From The Examiner, 18 July. AN UNPUBLISHED POEM BY MILTON. SIR,As the discovery of an unpublished poem by Milton is matter of interest to all readers, and the authenticity of such a poem cannot be too strictly and generally tested, I shall be obliged if you will give publicity to the fact that such a poem has been found. It exists in the handwriting of Milton himself, on a blank page in the volume of Poems both English and Latin, which contains his " Comus," " Lycidas,' L'Allegro," and "Il Penseroso." It is signed with his initials, and dated October, 1647. It was discovered in this manner: I had undertaken to contribute a small pleasure book of literature to a cheap popular series, and in forming such a volume from the writings of the poets who lived in the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth, where I did not myself possess original editions of their works to quote from, I looked for them in the reading-room of the British Museum. Fortunately, it did not seem to me useless to read a proof containing passages from Milton with help of the original edition of his English and Latin poems published in 1645. There are two copies of that book in the Museum -one in the General Library, which would be the edition commonly consulted, and the other in the noble collection formed by George III., known as the King's Library, which was the copy I referred to. The volume contains first the English, then the Latin poems of that first period of Milton's life, each separately paged. The Latin poems end on page 87, leaving the reverse of the leaf blank; and this blank I found covered with handwriting, which, to any one familiar with the collection of facsimiles in the late Mr. Sotheby's Ramblings in Elucidation of the Autograph of Milton, would, I think, convey at first glance the impression it conveyed to me, that this was the handwriting of John Milton. It proved to be a transcript of a poem in fiftyfour lines, which Milton, either for himself or for some friend, had added to this volume. It is entitled simply "An Epitaph," and signed by him "J. M., Ober, 1647.” He was then in his 39th year. As the page is about the size of a leaf of note-paper, the handwriting is small. Thirty-six lines were first written, which filled the left-hand side of the page, then a line was lightly drawn to the right of them, and, the book being turned sideways, the rest of the poem was packed into three little columns, eight lines in each of the first two columns, and the other two lines at the top of the third column, followed by the initials and date. Upon the small blank space left in this corner of the page the Museum stamp is affixed, covering a part of Milton's signature. 66 The book is in the one place in the world where it is most accessible to the scrutiny of experts, and inquiry will no doubt be made into its history. Its press mark is 238h, 35 in the King's Library. The poem, I think, speaks for itself. I need hardly add that the following copy of it has the MS. contractions expanded and the spelling modernised, but it should be stated that the word here printed 'chest," as the rhyme shows it was meant to be pronounced, was written cist," and that the last three syllables of the last line but two, though close to the edge of the binding and almost effaced by the sticking to them of some paper from the cover, are consistent, in the few marks that are visible, with the reading here conjectured and placed within brackets. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 66 HENRY MORLEY. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, July 14. "AN EPITAPH. "HE whom Heaven did call away Meanwhile the Muses do deplore And while his doom they think upon Think not, reader, me less blest, In this little bed my dust Then pass on gently, ye that mourn, Touch not this mine hallowed Urn; These Ashes which do here remain A vital tincture still retain : A seminal form within the deeps This plant though entered into dust Until sweet Psyche shall inspire And in her fostering arms enfold But bloom and blossom (as) b(efore) From the Atlantic Monthly. THE sun has marked me for his own; I cannot leave the fields alone; I put aside the forms of men, And shun the world's consuming care. How wonderful this pilgrimage! I crave the tongues that Adam knew, And quarrel with the bees. To answer when the grossbeak calls His mate; to mock the catbird's screech; Now through the pasture, and across A small owl from the thistle-tops The meadow-lark lifts shoulder-high Slants forth on curvéd wing. The patient barn-fowls strut about, The gobbler swells his shaggy coat, Round-shouldered and demure. The clear-eyed cattle calmly stop To munch the dry husk in the rack; Or stretch their solid necks, and crop The fringes of the stack. But night is coming, as I think; The moving air is growing cool; The sun is down, the clouds are gray, GRACE OWEN'S ENGAGEMENT. Loring, Publisher, Boston. PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION AT THIS OFFICE: A HOUSE OF CARDS. THE BRAMLEIGHS OF BISHOP'S FOLLY, by CHARLES LEVER. LATELY PUBLISHED: THE BROWNLOWS, by MRS. OLIPHANT. 38 cts. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY LITTELL & GAY, BOSTON. