sought to enter into the possession of his own mental kingdom, not that he might reign there, but that he might royally use its resources in building up a work which should bring honor to his country and his native tongue."

That great work which he finally gave to the world was Paradise Lost. Milton had long contemplated such a work. From notes and memoranda now in existence, it is known that as early as 1638 he had resolved to write a great poem; but he had neither chosen its subject nor decided upon its general character. At first, he had thought of the story of Prince Arthur as a suitable theme; but this idea he soon abandoned. He occupied the winter of 1639-40 in searching for a subject. A manuscript, written by him at that time and now preserved at Cambridge, contains a list of proposed subjects, and sketches of subjects, ninetynine in number. Sixty-one of these subjects are derived from Scripture, and thirty-eight from British history. The first general idea of Paradise Lost was conceived in 1640, but it was in the form of a drama that the subject was then contemplated. There are no fewer than four drafts of the work as thus first conceived, and all are in the dramatic form. Had Milton's literary life and projects not been interrupted, had not the great cause of liberty called him forth to another and a different field of labor, it is probable. that instead of the great epic we should have received from him only a second-rate drama. The twenty years of rude interruption not only served to modify and improve the plan of the poem, but it enabled its author, through matured reflection and ripened judgment, to make it far grander and more complete than would otherwise have been possible.

It was not until the year 1658 that he began the actual performance of the work which he had so long contemplated, and it was during the gloomiest period of his life that this work was brought to completion. Shaw says: "There is no spectacle in the history of literature more touching and sublime than Milton, blind, poor, persecuted, and alone,

'fallen upon evil days and evil tongues, with dangers and with darkness compassed round,' retiring into obscurity to compose those immortal epics which have placed him among the greatest poets of all time. The calm confidence with which he approached his task was the fruit of long meditation, profound study, and fervent prayer."

The following is a brief analysis of the poem:

Paradise Lost is written in twelve books or cantos. Originally, however, the work, being differently divided, contained but ten books. In Book I. the subject is proposed:

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world and all our woe.

Then the author advances "into the midst of things." Satan, the central figure, if not the hero of the action, is introduced. The first awakening of the fallen angels after their expulsion from Heaven is described; their astonishment and dismay; their numbers and appearance; their chief leaders "named according to the idols known afterwards in Canaan and the countries adjoining." Satan comforts his followers with the hope that they may yet regain heaven. They determine to continue their opposition to the designs of God, but in what manner they are undecided. Satan tells them of the creation of a new world and a new kind of creature, long before spoken of and prophesied in Heaven. A full council of the rebel hosts is determined upon. Pandemonium, the palace of Satan, is built, and the infernal peers sit therein.

Book II. describes the council in which the ruin of man is decided upon. The debate of the evil spirits. Moloch declares for open war against Heaven. Belial opposes this idea and advocates quiet submission, with the hope that, by so doing, the Almighty may forget his anger or lessen their pain. Mammon urges the advantages of peace and the quiet acceptance of the inevitable, advising his companions

that, although their world is dark and cheerless, they have the skill to make it magnificent, and that by the long endurance of pain their punishment may cease to be torment. Beelzebub favors neither war nor peace, since they can hope to gain nothing from either; but he advocates rather the spoiling of God's pleasure by the ruining of his creation. His plan meets with favor, and all hell applauds his speech. Satan undertakes to discover the whereabouts of the new world and the means of carrying out Beelzebub's suggestions. His journey to the gates of hell is described, and his meeting there with Sin and Death.

Book III. opens with an apostrophe to Light, one of the most beautiful passages in the poem. A council in Heaven is then described, wherein God the Father converses with God the Son in relation to the new world just created, and to the new creature-man. The Son offers to become a propitiation for the foreseen sins of Adam and his descendants, and his offer is gladly accepted by the Father. In the latter half of this book the story of Satan's journey is resumed. He is directed on his course to this world by Chaos. He alights on the "outer convex of this orb," and tarries awhile in the Limbo of Vanity, or the Paradise of Fools. Then, disguised as a good spirit, he visits the Sun, where he meets the angel Uriel, by whom he is further directed on his way to the newly-created Earth. The book closes with a prospect of Eden-Satan, still in the guise of an angel, standing on Mount Niphates.

