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querable integrity of character, by which he was diftinguished through all the viciffitudes of a tempeftuous life. His reverential gratitude and affection towards this preceptor are recorded in two Latin epistles *, and a Latin elegy addreffed to him: they.

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*The high opinion, which Milton entertained of his preceptor, is so gracefully expreffed in one of thefe letters, that I fèlect it as a fpecimen of his epiftolary ftyle in the early period of life.

Thomæ Junio.

Infpectis literis tuis (preceptor optime) unicum hoc mihi fupervacaneum occurrebat, quod tardæ fcriptionis excufationem attuleris; tametfi enim literis tuis nihil mihi queat optabilius accedere, qui poffim tamen aut debeam fperare otii tibi tantum à rebus feriis, et fan&tioribus effe, ut mihi femper refpondere vacet ; præfertim cum illud humanitatis omnino fit, officii minime. Te vero oblitum effe mei ut fufpicer, tam multa tua de me recens merita nequaquam finunt. Neque enim video quorfum tantis onuftum beneficiis ad oblivionem dimitteres. Rus tuum accerfitus, fimul ac ver adoleverit, libenter adveniam, ad capeffendas anni tuique non minus colloquii delicias, et ab urbano ftrepitu fubducam me paulifper, ad ftoam tuam Icenorum, tanquam ad celeberrimam illam Zenonis porticum aut Ciceronis Tufculanum, ubi tu in re modica regio fane animo veluti Serranus aliquis aut Curius in agello tuo placide regnas, deque ipfis divitiis, ambitione, pompa, luxuriâ, et quicquid vulgus hominum miratur et ftupet, quafi triumphum agis fortunæ contemptor. Cæterum qui tarditatis culpam deprecatus es, hanc mihi viciffim, ut fpero, præcipitantiam indulgebis; cum enim epiftolam hanc in extremum diftuliffem, malui pauca, eaque rudiufcule fcribere, quam nihil.-Vale vir obfervande.

Cantabrigia, Julii 21, 1628.

In perufing your letters, my excellent preceptor, this only appeared to me fuperfluous, that you apologize for a delay in writing; for although nothing can be more defirable to me

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suggest a most favourable idea of the poet's native difpofition, and furnish an effectual antidote to the poifon of that moft injurious affertion, that "he hated all whom he was required to obey."-Could untractable pride be the characteristic of a mind, which has expreffed its regard for a difciplinarian fufficiently rigid, with a tenderness fo confpicuous in the following verfes of the fourth Elegy?

Vivit ibi antiquæ clarus pietatis honore,

Præful, chrifticolas pafcere doctus oves;

Ille quidem eft animæ plufquam pars altera noftræ,
Dimidio vitæ vivere cogor ego.

Hei mihi quot pelagi, quot montes interjecti,
Me faciunt aliâ parte carere mei!

Charior

than your letters, yet what right have I to hope, that your ferious and facred duties can allow you fuch leifure, that you can always find time enough to answer me, especially when your writing is entirely an act of kindness, and by no means of duty, The many and recent favours I have received from you will by no means fuffer me to fufpect that you can forget me; nor can I conceive it poffible that, having loaded me with fuch benefits, you should now difmifs me from your remembrance. I fhall willingly attend your fummons to your rural retirement on the firft appearance of spring, to enjoy with equal relish the delights of the feafon and of your converfation. I fhall withdraw myfelf for a little time from the buftle of the city to your porch in Suffolk, as to the famous portico of the Stoic, or the Tufculum of Cicero, where, ennobling a moderate eftate by an imperial mind, you reign contentedly in your little field, like a Serranus or a Curius, and triumph, as it were, over opulence, ambition, pomp, luxury (and whatever is idolized by the herd of men) by looking down upon fortune: but as you excufe yourself for delay, let me hope that you will forgive me for hafte, fince, having deferred this letter to the laft moment, I chafe to fend a few lines, though not very accurately written, rather than to be filent. Farewell my revered friend.

Charior ille mihi, quam tu, doctiffime Graium,
Cliniadi, pronepos qui Telamonis erat;
Quamque Stagyrites generofo magnus alumno,
Quem peperit Lybico Chaonis alma Jovi.
Qualis Amyntorides, qualis Phylirëius heros
Myrmidonum regi, talis et ille mihi.
Primus ego Aonios illo præunte receffus
Luftrabam, et bifidi facra vireta jugi,
Pieriofque haufi latices, Clioque favente,
Caftalio fparfi læta ter ora mero.

