ELEG. IV. Ad THOMAM JUNIUM, preceptorem suum, apud mercatores Anglicos, Hamburgæ agentes, pastoris munere fungentem. ANNO ETATIS 18. CURRE per immensum subito, mea litera, pontum ; Ipse ego Sicanio frænantem carcere ventos Præsul, Cristicolas pascere doctus oves: Ille quidem est animæ plusquam pars altera nostræ ; Hei mihi quot pelagi, quot montes interjecti, Carior ille mihi, quam tu, doctissime Graium, Thomas Young, now pastor of the church of English merchants at Hamburg, was Milton's private preceptor, before he was sent to St. Paul's school. Aubrey, in his manuscript Life, calls him, "a puritan in Essex, who cutt his haire short." Under such an instructor, Milton probably first imbibed the principles of puritanism: but whatever were Young's religious instructions, our author professes to have received from this learned master his first introduction to the study of poetry, v. 29. This Thomas Young, who appears to have returned to England in or before the year 1628, was Dr. Thomas Young, a member of the Assembly of Divines, where he was a constant attendant, and one of the authors of the book called "Smectymnuus," defended by Milton; and who, from a London preachership in Duke's-place, was preferred by the parliament to the mastership of Jesus College in Cambridge: Neal's "Hist. Pur." iii. 122, 59. Clarke, a calvinistic biographer, attests that he was "a man of great learning, of much prudence and piety, and of great ability and fidelity in the work of the ministry."-"Lives," p. 194.-T. WARTON. "Take the swift car of Medea, in which she fled from her husband.”—T. WARTON. Aut queis Triptolemus, &c. Triptolemus was carried from Eleusis in Greece, into Scythia, and the most uncultivated regions of the globe, on winged serpents, to teach mankind the use of wheat.— T. WARTON. y Dicitur occiso quæ ducere nomen ab Hama. Krantzius, a Gothic geographer, says, that the city of Hamburg in Saxony took its name from Hama, a puissant Saxon champion, who was killed on the spot where that city stands by Starchater, a Danish giant. The "Cimbrica clava" is the club of the Dane. In describing Hamburg, this romantic tale could not escape Milton.-T. WARTON. z Dearer than Socrates to Alcibiades, who was the son of Clinias, and has this appel. a b Quamque Stagyrites generoso magnus alumno, Flammeus at signum ter viderat arietis Ethon," Bisque novo terram sparsisti, Chlori, senilem Grande salutiferæ religionis opus. Utque solet, multam sit dicere cura salutem, Dicere quam decuit, si modo adesset, herum. Нӕс quoque, paulum oculos in humum defixa modestos, : Hæc tibi, si teneris vacat inter prælia Musis, Accipe sinceram, quamvis sit sera, salutem; Sera quidem, sed vera fuit, quam casta recepit Ast ego quid volui manifestum tollere crimen, Tu modo da veniam fasso, veniamque roganti; 50 55 lation in Ovid's "Ibis,"-" Cliniadæque modo," &c. v. 635. Alcibiades, the son of Clinias, was anciently descended from Eurysaces, a son of the Telamonian Ajax.T. WARTON. a Aristotle, preceptor to Alexander the Great.-T. WARTON. b Qualis Amyntorides, qualis Philyrëius heros. Phoenix, the son of Amyntor, and Chiron, both instructors of Achilles. The instances are, of the love of scholars to their masters, in ancient history.-T. WARTON. c Two years and one month; in which had passed three vernal equinoxes, two springs and two winters. Young, we may then suppose, went abroad in February, 1623, when Milton was about fifteen. But compare their prose correspondence, where Milton save "quod autem plusquam triennio nunquam ad te serip crim."-T. Warton. Sæpe sarissiferi crudelia pectora Thracis Placat et iratos hostia Jamque diu scripsisse tibi fuit impetus illi, Neve moras ultra ducere passus Amor; Nam vaga Fama refert, (heu, nuntia vera malorum!) In tibi finitimis bella tumere locis ; Teque tuamque urbem truculento milite cingi, Et jam Saxonicos arma parasse duces. Te circum late campos populatur Enyo, Et sata carne virum jam cruor arva rigat; 5 Siccine in externam ferrea cogis humum? Quæ via post cineres ducat ad astra, docent? Sæpe sarissiferi. 