V. 102. Myfelf, my fepulchre, -a moving grave! See Note in this Vol. p. 139. Remarks on Spenfer, B. II. C. VIII. St. 16. v. 241. That fault I take not on me, but transfer Milton certainly intended to reproach his countrymen indirectly, and as plainly as he dared, with the restoration of Charles II. which he accounted the restoration of Slavery; and with the execution of the Regicides. He pursues the fame fubject again, ver. 678 to 700. I wonder how the licensers of those days let it pafs. That Gentiles in their parables condemn To their abyfs and horrid pains confin'd. Alluding to Tantalus. This "crude old age," in Virgil, and in other writers, is Arong and robuft. Thus, Æn.. VI. 304. Fam fenior; fed cruda Deo viridifque fenectus. Z 2 But But Milton uses crude here for premature, or coming before its time; as cruda funera in Statius, Theb. IX. 391. quo jam nec cruda nepotis Funera, nec noftri valeant perrumpere planētus ? Old age brought on by poverty, and by fick, nefs; as Hefiod fays, Epy. I. 93. *Αιψα γὰρ ἐν κακότητι βροτοὶ καταγηράσκεσι. v. 726. Yet on the moves, now ftands, and eyes thee fix'd, About t' have fpoke; but now, with head declin'd, &c. Like Ifmene, in Sophocl. Antigone, ver. 536. Καὶ μὴν πρὸ πυλῶν ἥδ ̓ Ισμήνη. Τέγδυσ' ἐνῶπα παρειάν. V. 971. Fame, if not double-fac'd, is double-mouth'd, And with contrary blaft proclaims most deeds; On both his wings, one black, the other white, Bears greatest names in his wild aerie flight. I think I think Fame has paffed for a Goddess ever fince Hefiod deified her: Ep. II. 381. Φήμη δ ̓ οὔτις πάμπαν ἀπόλλυται, ἥντινα πολλοὶ Fama vero nulla prorfus perit, quam quidem multi Milton makes her a God; I know not why, unlefs fecundum eos, qui dicunt utriufque fexus participationem habere numina. So in his LYCIDAS (unless it be a falfe print) he fays, v. 19. So may fome gentle Muse With lucky words favour my deftin'd urn;' And bid fair peace be to my fable shroud. Where Mufe, in the masculine, for a poet, is very bold. Perhaps the last line should be, Bears greatest names in his wide aerie flight. What Milton fays of Fame's bearing great names on his wings, feems to be partly from Horace, Lib. II, Od. II. 7. Illum aget penna metuente folvi v. 1695. But as an eagle His cloudlefs thunder bolted on their heads. In the Ajax of Sophocles it is faid, that his enemies, if they faw him appear, would be terrified, like birds at the appearance of the vulture, or eagle. Ver. 16. ̓Αλλ' ὅτε γὰρ δὴ τὸ σὸν ὅμμ' απέδραν, Μέγαν αιγυπιὸν ὑποδείσαντες The Greek verfes I think are faulty; and, as I remember, are corrected, not amifs, by Dawes in his Mifcellanea Critica. IV. POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT. STANZ. VIII. line 53. Or wert thou that fweet-fmiling youth? A word of two fyllables is wanting, to fill up the measure of the verfe. It is eafy to find fuch a word, but impoffible to determine what word Milton would have inferted. He ufes Youth, in the feminine gender, as the Latins fometimes ufe JUVENIS; and by this "fair youth" he probably means the Goddefs Hebe, who was alfo called Juventas, or Juventa. VACATION VACATION EXERCISE. v. 36. "The thunderous Throne." Should it not be the Thunderer's? MARCHIONESS OF WINCHESTER'S EPITAPH, v. 19. He at their invoking came, But with a scarce well-lighted flame. From Ovid, Met. X. 4. Adfuit ille quidem; fed nec folemnia verba, It is called facred Troy, in Homer, Il. Z. 448. Εσσείαι ἦμαρ, ὅτ' ἄν ποτ' ἐλώλη Ιλιο ερη от αν |