The Prose Works Of John Milton Vol-Iv

Front matter

GEORGE BELL & SONS.

THE ALDINE EDITION OF THE BRITISH POETS.

SUPPLEMENTARY SERIES.

Contents

Vol. L The Life of Shakespeare. The Tempest. The Two Gentlemei of Verona, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Measure fo Measure.

Vol. ML As You Like It Taming of the Shrew. All’s Well tha Ends Well. Twelfth Night, or What You Will.

VoL IV. Winter’s Tale. Pericles. King John. King Bichard II.

BOOK I. — Ol TUB IVNOWMiOGB OF GoD

Chap I.— Of the Christian Poctune, and the several parts thereof ; namely Faith, or the Knowledge of God ; and Love, or the Worship of God .

Chap.IL — Of God; his Names and Attnbutes .

Chap. Ill —Of the Divine Deciees; General and Special

Chap IV — Of Predestination ....

Chap. V. — Of the Son of God .

Chap, VI. — Of the Holy Spirit .

Chap* VII. — Of the Creation of the World, and of all things visible and invisible .

Chap. VIII. — Of the Pi evidence of God, or of his Geneial Govern¬ ment of the Universe, ordinal) and e\tiaordmat\

Chap. IX — Of the Special Government of Angels, good and evil .

Chap, X -Of the Special Government of Man before the Fall; in¬ cluding the Institutions of the Sabbath and of Marnage

Chap XI —Of the Fall of our first Parents, and of Sm

Chap XII. — Of the Punishment of Sin .

Chap. XIII— Of the Death of the Body ....

Chap. XIV.— Of Man's Restoration, wheicin of Redemption; and ot Chi lit a* Redeemer ... .

0 i vp. XV*— Of the Office of the Mediator, and of his thieefold Functions as Piophet, Puest, and King

Cha^. XVI, — Of the Admimstiation and Objects of Redemption, comprising the Humiliation and Exaltation oi Chi ist

I AOS . V

xwv iv

CONTENTS.

Vu«

Chap. XVII.— Of Man's Renovation, including his Calling . . .■>*'

Chap XVIII. — Of Regeneration .... . . 32

Chap. XIX — Of Repentance . . 33‘

Chap. XX. — Of Saving Faith . . .331

Chap. XXI. — Of being cngiafted in Clm&t, and its effects, via. Newness of Life, and Increase .

Cha?. XXII.— Of Justification through Faith .... 341

Chap. XXIII. — Of Adoption . . 35i>

Chap. XXIV — Of Union and Fellowship with Christ and the Saints, wherein is considered the M>sucal or Invisible Chinch 301

Chap. XXV. — Of Impeifect Glorification ; wherein are considered

the Doctrines of Assurance and Final Persevciance . . 3f>4

Chap. XXVI. — Of the Manifestation of the Covenant of Giace,

written and unwritten, and herein of the Mosaic Law . .377

Chap. XXVII. — Of the Gospel, whereims consideicd our Knfran-

chisement from the Law of Moses ; and of Chiistian Liberty . 382

Chap XXVIII. — Of the Outwaid Signs of the Covenant of Grace, viz Circumcision and the Passover ; Baptism and the Lord's Supper 403

Chap. XXIX — Of the Visible Church, Universal ; its Ordinary and

Extraordinary Ministers, and the People .... 423

Chap. XXX — Of the Holy Scriptures . 437

Chap. XXXI. — Of Paiticular Churches, their Ministers, viz.

Presbyters and Deacons , and then People . . 452

Chap, XXXII — Of Church Discipline . 468

Chap XXXIII — Of Perfect Glorification , including the Second Advent of Christ, the Resurrection of the Dead, the last Judge¬ ment, and the General Conflagration ..... 475

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

To enter into a preliminary discussion of tlie doctrines or opinions contained in the present volume, seems, properly speak¬ ing, to bo no necessary part of the Translator’s du+y. After stating, therefore, in the first place, the circumstances under which the original manuscript was discovered, aud the reasons for considering it as the long lost theological w ork of Milton, it will be sufficient to subjoin, as briefly as possible, a few remarks chiefly relating to certain peculiarities m the following treatise, by which it is distinguished from the author’s other compositions.

