Defense of the People of England, Title page – To the reader
A DEFENCE OF THE People of ENGLAND, BY JOHN MILTON: In ANSWER to Salmaſius's Defence of the King.
Printed in the Year 1692.
TO THE ENGLISH READER.
THE Author of this Book is ſufficiently known, and ſo is the Book it ſelf, both at Home and Abroad, to the Curious and Inquiſitive; but never having been rendred into Engliſh, many, whoſe Veneration for the Author would induce them to read any thing of his, and who could not máſter it in the Language in which he wrote it, were deprived of the pleaſure of peruſing it, and of the Information they might juſtly expect from it. To gratifie them it is, that this Tranſlation, long ſince made, is now publiſhed; for the perſon who took the pains to Tranſlate it, did it partly for his own private entertainment, and partly to gratifie one or two of his Friends, without any deſign of mak… it publick, and is ſince deceaſed: And the Publiſher thinks it neceſſary to advertiſe the Reader ſome few things concerning it.
As Firſt, That the Author does with a great Freedom of Language, and Strength of Reaſon, detect the Fallacy of all the Cobweb Arguments made uſe of by the Flatterers of Princes, to prove their Power to be derived immediately from God, and to be ſuperior to that of the Law, whether deduced from Scripture, Reaſon, or Authority.
Secondly, That whereas ſome things are inſerted, that contain Perſonal Reflections upon the late King Charles the Firſt, and pains taken to juſtifie all the Proceedings of the Parliament from firſt to laſt, which may ſound harſh in ſome of our ears; the Reader ought to conſider the time when theſe things were written, and the occaſion of the Author's Undertaking this Defence, which were ſuch as put him under a neceſſity of Vindicating whatever his Maſters had done. The Tranſlator has not gelt him, nor was the Publiſher willing to do it; eſpecially ſince the Book has for many years been ſo publick, tho in another Language. And the great Uſe which it yields for the moſt part, ought not to be loſt, becauſe ſome things are here and there interſperſed, which the …bliſher could wiſh there had been no occaſion for.
Thirdly, That ſome Paſſages here and there may ſeem obſcure, becauſe the Author preſuppoſeth his Readers to have read Salmaſius; to ſome or other of whoſe Authorities and Reaſons, ſuch Paſſages relate.
Fourthly, That where Salmaſius's words are inſerted, they are, for the moſt part, if not always in Italick: Tho the Coherence of the Diſcourſe would ſufficiently diſcloſe to one that reads with care, when Salmaſius ſpeaks, and when the Author.
Fifthly, That if the Author may ſeem to lay aſide even rules of Decency in treating his Adverſary, whom indeed he ridicules and expoſes with a great deal of Smartneſs, Freedom, and Contempt, it muſt be conſidered, That the Author wrote on the behalf, and in Defence of the Powers then in being, and in anſwer to a priva…e perſon, who had loaded them with all Reproaches imaginable, and who could not poſſibly give worſe language to the meaneſt, the moſt contemptible, and the moſt unworthy perſon upon earth, than he does in his Defenſio Regia, to men that had then the Government of one of the moſt Potent Nations in Chriſtendom.
Sixthly, That the Tranſlator has kept perhaps too cloſe to his Copy, and not taken that liberty which is allowed to a Tranſlation, eſpecially in the angry and peeviſh parts of it: But it's hoped the Faithfulneſs of the Tranſlation may in ſome meaſure recompence for that; and it is very well known to thoſe that knew him, that he neither could, nor did pretend to laſh ſo well in Engliſh, as the Author could in Latin.
Laſtly, That ſome of the Author's Sarcaſmes depending upon the ſound and ambiguity of Latin words, do (as they needs muſt) loſe their Beauty and Elegance in a Tranſlation.