History of English Literature Volume 2 (of 3)Taine, Hippolyte
History
History of English Literature Volume 2 (of 3)
Taine, Hippolyte
English literature -- History and criticism
his way, experimentalizes, with eyes fixed on what may turn up, who
gauges what is possible, and employs logic for practical purposes.
Milton was speculative and chimerical. Locked up in his own ideas, he
sees but them, is attracted but by them. Is he pleading against the
bishops? He would extirpate them at once, without hesitation; he demands
that the Presbyterian worship shall be at once established, without
forethought, contrivance, hesitation. It is the command of God, it is
the duty of the faithful; beware how you trifle with God or temporize
with faith. Concord, gentleness, liberty, piety, he sees a whole swarm
of virtues issue from this new worship. Let the king fear nothing from
it, his power will be all the stronger. Twenty thousand democratic
assemblies will take care that his rights be not infringed. These ideas
make us smile. We recognize the party-man, who, on the verge of the
Restoration, when "the whole multitude was mad with desire for a king,"
published "A Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth," and
described his method at length. We recognize the theorist who, to obtain
a law of divorce, only appealed to Scripture, and aimed at transforming
the civil constitution of a people by changing the accepted sense of a
verse. With closed eyes, sacred text in hand, he advances from
consequence to consequence, trampling upon the prejudices inclinations,
habits, wants of men, as if a reasoning or religious spirit were the
whole man, as if evidence always created belief, as if belief always
resulted in practice, as if, in the struggle of doctrines, truth or
justice gave doctrines the victory and sovereignty. To cap all, he
sketched out a treatise on education, in which he proposed to teach each
pupil every science, every art, and, what is more, every virtue. "He who
had the art and proper eloquence... might in a short space gain them to
an incredible diligence and courage,... infusing into their young
breasts such an ingenuous and noble ardour as would not fail to make
many of them renowned and matchless men."[123] Milton had taught for
many years and at various times. A man must be insensible to experience
or doomed to illusions who retains such deceptions after such
experiences.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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