From information communicated by liobort Lemon, sen. Esq. Deputy Keeper of His Majesty’s State Papers, w ho has lately completed from the documents under his care an entire series of the Order-Books of the Council of State during the Interregnum, it appears that Milton retired from active official employment as Secretary for Foreign Languages, about the middle of the year 1665. The following entry occurs under the date of April 17 m that year .

** The Councell resumed the debate upon the report made from the Committee of the Councell to whom it was referred to consider of the establishment of the Counceirs contingencies

“ Ordered . That the former yearly Salaiy of Mr John Milton,

of Two Hundred Eighty- Right Pounds, &c., formerly charged on the CouncelPs contingencies, be reduced to One Hundred and Fiftie Pounds per annum, and paid to him, during his life, out of lhs Highuess' Exchequer.”

Tliis sum must have been intended as a retiring pension m con¬ sideration of past services, as it is evident from another entry, under the same date, that a successor was already appointed, at a reduced salary, to discharge tne duties of the situation which Milton had previously occupied.

** For the Fee of Mr. Philip Medows, Secretary for 1 per annum,

the Latme Tongue, after the rate of . j £200 0 0”

From this time it is presumed that Milton ccaspd to bo em¬ ployed in public business, as his name does not again occur in the vi PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

Books of tlie Council of State, which continue in uninterrupted succession till the 2d of September 1658, the day preceding the death of Cromwell.1

It is mentioned by the biographers of Milton (ToltmcVs life of John Milton , p. 148, 12mo. London, 1609; New ton’s Life of Milton , vol. I. p. xl. and lxiii. 8vo. London, 375 7 ; SyimnorwV Life of Milton, appended to his edition of the Prose \VorLs, Vol. VII. p. 500, London, 3 806) that about the time when he w as thus released from public business, he entered upon the compo¬ sition of three great works, more congenial to his taste than tho employments in which he had been recently engaged, and tit ted to occupy his mind under the blindness with winch he had been afflicted for nearly three years. The works commenced under these circumstances were Paradise Lost, a Latin Thesaurus, intended as an improvement on that by Robert Stephens, and a body of Divinity compiled from the Holy Scriptures. 'all which/ according to Wood (Fasti Oxonienses , Part I. 1685, col. 486, edit 1817), * notwithstanding the several troubles that befol him in his fortunes, he finished after His Majesty’s Restoration ' After enumerating the works of Milton then published. Wood says ; • These I think are all the things he hath yet extant ; thoho that are not, axe, a Body of Divinity, which my friend (Aubrey) calls Idea Theologiae, now, or at least lately, in the hands of f fie author’s acquaintance, called Cyriack Skinner, living m Mark Lane, London ; and tho Latin Thesaurus, in those of Edward Philipps, his nephew.*

In allusion to the work which is thus called by Wood, on the authority of Aubrey, Idea Theologies, Toland lias the following passage ‘He wrote likewise a System of Divinity, but whether intended for public mow, or collected merely for ins own use. I cannot determine. It wTas in the hands of his friend Cyriack

1 The Oulers of the Council of State during the Interregnum, brought to light and arranged by the industiy of Mr. Lemon, form one of the most intei estmg senes of documents relative to English History at present m existence. They contain the daily transactions of the executive govern¬ ment m England from 1648-9 to September, 1658, and are particularly valuable fiom the peuod of the dissolution of the Long Parliament in 1653, to the death of Ciomwell m September 1658 ; as during the greater part of that time the Council of State, under the Protector, combined both the executive and legislative functions of govei nment, and as these books aie the authentic, but hitheito unknown recoids of their daily proceedings. , It is greatly to be desired that the attention of the Record Commissioner should be di awn to these valuable documents, audpeihaps it might be advisable that a fair transenpt of them should be made, under their sanction, to guutd against loss or damage by any accident which may happen to the ouginals.

