Infidiis loca ftructa filet; ftupuere relatis, 220 Attamen interea populi miserescit ab alto 226 In obitum Præfulis Elienfis *. Anno Ætatis 17. A DHUC madentes rore fqualebant genæ, Adhuc liquentis imbre turgebant falis, Quem nuper effudi pius, Dum mæsta charo jufta perfolvi rogo 220. Attamen interea, &c.] We are difappointed at this abrupt ending, after curiofity and attention had been excited by the introduction of the goddefs Fame with fo much pomp. But young compofers are eager to dispatch their work. Fame is again exhibited in the next poem, written alfo at feventeen. * Nicholas Felton, bishop of Ely, died Octob. 5, 1626, not many days after bishop Andrewes, before celebrated. Felton had been also. mafter of Pembroke Hall. Cum centilinguis Fama, proh! femper mali Cladifque vera nuntia, Spargit per urbes divitis Britanniæ, Ceffiffe morti, et ferreis fororibus, Qui rex facrorum illa fuifti in infula Tumulis potentem fæpe devovens deam: Nec vota Nafo in Ibida Concepit alto diriora pectore; Graiufque vates parcius Turpem Lycambis execratus eft dolum, Sponfamque Neobolen fuam. At ecce diras ipfe dum fundo graves, Et imprecor neci necem, Audiffe tales videor attonitus fonos Leni, fub aura, flamine: 14. Quæ nomen Anguilla tenet.] Ely, fo called from its abundance of eels. Mr. Bowle cites Capgrave," Locus ille five cænobium a "copia anguillarum Hely modo nuncupatur." VIT. SANCT. f.141.b. Capgrave wrote about 1440. 20. Archilochus, who killed Lycambes by the feverity of his iambics. Lycambes had efpoufed his daughter Neobule to Archilochus, and afterwards gave her to another. See Ovid's IBIS, V. 54. Cæcos Cæcos furores pone, pone vitream Bilemque, et irritas minas : Quid temere violas non nocenda numina, Subitoque ad iras percita? Non eft, ut arbitraris elufus mifer, Mors atra Noctis filia, Erebove patre creta, five Erinnye, Vaftove nata fub Chao: Aft illa cœlo miffa ftellato, Dei Meffes ubique colligit; Animafque mole carnea reconditas 66 In lucem et auras evocat; 37. Animafque mole carnea reconditas.] See below, v. 46. 30 35 "The foul prison of the body." And Note on IL PENS. v. 92. And Till all be made immortal: but when luft, By unchafte looks, loose gesture, and foul talk, And Ut cum fugaces excitant Horæ diem Themidos Jovifque filiæ ; Et fempiterni ducit ad vultus patris : At justa raptat impios Sub regna furvi luctuofa Tartari, Hanc ut vocantem lætus audivi, cito Fœdum reliqui carcerem, Volatilefque fauftus inter milites And link'd itself by carnal fenfuality To a degenerate and degraded state. 40 45 From the fame philofophy, as I have obferved. But although Milton was confeffedly a great reader of Plato, yet all this whole fyftem had lately been brought forward by May, in his CONTINUATION of LuCAN'S HISTORICALL POEM, Lond. 1630. 12°. The following lines. in May, bear a ftrong refemblance with what I have just cited from Milton. B. iv. Signat. F. 4. Within the heavens they fhall for ever be, Since here with heaven they made affinitie. But those darke foules, which drowned in the flesh Did never dreame of future happiness, That while they lived here, believ'd, or lov'd About the tombes and graves, where dead men lie, In this Book, May has tranflated almost the whole of Plato's PHÆDON, which he puts into the mouth of Cato. 40. See Hefiod's THEOGONY. And Ovid, METAM, ii, 118. Ad Ad aftra fublimis feror: Vates ut olim raptus ad cœlum senex Auriga eurrus ignei. Non me Bootis terruere lucidi Sarraca tarda frigore, aut Formidolofi Scorpionis brachia, Non enfis Orion tuus. Prætervolavi fulgidi folis globum, Vidi triformem, dum coërcebat fuos Frænis dracones aureis. Erraticorum fiderum per ordines, Per lacteas vehor plagas, Velocitatem fæpe miratus novam ; Donec nitentes ad fores Ventum eft Olympi, et regiam crystallinam, et 58. Franis dracones aureis.] See IL PENS. V. 59. 50 55 60 63. Donec nitentes ad fores, &c.] Milton's natural difpofition, fo confpicuous in the PARADISE LOST, and even in his Profe works, for defcribing divine objects, fuch as the blifs of the faints, the fplendour of heaven, and the mufic of the angels, is perpetually breaking forth in fome of the earliest of his juvenile poems. And here, more particularly in displaying the glories of heaven, which he locally reprefents, and cloaths with the brightest material decorations, his fancy, to fay nothing of the apocalypse, was aided and enriched with defcriptions in romances. By the way, this fort of imagery, fo much admired in Milton, is much more practicable than many readers feem to fuppofe. 63. Regiam chryftallinam.-] It is the fame idea in the ODE ON THE NATIV. ft. xiii. v. 125. Ring out ye CRYSTAL fpheres. See |