Ludlow-Castle. There was formerly a president of Wales, and a fort of a court kept at Ludlow, which has fince been abolished; and the prefident at that time was the Earl of Bridgwater, before whom Milton's Mask was presented on Michaelmas night, and the principal parts, those of the two brothers were performed by his Lordship's sons the Lord Brackly and Mr. Thomas Egerton, and that of the lady by his Lordship's daughter the Lady Alice Egerton. The occafion of this poem seemeth to have been merely an accident of the two brothers and the lady having loft one another in their way to the caftle: and it is written very much in imitation of Shakespear's Tempeft, and the Faithful Shepherdess of Beaumont and Fletcher; and though one of the first, is yet one of the most beautiful of Milton's compositions. It was for fome time handed about only in manuscript; but afterwards to fatisfy the importunity of friends and to fave the trouble of tranfcribing, it was printed at London, though without the author's name, in 1637, with a dedication to the Lord Brackly by Mr. H. Lawes, who compos'd the music, and played the part of the attendent Spirit. It was printed likewife at Oxford at the end of Mr. R's poems, as we learn from a letter of Sir Henry Wotton to our author; but who that Mr. R. was, whether Randolph the poet or who else, is uncertain. It has lately, tho' with additions and alterations, been exhibited on the stage several times; and we hope the fine poetry and morality have recommended it to the audience, and not barely the authority of Milton's name; and we wish for the honor of the nation, that the like good taste prevailed in every thing. In 1637 he wrote another excellent piece, his Lycidas, wherein he laments the untimely fate of a friend, who was unfortunately drown'd that same year in the month of August, on the Irish seas, in his passage from Chester. This friend was Mr. Edward King, son of Sir John King, Secretary Secretary of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth, King James I, and King Charles I; and was a fellow of Christ's College, and was so well beloved and esteemed at Cambridge, that some of the greatest names in the university have united in celebrating his obfequies, and publish'd a collection of poems, Greek and Latin and English, sacred to his memory. The Greek by H. More &c; the Latin by T. Farnaby, J. Pearfon &c; the English by H. King, J. Beaumont, J. Cleaveland with feveral others; and judicioufly the last of all as the best of all, is Milton's Lycidas. "On " fuch facrifices the Gods themselves strow incense;" and one would almost wish so to have died, for the sake of having been so lamented. But this poem is not all made up of forrow and tenderness; there is a mixture of fatir and indignation; for in part of it the poet taketh occafion to inveigh against the corruptions of the clergy, and seemeth to have first discovered his acrimony against Archbishop Laud, and to have threaten'd him with the lofs of his head, which afterwards happen'd to him thro' the fury of his enemies. At least I can think of no sense so proper to be given to the following verses in Lycidas. Befides what the grim wolf with privy paw About this time, as we learn from one of his familiar epistles, he had some thoughts of taking Chambers at one of the Inns of Court, for he was not very well pleased with living fo obscurely in the country: but his mother dying, he prevailed with his father to let him indulge a defire, which he had long entertained, of feeing foreign countries, and particularly Italy: and having communicated his defign to Sir Henry Wotton, who had formerly been embassador at Venice, and was then provost of Eton College College, and having also sent him his Mask of which he had not yet publicly acknowledged himself the author, he receiv'd from him the following friendly letter dated from the College the 10th of April 1638. SIR, "It was a special favor, when You lately bestowed upon me here the first taste of Your acquaintance, tho' no longer than to make me know, that I wanted more " time to value it, and to enjoy it rightly. And in truth, " if I could then have imagin'd Your farther stay in these parts, which I understood afterwards by Mr. H., I " would have been bold, in our vulgar phrase, to mend my draught, for You left me with an extreme thirst, and " to have begged Your conversation again jointly with "Your faid learned friend, at a poor meal or two, that we might have banded together some good authors of "the ancient time, among which I observed You to have "been familiar. "Since Your going, You have charged me with new obligations, both for a very kind letter from You, dated "the fixth of this month, and for a dainty piece of enter"tainment, that came therewith; wherein I should much "commend the tragical part, if the lyrical did not ravish with " a certain Doric delicacy in Your fongs and odes, where" in I must plainly confefs to have feen yet nothing pa"rallel in our language, Ipfa mollities. But I must not " omit to tell You, that I now only owe You thanks for intimating unto me, how modestly foever, the true arti"ficer. For the work itself I had view'd some good while "before with fingular delight, having received it from our common Friend Mr. R. in the very close of the late R's poems printed at Oxford; whereunto it is added, as I now suppose, that the accessory might help out the principal, according to the art of stationers, and leave the "reader con la bocca dolce. 66 " Now, " Now, Sir, concerning Your travels, wherein I may challenge a little more privilege of discourse with You; " I suppose, You will not blanch Paris in Your way. "Therefore I have been bold to trouble You with a few " lines to Mr. M. B. whom you shall easily find attending "the young Lord S. as his governor; and you may sure ly receive from him good directions for shaping of your "farther journey into Italy, where he did reside by my "choice some time for the king, after mine own recess "from Venice. " I should think, that Your best line will be thro' the " whole length of France to Marseilles, and thence by fea to Genoa, whence the passage into Tuscany is as diurnal as a Gravesend barge. I hasten, as you do, to Florence 66 66 or Sienna, the rather to tell You a short story, from the " interest You have given me in Your safety. 66 66 "At Sienna I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipione, an old Roman courtier in dangerous times, having been steward to the Duca di Pagliano, who with " all his family were strangled, save this only man, that escaped by forefight of the tempest. With him I had " often much chat of those affairs; into which he took pleasure to look back from his native harbour; and at my departure toward Rome, which had been the center " of his experience, I had won confidence enough to beg "his advice, how I might carry myself securely there, with" out offense of others, or of my own confcience: Signor "Arrigo meo, says he, i pensieri stretti, et il viso sciolto, "that is, Your thoughts close, and your countenance loose, " will go fafely over the whole world. Of which Del 66 phian 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 acknowledg"ment from me of the receipt of Your obliging letter, having myself thro' some business, I know not how, " neglected the ordinary conveyance. In any part where " I shall understand You fixed, I shall be glad and dili 66 gent to entertain you with home-novelties, even for " some fomentation of our friendship, too foon interrup"ted in the cradle." Soon after this he fet out upon his travels, being of an age to make the proper improvements, and not barely to fee fights and to learn the languages, like most of our modern travellers, who go out boys, and return such as we fee, but such as I do not choose to name. He was attended by only one servant, who accompanied him through all his travels; and he went first to France, where he had recommendations to the Lord Scudamore, the English embassador there at that time; and as foon as he came to Paris, he waited upon his Lordship, and was received with wonderful civility; and having an earnest defire to visit the learned Hugo Grotius, he was by his Lordship's means introduc'd to that great man, who was then embassador at the French court from the famous Christina Queen of Sweden; and the visit was to their mutual fatisfaction; they were each of them pleased to fee a person, of whom they had heard fuch commendations. But at Paris he stayed not long; his thoughts and his wishes hastened into Italy; and so after a few days he took leave of the Lord Scudamore, who very kindly gave him letters to the English merchants in the feveral places thro' which he was to travel, requesting them to do him all the good offices which lay in their power. From Paris he went directly to Nice, where he took shipping for Genoa, from whence he went to Leghorn, and thence to Pisa, and fo to Florence, in which city he found b |