T RKLIMINIRY OBSERVATIONS. Til

Skinner, aiul whereat present is uncertain.'9 Dr. Symmona also says, in a note. YoL VII. p. 500 * ‘An answer to a libel on himself, and a system of Theology, called, according to Wood, Idea Theologim, are compositions of Milton which have been lost. The last was at one time in the hands of Cyriack Skinner, but what became of it afterwards has not been traced ’

Tt appears then from the above testimonies, that a treatise on Divinity was known to have been compiled by Milton, and deposited, either for safe custody, or from motives of friendship, in the hands of Cyriack Skinner ; since which time all traces of it have been lost." It is necessary to shew, in the next place, what are the grounds for supposing that the original work, from w Inch the following translation has been executed, is the identical treatise so long concealed from the researches of all the editors and biographers of the author of Paradise Lost.

It is observable that neither Wood, nor any of the subsequent biographers of Milton, have mentioned the language m which hi* theological treatise was written. To prefix a learned title to an English composition would be so consistent with Milton's own practice, as well as with the prevailing taste of his age, that the circumstance of Aubrey's ascribing to it a Latin name affords no certain proof that the work itself was originally written m that language. In the latter part of the year 1823/hou ever, a Latin manuscript, bearing the following title, Joann is Miltoni Angli

I>K DOCTIUNA OniUSTlANA, EX 8ACR18 BUN TAX AT LI BUIS EETITA, I>isQXrisiTi0NUM libui BUO POSTHUMI, was discovered by Mr Lemon, in the course of his researches in the Old State Paper Office, situated in w’hat is called the Middle Treasury Gallery, Whitehall. It was found in one of the presses, loosely wrapped in two or three sheets of printed paper, with a large number of original letters, informations, examinations and other curious records relative to the Popish plots m 1(>77 and 1078, and to the Rye House plot in 1083, The samo parcel likewise contained a complete and corrected copy of all the Latin letters to foreign princes and states written by Milton, while he officiated as Latin Secretary ; and the whole was enclosed in an envelope super¬ scribed, * To Mi\ Skinner* Merck*.' The address seems distinctly to identify this important manuscript with the wrork mentioned by Wood, though an error has been committed, either by him¬ self or Ins informant, with respect to its real title

Mr. Cyriack Skinner, whoso name is already well known in association with that of Milton, appears, from a pedigree com¬ municated by James Pulman, Esq., Portcullis Poursuivaui at Arms, to have been the grandson of Sir Vincent Skinner or Sky liner, knight, whose eldest son and heir, William Skynuer, of » Life, p 148.

Till

PRELIMINARY OBSEIfV ATXONS.

Thornton College, in the County* of Lincoln, Esq., married Bridget, second daughter of Sir Edward Coke, knight, Chief Justice of England.3 The affinity between Cyriack Skinner and this dis¬ tinguished ornament of the English Bar, is tints alluded to by Milton in his 21st Sonnet :

To Cyriack Skinner.

Cynack, whose grandsire, on the loyal bench Ot Butish Themis, with no mean applause Pronounc’d, and m his volumes taught, our laws,

Which otheis at their bar so oiten wrench ;

To-dav deep thoughts resolve with me to drench In mirth that, after, no lepenting draws ;

Let Euclid lest, and Archimedes pause,

And what the Swede intends, and what the French.

To measure life learn thou betimes, and know

Towaid solid good what leads the nearest way,

For other things mild Ileav’n a time ordains,

And disappioves that care, though wise m show,

That with superfluous burden loads the dav,

And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.

