ELEG. II. Anno Ætatis 17. In obitum Præconis Academici Cantabrigienfis*. TE, qui, confpicuus baculo fulgente, folebas * The perfon here commemorated, is Richard Ridding, one of the University-Beadles, and a Master of Arts of Saint John's college, Cambridge. He figned a teftamentary Codicil, Sept. 23, 1626, proved the eighth day of November following. From Regiftr. Teftam. Cantabr. WARTON. Ver. 2. It was a cuftom at Cambridge, lately difufed, for one of the beadles to make proclamation of convocations in every college. This is ftill in Ufe at Oxford. WARTON. Ver. 5. Candidiora licèt &c.] Ovid, Trift. iv. viii. 1. "Jam mea cygneas imitantur tempora plumas.” WARTON. Ver. 6. Sub quibus accipimus delituisse Jovem ;] Ovid, Epist. Heroid. viii. 68. "Non ego fluminei referam mendacia cygni, "Nec querar in plumis delituiffe Fovem." WARTON. Ver. 7. Ovid, Metam. vii, 264. Hæmonio juvenescere fucco, &c.] See “Illic Hæmonia radices valle refectas, "Seminaque, florefque, et fuccos incoquit acres." And compare, below, Manf. v. 75. WARTON. 10 Dignus in Æfonios vivere poffe dies; Magna fepulchrorum regina, fatelles Averni, 29 Ver. 10. Arte Coronides,] Coronides is Æfculapius, the for of Apollo by Coronis. See Ovid, Metam. xv. 624. But the particular allufion is here to Æfculapius reftoring Hippolytus to life, at the request of Diana, Faft. vi. 745. feq. Where he is called Coronides. The name alfo occurs in Ovid's Ibis, v. 407. WARTON. Ver. 12. These allufions are proofs of our author's early fa, miliarity with Homer. WARTON. Ver. 17. Magna fepulchrorum regina,] A fublime poetical appellation for Death: and much in the manner of his English poetry. WARTON, Ver. 22. Et madeant lachrymis nigra feretra tuis.] Here seems to be an allufion to the custom of affixing Verses to the pall, formerly perhaps more generally observed at Cambridge, "Lachrymis tuis" are the funeral poems, as tear is in Lycidas, V. 14. Where fee the Note. Fundat et ipfa modos querebunda Elegëia tristes, Perfonet et totis nænia mæsta Scholis *. This Elegy, with the next on the death of bishop Andrews, the Odes on the death of Professor Goflyn and bishop Felton, and the Poem on the Fifth of November, are very correct and manly performances for a boy of seventeen. This was our author's first year at Cambridge. They difcover a great fund and command of ancient literature. WARTON. ELEG. III. Anno Ætatis 17. In obitum Præfulis Wintonienfis MOESTUS eram, et tacitus, nullo comitante, fedebam ; Hærebántque animo triftia plura meo: Protinus en! fubiit funeftæ cladis imago, Fecit in Angliaco quam Libitina folo; Dum procerum ingreffa eft fplendentes marmore turres, Dira fepulchrali Mors metuenda face 5 Lancelot Andrews, bishop of Winchefter, had been originally Mafter of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge; but long before Milton's time. He died at Winchester-House in Southwark, Sept. 21, 1626. It is a great conceffion, that Milton compliments bishop Andrews, in his Church-Governm. B. i. iii. "But others better advised are content to receive their beginning [the bishops] from Aaron and his fons, among whom bishop Andrews of late years, and in these times [Ufher] the primate of Armagh, for their learning are reputed the best able to fay what may be said in their opinion." This piece was written 1641. Profe-works, vol. i. 45. But fee their arguments answered, as he pretends, ibid. ch. v. P. 47. feq. WARTON. Ver. 4. Fecit in Angliaco quam Libitina folo ;] A very severe plague now raged in London and the neighbourhood, of which 35417 perfons are faid to have died. See Whitelock's Mem. P. 2. and Rushworth, Coll. vol. 1. p. 175. 201. Milton alludes to the fame peftilence, in an Ode written in the fame year, On the Death of a fair Infant, v. 68. WARTON. Ver. 5. Dum procerum ingressa eft splendentes marmore turres, &c.] These lines remind me of the following in Wilfon's Collection of Pulfavitque auro gravidos et jafpide muros, Verfes, called Vita et Obitus Fratrum Suffolcienfium, made and printed in the year 1552. 4to. Signat. F. i. They are in Reniger's Copy. I have ftill more pleasure in tranfcribing them, as they show, with a minuteness and particularity not elsewhere to be found, the ftyle of the architecture of the great houses about that time. Death is the perfon. Again, "Illa lacunatis operofa palatia tectis "Intrat." "Nunc tacito penetrat laqueata palatia gressu, Ver. 9. Tunc memini clarique ducis, &c.] I am kindly informed by fir David Dalrymple, "The two Generals here mentioned, who died in 1626, where the two champions of the queen of Bohemia, the duke of Brunswick, and Count Mansfelt: Frater means a Sworn Brother in arms, according to the military cant of thofe days. The Queen's, or the Palatine, caufe was fupported by the German princes, who were heroes of Romance, and the last of that race in that country. The proteftant religion, and chivalry, must have interested Milton in this caufe. The next couplet refpects the death of Henry Earl of Oxford, who died not long before." See Carte's Hift. Eng. iv. p. 93. feq. 172. feq. Henry earl of Oxford, Shakspeare's patron, died at the fiege |