Phoebus, ab Eoo littore mensus iter: Ut matutino cùm juga sole rubent. Ac veluti cùm pandit opes Thaumantia proles, Vestitu nituit multicolore solum. Non dea tam variis ornavit floribus hortos Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris amata levi. 35 40 undis." And ib. p. 122. "Tartessiaco, qui fessos excipit axes, limite." Buchanan was now a popular modern classick. T. WARTON. Ver. 43. Non dea tam variis ornavit floribus hortos Alcinoi, Zephyro Chloris amata levi] Eden is compared to the Homerick garden of Alcinous, Parad. Lost, B. ix. 439. B. v. 341. Chloris is Flora, who according to ancient fable was beloved by Zephyr. Hence our author is to be explained, Parad. Lost, B. v. 16. "Mild as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes." See Ovid, Fast. L. v. 195. seq. She is again called Chloris by our author, El. iv. 35. Yet there, and according to the true etymology of the word, she is more properly the power of vege tation. Chloris is Flora in Drummond's Sonnets: "Faire Chloris is, when she doth paint Aprile." In Ariosto, Mercury steals Vulcan's net made for Mars and Venus to captivate Chloris, Orl. Fur. C. xv. 57. "Clorida bella, che per aria vola," &c. T. WARTON. Chloris is " queene of the flowers, and mistress of the Spring," in Ben Jonson's Mask of Chloridia. But see also the old com.mentator on Spenser's Shepheards Calender, April, ver. 122. Flumina vernantes lambunt argentea campos, Luciferi regis fingitur esse domus. 45 50 Ver. 45. Flumina &c.] In the garden of Eden, as Mr. Warton observes, "the crisped brooks roll on orient pearl and sands of gold," P. L. B. iv. 237. See also the "silver lakes," Par. Lost, B. vii. 437, as here" flumina argentea." TODD. Ver. 47. Serpit odoriferas per opes levis aura Favonî, Aura sub innumeris humida nata rosis.] same garden, B. iv. 156; but with a conceit. "Gentle gales, "Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense So, in the "Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole In the text, the aura, or breath of Favonius, is born, or becomes humid, under innumerable roses. Simply it contracts its fragrance from flowers. Compare Cymbeline, A. iv. S. 2. Perhaps, by the way, from Cutwoode's Caltha Poetarum, 1599. st. 22, of the primrose. And see st. 23. "Wagging the wanton with each wind and blast." Jonson should not here be forgotten, Masques, vol. vi. 39. "As gentle as the stroking wind "Runs o'er the gentler flowers." T. WARTON. Ver. 49. Talis in extremis terræ Gangetidis oris Luciferi regis fingitur esse domus.] I know not where this fiction is to be found. But our author has given a glorious description of a palace of Lucifer, in the Par. Lost, B. v. 757. VOL. VI. Ipse racemiferis dum densas vitibus umbras, "At length into the limits of the north 66 They came, and Satan to his royal seat "High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount, Rais'd on a mount, with pyramids and towers "In imitation of that mount, whereon "The Mountain of the Congregation call'd," &c. Here is a mixture of Ariosto and Isaiah. Because Lucifer is simply said by the prophet, " to sit upon the mount of the Congregation on the sides of the north," Milton builds him a palace on this mountain, equal in magnificence and brilliancy to the most superb romantick castle. In the text, by the utmost parts of the Gangetick land, we are to understand the north; the river Ganges, which separates India from Scythia, arising from the mountain Taurus. Mr. Steevens gives another meaning to the text: "You suppose the Palace of Lucifer, that is Satan, to have been the object intended. But I cannot help thinking, that the residence of the sun was what Milton meant to describe, as situated in the extreme point of the East. I shall countenance my opinion, by an instance not taken from a more inglorious author than our poet has sometimes deigned to copy: 66 For, from his Pallace in the East, "The King of Light, in purple drest, "Set thicke with gold and precious stone, "Which like a rocke of diamond shonne :" Pymlico, or Runne Red Cappe, &c. 1609. It is observable, that this passage not only exhibits the Domus Luciferi Regis terræ Gangetidis oris, but also the rock of diamond, in which Milton has armed one of his rebellious spirits. This House, I suppose, is intended for the Palace of the Sun, as described by Ovid. You Ecce! mihi subitò Præsul Wintonius astat, Vestis ad auratos defluxit candida talos, Infula divinum cinxerat alba caput. Dúmque senex tali incedit venerandus amictu, Agmina gemmatis plaudunt cœlestia pennis, 55 seem to have considered Lucifer as a proper name instead of a compound epithet." See "Luciferas rotas," infr. El. v. 46. T. WARTON. Possibly Milton might allude to a gorgeous description of the palace of the Sun by an Italian poet, published a few years before this Elegy was written, Canzoniere del Sig. Giustiniano, Vineg. 1620. See p. 217. "Il Palagio del Sole, &c. "Là ne l'alme contrade, "Che hanno per base i Poli "Stellati pauimenti "De le Piante di Dio, "Sorge vnico Palagio emulo al Cielo. "Trenta colonne in giro "Di lucido diamante 66 Capitellate di piropi ardenti," &c. Compare also Tasso, Gier. Conq. i. 19. "Sià lucente sorgeua il Sol da gl' Indi "Che parte è fuor, ma più nel Gange è chiuso." The residence of the sun, I think, was certainly intended by Milton. And see Propertius, II. xviii. 8. "At non Tithonis spernens Aurora senectam "Desertam Eoá passa jacere domo est." TODD. Ver. 59. Agmina gemmatis plaudunt cœlestia pennis,] Not from the Italian poets, but from Ovid's Cupid, Remed. Amor. v. 39. "Movit Amor gemmatas aureus alas." See also Amor. i. ii. 41. In Paradise Lost, Milton has been more sparing in decorating the plumage of his angels. T. WARTON. Ibid. plaudunt &c.] Hom. Il. ii. 462. Ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα ποτῶνται ΑΓΑΛΛΟΜΕΝΑΙ πτερύγεσσι. RICHARDSON. Pura triumphali personat æthra tubâ.. 60 Quisque novum amplexu comitem cantúque salutat, Hósque aliquis placido misit ab ore sonos; "Nate, veni, et patrii felix cape gaudia regni, 66 Semper abhinc duro, nate, labore vaca." Dixit, et aligeræ tetigerunt nablia turmæ, At mihi cum tenebris aurea pulsa quies. Flebam turbatos Cephaleiâ pellice somnos; Talia contingant somnia sæpe mihi * ! 65 Ver. 64. Semper abhinc duro, nate, labore vaca.] Rev. xiv. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours." JOHN WARTON. * Milton, as he grew old in puritanism, must have looked back with disgust and remorse on the panegyrick of this performance, as on one of the sins of his youth, inexperience, and orthodoxy : for he had here celebrated, not only a bishop, but a bishop who supported the dignity and constitution of the Church of England in their most extensive latitude, the distinguished favourite of Elizabeth and James, and the defender of regal prerogative. Clarendon says, that if Andrewes, "who loved and understood the Church," had succeeded Bancroft in the see of Canterbury, "that infection would easily have been kept out, which could not afterwards be so easily expelled," Hist. Rebell. B. i. p. 88. edit. 1721. T. WARTON. |