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. FOR EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. But we do not prepay postage on less than a year, nor where we have to pay commission for forwarding the money. Price of the First Series, in Cloth, 36 volumes, 90 dollars. Any Volume Bound, 3 dollars; Unbound, 2 dollars. The sets, or volumes, will be sent at the expense of the publishers. PREMIUMS FOR CLUBS. For 5 new subscribers ($40.), a sixth copy; or a set of HORNE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE, unabridged, in 4 large volumes, cloth, price $10; or any 5 of the back volumes of the LIVING AGE, in num bers, price $10. BILL AND JOE. BY O. W. HOLMES. COME, dear old comrade, you and I Your name may flaunt a titled trail, You've won the great world's envied prize, In big brave letters, fair to see, - You've worn the judge's ermined robe; The chafing young folks stare and say, How Bill forgets his hour of pride, Ah, pensive scholar, what is fame? The weary idol takes his stand, Read on the hearts that love us still, WINIFRED. SWEET Winifred sits at the cottage door, The rose on her cheeks is rose too red, Of youth and strength in their opening day; Her friend, her lover, her worshiper; 66 "Winifred! Winifred! be thou mine; Many may woo thee, many may pine, To win from thy lips the sweet caress, But thou canst not give it, or answer' yes.' There is not one amid them all To whom if the prize of thyself should fall, Only to me canst thou be given- Eternal youth, perennial joy, And love that never shall change or cloy; "I know thee well. Thy name is Death. 6 THE curious compositions which popularly bear the name of Apocryphal Gospels are little known in this country, even by theologians, or known only to be abused. The very knowledge of them, where it exists, is avowed with an apology. These poor literary inamenities' (wrote Bishop Ellicott twelve years ago),* these weak and foolish outpourings of heresy and credulity, are still destined to live and linger among us. ... Such tenacity of existence is yet more noticeable, when we remember that their mendacities, their absurdities, their coarseness, the barbarities of their style, and the inconsequences of their narratives, have never been excused or condoned. It would be hard to find any competent writer in any age of the Church, who has been beguiled into saying anything civil or commendatory. . . . The whole vocabulary of theological abhorrence, a vocabulary by no means limited in its extent, or culpably weak in its expressions, has been expended upon these unfortunate compositions individually and collectively.' Perhaps this is a little too strong a description both of the Apocryphal Gospels themselves, and of the treatment they have met with universally in the Christian Church. The learned Whitaker, writing certainly with no prepossession in their favour, admits that they were once highly esteemed by many;' nor would it be difficult, we imagine, to one versed in mediæval lore to add other re Cambridge Essays, 1856. ↑ Disputations on Scripture, 1588. spectable names to those of Gregory of Tours, Fulbert of Chartres, and Vincent of Beauvais, whom M. Nicolas cites as having claimed for these writings a more deferential consideration than had been paid them by authority. Doubtless, when Bishop Ellicott wrote, he was thinking chiefly or solely of the ancient Fathers, and of theologians of the last few centuries; and within these limits there is little exaggeration in his language. Yet even in our own times we can point to a remarkable revival of interest in these primæval writings, at once more respectful and on the whole more reasonable. Some twenty years before the Bishop wrote his essay, a striking series of criticisms had appeared in France, which gave rise to a considerable movement in that country, not to say throughout Europe, in favour of these remnants of early Christianity. In the Université Catholique' (the organ of M. de Montalembert's school) a series of lessons on the Poetry of Christendom was commenced, in 1836, by MM. Rio and Douhaire, which eloquently set forth the merits of these documents, and attracted no small amount of attention. They were presently followed in the same country by M. Gustave Bonnet's annotated translation of the Apocryphal Gospels; which again, together with a large portion of M. Douhaire's own remarks, has been incorporated into the 'Dictionnaire des Apocryphes,' forming two volumes of M. Migne's colossal Encyclopédie Théologique,' the text-book of the French clergy. The subject has been further pursued in the smaller works of MM. Dulaurier and Alfred Maury, and lastly by M. Nicolas, whose very able treatise we propose to notice presently. Meanwhile the Society for the Defence of the Christian Religion' at the Hague, having offered a reward for the best essay on the subject, the prize was gained in 1851, by Constantine Tischendorf, a scholar already well known for his laborious investigations in the text of the Greek Testament, and universally famous since then for his discovery of the Sinaitic MS. To Dr. Tischendorf, besides his careful essay, we owe the best and most complete critical edition of these spurious Gospels, as well as a similar collection of the Apocryphal Acts. And again it was the appearance of his |