from a kernel dropt by a rambling bird on a spot of peculiar fertility. We are perfectly affured that Milton owed one of his great poems to the ingenuous question of a young quaker; and Voltaire, as we have feen, has afferted, that he was indebted for the other to the fantastic drama of an Italian ftroller. It does not appear that Voltaire had any higher authority for his affertion than his own conjecture from a flight infpection of the drama, which he haftily describes; yet it is mere juftice to this rapid entertaining writer to declare, that in his conjecture there is great probability, which the English reader, I believe, will be inclined to admit, in proportion as he becomes acquainted with Andreini and his Adamo; but before we examine their merit, and the degree of influence that we may fuppose them to have had on the fancy of Milton, let us contemplate, in one view, all the fcattered hints which the great poet has given us concerning the grand project of his life, his design of writing an epic poem.

His first mention of this defign occurs in the following verfes of his poetical compliment to Manfo:

O mihi fic mea fors talem concedat amicum,
Phoebæos decoraffe viros qui tam bene norit,
Si quando indigenas revocabo in carmina reges,
Arturumque etiam fub terris bella moventem,
Aut dicam invictæ fociali foedere menfæ
Magnanimos heroas; et O modo fpiritus adfit,
Frangam Saxonicas Britonum fub marte phalanges!

O might so true a friend to me belong,
So skill'd to grace the votaries of song,

Should

Should I recall hereafter into rhyme
The kings and heroes of my native clime,
Arthur the chief, who even now prepares
In fubterraneous being future wars,
With all his martial knights to be restor❜d,
Each to his feat around the fed❜ral board;
And, O! if spirit fail me not, difperfe
Our Saxon plund'rers in triumphant verse.

COWPER.

Mr. Warton fays, in his comment on this paffage, "It is poffible that the advice of Manso, the friend "of Taffo, might determine our poet to a defign "of this kind." The conjecture of this refpectable critic may appear confirmed by the following circumftance-In the difcourfes on Epic Poetry, which are included in the profe works of Taffo, Arthur is repeatedly recommended as a proper hero for a poem. Thus we find that Italy most probably fuggefted to Milton his firft epic idea, which he relinquished; nor is it lefs probable that his fecond and more arduous enterprize, which he accomplished, was fuggefted to him by his perufal of Italian authors. If he saw the Adamo of Andreini reprefented at Milan, we have reason to believe that performance did not immediately infpire him with the project of writing an epic poem on our First Parents; because we find that Arthur kept poffeffion of his fancy after his return to England.

In the following verfes of his Epitaphium Damonis, compofed at that period, he ftill fhews himfelf attached to romantic heroes, and to British story:

Dicam et Pandrafidos regnum vetus Inogeniæ,
Brennumque Arviragumque duces prifcumque Be-
linum,

Et tandem Armoricos Britonum fub lege colonos,
Tum gravidam Arturo fatali fraude Iogernen,
Mendaces vultus affumptaque Gorlois arma
Merlini dolus.

Of Brutus, Dardan chief, my song shall be,
How with his barks he plough'd the British sea;
Firft from Rutupia's tow'ring headland feen,
And of his confort's reign, fair Inogen;
Of Brennus and Belinus, brothers bold,
And of Arviragus; and how of old
Our hardy fires th' Armorican controll❜d;
And of the wife of Gorlois who, furpriz'd
By Uther in her husband's form difguis'd,
(Such was the force of Merlin's art) became
Pregnant with Arthur of heroic fame :
These themes I now revolve.

Cowper.

In one of his controverfial works, published in 1641, Milton informs us what poetical ideas were then fluctuating in his mind; particularly" what "king or knight before the Conqueft might be "chofen, in whom to lay the pattern of a christian "hero." This project, of delineating in a hero a model of chriftian perfection, was fuggested to the English poet, not only by the example, but by the precepts, of Taffo, as they are delivered in his critical difcourfes. The epic defigns of Milton were fuspended, we know, for many years, by very different pursuits; and when he escaped from "the " troubled

"troubled fea of noife and hoarfe difpute to the

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quiet and ftill air of delightful studies,” Arthur had fo far ceafed to be his favourite, that he probably exclaimed, in the words of Taffo:

Taccia Artù quei fuoi

Erranti, che di fogni empion le carte.

Arthur no more thy errant knights rehearse,
Who fill, with idle dreams, delufive verfe.

For Adam now reigned in his fancy, not immediately as the fubject of an epic poem, but as a capital perfonage in the plan of a dramatic compofition, that instead of being formed on the narrow ground of Grotius, in his Adamus Exul, allowed a wider range to the fancy, and included allegorical characters, like the Adamo of Andreini.

This compofition, firft printed at Milan, in 1613, and again in 1617, refembles the mysteries of our early ftage; and is denominated in Italian Rapprefentatione, a name which the writers of Italy ap ply to dramas founded on the fcripture.Dr. Pearce has faid, in the preface to his review of Milton's text, that he was informed an Italian tragedy existed, entitled Il Paradifo Perfo, Paradife Loft; but, in a very extenfive research, I can difcover no fuch performance. There is indeed ano ther Italian drama on the fubject, which I have not feen, entitled Adamo Caduto, tragedia facra; but this was not printed until 1647, fome years after the S 2

return

7

It seems return of our poet from the continent *. very probable that Milton, in his collection of Italian books, had brought the Adamo of Andreini to England; and that the perufal of an author, wild indeed, and abounding in grotefque extravagance, yet now and then fhining with pure and united rays of fancy and devotion, first gave a new bias to the imagination of the English poet, or, to ufe the expreffive phrafe of Voltaire, first revealed to him the hidden majefty of the fubject.. The apof

*For the benefit of commentators on our divine bard, let me here infert a brief lift of fuch Italian compofitions, as may poffibly have afforded him fome useful hints:

1. Adamo Caduto, tragedia facra, di Serafino della Salandra. Cozenza, 1647. Octavo.

2. La Battaglia Celefte tra Michele e Lucifero, di Antonio Alfani, Palermitano. Palermo, 1568. Quarto.

3. Dell Adamo di Giovanni Soranzo, i due primi libri. Genova 1604. Duodecimo.

These little known productions on the fubject of Milton are not to be found in the royal library, nor in the princely collection of Lord Spencer, who poffeffes that remarkable rarity of Italian literature, the Thefeida of Boccacio; and whofe liberal paffion for books is ennobled by his politeness and beneficence to men of letters.

The poets of Italy were certainly favourites with Milton; and perhaps his Sampfon Agoniftes was founded on a facred drama of that country, La Rappresentatione di Sansone, per Aleffandro Rofelli. Siena, 1616. Quarto.There is probably confiderable poetical merit in this piece, as I find two fubfequent editions of it recorded in the hiftorians of Italian literature; yet I am unable to say whether Milton is indebted to it or not, as I have never been fo fortunate as to find a copy of Rofelli's compofition. Yet the mention of it here may be ufeful to future editors of the English poet.

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