[COMPLETE] The History of Britain by Milton - availle

[chymocles]

Yes, how odd! Well, the correct file has overwritten that (https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/historyofbritain_5b_milton_128kb.mp3), and the first of three parts of the sixth book has been uploaded: https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/historyofbritain_6a_milton_128kb.mp3.

[chymocles]

I've uploaded the second installment of Book 6: https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/historyofbritain_6b_milton_128kb.mp3.

Tom

[chymocles]

I'll have the final section of Book 6 in a day or two. Meanwhile, I recorded the "Life of Milton" with which the volume begins: https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/historyofbritain_7_milton_life_128kb.mp3. I still have to write the introduction.

Tom

[elsieselwyn]

Alright! I'll try to PL these in the next few days

[chymocles]

Fine, LC. I hope you like the "Life," although it isn't always entirely accurate—and it omits Milton's visit to Galileo!

And Availle, when I assigned the number 7 to the "Life of Milton," I began to wonder about my numbering of all the parts. Only the first part was given a "0" before the number; I omitted it from the other single-digit parts because they were followed by a letter indicating the subdivisions, and so maybe I ought to have called 7 "07" or even "00." If listeners will have the option of listening to the life either before or after listening to the book itself, I don't care where it is put or how it is numbered, but I would not like them to be forced to listen to it before getting to the book itself. Can you see to that?

And now I will try to come up with a nice cover page.

Tom

[Availle]

The numbering of your files should be different to begin with and correspond with the number of section in the Magic Window.

Don't worry, I'll take care of this during cataloging.

[chymocles]

I have composed a brief description of the text, which I hope you will place in its proper position, Ava:

A reader of this history, encountering the frequent references to “my author,” meaning the current source, will be reminded of Don Quixote and of The Morte d’Arthur, for Milton employs a style that might be called dissertational rather then novelistic; he carefully identifies his sources and often quotes from them. However, much of the scholarly documentation has been omitted from the reading—all except footnotes indicating the years—to avoid cumbersome interruptions.

What will be obvious to a listener, though, is that Milton uses earlier chronicles with discretion. He doubts the very existence of Arthur and proposes an ingenious explanation of the origin of his supposed father, Uther. When obliged to cite George Buchanan, the world-renowned neo-Latin author and tutor (later detractor) of Mary Queen of Scots, he regularly uses more than a grain of salt, in view of that scholar’s Scottish bias. And as he carefully weighs the reliability of his sources, so he offers his candid opinion of the wisdom and integrity of historical figures. He sneers at the story of King Canute’s famously commanding the rising tide of waves to retire, but not for any of the reasons one might suppose. Boadicea gets low marks, Alfred high ones—but not without some reservations. And in a long digression comparing the government of Britain, newly freed from Roman domination, to the British republic under Cromwell (for which, as Secretary of the Foreign Tongues, Milton was the voice), his criticism is so frank and savage that the passage had to be suppressed during his lifetime. Such personal opinions are what make this book entertaining and useful for the serious study of the author’s thought and personality.

The endearingly affectionate life of the author, written by his elder nephew, Edward Philips, offers much first-hand information although its facts are not always accurate and its coverage spotty. One learns nothing, for example, about Milton’s visit to the home of Galileo, but Philips's discussion of the role his cousins played in their father’s scholarly pursuits is detailed and affords no basis to the myth that he ever dictated his poetry to his daughters.


Tom

[Availle]

DONE!

Tom, sections 6b and 6c seem to be exactly the same (the both start with Edmund Ironside)?

[chymocles]

Sorry about that. I'm remedying it now. When Elsie gets to it she'll find the proper file there.

Tom

[elsieselwyn]

Sections 11-13 PL OK

I didn’t know Milton met Galileo! That’s interesting

I found kind of funny how opinionated Milton was sometimes about certain historical personalities - especially Boedica in one of the earlier sections because I had just listened to a podcast that was extremely positive towards Boedica right before listening to Milton’s take on her.

[elsieselwyn]

Section 15 PL OK

[chymocles]

Actually, we do not know that Milton met Galileo; there is no record of a meeting, but there is a record of Milton's visiting the house where Galileo lived in permanent house arrest on account of his dangerous opinions about the structure of what we now call the solar system. For all we know, Milton may have seen him from a distance or not at all, but he was certainly at his house. He refers to him in the first book of Paradise Lost, and when Adam and the archangel discuss the heavens, Raphael points out that Adam's Galilean opinion, that the sun is too large to be thought to circle the earth, is founded on the false supposition that size indicates value, and yet he does not say that his opinion is incorrect; he just says, "Be lowly wise." Adam is wasting his intellect when what he needs to attend to is obeying God's sole commandment. Raphael knows Adam will transgress no matter how diligently his education is pursued, and it galls him that Adam is so smart and yet is certain to do the stupidest thing imaginable, and there is nothing he can do to prevent it; all his efforts will do is to make him inexcusable on account of having been warned and educated. Raphael is truly a tragic character, the teacher who does his duty knowing it will be in vain.

[elsieselwyn]

Section 14 PL OK

Ready for catalog

[Availle]

Thank you Elsie for PLing, and congratulations Tom to another competed solo!

This project is now complete. All files can be downloaded from the catalog page here:
https://librivox.org/the-history-of-britain-by-john-milton/

[chymocles]

I have uploaded the cover material here: https://librivox.org/uploads/availle/historyofbritain_by_John_Milton.zip.
I, too, thank you, Elsie. It was fun working with you.

Availle, could you please replace the front matter of the project with the following text? A spelling error crept in (then for than, and I decided to cut a couple of words:

A reader of this history, encountering the frequent references to “my author,” meaning the current source, will be reminded of DON QUIXOTE and of THE MORTE D'ARTHUR, for Milton employs a style that might be called dissertational rather than novelistic; he carefully identifies his sources and often quotes from them. However, much of the scholarly documentation has been omitted from the reading—all except footnotes indicating the years—to avoid cumbersome interruptions.

What will be obvious to a listener, though, is that Milton uses earlier chronicles with discretion. He doubts the very existence of Arthur and proposes an ingenious explanation of the origin of his supposed father's name, Uther. When obliged to cite George Buchanan, the world-renowned neo-Latin author and tutor (later detractor) of Mary Queen of Scots, he regularly uses more than a grain of salt, in view of that scholar’s Scottish bias.

And as he carefully weighs the reliability of his sources, so he offers his candid opinion of the wisdom and integrity of historical figures. He sneers at the story of King Canute’s famously commanding the rising tide of waves to retire, but not for the reason one might suppose. Boadicea gets low marks, Alfred high ones—but not without some reservations. And in a long digression comparing the government of Britain, newly freed from Roman domination, to the British republic under Cromwell (for which, as Secretary of the Foreign Tongues, Milton was the voice), his criticism is so frank and savage that the passage had to be suppressed during his lifetime. Such personal opinions are what make this book entertaining and useful for the serious study of the author’s thought and personality.

The endearingly affectionate life of the author, written by his elder nephew, Edward Philips, offers much first-hand information although its facts are not always accurate and its coverage spotty. One learns nothing, for example, about Milton’s visit to the home of Galileo, but Philips's discussion of the role his cousins played in their father’s scholarly pursuits is detailed and affords no basis to the myth that he ever dictated his poetry to his daughters.

Tanks much,

Tom