He was filled
with religion and religious feeling: and therefore is it that he
stands alone unapproachable, the master in his art, but elevated
above the profane world, without adherents, and without even
citizenship."
Cousin also says of Spinoza:- "The author whom this pretended
atheist most resembles is the unknown author of 'The Imitation of
Jesus Christ.'"
(13) Preface to Southeys 'Life of Wesley' (1864).
(14) Napoleon also read Milton carefully, and it has been related of
him by Sir Colin Campbell, who resided with Napoleon at Elba, that
when speaking of the Battle of Austerlitz, he said that a
particular disposition of his artillery, which, in its results,
had a decisive effect in winning the battle, was suggested to his
mind by the recollection of four lines in Milton. The lines occur
in the sixth book, and are descriptive of Satan's artifice during
the war with Heaven
"In hollow cube
Training his devilish engin'ry, impal'd
On every side WITH SHADOWING SQUADRONS DEEP
TO HIDE THE FRAUD."
"The indubitable fact," says Mr. Edwards, in his book 'On
Libraries,' "that these lines have a certain appositeness to an
important manoeuvre at Austerlitz, gives an independent interest
to the story; but it is highly imaginative to ascribe the victory
to that manoeuvre. And for the other preliminaries of the tale,
it is unfortunate that Napoleon had learned a good deal about war
long before he had learned anything about Milton.
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