O, utinam vates nunquam graviora tulisset
Ille Tomitano flebilis exul agro;

Non tunc Ionio quicquam cessisset Homero,
Neve foret victo laus tibi prima, Maro.
Tempora nam licet hic placidis dare libera Musis,
Et totum rapiunt me, mea vita, libri:
Excipit hinc fessum sinuosi pompa theatri,a
Et vocat ad plausus garrula scena suos.
Seu catus auditur senior, seu prodigus hæres,
Seu procus, aut posita casside miles adest,
Sive decennali fœcundus lite patronus

Detonat inculto barbara verba foro;
Sæpe vafer gnato succurrit servus amanti,
Et nasum rigidi fallit ubique patris;
Sæpe novos illic virgo mirata calores,

Quid sit amor nescit; dum quoque nescit, amat.
Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragoedia sceptrum
Quassat, et effusis crinibus ora rotat,

Et dolet, et specto, juvat et spectasse dolendo;
Interdum et lacrymis dulcis amaror inest :
Seu puer infelix indelibata reliquit

Gaudia, et abrupto flendus amore cadit;
Seu ferus e tenebris iterat Styga criminis ultor,
Conscia funereo pectora torre movens :
Seu moret Pelopeia domus, seu nobilis Ili,
Aut luit incestos aula Creontis avos.

Sed neque sub tecto semper, nec in urbe, latemus;

Irrita nec nobis tempora veris eunt.

Nos quoque lucus habet vicina consitus ulmo,
Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci.
Sæpius hic, blandas spirantia sidera flammas,
Virgineos videas præteriisse choros.
Ah, quoties dignæ stupui miracula formæ,
Quæ possit senium vel reparare Jovis !
Ah, quoties vidi superantia lumina gemmas,
Atque faces, quotquot volvit uterque polus!

d Excipit hinc fessum sinuosi pompa theatri, &c.

The theatre, as Mr. Warton observes, seems to have been a favourite amusement of Milton's youth. See "L'Allegro," v. 131.—TODD.

• Sive decennali fœcundus lite patronus
Detonat inculto barbara verba foro.

He probably means the play of "Ignoramus."-T. Warton.

By the youth in the first couplet, he perhaps intends Shakspeare's "Romeo;" in the second, either "Hamlet," or "Richard III." He then draws his illustrations from the ancient tragedians. The allusions, however, to Shakspeare's incidents do not exactly correspond. In the first instance, Romeo was not torn from joys "untasted:" although "puer" and "abrupto amore" are much in point. The allusions are loose, or resulting from memory, or not intended to tally minutely.-T. WARTON.

Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci.

Some country-house of Milton's father very near London is here intended, of which we have now no notices.-T. WARTON.

Collaque bis vivi Pelopis quæ brachia vincant,
Quæque fluit puro nectare tincta via!

Et decus eximium frontis, tremulosque capillos,
Aurea quæ fallax retia tendit Amor!
Pellacesque genas, ad quas hyacinthina sordet
Purpura, et ipse tui floris, Adoni, rubor!
Cedite, laudatæ toties Heroides olim,

Et quæcunque vagum cepit amica Jovem.
Cedite, Achæmeniæ turrita fronte puellæ,

Et quot Susa colunt, Memnoniamque Ninon; ↳
Vos etiam, Danaæ fasces submittite nymphæ,
Et vos, Iliacæ, Romuleæque nurus:
Nec Pompeianas Tarpëia Musa columnas
Jactet, et Ausoniis plena theatra stolis.
Gloria virginibus debetur prima Britannis;
Extera, sat tibi sit, fœmina, posse sequi.
Tuque urbs Dardaniis, Londinum, structa colonis,
Turrigerum late conspicienda caput,

Tu nimium felix intra tua moenia claudis
Quicquid formosi pendulus orbis habet.
Non tibi tot cœlo scintillant astra sereno,
Endymioneæ turba ministra deæ,

Quot tibi, conspicua formaque auroque, puellæ
Per medias radiant turba videnda vias.
Creditur huc geminis venisse invecta columbis
Alma pharetrigero milite cincta Venus;
Huic Cnidon, et riguas Simoentis flumine valles,
Huic Paphon, et roseam posthabitura Cypron.

Ast ego, dum pueri sinit indulgentia cæci,
Moenia quam subito linquere fausta paro;

Et vitare procul malefidæ infamia Circes
Atria, divini Molyos usus ope.

Stat quoque juncosas Cami remeare paludes,
Atque iterum raucæ murmur adire scholæ.
Interea fidi parvum cape munus amici,

Paucaque in alternos verba coacta modos.

h Et quot Susa colunt, Memnoniamque Ninon.

