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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow XVII.: To Ezechiel Spanheim, of Geneva. - The Prose Works of John Milton, vol. 2

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Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: History
Subject Area: Religion
Topic: The English Revolution

XVII.: To Ezechiel Spanheim, of Geneva. - John Milton, The Prose Works of John Milton, vol. 2 [1847]

Edition used:

The Prose Works of John Milton, With a Biographical Introduction by Rufus Wilmot Griswold. In Two Volumes (Philadelphia: John W. Moore, 1847). Vol. 2.

Part of: The Prose Works of John Milton, 2 vols.

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XVII.

ToEzechiel Spanheim,of Geneva.

I know not how it happened that your letters were not delivered to me for three months after they were written. I hope that mine will have a more expeditious conveyance: for, owing to various engagements, I have put off writing from day to day till I perceive that almost another three months have elapsed. But I would not wish you to suppose that my regard for you has experienced any diminution; but that it has rather increased in proportion as I have more frequently thought of discharging this epistolary debt. The tardy performance of this duty seems to admit of this excuse, that when it is performed after so long a lapse of time it is only a more clear confession that it was due. You are quite right in the supposition that I shall not be surprised at receiving the salutations of a foreigner, and you may be assured that it is my maxim, to consider and to treat no good man as a stranger; that you are such I am well persuaded, both because you are the son of a father highly celebrated for his erudition and his piety; and because all good men think you good; and lastly, because you hate the bad. With such persons since it has also been my lot to be at war, Calandrinus very obligingly signified to you, that it would be highly grateful to me if you would lend me your assistance against our common enemy. That you have kindly done in your present letter, of which I have taken the liberty, without mentioning the author’s name, to insert a part in my Defence. This work I will send you as soon as possible after the publication; in the mean time do you direct your letters to me under cover to Turettin a Genoese, living at London, and through whom we may conveniently carry on our correspondence. Be assured that you rank high in my esteem, and that I wish for nothing more than your regard.