"With open freedom little tyrants raged."
The artists who have illustrated this passage (see, for instance,
_Favourite English Poems_, p. 305, and _Harper's Monthly_, vol. vii.
p. 3) appear to understand "little" as equivalent to _juvenile_. If
that had been the meaning, the poet would have used some other phrase
than "of his fields," or "his lands," as he first wrote it.
59. _Some mute inglorious Milton_. Cf. Phillips, preface to _Theatrum
Poetarum_: "Even the very names of some who having perhaps been
comparable to Homer for heroic poesy, or to Euripides for tragedy,
yet nevertheless sleep inglorious in the crowd of the forgotten
vulgar."
60. _Some Cromwell_, etc. Hales remarks: "The prejudice against
Cromwell was extremely strong throughout the 18th century, even
amongst the more liberal-minded. That cloud of 'detractions rude,' of
which Milton speaks in his noble sonnet to our 'chief of men' as in
his own day enveloping the great republican leader, still lay thick
and heavy over him. His wise statesmanship, his unceasing
earnestness, his high-minded purpose, were not yet seen."
After this stanza Thomas Edwards, the author of the _Canons of
Criticism_, would add the following, to supply what he deemed a
defect in the poem:
"Some lovely fair, whose unaffected charms
Shone with attraction to herself alone;
Whose beauty might have bless'd a monarch's arms,
Whose virtue cast a lustre on a throne.
"That humble beauty warm'd an honest heart,
And cheer'd the labours of a faithful spouse;
That virtue form'd for every decent part
The healthful offspring that adorn'd their house."
Edwards was an able critic, but it is evident that he was no poet.