With a sad leaden downward casti And join with thee calm Peace, and Quiet, That in trim gardens takes his pleasure: Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, Thee, chauntress, oft, the woods among, I woo, to hear thy even-song; 3 With a sad leaden downward cast. 45 50 55 60 Hence, says Mr. Warton, Gray's expressive phraseology, of the same personage, in his"Hymn to Adversity:" With leaden eye that loves the ground.-TODD. * Trim gardens. Mr. Warton here observes, that affectation and false elegance were now carried to the most elaborate and absurd excess in gardening; and he notices, among similar monuments of extravagance in other countries, "the garden at Hampton-court, where in privet are figured various animals, the royal arms of England, and many other things." The architecture du jardinage, he thinks, may be also discovered in the "spruce-spring," the "cedarn alleys," the "crisped shades and bowers," in "Comus:" and the "trim garden" in "Arcades," v. 46.-TODD. 1 Him that yon soars on golden wing, Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne, By contemplation, is here meant that stretch of thought, by which the mind ascends to the first good, first perfect, and first fair; and is therefore very properly said to "soar on golden wing, guiding the fiery-wheeled throne:" that is, to take a high and glorious flight, carrying bright ideas of Deity along with it. But the whole imagery alludes to the cherubic forms that conveyed the fiery-wheeled car in Ezekiel, x. 2, seq. See also Milton himself, "Par. Lost," b. vi. 750: so that nothing can be greater or juster than this idea of "divine Contemplation." Contemplation, of a more sedate turn, and intent only on human things, is more fitly described, as by Spenser, under the figure of an old man; time and experience qualifying men best for this office. Spenser might then be right in his imagery; and yet Milton might be right in his, without being supposed to ramble after some fanciful Italian.-HURD. m And the mute Silence hist along. I always admired this and the seventeen following lines with excessive delight. There is a spell in it, which goes far beyond mere description: it is the very perfection of ideal, and picturesque, and contemplative poetry. n Most musical, most melancholy. "L'Allegro" began with the morning of the day, and the lively salutation of the lark: "Il Penseroso," with equal propriety, after a general exordium, opens with the night: with moonshine, and the melancholy music of the nightingale.-T. WARTON.. And, missing thee, I walk unseen What worlds or what vast regions hold • And oft, &c. Here follows a description at once poetically picturesque, and strictly natural; the moon having that appearance of positive descent, as the kind of clouds here described break and disperse around her.-DUNSTER. P With sullen roar. This finely descriptive epithet is adopted from the "sullen bell" in Shakspeare's "King Henry IV." P. II. or " the surly sullen bell" in his seventy-first Sonnet.-TODD. Observe that the toll of bells always comes across a spreading water with extraordinary melancholy. Thus I have been long accustomed to listen to it across the lake of Geneva with deep emotion. This mention of the curfeu is much finer even than the noble line which opens Gray's "Elegy," though that has always been so justly admired. a Some still removed place will fit. That is, "some quiet, remote, or unfrequented place will suit my purpose." "Removed" is the ancient English participle passive for the Latin remote.-T. WARTON. r Or the bellman's drowsy charm, To bless the doors from nightly harm. Anciently the watchman, who cried the hours, used sundry benedictions.-T. WARTON. ·s Be seen in some high lonely tower, The extraneous circumstance "be seen," gives poetry to a passage, the simple sense of which is only, "Let me study at midnight by a lamp in a lofty tower." Hence a picture is created which strikes the imagination.-T. WARTON. This is one of those happy observations so characteristic of Thomas Warton. When the midnight wanderer sees through the dark a distant light in a high tower, it much engages his eye, and moves his imagination, if he has any mind and sensitiveness: and this application of mind to the description of scenery is what alone gives it the force of a high order of poetry. The spirit of Plato. This shows what sort of contemplation he was most fond of. Milton's imagination made him as much a mystic as his good sense would give leave.—HURD. The immortal mind, that hath forsook But, O, sad Virgin, that thy power And made Hell grant what love did seek! Or call up him that left half-told The story of Cambuscan bold, Of Camball and of Algarsife, That own'd the virtuous ring and glass; And of the wonderous horse of brass, u And of those demons, &c. 95 100 105 110 115 Undoubtedly these notions are from Plato's "Timæus" and "Phædon," and the reveries of his old commentators; yet with some reference to the Gothic system of demons, which is a mixture of Platonism, school-divinity, and Christian superstition.-T. WARTON. ▾ Sometimes let gorgeous Tragedy In sceptred pall come sweeping by. By "sceptred pall," Dr. Newton understands the palla honesta of Horace, "Art. Poet." v. 278. But Horace, I humbly apprehend, only means that Eschylus introduced masks and better dresses. Palla honesta is simply a "decent robe." Milton means something more: by clothing Tragedy in her "sceptred pall," he intended specifically to point out regal stories as the proper arguments of the higher drama: and this more expressly appears, from the subjects immediately mentioned in the subsequent couplet. -T. WARTON. w Though rare. Just glancing at Shakspeare.-HURD. x Might raise Muscus from his bower! Museus and Orpheus are mentioned together in Plato's "Republic," as two of the genuine Greek poets. To Orpheus or his harp our author has frequent allusions.