Aere dum vaccuo buccina clara fonat, Cornea pulvereum dum verberat ungula campum, IN ELEG. V. Anno Etatis 20. In adventum veris. N fe perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro, Jam revocat Zephyros vere tepente novos ; Induiturque brevem Tellus reparata juventam, Jamque foluta gelu dulce virefcit humus. Fallor? an et nobis redeunt in carmina virės, 5 123. Et tu quod fupereft, &c.] For many obvious reafons, AT is likely to be the true reading. 125. This with, as we have seen, came to pafs. He returned: and when at length his party became fuperiour, he was rewarded with appointments of opulence and honour. 5. Fallor? An et, &c.] So in the Epigram, PRODIT. BOMBARD, V.3. Fallor? An et mitis, &c. Again, EL. vii. 56. Fallor? An et radios hinc quoque Phoebus habet? This formulary is not uncommon in Ovid. As thus, FAST. B. v.549. Fallor An arma fonant, &c. Ingeniumque Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adeft? Munere veris adeft, iterumque vigefcit ab illo, (Quis putet) atque aliquod jam fibi pofcit opus. Caftalis ante oculos, bifidumque cacumen oberrat, Et mihi Pyrenen fomnia nocte ferunt ; 6. Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adeft.] See v. 23. There is a notion that Milton could write verfes only in the fpring or fummer, which perhaps is countenanced by these paffages. But what poetical mind does not feel an expansion or invigoration at the return of the fpring, at that renovation of the face of nature with which every mind is in fome degree affected? In one of the Letters to Deodate he fays, "fuch is the impetuofity of my temper, that no delay, no reft, no care or thought of any thing else can stop me, till I come to my "journey's end, and put a period to my present study." PROSEWORKS, ii. 567. In the PARADISE LOST, he speaks of his aptitude for compofition in the night, B. ix. 20. If answerable skill I can obtain From my celeftial patronefs, who deigns Again, to Urania, B. vii. 28. Not alone, while thou Vifit'ft my flumbers NIGHTLY, or when morn Again, he fays that "he vifits NIGHTLY the fubjects of facred poetry." B. iii. 32. And adds, v. 37. Then feed on thoughts that voluntary move Harmonious numbers. In the fixth Elegy, he hints that he compofed the Ode on the Nativity in the morning, v. 87. Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus illa, Illa fub AURORAM LUX mihi PRIMA dedit. That is, as above, "when morn purples the caft." In a Letter to Alexander Gill, he fays that he tranflated the hundred and fourteenth Pfalm into Greek heroics, "fubito nefcio quo impetu ante LucJS "EXORTUM." PROSE-WORKS, ii. 567. See alfo below, v. 9. Caftalis ante oculos bifidumque cacumen oberrat, Et mihi Pyrenen fomnia NOCTE ferunt. Concitaque Concitaque arcano fervent mihi pectora motu, Implicitos crines, Delius ipfe venit. Jam mihi mens liquidi raptatur in ardua cœli, 15 Perque vagas nubes corpore liber eo; 20 Perque umbras, perque antra feror penetralia vatum, Jam, Philomela, tuos foliis adoperta novellis, 25 Veris io rediere vices, celebremus honores 13. Delius ipfe venit, &c.] Milton feems to have thought of the beginning of Callimachus's Hymn to Apollo. 25. Jam, Philomela, tuos foliis adoperta novellis, Inftituis modulos, dum filet omne nemus.] There is great ele gance and purity of expreffion in foliis adoperta novellis. The whole imagery was afterwards transferred into the first Sonnet, v. 1. O NIGHTINGALE, that on yon bloomy SPRAY WARBLEST at eve, WHEN ALL THE WOODS ARE STILL. Veris, et hoc fubeat Mufa perennis opus. Jam fol Æthiopas fugiens Tithoniaque arva, 30 Eft brevis noctis iter, brevis eft mora noctis opaca, Horrida cum tenebris exulat illa fuis. Jamque Lycaonius plauftrum cœlefte Bootes Excubias agitant fidera rara polo : Nam dolus, et cædes, et vis cum nocte receffit, 35 40 30. Hoc fubeat Mufa perennis opus.] Originally quotannis, edit. 1645. Salmafius pretends to have obferved several falfe quantities in our author's Latin poems. This was one, and perennis appeared in the fecond edition, 1673. See Salmaf. RESPONS. edit. Lond. 1660. p. 5. It is remarkable, that Tickell and Fenton fhould both have preferved quotannis, who might have been taught better even by Tonfon, edit. 1705. Nicolas Heinfius, in an Epistle to Holtenius, complains of thefe falfe quantities: and, for elegance, prefers our author's DEFENSIO to his Latin poems. See Burman. SYLLOG. iii. 669. But Heinfius, like too many other great critics, had no taste. 32. Fletit ad aroas aurea lora plagas.] Ovid, ART. AMATOR.i. 549. Of Bacchus. Tigribus adjunctis AUREA LORA dabat. The expreffion is finely transferred. 38. Excubias agitant fidera. -] Ode on NATIV. V. 21. And all the spangled hoft KEEP WATCH in fquadrons bright. Hac Hac, ait, hac certe caruifti nocte puella, Officium fieri tam breve fratris ope. Defere, Phœbus ait, thalamos, Aurora, feniles, Te manet Æolides viridi venator in herba, 43. Hac, ait, bac certe caruifti nocte puella Phabe tua. -] Ovid, ART. AMATOR. ii. 249. Sæpe tua poteras, Leandre, carere puella. 46 50 46. Cynthia, luciferas ut videt alta rotas.] Ovid, ART. AMATOR. iii. 180. Rofcida LUCIFEROS cum dea jungit EQUOS. Again, EPIST. HEROID. XI. 46. Denaque LUCIFEROS luna movebat EQUOS. 49. Defere, Phæbus ait, &c.] “Leave the bed of old Tithonus.” Compare the whole context with Ovid, AMOR. i. xiii. 37. Illum dum refugis, longo quia frigidus ævo, At fiquem manibus Cephalum complexa teneres, Again, Epift. HEROID. iv. 93. Clarus erat filvis Cephalus, multæque per herbam Nec tamen Aurora male fe præbebat amandum, See the next Note. 52. Te manet olides, &c.] Cephalus, with whom Aurora fell in love as the faw him hunting on mount Hymettus. Ovid, METAM. vii. 701. Cum me cornigeris tendentem retia cervis, Nnn He |