40

45

50

35

He, with his thunder-clasping hand,
Smote the first-born of Egypt-land:

For his, &c.
And, in despite of Pharaoh fell,
He brought from thence his Israel :

For his, &c.
The ruddy waves he cleft in twain
Of the Erythræan main:

For his, &c.
The floods stood still, like walls of glass,
While the Hebrew bands did pass :

For his, &o.
But full soon, they did devour
The tawny king with all his power:

For his, &c.
His chosen people he did bless
In the wasteful wilderness :

For his, &c.
In bloody battle he brought down
Kings of prowess and renown:

For his, &e.
He foil'd bold Seon and his host,
That ruled the Amorrean coast :

For his, &c.
And large-limb'd Og he did subdue,
With all his over-hardy crew :

For his, &c.
And, to his servant Israel,
He
gave

their land therein to dwell:
For his, &c.
He hath, with a piteous eye,
Beheld us in our misery:

For his, &c.
And freed us from the slavery
Of the invading enemy:

For his, &c.
All living creatures he doth feed,
And with full hands supplies their need:

For, his, &c.
Let us therefore warble forth
His mighty majesty and worth:

For his, &c.
That his mansion hath on high
Above the reach of mortal eye:

For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

70

75

85

95

JOANNIS MILTONI

LONDINENSIS

Ρ Ο Ε Μ Α Τ Α;

QUORUM PLERAQUE INTRA ANNUM ÆTATIS VIGESIMUM CONSCRIPSIT.

Hæc quæ sequuntur de Auctore testimonia, tametsi ipse intelligebat non tam de se quam supra se esse dicta, eo quod præclaro ingenio viri, necnon amici, ita fere solent laudare, ut omnia suis potius virtutibus, quam veritati congruentia, nimis cupide affingant; noluit tamen horum egregiam in se voluntatem non esse notam ; cum alii præ. sertim ut id faceret magnopere suaderent. Dum enim nimia laudis invidiam totis ab se viribus amolitur, sibique quod plus æquo est non attributum esse mavult, judicium interim hominum cordatorum atque illustrium quin summo sibi honori ducat, negara non potesto

JOANNES BAPTISTA MANSUS, MARCHIO VILLENSIS, NEAPOLITANUS,

AD JOANNEM MILTONIUM, ANGLUM.
Ut mens, forma, decor, facies, mos, si pietas sic,

Non Anglus, verum hercle Angelus, ipse fores.

AD JOANNEM MILTONEM, ANGLUM, TRIPLICI POESEOS LAUREA

CORONANDUM, Græca nimirum, Latina, atque Hetrusca, Epigramma Joannis Salsilli, Romani.

CEDE, Meles; cedat depressa Mincius urna;

Sebetus Tassum desinat usque loqui:
At Thamesis victor cunctis ferat altior undas,

Nam per te, Milto par tribus unus erit.

AD JOANNEM MILTONUM.
GRÆCIA Mæonidem, jactet sibi Roma Maronem;

Anglia Miltonum jactat utrique parem.-SELVAGGI.

AL SIGNOR GIO. MILTONI, NOBILE INGLESE.

ODE.
ERGIMI all' Etra ò Clio
Perche di stelle intrecciero corona
Non più del Biondo Dio
La fronde eterna in Pindo, e in Elicona,
Diensi a merto maggior, maggiori i fregi,
A' celeste virtù celesti pregi.

