Morus was ultimately acquitted, but his position in Holland had become uncomfortable, and he was glad to accept an invitation from the congregation at Charenton, celebrated for its lunatics.

Understanding, meanwhile, that Milton was preparing a reply, and being naturally unwilling to brave invective in the cause of a book which he had not written, and of a patron who had cast him off, he protested his innocence of the authorship, and sought to ward off the coming storm by every means short of disclosing the writer.

Milton, however, esteeming his Latin of much more importance than Morus's character, and justly considering with Voltaire, "que cet Habacuc etait capable de tout," persisted in exhibiting himself as the blind Cyclop dealing blows amiss.

His reply appeared in May, 1654, and a rejoinder by Morus produced a final retort in August, 1655.

Both are full of personalities, including a spirited description of the scratching of Morus's face by the injured Bontia.