Mentre un caldo vapor (ne sentì pria) Scoffo mi il petto, e poi n'ufcendo poco Tutte le notti a me fuol far piovofe Finche mia Alba riven colma di rofe. VI. 5 10 Giovane piano, e semplicetto amante So in PARAD. L. B. vi. 15. Of morning. From before her vanish'd NIGHT U u 10 E di E di cetta fonora, e delle mufe: Sol troverete in tal parte men duro VII. On his being arrived to the age of 23. How foon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year! My hafting days fly on with full career, But my late fpring no bud or bloffom fhew'th. Milton had a natural severity of mind. For love-verses, his Italian Sonnets have a remarkable air of gravity and dignity. They are free from the metaphyfics of Petrarch, and are more in the manner of Dante. Yet he calls his feventh Sonnet, in a Letter printed from the Cambridge manuscript by Birch, a compofition in the PETRARCHIAN ftanza. In 1762, the late Mr. Thomas Hollis examined the Laurentian library at Florence, for fix Italian Sonnets of Milton, addreffed to his friend Chimentelli; and, for other Italian and Latin compofitions and various original letters, faid to be remaining in manufcript at Florence. He fearched alfo for an original buft in marble of Milton, fupposed to be fomewhere in that city. But he was unfuccefsful in his curious inquiries. 2. Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year.] Mr. Bowle here cites ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, A. v. S. iii. On our quick'ft decrees The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time But the application of STEAL is different. In Shakespeare, Time comes imperceptibly upon, fo as to prevent, our purposes. In Milton, Time, as imperceptibly and filently, brings on his wing, in his flight, the poet's twenty third year. Juvenal fhould not here be forgotten, in a paffage of confummate elegance. 'SAT. ix. 129. Dum ferta, unguenta, puellas, Pofcimus, OBREPIT NON INTELLECTA fenectus. Perhaps Perhaps my femblance might deceive the truth, 5 That I to manhood am arriv'd so near, And inward ripeness doth much less appear, That some more timely-happy spirits indu'th. Yet be it lefs or more, or foon or flow, It shall be ftill in ftrictest measure even To that fame lot, however mean or high, ΙΟ Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven; All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great Task-Master's eye. VIII. When the affault was intended to the City. Captain or Colonel, or Knight in arms, Guard them, and him within protect from harms. He can requite thee, for he knows the charms That call fame on fuch gentle acts as these, And he can spread thy name o'er lands and feas, Whatever clime the fun's bright circle warms. 1. Captain or Colonel, or Knight in arms.] So Shakespeare, K. RICHARD ii. A. i. S. iii. Where Bolingbroke enters "appellant in ar"mour." K, Rich. Marshal, ask yonder KNIGHT IN ARMS. ΙΟ Lift not thy fpear against the Muses bow'r : Of fad Electra's poet had the pow'r To fave th' Athenian walls from ruin bare. 10. The great Emathian conqueror did spare The houfe of Pindarus.-] As a poet, Milton had as good right to expect this favour as Pindar. Nor was the English monarch lefs a protector of the arts, and a lover of poetry, than Alexander. As a fubject, Milton was too confcious that his fituation was precarious, and that his feditious tracts had forfeited all pretenfions to his fovereign's mercy. Mr. Bowle here refers us to Pliny, L. vii. c. 29. "Alexander Mag. "nus Pindari vatis familiæ penatibufque juffit parci, cum Thebas "caperet." And to the old commentator on Spenfer's Paftorals, who relates this incident more at large, and where it might have first struck Milton as a great reader of Spenfer. II. -- When temple and tow'r -] TEMPLE and TOWER is a frequent combination in the old metrical romances. See SEGE of JERUSALEM, MSS. COTT. Cal. A. 2. f.122. And Davie's ALEXANDER, Bibl. Bodl. f. 112. Our author has it again, PARAD. REG. B. iii. 268. O'er hill and dale, Foreft, and field, and flood, TEMPLES AND TOWERS. And again, in the defcription of the buildings of Rome, ibid. B.iv. 34. An imperial city stood With TOWRES and TEMPLES proudly elevate. 13. Of fad Electra's poet, &c.] Plutarch relates, that when the Lacedemonian general Lyfander took Athens, it was propofed in a council of war intirely to rafe the city, and convert its fite into a defert. But during the debate, at a banquet of the chief officers, a certain Phocian fung fome fine anaftrophics from a chorus of the ELECTRA of Euripides; which so affected the hearers, that they declared it an unworthy act, to reduce a place, fo celebrated for the production of illuftrious men, to total ruin and defolation. The lines of Euripides are at v. 168. ̓Αγαμέμνονος ο όρα, ἤλυθον Η- It IX. To a VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY. Lady that in the prime of earliest youth Chosen thou hast; and they that overween, 5 To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light, 10 And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure Thou,when the bridegroom with his feastful friends Paffes to blifs at the mid hour of night, Haft gain'd thy entrance, Virgin wife and pure. It appears, however, that Lyfander ordered the walls and fortifications to be demolished. See Plutarch, OPP. tom. ii. VIT. p. 807. Par. 1572. 8°. By the epithet SAD, Milton denominates the pathetic character of Euripides. REPEATED fignifies recited. 14. To fave th' Athenian walls from ruin bare.] See our author's PSALM Vii. 60. Fall on his crown with ruin STEEP. The meaning in both inftances is obvious and fimilar. This is one of Milton's best Sonnets. It was written in 1642, when the King's army was arrived at Brentford, and had thrown the whole city into consternation. 12. Thou, when the bridegroom with his feastful friends.] FEASTFUL is an epithet in Spenfer. He alludes to the midnight feasting of the Jews before the confummation of marriage. |