"ture is admirably painted, and "with such a character of nature, "that I am perfectly sure it was "a striking likeness. I have now a different idea of the "countenance of Milton, which 'cannot be got from any of the "other pictures that I have seen. "It is perfectly preserved, which "shews that it has been shut up "in some drawer; if it had been exposed to the light, the co"lours would long before this "have vanished." It must be owned, that this miniature of Milton, lately purchased by Sir Joshua Reynolds, strongly resembles Vandyck's picture of Selden in the Bodleian Library at Oxford: and it is highly probable that Cooper should have done a miniature of Selden as a companion to the heads of other heroes of the commonwealth. For Cooper painted Oliver Cromwell, in the possession of the Frankland family; and another, in profile, at Devonshire houɛe: Richard Cromwell at Strawberry hill: Secretary Thurloe, belonging to Lord James Cavendish: and Ireton, Cromwell's general, now or late in the collection of Charles Polhill, Esquire, a descendant of Cromwell. Cooper was painter to the party, if such a party could have a painter. The inference, however, might be applied to prove, that this head is Cooper's miniature of Milton. It has been copied by a female artist, in a style of uncommon elegance and accuracy. Notes on the Greek Verses, by Dr. Burney. Those, who have long and justly entertained an high idea of Milton's Greek erudition, on perusing the following notes, will probably feel disappointed; and may ascribe to spleen and temerity, what, it is hoped, merits at least a milder title.-To Milton's claim of extensive, and, indeed, wonderful learning, who shall refuge their suffrage! It requires not our commendation, and may defy our censure.-If Dr. Johnson, however, observes of some Latin verse of Milton, that it is not secure against a stern grammarian, (Life of Milton, Works, vol. ii. p. 92.) what would he have said, if he had bestowed his time, in examining part of this Greek poetry, with the same exactness of taste, and with equal accuracy of criticism. If Milton had lived in the present age, the necessity of these remarks would, in all probability, have been superseded. His native powers of mind, and his studious researches, would have been assisted by the learned labours of Bentley, Hemsterhusius, Valckenaer, Toup, and Ruhnkenius, under whose auspices Greek criticism has flourished, in this century, with a degree of vigour wholly unknown in any period, since the revival of letters. I. PSALM CXIV. This Greek version, as Dr. Joseph Warton has justly observed, is superior to that of Du port. It has more vigour, but is not wholly free from inaccuracies. In verse 4. the preposition might have been omitted, as in Homer, Od. H. 59. Tiyatroon βασίλευεν. 5. sppanos, and 12. spanvas, should have been in the middle voice. 5. and 13. uλvμer should have the antepenult long, as it is used by Homer. 7. and 14. Iogdara has the penultimate short in Nonnus's version of St. John's Gospel, i. 23. and in x. 40. where it appears long, Logdaviole superscriptum est, II. Philosophus ad In this short composition, the style of the Epic Poets is imitated very inaccurately, and is strangely blended with that of the Tragic writers. 1. E. exons] Milton ought to have written. The subjunctive oxys, as in Il. A. 559.-and x must necessarily be added to, when it is followed by this mood. E., in the Dramatic Poets, is used with the indicative, and the optative, but never with the subjunctive mood; though it is joined to all the three moods, in Homer. Yet this is not allowed indifferently, nor without distinction. E, with a subjunctive mood, is never used by Homer, without the addition of x or x, or its equivalent av. The few passages, which, in the present copies of the Iliad and Odyssey, seem to militate against these Canons, may all be corrected. But as the instances of E. with a subjunctive are so rare in Homer, Milton probably supposed, that the corrupt passages in the Tragedies, in which such a con says Sylburgius.-The syllable AA is used long by Apollinarius, in his translation of this psalm. 9. and 16. sürgate. This word is supported by no authority. 12. awa Dakarra. Ana Doricè for dir has the long. Δε οι 17. Βαιοτέραι τι δε αρ A' should have followed Baioτεραι. 19. μεγαλ' εκτυπεοντα, does not appear intelligible. Should it be μeyaha XTUжSOVтa? In the following verse resour' had better have been rgousovo', as resoura precedes. Regem quendam, &c. struction may be found, would defend his E odsons. Τον εννομον. ] Ο έννομος, qui est intra legem, of course does not Occur in Homer.-The word Evvoμos, however, may be found in the Tragic writers; but they do not apply it to persons. The application of sees to persons appears to be peculiar to the later writers. St. Paul to the Corinth. 1. ix. 21. says, EvroMos Xer: Lucian, Jupit. Trag. vol. ii. p. 671. Evopos u dnμayogos, and Libanius, in a very laconic Epistle, 'Oxgions arropos. Epist. DC. p. 288. Ed. Wolf. Ervous, however, is applied to objects without life, by the ancient Greeks, and, indeed, by the Recentiores. Evropos is not an Epic word, in the signification of a just and irreproachable man. Ουδε τιν ανδρων δεινον ὅλως δραcarta.] Oxas, which appears of little service in this passage, is not in Homer, and very rarely, if ever, in the Tragedies. Agar is not used in the Iliad. In the Odyss. O. 323. agadę wart, or aga dew, and 332. vodewwoy may be found. The formula, dear Tive duvor, may be termed Homeric, as Homer says in Il. r. 354. Eurodoxor xaxa pika-, but Sear, with a double accusative, is perfectly in the style of the dramatic writers. Euripides alone will afford a sufficiency of examples. Hecub. 