United States or Saint Martin ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Featley in his Tetrachordon on account of a passage in this treatise, had not allowed the vulgarity of the engraving in Featley's book to escape. "For which I do not commend his marshalling" had been Milton's punning notice of it in a parenthesis of the punishment. When, therefore, Mr. Marshall came to Milton from Moseley, Milton must have remembered him as the caricaturist for Dr. Featley's book.
But, as he had given up the public prosecution of the Divorce argument, his punishment for Edwards and Baillie came in a different form from that which he had administered in the Tetrachordon and Colasterion to Herbert Palmer, Dr. Featley, Mr. Caryl, Mr. Prynne, and the anonymous attorney. It came in verse, thus
He had now, however, as he had announced in his dedication of the Tetrachordon to Parliament, done all that he meant to do on the subject through the medium of mere pamphleteering. But he had hinted to Parliament, while making that announcement, that a man with his opinions might do more than write pamphlets in their behalf.
How he performed the labour how he plods through the four passages in succession, explaining, commenting, answering objections, and in the end construing each and all together into a ratification of his own Doctrine of Divorce, or at least into consistency with it must be learnt, if it is learnt at all, from the Tetrachordon itself. Very few now-a-days will care to read it.
The COLASTERION, expressly so called, published by Milton on the same day with the TETRACHORDON, settled accounts with these gentlemen. It is a short tract of twenty-seven pages, without preface.
A book was writ of late called Tetrachordon, And woven close, both matter, form, and style; The subject new. It walked the town a while Numbering good intellects; now seldom pored on. Cries the stall-reader "Bless us! what a word on A title-page is this!" and some in file Stand spelling false while one might walk to Mile- End Green.
It is a bulky treatise, consisting, in the original edition, of 104 small quarto pages; of which 6, not numbered, are occupied with a Dedication to Parliament, and the remaining 98 are numbered and form the body of the work. The following is the complete title: TETRACHORDON: Expositions upon the foure chief places in Scripture, which treat of Marriage, or nullities in Marriage.
In both the printed year of publication on the title-page is 1645; but in both Thomason, the Collector, has put his pen through the 5, and has annexed in manuscript the date "March 4, 1644." We shall take the TETRACHORDON first.
The Areopagitica bites into modern interests and the constitution of the modern intellect; the Tetrachordon, though it must have occupied the author longer, has, I should say, quite lost its bite, except for students of Milton, and for reasoners who would debate his Divorce Doctrine over again by the same method of the interpretation of Biblical texts.
He seems to be giving warning what he means to do without leave of the Law if the Law will not give him leave, COLASTERION is Greek for "Punishment." Now Mr. Herbert Palmer and Dr. Featley had each had his colasterion in the Dedication prefixed to the TETRACHORDON. Three other persons were waiting for their turn of the lash. Mr. Joseph Caryl, the licenser of that Answer; and the famous Mr. Prynne.
Word Of The Day