fame patriotic idea, that he should be fatisfied with glory confined to these Islands. Mi fatis ampla Merces, et mihi grande decus (fim ignotus in ævum Si me flava comas legat Ufa, et potor Alauni, Epitaphium Damonis. And it shall well fuffice me, and shall be If Alain, bending o'er his cryftal urn, Swift whirling Abra, Trent's o'ershadow'd stream, If, lovelier far than all in my esteem, Thames, and the Tamar ting'd with mineral hues, In tracing the literary ambition of Milton from the first conception of his great purposes to their accomplishment, we seem to participate in the triumph of his genius, which, though it aspired only to the praise of these British islands, is already grown an object of universal admiration, and may find hereafter, in the western world, the ampleft theatre of his glory. Dr. Johnson takes occafion, from the paffage in which Milton fpeaks of the literary projects he conceived in Italy, to to remark, that "he had a lofty and steady confidence in "himself, perhaps not without fome contempt of others." The latter part of this observation is evidently invidious; it is completely refuted by the various commendations, which the graceful and engaging manners of the poetical traveller received from the Italians: a contemptuous fpirit, indeed, appears utterly incompatible with the native difpofition of Milton, whofe generous enthusiasm led him to conceive the fondest veneration for all, who were diftinguished by genius or virtue; a disposition, which he has expressed in the ftrongest terms, as the reader may recollect, in a letter, already cited, to his friend Diodati! His prejudiced biographer endeavours to prove, that his spirit was contemptuous, by observing, that he was frugal of his praife. The argument is particularly defective, as applied to Milton on his travels; fince the praises he bestowed on those accomplished foreigners, who were kind to him, are liberal in the highest degree, and apparently dictated by the heart. After a fhort visit to Sienna, he refided two months in Rome, enjoying the most refined society, which that city could afford. By the favour of Holftenius, the well known librarian of the Vatican (whofe kindness to him he has recorded in a Latin Epiftle equally grateful and elegant) he was recommended to the notice of Cardinal Barberini, who honoured him with the most flattering attention; it was at the concerts of the Cardinal that he was captivated by the charms of Leonora Baroni, whofe extraordinary mufical powers he has celebrated in Latin verfe, and whom he is fupposed to address as a lover in his Italian poetry. The most eloquent G eloquent of the paffions, which is said to convert almost every man who feels it into a poet, induced the imagination of Milton to try its powers in a foreign language, whose difficulties he seems to have perfectly fubdued by the united aids of genius and of love. His Italian sonnets have been liberally commended by natives of Italy, and one of them contains a sketch of his own character, so spirited and fingular as to claim a place in this narrative. Giovane piano, e femplicetto amante Poi che fuggir me stesso in dubbio fono, Farò divoto; io certo a prove tante De penfieri leggiadri accorto, e buono ; Tanto del forfe, e d' invidia ficuro, Di timori, e fperanze, al popol use, Sol troverete in tal parte men duro, Enamour'd, artlefs, young, on foreign ground, To thee, dear lady, with an humble figh, By By certain proofs, not few, intrepid, found, When tempeft shakes the world, and fires the sky, As fafe from envy and from outrage rude, From hopes and fears that vulgar minds abuse, As fond of genius, and fixt folitude, Of the refounding lyre, and every muse: Weak will find it in one only part, you Now pierc'd by love's immedicable dart. It was at Rome that Milton was complimented, in Latin verse, by Selvaggi and Salfilli: his reply to the latter, then fuffering from a fevere malady, is fo remarkable for its elegance, tenderness, and spirit, that Mr. Warton praises it as one of the finest lyrical compofitions, which the Latin poetry of modern times can exhibit. The circumstances that happened to our author in his travels, and, indeed, the moft ftriking particulars of his life, are related by himself, in his "Second Defence." He there tells us, that in paffing from Rome to Naples his fellowtraveller was a hermit, who introduced him to Baptifta Manfo, Marquis of Villa, an accomplished nobleman, and fingularly distinguished as the friend and the biographer of ¦ two eminent poets, Taffo and Marini; they have both left poetical memorials of their efteem for the Marquis, who acquired his title as a foldier in the fervice of Spain, but retiring early, with confiderable wealth, to Naples, his native city, he founded there a literary academy, and lived in splendor as its prefident. This graceful and venerable hero, whose politeness and learning had been fondly celebrated by Taffo, in a dialogue on friendship, that bears the name of Manso, was near eighty when Milton became his gueft: he seems to have been endeared to the imagination of our poet by the liberal and affectionate tribute he had paid to the memory of his illustrious poetical friends; a tribute very feelingly described by Milton in the following lines, addressed to the noble and generous biographer-they speak first of Marini: Ille itidem moriens tibi foli debita vates Nec fatis hoc vifum eft in utrumque; et nec pia ceffant To thee alone the poet would entrust |