All the biographers of Milton havo mentioned that Cyriaolc Skinner was his favourite pupil, and subsequently his particular

3 William Skynner, of=pBndget, second daughter of Su Edward Thom ton College, m the Coke, Knt., Chief Justice of England, county of Lincoln, Esq and relict of William Berney, E^q. son and heir of Sir Will (in which she is described of Thom- Vincent Skynner, Knt. ton College, Widow,) dated Sept. 2d,

Willdated Aug, Sid, 1627, 1648, proved June 18, 1653, by her sun

proved Feb. 1st, 1627-8. Cynack Skynner, Executor.

Edward = Skynner, of Thorn¬ ton College aforesaid, Esq , sou and heir, 1648

Will dated May 20, 1657, proved Sept. 11, following.

=Ann, daughter William of Sir Wil¬ liam Went¬ worth, Knt of Ashby Puerorum m Com Line.

Grandfather of Tlios.

Skynn ei, second son, 1634, named in 1648, and in 1657.

Cyriack Skynnei, third son, 1634 — named in 1657, of the parish of St.

Martin m the Fields, where ho was buried Aug 8, 1700 Administration of his Effects eranted to his daughter. Aug. 20, 1700.

Bridget, liv¬ ing 1631

Elizabeth, wife of Philip Weal id, of Grimsby, in Com.

Line,

Tbeophila,

married

1618,

Edward Skynnei, 1657. Daughters, 1657. Arabella Skynner, 1 700.

PEKLIMIKAIIY OB^PKVATIONS VS

friend. Wood incidentally notices him m speaking of the well-known club of Commonwealth's men, which used to" meet in 1659 at the Turk’s Head m IN ew Palace Yank Westminster. * Besides our author (James Harrington) and II. Nevill, who were the prime men of this club, were Cynaek {Skinner, a merchant’s son of London, an ingenious young gentleman, and scholar to Jo. Milton, which Skinner sometimes held the chair, Major John Wildman,’ &e. &e.‘ Wood further says that ‘the discourses of the members about government, and ordering a commonwealth, were the most ingenious and smart that ever were heard ; for the arguments m die Parliament House were but Hat to them ’ Tliey were fond, it appears, of proposing models of dcmocratieal government, and at the dissolution of the elub in February, 1650, at which time the secluded members were restored by General Monk, ‘ all their models,’ Wood Rays, ‘vanished.’ These models are not now of common occurrence, but two of them are m the possession of the Itev. Henry J. Todd, from whom the following information respecting them is derived. One is entitled ‘A M odell of a Demoeraticali Government, humbly tendered to consideration by a friend and well-wisher to this Commonwealth,’ 4to. London, 1059. The title of the other is ‘ Idea Democratiea, or a Commonweal Platform,* 4to. London, 1650 Both consist of a very few leaves only, and neither are enumerated by Wood, among * Harrington’s pieces. M r. Todd supposes, with much probability, that as the chair was often taken by the hiypnioua young <jvnfk man, as Wood terms Skinner, he was concerned m tlie publication of these antimonarchical curiosities. Care however must be taken not to confound him with another iiulividual of the same name, who likewise took a part against the crown in the politics of the day ; viz. Augustine Skinner, one of the small Bump Parliament of ninety members m 1659. It was probably the latter who belonged to the Committee appointed by the Houso to consider all orders, &c. touching absent, that is, the secluded members, in which Committee is the leader of the Rota Club, * Sir James Harrington,’ as he was then usually called, though not knighted. Harrington is the fifth in the list of the Committee, and * Mr. Skinner’ the twelfth.5

In the year 1654, we learn from a letter addressed to Milton by his friend Andrew Marvell, and first published by Dr. Birch, that Skinner ‘had got near’ his former preceptor, who then occupied lodgings in Petty France, Westminster, probably for the sake of their contiguity to the Council. This was the house

* Faxii Oxonien$ett> Life of Mr James Hamngton. 3P9.

