if they had all perished except the noble appeal to the Long Parliament "for the liberty of unlicensed printing." In those days a book could not be published without the consent of the government being first obtained, and an author was often afraid to say what he wanted lest that consent should be refused. It was hoped in this way to check the spread of error, but the plan was as unwise as it was useless. "Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth," said Milton, "so Truth be in the field we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? For who knows not that Truth BOOK III. is strong next to the Almighty? She need no 2 policies, no stratagems, no licensings, to make her victorious; those are the shifts that Error uses against her power." Upon the establishment of the Commonwealth Milton was made Latin secretary to the council, and he continued to hold the office after becoming blind. The Restoration left him time to write the great poem on the Fall of which he had long been thinking. That poem-" Paradise Lost "-appeared in 1667. It tells Of man's first disobedience and the fruit It relates how the rebel angels waged war upon the Almighty, and, being defeated, were Hurled flaming headlong from the 5 ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and 6 combustion, down To bottomless 7 perdition. It describes the creation of man, his happiness in Paradise, the visit of Satan, and the Fall. The poem ends with the expulsion of Adam and Eve,— The world was all before them where to choose In "Paradise Regained," Milton, sang Who, 9erewhile the happy garden sung, Recovered Paradise to all mankind Milton's merits as a poet are summed up by 10 Dryden : Three poets in three distant ages born, 3 1 Pamphlet, a small book on a matter of passing interest. * policy, plan. stratagem, trick. 4mortal taste, taste by man. ethereal, heavenly. 6 combustion, burning. 7 perdition, entire loss, destruction. • expulsion, driving out. 9erewhile, formerly. 10 Dryden, a poet somewhat younger than Milton. 11 the first, Homer, a great Greek poet. poet. 12 the next, Virgil, a great Latin 66 JOHN BUNYAN. JOHN MILTON is the Puritan poet, John Bunyan the Puritan prose writer. Bunyan, the son of a tinker, was born at Elstow in Bedfordshire, in 1628. He followed his father's trade till he was about twentyseven, and then became a Baptist preacher. Six months after the Restoration of Charles II. he was arrested for Dissent, and thrown into Bedford jail. There he lay in a damp cell for over twelve years, and he thought he should lie there "till the moss would overgrow his eyebrows." While in prison he wrote his Pilgrim's Progress," the finest allegory in the language. He says that in a dream he saw a man clothed in rags, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back." By reading the book the man learned that the City of Destruction, wherein he dwelt, was to be burned with fire from heaven. He was filled with distress, and cried, "What shall I do to be saved? One named Evangelist told him he would find safety in the 1 Celestial City, and pointed to a wicket gate in the distance, which stood at the beginning of the road thither. 2 3 Bunyan then tells how Christian set out upon his pilgrimage, fell into the Slough of Despond, struggled out on the other side, and, following the advice of Mr. Worldly Wiseman, left the straight road to make for the City of Morality. Being driven back by the terrors of Sinai, he betook himself once more to the right path. He passed through the Wicket Gate, saw the marvels in the house of Interpreter, and 4 fared on till he came to the Cross, when his burden fell from off his back. After tasting of the delights of the House Beautiful, he walked through the Valley of Humiliation, and had to face the terrors of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. In Vanity Fair he was beaten, besmeared with dirt, and put into a cage to be the object of all men's sport. At length Christian escaped, and he went not forth alone, for there was one whose |