than fifty, accompanied with six bombast verses, "6 Authentic "Homer, &c." The verses are subscribed" J. R. jun." The drawings, as well as engravings, of Milton by Cipriani, are many. There is a drawing of our author by Deacon: it is taken from a proof-impression on wax of a seal by Thomas Simon, Cromwell's chief mint-master, first in the hands of Mr. Yeo, afterwards of Mr. Hollis. This, a profile, has been lately engraved by Ryland. Mr. Hollis had a small steel puncheon of Milton's head, a full front, for a seal or ring, by the same T. Simon, who did many more of Milton's party in the same way. The medal of Milton struck by Tanner, for auditor Benson, is after the old plaister-bust, and Faithorne's crayon-piece, chiefly the latter. So is the marble bust in the Abbey, by Rysbrack, 1737. Scheemaker's marble bust, for Dr. Mead, and bought at his sale by Mr. Duncombe, was professedly and exactly copied from the plaister-bust. Faithorne's is the most common representation of Milton's head. Either that, or the Onslow picture, are the heads in Bentley's, and Tickell's, and Newton's editions. All by Vertue. Milton's daughter Deborah above mentioned, the daughter of his first wife, and his amanuensis, told Vertue, that "her father own name, and the accompaniment of this Greek inscription, an unperceived reflection on himself. Vertue's Greek motto is a trite and well known couplet from the Odyssey. Since these imperfect and hasty notices were thrown together, Sir Joshua Reynolds has purchased a picture of Milton for one hundred guineas. It was brought to Sir Joshua, 1784, by one Mr. Hunt, a printseller and picture-dealer, who bought it of a broker; but the broker does not know the person of whom he had it. The portrait is dressed in black, with a band; and the painter's mark and date are "S. C. 1653." This is written on the back. "This picture be"longed to Deborah Milton, who 66 was her father's amanuensis: "at her death was sold to Sir "W. Davenant's family. It was 'painted by Mr. Samuel Cooper, "who was painter to Oliver "Cromwell, at the time Milton was Latin Secretary to the "Protector. The painter and poet were near of the same 66 age; Milton was born in 1608, "and died in 1674, and Cooper "was born in 1609, and died in "1672, and were companions "and friends till death parted "them. Several encouragers and "lovers of the fine arts at that "time wanted this picture; par ticularly, Lord Dorset, John "Somers, Esquire, Sir Robert "Howard, Dryden, Atterbury, "Dr. Aldrich, and Sir John "Denham." Lord Dorset was probably the lucky man; for this seems to be the very picture for which, as I have before observed, Vertue wished Prior to search in Lord Dorset's collection. Sir Joshua Reynolds says, " The pic 66 66 "ture is admirably painted, and "with such a character of nature, "that I am perfectly sure it was a striking likeness. I have now a different idea of the "countenance of Milton, which cannot be got from any of the "other pictures that I have seen. "It is perfectly preserved, which "shews that it has been shut up " in some drawer; if it had been exposed to the light, the co"lours would long before this "have vanished." It must be owned, that this miniature of Milton, lately purchased by Sir Joshua Reynolds, strongly resembles Vandyck's picture of Selden in the Bodleian Library at Oxford: and it is highly probable that Cooper should have done a miniature of Selden as a companion to the heads of other heroes of the commonwealth. For Cooper painted Oliver Cromwell, in the possession of the Frankland family; and another, in profile, at Devonshire house: Richard Cromwell at Strawberry hill: Secretary Thurloe, belonging to Lord James Cavendish: and Ireton, Cromwell's general, now or late in the collection of Charles Polhill, Esquire, a descendant of Cromwell. Cooper was painter to the party, if such a party could have a painter. The inference, however, might be applied to prove, that this head is Cooper's miniature of Milton. It has been copied by a female artist, in a style of uncommon elegance and accuracy. Notes on the Greek Verses, by Dr. Burney. Those, who have long and justly entertained an high idea of Milton's Greek erudition, on perusing the following notes, will probably feel disappointed; and may ascribe to spleen and temerity, what, it is hoped, merits at least a milder title.-To Milton's claim of extensive, and, indeed, wonderful learning, who shall refuge their suffrage! It requires not our commendation, and may defy our censure.