Leni, sub aura, flamine: Cæcos furores pone, pone vitream Bilemque, et irritas minas: Quid temere violas non nocenda numina, Subitoque ad iras percita? Non est, ut arbitraris elusus miser, Mors atra Noctis filia, Erebove patre creta, sive Erinnye, Vastove nata sub Chao: Ast illa cœlo missa stellato, Dei Animasque mole carnea reconditas In lucem et auras evocat; Ut cum fugaces excitant Horæ diem Et sempiterni ducit ad vultus patris: Sub regna furvi luctuosa Tartari, Sedesque subterraneas. Hanc ut vocantem lætus audivi, cito Fœdum reliqui carcerem, Volatilesque faustus inter milites Ad astra sublimis feror: Vates ut olim raptus ad cœlum senex Auriga currus ignei. Non me Bootis terruere lucidi Sarraca tarda frigore, aut Formidolosi Scorpionis brachia, Prætervolavi fulgidi solis globum, Vidi triformem, dum coërcebat suos Frænis dracones aureis. Erraticorum siderum per ordines, Per lacteas vehor plagas, Velocitatem sæpe miratus novam; Donec nitentes ad fores Ventum est Olympi, et regiam crystallinam, et Stratum smaragdis atrium. Sed hic tacebo, nam quis effari queat, Oriundus humano patre, Amœnitates illius loci? Mihi Sat est in æternum frui. Naturam non pati senium.* HEU, quam perpetuis erroribus acta fatiscit 58. Frænis dracones aureis.] See Il Pens. v. 59. 62. Donec nitentes ad fores, &c.] Milton's natural disposition, so conspicuous in the Paradise Lost, and even in his Prose Works, for describing divine objects, such as the bliss of the saints, the splendour of heaven, and the music of the angels, is perpetually breaking forth in some of the earliest of his juvenile poems. And here more particularly in displaying the glories of heaven, which he locally represents, and clothes with the brightest material decorations, his faney, to say nothing of the Apocalypse, was aided and enriched with descrip Oedipodioniam volvit sub pectore noctem! 66 "et rebus seriis intentior, forte meæ puerilitati commisit." Milton's Letter to A. Gill, dat. Cambridge, Jul. 2, 1628, Epist. Fam. Prose Works, ii. 566. They were printed, not for sale, and sent to his late schoolmaster at Saint Paul's, Alexander Gill, aforesaid. For he adds, " Hæc "quidem typis donata ad te norim misi, utpote quem "rerum poeticarum judicem "acerrimum, et mearum can"didissimum, &c." It is still a custom at Cambridge, to print the comitial verses accompanying the public disputations. What a curiosity would be the sheet with Milton's copy! To be able to write a Latin verse called Versificari, was looked upon as a high accomplishment in the dark ages. This art they sometimes applied to their barbarous philosophy: and the practice gave rise to the Tripos Verses at Cambridge, and the Carmina Quadragesimalia at Oxford. From such rude beginnings is elegance derived. 8. "There prevailed in Mil"ton's time," says Dr. Johnson, "an opinion, that the world was in its decay, that neither "trees nor animals had the height or bulk of their predecessors, &c." This opinion is, 66 5 with great learning and ingenuity, refused in a book now very little known, " An Apology or Declaration of the Power "and Providence of God in the "Government of the World," by Dr. George Hakewill, London, fol. 1635. The first who ventured to propagate it in this country was Dr. Gabriel Goodman, Bp. of Gloucester, and author of a book entitled "The Fall of Man, or "the Corruption of Nature "proved by Natural Reason." Lond. 4to. 1616, and 1624. See Athen. Oxon. Note signed H. Lives of the Poets, ed. 1794. The first edition of Dr. Hakewill's book was published in 1627, the year preceding the date of Milton's poem. Todd. And from this poem Mr. Todd and Dr. Symmons conclude, against Dr. Johnson, that Milton was free from prepossessions like those which Hakewill combated. Dr. J. however was alluding to P. L. ix. 44. -unless an age too late, or cold Climate, or years, damp my intended wing, &c. But no poetical expressions of this kind, nor even an entire College Exercise, can prove what Milton's real opinions were on either side. E. Omniparum contracta uterum sterilescet ab ævo? 23. Qualis in Egeam, &c.] See above, El. vi. 81. "Sic doelt "amissum proles Junonia cœ 10 15 20 25 30 35 "lum, &c." And Par. Lost, i. 740. See the note Par. L. i. 746. Tardior haud solito Saturnus, et acer ut olim. 40 45 50 Trux Aquilo, spiratque hyemem, nimbosque volutat. 55 Rex maris, et rauca circumstrepit æquora concha Ægeona ferunt dorso Balearica cete. Sed neque, Terra, tibi sæcli vigor ille vetusti 63. Hyacinth the favourite boy of Phoebus, Adonis of Venus. Both, like Narcissus, converted into flowers. 64. Terra datum sceleri celavit montibus aurum Conscia, vel sub aquis gemmas.] 60 See El. v. 77. And Comus, v. -In her own loins -And th' unsought diamonds |