1 See ‘ A brief Narrative of the late forcible Seclusion of divers Members of the House of Commons/ 1060. p. 0.

X

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

‘ next door to live Lord Scudamore’s, and opening into St. James a park/ where ho is said to have remained eight years ; namely, from 1652 till within a few weeks of the restoration ot Charles the Second. By a comparison of dates, it may be conjectured that he removed into it when obliged to leave the lodgings in YV lutehall, which, as is proved by the following curious extracts from the Council books, had been provided for him at the public expense, and fitted up with somo of the spoils of the late King's property.

« 1649. Nov 12. Ordered — That Sir John Hippedey he spoken to, that Mr. Milton may be accommodated with the Lodgings that he hath at Whitehall.”

“ 1649 Nov. 19. - - - That Mr. Milton shall have the Lodgings

that were in the hands of Sir John Uippesley, m White, hall, for lus accommodation as being Secretary to the Councell for Ton eigne Languages/'

“ 1650 June 11. - That Mr Milton shall have a warrant to the

Trustees and Contractors for the sale of the King’s goods, for the furnishing of his Lodgcmg at Whitehall with some Hangings.”

Copy of the Warrant of the Council of State, above •went toned.

“ These are to will and require >ou, forthwith, upon sight hereof, to deliver unto Mr. John Milton, or to whom hee shall appoint, such Hangings as shall bee sufficient for the furnishing of his Lodgings m Whitehall. Given at Whitehall 18°. Jmii 1650,

To the Trustees and Contractors for the Sale of the late King's Goods."

t( 1651 April 10 Ordered— -That Mr. Vaux bee sent unto, to lett him know that hee is to forbeare the removing of Mr. Milton out of his Lodgings at Whitehall, until Sir Ilenrv Mildmay and Sn Gilbert Pickering shall have spoken with the Committee concerning that business**, ”

“ 1651 June 11. - That Lieutnant Generali Fleetwood, Sir John

Trevor, Mr. Alderman Allen, and Mr. Chaloner, or ante two of them, bee appointed a Committee to go from this Councell to the Committee of Parliament lor Whitehall, to acquaint them with the case of Mr. Milton, m regai d of their positive order for his speedie remove out of his Lodgings m Whitehall, and to endeavour with them, that the said Mr. Milton may bee continued where he is, in regard of the employment hee is m to the Councell, which necessitates him to reside neere the Councell/

About a year after Skinner had thus become the neighbour of Milton, the latter addressed to him that beautiful sonnet on the loss of his sight, which, m consequence of tlio allusion contained

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. X\

m it to tho Defence of l lie People, w as not published till twenty years after the author's death.

Cvriack, this thiee years’ day these e\ es. though clear,

To outward view, of blemish 01 of .'■pot,

Bereft of light, their seeing have foigot ;

Nm to then idle oibs doth sight appear Of sun, or moon* or star* throughout the year,

Or man* oi woman. Yet I aigue not Against Heaton’s hand or will, nor bate a jot Of heait or hope ; but still beai up and steer

Right onwatd What suppoits me, dost thou ask *

The conscience, fiicnd, to have lost them o\ei plied In liberty's defence, my noble tusk,

Of which all Km ope ungs from side to side.

This thought might lend me through the woihVs vain ma^k Content, though blind, had I no better guide.

It appears from the title, that the work entrusted to Skinner's cure was originally intended to be a posthumous publication. The reproaches to width its author had been exposed in conse¬ quence of opinions contained m Ins early controversial writings, 111a v have induced him to avoid attracting tho notice of the public, during the ascendancy of h:s political opponents, by a frank avowal of Iuh religious' sentiments. But by what means, by whom, or at what time this interesting document was de¬ posited in the State Paper Office, is at present not known with certainty ; every trace of its existence having been lost for nearly a century* and a half, till it was discovered by Mr Lemon in tho maimer above described.

