Masson's Life of John Milton [pp. 382-394]

382 MASSON'g LIFE OF JOHN MILTON. [April,
so far as the guardianship of the faith is concerned, in which such a
measure can be passed without full preparation for it, without any
ren~re~cntation of the churches elected with special reference to it, and
without its being submitted to them in any regular and constitutional
form for their approval or dissent?
ART. X.-MASSON'S LIFE OF JOHN MILTON.*
By B. H. GThLLTT, D. D., Profe:ssor in the Vuiveisity of New York.
It is more than ten years since the first volume of Prof. Masson's Life of
~~llton was published, and it is not strange that the author should feel it
incumbent upon him to state the reasons for the delay in the appearance
of the second. They are, in substance, not only the amount of labor required in its preparation, but the somewhat limited patronage which was
extended to the first.
This apparent lack of appreciation, however, is due, not to any want of
diligence on the part of Prof. Masson, but rather, we presume, to the
plan on which his work is constructed. He has overloaded it with matter
which does not very directly connect itself with Milton's life, and the introduction of which, although often of great interest in itself, seems to
break the continuity of that narrative of personal relations which is one
of the charms of biography.
In this second volume he has repeated the mistakes-faults or merits,
according to the stand-point of the critic-of the first. He gives us, at
what many who are familiar with the political history of the times will
consider an unnecessary length, the history of Laud's blundering attempt,
in conjunction with his royal master, to impose the Prayer-book on Presbyterian Scotland. Somewhat more pertinently he sets forth quite minutely the successive phases of the Episcopal controversy in England, in
which Milton, as the antagonist of Bishop Hall, and the vindicator of
"Sunectymnuus," took such a prominent part. The historical material
which is thus introduced is not without its value, but it renders the work
cumbrous, and divides the interest which a skilful biographer aims to
concentrate upon this subject.
As an offset to this, Prof. Masson has manifested a tireless if not enthusiastic zeal in gathering up all accessible materials for illustrating the
successive phases of Milton's life. For instance, he has brought forward, as
they have never been presented before, the incidents connected with Mii
* The Life of John Milton: Narrated in Connection with the Political, Ecelesiastical, and Literary History of his Times, by David Masson, M. A., LL. D., Professor
in the Umversfty of L~linbnrgh. VoL II., 1638-1643. London and New York:
Macmillan & Co., 187L