-If Dr. Johnson, however, observes of some Latin verse of Milton, that it is not secure against a stern grammarian, (Life of Milton, Works, vol. ii. p. 92.) what would he have said, if he had bestowed his time, in examining part of this Greek poetry, with the same exactness of taste, and with equal accuracy of criticism. If Milton had lived in the present age, the necessity of these remarks would, in all probability, have been superseded. His native powers of mind, and his studious researches, would have been assisted by the learned labours of Bentley, Hemsterhusius, Valckenaer, Toup, and Ruhnkenius, under whose auspices Greek criticism has flourished, in this century, with a degree of vigour wholly unknown in any period, since the revival of letters. I. PSALM CXIV. This Greek version, as Dr. Joseph Warton has justly observed, is superior to that of Du port. It has more vigour, but is not wholly free from inaccu racies. In verse 4. the preposition might have been omitted, as in Homer, Od. H. 59. гy βασίλευεν. 5. sppanos, and 12. ppanoas, εῤῥωησας, should have been in the middle voice. 5. and 13. uλvμɛm should have the antepenult long, as it is used by Homer. 7. and 14. Iogdar has the penultimate short in Nonnus's version of St. John's Gospel, i. 23. and in x. 40. where it appears long, Legdavioso superscriptum est, II. Philosophus ad In this short composition, the style of the Epic Poets is imitated very inaccurately, and is strangely blended with that of the Tragic writers. 1. E oxsons] Milton ought to have written oλoys. The subjunctive toys, as in Il. A. 559.-and x must necessarily be added to ", when it is followed by this mood. E, in the Dramatic Poets, is used with the indicative, and the optative, but never with the subjunctive mood; though it is joined to all the three moods, in Homer. Yet this is not allowed indifferently, nor without distinction. E, with a subjunctive mood, is never used by Homer, without the addition of x or xev, or its equivalent av. The few passages, which, in the present copies of the Iliad and Odyssey, seem to militate against these Canons, may all be corrected. But as the instances of E. with a subjunctive are so rare in Homer, Milton probably supposed, that the corrupt passages in the Tragedies, in which such a con τεραι. 19. μεγαλ' εκτυπεοντα, does not appear intelligible. Should it be μεγάλα κτυπεοντα ? In the following verse reuovo had better have been reousovo, as retoura precedes. Regem quendam, &c. struction may be found, would defend his Ei odrons. Τον εννομον ] Ο εννομος, qui est intra legem, of course does not Occur in Homer.-The word Evropes, however, may be found in the Tragic writers; but they do not apply it to persons. The application of soos to persons appears to be peculiar to the later writers. St. Paul to' the Corinth. 1. ix. 21. says, evvouos Xgory: Lucian, Jupit. Trag. vol. ii. p. 671. evvojos u dnjenyogos, and Libanius, in a very laconic Epistle, 'Oxging evvoμos. Epist. DC. p. 288. Ed. Wolf. Evvouos, however, is applied to objects without life, by the ancient Greeks, and, indeed, by the Recentiores. Εννόμος is not an Epic word, in the signification of a just and irreproachable man. Ουδε τιν ανδρών δεινον όλως δρα σαντα.] Όλως, which appears of little service in this passage, is not in Homer, and very rarely, if ever, in the Tragedies. Agar is not used in the Iliad. In the Odyss. O. 323. Tagadewwor, παραδρώωσε, or wage dewart, and 332. vñodewπαρα δρωωσι, may be found. The formula, dey Tive devov, may be termed Homeric, as Homer says in Il. r. 354. Euvodoxov xaxa jia, but dear, with a double accusative, is perfectly in the style of the dramatic writers. Euripides alone will afford a sufficiency of examples. Hecub. 253. Orest. 581. Hippol. 178. Iph. Aul. 371. Ion. 1267. From these two last passages, it appears, that Milton should have written, Tardew TI δεινον δράσαντα, which is more manifest from Med. 560: Ov Ti dearus duvar for after dear, the adjective in the singular number is accompanied by T, but in the plural it is used alone. 