Per l'arene di Libia chi s'invia, Mentre un caldo vapor (ne fentì pria) Da quel lato fi fpinge ove mi duole, Che forfe amanti nelle lor parole Chiaman fofpir; io non fo che fi sia : Parte rinchiufa, e turbida fi cela Scoffo mi il petto, e poi n'ufcendo poco Quivi d' attorno o s'agghiaccia, o s’ingiela ; Ma quanto a gli occi giunge a trovar loco Tutte le notti a me fuol far piovofe Finche mia Alba rivien colma di rofe. * 5 10 and refers to pp. 116, 119, 130, 132, ibid. And other places. And adds Fletcher, of the fun, Purp. It. C. xii. ft. 25. "And with his arrowes th' idle fogge doth chafe. As in Par. Loft, B. vi. 15. of morning. "From before her vanifh'd Night, "Shot through with orient beams.” With which compare alfo Fletcher's Purp. I. C. 1. ft. 40. "First stepp'd the Light, and spread his chearfull rayes 86 66 Through all the chaos; Darknesse headlong fell, Frighted with fuddain beams, &c." TODD. *The forced thoughts at the clofe of this Sonnet are intolerable. But he was now in the land of conceit, and was infected by writing in its language. He had changed his native Thames for Arno, Sonn. iii. 9. "Canto, dal mio buon popol non intefo, "E'l bel Tamigi cangio col bel Arno," T. WARTON. VI. GIOVANE piano, e femplicette amante Poi che fuggir me stesso in dubbio sono, Madonna a voi del mio cuor l'humil dono Farò divoto; io certo a prove tante L'hebbi fedele, intrepido, coftante, De penfieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono ; S'arma di fe, e d'intero diamante : E di cetra fonora, e delle mufe: Ver. 4. ago. 10 io certo a prove tante &c.] This passage, I find, has been thus corrected by Rolli, Baretti, and Mr. Hayley: "io certo a prove tante "L'hebbi fidele, intrepido, coftante, "De penfieri leggiadri accorto, e buono." And Cowper translates the last of these lines, "Good, and addicted to conceptions high." Richardfon, however, who has translated part of this Sonnet in his Life of Milton, conforms to the poet's own reading and pointing: "De penfieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono." " "Tis honest, steady, and not foon afraid, "Genteel of thought, but knows no cunning art." TODD. * Milton had a natural feverity of mind. For love-verses, hi Italian Sonnets have a remarkable air of gravity and dignity They are free from the metaphyficks of Petrarch, and are more in the manner of Dante. Yet he calls his feventh Sonnet, in a Letter printed from the Cambridge manufcript by Birch, a composition in the Petrarchian stanza. In 1762, the late Mr. Thomas Hollis examined the Laurentian library at Florence for fix Italian Sonnets of Milton, addreffed to his friend Chimentelli; and for other Italian and Latin compofitions and various original letters, faid to be remaining in manufcript at Florence. He fearched alfo for an original buft in marble of Milton, supposed to be fomewhere in that city. But he was unsuccessful in his curious inquiries. T. WARTON. Mr. Hayley juftly confiders this Sonnet as a very spirited and fingular sketch of the poet's own character. TODD. VII. On his being arrived to the age of 23* HOW foon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year! * Written at Cambridge in 1631, and fent in a letter to a friend, who had importuned our author to take orders. Of this letter there are two draughts in the Trinity manufcript. He there fays, you object "that I have given up myself to dream away my years in the arms of studious retirement, like Endymion with the moon on Latmus hill." He calls this Sonnet, my nightward thoughts fome time fince, made up in a Petrarchian stanza." 66 T. WARTON. Ver. 1. How fom hath Time, &c.] Robert Baron, who, in his Cyprian Academy, has made very free with Milton's early poems, transfers the expreffion in this and the next line into his Pocula Caftalia, 1650, p. 27. "Thercutus, when bald Time upon his wing "Had ftoln his fiftieth year, &c." TODD. Ver. 2. Stoln on his wing &c.] Mr. Bowle here cites Al's well that ends well, A. v. S. iii. My hafting days fly on with full career, But my late fpring no bud or bloffom fhew'th. Perhaps my femblance might deceive the truth, 5 That I to manhood am arriv'd fo near; And inward ripenefs doth much less appear, That fome more timely-happy spirits endu❜th. Yet be it lefs or more, or foon or flow, 10 It fhall be ftill in ftricteft measure even All is, if I have grace to use it so, "On our quickest decrees "The inaudible and noifelefs foot of Time But the application of steal is different. In Shakspeare, Time comes imperceptibly upon, so as to prevent, our purposes. In Milton, Time, as imperceptibly and filently, brings on his wing, in his flight, the poet's twenty third year. Juvenal should not here be forgotten, in a paffage of confummate elegance, Sat. ix. 129. "Dum ferta, unguenta, puellas, "Pofcimus, obrepit non intellecta fenectus." T. Warton. Nor should a paffage of fimilar elegance in Chaucer be forgotten, Clerke's Tale, v. 7796, ed. Tyrwhitt. "And though your grene youth floure as yet, "In crepeth age alway as ftill as fton." TODD. VIII. When the affault was intended to the CITY. CAPTAIN, or Colonel, or Knight in arms, Whofe chance on these defenceless doors may feife, If deed of honour did thee ever please, Guard them, and him within protect from harms. He can requite thee; for he knows the charms 5 That call fame on fuch gentle acts as thefe, And he can spread thy name o'er lands and feas, Whatever clime the fun's bright circle warms, Lift not thy fpear against the Muses bower: The great Emathian conquerour bid spare 10 Ver. 1. Captain, or Colonel, or Knight in arms,] So Shakfpeare, K. Richard II. A. i. S. iii, Where Bolingbroke enters, "appellant in armour :" "Marshall, ask yonder knight in arms." T. WARTON. See alfo The Warres of Cyrus king of Perfia, 1594. "I truft your loue among the liuing dwels, "And like a champion and a knight at armes." TODD. Ver. 10. The great Emathian conquerour bid Spare The house of Pindarus,] As a poet, Milton had as good right to expect this favour as Pindar. Nor was the English monarch less a protector of the arts, and a lover of poetry, than Alexander. As a fubject, Milton was too confcious that his fituation was precarious, and that his feditious tracts had forfeited all pretenfions to his fovereign's mercy. Mr. Bowle here refers |