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 praise. The argument is particularly defective, as applied to Milton on his travels; since 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 short visit to Sienna, he resided two months in Rome, enjoying the most refined society, which that city could afford. By the favor of Holstenius, the well known librarian of the Vatican (whose kindness to him he has recorded in a Latin epistle equally grateful and elegant) he was recommended to the notice of Cardinal Barberini, who honored him with the most flattering attention; it was at the concerts of the Cardinal that he was captivated by the charms of Leonora Baroni, whose extraordinary musical powers he has celebrated in Latin verse, and whom he is supposed to address as a lover in his Italian poetry. The most eloquent of the passions, 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 subdued 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 singular as to claim a place in this narrative. Giovane piano, e semplicetto amante De pensieri leggiadri accorto, e buono; Quando rugge il gran mondo, e scocca il tuono, S'arma di se, e d'intero diamante; Tanto del forse, e d' invidia sicuro, Sol troverete in tal parte men duro, Enamour'd, artless, young, on foreign ground, To thee, dear lady, with an humble sigh, As safe from envy and from outrage rude, It was at Rome that Milton was complimented in Latin verse, by Selvaggi and Salsilli: his reply to the latter, then suffering from a severe malady, is so remarkable for its elegance, tenderness, and spirit, that Mr. Warton praises it as one of the finest lyrical compositions, which the Latin poetry of modern times can exhibit. The circumstances that happened to our author in his travels, and indeed, the most striking particulars of his life, are related by himself, in his "Second Defence." He there tells us, that in passing from Rome to Naples his fellow-traveller was a hermit, who introduced him to Baptista Manso, Marquis of Villa, an accomplished nobleman, and singularly distinguished as the friend and the biographer of two eminent poets, Tasso and Marino; they have both left poetical memorials of their esteem for the Marquis, who acquired his title as a soldier in the service of Spain, but retiring early, with considerable wealth to Naples, his native city, he founded there a literary academy, and lived in splendor as its president. This graceful and venerable hero, whose politeness and learning had been fondly celebrated by Tasso, in a dialogue on friendship, that bears the name of Manso, was near eighty when Milton became his guest: 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 soli debita vates To thee alone the poet would entrust An endless life is also thine to give; And thou hast given it them; and deigned to teach |