uld not be
unreasonably bulky, though it might be dull. But in the case of men
who have lived in the thick of the crowded modern world, no such course
is admissible; overmuch _may_ be said, and we must choose what we will
say. Biographers, however, are rarely bold enough to adopt the
selective method consistently. They have, we suspect, the fear of the
critics before their eyes. They do not like that it should be said
that "the work of the learned gentleman contains serious omissions: the
events of 1562 are not mentioned; those of October, 1579, are narrated
but very cursorily"; and we fear that in any case such remarks will be
made. Very learned people are pleased to show that they know what is
_not_ in the book; sometimes they may hint that perhaps the author did
not know it, or surely he would have mentioned it. But a biographer
who wishes to write what most people of cultivation will be pleased to
read must be courageous enough to face the pain of such censures. He
must choose, as we have explained, the characteristic parts of his
subject: and all that he has to take care of besides is, so to narrate
them that their characteristic elements shall be shown; to give such an
account of the general career as may make it clear what these chosen
events really were,--to show their respective bearings to one another;
to delineate what is expressive in such a manner as to make it
expressive.

This plan of biography is, however, by no means that of Mr. Masson: he
has no dread of overgrown bulk and overwhelming copiousness. He finds
indeed what we have called the "exhaustive method" insufficient: he not
only wishes to narrate in full the life of Milton, but to add those of
his contemporaries likewise; he seems to wish to tell us not only what
Milton did, but also what every one else did in Great Britain during
his lifetime. He intends his book to be not

"merely a biography of Milton, but also in some sort a continuous
history of his time. . . . The suggestions of Milton's life have
indeed determined the tracks of these historical researches and
expositions, sometimes through the literature of the period, sometimes
through its civil and ecclesiastical politics; but the extent to which
I have pursued them, and the space which I have assigned to them, have
been determined by my desire to present, by their combination,
something like a connected historical view of British thought and
British society in general prior to