of Milton was scarcely known and little appreciated during his lifetime, the striking fact appears of these numerous publications of his poems, at a period when the sale and advertisement of books was very limited, the range of readers so circumscribed, and the political and religious factions and commotions entirely occupied men's minds. The anecdote of Sir John Denham's entering the House of Commons, with a proof-sheet of Paradise Lost, wet from the press, and on being questioned concerning the paper, declaring it was " 'part of the noblest poem that ever was written in any language or in any age," has been doubted, though without reason; and, if true, proves thus early a just and public appreciation of the genius of Milton. In 1678, a third edition of Paradise Lost was published. Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes were reprinted in 1680, from which time innumerable successive editions have issued from the press. 1637, and Lycidas had Milton's correspond Lawes' edition of Comus was printed in appeared in 1638, in the Cambridge verses. ence with so many of the most eminent European Literati, and their universal resort to his house when visiting England, attest his early and public reputation. The Earl of Dorset, Fleetwood, Shepard, and Dryden, bear early and ample testimony to his merit. Dryden, the poet laureat, in 1674, had adapted from Milton a published opera, entitled, "The State of Innocence." In his preface, Dryden observes, "What I have here borrowed, will be so easily discerned from my mean productions, that I shall not need to point the reader to the places-the original being undoubtedly one of the greatest, most noble and sublime poems, which either this age or nation has produced." In Dennis's Letters, Moral and Critical, 1721, p. 75, Dennis writes, "Dryden, however, at this time knew not half the extent of Milton's excellence, as more than twenty years afterwards he confessed to me." In Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse, published in 1682, a passage of nearly thirty lines cites an abstract of Milton's battle of the fallen angels as a specimen of the "noblest kind of verse." The first express and published prose eulogy of Paradise Lost that has yet been noticed, is by Edward Philips, in his edition of Buchlerus, published exactly two years after Paradise Lost. He thus speaks of his illustrious relative :-" Johannes Miltonius, præter alia quæ scripsit elegantissma, tum Anglicè, tum Latinè, nuper publici juris PARADISUM AMISSUM, Poema, quod, sive sublimitatem argumenti, sive leporem simul et majestatem styli, sive sublimitatem inventionis, sive similitudines et descriptiones quam maximè naturales, respiciamus, verè Heroicum, ni fallor, audiet: plurimum enim suffragiis qui non nesciunt judicare, censetur perfectionem hujus generis poematis assecutum esse." "John Milton, besides other things in the most elegant style of composition which he has written, both in Latin and English, has lately presented at the bar of the public PARADISE LOST: a Poem, which, whether we consider the majesty of the subject, or the united poignancy and loftiness of the style, or the sublimity of the invention, or the propriety and felicity of the similitudes and descriptions, will receive, if I do not mistake, the name of truly heroic, and is adjudged by the suffrages of many, not unqualified to decide such a question, to have reached the perfection of this species of poetry." The following commendatory verses by Barrow and Marvel, before noticed as prefixed to the second edition of Paradise Lost, are additional proofs of the early and public estimation of Mil ton's muse. IN PARADISUM AMISSAM SUMMI POETE JOHANNIS MILTONI. Et sine fine magis, si quid magis est sine fine, Et quæ cœlestes pugna deceret agros! Dum ferus hic stellas protegit, ille rapit! Et metuit pugnæ non supresse suæ, Et flammæ vibrant, et vera tonitrua rauco Excidit attonitis mens omnis, et impetus omnis Ad pœnas fugiunt, et ceu foret Orcus asylum Et quos fama recens vel celebravit anus. SAMUEL BARROW, M. D. ON PARADISE LOST. WHEN I beheld the poet blind, yet bold, Yet as I read, soon growing less severe, I liked his project, the success did fear; And what was easy he should render vain. Or if work so infinite he spann'd, Jealous I was that some less skilful hand (Such as disquiet always what is well, And by ill imitating would excel) Might hence presume the whole creation's day But I am now convinced, and none will dare Thou hast not miss'd one thought that could be fit, And all that was improper dost omit: So that no room is here for writers left, But to detect their ignorance or theft. That majesty which through thy work doth reign Draws the devout, deterring the profane. And things divine thou treat'st of in such state As them preserves, and thee, inviolate. At once delight and horror on us seize, And above human flight dost soar aloft Where couldst thou words of such a compass find? The poets tag them, we for fashion wear. I too transported by the mode offend, And while I meant to praise thee must commend. Thy verse created like thy theme sublime, In number, weight, and measure, needs not rhyme. ANDREW MARVEL. The numerous English poetical eulogia on Milton would alone form a volume. But we must content ourselves with inserting the following elegant translations by Cowper of the complimentary verses addressed to him, in Latin and Italian, by distinguished literary contemporaries. THE NEAPOLITAN JOHN BAPTIST MANSO, MARQUIS OF VILLA, TO THF ENGLISHMAN JOHN MILTON. WHAT features, form, mien, manners, with a mind Oh how intelligent ! and how refined! Were but thy piety from fault as free, Thou wouldst no Angle but an Angel be. AN EPIGRAM ADDRESSED TO THE ENGLISHMAN JOHN MILTON, A POET MELES and Mincio, both your urns depress, But let the Thames o'erpeer all floods, since he TO JOHN MILTON. GREECE, Sound thy Homer's, Rome, thy Virgil's name, SELVAGGI. AN ODE ADDRESSED TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS ENGLISHMAN MR. JOHN MILTON. BY SIGNIOR ANTONIO FRANCINI, GENTLEMAN, OF FLORENCE. EXALT me, Clio, to the skies, In laureate garlands of renown, To nobler worth be brighter glory given, And to a heavenly mind a recompense from heaven. Time's wasteful hunger cannot prey Nor can Oblivion steal away Its record graven on the heart; Lodge but an arrow, Virtue, on the bow That bends my lyre, and Death shall be a vanquish'd foa In ocean's blazing flood enshrined Whose vassal tide around her swells, She teems with heroes, that to glory rise With more than human force in our astonish'd eyes. To Virtue, driven from other lands, Her smiles they feel divinely sweet. Confirm this record, Milton, generous youth! And by true virtue prove thy virtue's praise a truth. Zeuxis, all energy and flame, To make his image to her beauty true, From the collected fair each sovereign charm he drew. The bee with subtlest skill endued Thus toils to earn her precious juice, From all the flowery myriads strew'd O'er meadow and parterre, profuse; Confederate voices one sweet air compound, And various chords consent in one harmonious sound. An artist of celestial aim, Thy genius, caught by moral grace, The steps of Virtue toil'd to trace, Observed in every land who brightest shone, And blending all their best, made perfect good thy own From all, in Florence born, or taught Our country's sweetest accent there, Whose works, with learned labor wrought, Immortal honors justly share, Thou hast such treasure drawn of purest ore, That not e'en Tuscan bards can boast a richer store. Babel confused, and with her towers The secret things of heaven and earth, |