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Ærea, lata, sonans, rutilis vicinior astris

Quàm superimpositum vel Athos vel Pelion Ossæ.
Mille fores aditúsque patent, totidémque fenestræ. 175
Ampláque per tenues translucent atria muros :
Excitat hîc varios plebs agglomerata susurros;

"Tótque fremit, vocêsque refert, iterátque quod audit.
"Nulla quies intus, nullâque silentia parte.
"Nec tamen est clamor, sed parvæ murmura vocis,
"Qualia de pelagi, si quis procul audiat, undis
"Esse solent; qualémve sonum, cùm Jupiter atras
Increpuit nubes, extrema tonitrua reddunt.

66

"Atria turba tenent; veniunt leve vulgus, eúntque.
"Mixtáque cum veris passim commenta vagantur
“Millia rumorum, confusáque verba volutant.
“E quibus hi vacuas implent sermonibus auras,
"Hi narrata ferunt alio; mensuráque ficti
"Crescit, et auditis aliquid novus adjicit auctor.
"Illic Credulitas, illic temerarius Error,

"Vanáque Lætitia est, consternatique Timores,

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Seditióque repens, dubióque auctore Susurri," &c.

In the figure of his Fame, however, our author adverts to Virgil. See the next Note. T. WARTON.

Ver. 172. Titanidos] Ovid has "Titanida Circen," Met. xiv. 376. Fame is the sister of Cacus and Enceladus, two of the Titans, Æn. iv. 179. T. WARTON.

Ver. 174. Quàm superimpositum vel Athos] Chaucer's House of Fame stands on a rock, higher than any in Spain, H. F. B. iii. 27. And totidémque fenestræ, are from Chaucer, H. F. B. iii. 101.

"Imageries and tabernacles,

"I sawe, and full eke of Windowes

"As flekis fallin in grete snowes," &c.

But Chaucer seems to have mentioned the numerous windows as ornaments of the architecture of the House, rather than with Milton's allegorical meaning. T. WARTON.

Ver. 177. Not to copy Ovid too perceptibly, Milton adopts

180

185

Qualitèr instrepitant circum mulctralia bombis
Agmina muscarum, aut texto per óvilia junco,
Dum Canis æstivum cœli petit ardua culmen.
Ipsa quidem summâ sedet ultrix matris in arce;
Auribus innumeris cinctum caput eminet olli,
Queis sonitum exiguum trahit, atque levissima captat
Murmura, ab extremis patuli confinibus orbis.
Nec tot, Aristoride, servator inique juvencæ
Isidos, immiti volvebas lumina vultu,
Lumina non unquam tacito nutantia somno,
Lumina subjectas latè spectantia terras.
Istis illa solet loca luce carentia sæpe
Perlustrare, etiam radianti impervia soli :
Millenisque loquax auditáque visáque linguis
Cuilibet effundit temeraria; veráque mendax
Nunc minuit, modò confictis sermonibus auget.
Sed tamen à nostro meruisti carmine laudes,
Fama, bonum quo non aliud veracius ullum,
Nobis digna cani, nec te memorâsse pigebit

190

195

this comparison from Homer, which is here very happily and elegantly applied, Il. ii. 469. “HvTε μviáwv," &c. See Parad. Lost, B. i. 768. Much the same comparison is in Parad. Reg. B. iv. 15. See also Il. xvi. 641. I must however observe, that Chaucer, in the same argument, has the outline of the same comparison, H. F. iii. 431.

"I heard a noise approchin blive,

"That fareth as bees don in an hive,

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Against ther time of outflying," &c. T. WARTON.

See the notes on Par. Reg. B. iv. 15. And the concluding lines of the citation from P. Fletcher's Locusta, which I have given in the Inquiry into the Origin of Paradise Lost, in the present edition. TODD.

