What could the Mufe herself that Orpheus bore, The Muse herself for her inchanting fon, Whom univerfal nature did lament, 60 in the NINTH and TENTH SONGS of his POLYOLBION has very copiously enlarged, and almoft at one view, on this fcenery It is, however, with great force and felicity of fancy, that Milton, in transferring the claffical feats of the Mufes to Britain, has substituted places of the most romantic kind, inhabited by Druids, and confecrated by the vifions of British bards. And it has been juftly remarked, how coldly and unpoetically Pope, in his very correct paftorals, has on the fame occafion felected only the fair fields of Ifis, and the winding vales of Cam. But at the fame time there is an immediate propriety in the substitution of these places, which fhould not be forgotten, and is not I believe obvious to every reader. The mountains of Denbighshire, the ifle of Man, and the banks of the Dee, are in the vicinity of the Irish feas where Lycidas was fhipwrecked. It is thus Theocritus afks the Nymphs, how it came to pafs, that when Daphnis died, they were not in the delicious vales of Peneus, or on the banks of the great torrent Anapus, the facred water of Acis, or on the fummits of mount Etna; becaufe all thefe were the haunts or the habitation of the fhepherd Daphnis. These rivers and rocks have a real connection with the poet's fubject. 56. Ay me, I fondly dream! Had ye been therefor what could that have done?] So these lines ftand in editions 1638, 1645, and 1673, the two laft of which were printed under Milton's eye. Doctor Newton thus exhibits the paffage. Ay me! I fondly dream Had ye been there, for what could that have done? And adds this note. "We have here followed the pointing of Mil"ton's manuscript in preference to all the editions: and the meaning "plainly is, I fondly dream of your having been there, for what would "that have fignified?" But furely the words, I fondly dream bad ye been there, will not bear this conftruction. The reading which I have adopted, to fay nothing of its authority, has an abruptnefs which heightens the prefent fentiment, and more ftrongly marks the diftraction of the speaker's mind. "Ah me! I am fondly dreaming! I will fuppofe you had been there but why should I suppose it, for what "would that have availed?" The context is broken and confused, and contains a fudden elleipfis which I have fupplied with the words in Italics. When When by the rout that made the hideous roar, His goary visage down the stream was fent, Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair ? 63. Down the Swift Hebrus to the Lesbian fhore.] In calling Hebrus SWIFT, Milton, who is avaricious of claffical authority, appears to have followed a verse in the Eneid, i. 317. -VOLUCREMQUE fuga prævertitur Hebrum. But Milton was misled by a wrong although a very antient reading. Even Servius, in his comment on the line, with an aggravation instead of apology, blames his author for attributing this epithet to Hebrus, "Nam QUIETISSIMUS eft, etiam cum per hyemem crefcit." Befides, what was the merit of the amazon huntrefs Harpalyce to outstrip a river, even if uncommonly rapid? The genuine reading might have been EURUM. Volucremque fuga prævertitur EURUM. This emendation is propofed by Janus Rutgerfius, LECTION. VENUSIN. c. vi. But Scaliger had partly fuggefted it to Rutgerfius, by reading, "EURO hyemis Sodali," instead of "HEBRO," Hor. OD. i. xxv. 20. If, however, a river was here to be made a fubject of comparison, there was a local propriety and an elegance, in the poet's felection of the Thracian river Hebrus. When Milton copies the antients, it is not that he wants matter of his own, but because he is fond of fhewing his learning. 68. To Sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neara's hair.] In the first edition, 1638, as in the manufcript. HID in the tangles of Nexra's hair. Fame Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble mind) 71 To scorn delights, and live laborious days; 70. Fame is the spur, &c.] These noble fentiments he afterwards dilated or improved in PARADISE REGAINED, B. iii. 24. Glory the reward That fole excites to high attempts, the flame All treasures and all gain esteem as drofs. 