-T. WARTON. y Or call him up that left half-told The story of Cambuscan bold, &c. Hence it appears, that Milton, among Chaucer's pieces, was most struck with his "Squire's Tale:" it best suited our author's predilection for romantic poetry. Chaucer is here ranked with the sublime poets: his comic vein is forgotten and overlooked.-T. WARTON. And if aught else great bards beside, &c. From Chaucer, the father of English poetry, and who is here distinguished by a story remarkable for the wildness of its invention, our author seeems to make a very In sage and solemn tunes have sung, Of turneys, and of trophies hung; Of forests and enchantments drear, Not trick'd and frounced as she was wont e But kercheft in a comely cloud, When the gust hath blown his fill, 120 125 pertinent and natural transition to Spenser; whose "Faery Queene," although it externally professes to treat of tournaments and the trophies of knightly valour, of fictitious forests and terrific enchantments, is yet allegorical, and contains a remote meaning concealed under the veil of a fabulous action, and of a typical narrative, which is not immediately perceived. Spenser sings in "sage and solemn tunes," with respect to his morality, and the dignity of his stanza. In the mean time, it is to be remembered, that there were other "great bards," and of the romantic class, who sung in such tunes, and who "mean more than meets the ear." Both Tasso and Ariosto pretend to an allegorical and mysterious meaning: and Tasso's enchanted forest, the most conspicuous fiction of the kind, might have been here intended. One is surprised that Milton should have delighted in romances: the images of feudal and royal life which those books afford, agreed not at all with his system.-T. WARTON. a Where more is meant than meets the ear. Seneca, Epist. 114. "In quibus plus intelligendum est quam audiendum."-Bowle. b Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career. Hitherto we have seen the night of the melancholy man: here his day commences: accordingly, this second part or division of the poem is ushered in with a long verse.T. WARTON. e Till civil-suited Morn appear. Plainly from Shakspeare, as Dr. Newton and Mr. Bowle have separately observed, "Romeo and Juliet," a. iii. s. 4: Come, civil Night, Thou sober-suited matron, all in black. Where "civil" is grave, decent, solemn.-T. WARTON. d Not trick'd and frounced. The meaning of "frounced" seems most commonly to signify an excessive or affected dressing of the hair: it is from the French froncer, to curl.-T. WARTON. "Trick'd" also should be explained, which means dressed out.-TODD. Dr. Johnson, from this to the 154th verse inclusively, thus abridges our author's ideas :-"When the morning comes, a morning gloomy with rain and wind, he walks into the dark trackless woods, falls asleep by some murmuring water, and, with melancholy enthusiasm, expects some dream of prognostication, or some music played by aerial performers." Never were fine imagery and fine imagination so marred, mutilated, and impoverished by a cold, unfeeling, and imperfect representation! To say nothing, that he confounds two descriptions.-T. WARTON. If he had gone out in a morning of rain and wind, and laid himself down by some murmuring stream, he would have subjected himself to that modern plague the cholera: but the poet says that it was not till "the sun began to fling his flaring beams," that he went forth to groves and sylvan scenery. Thus it is that Johnson is commonly vague, and full of pompous and empty sounds, when he attempts to describe; yet on such loose descriptions have his fond eulogists given him credit for poetical imagination. Warton saw this with disgust, and here speaks out. How often must the nice Ending on the rustling leaves, Where the rude axe, with heaved stroke, With such consort as they keep, Entice the dewy-feather'd Sleep; And let some strange mysterious Dream* Wave at his wings in aery stream and exquisite classical scholarship of this accomplished and genuine critic have been revolted by the rude pedant's coarse and unfeeling pomposity! & Still. i. e. gentle, as this word was once commonly understood.—TODD. h With minute drops from off the eaves. A natural little circumstance, calculated to impress a pleasing melancholy; and which reminds one of a similar image in a poet who abounds in natural little circumstances. Speaking of a gentle spring-shower, ""Tis scarce to patter heard," says Thomson, "Spring," ver. 176.-Jos. WARTON. He means, by "minute drops from off the eaves," not small drops, but minute drops, such as drop at intervals, by minutes, for the shower was now over: as we say, minute guns, and minute bells. In "L'Allegro," the lark bade good morrow at the poet's window, through sweet-briars, honeysuckles, and vines, spreading, as we have seen, over the walls of the house: now, their leaves are dropping-wet with a morning-shower.T. WARTON. i Day's garish eye. The "garish eye" is the glaring eye, of Day. So, in "Rom. and Jul." a. iii. s. 4, as Dr. Newton has observed, "the garish sun." It is a favourite word with Drayton, who applies it, in the sense of fine, gaudy, to "fields," in his "Owle," 1604; and to "flowers," in his "Nymph." v. 1630; whence perhaps "the garish columbine" of Milton.-TODD. So Virgil, "Ecl." i. 56: i While the bee, &c. Hyblæis apibus florem depasta salicti On the hill Hymettus, the haunt of learning, the bee is made to invite to meditation, with great elegance and propriety, "Paradise Regained," iv. 247, &c. Compare also Drayton's "Owle," 1604.-T. WARTON. And let some strange mysterious Dream, &c. I do not exactly understand the whole of the context. Is the Dream to wave at Sleep's wings? Dr. Newton will have "wave" to be a verb neuter; and very justly, as the passage now stands. But let us strike out "at," and make "wave" active:Let some strange mysterious Dream Wave his wings, in aery stream, &c. "Let some fantastic Dream put the wings of Sleep in motion, which shall be displayed, or expanded, in an airy or soft stream of visionary imagery, gently falling or settling |