6

ure towards Rome, which had been the centre of his experience, I had won confidence enough to beg his advice, how I might carry myself securely there, without offence of others, or of mine own conscience. Signor Arrigo mio,' says he, i pensieri stretti, et il viso sciolto;' that is, your thoughts close, and your countenance loose,' will go safely over the whole world. Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found it) your judgment doth need no commentary; and therefore, sir, I will commit you with it to the best of all securities, God's dear love, remaining

"Your friend, as much at command
as any of longer date,

H. WOTTON."

"P. S. Sir, I have expressly sent this by my foot-boy to prevent your departure, without some acknowledgment from me of the receipt of your obliging letter, having myself through some business, I know not how, neglected the ordinary conveyance. In any part where I shall understand you fixed, I shall be glad and diligent to entertain you with home-novelties, even for some fomentation of our friendship, too soon interrupted in the cradle."

Not long after the receipt of this letter he began his journey; and, accompanied only by a servant, who attended him through the whole of his travels, proceeded immediately to Paris, where he was received with distinction by Lord Scudamore, the ambassador from England. By this nobleman he was introduced, with much honourable attention, to the famous Grotius, whom he had expressed a particular desire to see, and who then resided in the capital of France as the minister of Christina, the eccentric queen of Sweden. Were we able to ascertain with precision all the circumstances of this interview between two extraordinary men, eminently raised above the level of their species by their talents and their attainments, we should probably acquire nothing from our knowledge to excite our wonder, or, if our expectations were high, to save us from disappointment. In the formality and coldness of a first meeting, and especially where one party would be restrained by the consciousness of having much to lose, and the other by the felt impropriety of pressing upon esta

< Nobilissimus vir Thomas Scudamorus Parisiis humanis-` sime accepit; meq; Hugoni Grotio viro eruditissimo, quem invisere cupiebam, suo nomine et suorum uno atq; altero dedu. cente, commendavit. Def. Sec. P.W. vol. v. 231.

blished rank and reputation, no great display of erudition, or brilliant exchanges of fancy were likely to take place. Compliments requited with civilities; some enquiries respecting the traveller's plans, and some advice on the subject of their execution, constituted, perhaps, the whole of this memorable conference.

After the delay of a few days only at Paris, our traveller renewed his progress, and,

Fired with ideas of fair Italy,

pursued the direct road to Nice; where a vessel, readily procured by the letters to the merchants which he brought from Lord Scudamore, received and landed him at Genoa. From this city he passed immediately through Leghorn and Pisa to Florence, and on the banks of the Arno, made famous by the purity of the Tuscan language, which was spoken on them, and by the learning and talents that frequented them, he made what may be considered as his first pause.

Here he resided for two months; and his conversation and manners soon introduced him into the high and literary circle, where he speedily rendered himself the object of very general admiration. He obtained admission into those private academies, which

" d

had been instituted, under the genial patronage of the Medici, for the advancement of literature, and for the cementing of friendships among its votaries. In these assemblies, in which "it was the custom," as he tells us, "that every one should give some proof of his wit and reading," many of his productions, either those of his younger years, or "those, which he had shifted, in scarcity of books and conveniencies to patch up among them," were received with much applause," and with written encomiums, which the Italian is not forward to bestow on men of this side the Alps."

It was at this time that Carlo Dati, a nobleman of Florence, and Antonio Francinì, of a rank only one step lower, both men of talents and high literary renown, presented our traveller with an offering of their respect, one in an Italian ode of considerable merit, predicting the future greatness of Milton; and the other in a latin address, in which admiration is expressed in terms of extreme and almost extravagant panegyric.

Besides the two, whom we have now mentioned, the English bard could number on the list of the friends, conciliated by his learn

The Reason of Church Gov. P.W. v. i. 119.

• Ibid.

ing, talents and manners, the respectable literary names of Gaddi, Frescobaldi, Coltellino, Bonmatthei, Clementillo, and Malatesti. The applause and respect, which he obtained, seems to have been unlimited; and the transalpine scholars appear to be lost in surprise at the spectacle, presented to them, of a native of Britain, a country just emerging, as they imagined, from barbarism, who to an acquaintance, not superficial, with all the sciences, united a profound knowledge of classic and Italian letters; whose mind was at once sublime and deep, accurate and comprehensive, powerful and acute; patient to follow judgment in the gradual investigation of philosophical truth, yet delighted to fly, with the natives of the brain, on the high and expatiating wing of imagination. Of all his rare accomplishments and talents, however, none, perhaps, would more forcibly strike the attention, and win the regard of the Italians, than his absolute command of their language, and the affection which he discovered for it. So perfect was his know

A work called La Tina, by Antonio Malatesti, and dedi cated to Milton while at Florence, was found on a bookstall and purchased by Mr. Brand. He gave it to Mr. Hollis, and Mr. Hollis sent it with Milton's works, and his life by Toland, 1758, to the Academy della Crusca.