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V. IN INVENTOREM BOMBARDÆ.

IAPETIONIDEM laudavit cæca vetustas,

Qui tulit ætheream solis ab axe facem;
At mihi major erit, qui lurida creditur arma,
Et trifidum fulmen, surripuisse Jovi.

Ver. 4. Et trifidum fulmen, surripuisse Jovi.] This thought was afterwards transferred to the Paradise Lost, where the fallen angels are exulting in their new invention of fire-arms, B. vi. 490, "They shall fear we have disarm'd

"The thunderer of his only dreaded bolt." T. WArton. Compare, with this epigram, Drummond's Madrigals, 1616. The Cannon :

"When first the cannon, from her gaping throte,

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Against the heauen her roaring sulphure shote, "Jove, waken'd with the noise, did ask, with wonder, "What mortal wight had stoln from him his thunder?"

Todd.

VI. Ad LEONORAM Romæ canentem*.

ANGELUS unicuique suus, sic credite gentes,
Obtigit æthereis ales ab ordinibus.
Quid mirum, Leonora, tibi si gloria major?

Nam tua præsentem vox sonat ipsa Deum.

* Adriana of Mantua, for her beauty surnamed the Fair, and her daughter Leonora Baroni, the lady whom Milton celebrates in these three Latin Epigrams, were esteemed by their contemporaries the finest singers in the world. Giovanni Battista Doni, in his book De præstantia Musica veteris, published in 1647, speaking of the merit of some modern vocal performers, declares that Adriana, or her daughter Leonora, would suffer injury by being compared to the ancient Sappho. B. ii. p. 57. There is a volume of Greek, Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish poems in praise of Leonora, printed at Rome, entitled " Applausi poetici alle glorie della Signora LEONORA BARONI." Nicius Erythreus, in his Pinacotheca, calls this collection the Theatrum of that exquisite Songstress Eleonora Baroni, " in quo, omnes hîc Romæ quotquot ingenio et poeticæ facultatis laude præstant, carminibus, cum Etruscè tum Latinè scriptis, singulari ac propè divino mulieris illius canendi artificio, tamquam faustos quosdam clamores et plausus edunt," &c. Pinac. ii. p. 427. Lips. 1712. 12mo. In the Poesie Liriche of Fulvio Testi, there is an encomiastick Sonnet to Leonora, Poes. Lyr. del Conte Fulvio Testi, Ven. 1691. p. 361.

"Se l'angioletta mia tremolo, e chiaro," &c.

M. Maugars, Priour of S. Peter de Mac at Paris, king's interpreter of the English language, and in his time a capital practitioner on the viol, has left this eulogy on Leonora and her mother, at the end of his judicious Discours sur la Musique d' Italia, printed with the life of Malherbe, and other treatises, at Paris, 1672. 12mo. "Leonora has fine parts, and a happy judgement in distinguishing good from bad musick: she understands it perfectly well, and even composes, which makes her absolute mistress of what she sings, and gives her the most exact pronunciation and

Aut Deus, aut vacui certè mens tertia coli,
Per tua secretò guttura serpit agens;

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expression of the sense of the words. She does not pretend to beauty, yet she is far from being disagreeable, nor is she a coquet. She sings with an air of confident and liberal modesty, and with a pleasing gravity. Her voice reaches a large compass of notes, is just, clear, and melodious; and she softens or raises it without constraint or grimace. Her raptures and sighs are not too tender; her looks have nothing impudent, nor do her gestures betray any thing beyond the reserve of a modest girl. In passing from one song to another, she shews sometimes the divisions of the inharmonick and chromatick species with so much air and sweetness, that every hearer is ravished with that delicate and difficult mode of singing. She has no need of any person to assist her with a theorbo or viol, one of which is required to make her singing complete; for she plays perfectly well herself on both those instruments. In short, I have been so fortunate as to hear her sing several times above thirty different airs, with second and third stanzas of her own composition. But I must not forget, that one day she did me the particular favour to sing with her mother and her sister her mother played upon the lute, her sister upon the harp, and herself upon the theorbo. This concert, composed of three fine voices, and of three different instruments, so powerfully captivated my senses, and threw me into such raptures, that I forgot my mortality, et crus etre deja parmi les anges, jouissant des contentemens des bienheureux." See Bayle, Dict. Baroni. Hawkins, Hist. Mus. iv. 196. To the excellence of the mother Adriana on the lute, Milton alludes in these lines of the second of these three Epigrams, v. 4.