Non puo del tempo edace
Rimaner preda, eterno alto valoro
Non puo l'oblio rapace,
Furar dalle memorie eccelso onore,
Su l'arco di mia cetra un dardo forte
Virtù m' adatti, e ferirò la morte.
Del ocean profondo
Cinta dagli ampi gorghi Anglia resiede
Separata dal mondo,
Però che il suo valor l' umana eccede :
Questa feconda sa produrre Eroi,
Ch' hanno a ragion del sovruman tra noi.
Alla virtù sbandita
Danno ne i petti lor fido ricetto,
Quella gli è sol gradita,
Perche in lei san trovar gioia, e diletto;
Ridillo tu, Giovanni, e mostra in tanto
Con tua vera virtù, vero il mio Canto.
Lungi dal patrio lido
Spinse Zeusi l'industre ardente brama;
Ch'udio d' Helena il grido
Con aurea tromba rimbombar la fama,
E per poterla effigiare al paro
Dalle più belle Idee trasse il più raro.
Cosi ľape ingegnosa
Trao con industria il suo liquor pregiato
Dal giglio e dalla rosa,
E quanti vaghi fiori ornano il prato;
Formano un dolce suon diverse chorde,
Fan varie voci melodia concorde.
Di bella gloria amante
Milton dal ciel natio per varie parti
Le peregrine pianto
Volgesti a ricercar scienze, ed arti;
Del Gallo regnator vedesti i regni,
E dell'Italia ancor gl' Eroi più degni.
Fabro quasi divino
Sol virtù rintracciando il tur *..nsiero
Vide in ogni confino
Chi di nobil valor calca il sentiero;
L'ottimo dal miglior dopo scegleia
Per fabbricar d'ogni virtù l'idea.
Quanti nacquero in Flora
O in lei del parlar Tosco appreser l'arte,
La cui memoria onora
Il mondo fatta eterna in dotto carte,
Volesti ricercar per tuo tesoro,
E parlasti con lor nell'opre loro.
Nell'altera Babelle
Per te il parlar confuse Giove in vano,
Che per varie favelle
Di se stessa trofeo cadde su 'l piano:
Ch' Ode oltr' all' Anglia il suo più degno idioma
Spagna, Francia, Toscana, e Grecia, e Roma.

I più profondi arcani
Ch' occulta la natura e in cielo e in terra
Ch' à ingegni sovrumani
Troppo avaro tal' hor gli chiude, e serra,
Chiaromente conosci, e giungi al fine
Della moral virtude al gran confine.
Non batta il Tempo l'ale,
Fermisi immoto, e in un fermin si gl' anni,
Che di virtù immortale
Scorron di troppo ingiuriosi a i danni;
Che s' opre degne di poema o storia
Furon gia, l'hai presenti alla memoria.
Dammi tua dolce cetra
Se vuoi ch' io dica del tuo doloe canto,
Ch' inalzandoti all' Etra
Di farti huomo celeste ottiene il vanto,
Il Tamigi il dirà che gl' e concesso
Per te suo eigno pareggiar Permesso.
Io che in riva del Arno
Tento spiegar tuo merto alto e preclaro,
So che fatico indarno,
E ad ammirar, non a lodarlo imparo;
Freno dunque la lingua, e ascolto il core
Che ti prende a lodar con lo stupore.
Del Sig. ANTONIO FRANCINI,

Gentilhuomo Fiorentino.

JOANNI MILTONI LONDINENSI:Juveni patria virtutibus eximio; Viro, qui multa peregrinatione, studio cuneta orbis terrarum loca perspexit; at Dorus Ulysses omnia ubique ab omnibus apprehenderet :

Polyglotto, in cujus oro linguæ jam deperditæ sic reviviscant, ut idiomata omnia sint in ejus laudibus infacunda ; et jure ea percallet, ut admirationes et plausus populorum ab propria sapientia excitatos intelligat:

Illi, cujus animi dotes corporisque sensus ad admirationem commovent, et per ipsam motum cuique auferunt; cujus opera ad plausus hortantur, sed venustate* vocem laudatoribus adimunt:

Cui in memoria totus orbis; in intellectu sapientia; in voluntate ardor gloriæ ; in ore eloquentia; harmonicos coelestium sphærarum sonitus, astronomia duce, audienti; characteres mirabilium naturæ, per quos Dei magnitudo describitur, magistra philosophia, legenti; antiquitatum latebras, vetustatis excidia, eruditionis ambages, comite assidua auctorum lectione,

Exquirenti, restauranti, percurrenti:

At cur nitor in arduum ? Nli, in cujus virtutibus eralgandis ora Famæ non saficiant, nec hominum stupor in laudandis satis est; reverentiæ et amoris ergo hoo ejus meritis debitum admirationis tributum offert CAROLUS Datus,f Patricius Florentinus,

Tanto homini servus, tantæ virtutis amator.

