When the Puritans came to power, they introduced a number of measures, which were to become moral rules for everyday life. Games and theatrical performances were prohibited. It was thought that they proceeded from the devil. Statues and pictures were taken out of the churches. The music that followed services was excluded. Cromwell himself prohibited the celebration of Christmas. There were two reasons for all that. To begin with, it was a form of protest against the Kings church which was very costly, and, secondly, it was a political platform. It was during the time of the Commonwealth that pews and pulpits were placed in churches to make it easier for the people to listen to long sermons.
Ten years later, in 1661, monarchy was restored, and the throne went to Charles II, the son of Charles I. Although he shared his fathers belief in the divine origin of royal power, Charles II managed his return with skill and wisdom. Unlike his father, he made peace with parliament. Many MPs were given high positions. The King punished only those who were directly responsible for his fathers death.
Charles was knowledgeable and witty, as well as pleasure-seeking. He patronized trade, arts and science.
An interesting legend is connected with Charles IIs return to London. On his return to London, Charles II stayed in the Tower, one of the royal residences. There, looking out of the window, he saw a flock of ravens on the lawn and ordered them to be shooed away. The soldiers started shooting them when the royal astrologist rushed into the kings chamber exclaiming, Your Majesty! Dont you know that when the last raven leaves the Tower, great misfortunes will befall England? Charles knew that the greatest misfortune that could befall England and him, personally, could be a loss of his head and ordered the ravens to be left in peace. Ever since that time special provisions have been made for the ravens: they are fed and looked after by the Ravensmaster.
In the 17th century, different regions of England became more economically integrated. No place in the country was more than 75 miles from the sea, and by the end of the century, few places were more than 20 miles from a river or a canal. These waterways became the most important means of transport which made it possible for different regions to produce and sell various kinds of goods. For example, Kent, which was called the garden of England, grew more vegetables and fruit to export to other regions.
Improved trade resulted in new forms of buying and selling. Besides market places and fairs, which had been the sole way of selling goods, there appeared the first shops which promoted the growth of towns. London remained far larger than any other town; its population grew up to 500,000 people by the middle of the century. London controlled almost all the sea trade with other countries. Other large cities, Norwich, Newcastle and Bristol, had only 25,000 each. The great plague of 1655 killed 68,000 people in half a year which was almost equal to the population of three large towns of the time.
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In the 1670s, the most active sections of the population were the commercial classes. They took the lead in Englands home and, especially, foreign policy. Members of Parliament formed the first political parties. One party promoted foreign trade and supported the interests of merchants and the bourgeoisies. They were also supported bythe Dissenters a religious sect which had separated from the official Anglican Church. The other party, which consisted mostly of landowners, supported the interests of the gentry and the clergy.
The two parties hated each other so much that they gave their opponents abusive nicknames. Thus, the merchants were called the Whigs and the landowners the Tories. The word Whig comes from the Scottish exclamation Whiggam which was used in driving horses. And Tory was the name given to Irish highway robbers. Later, these names came to be used by the parties themselves in their speeches and in cartoons satirizing the other party.
Science
The Stuart age was also the age of a revolution in scientific thinking. For the first time in history England took the lead in scientific discoveries. The Stuarts encouraged scientific studies. The Royal Society of London for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge was founded in 1645 and became an important centre for scientists and thinkers where they could meet and exchange ideas. Now it is Britains oldest and most prestigious scientific institution.
Already at the beginning of the century, Francis Bacon argued that every scientific idea should be tested by experiment. Charles II gave a firm direction to examine all systems, theories, principles, elements, histories and experiments of things natural, mathematical and mechanical. The English scientists of the 17th century put Bacons ideas into practice.
In 1628 William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood. This led to great advances in medicine and in the study of the human body. The scientists Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke used Harveys methods when they made discoveries in the chemistry and mechanics of breathing.
In 1666 the Cambridge Professor of Mathematics, Sir Isaac Newton, began to study gravity. He published his important discovery in 1684. And in 1687 he published Principia, on the mathematical 
principles of natural philosophy. It was one of the greatest books in the history of science. Newtons work remained the basis of physics until Einsteins discoveries in the 20th century. Newtons importance as a founding father of modern science was recognized in his own time. Alexander Pope summed it up in the following verse:
Nature and Natures laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.
Newton was encouraged and financed by his friend, Edmond Halley, who is mostly remembered for tracking a comet in 1683. The comet has ever since been known as Halleys Comet. In the 17th century there was a great deal of interest in astronomy. Charles II founded the Royal Observatory at Greenwich which was equipped with the latest instruments for observing heavenly bodies.
