Tu si jussus eras acies accire togatas, Et celer a Phæbo nuntius ire tuo, Talis in Iliaca stabat Cyllenius aula Alipes, ætherea missus ab arce Patris. Rettulit Atridæ jussá severa ducis. Sæva nimis Musis, Palladi sæva nimis, Turba quidem est telis ista petenda tuis. Et madeant lachrymis nigra feretra tuis. Personet et totis nænia mæsta scholis. * 20 ELEG. III. Anno Ætatis 17. In obitum Præsulis Wintoniensis. MESTUS eram, et lacitus nullo comitante sedebam, Hærebantque animo tristia plura meo, 12. These allusions are proofs discover a great fund and comof our author's early familiarity mand of ancient literature. with Homer. 17. Magna sepulchrorum re- + Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop gina,] A sublime poetical ap- of Winchester, had been origipellation for Death: and much nally Master of Pembroke-Hall in the manner of his English in Cambridge; but long before poetry. Milton's time. He died at Win* This Elegy, with the next chester House in Southwark, on the death of Bishop Andrewes, Sept. 26, 1626. See the last the Odes on the death of Professor Goslyn and Bishop Felton, It is a great concession, that and the Poem on the Fifth of he compliments Bishop AnNovember, are very correct and drewes, in his Church Governm. manly performances for a boy of b. i. iii. “But others better 'adseventeen. This was our author's “ vised are content to receive first year at Cambridge. They “ their beginning (the bishops) note. Protinus en subiit funestæ cladis imago Fecit in Angliaco quam Libitina solo; Dum procerum ingressa est splendentes marmore turres, Dira sepulchrali mors metuenda face ; 6 Pulsavitque auro gravidos et jaspide muros, Nec metuit satrapum sternere falce greges. Intempestivis ossa cremata rogis : Flevit et amissos Belgia tota duces : Wintoniæque olim gloria magna tuæ ; 10 « from Aaron and his sons: Sir David Dalrymple, “ The two among whom Bishop Andrewes “ Generals here mentioned, who “ of late years, and in these “ died in 1626, were the two "times (Usher) the primate of “champions of the Queen of “ Armagh, for their learning are Bohemia, the Duke of Bruns“ reputed the best able to say “ wick, and Count Mansfelt: “ what may be said in their “ Frater means a Sworn Brother opinion." This piece was writ- “ in arms, according to the militen 1641. Prose Works, vol. i. tary cant of those days. The 45. But see their arguments “ Queen's, or the Palatine, cause answered, as he pretends, ibid. was supported by the German ch. v. p. 47. seq. “ princes, who were heroes of 4. Fecit in Angliaco quam Libi- “ Romance, and the last of that tina solo ;] A very severe plague “ race in that country. The now raged in London and the “protestant religion, and chineighbourhood, of which 35417 valry, must have interested persons are said to have died. « Milton in this cause. The next See Whitelock's Mem. p. 2. and “ couplet respects the death of Rushworth, Coll. vol. i. p. 175, Henry, Earl of Oxford, who 201. Milton alludes to the same “ died not long before." See pestilence, in an Ode written in Carte's Hist. Eng. iv. p. 93. seq. the same year, On the Death of 172. seq. Henry, Earl of Oxford, a fair Infant, v. 67. Shakespeare's patron, died at the To turn swift-rushing black Perdition siege of Breda in 1625. Dugd. hence, Bar. ii. 200. See Howell's LetOr drive away the slaughtering Pes. ters, vol. i. sect. 4. Lett. xv. And tilence. note on El. iv. infr. 74. If this 9. Tunc memini clarique ducis, be the sense of Fratris, verendi &c.] I am kindly informed by is not a very suitable epithet. VOL. IV. T 15 20 Delicui fletu, et tristi sic ore querebar, Mors fera, Tartareo diva secunda Jovi, Nonne satis quod sylva tuas persentiat iras, Et quod in herbosos jus tibi detur agros, Quodque afflata tuo marcescant lilia tabo, Et crocus, et pulchræ Cypridi sacra rosa, Miretur lapsus prætereuntis aquæ ? Evehitur pennis, quamlibet augur avis, quæ mille nigris errant animalia sylvis, Et quot alunt mutum Proteos antra pecus. Invida, tanta tibi cum sit concessa potestas, Quid juvat humana tingere cæde manus ? Nobileque in pectus certas acuisse sagittas, Semideamque animam sede fugasse sua ? Talia dum lacrymans alto sub pectore volvo, Roscidus occiduis Hesperus exit aquis, Phæbus, ab Eoö littore mensus iter : 30 35 21. fluvio contermina quercus, 33. Et Tarlessiaco, &c.] Ovid, &c.] Ovid, Metam. viii. 620. Metam. xiv. 416. -Tiliæ contermina quercus. Presserat occiduus Tartessis littora Phoebus. Tartessiacus occurs in Martial, dious for versification, is not Epigr. ix. 46. See below, El. once used by Virgil. vi. 83. We are to understand 32. Roscidus occiduis Hesperus the straits of Hercules, or the exit aquis,] Ovid, Fast. ii. 314. Atlantic ocean. See also Bu Hesperus et fusco roscidus ibat equo. chanan De Sphær. I. i. p. 126. Again, Epist. ex Pont. ii. v. 50. edit. ut supr. “ Tartessiacis, cum “ Taurus mergitur undis.” And Qualis ab Eois Lucifer exit aquis. ib. p. 123. Buchanan was now See also Metam. xv. 189. a popular modern classic, 40 Condiderant oculos noxque soporque meos : Cum mihi visus eram lato spatiarier agro, Heu nequit ingenium yisa referre meum. Ut matutino cum juga sole rubent. Vestitu nituit multicolore solum. Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris amata levi. Ditior Hesperio flavet arena Tago. Aura sub innumeris humida nata rosis, 45 as 41. “The ground glittered, Chlorida bella, che per aria vola, &c. when it reflects the manifold 45. In the garden of Eden, “ hues of a rainbow in all its “ the crisped brooks roll on orient glory." We have Thaumantias "pearl and sands of gold." Par. Iris, in Ovid, Metam. iv. 479. Löst, b. iv. 237. See also Virgil, ix. 6. 47. Serpit odoriferas per opes 43. Non dea tam variis ornavit levis aura Favoni, floribus hortos Aura sub innumeris humida Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris a- nota rosis,] mata levi.] So in the same garden, v. 156. Eden is compared to the Ho- But with a conceit. meric garden of Alcinous, Par. -Gentle gales Lost, b. ix. 439. b. v. 341. Fanning their odoriferous wings, disChloris is Flora, who accord pense ing to ancient fable was beloved Native perfumes, and whisper whence by Zephyr. See Ovid, Fast. 1. they stole These balmy spoils. v. 195. seq. She is again called Chloris by our author, El. iv. 35. Compare Cymbeline, a. iv. s. 2. Yet there, and according to the - They are as gentle true etymology of the word, she As zephyrs blowing below the violet, is more properly the power of Not wagging his sweet head. vegetation. Chloris is Flora in We have Favonius for Zephyr, Drummond's Sonnets, Signat. E. Lucretius's genitabilis aura Fa2. ut supr. In Ariosto, Mercury voni, in Sonn. xx. 6. Where see steals Vulcan's net made for the note. Mars and Venus to captivate 49. Talis in extremis terra GanChloris. Orl. Fur. c. xv. 57. getidis oris 50 55 Luciferi regis fingitur esse domus. Et pellucentes miror ubique locos, Sidereum nitido fulsit in ore jubar; Infula divinum cinxerat alba caput. Intremuit læto florea terra sono. 60 Quisque novum amplexu comitem cantuque salutat, "You Luciferi regis fingitur esse «hibits the Domus Luciferi Regis domus.] “ terre Gangatidis oris, but also I know not where this fiction is “ the rock of diamond, in which to be found. But our author has “ Milton has armed one of his given a glorious description of a “ rebellious spirits. This house, palace of Lucifer, in the Par. I suppose, is intended for the Lost, b. v. 757. “ Palace of the Sun, as described Mr. Steevens gives another by Ovid. You seem to have meaning to the text: sup " considered Lucifer as a proper pose the Palace of Lucifer, “ name instead of a compound " that is Satan, to have been the “ epithet." See“ luciferas rotas, object intended. But I cannot infr. El. v. 46. And note on “ help thinking, that the resi- Comus, v. 880. « dence of the sun was what 59. Agmina gemmatis plaudunt Milton meant to describe, as cælestia pennis,] Not from the “ situated in the extreme point Italian poets, but from Ovid's “ of the East. I shall counte. Cupid, Remed. Amor. v. 39. nance my opinion, by an in- -Movit Amor gemmatas aureus alas. stance not taken from a more Again, Amor. i. ii. 41. Of the inglorious author than our poet « has sometimes deigned to copy. Tu pennas gemma, gemma variante " For from his Pallace in the East, capillos, &c. “ The King of Light, in purple drest, In Paradise Lost, Milton has “ Set thicke with gold and precious been more sparing in decorating “ Which like a rocke of diamond the plumage of his angels. “ shonne. 61. Quisque novum ampleru comitem cantuque salutat,] So in “ Pynlico, or Runne Red Cappe, Lycidas, v. 178. " &c. 1609. It is observable, There entertain him all the saints “ that this passage not only ex above, &c. same. " stone, |