Te circum late campos populatur Enyo, 75 80 85 and the duke of Saxon Lawenburgh, in Lower Saxony, of which Hamburgh, where Young refided, is the capital. See v. 77. Germany, in general, either by invafion, or interiour commotions, was a fcene of the most bloody war from the year 1618, till later than 1640. Guftavus Adolphus conquered the greater part of Germany about 1631. See Note on EL. iii. fupr. v. 10. 84. Vivis et ignoto folus inopfque folo.] Ovid, of Achæmenides, METAM. XIV. 217. SOLUS, INOPS, exfpes. These circumstances, added to others, leave us ftrongly to fuf pect, that Young was a nonconformist, and probably compelled to quit England on account of his religious opinions and practice, He feems to have been driven back to England, by the war in the Netherlands, not long after this Elegy was written. See v. 71. feq. And the first Note. 86. Sede peregrina quæris egenus opem.] Before and after 1630, many English minifters, puritanically affected, left their cures, and fettled in Holland, where they became paftors of separate congregations when matters took another turn in England, they returned, and were rewarded for their unconforming obstinacy, in the new prefbyterian establishment. Among these were Nye, Burroughs, Thomas Goodwin, Simpson, and Bridge, eminent members of the Affembly of Divines. See Wood, ATH. OXON. ii. 504. Neale's HIST. PUR. iii. 376. Siccine Siccine te decet innocuos exponere fœtus, 90 Quos tibi profpiciens miferat ipfe Deus, Haud aliter vates terræ Thefbitidis olim 100. 100 -Sidoni dira.-] Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. SIDONI is a vocative, from Sidonis, often applied by Ovid to Europa the daughter of Agenor king of Sidon or Syria. FAST. B. v. 610. SIDONI, fic fueras accipienda Jovi. And, ibid. 617. And ART. AMATOR. iii. 252. See also METAM. xiv. 30. ii. 840. Some of thefe fcriptural allufions are highly poetical, and much in Milton's manner. His friend, who bears a facred character, forced abroad for his piety and religious conftancy by the perfecutions of a tyrannic tribunal, and diftreffed by war and want in a foreign country, is compared to Elijah the Tifhbite wandering alone over the Arabian deferts, to avoid the menaces of Ahab, and the violence of Jezebel. See B. KINGS, i. xix. 3. feq. He then felects a most striking miracle, under which the power of the Deity is displayed in fcripture as a protection in battle, with reference to his friend's fituation, from the furrounding dangers of war. "You are fafe under the radiant fhield of him, who in the dead of night "fuddenly difperfed the Affyrians, while the found of an unfeen trumpet was clearly heard in the empty air, and the noises of "invisible horses and chariots rufhing to battle, and the diftant "hum of clashing arms and groaning men, terrified their numer"ous army." 86 Terruit et denfas pavido cum rege cohortes, Aere dum vacuo buccina clara fonat, See Talis et horrifono laceratus membra flagello, At tu fume animos, nec fpes cadat anxia curis, At nullis vel inerme latus violabitur armis, Ille Sionææ qui tot fub moenibus arcis Inque fugam vertit quos in Samaritadas oras 104 110 115 See B. KINGS, ii. vii. 5. "For the Lord had made the host of "the Syrians to hear a noife of chariots and a noise of horses, " even the noise of a great hoft, &c." Sionea arx is the city of Samaria, now befieged by the Syrians, and where the king of Ifrael now refided. It was the capital of Samaria. Prifca Damaf cus was the capital of Syria. Pavido cum rege is Benhadad, the king of Syria. In the fequel of the narrative of this wonderful confternation and flight of the Syrians, the folitude of their vaft deferted camp affords a most affecting image, even without any poetical enlargement. "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold there was no man there, neither voice of man; but "horses tied, and affes tied, and the tents as they were." Ibid. vii. 10. This is like a scene of inchantment in romance. 101. Talis et horrifono laceratus membra flagello, &c.] Whipping and imprisonment were among the punishments of the arbitrary Star-chamber, the threats REGIS ACHABI, which Young fled to avoid. 109. At nullis vel inerme latus, &c.] See the fame philofophy in COMUS, V. 421. Cornea 120 Cornea pulvereum dum verberat ungula campum, Nec dubites quandoque frui melioribus annis, 125 N fe ELEG. V. Anno ætatis 20.* In adventum veris. In vere Jam revocat Zephyros vere tepente novos; 123. Et tu quod fupereft, &c.] For many obvious reafons, AT is likely to be the true reading. 125. This wish, as we have feen, came to pafs. He returned: and when at length his party became fuperiour, he was rewarded with appointments of opulence and honour. * In point of poetry, fentiment, felection of imagery, facility of verfification, and Latinity, this Elegy, written by a boy, is far fuperiour to one of Buchanan's on the fame fubject, intitled MAIÆ CALENDE. See his EL. ii. p. 33. OPP. édit. 1715. 1. In fe perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro.] Buchanan, DE SPHÆRA, P. 133. ibid. In fe præcipiti femper revolubilis orbe. 5. Fallor? An et, &c.] So in the Epigram, PRODIT. BOM BARD. V. 3. Fallor? An et mitis, &c. Again, EL. vii. 56. Fallor? An et radios hinc quoque Phoebus habet? Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adeft ? Munere veris adeft, iterumque vigefcit ab illo, This formulary is not uncommon in Ovid. As thus, FAST. B. v. 549. Fallor? An arma fonant? non fallimur, arma fonabant. See alfo Buchanan's EPITHALAMIUM, SILV. iv. p. 52. edit. ut fupr.. FALLIMUR? an nitidæ, &c. And CoмUS, V. 221. Was I DECEIV'D? &C. 6. Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adeft.] See v. 23. There is a notion that Milton could write verfes only in the fpring or fummer, which perhaps is countenanced by these paffages. But what poetical mind does not feel an expanfion or invigoration at the return of the fpring, at that renovation of the face of nature with which every mind is in fome degree affected? In one of the Letters to Deodate he fays, "fuch is the impetuofity of my temper, that no delay, no reft, no care or thought of any thing "elfe can stop me, till I come to my journey's end, and put a "period to my prefent, ftudy." PROSE-WORKS, ii. 567. In the PARADISE LOST, he fpeaks of his aptitude for compofition in the night, B. ix. 20. If answerable skill I can obtain From my celestial patronefs, who deigns Again, to Urania, B. vii. 28. Not alone, while thou Vifit'ft my flumbers NIGHTLY, or when morn Purples the east. Again, he says that "he vifits NIGHTLY the fubjects of faered poetry." B. iii. 32. And adds, v. " ·37: Then feed on thoughts that voluntary move Harmonious numbers. In the fixth Elegy, he hints that he compofed the Ode on the Nativity in the morning, v. 87. Dona quidem dedimus Chrifti natalibus illa, Illa fub AURORAM LUX mihi PRIMA dedit. That is, as above, "when morn purples the east." In a Letter to Alexander Gill, he says that he tranflated the hundred and fourteenth Pfalm into Greek heroics, "fubito nefcio quo impetu ante |