Scribner's magazine . swarming av-enue, glad that I am an American. A THIRD SHELF OF OLD BOOKS ^i Mrs. Fields IN John MiltonsSpeech to theParliament ofEngland upon theLiberty of Unli-censed Printing, hesays : Books arenot absolutely deadthings, but do con-tain a potencie oflife in them to be asactive as that soulewas whose progenythey are ; nay, theydo preserve as in aviol! the purest effi-cacie and extractionof that living intellect that bred . AVho kills a man kills a reason-able creature, Gods image ; but heewho destroys a good book, kills reasonit selfe: . . slays an immortalityrath
Scribner's magazine . swarming av-enue, glad that I am an American. A THIRD SHELF OF OLD BOOKS ^i Mrs. Fields IN John MiltonsSpeech to theParliament ofEngland upon theLiberty of Unli-censed Printing, hesays : Books arenot absolutely deadthings, but do con-tain a potencie oflife in them to be asactive as that soulewas whose progenythey are ; nay, theydo preserve as in aviol! the purest effi-cacie and extractionof that living intellect that bred . AVho kills a man kills a reason-able creature, Gods image ; but heewho destroys a good book, kills reasonit selfe: . . slays an immortalityrather than a life. The Arcopagitica, with its inequal-ities of diction and its immortalities ofthought and expression, has been madeto live again for modern readers bymeans of the introduction written forit by Lowell a few years ago, at the in-stance of the Grolier Clul) of New stands upon the shelf, a very prettyand a veiy precious small volume with • See ScRiBNERs Magazine for March, 18S8, and April, Norton, Miltons Early Honne. Lowells inscription and alterations ofhis own text. As an example of Low-ells English style, and of the mannerin which he has, witliin the small com-pass of an introduction, served to keepthe well of English undetiled, it is ofinestimable and incomparable value tothe modern wcn-ld of letters. His criti-cism of ]\Iiltons character, as expressedin liis style, is a distinct contril)ution tothe histors of the man : he has strength-ened the arch of Miltons fame, andbrought us closer to his feel a fresh kinship to the >vriterwho, in times not wholly unlike ourown, felt the public j^roblems to be aweight of personal responsibihty. A THIRD SHELF OF OLD BOOKS 339 As a master of harmonyand of easily maintainedelevation, in English blankverse, writes Lowell, Mil-ton has no rival. He was [versed, he first wrote)skilled in many tonguesand many literatures ; hehad weighed the value ofwords, whether for soundor sense, or w^here the tw
Size: 2100px × 1190px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1887
