Macaulay's Essays on Milton and Addison Author:Thomas Babington Macaulay Macaulay Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: NOTES. ESSAY ON MILTON. 1 :6. Secretary: Milton was by Cromwell appointed Latin Secretary, or Secretary of Foreign Tongues. He was the first incumbent, and... more » held the office from 1649 till 1660. 1:;. 8. Popish Trials and Rye-house Plot: See 2 : 5. 2 : 5. Oxford parliament: Held in Oxford, in 1681, to avoid the influence of factions in London. The dissolution, in 1683, ended the Popish Trials and was followed by the Rye-house Plot to assassinate Charles II. 2:i1. Mr. Sumner: Charles R. Sumner (1790-1874), chaplain under George IV., afterwards Bishop of Winchester. 8:3. Quintilian: See Sonnet XI. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a famous Roman critic. 3:8. Denham: Sir John Denham (1615-1658) and Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), poets. " Horace's wit and Virgil's state He did not steal, but emulate; And when like them he would appear, Their garb, but not their clothes, did wear." —Denham's Elegy on Cowley. 4:6, 7. Defensio Populi: Its purpose was to vindicate the people for the execution of Charles I. 5 : 29. Born an.age too late: See Paradise Lost, IX., 44, and Reason of Church Government. 6:30. Johnson: Dr. Samuel Johnson. See Macaulay's Essay on Boswell's Life of Johnson, and, for later treatment, article on Johnson in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 8:31. Butt of much clumsy ridicule: See Johnson's Life of Milton. Is the remark just? Cf. 12 : 19, etc. 6 : 8, 9. As civilization advances, poetry almost necessarily declines: See Johnson's Rasselas, ch. X. 7:7. Montague: Charles Montague (1661-1715), Earl of Halifax, chancellor of the exchequer, patron of literature. See Macaulay's Essay on Addison and History of England. 1 17. Walpole: Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), famous English statesman, Prime Minister. 7 :10. The great Newton: Sir Isaac ...« less