Philips

Philips, JOHN, Milton's younger nephew and more peculiar charge, born in 1631, was, like his brother Edward, educated by his uncle, and frequently acted as his amanuensis. It may be supposed that Milton had formed a high opinion of his literary capability, since he entrusted to John rather than Edward the writing of the Responsio ad Apologiam pro Rege et Populo Anglicano (1652), himself correcting it with the utmost care. But if John was Edward's superior in ability, he was greatly his inferior in character, and persistently displayed an unnatural animosity to his uncle and benefactor. His next work was A Satyr against Hypocrites (1655), a bitter anti-Puritan poem and attack on Cromwell, written with considerable talent, but in a strain of coarse buffoonery. Somewhat in the style of Chaucer, he describes a Sunday in Cromwell's time, a christening, and a Wednesday fast with the extravagant supper at night. This production was frequently reprinted, and must have caused Milton no small disappointment and annoyance. In 1660 John amused himself and the world with his Montelion or the Prophetic Almanac, a low, scurrilous work, which was, however, extremely successful; he was also a most industrious translator, and in little more than a year (1677) published three large folio translations, Almahide, from the French of Madame de Scudéry, on which was founded Dryden's tragedy, The Conquest of Granada; Calprenède's Pharamond; and Tavernier's Voyages. Philips (or Phillips) wrote many scurrilous pamphlets, and died in 1706.