When we are assured by Mr. Justice Keogh that Milton was “the fast friend of toleration”, we can scarcely believe that he is serious. Lest, however, our readers should be led astray, we shall briefly tell them what Milton _really thought_ and _said_ on the subject of religious toleration. Towards the close of his life, he wrote a very important treatise(5) in which he discusses the question, and explains his views with his usual clearness and force. He maintains in this treatise that all religious sects are to be tolerated, with _one exception_; and that exception is the _Roman Catholic Church_. Lutherans, Calvinists, Anabaptists, Socinians, Arminians, in a word, _all Protestants_, whatever their religious opinions may be, should have liberty to preach, to discuss, to worship, unmolested: but Catholics must not be tolerated; they must not be permitted to defend their doctrines; they must not be permitted to worship either in public or in private.(6) This, he contends, is one of the _best means to prevent the growth of Popery_.(7) Here is the champion of intellectual liberty that Mr. Justice Keogh would hold up to the admiration of his audience! Here is “the fast friend of toleration”, “the staunchest friend of freedom and truth that ever lived”, the man who “has made the most successful war against tyranny and falsehood”! We must charitably suppose that the learned lecturer has formed his opinion of Milton without reading his works. We are told by the biographers of Milton that his father, who was the son of a zealous Roman Catholic, abandoned the religion of his ancestors, and was on that account deprived of his inheritance. The act of apostasy is one that the Catholic Church can never contemplate without the deepest sorrow and abhorrence. According to the principles of our faith, he who separates himself from the one True Church transgresses the command of God and forfeits his claim to everlasting happiness. Yet, it would seem, Mr. Justice Keogh finds in this act nothing to deplore, but much to admire. Speaking of the poet, he says:— “He was in early youth instructed by a father who had sacrificed for conscience’ sake a fair inheritance, with all scriptural lore, of which he drank with a thirst which was never satisfied”.