“Higher Argument”: Paradise Lost 1665–1669There is another very remarkable Passage in the Composure of this Poem, which I
have a particular occasion to remember; for whereas I had the perusal of it from the
very beginning; for some years, as I went from time to time, to Visit him, in a Parcel
of Ten, Twenty, or Thirty Verses at a Time, which being Written by whatever hand
came next, might possibly want Correction as to the Orthography and Pointing;
having as the Summer came on, not been shewed any for a considerable while, and
desiring the reason thereof, was answered, That his Vein never happily flow’d, but
from the Autumnal Equinoctial to the Vernal, and that whatever he attempted [at other
times] was never to his satisfaction, though he courted his fancy never so much; so
that in all the years he was about this Poem, he may be said to have spent but half his
time therein. (EL 73)Phillips here claims to have had primary responsibility for the correction and over-
sight of a manuscript transcribed over several years by several hands. That account
is borne out by the manuscript of Book I, the only surviving portion of the fair
copy delivered to the printer.^34
According to Ellwood, Milton returned to his London house in Artillery Walk
“after the Sickness was over, and the City well cleansed, and become safely habit-
able again,”^35 probably in February or early March, 1666. Pepys’s diary entry for
January 31 notes that people “begin to bustle up and down” around Whitehall, that
people living near churchyards were having them covered with lime, and that the
king and Duke of York were to return the next day.^36 As Bunhill Fields was the
largest plague cemetery in all London, Milton no doubt wanted to be sure it was
cleansed before he returned.^37 After he settled again in London Milton evidently
began work on Paradise Regained, while continuing to make final revisions and
corrections on the text of Paradise Lost. Edward Phillips was available for such serv-
ice only during occasional visits, since he had left Evelyn’s household in February,
1665 to become tutor to Phillip Herbert at Wilton.^38 Other family members and
friends who lived in some proximity to Milton may have given some help: his
nephew John Phillips may have been the “schoolmaster” who was taxed on six
hearths in Aldersgate Street, and his brother Christopher was regularly reappointed
every term from May, 1664 as attendant or reader in the Inner Temple.^39 Some
longtime friends were likely visitors: his personal physician Dr Nathan Paget and
the bookseller George Thomason, until his death in 1666. Marvell probably came
also: some echoes in his “Last Instructions to a Painter” suggest that he saw Paradise
Lost before publication.^40
Visitors would have reported to Milton about the second Anglo-Dutch war,
which was formally declared on February 22, 1665. Like the first Dutch war (1652–
4) this one was sparked by commercial rivalry, trading rights, and the carrying trade
with Africa, North America, and the West and East Indies. The battles took place at
sea, with the fleet on the English side commanded by Charles II’s brother the Duke
of York (the future James II), Prince Rupert, and Albermarle (formerly General
Monk). Despite the war’s popularity and unprecedented grants of money by parlia-