2 Of course this in itself is not significant, but it might be an indication that by the mid-seventeenth century the use of incense was a contentious issue, and that whereas Shakespeare could pay little attention to it because it was probably no longer part of normal religious life and experience within the Church of England, Milton may have wished to take part in an ongoing debate within English society. Why was Milton, in the second half of the seventeenth century, and in the later years of his life when his religious beliefs and practices had settled into a rather aloof independent position, including clear references to the ritual use of incense in worship? It is interesting in the light of the recent work on Shakespeare’s possible Catholic sympathies that incense is mentioned only four times in the whole of Shakespeare’s works (Lear, 5. In Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, Milton mentions incense seven times (PL, VII.
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