65 70 75 85 90 85 From the Macedonian "sarissa," or "pike;" whence soldiers were called "sarissophori." See Liv. ix. 19. And Ovid, "Met." xii. 466.-Todd. * Et jam Saxonicos arma parasse duces. About the year 1626, when this Elegy was written, the imperialists, under General Tilly, were often encountered by Christian, Duke of Brunswick, and the Dukes of Saxony, particularly Duke William of Saxe Weimar, and the Duke of Saxe Lauenberg, in Lower Saxony, of which Hamburg, where Young resided, is the capital. See v. 77. Germany in general, either by invasion or interior commotions, was a scene of the most bloody war, from the year 1618 till later than 1640. Gustavus Adolphus conquered the greater part of Germany about 1631.-T. WARTON. Vivis et ignoto solus inopsque solo. These circumstances, added to others, leave us strongly to suspect that Young was a non-conformist, and probably compelled to quit England on account of his religious opinions and practice. He seems to have been driven back to England, by the war in the Netherlands, not long after this Elegy was written.-T. WARTON. Sede peregrina quæris egenus opem. Before and after 1630, many English ministers, puritanically affected, left their cures and settled in Holland, where they became pastors of separate congregations: when matters took another turn in England, they returned, and were rewarded for their unconforming obstinacy in the new presbyterian establishment.-T. WARTON. h Haud aliter vates terræ Thesbitidis olim Finibus ingratus jussit abire suis. At tu sume animos; nec spes cadat anxia curis, Nec tua coneutiat decolor ossa metus. Sis etenim quamvis fulgentibus obsitus armis, At nullis vel inerme latus violabitur armis, ELEG. V. In Adventum Veris. ANNO ÆTATIS 20.1 IN se perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro Jam revocat Zephyros vere tepente novos; Sidoni dira. 400 105 110 115 120 125 Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. "Sidoni" is a vocative, from Sidonis, often applied by Ovid to Europa, the daughter of Agenor, king of Syria.-T. Warton. i Talis et, horrisono laceratus membra flagello, &c. Whipping and imprisonment were among the punishments of the arbitrary Starchamber, the threats "regis Achabi," which Young fled to avoid.-T. WARTON. i Et tu (quod superest), &c. From many obvious reasons, At tu is likely to be the true reading.-T. WARTON. This wish, as we have seen, came to pass. He returned; and, when at length his party became superior, he was rewarded with appointments of opulence and honour.T. WARTON. 1 In point of poetry, sentiment, selection of imagery, facility of versification, and Latinity, this Elegy, written by a boy, is far superior to one of Buchanan's on the same subject, entitled "Maia Calenda."-T. WARTON. Induiturque brevem Tellus reparata juventum, Jam mihi mens liquidi raptatur in ardua cœli, liber eo; Perque umbras, perque antra feror, penetralia vatum, Intuiturque animus toto quid agatur Olympo, Nec fugiunt oculos Tartara cæca meos. Quid parit hæc rabies, quid sacer iste furor? Est breve noctis iter, brevis est mora noctis opacæ, Horrida cum tenebris exulat illa suis : 35 Jamque Lycaonius, plaustrum cœleste, Boötes Non longa sequitur fessus ut ante via; Nunc etiam solitas circum Jovis atria toto Nam dolus, et cædes, et vis cum nocte recessit, Forte aliquis scopuli recubans in vertice pastor, Hac, ait, hac certe caruisti nocte puella, See v. 23. There is a notion that Milton could write verses only in the spring or summer, which perhaps is countenanced by these passages: but what poetical mind does not feel an expansion or invigoration at the return of the spring;-at that renovation of the face of nature, with which every mind is in some degree affected?— T WARTON. |