will increase the mass of etherial fire, where it is received. The mind of Milton unquestionably maintained an intercourse with the minds of the great masters of the pencil, and probably derived from them what was afterwards matured into the conceptions of his Satan and his Raphael, his Adam and his Eve. But if he became indebted, on this occasion, to the genius of painting, his Muse has most amply discharged the obligation to her “dumb sister," by giving to Fuseli much more than she borrowed from his lineal progenitor in the pedigree of genius, Michael Angelo; and inducing the ideas of that creation, displayed in the Milton Gallery, which, constituting the pride of the present times, will be the admiration and wonder of the succeeding ones. From Rome our traveller continued his route to Naples; and, falling into company with a certain pilgrim, or hermit, as he tells us, upon the road, was by him, from whom such a service could be the least expected, introduced to the celebrated Giovanni Battista Manso, Marquis of Villa. This accomplished nobleman, who had formerly distinguished himself in the armies of Spain, was now, at an advanced age, established in his native city; and, though possessed of great wealth, high rank and eminent character, deriving his principal renown from the friendship of the illustrious Tasso; of whom he had been the cherisher when living, and the biographer when dead. He now opened his arms to Milton, and received, with kindness, a poet yet superior to his immortal friend. The attentions, which he paid to the English traveller were of the most flattering nature, not only conducting him through the viceroy's palace, and to a sight of all that was worthy to be shown in the city, but honouring him also with some familiar and friendly visits. The imprudent freedom, with which our zealous protestant, unmindful of his friend Wotton's counsel, had discovered his sentiments on the subject of religion, was the only circumstance, which deprived him of a still more free and intimate communication with this elegant Mæcenas of modern Italy. This was intimated to Milton, on his departure from Naples, by Manso himself, who with all his kindnesses on this occasion had not satisfied the liberality of his own mind, and who was desirous of explaining the cause of the imaginary deficiency. He had, indeed, pointed to this offence of religion in a latin distich, with which he had presented his new guest, and which is cer tainly more remarkable for the height of its praise, than for the goodness of its verse, or the justness and the originality of its thought. Generally known as it is, it shall be given to our readers, with an apology for the attempted translation of a pun. Ut mens, forma, decor, facies, mos, si pietas sic, With mind, mien, temper, face did faith agree, It has been remarked, and not without malignity, that the complimentary offerings of the Italian wits to our illustrious traveller, are not distinguishable for their merit as compositions. We will not dispute the truth of this observation; or affect to discover much beauty in the latin prose of Dati; or, though this be rather of a higher order, in the Italian verse of Francini. We will even allow that as the praise grows, the poetry dwindles; and that in this last distich, in which the climax of compliment is complete, the Manso of Naples is inferior to the Salsilli, and the Selvaggi of Rome. But the intrinsic or the The conceit, such as it is, is borrowed from Gregory the Archdeacon, and afterwards Pope, in the sixth century. relative merit of these short, and perhaps almost extemporaneous effusions, is not an object of our consideration. They must be viewed by us with reference, not to their authors, but to their object; and they cannot fail to excite our surprise when we consider them as the homage of acute men, accustomed to contemplate and appreciate the highest efforts of the human mind, to a young traveller, on a short visit from a distant country, who was not made illustrious by wealth, or by connexions, but who extorted these bursts of admiration solely by the display of talents and erudition. It has been observed also, that, in the intercourse of praise with our author, the Italians gained mòre valuable commodities than they gave. If this remark be just, as it indisputably is, with respect to the compliment of Salsilli, it is still more prominently true when referred to that of Manso. latin poem, in which Milton addresses this venerable friend and patron of the Muses, is a high and admirable composition, which offers, to the praised 'friend of Marino and of The . Manso is named by Tasso in the 20th book of his great poem, among the princes of Italy. Tasso has also addressed to him five sonnets and his dialogue on Friendship. Manso was one of the founders and was president of the academy of the Otiosi at Naples. Tasso, incense, kindled with a more celestial flame than any with which he had hitherto been gratified. The production is so beautiful that we may, perhaps, be pardoned by our readers if we present them with it entire. MANSU S. Hæc quoque, Manse, tuæ meditantur carmina laudi Tu quoque, si nostræ tantùm valet aura Camœnæ, Te pridem magno felix concordia Tasso Vidimus arridentem operoso ex ære poetam." Nec satis hoc visum est in utrumque, et nec pia cessant Milton alludes to the principal poem of Marino, Il Adone. "A monument was erected to Marino at Naples by Manso. Marino belonged to the academy of the Otiosi, of which Manso, as we have mentioned, was the founder. Hence the propriety of the epithet alumnus,' applied to Marino in his relation to Manso. |