Censorship and Milton's Late Work
After the appearance of Paradise Lost in 1667, a frenzy of publication ensued until Milton’s death in 1674. Among the many works Milton published are: The History of Britain, which was started in the late 1640s; a sequel to Paradise Lost (Paradise Regained); to which was bound a biblical drama, Samson Agonistes; his collected poems, and several other pamphlets and books. His published work continued to attract the eye of the censor.
Milton, History of Britain, that part especially now call'd England (London, 1670)
This was Milton's longest published work of prose, and a major (if now neglected) undertaking. He had meant to write a history of England all the way to the present, but could not finish it. Edward Phillips records in his biography that in 1670 Milton "finisht and publisht his History of our Nation till the conquest, all compleat so far as he went, some Passages only excepted, which, being thought too sharp against the Clergy, could not pass the Hand of the Licencer, were in the Hands of the Late Earl of Anglesey while he liv'd; where at present is uncertain." Whether the manuscript of "The Digression," a section cut from the History, was part of those censored passages remains uncertain; it was almost certainly censored (or self-censored) for its content.
Milton, Poems, &c. upon several occasions...with a small tractate of education to Mr. Hartlib (London, 1673)
Milton's final collection of poetry, missing only four political sonnets.
Joannis Miltoni Angli, Artis Logicæ Plenior Instituto: ad Petri Rami Methodum Concinnata (London, Spenser Hickman, 1672)
A textbook on logic that Milton had written in the 1640s, when he had run a small academy. The frontispiece engraving of Milton is by William Dolle.
Joannis Miltonii Angli, Epistolarum familiarum liber unus: qvibvs accesserunt, ejusdem, jam olim in collegio adolescentis, prolusiones quædam oratoriæ (London, 1674)
Milton's collected letters.