71. That laft infirmity of noble mind.] Mr. Bowle obferves, that Abbate Grillo, in his LETTERE, has called " Quefta fete di fama et glo“ria, ordinaria INFIRMITA de gli ANIMI GENEROSI. " Lib. ii. p.210. edit. Ven. 1604. 4to. 74. And think to burst out into sudden blaze.] He is speaking of fame. So in PARAD. REG. B. iii. 47. For what is glory but the BLAZE OF FAME, &C. 75. Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears.] In Shakespeare are the fhears of Destiny, with more propriety. KING JOHN, A. iv. S. ii. The king fays to Pembroke. Think you I bear the SHEARS of DESTINY? Milton, however, does not here confound the Fates and the Furies. He only calls Destiny a Fury. In Spenfer, we have BLIND Fury. RUINS OF ROME, St. xxiv. If the BLINDE FURIE which warres breedeth oft. And in Sackville's GORDOBUCKE, A. v. S. iii. O Joue, how are these peoples hearts abvs'd, See OBSERVATIONS on Spenfer's FAERIE QUEENE, vol. ii. p. 255. edit. 2. Fame Fame is no plant that grows on mortal foil, Nor in the glift'ring foil Set off to th' world, nor in broad rumour lies, 80 Of fo much fame in heav'n expect thy meed. O fountain Arethuse, and thou honour'd flood, Smooth-fliding Mincius, crown'd with vocal reeds! That strain I heard was of a higher mood: But now my oat proceeds, And liftens to the herald of the fea That came in Neptune's plea; He ask'd the waves, and ask'd the fellon winds, What hard mishap hath doom'd this gentle fwain? And question'd every guft of rugged wings 78. Fame is no plant, &c.] I think I remember the sublime morality of part of this allegory in Pindar. But I cannot readily turn to the paffage. 79. Nor in the glift'ring foil Set off to th' world.-] Perhaps with a remembrance of Shake fpeare, PART I. HENR. iv. A. i. S. ii. And like bright metal on a fullen ground, My reformation glittering o'er my fault, Shall fhew more goodly, and attract more eyes, Than that which hath no FOIL to SET it OFF. 93. And question'd every gust of rugged wings.] We find WINDS for WINGS, in Tonfon's very incorrect but elegant octavo edition of Milton's POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, 1705. They make the greater part of his fecond volume of all Milton's poetry. That That blows from off each beaked promontory; They knew not of his story, And fage Hippotades their answer brings, 95 94. Each beaked promontory.] That is, prominent or projecting like the beak of a bird. Harrison in Hollinfhed has wefel-beaked. DESCRIPT. ENGL. p. 172. Our author has the "BEAKED prow" of Noah's ark, PARAD. L. B. xi. 746. 95. Of his ftory.] So B. and Fletcher. PHILASTER, A. i. S. i. vol. 1. p. 109. edit. 1750. "I ask'd him all his STORY. 96. And Jage Hippotades their answer brings.] Hippotades is no very common or familiar name for Æolus the fon of Hippotas. It is not in Virgil the GREAT Storm-painter, and who appears to be fo perfectly acquainted with the poetical family of the winds. Perhaps I may be miftaken, but it occurs only in four claffic poets either abfolutely or conjunctively. In one of thefe, however, it occurs four times. In Homer, ODYSS. X. 2. Αἰολίην δ ̓ ἐς νῆσον ἀφικόμεθ ̓, ἔνθα δ' ένας εν Αἴολος ΙΠΠΟΤΑΔΗΣ. Again, ibid. v. 35. Δῶρα παρ' Αιολ8 μεγαλήτορος ΙΠΠΟΤΙΔΑΟ. In Apollonius Rhodius, a Greek poet whom I have frequently traced in Milton, ARGON. iv. 819. - ἹΠΠΟΤΑΔΗΝ δὲ Αἴολον ὠκείας ἀνέμων αϊκας ἐρυξεν. In Ovid, EPISTOL. HEROID. Ep. LEAND. HERON. v. 46. Again, EPIST. ex Pont. L. iv. x. 15. Excipit HIPPOTADES, qui dat pro munere ventos, Again, METAM. L. iv. 661. Clauferat HIPPOTADES æterno carcere ventos. Again, ibid. L. xv. 707. HIPPOTADQUE domos regis. In Valerius Flaccus, ARGON. L. i. 610. Tum valido contortam turbine portam The name is feldom mentioned even by the mythologists. I muft |