He hath with a piteous eye For his, etc. And freed us from the slavery Of the invading enemy; For his, etc. All living creatures he doth feed, Let us therefore warble forth That his mansion hath on high, For his mercies aye endure, ANNO ÆTATIS XVII. (1625.) ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT DYING OF A COUGH.-M. 1. I. O FAIREST flower, no sooner blown but blasted, Summer's chief honour, if thou hadst outlasted "Sweet rose, fair flower, untimely plucked, soon faded ; 5. on, i.q. of. It is the more correct form. -T. 60 70 That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss, But killed, alas! and then bewailed his fatal bliss. 11. For, since grim Aquilo, his charioteer, By boisterous rape the Athenian damsel got, If likewise he some fair one wedded not; Which 'mongst the wanton Gods a foul reproach was held. So, mounting up in icy-pearled car, Through middle empire of the freezing air IV. Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate; For so Apollo, with unweeting hand, 10 20 6. "He thought to kiss him and has killed him so." Shak. Ven. & Adon. 7. fatal bliss, i.e. his pleasure from the kiss which proved fatal to its object. 8. For since, etc. Alluding to the mythe of Boreas, carrying off Orithyia, daughter of the king of Attica. The making Boreas Winter's charioteer is a conception peculiar to the young poet. 12. infamous blot. "With foul infamous blot," F. Q. iii. 6, 13.-T. The elder poets thus frequently accented infamous, as the a is long in fama, infamis. 13. eld, i.e. old-age. 14. the wanton gods, sc. of Greece; on account of their numerous love-adventures. 15. icy-pearled, i.e. empearled with ice. Warton would read ice-ypearled ; but Todd observes that we meet in our poet with rosy-bosomed, flowery-kirtled, fiery-wheeled, so there is no need to change. 16. middle, i.e. between heaven and earth. 23. For so, etc. See our Mythology of Greece and Italy, p. 107, 3rd edit. Young Hyacinth, born on Eurotas' strand, Young Hyacinth, the pride of Spartan land; But then transformed him to a purple flower. Alack! that so to change thee Winter had no power. V. Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead, Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb, Hid from the world in a low-delved tomb. 30 VI. Resolve me then, O Soul most surely blest 40 VII. Wert thou some star, which from the ruined roof Of shaked Olympus by mischance didst fall, Or did of late Earth's sons besiege the wall 31. Already to their wormy beds are gone." Mids. N. Dr. iii. 2.—W. 33. for pity, i.e. unrestrained by, in spite of, pity. 39. Whether, etc., i.e. in the Empyrean; see Life of Milton, p. 549. 40. were. Hurd says it should be are; rather be. But Milton may have had his mind on past times. 41. say me true, i.e. say truly to me. 43. ruined, i.e. thrown down, ruinatus.-shaked, i.q. shaken. Our old writers were very irregular in the use of participles. 45. true behoof, i.e. a just regard to the interests of. 47. Earth's sons, i.e. the Giants. Of sheeny Heaven, and thou some goddess fled Amongst us here below to hide thy nectared head? VIII. Or wert thou that just Maid, who once before Or wert thou Mercy, that sweet smiling Youth? Or any other of that heavenly brood Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some good? IX. Or wert thou of the golden-winged host? 50 60 As if to shew what creatures heaven doth breed; Thereby to set the hearts of men on fire To scorn the sordid world, and unto heaven aspire. X. But oh! why didst thou not stay here below, To bless us with thy heaven-loved innocence, To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our foe, To turn swift-rushing black perdition hence, Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence, To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart?— But thou canst best perform that office where thou art. 70 48. sheeny, i.e. bright.-thou, sc. wert. 50. that just maid, i.e. Astræa or Justice. 53. Or wert, etc. See Life of Milton, p. 253. 55. that heavenly brood, i.e. the personified Virtues. He distinguishes them, we may observe, from the angels in the next stanza. 56. "Nube candentes humeros amictus, Augur Apollo." Hor. Carm. i. 2, 31.-K. 58. human weed, i.e. put on a human form, clad thyself in the garment of man. 59. prefixed, i.e. originally assigned. 66 seq. "And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed," Numb. xvi. 48.-K. The plague, Warton says, was at this time raging in the kingdom. XI. Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, That till the world's last end shall make thy name to live. ANNO ÆTATIS XIX. (1628.) AT A VACATION EXERCISE IN THE COLLEGE, PART LATIN, PART ENGLISH.-M. The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began. HAIL, native language, that by sinews weak Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee, 72. Her. This proves that the subject was a female. 10 74. Think, etc. There is apparently some slight confusion here, for what is called a present is said to be lent; but by present he meant, what was presented. The words of Hannah (1 Sam. i. 28) were probably in his mind. 4. slide, i.q. glide. These words were used indifferently, the former most frequently. Even Addison (Spect. No. 420) has "sliding round their axles" of the planets. Glide and slide are both of Anglo-Saxon origin. 6. Where, etc. It would seem from this that Milton did not speak articulately till he was two years old. 12. Believe, etc. Intimating that the Latin part, which was probably prose, was inferior to the English. |