In the absence of all positive evidence on this subject, it is due to the sagacity of Mr. Lemon, to state the satisfactory conjecture originally formed by that gentleman, which subsequent dis¬ coveries have almost converted into a moral certainty. From the decided republican principles which Cyrinok Skinner was well known to have adopted, it is not improbable that he was suspected of participating in some of the numerous political conspiracies winch prevailed during the last ten years of the reign of Charles the Second, and that his papers were seized in consequence. Supposing this step to have been taken, the Milton manuscript would have come officially, with the other suspected documents, into the possession either of Hat Joseph Williamson, or Sir Decline Jenkins ; who held successively the office of Principal Secretary of State for the Southern or Home Department during the whole of the period alluded to, that is, from l(>7lto 16S4. It was at this time the custom for the Secretaries, on retiring from office, to remote with them the public documents connected with their respective administrations; but both these diaxii tmguished statesmen, from a conviction of the inconvenience of a practice which has since been disused, bequeathed their large and valuable collections of manuscripts to flis Majesty’s State Paper Office. It was in the course of examining those papers, for the purpose of arranging them m chronological order, and of forming a catalogue raisonnd of their contents, that the identical manuscript came to hght, of which the public, by His Majesty’s gracious command, is now m possession 6 It will be admitted that the above mode of accounting for the unexpected discovery of Milton’s theological work among the neglected treasures of the State Paper Office, is at least plausible. It occurred, however, to Mr. Lemon, that an accurate inspection of the papers relative to the plots of 1677, 1678, and 1683, de¬ posited m the same press with the manuscript, might perhaps afford some information respectmg it. He has therefore recently examined the whole of this part of the collection, and in a bundle of papers containing informations and examinations taken m the year 1677, the following letter was discovered from a Mr. Perwieh, written at Paris, March 16, 1677, and addressed to Mr Bridgeman, Secretary to Sir Joseph Williamson, which appears to throw considerable light on the preceding conjecture.

Paris Match 15 — 77.

‘ Sir

I have 3d (delivered) Dr Barrow’s letter to Mi. Skinner, before witnesse, as you desued. I found him much surprised, and yet at the same time slighting any constra’mng ordeis from the Superioi of his Colledge, or any benefit he expected thence, but as to Milton’s Workes he intended to have printed, (though he sait'n that part which he had m M S S. are no way to be objected agS either with regard to Royalty and Government) he hath desisted from the causing them to be printed, having left them m Holland, and that he intends, notwithstanding the College sumons, to goefor Italy this summer. This is all I can say in that affaire, lou have herein all our newes.

For Wra. Bridgman Esq.

Secry to the Right Ilon1^.

I am Sr.

W. Pjlrwich.

same office have been lately discovered some curious documents, unHnoJn» resPecting both the family history and the official life of Milton, which, by the permission of Mr. Secretary Peel, are now incor¬ porated, with other materials, into an account of lum and his writings,

2 ,b.e, ?u?Us„h8d by the Rev Mi. Todd, the well-known and able editor of Milton’s Poetical Woiks*

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

xm

On this Letter Mr. Lemon submits the following reasonings, which it is right to state m his own language :

* From the words in the preceding letter, “ Sujpct'iour of h%s Colled ge,” it evidently appears that Mr Skinner, who at that period' is thus proved to nave had unpublished manuscripts of Milton in his possession, v as a member of some Catholic religious order? and it is a very curious and interesting fact, which strongly corroborates the preceding conjecture, that m the original de¬ position of Titus Oates (which actually lay on the parcel contain¬ ing the posthumous v ork of Milton when it was discovered), signed by himself, and attested by 8ir Edmund Bury Godfrey, on the 27 th of September, 1(178, a few' days only before Ins mysterious murder, and also signed by 3)r. Escrael Tonge, and Christopher Kirby, the mime ot Mr. Skinner is inserted, as a Ben edictine, in the list given m by Titus Oates of the persons implicated m the Popish plot of 1078 *