* In the edition 1645, it stood " vastitate.'' † Carlo Dati, one of Milton's literary friends at Florence. See “ Epitaph. Damon." v. 137. -T. WARTON.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE LATIN VERSES. Milton is said to be the first Englishman, who, after the restoration of letters, wrote Latin verses with classic elegance: but we must at least except some of the hendecasyllables and epigrams of Leland, one of our first literary reformers, from this hasty determination.

In the Elegies, Ovid was professedly Milton's model for language and versification; they are not, however, a perpetual and uniform tissue of Ovidian phraseology. With Ovid in view, he has an original manner and character of his own, which exhibit a remarkable perspicuity of contexture, a native facility and fluency. Nor does his observation of Roman models oppress or destroy our great poet's inherent powers of invention and sentiment: I value these pieces as much for their fancy and genius, as for their style and expression.

That Ovid among the Latin poets was Milton's favourite, appears not only from his elegiac, but his hexametric poetry. The versification of our author's hexameters has yet a different structure from that of the “Metamorphoses :" Milton's is more clear, intelligible, and flowing; less desultory, less familiar, and less embarrassed with a frequent recurrence of periods. Ovid is at onco rapid and abrupt; he wants dignity: he has too much conversation in his manner of telling a story. Prolixity of paragraph, and length of sentence, are peculiar to Milton : this is seen, not only in some of his exordial invocations in the "Paradise Lost," and in many of the religious addresses of a like cast in the Prose Works, but in his long verse. It is to be wished that, in his Latin compositions of all sorts, he had been more attentive to the simplicity of Lucretius, Virgil, and Tibullus.

Dr. Johnson, unjustly I think, prefers the Latin poetry of May and Cowley to that of Milton, and thinks May to be the first of the three. May is certainly a sonorous versifier, and was sufficiently accomplished in poetical declamation for the continuation of Lucan's “ Pharsalia :" but May is scarcely an author in point: his skill is in parody; and he was confined to the peculiarities of an archetype, which, it may be presumed, he thought excellent. As to Cowley when compared with Milton, the same critic observes, “ Milton is generally content to express the thoughts of the ancients in their language: Cowley, without much loss of purity or elegance, accommodates the diction of Rome to his own conceptions. The advantage seems to lie on the side of Cowley." But what are these conceptions ? Metaphysical conceits; all the unnatural extravagances of his English poetry; such as will not bear to be clothed in the Latin language, much less are capable of admitting any degree of pure Latinity.

Milton's Latin poems may be justly considered as legitimate classical compositions, and are never disgraced with such language and such imagery: Cowley's Latinity, dictated by an irregular and unrestrained imagination, presents a mode of diction half Latin and half English. It is not so much that Cowley wanted a knowledge of the Latin style, but that he suffered that knowledge to be perverted and corrupted by false and extravagant thoughts. Milton was a more perfect scholar than Cowley, and his mind was more deeply tinctured with the excellences of ancient literature : he was a more just thinker, and therefore a more just writer: in a word he had more taste, and more poetry, and consequently more propriety. If fondness for the Italian writers has sometimes infected his English poetry with false ornaments; his Latin verses, both in diction and sentiment, are at least free from those depravations.

Some of Milton's Latin poems were written in his first year at Cambridge, when he was only seventeen: they must be allowed to be very correct and manly performances for a youth of that age; and, considered in that view, they discover an extraordinary copiousness and command of ancient fable and history. I cannot but add, that Gray resembles Milton in many instances : among others, in their youth they were both strongly attached to the cultivation of Latin poetry.-T. Warton.