Architecture and art
It was no incident that the greatest English architect of the time, Sir Christopher Wren, was also Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. Now he is better known as the designer of St. Pauls Cathedral in London which was built anew after the Great Fire of London (1666). The larger part of the City was destroyed, and when it was rebuilt, a new law made Londoners build new houses of stone and brick. Sir Christopher Wren was ordered to rebuild the churches destroyed in the Fire. The jewel of the new city was St. Pauls Cathedral. Almost every other church in the centre of London was designed by Wren or his assistants. Wren also designed the Royal Exchange and the Greenwich Observatory.
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Another prominent architect and theatrical designer of the century was Inigo Jones (1573-1651) whose buildings are notable for their beauty of proportion. They include the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace in London and the Queens House at Greenwich.
In the 17th century, English painting was greatly influenced by Flemish artists, especially Van Dyck. He spent a number of years at the court of Charles I, who was his patron. Towards the middle of the century, the name of the Englishman William Dobson became as well known as the name of his Flemish colleague. Another native-born English painter was Francis Barlow, who specialized in animal subjects, or scenes of country sports. One of his famous pictures is Monkeys and Spaniels Playing (1661). This kind of subject matter was to become immensely popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Music
In music, Viola da Gamba gave way to the violin, and the English finally produced a national composer who wrote operas. Henry Purcell, the father of the English opera, may be compared to Bach and Handel. Purcell was also a talented keyboard player and song-composer.
His most famous opera was Dido and Aeneas is based on the ancient Roman story about a Trojan leader who escaped to Carthage after Troy was captured by the Greeks. There he met Queen Dido who fell in love with him. Dido killed herself when Aeneas left her.
We must also mention here John Bull, the English organist and composer, one of the founders of contrapuntal keyboard music. He is credited with composing the English national anthem, God Save the King / Queen. But dont think that it is to him that we owe the traditional nickname given to Englishmen. John Bull, the symbol of a typical Englishman, is the name of a farmer from the pamphlet of John Arbuthnot.
Journalism
The political struggle, involving broad masses of Englands population, favoured the development of political literature and laid the basis for journalism. People took a lively interest in all kind of information about the political events of the time. There appeared leaflets with information (the so-called relations) as well as periodical press. As a result of the rapid spread of literacy and the improvement in printing techniques, the first newspapers appeared in the 17th century. (In fact, the first newspaper was issued to announce the defeat of the Spanish Armada.) The newspaper was a new way of spreading ideas scientific, political, religious and literary. The social revolution brought about a turn from poetry to prose because it was easier to write about social and political events in prose rather than in verse.
John Milton (1608-1674)
The greatest of all publicists of the Puritan Revolution was John Milton. He was born to a prosperous family on December 9, 1608. Miltons father, who had received a good education, was an admirer of music and a composer. The poets mother is said to have been a woman of incomparable virtue and goodness.
Miltons childhood was very different from that of other children. He was little interested in games and outdoor amusements. His father took care of his early education. John learned to love music and books. Milton attended St. Pauls school. He read and studied so intensely that at the age of 12 he had already developed a habit of working till midnight. At the age of 16 he went to Cambridge University where he got a Bachelors and then a Masters degree. Upon graduation, Milton was asked to remain at the University as an instructor. But he refused, because for him that meant taking Holy Orders that is becoming a clergyman. He left Cambridge and retired to his fathers country-place Horton, in Buckinghamshire. There, he gave himself up to studies and poetry. Many of Miltons poems were written in Horton. They form the first period in his creative work.
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Milton had always wished to complete his education by travelling, as was the custom of the time. He longed to visit Italy, and his mothers death, John got his fathers consent to go on a European tour. He visited Paris, Genoa and Florence. The latter won his enthusiastic admiration. The city itself and the language fascinated him. The men of literature, whom he met in Florence, gave him an opportunity to satisfy his thirst for knowledge. Rome, where he went after Florence, made a great impression on him. Milton knew the Italian language to perfection. He spent whole days in the Vatican library. In Italy, he visited and talked to the great Galileo, who was no longer a prisoner of the Inquisition, but was still under the supervision of the Church. Miltons meeting with the great Martyr of Science is mentioned in Paradise Lost, and in an article about the freedom of the press. After visiting Naples, he wanted to continue his travels, but the news from home hastened his return. Milton considered it wrong to be travelling abroad for personal enjoyment, while his countrymen were fighting for freedom. He returned to England in 1639. For some time, he had to do some teaching. The result of it was a treatise on education.
