Nature and Fate had had no ftrife

In giving limit to her life.
Her high birth, and her

Quickly found a lover meet;

graces sweet,

The virgin quire for her request
The God that fits at marriage feast;
He at their invoking came,

But with a scarce well-lighted flame;

15

20

Ver. 15. Her high birth, and her graces fweet,

Quickly found a lover meet;] She was the wife of John marquis of Winchester, a confpicuous loyalist in the reign of king Charles the firft, whose magnificent house or castle of Bafing in Hampshire withstood an obftinate fiege of two years against the rebels, and when taken was levelled to the ground, because in every window was flourished Aymez Loyaute. He died in 1674, and was buried in the church of Englefield in Berkshire; where, on his monument, is an admirable epitaph in English verfe written by Dryden, which I have often seen. It is remarkable, that both husband and wife should have severally received the honour of an epitaph from two fuch poets as Milton and Dryden. Nor fhould it be forgotten, that Jonfon wrote a pathetick poem entitled An Elegie on the Lady ANNE PAWLETT Marchioness of Winton, UNDERW. vol. vii. 17. But Jane appears in the text of the poem, with the circumftance of her being the daughter of Lord Savage. See Note on v. 55. She therefore muft have been our author's Marchionefs, Compare Cartwright's Poems, p. 193. WARTON,

Ver. 19. He at their invoking came,

But with a scarce well-lighted flame;] Almost literally from his favourite poet Ovid, Metam. x. 4. Of Hymen. "Adfuit ille quidem; fed nec folennia verba, "Nec lætos vultus, nec felix attulit omen : "Fax quoque quam tenuit, lacrymofo ftridula fumo, "Ufque fuit, nullofque invenit motibus ignes."

I find I have been preoccupied by Dr. Jortin in noting this parallel, WARTON,

And in his garland, as he stood,
Ye might difcern a cypress bud.
Once had the early matrons run
To greet her of a lovely fon,
And now with fecond hope fhe goes,
And calls Lucina to her throes;
But, whether by mischance or blame,
Atropos for Lucina came;
And with remorseless cruelty
Spoil'd at once both fruit and tree :
The hapless babe, before his birth,
Had burial, yet not laid in earth
And the languifh'd mother's womb
Was not long a living tomb.

;

25

30

Ver. 22. Ye might difcern a cyprefs bud.] An emblem of a funeral; and it is called in Virgil "feralis," En. vi. 216, and in Horace funebris," Epod. v. 18, and in Spenfer "the cypress funeral," Faer. Qu. i. i. 8. NEWTON.

Ver. 31. The hapless babe, before his birth,

1601, p. 138.

trattone fuori.

Had burial, &c.] So, in Rime di Luigi Groto,

Figlio morto nel ventre della madre, e poi

"Doue giamai s' udì sì ftrana forte

"Che auanti il nafcer fuo fi giunga a morte ?"

Ver. 33:

And the languifb'd mother's womb

Was not long a living tomb.] As in Browne's

Brit. Paftorals, B. ii. S. i. edit. 1616.

"Where neuer plow-fhare ript his mother's wombe
"To giue an aged feed a liuing tombe."

And in Sylvefter's Du Bart. ed. 1621, p. 493, of the fish,
That, fwilling, fwallow'd Jonas in her womb ;

"A liuing corps, laid in a lining toomb.”

See alfo ibid. p. 363.

So have I seen some tender flip,
Sav'd with care from winter's nip,
The pride of her carnation train,
Pluck'd up by fome unheedy fwain,
Who only thought to crop the flower
New fhot up from vernal shower;
But the fair bloffom hangs the head
Side-ways, as on a dying bed,
And thofe pearls of dew, fhe wears,
Prove to be prefaging tears,
Which the fad morn had let fall

On her haftening funeral.

Gentle Lady, may thy grave

Peace and quiet ever have;

Ver. 35.

35

40

45

tender flip,] In our author's Animadv. Rem. Dep. A gardener is to "cut his hedges, prune his trees, look to his tender flips, and pluck the weeds that hinder their growth." Pr. W. i. 95. WARTON.

Ver. 36. Sav'd with care from winter's nip,] Compare Samf. Agon. v. 1576.

"the firft-born bloom of fpring, "Nipt with the lagging rear of winter's froft.' Ver. 41. But the fair blossom hangs the head &c.] Mr. Bowle compares this and the five following verfes, with what Antonio Bruni fays of the rofe, Le Tre Gratie, p. 221.

Ver. 47. Gentle Lady, may thy grave

Peace and quiet ever have ;] So in the obfequies

of Fidele, in Cymbeline, A. iv. S. ii.

After this thy travel fore
Sweet reft feife thee evermore,
That, to give the world encrease,
Shorten'd haft thy own life's lease.
Here, besides the forrowing
That thy noble house doth bring,
Here be tears of perfect moan
Wept for thee in Helicon;

And fome flowers, and fome bays,
For thy herse, to ftrew the ways,
Sent thee from the banks of Came,

Devoted to thy virtuous name;

"Quiet confummation have,

"And renowned be thy grave!" WARTON.

50

55

бо

Ver. 55. Here be tears] See Notes on Lycidas, v. 14. The tears may here allude to other Verses also on the occafion. See the next Note.

"Re

Ver. 59. Sent thee from the banks of Came,] Came is Milton's Camus regularly anglicifed. "Next Camus reverend fire." Lycid. v. 103. "Cami remeare paludes." El. i. 89. vifere Camum." Ibid. 11. I have been told, that there was a Cambridge-collection of verses on her death, among which Milton's elegiack ode firft appeared. But I have never seen it, and I rather think this was not the cafe. At least we are fure, that Milton was now a ftudent at Cambridge. Our marchionefs was the daughter of Thomas lord viscount Savage, of Rock-Savage in Cheshire; and it is natural to fuppofe, that her family was well acquainted with the family of Lord Bridgewater, belonging to the fame county, for whom Milton wrote the Mask of Comus. It is therefore not improbable, that Milton wrote this elegy, another poetical favour, in confequence of his acquaintance with the Egerton family. And afterwards we find fome of that family intermarrying with this of the marquis of Winchester. Dugd. Baron. ii. 377. 445. The accomplished lady, here celebrated,

Whilst thou, bright Saint, high sitst in glory,
Next her, much like to thee in story,
That fair Syrian fhepherdess,

Who, after years of barrenness,
The highly favour'd Jofeph bore
To him that ferv'd for her before,

fled to felicity,

And at her next birth, much like thee,
Through pangs
Far within the bosom bright
Of blazing Majesty and Light:

There with thee, new welcome Saint,
Like fortunes may her foul acquaint,
With thee there clad in radiant sheen,
No Marchionefs, but now a Queen.

*

65

70

died in child-bed of a fecond fon in her twenty-third year, and was the mother of Charles the firft duke of Bolton. Mr. Bowle remarks, that her death was celebrated by Sir John Beaumont, and fir W. Davenant. See Beaumont's Poems, 1629. p. 159. Davenant's Works. WARTON.

Ver. 63. Rachel. See Gen. xxix. 9. xxv. 18.

WARTON.

* There is a pleafing vein of lyrick sweetness and ease in Milton's ufe of this metre, which is that of L' Allegro and Il Penferofo. He has used it with equal fuccefs in Comus's feftive fong, and the laft fpeech of the Spirit, in Comus, 93, 922. From thefe fpecimens, we may juftly wish that he had used it more frequently. Perhaps in Comus's Song it has a peculiar propriety: it has certainly a happy effect. WARTON.