“The So-called Council of State” 1649–1652was written sometime before December 4, 1650 and published several months later.
Either Jane did not recognize Milton from his initials or chose to term him simply
“The Iconoclast” or “The Libeller,” to emphasize his point that Eikonoklastes presents
“the Rebells Image... the dissolution of all bonds morall, Civill, and Religious, of
all orders and degrees among men.” He denounces Milton’s arguments chapter by
chapter, insists on the king’s authorship of Eikon Basilike, and makes a special point
of defending Pamela’s prayer as appropriate for the king’s use.^95 On May 20, 1651
the council ordered John Dury to translate Eikonoklastes into French.^96
In February, 1651 the Council of State reappointed its foreign secretary and he
again took the oath of secrecy. He had already been given the task of licensing
Marchamont Nedham’s newsletter, Mercurius Politicus, which began to appear regu-
larly on June 13, 1650 and quickly proved a much livelier and more successful
enterprise than the official newsbooks.^97 During 1650 copies were published with-
out formal registration or were registered in batches of two or three after publica-
tion, under the general rubric “by permission of authority.”^98 But from the end of
January, 1651 and continuing for a year, the issues are registered by the publisher
Thomas Newcomb with the formula, “Entered for his Copy under the hand of
Master Milton a pamphlet called, Mercurius Politicus.” Until May 22 Milton contin-
ued licensing several issues at once, after publication; thereafter the entries are made
weekly on the date of publication until January 22, 1652, when Milton (almost
blind) was relieved of this duty.^99 Milton, however, was away from London at least
from late August to October 15, as the diary of the diplomat Herman Mylius indi-
cates.^100 He may have been gone longer: the council assigned him no duties be-
tween June 7 and October 26. During his absence someone else must have licensed
Mercurius Politicus over Milton’s name, further suggesting that the authorities ex-
pected, and Milton performed, only a perfunctory supervision of Nedham’s jour-
nal. No doubt Milton met with Nedham sometimes, beginning a relation that
ripened into friendship. We can imagine them discussing how best to defend the
republic, Nedham seeking to appeal to the interests of the several groups and Milton
arguing the role and rights of virtuous, liberty-loving citizens.^101 Portions of Nedham’s
Case of the Commonwealth (May 8, 1650) were being reprinted as lead editorials in
Mercurius Politicus (numbers 16–69).
During the first half of 1651 Milton was involved in the lengthy negotiations
between a committee of the council and the Portuguese envoy João de Guimarães,
who was sent to England in December, 1650 to try to resolve the hostilities be-
tween the two countries. Milton wrote a letter for the council on December 19,
1650, insisting that Guimarães’s title and powers be clarified; on February 10, 1651
he was ordered to attend the negotiating meetings between Guimarães and the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, presumably to translate English draft documents
into Latin for the Portuguese, and their responses into English.^102 He would also
have been needed as an interpreter, since the meetings were conducted in Latin and
in both vernaculars. When parliament found the problems intractable and broke off