ceive that, though they differed considerably from us in their conception of style, our forefathers were still more sensible perhaps than we, of its loftier beauties, and proportionably more solicitous to attain them. Doubtless it was their principal object to collect or give birth to new or great thoughts. For with wise men how could it be otherwise? But, having extensively read, and reflected profoundly, they manifestly regarded it as the object next in importance, not to suffer the grandeur or utility of their speculations to be diminished by language mean or unsuitable. This care is particularly observable in the voluminous exuberance and solemn march of Clarendon, in the learned stateliness of Hooker, in the cynical and ostentatious plainness of Hobbes, in the metaphysical eloquence of Baxter, in the glowing philanthropy of Jeremy Taylor and Algernon Sydney; but most of all, where, perhaps, we should most expect it, in the philosophical, but somewhat cold grandeur of Bacon, and in the fiery vehemence and impetuous energy of Milton.

I admit that we are ofttimes disposed to attribute to design and artifice, what, if more deeply investigated, would be found due to circumstances alone, or to that instinctive correctness of feeling, which better than all rules teaches what on every occasion is becoming. But I am warranted, I think, both from the tone of the extract above given, and from an expression found in the preface to the work itself, to ascribe to Milton's exquisite judgment the calm which broods over the whole surface of the "Eikonoklastes," though the reader feels that, beneath this serenity of aspect, there lurks a consciousness of irresistible power, as in the slumbering ocean,

"Subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti !"

Ostensibly he is confuting the arguments of the dead; and his language, therefore, and the whole body of his reasoning, assume a soberness, almost a solemnity, which is seldom, throughout the work, laid aside. It was however in appearance only that he contended against a deceased author; for, besides that the "Eikon Basilikè" must manifestly have appeared to Milton not to be the King's work, his object, at any rate, was not so much to expose the fallacies of that specious production, as to defend the parliament against a party from whose arsenal of sedition this particular engine had been taken. For which reason, in spite of his eager prosecution of one main object, he sometimes permits himself to unbend his brow, and relax into a smile. But, upon the whole, it is a tragic pleasure that is to be derived from the "Eikonoklastes." Civil war can never, in fact, be other than a saddening spectacle; and when we recollect that, in the struggle here described, it was Englishmen, our forefathers, who fought and bled in it, and that England's green fields were the scene, we shall have many additional motives for regarding the picture with deep interest.

EIKONOKLASTES;

A DEFENCE OF THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMY,

AGAINST CHARLES I.

As a roaring lion and a raging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people. The prince that wanteth understanding, is also a great oppressor; but he that hateth covetousness, shall prolong his days.

A man that doth violence to the blood of any person, shall fly to the pit, let no man stay him.-PROV. xxviii. 15, 16, 17.

SALLUST. CONJURAT. CATILIN.

Regium imperium, quod initio, conservandæ libertatis, atque augendæ reipublicæ causâ fuerat, in superbiam, dominationemque se convertit.

Regibus boni, quam mali, suspectiores sunt, semperque his aliena virtus formido

RICHARD BARON'S PREFACE.

WHEN the last impression of Milton's prose works was committed to my care, I executed that trust with the greatest fidelity. Not satisfied with printing from any copy at hand, as editors are generally wont, my affection and zeal for the author induced me to compare every sentence, line by line, with the original edition of each treatise that I was able to obtain. Hence, errors innumerable of the former impression were corrected; besides what improvements were added from the author's second edition of the Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, which Mr. Toland had either not seen, or had neglected to commit to the press. After I had endeavoured to do this justice to my favourite author, the last summer I discovered a second edition of his Eikonoklastes, with many large and curious additions, printed in the year 1650, which edition had escaped the notice both of Mr. Toland and myself. In communicating this discovery to a few friends, I found that this edition was not unknown to some others, though from low and base motives secreted from the public. But I, who from my soul love liberty, and for that reason openly and boldly assert its principles at all times, resolved that the public should no longer be withheld from the possession of such a treasure. I therefore now give a new impression of this work, with the additions and improvements made by the author; and I deem it a singular felicity, to be the instrument of restoring to my country so many excellent lines long lost,-and in danger of being for ever lost, of a writer who is a lasting honour to our language and nation ;-and of a work, wherein the principles of tyranny are confuted and overthrown, and all the arts and cunning of a great tyrant and his adherents detected and laid open. The love of liberty is a public affection, of which those men must be altogether void, that can suppress or smother any thing written in its defence, and tending to serve its glorious cause. What signify professions, when the actions are opposite and contradictory? Could any high-churchman, any partizan of Charles I., have acted a worse, or a different part, than some pretended friends of liberty have done in this instance? Many high-church priests and doctors have laid out considerable sums to destroy the prose works of Milton, and have purchased copies of his particular writings for the infernal pleasure of consuming them. This practice, however detestable, was yet consistent with principle. But no apology can be made for men

*With the edition of Milton's prose works edited by Baron, I am wholly unacquainted. No copy of it, I believe, is found in the British Museum. From the tone of this preface, every way worthy an admirer of Milton, it may reasonably be conjectured, however, that had he undertaken to annotate the present work as well as to edit it, little or nothing would have been left for the industry of any future editor.

This hath been practised with such zeal by many of that cursed tribe, that it is a wonder there are any copies left. John Swale, a bookseller of Leeds in Yorkshire, an honest man, though of high church, told me, that he could have more money for burning Milton's Defence of Liberty and the People of England, than I would give for the purchase of it. Some priests in that neighbourhood used to meet