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The tufted crow-toe, and the pale jeffamine,
The white pink, and the panfy freakt with jet,
The glowing violet,

The musk-rofe, and the well-attir'd woodbine,
With cowflips wan that hang the penfive head;

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For the marigold is fuppofed, on this principle, to clofe at fun-fet.
Browne, BRIT. PAST. B. v. S. v. p. 97. edit. ut fupr.
-The day is woxen olde,

And gins to fhut in WITH the MARIGOLDÉ.
And Shakespeare's WINTER'S TALE, A. iv. S. iii.
The marigold that GOES TO BED with th' SUN,
And with it rifes weeping.--

Again, in T. Watfon's SONNETS, cited in ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS, 1600. p. 503.

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The marigold fo likes the louely funne,

That when he fets, the other hides his face;
And when he gins his morning course to runne,

She fpreads abroad, and fhewes her greatest grace.

Compare alfo Drummond, ubi fupr. Signat. F.
And I remaine like Marigold of SUNNE

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DEPRIU'D, that dies by fhadowe of fome mountaine.

And our author's Prolufions, in a defcription of the morning. Quinetiam et moefta Clytie, totam fere noctem converfo in ori❝entem vultu, PHOEBUM præftolata su uм, jam arridet, et adblanditur APPROPINQUANTI AMATORI. "PROSE-WORKS, 586. edit. 1738.

ii.

I believe much the fame doctrine is held of the fun-flower. 143. The tufted crow-toe, &c.] Mr. Bowle obferves, that here is an undoubted imitation of Spenfer, in APRILL.

Bring hither the pinke, and purple cullumbine,
With gilliflowres ;

Bring coronations, and fops in wine,

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Strowe me the ground with daffadowndillies,
And cowflips, and kingcups, and loued lillies;

The prettie pawnce,
And the cheuifawnce,

Shall match with the faire flowre delice.

I must add, that instead of the well-attir'd woodbine, he at firft had written" the garish COLUMBINE," v. 146. Garifh occurs now only once in our author. IL PENS. V. 141.

And

And every flower that fad embroidery wears:
Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,

And daffadillies fill their cups with tears,

159

To ftrow the laureat herfe where Lycid lies.
For fo to interpofe a little ease,

Let our frail thoughts dally with false furmise;
Ay me! Whilft thee the shores, and founding feas
Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurl'd,
Whether beyond the ftormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Vifit'ft the bottom of the monstrous world;

156

153. -With falfe furmife.] The new fenfe which I mean to give to the remainder of the paragraph, requires a femicolon after Jurmife and it appears in the firft edition 1638. The fecond edition, of 1645, evidently from an overfight, has a full point after furmife, which has been implicitly continued ever fince.

157. Under the whelming tide.] In the manufcript, and the edition of 1638, it is "HUMMING tide," in reference to the distant found of the waters over his head, while he was exploring "the BOTTOм of the monftrous world." See Note on L'ALLEGRO, V. 118. The alteration was made in the fecond edition, 1645. So, as Mr. Steevens fuggefts, in PERICLES PRINCE OF TYRE. See Malone's SUPPL. SHAKESP. ii. 80.

And humming water muft o'erwhelm thy corpfe.

By every perfon accustomed to diving, the propriety of this epithet is fully understood. Clarence, in his dream, talks of "the noise "of waters in his ears," while he supposes himself finking to the bottom of the fea. Where alfo the bottom of the monstrous world is finely described. Milton altered humming to whelming, as Lycidas was now dead. P. Fletcher has "HUMMING WATERS," inviting to fleep. PISCAT. ECL. p. 11. edit. 1633.

"The epithet humming," fays Doctor J. Warton," which he " had first used, reminds us alfo of the strong image of Virgil, when "Arifteus defcended to his mother's cavern. GEORG. iv. 365. -Ingenti motu ftupefactus aquarum."

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158. Monftrous world.] The fea, the WORLD of MONSTERS, Horace, OD. i. iii. 18. Qui ficcis oculis MONSTRA NATANTIA.' Virgil, N. vi. 729. Quæ marmoreo fert MONSTRA fub æquore pontus."

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Or whether thou to our moift vows deny'd,

159.-Moift vows.

-] Our vows accompanied with tears. As if he had faid Vota lachrymofa. But there may be a quaint allufion to the water.

160. Sleep'ft by the fable of Bellerus old,

Where the great vifion of the guarded mount

Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold;

Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth.] The whole of this paffage has never yet been explained or understood. That part of the coaft of Cornwall called the LAND'S END, with its neighbourhood, is here intended, in which is the promontory of BELLERIUM, fo named from Bellerus a Cornish giant. And we are told by Camden, that this is the only part of our island that looks directly towards Spain. So alfo Drayton, POLYOLE. S. xxiii. vol. iii. p. 1107.

Then Cornwall creepeth out into the westerne maine,

As, lying in her eye, fhe pointed still at Spaine.

And Orofius," The fecond angle or point of Spain forms a cape, "where Brigantia, a city of Galicia, rears a moft lofty watch"tower, of admirable construction, in full view of Britain." HIST. L. i. c. ii. fol. 5. a. edit. Parif. 1524. fol. Carew fays of this fituation, "Saint Michael's Mount looketh so aloft, that it brook"eth no concurrent." p. 154. ut infr. But what is the meaning of "The Great Vifion of the Guarded Mount ?" And of the line immediately following, "Look homeward Angel now, and melt "with ruth?" I flatter myfelf I have difcovered Milton's original and leading idea.

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Not far from the Land's End in Cornwall, is a most romantic projection of rock, called SAINT MICHAEL'S MOUNT, into a harbour called MOUNTS-BAY. It gradually rifes from a broad bafis into a very steep and narrow, but craggy, elevation. Towards the fea, the declivity is almoft perpendicular. At low water it is acceffible by land and not many years ago, it was entirely joined with the prefent fhore, between which and the MOUNT, there is a rock called CHAPEL-ROCK. Tradition, or rather fuperftition, reports, that it was antiently connected by a large tract of land, full of churches, with the ifles of Scilly. On the fummit of SAINT MICHAEL'S MOUNT a monaftery was founded before the time of Edward the Confeffor, now a feat of Sir John Saint Aubyn. The church, refectory, and many of the apartments, still remain. With this monaftery was incorporated a ftrong fortress, regularly garrisoned and in a Patent of Henry the fourth, dated 1403, the monaftery itself, which was ordered to be repaired, is ftyled FORTALITIUM. Rym. FOED. viii. 102. 340. 341. A ftone-lantern, in one of the angles of the Tower of the church, is

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called

Sleep'ft by the fable of Bellerus old,
Where the great vifion of the guarded mount

160

called SAINT MICHAEL'S CHAIR. But this is not the original SAINT MICHAEL'S CHAIR. We are told by Carew, in his SURVEY OF CORNWALL, "A little without the Caftle [this "fortrefs], there is a bad [dangerous] Seat in a craggy place, "called Saint Michael's Chaire, fomewhat daungerous for acceffe, " and therefore holy for the adventure." Edit. 1602. p. 154. We learn from Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE, under the hiftory of the Angel MICHAEL, that "Th' apparacyon of this angell is many fold. The fyrst is when he appeared in mount of Gargan, "&c." Edit. 1493. fol. cclxxxii. a. William of Worcestre, who wrote his travels over England about 1490, fays in defcribing SAINT MICHAEL'S MOUNT, there was an Apparicio Sancti

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"Michaelis in monte Tumba antea vocato Le Hore Rok in the "wodd." ITINERAR, edit. Cantab. 1778. p. 102. The Hoar Rock in the Wood is this Mount or Rock of Saint Michael, antiently covered with thick wood, as we learn from Drayton and Carew. There is still a tradition, that a vifion of faint Michael feated on this Crag, or faint Michael's CHAIR, appeared to fome hermits and that this circumftance occafioned the foundation of the monastery dedicated to faint Michael. And hence this place was long renowned for its fanctity, and the object of frequent pilgrimages. Carew quotes fome old rhymes much to our purpose, p. 154. ut fupr.

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Who knows not Mighel's Mount and Chaire,

The pilgrim's holy vaunt?

Nor fhould it be forgot, that this monaftery was a cell to another on a Saint Michael's Mount in Normandy, where was also a Vision of faint Michael.

But to apply what has been faid to Milton. This GREAT VISION is the famous Apparition of faint Michael, whom he with much fublimity of imagination fuppofes to be ftill throned on this lofty crag of SAINT MICHAEL'S MOUNT in Cornwall, looking towards the Spanish coaft. The GUARDED MOUNT on which this Great Vifion appeared, is fimply the fortified Mount, implying the fortrefs above-mentioned. And let us obferve, that Mount is the peculiar appropriated appellation of this promontory. So in Daniel's PANEGYRICKE on the KING, ft. 19. "From Dover to THE MOUNT." With the fenfe and meaning of the line in queftion, is immediately connected that of the third line next following, which here I now for the first time exhibit properly pointed.

Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth.

Here

Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold; Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth: And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.

Here is an apostrophe to the Angel Michael, whom we have just feen feated on the Guarded Mount. "O Angel, look no longer "feaward to Namancos and Bayona's hold: rather turn your eyes "to another object. Look homeward, or landward, look to"wards your own coaft now, and view with pity the corpfe of the fhipwrecked Lycidas floating thither." But I will exhibit the three lines together which form the context. Lycidas was lost on the feas near the coaft,

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Where the great vifion of the guarded mount

Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold;

Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth.

The Great Vision and the Angel are the fame thing: and the verb look in both the two last verses has the fame reference. The poet could not mean to shift the application of LOOK, within two lines. Moreover, if in the words Look homeward angel now-t -the addrefs is to Lycidas, a violent, and too fudden, an apoftrophe takes place; for in the very next line Lycidas is diftantly called THE hapless youth. To fay nothing, that this new angel is a hapless youth, and to be wafted by dolphins. See Note on v. 177.

Thyer feems to fuppofe, that the meaning of the last line is, "You, O Lycidas, now an angel, look down from heaven, &c." But how can this be faid to look homeward? And why is the fhipwrecked perfon to melt with ruth? That meaning is certainly much helped by placing a full point after furmife, v. 153. But a femicolon there, as we have seen, is the point of the first edition: and to fhew how greatly fuch a punctuation afcertains or illuftrates our prefent interpretation, I will take the paragraph a few lines higher, with a fhort analysis. "Let every flower be ftrewed on "the hearfe where Lycidas lies, fo to flatter ourselves for a mo"ment with the notion that his corpfe is prefent; and this, (ah me!) while the feas are wafting it here and there, whether be65 yond the Hebrides, or near the fhores of Cornwall, &c."

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160.

-Bellerus old.]. No fuch name occurs in the catalogue of the Cornish giants. But the poet coined it from Bellerium abovementioned. Bellerus appears in the edition 1638. But at firit he had written Corineus, a giant who came into Britain with Brute, and was made lord of Cornwall. Hence Ptolemy, I fuppofe, calls a promontory near the Land's End, perhaps Saint Michael's Mount, QCRINIUM. From whom alfo came our author's "CORINEIDA

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