65

70

75

80

85

90

Susa, anciently a capital city of Susiana in Persia, conquered by Cyrus. Xerxes marched from this city, to enslave Greece. It is now called Souster. Ninos is a city of Assyria, built by Ninus; Memnon, a hero of the Iliad, had a place there, and was the builder of Susa. Milton is alluding to oriental beauty. In the next couplet, he challenges the ladies of ancient Greece, Troy, and Rome.-T. WARTON.

i Nec Pompeianas Tarpëia Musa, &c.

The poet has a retrospect to a long passage in Ovid, who is here called "Tarpeia Musa," either because he had a house adjoining to the Capitol, or by way of distinction, that he was the Tarpeian, the general Roman Muse.-T. Warton.

The learned Lord Monboddo pronounces this Elegy to be equal to anything of the "elegiac kind, to be found in Ovid, or even in Tibullus."-T. WARTON.

ELEG. II.

In Obitum Præconis Academici Cantabrigiensis.J

ANNO ETATIS 17.

TE, qui, conspicuus baculo, fulgente, solebas
Palladium toties ore ciere gregem ;*
Ultima præconum, præconum te quoque sæva
Mors rapit, officio nec favet ipsa suo.
Candidiora licet fuerint tibi tempora plumis,
Sub quibus accipimus delituisse Jovem ;
O dignus tamen Hæmonio juvenescere succo,
Dignus in Æsonios vivere posse dies;
Dignus, quem Stygiis medica revocaret ab undis
Arte Coronides, sæpe rogante dea.
Tu si jussus eras acies accire togatas,
Et celer a Phoebo nuntius ire tuo;
Talis' in Iliaca stabat Cyllenius aula

Alipes, ætherea missus ab arce Patris :
Talis et Eurybates ante ora furentis Achillei
Rettulit Atridæ jussa severa ducis.
Magna sepulcrorum regina," satelles Averni,
Sæva nimis Musis, Palladi sæva nimis,
Quin illos rapias qui pondus inutile terræ ;"
Turba quidem est telis ista petenda tuis :
Vestibus hunc igitur pullis, Academia, luge,

Et madeant lacrymis nigra feretra tuis.
Fundat et ipsa modos querebunda Elegëia tristes,
Personet et totis nænia mosta scholis.

10

15

20

The person here commemorated is Richard Ridding, one of the university-beadles, and a master of arts of St. John's college, Cambridge. He signed a testamentary codicil, September 23, 1626, proved the eighth of November following.-T. WARTON.

k It was a custom at Cambridge, lately disused, for one of the beadles to make proclamation of convocations in every college. This is still in use at Oxford.-T. Warton. 1 Talis, &c.

These allusions are proofs of our author's early familiarity with Homer.-T. WArton. m Magna sepulcrorum regina.

A sublime poetical appellation for Death; and much in the manner of his English poetry.-T. WARTON.

n Pondus inutile terræ.

Homer, "Il." xviii. 104.-Jos. Warton.

• Et madeant lacrymis nigra feretra tuis.

Here seems to be an allusion to the custom of affixing verses on the pall, formerly perhaps more generally observed at Cambridge. "Lacrymis tuis" are the funeral poems, as "tear" is in "Lycidas," v. 14.-TODD.

This Elegy, with the next on the death of bishop Andrewes, the Odes on the death of professor Goslyn and bishop Felton, and the poem on the fifth of November, are very correct and manly performances for a boy of seventeen. This was our author's first year at Cambridgo. They discover a great fund and command of ancient literature.-T. WArton.

ELEG. III.

in Obitum Præsulis Wintoniensis. p-ANNO ÆTATIS 17.
MESTUS eram, et tacitus, nullo comitante, sedebam;
Hærebantque animo tristia plura meo:
Protinus, en subiit funestæ cladis imago,
Fecit in Angliaco quam Libitina solo;a

Dum procerum ingressa est splendentes marmore turres
Dira sepulcrali Mors metuenda face;
Pulsavitque auro gravidos et jaspide muros,
Nec metuit satrapum sternere falce greges.
Tunc memini clarique ducis," fratrisque verendi
Intempestivis ossa cremata rogis :

Et memini heroum, quos vidit ad æthera raptos,
Flevit et amissos Belgia tota duces.
At te præcipue luxi, dignissime Præsul,
Wintoniæque olim gloria magna tuæ;
Delicui fletu, et tristi sic ore querebar :-
"Mors fera, Tartareo diva secunda Jovi,
Nonne satis quod sylva tuas persentiat iras,
Et quod in herbosos jus tibi detur agros
Quodque afflata tuo marcescant lilia tabo,
Et crocus, et pulchræ Cypridi sacra rosa?
Nec sinis, ut semper fluvio contermina quercus
Miretur lapsus prætereuntis aquæ ?

s?

