Of fome gay creatures of the element,
That in the colors of the rain-bow live,

And play is the plighted clouds: I was awe-ftrook,
And, as I paft, I worshipp'd.

Comus thus describes to the lady her brothers: and after the same manner a fhepherd, in Iphigenia in Tauris, defcribes Pylades and Oreftes to Iphigenia, the fifter of the latter.

Εναύθα δισσες ειδε τις νεανιας

Βεφορία ημών, καπεχώρησεν παλιν,
Ακροισι δακτύλοισι πορθμεύων ίχνος,
Έλεξε, δ' εχ' οραλες δαίμονες τινες
Θασσεσιν οιδε θεοσεβης δ' ημων τις ων
Ανεσχε χειρα, και προσευξαί εισιδων,
Ω πολλιας παι Λευκοθέας, &c.
Δεσποία Παλαιμων, &C.

Ειλ' εν επ' ακλαις θασσείον Διοσχορω.

Hic geminos juvenes vidit quidam
Paftor noftrum, & receffit retro
Summis [pedum] relegens veftigium,

Et dixit, non videtis? Damones quidam

Sedent ifti [hic]: quidam vero de nobis religiofior
Suftulit manus, & adoravit, intuens,

O marina Leucotheæ fili. &c.

Ο Domine Palemon, &c.

Sive in littore vos fedetis Gemini.

I shall take this opportunity of pointing out one or two more of Milton's imitations; by which it will farther appear, how well he knew to make a borrowed thought or defcription his own, by the propriety of the application.

Michael thus speaks of what would happen to paradife in the universal deluge.

Then fhall this mount

Of paradife, by might of waves be mov'd
Out of his place, push'd by the horned flood,
With all his verdure fpoil'd, and trees adrift,
Down the great river to the opening gulf;
And there take root, an iland falt and bare,
The haunt of feals, and orcs, and feaw-mews
clang.*

Delos, in Homer's hymn to Apollo, tells Latona, that he is unwilling that Apollo fhould be born in his island,

Μη ὁποίαν το πρωίον ίδη φαος Μελίσιο,

Νησον αλίμηση, επειη κραναηπεδος ειμι,

Ποσσι κατατρεψας, ωση δ' άλος εν πελαγεσσιν.

* Par. Loft, 11, 829..... By the way, clang occurs in Shakespeare,

in Milton's fense,

Have I not in a pitched battle heard

Loud larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets clang?

Tam. of Shrew, a. 1. fc. 7.

Ενθ' εμε μεν μεγα Κύμα καλα κρατος αλος αιεί
Κλύσσει ὁ δ' άλλην γαιαν αφίξεται η κεν άδη δι,
Τεύξασθαι νεόνε, και άλσεα δενδρηειία.

Πολυποδες δ' εν εμοι θάλαμας, Φωκαίδε μελαιναι
Οικια ποιησονται, ακηδια χηλες λαων.

Ne, cum primum videat lumen folis,

Infulam dedecoret, (quoniam afperum folum fum)
Pedibus conculcans, & impellet in maris pelagus.
Ubi me quidem magna unda, magna vi abunde femper
Inundabit; ille autem ad aliam terram veniet, ubi
placuerit ipfi,

Conftructurus templum, lucofque arboribus denfos.
Polypodes autem in me thalamos, Phocæque nigræ
Domicilia facient, neglecta multitudine hominum.

In the fame book, fome of the circumftances in Michael's account of the flood, feem to be drawn from an Ode of Cafimir, entitled, Noe Vaticinium.

Sea cover'd fea,

Sea without fhore; and in their palaces,

Where luxury late reign'd, fea-monsters whelp'd
And ftabled. *

Noah is introduced by Cafimir, thus defcribing the effects of the flood.

Aut ubi turrigeræ potentum
Arces Gigantum? queis modo liberi

Fefto choreas agmine plaufimus,
Delphines infultant plateis,
Et vacuas fpaciofa cete

Ludunt per aulas, ac thalamos pigra
Preffere Phoca*.

B. ii. c. v. f. vi.

The upper marge

Of his feven-folded fhield.

This seems to be Virgil's,

Clypei extremos feptemplicis orbes ↑.

B. ii. c. v. f. xxxiii.

The SUGRED liquor thro' his melting lips.

SUGRED, to exprefs exceffive fweetness, was a frequent epithet with the poets of this age, and with those of the ages before it. It answered to the mellitus of the romans.

B. ii. c. vi. f. viii.

But to weake wench did yeeld his martial might.

Some late editors of Shakefpere have endeavoured to prove, that wench did not antiently carry with it the idea of meanness or infamy.

But in this place it

* Lyricor, b. 4. od, 27.

† Æn. 12. 925.

VOL. II.

U

plainly

plainly fignifies a loose woman; and in the following paffages of Chaucer. January having fufpected his wife May's conjugal fidelity, May answers,

I am a gentlewoman, and no wENCH

And in the House of Fame, Wench is coupled with groom,

Lord, and ladie, grome, and wENCH t.

And in the Manciple's Tale.

And for that tother is a pore woman,

And fhall be called his WENCHE, or his lemman ‡.

We must allow notwithstanding, that it is used by Douglass without any dishonourable meaning. The following verfe of Virgil,

Audetque viris concurrere VIRGO,

is thus expreffed in the scotch Æneid:

This WENSCHE ftoutlye rencounter durft with men.

But I believe it will moft commonly be found in the fense given it by Chaucer. In the Bible it is used for a girl, "And a wench told him, &c."

* Marchant's Tale, 1719. † Ver. 206,

↑ Ver. 1796.