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in relation to his Love of Mufick, and the
Effect it had upon his Mind, I remember a
Story I had from a Friend I was Happy in for
many Years, and who lov'd to talk of Milton,
as he Often Did. Milton hearing a Lady Sing
Finely, now will I Swear (fays he) This Lady
is Handfom. his Ears Now were Eyes to
Him.

This little Hint puts me in Mind to Con-
fider Him as a Lover, which might have been
Overlook'd for any thing that is Said of Him
in the Accounts we have; Only that he Mar-
ry'd Three times; And (as he fays Himself
fomewhere) he had a particular Fancy, for
which however I don't remember he gives any
Reason, he would never think of taking a
Widow; 'tis certain he did not, none of the
Three Wedded by him were Such. Nor is
it Obferv'd he was in Love (as the Phrafe is)
with any
of Thefe; on the Other Hand no-
thing is faid to his Difadvantage with regard
to Tenderness as a Husband. Once indeed
it appears by a Latin Poem of his (Eleg. VII.
written when he was about 19) he fell in
Love for the First time; He met the Lady
upon Some Walks at London, Loft Sight of
her, Never knew who the was, nor Saw her
More, but Refolv'd Love fhould Thencefor-
ward give him no farther Trouble.

but he was Miftaken, as appears by three
fine Latin Copies of Verfes to Leonora, a
Young Lady who Sung Admirably at Rome;

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and five Italian Sonnets, and a Canzona that seem to be for the fame Lady. He was not Infenfible of Beauty; See his First Latin Elegy. but let it be remember'd This was when he was a Young Man. We hear nothing of This After his return from Italy.

So

When he was a Youth he Sometimes read Romances; and, as Good Minds Naturally will, turn'd All to his Advantage that even Thofe Books, which to Many Others have been the Fuel of Wantonness, and Loofe Living, I cannot think how, Unless by Divine Indulgence, prov'd to Me fo many Incitements, as you have heard, to the Love and steadfast Obfervation of That Vertue which abhors the Society of Bordelloes. Apol. for Smectymnuus.

in This Spring of Life he alfo Sometimes faw a Play, and visited Publick Walks, and Such Kind of Diverfions. He was a Chearfull Companion; but no Joker: his Converfation was Lively, but with Dignity. and as he was whilft Young, he Continu'd to be in his more Advanc'd Age. in a Latin Letter (his 21ft, in the Year 1656) he thus Writes to Emeric Bigot.

It was extreamly Gratefull to Me that you thought Me Worthy to be vifited preferably to Others when you came into England, and 'tis ftill more gratefull that you Now Salute me with Letters for you came to me perhaps only led ty the Opinion of the World, but your Returning by Letter is the refult of your Own Judgment,

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or at leaft Benevolence. of which I find that I have great reafon to Congratulate my Self; for Many that have been very Confiderable in their Writings, have had nothing but what was Low and Vulgar in their Private Converfation. for Me, if I can obtain, that having Written fomthing perhaps Tolerable, I may not appear to be Unequal in my Mind and Manners, I fhall add a Weight to my Writings, and shall gain ftill more Honour and Praise from Them, (if indeed they do Deferve Any,) when it shall be seen that it has been drawn, not more from the Moft Celebrated Authors, than, Pure, and Sincere from the Intimate Senfe of my Own Mind, and very

Soul.

He had a Competent Knowledge in the Mathematicks; but doubtlefs he never defign'd to perfue That Science through All its Branches, nor to their Utmoft Extent.

Whatever he Undertook was Dispatch'd as foon as poffible. He was Always in Haft. Cofa Fatta Capo hà is an old Florentine Proverb. a thing Done has a Head; the Finishing Stroke is the principal One, the Work is Nothing without it. For Me, (fays he in a Letter to Diodatus, Ep. 6. 1637) Such is the Impetuofity of My Temper, that no Delay, no Quiet, no Different Care and Thought of Almoft Any thing Elfe, can stop me 'till I come to my Journey's End, and Finish the Prefent Study to the Utmost I am Able. This Laft Claufe fhows

fhows alfo his Exactnefs and Care, without Which That Eagerness to have Done is a Vice.

Temperance was with Him a Favourite Vertue; See Parad. Loft V. 5. XI. 472, 515, 530, &c. and when he was Young (21) he Writes Finely on this Subject to his Friend Diodatus Eleg. vI. Here, after he had been Praifing several of the Ancient Poets on Account of This Vertue, he fays,

Diis etenim Sacer, &c.

Such Bards belong to Heav'n, by Heav'nare Bleft, They breathe Great Jove who dwells within their Breaft.

Milton was not Nice, but took what was Set before him. All kinds of Strong Liquors he Hated. Let Thofe Ask Help from Them who want fuch Affiftance. His Mufe needed

them not. His Celestial Patronefs deign'd her Nightly Vifitation Unimplor'd, and Dictated to him Slumb'ring, or Infpired Eafy his Unpremeditated Verfe. as Parad. Loft IX: 21. And he Slept but because he Muft.

He fet out in Life with aDifregard toRiches, or Advancement in the World. the Enriching and Adorning of his Mind; the Acquiring, Accumulating and Storing Up Great, Lovely, andUfefull Ideas,and that not for Himself Only, but for the Publick Good, was His Scheme, the Business He Conceiv'd was Appointed for Him in This Life; That he in Fact Executed This Project with Great Fervour will

be

be feen in its Place. Here I fhall give you Some of his Thoughts on That Matter, as I find them in his Animadverfions upon the Remonftrant's Defence againft Smedtymnuus, Written foon after he came from Travel. He had refolv'd to apply Himself to Learning, but not for Gain.Doe they thinke then that all thefe Meaner and Superfluous things come from God, and the Divine Gift of Learning from the Den of Plutus, or the Cave of Mammon? Certainly never any Clear Spirit, Nurft up in Brighter Influences, with a Soul inlarg'd to the Dimenfions of Spacious Art and High Knowledge, ever enter'd There but with Scorn, and thought it ever Foul Difdain to make Pelf or Ambition the Reward of his Studies, it being the Greatest Honour, the Greatest Fruit and •Proficiency of Learned Studies to Defpife Thefe things and a little after - which Poor and Low-pitch'd Defires, if they do but mix with those other Heavenly Intentions that draw a Man to this Study, it is justly expected that they should bring forth a Bafe-born Ijue of Divinity, (That is the Subject he is upon in particular) like that of those imperfect and Putrid Creatures that receive a Crawling Life from two Moft Unlike Procreants, the Sun and Mudd. and not only in these his Younger Years, but All his Life after, he fhew'd he bore a Generous Mind above the Peafantly Regard of Wages and Hire. if he had Recompences of That kind for his Ser

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