Et tibi succumbit, liquido quæ plurima cœlo
Evehitur pennis, quamlibet augur, avis;

Et

mille nigris errant animalia sylvis ;
quæ
Et quot alunt mutum Proteos antra pecus.
Invida, tanta tibi cum sit concessa potestas,
Quid juvat humana tingere cæde manus;
Nobileque in pectos certas acuisse sagittas,
Semideamque animam sede fugasse sua
Talia dum lacrymans alto sub pectore volvo,
Roscidus occiduis Hesperus exit aquis,
Et Tartessiaco submerserat æquore currum
Phoebus, ab Eoo littore mensus iter:

P Lancelot Andrewes, bishop of Winchester, had been originally master of Pembrokehall in Cambridge; but long before Milton's time. He died at Winchester-house in Southwark, Sept. 21, 1626.-T. WARTON.

a Fecit in Angliaco quam Libitina solo.

A very severe plague now raged in London and the neighbourhood, of which 35,417 persons are said to have died.-T. WARTON.

Tunc memini clarique ducis, &c.

I am kindly informed by Sir David Dalrymple,-" The two generals here mentioned, who died in 1626, were the two champions of the Queen of Bohemia; the Duke of Brunswick, and Count Mansfelt: Frater' means a sworn brother in arms, according to the military cant of those days. The next couplet respects the death of Henry Earl of Oxford, who died not long before." Henry, Earl of Oxford, Shakspeare's patron, died at the siege of Breda in 1625.-T. WARTON.

s Et Tartessiaco, &c.

Ovid, "Metam." xiv. 416 :-" Presserat occiduus Tartessia littora Phoebus." "Tar

Nec mora, membra cavo posui refovenda cubili,
Condiderant oculos noxque soporque meos:
Cum mihi visus eram lato spatiarier agro;

Heu! nequit ingenium visa referre meum.
Illic punicea radiabant omnia luce,

Ut matutino cum juga sole rubent.

Ac veluti cum pandit opes Thaumantia proles,
Vestitu nituit multicolore solum.

Non dea tam variis ornavit floribus hortos
Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris amata levi.t
Flumina vernantes lambunt argentea campos,
Ditior Hesperio flavet arena Tago.

Serpit odoriferas per opes levis aura Favoni,
Aura sub innumeris humida nata rosis.
Talis in extremis terræ Gangetidis oris
Luciferi regis fingitur esse domus.

Ipse racemiferis dum densas vitibus umbras,
Et pellucentes miror ubique locos,
Ecce! mihi subito Præsul Wintonius astat;
Sidereum nitido fulsit in ore jubar;
Vestis ad auratos defluxit candida talos;
Infula divinum cinxerat alba caput:
Dumque senex tali incedit venerandus amictu,
Intremuit læto florea terra sono.

Agmina gemmatis plaudunt coelestia pennis,
Pura triumphali personat æthra tuba.

Quisque novum amplexu comitem cantuque salutat,

Hosque aliquis placido misit ab ore sonos:

"Nate, veni, et patrii felix cape gaudia regni ;
Semper abhinc duro, nate, labore vaca." "
Dixit, et aligeræ tetigerunt nablia turmæ;
At mihi cum teuebris aurea pulsa quies.
Flebam turbatos Cephaleia pellice somnos:
Talia contingant somnia sæpe mihi!

tessiacus" occurs in Martial, "Epigr." ix. 46. We are to understand the straits of Hercules, or the Atlantic Ocean.-T. WARTON.

t Non dea tam variis ornavit floribus hortos
Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris amata levi.

Eden is compared to the Homeric garden of Alcinous, "Paradise Lost," b. v. 341 ; b. ix. 439. Chloris is Flora, who, according to ancient fable, was beloved by Zephyr. Hence our author is to be explained, " Paradise Lost," b. v. 16 :

Mild as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes.-T. WARTON.

■ Semper abhinc duro, nate, labore vaca.

Rev xiv. 18:-"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours."-Jos. WARTON.

Milton, as he grew old in puritanism, must have looked back with disgust and remorse on the panegyric of this performance, as on one of the sins of his youth, inexperience, and orthodoxy; for he had here celebrated, not only a bishop, but a bishop who supported the dignity and constitution of the Church of England in their most extensive latitude; the distinguished favourite of Elizabeth and James, and the defender of regal prerogative.-T. WARTON.