Sed hic tacebo, nam quis effari queat, Oriundus humano patre, Amœnitates illius loci? Mihi Sat eft in æternum frui. Naturam non pati senium*. 65 EU, quam perpetuis erroribus acta fatifcit Avia mens hominum, tenebrifque immerfa profundis, Oedipodioniam volvit fub pectore noctem! Again, ibid. 860. The " The CRYSTAL wall of heaven which opening wide, &c. CRYSTALLINE fphere" is from the Ptolemaic or Gothic fyftem of aftronomy, PARAD. L. B. iii.482. And fo perhaps Spenfer, TEARES OF THE MUSES, Viii. From hence we mount aloft unto the skie, And looke into the CRYSTALL firmament. *This was an academical exercise, written in 1628, to oblige one of the fellows of Chrift's college, who having laid afide the levities of poetry for the gravity and folidity of profe, impofed the boyish task on Milton, now about nineteen years old. " Quidam ædium noitra"rum Socius, qui Comitiis hifce academicis in Difputatione philofo Quæ vefana fuis metiri facta deorum Audet, et incifas leges adamante perenni 5 II Ergone marcefcet fulcantibus obfita rugis Naturæ facies, et rerum publica mater Omniparum contracta uterum fterilefcet ab ævo? Et fe faffa fenem, male certis paffibus ibit Sidereum tremebunda caput? Num tetra vetuftas, Annorumque æterna fames, fqualorque fitufque, Sidera vexabunt? An et insatiabile Tempus Efuriet Cœlum, rapietque in vifcera patrem? 15 Heu, potuitne fuas imprudens Jupiter arces Hoc contra muniffe nefas, et Temporis ifto Exemiffe malo, gyrofque dediffe perennes ? "phica refponfurus erat, carmina fuper quæftionibus pro more annuo "componenda, prætervectus ipfe jam diu leviculas illiufmodi nugas, "et rebus feriis intentior, forte meæ puerilitati commifit." Milton's Letter to A. Gill, dat. Cambridge, Jul. 2. 1628, Epift. Fam. PROSEWORKS, ii. 566. They were printed, not for fale, and fent to his late schoolmafter at faint Paul's, Alexander Gill, aforefaid. For he adds, "Hæc quidem typis donata ad te mifi, utpote quem norim rerum "poeticarum judicem acerrimum, et mearum candidiffimum, &c." It is ftill a custom at Cambridge, to print the comitial verfes accom, panying the public difputations. To be able to write a Latin verfe, called Verfificari, was looked upon as a high accomplishment in the dark ages. This art they fometimes applied to their barbarous philofophy: and the practice gave rife to the TRIPOS Verfes at Cambridge, and the CARMINA QUADRAGESIMALIA at Oxford. From fuch rude beginnings is elegance derived. Ergo Ergo erit ut quandoque fono dilapfa tremendo 20 Stridat uterque polus, fuperaque ut Olympius aula Tu quoque, Phœbe, tui casus imitabere nati; 23. Qualis in Egeam, &c.] See above, EL. vi. 81. And PARAD. L. B. i. 740. Men call'd him Mulciber, and how he fell Dropt from the zenith life a falling ftar On Lemnos th' Ægean ifle. 25 30 35 In the last line Bentley reads, "On Lemnos thence his ifle." But, to fay no more, gean is perhaps afcertained by our Latin text. Volvitur Volvitur hinc lapfu mundi rota prima diurno; 40 45 Tardior haud folito Saturnus, et acer ut olim Trux Aquilo, fpiratque hyemem, nimbofque volutat. Utque folet, Siculi diverberat ima Pelori 55 Rex maris, et rauca circumftrepit æquora concha Oceani tubicen, nec vafta mole minorem Ægeona fuerunt dorfo Balearica cete. 530 Sed neque, Terra, tibi fæcli vigor ille vetufti 60 Prifcus abeft, fervatque fuum Narciffus odorem, ille fuum tenet, et puer ille, decorem, Et puer Phoebe, tuufque, et, Cypri, tuus; nec ditior olim Terra datum fceleri celavit montibus aurum Confcia, vel fub aquis gemmas. Sic denique in ævum Ibit cunctarum feries juftiffima rerum ; Donec flamma orbem populabitur ultima, late De Idea Platonica quemadmodum Ariftoteles Dit Icite, facrorum præfides nemorum deæ, Memoria mater, quæque in immenso procul 64. Terra datum fceleri celavit montibus aurum V. 718. 65 Confcia, vel Jub aquis gemmas. —] See EL. v. 77. And Coмus, In her own loins She hutcht th' all-worshipt ore, &c. Again, ibid. 732. And th' unfought diamonds Would fo imblaze the forehead of the deep, &c. This poem is replete with fanciful and ingenious allufions. It has also a vigour of expreffion, a dignity of fentiment, and elevation of thought, rarely found in very young writers. 3. This is a fublime perfonification of Eternity. And there is great reach of imagination in one of the conceptions which follows, that the original archetype of Man may be a huge giant, ftalking in fome remote |