Hæc tibi servabam lentâ sub cortice lauri, 180 Hasc, et plura simul; tum quae mihi pocula Mansus, Bina dedit, mirum artis opus, mirandus et ipse, In medio rubri maris unda, et odoriferum ver, 185 Parte aliâ polus omnipatens, et magnus Olympus: 190 Quis putet? hîc quoque Amor, pictaque in nube pharetra, Arma corusca faces, et spicula tincta pyropo; Ver.182. Mansus, Chalcidice non ultima gloria ripe,] Manso celebrated in the last poem, and a Neapolitan. A people called the Chalcidici are said to have founded Naples. See the third Epigram on Leonora, v. 4. "Corpora Chalcidico sacra dedisse rogo." And Virgil's tenth Eclogue," Chalcidico versu," v. 50. And En. vi. 17. T. WARTON. Ver. 183. Bina dedit, &c.] Perhaps a poetical description of two real cups thus richly ornamented, which Milton received as presents from Manso at Naples. He had flattered himself with the happiness of shewing these tokens of the regard with which he had been treated in his travels, to Deodate, at his return. Or perhaps this is an allegorical description of some of Manso's favours. T. WARTON. Ver. 189. Auroram vitreis surgentem respicit undis;] See In Quint. Nov. v. 66. So Buchanan, Silv. iii. p. 51. edit. supr. "Maris vitreas undas." Compare Comus, v. 861, and Paraphr. Psalm cxiv. ver. 17. ToDD. Ver. 192. Arma corusca faces, et spicula tincta pyropo;] See the Note on Eleg. vii. 47. And Tasso's Aminta, Prolog. Love, the speaker: Nec tenues animas, pectúsque ignobile vulgi, 195 Tu quoque in his, nec me fallit spes lubrica, Damon, Tu quoque in his certè es, nam quò tua dulcis abiret Sanctáque simplicitas, nam quò tua candida virtus? Nec te Lethæo fas quæsivisse sub orco, "Ch' à me fu, non à lei, concessa in sorte Ver. 194. Apoll. Rhod. iii. 275, &c. 201 circum flammantia lumina torquens,] Τόφρα δ' Έρως κ. τ. λ. Οξέα δενδίλλων. TODD. Ver. 195. He aims his darts upwards, per orbes, among the He wounds the gods. T. WARton. stars. Ver. 200. Sanctáque simplicitas, &c.] See Milton's Epist. Diodato, dat. Lond. Sept. 23, 1637. "Scribit vicem tuam apud me tua probitas,-scribit morum simplicitas, et recti amor." RICHARDSON. Ver. 201. Nec te Lethao fas quæsivisse sub orco, &c.] From this line to the last but one, the imagery is almost all from his own Lycidas, v. 181. Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more ; "For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead. - "Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high 66 Where, other groves and other streams along, 205 Nec tibi conveniunt lacrymæ, nec flebimus ultra : 210 215 Here is a strain of mystick devotion, yet with some tincture of classical fiction, exalted into poetry. T. WARTON. Ver. 212. purpureus pudor,] Ovid, Art. Am. I. iii. 14. Nudáque simplicitas, purpureúsque pudor.” RICHARDSON. Ver. 214. En etiam tibi virginei servantur honores ;] Deodate and Lycidas were both unmarried. See Revelations, for his allusion, xiv. 3, 4. "These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins," &c. T. WARTON. Ver. 216. Lætáque frondentis gestans umbracula palmæ, Eternum perages immortales hymenaos;] The same description, from Revelat. vii. 9, 10, is transferred into Par. Lost, vi. 882, &c. Tasso has the same allusion: "E mille fiate felice è quell' alma, "Che ha del ben oprar corona, e palma." TODD. Festa Sionæo bacchantur et Orgia thyrso*. * Doctor Johnson observes, that this poem is "written with the common but childish imitation of pastoral life.' Yet there are some new and natural country images, and the common topicks are often recommended by a novelty of elegant expression. The pastoral form is a fault of the poet's times. It contains also some passages which wander far beyond the bounds of bucolick song, and are in his own original style of the more sublime poetry. Milton cannot be a shepherd long. His own native powers often break forth, and cannot bear the assumed disguise. T. WARTON. Jan. 23, 1646. Ad JOANNEM ROUSIUM Oxoniensis Academiæ Bibliothecarium*. De libro Poematum amisso, quem ille sibi denuò mitti postulabat, ut cum aliis nostris in Bibliotheca publica reponet, Ode. Ode tribus constat Strophis, totidémque Antistrophis, und demum Epodo clausis; quas, tametsi omnes nec versuum numero, nec certis ubique colis exactè respondeant, ità tamen secuimus, commodè legendi potius, quàm ad antiquos concinendi modos rationem spectantes. Alioquin hoc genus rectiùs fortassè dici monostrophicum debuerat. Metra partim sunt кarà σxέow, partim aroλeλvμéva. Phaleucia quæ sunt, Spondæum tertio loco bis admittunt, quod idem in secundo loco Catullus ad libitum fecit. Strophe 1. GEMELLE cultu simplici gaudens liber, * John Rouse, or Russe, Master of Arts, fellow of Oriel college Oxford, was elected chief librarian of the Bodleian, May 9, 1620. He died in April, 1652, and was buried in the chapel of his college. He succeeded to Thomas James, the first that held this office from the foundation. In painted glass, in a window of the Provost's Lodgings at Oriel college, are the heads of sir Thomas Bodley, James, and Rouse, by Van Ling. Herne says, they were put up by Rouse: they were probably brought from |