253. Orest. 581. Hippol. 178. Iph. Aul. 871, Ion. 1267. From these two last passages, it appears, that Milton should have written, τιν ανδρων ΤΙ δεινον δράσαντα, which is more manifest from Med. 560: OU TI dearus davor for after dear, the adjective in the singular number is accompanied by , but in the plural it is used alone. 2. Topwτατov-xαenvor] It should be roparatov ragavor. Thus Homer has aga Teway, in Iliad A. 158. for Tews. Neither agno, Τρωες. nagn, nor xgates are used simply in the sense of aveganos by Ho ing his ideas. That he was not unacquainted with the proper usage of with a participle, may surely not unfairly be concluded from a passage in his Paradise Lost, ix. 791. Greedily she ingorg'd, without restraint, And knew not eating death. Where see the notes. ύστερον αυθι] If αυθ be an adverb of time, as well as of place, after irrigo it seems unnecessary. ag' Tura] So Iliad г. 397. Daμbnow &'ag' exsite. τον προς θυμού οδυρη.] Milton, in these hexameters, should have written T KATA Over, after the example of Homer, Il. . 549. μηδ' αλίαστον οδύριο του ΚΑΤΑ θυμον. Odugn] In the edition of 1673, and in Bishop Newton's of 1785, the final is circumflexed. An iota subscriptum should also have been added, if odvgy be the future middle. Odvgqual, however, like Magruguai, is one of those verbs which have the Upsilon long, in præsentibus et imperfectis omnibus, and short in futuris, if they have any futures in use. This point of Prosody has been accurately and clearly illustrated by Clark, in his notes on Homer, II. A. 338. B. 43. Since the Upsilon in Μαρτυρου pai futurum, as Clark observes, semper corripitur, the same must also be the quantity of the Upsilon, in odugovat, if such a word exists. Totoy d' It should be printed το', in one word. Πολιως is the reading in the edition of 1645. This genitive occurs only twice in Homer, Iliad A. 168. and Y. 52. In the latter place πολιος is noted as a various reading. Περιώνυμον αλκαρ] Hoc minus placet. When aλxae occurs in Homer, it is used without any epithet, and gavior is not an Homeric word. As to ολέσσας, since Milton uses oλions, simplici E, in the first line, oras so nearly after it, seems exceptionable, in point of taste, in such a short composition. III. In Effigiei This Epigram is far inferior to those, which are preserved in the Greek Anthologia, on Bad Painters. It has no point: it has no apeλsia. It is destitute of poetical merit, and appears far more remarkable for its errors than for its excellencies. To confess the truth, the Poet does not appear to have sus pected, that while he was censuring the Effigiei Sculptor, he was exposing himself to the severity of criticism, by admitting, into his verses, disputable Greek and false metre. As these lines are Iambics, it may be concluded, that Milton meaned to imitate the style of the Tragic and Iambic writers. Such, at least, ought to have been his model. In the first line, the particle My is placed much too far distant from the beginning of the sentence. The later Comic writers are not always very chaste, in their position of ds and yag, and, perhaps, of μ and similar words. 2. Dans av] This is perfectly Attic, and used by Sophocles, Trach. 1073. Electr. 548. Ed. Brunckii. In so short a composition, an Anapastus in the fifth foot of two following lines might better have been avoided. Είδος αυτοφυες] Αυτοφυές, in the In the various reading of the fourth verse, art auras & as sura, for aids, the word aurs should have been aspirated, as it is in Homer, after May, Iliad Y. 348. Odyss. II. 111. and, indeed always, when it is used in the sense of temerè, or sic temerè. ejus Sculptorem. sense intended by Milton, si rite recordor, is not warranted by the dramatic poets, if it is by any of the more ancient writers. 3. Τον εκτυπώτον] This word is not right-Tunaros is an adjective used by Lycophro, 262. τυπωτην τορμαν, from which might be formed runwτos, but no authority for it at present occurs. With more propriety then Milton would have written, To ď IXTUжWTOV, Scil. udos or oxnua. The substantives, however, are μa and TV. Euripides uses the former, in the Phoeniss. 165. Ed. Valck. Tunaμx μogons-The latter is explained in Hesychius by ὁμοιωμα. STYVOTE] A typographical error. It should of course be as it is rightly printed in the edition of 1673. 4. Γελατε φαυλού δυσμίμημα ζω yeapoυ] гy in the Tragic writers sometimes governs a genitive, but more frequently a dative case, either with or without a preceding preposition. In a passage from Gregory of Nazianzen, adduced by H. Stephens, in his Thesaurus, v. i. p. 821. E. Voc. Thaw, this verb governs an accusative case; but this construction is very unusual, and can have no reference to Attic poetry. The word δυσμίμημα teems with error.-The Antepenult is long, so that a Spondæus occupies the fourth place, which even the advocates for the toleration of Anapesti in sedibus paribus would not readily allow. In the next place, this word dvipa does not occur, I believe, in any ancient writer; and if it did, it could not possibly be used in the signification, in which it has been employed by Mil ton. |