Hill - Milton and the English Revolution

Milton and the
English Revolution

Christopher Hill (19122003), born in York, was a historian and academic specializing in seventeenth-century English history. As a young man he witnessed the growth of the Nazi party firsthand during a prolonged holiday in Germany, an experience he later said contributed to the radicalization of his politics. He was master of Balliol College, University of Oxford, his alma mater, from 1965 to 1978. His celebrated and influential works include Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution; The World Turned Upside Down; and A Turbulent, Seditious and Fractious People: John Bunyan and His Church.

Milton and the
English Revolution

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CHRISTOPHER HILL

This paperback edition first published by Verso 2020
First published by Faber and Faber Ltd 1977
Christopher Hill 1977, 1979, 1997, 2020

All rights reserved

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

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ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-683-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-685-5 (US EBK)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-684-8 (UK EBK)

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 YY

This book is dedicated in gratitude to the memory of

DON M. WOLFE,

who devoted a lifetime to the study of Milton, but never forgot Richard Overton and Gerrard Winstanley.

Contents

In this book I have modernized seventeenth-century spelling and punctuation, and have used the new style in dating. I have quoted Miltons prose writings mostly from the Yale edition of his Complete Prose Works. Since Volumes VII and VIII are not yet to hand, I have cited items in these volumes from the Columbia edition. I was, however, able to see Professor Woolrychs Introduction to Vol. VII. In order to help readers to identify any work cited, I have listed Miltons major writings on pp. xvii-xviii, with the volume number and pages which each pamphlet occupies in the edition which I have used. Latin works are listed separately, so that readers can ascertain when they are reading a translation rather than Miltons own words. I have had to mention many of Miltons contemporaries in my text: some of these are briefly described in the Index.

In writing this book I have incurred many debts. The first is to my parents, who brought me up to revere Milton, for reasons which I would not now altogether share. Mrs. Isabel Rivers, Professor Michael Fixler, Thomas Hodgkin and Edward Thompson helped me to clarify my ideas at an early stage. Peter Clark, Andrew Foster, Margot Heinemann, Leo Miller, Professor K. W. Stavely and Mr. P. A. Trout all very kindly allowed me to read unpublished work. Professors John Carey and Christopher Ricks, Margot Heinemann and Dr. Brian Manning all read the lengthy typescript, and laboured enormously to help me to say what I meant: so did Mrs. Elizabeth Renwick. I am also grateful for various kindnesses to Dr. David Aers, Ms. Barbara Breasted, Professors N. T. Burns, Harriett Hawkins, Stella Revard, Alice-Lyle Scoufos, Mrs. Elisabeth Sifton, Mr. Keith Thomas, Ms. Jill Tweedie, Dr. Nicholas Tyacke, and to the many groups with whom I had the pleasure of discussing Milton. The dedication acknowledges a debt which goes back at least to Don Wolfes pioneering Milton in the Puritan Revolution of 1941. Paul Hamilton and Andrew Hill undertook the laborious task of reading the proofs, and Mrs. Marion Cross gave me skilful assistance with the typing. Balliol College generously allowed me a sabbatical term in 1973, during which some of the necessary reading was done, and another in 1976, which I was invited to spend at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington discussing Milton with a most stimulating group of scholars. By that date the typescript was in the publishers hands, so I was not able to incorporate as much from these exciting exchanges as I would have wished; but I owe a great debt of gratitude to the Folger Library for the invitation, to its unfailingly kind and helpful staff, and to all who attended the seminar, especially perhaps Professors Stanley Fish, Gary Hamilton, Fredrica Lehrman, Joseph Martin, Jean-Kathleen Moss, Florence Sandler, Edward Weismiller and Dr. Brenda Szittya. My greatest debt is to my family for their forbearance, and especially to Bridget for her sympathetic understanding, unfailing encouragement and judicious goading.

The following abbreviations have been used in the text and notes:

IVERSE

On the Morning of Christs Nativity (1629)

LAllegro and Il Penseroso (c. 1631 ?)

Comus, A Masque (1634, published 1637)

Ad Patrem (1630s)

Lycidas (1638)

Epitaphium Damonis (1640)

Poems (1645)

Paradise Lost (1667)

Paradise Regained (1671)

Samson Agonistes (1671)

Poems (second edn., 1673)

IIENGLISH PROSE

Commonplace Book (1630s onwards). C.P.W., I, pp. 362508

Of Reformation (May 1641). C.P.W., I, pp. 519617

Of Prelatical Episcopacy (June or July 1641). C.P.W., I, pp. 62452

Animadversions upon The Remonstrants Defence against Smectymnuus (July 1641). C.P.W., I, pp. 662735

The Reason of Church Government (January or February 1642). C.P.W., I, pp. 746861

An Apology against a Pamphlet (April 1642). C.P.W., I, pp. 868953

The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (August 1643). C.P.W., II, pp. 222356

Of Education (June 1644). C.P.W., II, pp. 362415

The Judgment of Martin Bucer (July 1644). C.P.W., II, pp. 42279

Areopagitica (November 1644). C.P.W., II, pp. 486570

Tetrachordon