The virgin quire for her request But with a scarce well-lighted flame; And now with fecond hope fhe goes, And with remorseless cruelty 20 25 Spoil'd at once both fruit and tree: 30 Hamshire withstood an obftinate fiege of two years against the rebels, and when taken was levelled to the ground, because in every window was flourish'd AYMEZ LOYAUTE. He died in 1674, and was buried in the church of Englefield in Berkshire; where, on his monument, is an admirable epitaph in English verfe written by Dryden, which I have often feen. It is remarkable, that both hufband and wife fhould have feverally received the honour of an epitaph from two fuch poets as Milton and Dryden. Nor fhould it be forgotten, that Jonfon wrote a pathetic poem entitled An Elegie on the Lady ANNE PAWLETT Marchioness of Winton. UNDERW. vol. vii. 17. But Jane appears in the text of the poem, with the circumftance of her being the daughter of Lord Savage. See Note on v. 55. She therefore must have been our author's Marchionefs. Compare Cartwright's POEMS, p. 193. There are two old portraits of this lady and her husband, in the dining-room at the Duke of Bolton's at Hackewood, Hants, both done at the fame time by the fame painter, as appears by the uniform pattern of a fingular lace on both their draperies. 19. He at their invoking came, But with a fearce well-lighted flame.] Almoft literally from his favourite poet Ovid, METAM. x. 4. Of Hymen. Adfuit ille quidem; fed nec folennia verba, Nec lætos vultus, nec felix attulit omen : Fax quoque quam tenuit, lacrymofo stridula fumo, I find I have been preoccupied by Dr. Jortin in noting this parallel. The The hapless babe before his birth So have I feen fome tender flip, Gentle Lady, may thy grave 34. See SAMS. AGON. V. 102. 35 40 45 35. -Tender flip.] In our author's AwIMADV. REM. DEF. A gardener is to "cut his hedges, prune his trees, look to his TENDER SLIPS, and pluck the weeds that hinder their growth.” PR. W.i. 95. 41. But the fair bloffom hangs the head, &c.] Mr. Bowle compare this and the five following verses, with what Antonio Bruni fays of the rofe, LE TRE GRATIE, p. 221. Ma nata apena, o filli, Cade languifce e more: Ch' l'imperlano il feno, Le lagrime dolenti. 47. Gentle Lady, may thy grave Peace and quiet ever have.] So in the obfequies of Fidele, in CYMBELINE, A. iv. S. ii. Quiet confummation have, And renowned be thy grave! After 50 After this thy travel fore And fome flowers, and fome bays, 55 Sent thee from the banks of Came, Devoted to thy virtuous name; 60 Whilst thou, bright Saint, high sitst in glory, Next her, much like to thee in story, That fair Syrian fhepherdess, Who after years of barrenness, 59. Sent thee from the banks of Came.] Came is Milton's Camus regularly anglicifed. "Next CAMUS reverend fire." LYCID. V. 103. "CAMI remeare paludes." EL. i. 89. "Revisere CA"MUM." Ibid. 11. I have been told, that there was a Cambridge-collection of verfes on her death, among which Milton's elegiac ode first appeared. But I have never seen it, and I rather think this was not the cafe. At least we are fure, that Milton was now a student at Cambridge. Our marchionefs was the daughter of Thomas lord viscount Savage, of Rock-Savage in Cheshire; and it is natural to fuppofe, that her family was well acquainted with the family of Lord Bridgewater, belonging to the fame county, for whom Milton wrote the Mask of CoмUS. It is therefore not improbable, that Milton wrote this elegy, another poetical favour, in confequence of his acquaintance with the Egerton family. And afterwards we find fome of that family intermarrying with this of the marquis of Winchefter. Dugd. BARON. ii. 377-445. The accomplished lady, here celebrated, died in child-bed of a fecond fon in her twenty-third year, and was the mother of Charles the first Duke of Bolton. Mr. Bowle remarks, that her death was celebrated by Sir John Beaumont, and fir W. Davenant. See Beaumont's POEMS, 1629. p. 159. Davenant's WORKS. 63. Rachel. See GEN. xxix. 9. xxv. 18. The 304 65 The highly favour'd Jofeph bore To him that ferv'd for her before, SONG ON MAY MORNING. No 70 OW the bright morning ftar, day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her The flow'ry May, who from her green lap throws The yellow cowflip, and the pale primrose. • There is a pleafing vein of lyric sweetness and ease in Milton's ule of this metre, which is that of L'ALLEGRO and IL PENSEROSO. He has used it with equal fuccefs in Comus's festive song, and the last speech of the Spirit, in Coмus, 93. 922. From these fpecimens, we may justly wish that he had used it more frequently. Perhaps in Comus's Song it has a peculiar propriety: it has certainly a happy effect. 1. Now the bright morning-ftar, day's harbinger.] So Shakefpeare, MIDS. N. DR. A. iii. S. ult. And yonder fhines AURORA'S HARBINGER. 2. Comes dancing from the caft, and leads with her The flow'ry May, &c.] So Spenfer, in ASTROPHEL, ft. iv. The DANCING DAY, forth COMING from the east. And in the FAERIE QUEENE, i. v. 2. At length the golden ORIENTAL gate Of greatest heaven gan to open faire ; And Phebus, fresh as bridegroome to his mate, CAME DANCING FORTH, fhaking his deawy haire. And Hail bounteous May, that doft inspire 5 And Peele, DAVID AND BETHSABE, Signat. E. edit 1599. 4to And bridegroom-like hurls through the gloomy air His radiant beams. And Niccols, a continuator of the MIRROUR of MAGISTRATES, in his poem called the Cucкow, 1607. Of the east. From whence the daies bright king CAME DANCING OUT. And in the context he calls the cock, Daies harbinger." And G. Fletcher, as Mr. Bowle obferves, in CHRIST'S VICTORY, C. i. 82. A ftarre COMES DANCING up the orient. 3. The flow'ry May, who from her green lap throws The yellow cowflip, &c.] So Niccols, in the description just cited, of May. And from her FRUITFUL LAP eche day fhe THREW Befide the inftance brought by Doctor Newton from K. RICHARD The FRESH GREEN LAP of fair king Richard's land. As in LYCIDAS, V. 138. On whofe FRESH LAP the swart-star sparely looks. So alfo R. Greene, of Aurora, as cited in ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS, 1600. p. 415. And fprinckling from the folding of her LAP White lillies, roses, and fweet violets. Mr. Bowle adds thefe illuftrations, Spenfer, F. Q. ii. vi. 15. Of flowers. -Nature them forth THREW Out of her FRUITFULL LAP. Again, ibid. vii. vii. 34. 4. Then came faire May, the fayreft mayde on ground, And THROWING flowres out of her LAP around. A. iv. S. v.. VOL. I. The pale primrose.] In the WINTER'S TALE, |