There lives, deep learn'd, and primitively just,
A faithful steward of his Christian truft;
My friend, and favourite inmate of my heart,
That now is forc'd to want its better part.
What mountains now, and seas, alas! how wide!
Me from my other, dearer felf divide!
Dear as the fage, renown'd for moral truth,
To the prime fpirit of the Attic youth!
Dear as the Stagyrite to Ammon's fon,
His pupil, who difdain'd the world he won!
Nor fo did Chiron, or fo Phoenix fhine,

In

young Achilles' eyes, as he in mine:

First led by him, thro' sweet Aonian shade,
Each facred haunt of Pindus I furvey'd ;'
Explor'd the fountain, and the Mufe my guide,
Thrice fteep'd my lips in the Caftalian tide.

And again, in expreffing his regret upon the

length of their feparation :

Nec dum ejus licuit mihi lumina pafcere vultu,

Aut linguæ dulces aure bibiffe fonos.

Nor yet his friendly features feaft my fight,
Nor his fweet accents my fond ear delight.

As the tenderness of the young poet is admirably difplayed in the beginning of this Elegy, his more acknowledged

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acknowledged characteristic, religious fortitude, is not lefs admirable in the close of it.

At tu fume animos, nec fpes cadat anxia curis,
Nec tua concutiat decolor offa metus.
Sis etenim quamvis fulgentibus obfitus armis,
Intententque tibi millia tela necem,

At nullis vel inerme latus violabitur armis,
Deque tuo cufpis nulla cruore bibet ;
Namque eris ipfe dei radiante sub ægide tutus,
Ille tibi cuftos, et pugil ille tibi:

Et tu (quod fupereft miferis) fperare memento,
Et tu magnanimo pectore vince mala;
Nec dubites quandoque frui melioribus annis,
Atque iterum patrios poffe videre lares.

But thou, take courage, ftrive against despair,
Shake not with dread, nor nourish anxious care.
What tho' grim war on every fide appears,
And thou art menac'd by a thousand fpears,
Not one shall drink thy blood, not one offend
Ev'n the defencelefs bofom of my friend;
For thee the ægis of thy God fhall hide;
Jehovah's felf fhall combat on thy fide;
Thou, therefore, as the most afflicted may,
Still hope, and triumph o'er thy evil day;
Trust thou shalt yet behold a happier time,
And yet again enjoy thy native clime.

The reader, inclined to fympathise in the joys of Milton, will be gratified in being informed, that his preceptor, whofe exile and poverty he pathetically lamented, and whofe profperous return he predicted, was in a few years restored to his country, and beeame Mafter of Jefus College, in Cambridge.

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As the year in which he quitted England (1623) corresponds with the fifteenth year of his pupil's age, it is probable that Milton was placed, at that time, under the care of Mr. Gill and his fon; the former, chief master of St. Paul's fchool, the latter, his affiftant, and afterwards his fucceffor. It is remarkable, that Milton, who has been fo uncandidly represented as an uncontroulable spirit, and a spurner of all just authority, feems to have contracted a tender attachment to more than one difciplinarian. concerned in his education. He is faid to have been the favourite fcholar of the younger Gill; and he has left traces of their friendship in three Latin epistles, that exprefs the highest esteem for the literary character and poetical talents of his inftructor.

On the 12th of February, 1624, he was entered, not as a fizer, which fome of his biographers have erroneously afferted, but as a penfioner of Chrift's College, in Cambridge. "At this time," fays Doctor Johnson," he was eminently skilled in the "Latin tongue, and he himself, by annexing the

dates to his firft compofitions, a boaft of which "the learned Politian had given him an example, "feems to commend the earliness of his own pro

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ficiency to the notice of pofterity; but the pro"ducts of his vernal fertility have been furpaffed "by many, and particularly by his contemporary, "Cowley. Of the powers of the mind it is diffi"cult to form an estimate; many have excelled "Milton in their firft effays, who never rofe to "works like Paradife Loft."

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