Book IV. describes the Garden of Eden and the innocence and happiness of Adam and Eve. Their bower is described, their evening prayer and their innocent sleep. Then Satan, in the shape of a toad, endeavors to tempt Eve through dreams. He is discovered by the angelic guard, but is allowed to escape.

Book V. describes the coming of morning in Eden. Adam awakens Eve. She relates her dream, and Adam comforts her. The morning prayer of our first parents. Their employment in the garden. The angel Raphael

comes to warn them of the danger which impends. He begins the recital of the story of the rebellion in Heaven. The book ends with the speech of Satan to his followers on the eve of the great battle between the rebel hosts and the loyal angels.

Book VI. continues the angel's story of the War in Heaven. The complete triumph of the Son over the disobedient spirits, and their final expulsion from Heaven.

Book VII. begins with an invocation to Urania, in which the poet prays the Muse to govern the remainder of his song, "and fit audience find, though few." Raphael is then represented as relating, at Adam's request, the story of the Creation, as found in the first chapter of Genesis.

Book VIII. contains the further conversation between Adam and the angel Raphael. Adam makes inquiries in regard to the motions of the heavenly bodies, but receives an ambiguous answer. Then he relates what he remembers of his own creation and of his meeting with Eve.

Book IX. is the story of the temptation and of the eating of the forbidden fruit. It closes with the mutual accusations with which the sinful pair spent

The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning;

And of their vain contest appeared no end.

Book X. tells how the guardian angels, learning of man's transgression, forsake the garden. God sends his Son to judge the transgressors and to pass sentence upon them. Satan returns to Pandemonium and relates the success of his expedition. Adam and Eve lament their fault and resolve to ask forgiveness.

Book XI. relates how God, having heard and accepted the prayers of our first parents, yet declares that they must be driven out of Paradise. The angel Michael is sent to execute this sentence. Eve bewails her exile; but Michael, leading Adam up to a high hill, reveals to him all that shall happen to man before the coming of the flood.

Book XII. continues this prophetic picture, and reveals

what shall occur after the flood. Adam is comforted and greatly satisfied by being assured of the Redeemer's coming and of man's final salvation. "Michael, in either hand, leads the pair out of Paradise, the fiery sword waving behind them and the cherubim taking their stations to guard the place."

In regard to Milton's choice of subject a great deal has been written by the critics. Pattison says: "Not the critics merely, but readers ready to sympathize, have been sometimes inclined to wish that Milton had devoted his powers to a more human subject, in which the poet's invention could have had freer play, and for which his readers' interest could have been more ready. And it has been thought that the choice of a Biblical subject indicates the narrowing effect of age, adversity, and blindness combined.

. In selecting a scriptural subject, he was, however, not exercising any choice, but was determined by his circumstances. With all his originality, Milton was still a man of his age. A Puritan poet in a Puritan environment could not have done otherwise. But even had choice been in his power, it is doubtful if he would have had the same success with a subject taken from history."

Masson says: "The subject was one of those which already possessed, in a marked degree, that quality of hereditary and widely-diffused interest which fits subjects for the purposes of great poets. Milton, it may be said, inherited a subject with which the imagination of Christendom had long been fascinated, and which had been nibbled at again. and again by poets in and out of England, though by none managed to its complete capabilities."

Hallam: "The subject of Paradise Lost is the finest that has ever been chosen for heroic poetry; it is also managed by Milton with remarkable skill. It must be

owned, nevertheless, that a religious epic labors under some disadvantages; in proportion as it attracts those who hold the same tenets with the author, it is regarded by those who dissent from him with indifference or aversion.