"Et te Pieriâ sensisset voce canentem

"Aurea maternæ fila movere lyræ."

When Milton was at Rome, he was introduced to the concerts of Cardinal Barberini, afterwards Pope Urban the eighth, where he heard Leonora sing and her mother play. It was the fashion for all the ingenious strangers, who visited Rome, to leave some verses on Leonora. See the Canzone, before. And Sonn. iv. Pietro Della Valle, who wrote, about 1640, a very judicious Discourse on the musick of his own times, speaks of the fanciful

Serpit agens, facilisque docet mortalia corda

Sensìm immortali assuescere posse sono.

Quòd si cuncta quidèm Deus est, per cunctaque fusus, In te unâ loquitur, cætera mutus habet.

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and masterly style in which Leonora touched the arch-lute to her own accompaniments. At the same time, he celebrates her sister Catherine, and their mother Adriana. See the works of Battista Doni, vol. ii. at Florence, 1763. T. WArton.

The cardinal Barberini, to whom Milton was introduced, was Francesco Barberini, one of the nephews to Urban; and the Cardinal patron of the English, as I have related in the Life of the poet. Sir John Hawkins, in his Hist. of Musick, vol. iv. p. 185, seems to have led Mr. Warton into the mistake of asserting that Milton was introduced to Cardinal Barberini, afterwards Pope Urban the eighth. When Milton was at Rome, Urban had filled the papal chair sixteen years.

Fulvio Testi, I should add, has another poem of considerable length and remarkable elegance, inscribed "Alla Signora Leonora Baroni, Dama celebre per la sua impareggiable eccellenza nella Musica.

"Che ineuitabili sono le saetti d' Amore. "Fastosetta Sirena,

"Che da' Partenopei liti odorosi

"Sù la Romana arena

"Sei venuta a turbar gl' altrui riposi,

"E con la dolce pena

"Del diuin canto, e de' begli occhi ardenti,

"In martirio di gioia il cuor tormenti.

"Scema de la superba

"Tua libertà," &c.

Poesie del Sig. F. Testi, Milan, 1658. Parte 1.ma p. 175. To the "Teagene, Poema del Cavalier Gio. Battista Basile," &c. 4to. Rom. 1637, are also prefixed two Sonnets; the first by A. Barbazza, in praise of the author, "e s' allude al canto della Signora Leonora Baroni, sua nipote;" the other by Fidella Corgna, and "si allude alla virtu, e bellezza, della Signora Leonora Baroni," &c. TODD.

VII. Ad eandem.

ALTERA Torquatum cepit Leonora poetam,
Cujus ab insano cessit amore furens.

Ver. 1. Altera Torquatum cepit Leonora] In the circumstantial account of the Life of Tasso written by his friend and patron G. Battista Manso, mention is made of three different Ladies of the name of Leonora, of whom Tasso is there said to have been successively enamoured, Gier. Lib. edit. Haym. Lond. 4to. 1724, p. 23. The first was Leonora of Este, sister of Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara, at whose court Tasso resided. This Lady, who was highly accomplished, lived unmarried with her elder sister D. Lucretia, who had been married, but was separated from her husband the Duke of Urbino. The Countess San Vitale was the second Leonora, to whom Tasso was said to be much attached, p. 26. Manso relates, that the third Leonora was a young lady in the service of the Princess of Este, who was very beautiful, and to whom Tasso paid great attention, p. 27. He addressed many very elegant Love-verses to each of these three different Ladies; but as the pieces addressed to Leonora Princess of Este have more Passion than Gallantry, it may justly be inferred, notwithstanding the pains he took to conceal his affection, that she was the real favourite of his heart. Among the many remarks that have been made on the Gierusalemme Liberata of Tasso, I do not remember to have seen it observed, that this great poet probably took the hint of his fine subject, from a book very popular in his time, written by the celebrated Benedetto Accolti, and entitled, "DE BELLO A CHRISTIANIS CONTRA BARBAROS GESTO, pro Christi Sepulchro et Judæa recuperandis, Lib. iv. Venetiis per Bern. Venetum de Vitalibus. 1532. 4to." It is dedicated to Piero de Medici. Jos. WARTON.

This allusion to Tasso's Leonora, and the turn which it takes, are inimitably beautiful. T. WARTON.

Mr. Walker is of opinion, that Tasso was imprisoned by Alphonso, on account of his ambitious love; but that, without any criminal passion, the Princess Leonora was not insensible to the talents, accomplishments, and personal charms, of the poet. See Hist. Memoir on Italian Tragedy, p. 128.

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