At the age of 34, Milton married Mary Powell, the daughter of a wealthy royalist. The union proved to be unhappy. She was a young and lively girl, little fitted to be the companion of such a serious man. They had only been married a month, when the young wife got Miltons permission to visit her parents, and did not come back. It turned out that her relatives had agreed to her marriage to a Republican, when their party seemed to be losing power. They changed their mind when a temporary success of the Royalists revived their hopes. Milton did not see his wife for four years. During that time, he reflected much on marriage and divorce. He also wrote a treatise on divorce. In it, without mentioning his own drama, Milton regarded marriage and divorce as a social problem. An unexpected turn in the political situation of the country brought about a reconciliation of the couple, and Mary returned.
Milton kept a keen eye on the public affairs of the time. The years between 1640 and 1660 were the period of his militant revolutionary journalism. His views on civil and religious liberty served the interests of the revolutionary party, and Milton became the most prominent publicist of the Revolution.
When a Republican government was established in 1649, Milton was appointed Latin Secretary of the Council of State. He translated diplomatic papers from Latin and into Latin. He also continued writing pamphlets and treatises. In his excellent pamphlets The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, Defence of the People of England and Image Breaker, he made Europe realize that the Revolution was not just a great rebellion, as the Royalists insisted, but that it was the only force that could give the people rights and freedom. The execution of Charles I was not just the cruel bloodshed, but the only means by which the people could free themselves from the monarchy. He explained that the King was not a martyr, but the worst reactionary in the cause of liberty.
During the years of his work as Latin Secretary and journalist, Milton wrote only a few sonnets, one of them was To the Lord General Cromwell.
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Milton had had poor eyesight even as a child, and now doctors warned him that unless he stopped reading and writing entirely, he would lose eyesight. To this Milton replied that he had already sacrificed poetry and was now ready to sacrifice his eyesight for the liberty of his people. He lost his sight in 1652. In the same year, his wife died in childbirth. Milton was left with three young daughters. Four years later, he married Catherine Woodcock, the daughter of a Republican this time, but that happiness did not last long. Catherine died within a year of their marriage.
The death of Cromwell in 1660 was followed by the restoration of monarchy, and Milton was discharged from his office. The work of all his lifetime was destroyed. All his famous pamphlets were burnt by the hangmen. But Miltons spirit was not crushed. With his family, he retired to a small house in the suburbs of London where he began to write poetry again.
The years of Miltons retirement became the third period in his literary career. During that period, he created the things that made him one of the greatest poets of England. These were Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Unfortunately, two of his daughters refused to help him in his work. Only his youngest daughter Deborah was willing to read Latin books to her blind father. With the help of a few loyal friends, Milton completed Paradise Lost in 1663.
The characters of the poem are God the Almighty, Satan, three guardian-angels and the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. This epic poem written in 12 parts is a revolt against God who autocratically rules the universe. The revolutionary spirit is shown in Satan, who revolts against God and is driven out of Heaven. Though banished from Paradise, Satan is glad to get freedom. Milton gives Satan human qualities. His Satan is determined to go on with his war against God. Miltons Adam and Eve are not just Biblical characters, but Man and Woman who are full of energy, who love each other and who are ready to face whatever the earth has in store for them, rather than part.
The revolutionary poets of the 19th century said that Milton was the first poet who refused to accept the conventional Bible story, but turned Adam and Eve into human beings.
When Miltons fame reached the Court of Charles II, the Kings brother (the future King James II) paid a visit to the blind poet and asked if he did not regard the loss of his eyesight as a judgment inflicted by God for what he had written against the late King Charles I. Milton replied: If your Highness thinks that the calamities which befall us here are indications of the anger of God, in what manner are we to account for the fate of the King, your father? The displeasure of God must have been much greater against him than me, for I have lost my eyes, but he lost his head.
Miltons third wife was Elizabeth Minshel. She was not very well educated, but she willingly assisted her blind husband, and he dictated his last works to her. Milton died on November 8, 1674, and was buried in London. Many years afterwards, a monument to his memory was erected in Westminster Abbey.
Miltons works form a bridge between the poetry of the Renaissance and the poetry of the classicists of a later period. He was attracted by the poetry of ancient mythology and drama, like the writers and poets of the Renaissance. At the same time, he was a champion of the revolutionary cause and thought that only a Republican government could provide a foundation for freedom.
| DO YOU KNOW THAT | |
| Charles IIs nickname was the Merry Monarch he was pleasure-seeking and disloyal to his wife and ministers. Charless wife had no children but he acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses. Many 17th-cecntury newspapers included advertisements, once Charles II advertised for the loss of his dog. Women appeared on the English stage only in the 17th century. | ? |
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