AN UNREPORTED SEVENTEENTH CENTURY USE OF MILTON’S EIKONOKLASTES

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 5, Issue 1, 1 May 1972, Page 28

AN UNREPORTED SEVENTEENTH CENTURY USE OF MILTON’S EIKONOKLASTES

K. A. Coleridge

Among the books advertised in the Easter 1669 Mercurius Librarius 1 by R. Royston was A Continuation of a Friendly Debate, the anonymously published work of Simon Patrick, 2 afterwards Bishop of Ely. This work contains a hitherto unreported use of Milton’s Eikonoklastes, copying about a page with a few changes and additional sentences to fit his argument. This quotation, which acknowledges Milton only indirectly, was noticed by a seventeenth century reader who annotated his copy of the 1649 (first) edition accordingly. This copy is now one of the two in the Milton Collection of the Turnbull Library.

On the flyleaf is a note which reads: ‘see page 206: where Milton hath filched a whole page from another author without nameing of him, & yett accuseth y e late king page 12 of stealing y e prayer of Pamela word for word out of S r Philip Sidneyes Arcadia or it may bee they are Miltons own words cited by y e author of y e ffriendly debate 2 d Part, pages 127: 128: &c:’ On page 206 there is a marginal note reading: ‘x all this passage to y e letter A in y e next page is filched from a popish booke cited in y e 2 d Part of y e ffriendly debate pag: 127: 128: 129’ An ‘x’ has been written in the text at ‘drowth’ (three lines from the bottom of p. 206) and an ‘A’ at ‘cogitations’ (line 25 on p. 207).

There are two editions of Patrick’s Continuation published in 1669, both octavo but one with 455 p. and the other with 248 p. Wing does not distinguish between them but the British Museum catalogues the 455 p. edition as the earlier. It is this edition the annotator refers to. (Neither is held by Turnbull.) Although the annotator was making his comparison with the 1649 edition of Eikonoklastes it seems probable that Patrick actually drew his quotation from the 1650 edition which differs slightly from the first at this point, in spellings and more significantly in phrasing. 3 Although Turnbull does not hold a copy of the second edition the Scolar Press facsimile of the Bodleian copy 4 is a convenient substitute and a comparison of the two passages, from Eikonoklastes and from the Continuation, shows the striking similarity between them. The italics are in the original.

Eikonoklastes 1650 edition It being now no more in his hand to be reveng’d on his opposers, he seeks to satiat his fansie with the imagination of some revenge upon them from above;

and like one who in a drowth observes the Skie, he sits and watches when any thing will dropp, that might solace him with the likeness of a punishment from Heavn upon us: which he strait expounds how he pleases. No evil can befall the Parlament or Citty, but he positively interprets it a judgement upon them for his sake; as if the very manuscript of Gods judgements had bin deliverd to his custody and exposition.

But his reading declares it well to be a fals copy which he uses;

dispensing oft’n to his own bad deeds and successes the testimony of Divine favour, and to the good deeds and successes of other men, Divine wrath and vengeance.

Continuation (from BM copy 1019.g.13) And I cannot for my life but look upon them as satiating their fancies, with the imagination of this day of vengeance. Methinks I see them (to use the words of a famous Writer against our Church and State in another

case) like a man, who in the drought observes the Skie, sitting and watching, when any thing will drop that may follow them with the likeness of a punishment from heaven upon us; which they streight explain as they please. No evil can befall us, but presently they positively interpret it, a judgment upon us for their sakes: and as if the very Manuscript of Gods Judgements had been delivered to their Custody and Exposition, they make the people believe that the Witnesses are smiting the earth with plagues, and finishing their testimony against us. But thanks be to God, their Reading declares it abundantly to be a false Copy which they use. For (to speak in his words again) they often dis-

pense to their own had deeds and successes the testimony of Divine favour; and to the good deeds and successes of other men, Divine wrath and vengeance. And besides, they have abused the people so oft with their false Predictions from these and other Prophecies, that I hope the world will see, these are false Witnesses (if I may use the words of David to a different sense) that are risen up against us, breathing forth cruelty: who

But to counterfet the hand of God is the boldest of all Forgery: And he, who without warrant but his own fantastic surmise, takes upon him perpetually to unfold the secret and unsearchable Mysteries of high Providence, is likely for the most part to mistake and slander them; and approaches to the madness of those reprobate thoughts, that would wrest the Sword of Justice out of Gods hand, and imploy it more justly in thir own conceit. It was a small thing to contend with the Parlament about sole power of the Militia, when we see him doing little less than laying hands on the weapons of God himself, which are his judgements, to weild and manage them by the sway and bent of his own fraile cogitations.

behold lying Visions, and prophecy our [mc] of their own hearts: whose thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, as the Prophet Isaiah speaks, wasting and destruction are in their paths. And I would to God you for your part would seriously consider (to use his words once more) that to counterfeit the hand of God is the boldest of all forgeries; and that he who without any warrant but his own surmise takes upon him perpetually to unfold the secrets and unsearchable Mysteries of high Providence, is likely for the most part to mistake and slander them: and approaches to the madness of those reprobate thoughts that would wrest the sword of justice out of Gods hand, and imploy it more justly in their own conceit. It is but a small thing for such men as these to grasp at all power here on earth; when we see them doing little less than laying hands on the Weapons of God himself, which are his judgments; to weild arid manage them by the sway and bent of their own frail cogitations.

This use of Eikonoklastes by Patrick provides an interesting hint of the political climate of 1669. Patrick was a tolerant writer who identified scrupulously the writers he made use of. With his personal history it is not surprising that he should have known Eikonoklastes and wanted to borrow some striking and apt images from it. For him to have referred to Milton only as ‘a famous writer against Church and State in another cause’ (thereby misleading the annotator of the Turnbull copy) seems to imply that he felt it might be dangerous to refer openly to Milton’s political writings with anything other than the greatest hostility. The nature of recorded references to Milton in the Restoration period sug-

gests that other writers may have felt the same way, although any such deductions can only be speculation.

NOTES 1 The Terms Catalogues, 1668-1709, ed. by Edward Arber. London, 1903. See vol. 1, p. 8. 2 See the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 15, p. 490-492 for a summary of his career. 3 The two editions may be compared in the Yale edition of the Complete Prose Works, vol. 3, p. 563-564 (1962), although reconstruction of the 1649 text is not particularly easy, especially the accidentals of spelling and punctuation. 4 Milton, John. Prose works, 1641-1650. Menston, 1967. See vol. 3, p. 194 of Eikonoklastes, the first work in the volume.