_ of an Oxfordshire cavalier, a girl of 17, who
soon found her new life as the companion of an austere poet, absorbed in
severe study, too abrupt a change from the gay society to which she had
been accustomed, and in a month returned to her father's house on a
visit. When the time fixed for rejoining her husband arrived, she showed
no disposition to do so, upon which he began to aim at a divorce, and to
advocate in the works above mentioned "unfitness and contrariety of mind"
as a valid ground for it, views which incurred for him much notoriety and
unpopularity. A reconciliation, however, followed in 1645, and three
_dau._ were born of the marriage. In 1649 the reputation of M. as a
Latinist led to his appointment as Latin or Foreign Sec. to the Council
of State, in the duties of which he was, after his sight began to fail,
assisted by A. Marvell (_q.v._) and others, and which he retained until
the Restoration. In 1652 his wife _d._, and four years later he entered
into a second marriage with Katharine Woodcock, who _d._ in child-birth
in the following year. To her memory he dedicated one of the most
touching of his sonnets. At the Restoration he was, of course, deprived
of his office, and had to go into hiding; but on the intercession of
Marvell (_q.v._), and perhaps Davenant (_q.v._), his name was included in
the amnesty. In 1663, being now totally blind and somewhat helpless, he
asked his friend Dr. Paget to recommend a wife for him. The lady chosen
was Elizabeth Minshull, aged 25, who appears to have given him domestic
happiness in his last years. She survived him for 53 years. The
Restoration closed his second, and introduced his third, and for his
fame, most productive period. He was now free to devote his whole powers
to the great work which he had so long contemplated. For some time he had
been in doubt as to the subject, had considered the Arthurian legends,
but had decided upon the Fall of Man. The result was _Paradise Lost_,
which was begun in 1658, finished in 1664, and _pub._ in 1667. A remark
of his friend, Thomas Ellwood (_q.v._), suggested to him the writing of
_Paradise Regained_, which, along with _Samson Agonistes_, was _pub._ in
1671. Two years before he had printed a _History of Britain_, written
long before, which, however, is of little value. The work of M. was now
done. In addition to his blindness he suffered from gout, to which it was
partly attributable, and, his strength gradually failing, but w