Praeclarus ortu Shenkin Sed cessit a Me Splendor Famæ Venereo Furori. Splendentis Winifrida Ocelli perculere ; Cor (heu!) crudeli ictu teli Desperat Ars mederi. Tam clarus erat nemo Seu Pili, seu Bacilli; Sed gaudia fugerunt, Emaciantur Genæ; Cor (heu !) sic dolet, non, ut solet, Non posthac deglutienda "Hymn by the late Duchess of Devonshire. Et. 13. "When I behold with wond'ring eyes The daily blessings God bestows, Each flower, each shrub, conspires to sing The praises of the eternal King, Who gave each shrub, each flow'r, its dye. Who gave the sun its balmy heat? Who bids the thunder loudly roll? Who made the universe complete, And form'd the earth from pole to pole? With me in Hellelujahs join To sing our holy Maker's praise; In choral hymn, or song divine, In prayer and thanks our voices raise." ART. DCCXLIII. No. XLIV. On the Latin Poems of Cowley. 66 Quod dedisti Viventi decus, atque sentienti, Rari post cineres habent poetæ." MART. THE Latin poems of Cowley,* which are not printed among the common editions of his works, are not so well known as they ought to be. Dr. Johnson and T. Wartont differ in the degree of their merit; but it must be admitted that they discover great skill in the Latin language, as well as great genius. I think some of my readers will not be displeased at having two or three of them again brought into notice. I embrace the opportunity more willingly, because I have heard it objected, I think, with too narrow views, that my ruminations are not sufficiently confined to subjects of literature. Limits I *First printed 1668, 8vo. in which are included Plantarum Libri Duo, which had been printed Lond. 1662, 8vo. The title of the second edition runs thus: Abrahami Couleii Angli, Poemata Latina: in quibus continentur Sex Libri Plantarum, viz. Duo Herbarum, Florum, Sylvarum; et unus Miscellaneorum. Habeo quod carmine sanet & herbis. Ovid Metam. 10. Huic editioni secundæ accessit Index Rerum antehac desideratus. Londini typis M. Clarke, Impensis Jo. Martyn, ad Insigne Campanæ in Cemeterio D. Pauli 1678. 8vo. + See Johnson's Lives of the Poets, and Warton's Preface to Milton's Juvenile Poems. have always imposed on myself, which have restrained me from discussing many topics of life and manners, that would both have been pleasing to myself, and have given a greater diversity to my pages. But there are those who would confine me within bounds, to which I cannot submit to be chained. Cowley is never more eloquent than when he descants on the pleasures of Solitude, whether in Latin or English. "Solitudo. "Rura laudamus merito poetæ, Nubilus aër. Nam prius crescet seges in plateis, Fiet et herba; Urbe quam surgat media bonorum Carmina oderunt, neque nutrit omnis Omnia tellus. Rure, Persarum veluti tyrannus, Sæpe legatum satis est ad urbem Mittere carmen. Arbores salvete, bonæque sylvæ, Villa Deorum! Hic jacens vestris temere sub umbris, O sacrum risum juvenilis anni! Cum Calor totos penetrans per artus Hic mihi æstivo domus apta sole, Audiam hic proni per aprica collis Dulce loquentes. ‡ This is a translation of some beautiful lines in his English poem on Solitude. "Here let me, careless and unthoughtful lying, Hear the soft winds above me flying, With all their wanton boughs dispute." |