they direct society; where they are behind it, they are directed by its prevailing sentiments, and, in proportion to their talent, fasten those sentiments, by a reflex action, more powerfully upon the age. The effect of their compositions is, therefore, a theme equally interesting to the poet, the philosopher, and the historian. The influences both of the statesman and the poet were combined in the instance of John Milton. This illustrious writer was the son of a scrivener of London, (himself an intelligent and accomplished person, descended from a Roman-catholic family), and was born in Bread Street, Cheapside, in 1608. Being intended for the church, he received a liberal education, and graduated at the university of Cambridge with great honour to himself. His diligence as a student is attested by the profound erudition of his poetical writings; of which the masque of "Comus," and the monody of "Lycidas," were produced at an early age. Having adopted, to a considerable extent, the principles of the Puritans, he relinquished all idea of the clerical profession, devoted his leisure to study and travel, and soon after the breaking out of the great civil war, engaged his able pen in eloquent vindication of the popular cause. This ought to be considered a stain upon his charac ter. However large the provocation, the idea of HIS HISTORY. 137 civil dissension is so abhorrent to every humane and reflective mind, that it must ever be matter of regret, that a genius scraphic as Milton's should have been prostituted to the vindication of strife so infernal. For his treatises defended not only the resort to arms, but the murder of the king; whilst his subsequent conduct, in accepting office under Cromwell in a ministerial, and not, as Hale, in a judicial capacity, proves that he assented also to the usurpation of the Protector. It should be remembered, however, that we are enabled to speak thus freely of his opinions, partly through the moral influence of his own "Defence of the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing," for which the British constitution and the British press owe to his memory a debt of everlasting gratitude. On account of the high situation that Milton had held under Oliver Cromwell, Sir Heneage Finch, at the Restoration, argued, by a process of logic peculiar to political animosity, that he ought to be hanged. From public calamity, however, he escaped, but the close of his life was embittered by domestic afflictions, -the decease of two wives in succession, and the loss of his own eye-sight; the latter deprivation having been hastened by severe application to his duties in Cromwell's bureau at Whitehall. It was in the midst of such external disqualifications that the greatest work of his life was achieved-the immortal |