Nec dubites quandoque frui melioribus annis, ELEG. V. Anno Etatis 20.* In adventum veris. IN se perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro 125. This wish, as we have seen, came to pass. He returned: and when at length his party became superior, he was rewarded with appointments of opulence and honour. * In point of poetry, sentiment, selection of imagery, facility of versification, and Latinity, this Elegy, written by a boy, is far superior to one of Buchanan's on the same subject, entitled Maiæ Calendæ. See his El. ii. p. 33. Opp. edit. 1715. 1. In se perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro] Buchanan, De Sphæra, p. 133. ibid. In se præcipiti semper revolubilis orbe. 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 This formulary is not uncommon 125 Fallor? An arma sonant? non falli mur, arma sonabant. 5 See also Buchanan's Epithala- Fallimur 2 an nitidæ, &c. Was I deceiv'd? &c. veris adest ?] See v. 23. There 6. Ingeniumque mihi munere is a notion that Milton could write verses only in the spring or summer, which perhaps is countenanced by these passages. But what poetical mind does not at the return of the spring, at feel an expansion or invigoration that renovation of the face of nature with which every mind is in some degree affected? In one of the Letters to Deodate he says, "such is the impetuosity of my temper, that no delay, no rest, 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." Prose Works, ii. 567. In the Paradise Lost, he speaks of his aptitude for composition in the night, b. ix. 20. Munere veris adest, iterumque vigescit ab illo, Harmonious numbers. In the sixth Elegy, he hints that he composed the Ode on the Nativity in the morning, v. 87. Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus illa, Illa sub auroram lux mihi prima dedit. That is, as above, "when morn "purples the east." In a Letter to Alexander Gill, he says that he translated the hundred and fourteenth Psalm into Greek heroics, "subito nescio quo impetu 66 ante Lucis exortum." Prose Works, ii. 567. See also below, v. 9. Castalis ante oculos bifidumque cacumen oberrat, Et mihi Pyrenen somnia nocte fe runt. 10 66 ceipt in poesie was most rich, " and his sweetness and facilitie " in a verse inimitably excellent, as appeareth by that masterpeece his Psalms; as farre "beyond those of B. Rhenanus, "as the Stanzas of Petrarch the "Rimes of Skelton: but deserv "ing more applause if he had "faln upon another subject: for "I say with J. C. Scaliger, Illo"rum piget qui Davidis Psalmos "suis calamistris inustos spera"rant efficere plausibiliores.-His "Tragedies are loftie, the style "pure; his Epigrams not to be "mended, save here and there, "according to his genius, too "broad and bitter." Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, p. 91. ch. x. Of Poetry, edit. [2d.] 1634. 4to. Milton was now perhaps too young to be captivated by Buchanan's political speculations. Delius ipse venit, video Peneïde lauro Implicitos crines, Delius ipse venit. Jam mihi mens liquidi raptatur in ardua cœli, Perque umbras, perque antra feror penetralia vatum, Veris, et hoc subeat Musa perennis opus. 15 20 25 30 30.-hoc subeat Musa perennis opus.] Originally quotannis, edit. 1645. Salmasius pretends to have observed several false quantities in our author's Latin poems. This was one, and perennis appeared in the second edition, 1673. See Salmas. Respons. edit. Lond. 1660. p. 5. Nicholas Heinsius, in an Epistle to Holstenius, complains of these false quantities: and, for elegance, prefers our author's Defensio to his Latin poems. See Burman. Syllog. iii. 669. But Heinsius, like too many other great critics, had no taste. Flectit ad Arctoas aurea lora plagas. Est breve noctis iter, brevis est mora noctis opacæ, Jamque Lycaonius plaustrum cœleste Bootes Non longa sequitur fessus ut ante via Nunc etiam solitas circum Jovis atria toto Excubias agitant sidera rara polo : 35 Nam dolus, et cædes, et vis cum nocte recessit, 40 Forte aliquis scopuli recubans in vertice pastor, Hac, ait, hac certe caruisti nocte puella, Desere, Phoebus ait, thalamos, Aurora, seniles, Te manet Æolides viridi venator in herba, 45 50 Surge, tuos ignes altus Hymettus habet. Flava verecundo dea crimen in ore fatetur, Et matutinos ocius urget equos. Exuit invisam Tellus rediviva senectam, Et cupit amplexus, Phoebe, subire tuos ; Mitia cum Paphiis fundit amoma rosis! Cingit ut Idæam pinea turris Opim; Et vario madidos intexit flore capillos, Floribus et visa est posse placere suis. Floribus effusos ut erat redimita capillos, Tænario placuit diva Sicana Deo. hunting on mount Hymettus. Ovid, Metam. vii. 701. He is called, Æolides Cephalus, ibid. vi. 681. and Æolides simply, ibid. vii. 672. Hence El. iii. 67. Flebam turbatos Cephaleia pellice 55 60 65 have known the full extent of the Latin tongue. 58. Pandit ut omniferos luxuriosa sinus,] See Par. L. b. v. 338. Whatever Earth all-bearing mother yields. Milton here thought of Ovid's Tellus, who makes a speech, and who lifts her "omniferos vultus." Metam. ii. 275. 62. The head of his personified Earth crowned with a sacred wood, resembles Ops, or Cybele, crowned with towers. But in pinea turris, he seems to have confounded her crown of towers with the pines of Ida. Tibullus calls her Idea Ops. El. i. iv. 68. 66. Tænario placuit, &c.] See Parad. Lost, b. iv. 268. "Where "Proserpine, &c." And Ovid, Metam. b. v. 391. There are touches of the great |