Carmine tam longo; servati scilicèt Angli
Officiis, vaga diva, tuis, tibi reddimus æqua.
Te Deus, æternos motu qui temperat ignes,
Fulmine præmisso alloquitur, terrâque tremente: 200
"Fama siles? An te latet impia Papistarum

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Conjurata cohors in méque meósque Britannos, "Et nova sceptrigero cædes meditata Iacobo ?" Nec plura; illa statim sensit mandata Tonantis, Et, satis ante fugax, stridentes induit alas, Induit et variis exilia corpora plumis;

205

Dextra tubam gestat Temesæo ex ære sonoram.
Nec mora, jam pennis cedentes remigat auras,
Atque parum est cursu celeres prævertere nubes :
Jam ventos, jam solis equos, post terga reliquit: 210
Et primò Angliacas, solito de more, per urbes
Ambiguas voces, incertáque murmura, spargit:

Ver. 200. The voice of God is preceded by thunders and earthquakes. This is in the style of Paradise Lost. T. WARTON. Ver. 207. Dextra tubam gestat Temesco ex ære sonoram.] Her brazen trumpet is from Chaucer, which is furnished by Æolus, H. F. B. iii. 347.

"What did this Æolus, but he

"Toke out his blak trompe of bras," &c.

Temese is a city on the coast of the Tyrrhene sea, famous for its brass. See Odyss. i. 183. Ες ΤΕΜΕΣΗΝ μετὰ ΧΑΛΚΟΝ, &c. And Ovid, Metam. xv. 707. "Themesesque metalla." And ib.. 52. Milton has the epithet from Ovid, Medicam. Fac. 41. "Et quamvis aliquis Temesca removerit æra," &c. Again, Fast, L. v. 441. “ Temescaque concrepat æra." See also

Metam. vii. 207. T. WARton.

Ver. 208.

jam pennis cedentes remigat auras,] Cedentes auras as in Par. Lost, B. ii. 842, "the buxom air :" Where see the Note. TODD.

215

Mox arguta dolos, et detestabile vulgat
Proditionis opus, nec non facta horrida dictu,
Authorésque addit sceleris, nec garrula cæcis
Insidiis loca structa silet; stupuere relatis
Et paritèr juvenes, paritèr tremuere puellæ,
Effoetique senes paritèr ; tantæque ruinæ
Sensus ad ætatem subitò penetraverat omnem.
Attamen interea populi miserescit ab alto
Æthereus Pater, et crudelibus obstitit ausis
Papicolûm; capti pœnas raptantur ad acres:
At pia thura Deo, et grati solvuntur honores;
Compita læta focis genialibus omnia fumant;
Turba choros juvenilis agit: Quintóque Novembris
Nulla dies toto occurrit celebratior anno.

220

224

Ver. 220. Attamen &c.] We are disappointed at this abrupt ending, after curiosity and attention had been excited by the introduction of the goddess Fame with so much pomp. But young composers are eager to dispatch their work. Fame is again exhibited in the next poem, written also at seventeen. T. Warton.

In obitum Præsulis Eliensis*. Anno Etatis 17.

ADHUC madentes rore squalebant genæ,

Et sicca nondum lumina

Adhuc liquentis imbre turgebant salis,

Quem nuper effudi pius,

Dum mosta charo justa persolvi rogo

Wintoniensis Præsulis.

Cùm centilinguis Fama, proh! semper mali

Cladisque vera nuntia,

Spargit per urbes divitis Britanniæ,

Populósque Neptuno satos,

Cessisse morti, et ferreis sororibus,

Te, generis humani decus,

Qui rex sacrorum illâ fuisti in insulâ

Quæ nomen Anguillæ tenet.

Tunc inquietum pectus irâ protinùs
Ebulliebat fervidâ,

Tumulis potentem sæpe devovens deam:
Nec vota Naso in Ibida

Concepit alto diriora pectore;

5

10

15

* Nicholas Felton, bishop of Ely, died October 5, 1626, not many days after bishop Andrewes, before celebrated. He had been also master of Pembroke Hall, as well as bishop Andrewes; and bishop of Bristol. He was nominated to the see of Lichfield, but was translated to that of Ely in 1618-9. He is said to have been a pious, learned, and judicious man. Hist. of Ely Cathedral, p. 199. TODD.

See Bentham's

Ver. 14. Quæ nomen Anguillæ tenet.] Ely, so called from its abundance of eels. Mr. Bowle cites Capgrave, "Locus ille sive cœnobium a copia anguillarum Hely modo nuncupatur." Vit. Sanct. f. 141. b. Capgrave wrote about 1440. T. WARTON.

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