There arcs however, some reasons for doubting whether Skin¬ ner the Benedictine can have been Cyriack Skinnor, the original depositary of Milton’s work. It appears from the pedigree in¬ serted in a preceding page, that letters of administration were granted in August 1700 to Annabella, daughter of Cyriack {Skin¬ ner, in which he is described as of the parish of St. Martin’s in the Fields, Widower. This is evidently inconsistent with the supposition that he was a member of a religious order. It is in¬ deed barely possible that he may have assumed the Benedictine diameter m 1007 (the year in which Porvvieh’s letter is dated), though it is most unlikely that such a change should have taken platv in the principles of one who had been the intimate friend of Milton, and whose opinions had been so decidedly opposed to Popery during the Commonwealth. By the will of Edward, the eldest brother, dated 20th May, 1057, and proved the 10th of February following, Cyriack w as nominated guardian of his son, in case liis wife (the daughter of Sir William Wentworth, who was killed at Marston Moor) should re-marry or die j and in the same document a legacy of one hundred pounds is bequeathed to each of the brothers William and Cyriack.

On the whole, therefore, it scorns most probable, that the Be¬ nedictine Skinner, if an immediate connexion of this family, was William, the second son of William and Bridget, and elder brother of Cyriack ; a conjecture rendered more likely from the fact that no will of this individual is registered, nor is any record of him mentioned after 1657, when Ins elder brother died. Cyriack, aware of the suspicion to which he was liable as the friend of Milton, as well as on account of his own political cha¬ racter, might naturally conceive that his papers would be safer in the hands of his brother, out of the kingdom, than in his own

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

XIV

custody; and the government having been informed by Mr Berwick of their concealment m Holland, perhaps obtained pos¬ session of them through their emissaries, w bile Skinner was tra¬ velling in Italy, according to his design mentioned in the letter to Mr. Bridgeman.

There seems no reason, however, why the words * Superwin' of Ins Colledge’ should not apply with as much propriety to the head of a Protestant as of a Roman Catholic Society. Dr. Isaac Barrow, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, did not die till May 1677, two months after the date of Perwicli’s letter, and in the*register of that College the following entries occur : 4 Oct. 2, 1674 Daniel Skinner juratus et adnussus m socium miuorem. — ‘May 23d. 1679 Daniel Skinner juratus et adnussus in socium majorem.’ Prom the unusual interval between the first an l second admission, which ordinarily does not exceed a year and a half, as well as from the day, May 23, the regular day for the admission of major Pellows being in July, it is evident that bis advance to the latter rank took place under some extraordinary circumstances If he was the Skinner mentioned m Perw ich’s letter, it may be supposed that his contumacious absence retarded his rise m the College, and that his continuance m Ins fellow¬ ship, and subsequent election as major Fellow, is to be ascribed to the leniency of the Society. That the Skinner alluded to was not a Catholic may be inferred from his having gone to Holland, which does not seem the most obvious place of refuge for a Catholic emigrant ; as also from the manner m winch he sneaks of Milton’s manuscript works, especially if, as is probable, in describing them as “no way to be objected against either with regard to royalty and government,” he intended to have added, “ or with regard to religion,” “ church polity,” or something similar, which by an oversight was omitted ; for he can hardly have meant to write “ royalty or government,” there being little or no difference between the terms, m the sense m which the writer would have used them. Nor is it likely that a member of a Catholic religious order would have entertained the design of publishing such works

The manuscript itself consists of 735 pages, closely written on small quarto letter paper The first part, as far as the 15th chapter of the first book, is in a small and beautiful Italian hand ; being evidently a corrected copy, prepared for the press, without interlineations of any kind. This portion of the volume, however, affords a proof that even the most careful transcription seldom fails to diminish the accuracy of a text, for although it is evident that extraordinary pains have been employed to secure its legi¬ bility and correctness, the mistakes which are found in this part of the manuscript, especially m the references to the quotations,