Sed hic tacebo, nam quis effari queat,

Oriundus humano patre,

Amœnitates illius loci? Mihi

Sat eft in æternum frui.

Naturam non pati senium*.

65

EU, quam perpetuis erroribus acta fatifcit Avia mens hominum, tenebrifque immerfa profundis,

Oedipodioniam volvit fub pectore noctem!

Again, ibid. 860.

The "

The CRYSTAL wall of heaven which opening wide, &c. CRYSTALLINE fphere" is from the Ptolemaic or Gothic fyftem of aftronomy, PARAD. L. B. iii.482. And fo perhaps Spenfer, TEARES OF THE MUSES, Viii.

From hence we mount aloft unto the skie,

And looke into the CRYSTALL firmament.

*This was an academical exercise, written in 1628, to oblige one of the fellows of Chrift's college, who having laid afide the levities of poetry for the gravity and folidity of profe, impofed the boyish task on Milton, now about nineteen years old. " Quidam ædium noitra"rum Socius, qui Comitiis hifce academicis in Difputatione philofo

Quæ vefana fuis metiri facta deorum

Audet, et incifas leges adamante perenni
Affimilare fuis, nulloque folubile fæclo
Confilium fati perituris alligat horis.

5

II

Ergone marcefcet fulcantibus obfita rugis Naturæ facies, et rerum publica mater Omniparum contracta uterum fterilefcet ab ævo? Et fe faffa fenem, male certis paffibus ibit Sidereum tremebunda caput? Num tetra vetuftas, Annorumque æterna fames, fqualorque fitufque, Sidera vexabunt? An et insatiabile Tempus Efuriet Cœlum, rapietque in vifcera patrem? 15 Heu, potuitne fuas imprudens Jupiter arces Hoc contra muniffe nefas, et Temporis ifto Exemiffe malo, gyrofque dediffe perennes ?

"phica refponfurus erat, carmina fuper quæftionibus pro more annuo "componenda, prætervectus ipfe jam diu leviculas illiufmodi nugas, "et rebus feriis intentior, forte meæ puerilitati commifit." Milton's Letter to A. Gill, dat. Cambridge, Jul. 2. 1628, Epift. Fam. PROSEWORKS, ii. 566. They were printed, not for fale, and fent to his late schoolmafter at faint Paul's, Alexander Gill, aforefaid. For he adds, "Hæc quidem typis donata ad te mifi, utpote quem norim rerum "poeticarum judicem acerrimum, et mearum candidiffimum, &c." It is ftill a custom at Cambridge, to print the comitial verfes accom, panying the public difputations.

To be able to write a Latin verfe, called Verfificari, was looked upon as a high accomplishment in the dark ages. This art they fometimes applied to their barbarous philofophy: and the practice gave rife to the TRIPOS Verfes at Cambridge, and the CARMINA QUADRAGESIMALIA at Oxford. From fuch rude beginnings is elegance derived.

Ergo

Ergo erit ut quandoque fono dilapfa tremendo
Convexi tabulata ruant, atque obvius ictu

20

Stridat uterque polus, fuperaque ut Olympius aula
Decidat, horribilifque retecta Gorgone Pallas;
Qualis in Ægeam proles Junonia Lemnon
Deturbata facro cecidit de limine cœli?

Tu quoque, Phœbe, tui casus imitabere nati;
Præcipiti curru, fubitaque ferere ruina
Pronus, et extincta fumabit lampade Nereus,
Et dabit attonito feralia fibila ponto.
Tunc etiam aerei divulfis fedibus Hæmi
Diffultabit apex, imoque allifa barathro
Terrebunt Stygium dejecta Ceraunia Ditem,
In fuperos quibus ufus erat, fraternaque bella.
At pater omnipotens, fundatis fortius aftris,
Confuluit rerum fummæ, certoque peregit
Pondere fatorum lances, atque ordine fummo
Singula perpetuum juffit fervare tenorem.

23. Qualis in Egeam, &c.] See above, EL. vi. 81.
Sic dolet amiffum PROLES JUNONIA cœlum, &c.

And PARAD. L. B. i. 740.

Men call'd him Mulciber, and how he fell
From heaven, they fabled, &c.

Dropt from the zenith life a falling ftar

On Lemnos th' Ægean ifle.

25

30

35

In the last line Bentley reads, "On Lemnos thence his ifle." But, to

fay no more, gean is perhaps afcertained by our Latin text.

Volvitur

Volvitur hinc lapfu mundi rota prima diurno;
Raptat et ambitos focia vertigine cœlos.

40

45

Tardior haud folito Saturnus, et acer ut olim
Fulmineum rutilat criftata caffide Mavors.
Floridus æternum Phœbus juvenile corufcat,
Nec fovet effœtas loca per declivia terras
Devexo temone Deus; fed femper amica
Luce potens, eadem currit per figna rotarum.
Surgit odoratis pariter formofus ab Indis,
Æthereum pecus albenti qui cogit Olympo,
Mane vocans, et ferus agens in pafcua cœli;
Temporis et gemino difpertit regna colore.
Fulget, obitque vices alterno Delia cornu,
Cæruleumque ignem paribus complectitur ulnis.
Nec variant elementa fidem, folitoque fragore 51
Lurida perculfas jaculantur fulmina rupes.
Nec per inane furit leviori murmure Corus,
Stringit et armiferos æquali horrore Gelonos

Trux Aquilo, fpiratque hyemem, nimbofque volutat.

Utque folet, Siculi diverberat ima Pelori

55

Rex maris, et rauca circumftrepit æquora concha Oceani tubicen, nec vafta mole minorem

Ægeona fuerunt dorfo Balearica cete.

530

Sed neque, Terra, tibi fæcli vigor ille vetufti 60 Prifcus abeft, fervatque fuum Narciffus odorem, ille fuum tenet, et puer ille, decorem,

Et puer

Phoebe, tuufque, et, Cypri, tuus; nec ditior olim Terra datum fceleri celavit montibus aurum

Confcia, vel fub aquis gemmas. Sic denique in

ævum

Ibit cunctarum feries juftiffima rerum ;

Donec flamma orbem populabitur ultima, late
Circumplexa polos, et vafti culmina cœli;
Ingentique rogo flagrabit machina mundi *.

De Idea Platonica quemadmodum Ariftoteles
intellexit.

Dit

Icite, facrorum præfides nemorum deæ,
Tuque O noveni perbeata numinis

Memoria mater, quæque in immenso procul

64. Terra datum fceleri celavit montibus aurum

V. 718.

65

Confcia, vel Jub aquis gemmas. —] See EL. v. 77. And Coмus,

In her own loins

She hutcht th' all-worshipt ore, &c.

Again, ibid. 732.

And th' unfought diamonds

Would fo imblaze the forehead of the deep, &c.

This poem is replete with fanciful and ingenious allufions. It has also a vigour of expreffion, a dignity of fentiment, and elevation of thought, rarely found in very young writers.

3. This is a fublime perfonification of Eternity. And there is great reach of imagination in one of the conceptions which follows, that the original archetype of Man may be a huge giant, ftalking in fome

remote