1608-1674
[Sidenote: D’Israeli’s _Curiosities of Literature_.]
“Salmasius sometimes reproaches Milton as being but a puny piece of
man, an homunculus, a dwarf deprived of the human figure, a bloodless
being composed of nothing but skin and bone, a contemptible pedagogue,
fit only to flog his boys; and rising into a poetic frenzy applies to
him the words of Virgil: ‘_Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui
lumen ademptum._’ Our great poet thought this senseless declamation
merited a serious refutation; perhaps he did not wish to appear
despicable in the eyes of the ladies; and he would not be silent on the
subject, he says, lest any one should consider him as the credulous
Spaniards are made to believe by their priests, that a heretic is a
kind of rhinoceros or a dog-headed monster. Milton says that he does
not think any one ever considered him as unbeautiful; that his size
rather approaches mediocrity than the diminutive; that he still felt
the same courage and the same strength which he possessed when young,
when, with his sword, he felt no difficulty to combat with men more
robust than himself; that his face, far from being pale, emaciated, and
wrinkled, was sufficiently creditable to him: for though he had passed
his fortieth year, he was in all other respects ten years younger. And
very pathetically he adds, ‘That even his eyes, blind as they are,
are unblemished in their appearance; in this instance alone, and much
against my inclination, I am a deceiver!’”
[Sidenote: Aubrey’s _Lives of Eminent Persons_.]
“He was scarce as tall as I am.[5] He had light browne hayre. His
complexion exceeding fayre. Ovall face, his eie a darke gray. His
widowe has his picture drawne very well and like, when a Cambridge
scollar. She has his picture when a Cambridge scollar, which ought to
be engraven; for the pictures before his books are not at all like
him.... He was a spare man.... Extreme pleasant in his conversation,
and at dinner, supper, etc., but satyricall. He pronounced the letter
_r_ very hard. He had a delicate tuneable voice, and had good skill.
His harmonicall and ingeniose soul did lodge in a beautiful and
well-proportioned body:--‘In toto nusquam corpore menda fuit.’--Ovid.”
[Sidenote: Keightley’s _Life of Milton_. *]
“In his person Milton was rather under the middle size, well built and
muscular. ‘His deportment,’ says Wood, ‘was affable, and his gait erect
and manly, bespeaking courage and undauntedness.’ He was skilled in the
use of the small sword, and, though he certainly would not have engaged
in a duel, he had strength, skill, and courage to repel the attack of
any adversary. His hair, which never fell off, was of a light-brown
hue, and he wore it parted on his forehead as it is represented in his
portraits. His eyes were gray, and, as the cause of his blindness was
internal, they suffered no change of appearance from it. His face was
oval, and his complexion was so fine in his youth that at Cambridge he
was, as we are told by Aubrey, called the Lady of his College; even in
his later days his cheeks retained a ruddy tinge. He had a fine ear
for music, and was well skilled in that delightful science; he used to
perform on the organ and bass-viol. His voice was sweet and musical,
and we may presume that his singing showed both taste and science.”