2. σoQwratov —xagnvov] It should be roparatov zagnvoy. Thus Homer has agna Teway, in Iliad A. 158. for Tewss. Neither agno, nagn, nor ngares are used simply in the sense of viewños by Ho mer. Ισθι ρηιδίως αφελοιο.] With respect to the expressions, 'Pridias αφελέσθαι, οι Ρηϊδίως αφελειν, they are strictly Homeric. Iobi apsoro is, however, utterly indefensible, for it is neither Homeric nor Attic Greek: it is the language neither of verse, nor of prose. Milton should have written be apλouevos, which would have but an aukward appearance in an hexameter verse, or rather, perhaps, apargnoosvos, in the fu ture. Should it be asserted, that o is proposed to be parenthetical, which does not seem natural, nor to have been the author's intention, still after oxys the reader would rather expect a subjunctive mood. Milton appears to have had the common idiom of the Tragedies, with regard to these yg oria verba, floating on his mind, though he has failed in express ing his ideas. That he was not unacquainted with the proper usage of with a participle, may surely not unfairly be concluded from a passage in his Paradise Lost, ix. 791. Greedily she ingorg'd, without restraint, And knew not eating death. Where see the notes. ύστερον αυθι] If avit be an adverb of time, as well as of place, after vorig it seems unnecessary. ag TUTA] So Iliad г. 397. Daubnery & ag STUTA. τον προς θυμον οδύρη.] Milton, in these hexameters, should have written Toy KATA 0μov, after the example of Homer, Il. . 549. μηδ' αλίαστον οδύρεο σου ΚΑΤΑ θυμον. Odven] In the edition of 1673, and in Bishop Newton's of 1785, the final is circumflexed. An iota subscriptum should also have been added, if odvgy be the future middle. Odvgou, however, like Magrugopal, is one of those verbs which have the Upsilon long, in præsentibus et imperfectis omnibus, and short in futuris, if they have any futures in use. point of Prosody has been accurately and clearly illustrated by Clark, in his notes on Homer, II. A. 338. B. 43. This Since the Upsilon in Μαρτυρου pai futurum, as Clark observes, semper corripitur, the same must also be the quantity of the Upsilon, in odugovat, if such a word exists. Totoy d'] It should be printed τοιόνδ', in one word. Πελεως is the reading in the edition of 1645. This genitive occurs only twice in Homer, Iliad A. 168. and Y. 52. In the latter place πολιος is noted as a various reading. Περιώνυμον αλκας] Hoc minus placet. When αλκας occurs in Homer, it is used without any epithet, and giver is not an Homeric word. As to oλerras, since Milton uses oλons, simplici Σ, in the first line, oλsoσas So nearly after it, seems exceptionable, in point of taste, in such a short composition. In the various reading of the fourth verse, μαζί αυτως αρ suтa, for μavidis, the word autos should have been aspirated, as it is in Homer, after May, Iliad Y. 348. Odyss. II. 111. and, indeed always, when it is used in the sense of temerè, or sic temerè. III. In Effigiei ejus Sculptorem. This Epigram is far inferior to those, which are preserved in the Greek Anthologia, on Bad Painters. It has no point: it has η αφέλεια. It is destitute of poetical merit, and appears far more remarkable for its errors than for its excellencies. To confess the truth, the Poet does not appear to have suspected, that while he was censuring the Effigiei Sculptor, he was exposing himself to the severity of criticism, by admitting, into his verses, disputable Greek and false metre. As these lines are Iambics, it may be concluded, that Milton meaned to imitate the style of the Tragic and Iambic writers. Such, at least, ought to have been his model. In the first line, the particle May is placed much too far distant from the beginning of the sentence. The later Comic writers are not always very chaste, in their position of de and yag, and, perhaps, of μ and similar words. 2. Pains av] This is perfectly Attic, and used by Sophocles, Trach. 1073. Electr. 548. Ed. Brunckii.-In so short a composition, an Anapastus in the fifth foot of two following lines might better have been avoided. Είδος αυτοφυές] Αυτοφυές, in the sense intended by Milton, si rite recordor, is not warranted by the dramatic poets, if it is by any of the more ancient writers. 3. Τον εκτυπωτον] This word is not right-Tuтos is an adjective used by Lycophro, 262. τυπωτην τορμαν, from which might be formed Twτos, but no authority for it at present occurs. With more propriety then Milton would have written; To d εκτυπωτον, scil. είδος or σχημα. The substantives, however, are Tuπμa and TVTua. Euripides uses the former, in the Phoeniss. 165. Ed. Valck. Tuжwμa μogons-The latter is explained in Hesychius by ὁμοιωμα. SLYVOTE] A typographical error. It should of course be exYVOVTES, as it is rightly printed in the edition of 1673. a 4. Γελατε φαυλου δυσμίμημα ζω γραφον.] Γελαν in the Tragic writers sometimes governs genitive, but more frequently a dative case, either with or without a preceding preposition. In a passage from Gregory of Nazianzen, adduced by H. Stephens, in his Thesaurus, v. i. p. 821. E. Voc. Tλaw, this verb governs an accusative case; but this construction is very unusual, and can have no reference to Attic poetry. |