In obitum Prafulis Elienfis *. Anno Ætatis 17. ADHUC madentes rore fqualebant genæ, Adhuc liquentis imbre turgebant falis, Quem nuper effudi pius, Dum mæsta charo jufta perfolvi rogo Wintonienfis Præfulis. Cùm centilinguis Fama, proh! femper mali. Cladifque vera nuntia, Spargit per urbes divitis Britanniæ, Populófque Neptuno fatos, Ceffiffe morti, et ferreis fororibus, Qui rex facrorum illâ fuifti in infulâ Tumulis potentem fæpe devovens deam: 5 10 15 * Nicholas Felton, bishop of Ely, died Octob. 5, 1626, not many days after bishop Andrews, before celebrated. He had been alfo master of Pembroke Hall, as well as bishop Andrews ; and bishop of Bristol. He was nominated to the fee of Lichfield, but was tranflated to that of Ely in 1618-9. He is faid to have been a pious, learned, and judicious man. See Bentham's Hift. of Ely Cathedral, p. 199. TODD. Ver. 14. Quæ nomen Anguillæ tenet.] Ely, fo called from its abundance of eels. Mr. Bowle cites Capgrave, “Locus ille five cænobium a copia anguillarum Hely modo nuncupatur.” Vit. Sanct. f. 141. b. Capgrave wrote about 1440. T. Warton. Nec vota Nafo in Ibida Concepit alto diriora pectore; Turpem Lycambis execratus eft dolum, At ecce! diras ipfe dum fundo graves, Et imprecor neci necem, Audiffe tales videor attonitus fonos Leni, fub aurâ, flamine: Cæcos furores pone; pone vitream "Quid temerè violas non nocenda numina, 66 Subitòque ad iras percita? "Non eft, ut arbitraris elufus mifer, "Mors atra Noctis filia, "Erebóve patre creta, five Erinnye, "Vaftóve nata fub Chao: "Aft illa, cœlo miffa ftellato, Dei "Meffes ubique colligit; "Animáfque mole carneâ reconditas "In lucem et auras evocat: "Ut cùm fugaces excitant Horæ diem, "Themidos Jovifque filiæ; Ver. 20. Archilochus, who killed Lycambes by the severity of his iambicks. Lycambes had efpoufed his daughter Neobule to Archilochus, and afterwards gave her to another. See Ovid's Ibis, v. 54. T. WARTON. And fee Hor. Epod. vi. 13. TODD. Ver. 40. Themidos &c.] Orpheus, Hymn. *Ωραι θυγατέρες Θέμιδος καὶ Ζηνὸς ἀνάκτος. See alfo Hefiod's Theogony. And Ovid, Metam. ii. 118, Faft. i. 125. T. WARTON. "Et fempiterni ducit ad vultus Patris: At jufta raptat impios "Sub regna furvi luctuofa Tartari, "Sedéfque fubterraneas.' Hanc ut vocantem lætus audivi, citò Ad aftra fublimis feror: Vates ut olim raptus ad cœlum fenex, Auriga currûs ignei. Non me Boötis terruere lucidi Sarraca tarda frigore, aut Vates ut olim raptus ad cælum fenex, Auriga currus ignei. 45 55 Non me Bootis turruere &c.] This fomewhat refembles, but infinitely exceeds, the fentiment at the beginning of Du Bartas's fourth day of the firft week, as tranflated by Sylvefter, Du Bart. 1621, p. 72, "Pure Spirit, that rapt'st aboue the firmest sphear, "In fiery coach, thy faithful messenger. "O! take me vp; that, far from earth, I may, "From fphear to fphear, fee th' azure heav'ns to-day. "Be thou my coachman, &c. "Driue on my coach by Mars his flaming coach; "Saturn and Luna let my wheels approach, &c." TODD. Ver. 57. dum coërcebat fuos Franis dracones aureis.] As in Il. Penf. v. 59. Frænis dracones aureis. Erraticorum fiderum per ordines, Per lacteas vehor plagas, Velocitatem fæpe miratus novam ; Donec nitentes ad fores 60 Ventum eft Olympi, et regiam crystallinam, et Stratum fmaragdis atrium. Sed hic tacebo; nam quis effari queat, Oriundus humano patre, Amonitates illius loci? Mihi Sat eft in æternum frui. 65 "While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke." See also Comus, v. 131. Shakspeare has "the dragons of the night," Midf. N. Dr. A. iii. S. ii. edit. Malone, vol. ii. p, 505, where it is obferved, that "the image of dragons drawing the chariot of Night is de rived from the watchfulness of that fabled animal."-In Comus, we have "the dragon watch of unenchanted eye," v. 395; where the allufion may be to the enchantments of Erictho, who employs the eyes of dragons, Lucan, lib. vi. 675. "Oculique draconum." On which paffage the annotator obferves, "Quibus melle tritis inuncti, oculi redduntur impavidi adversùs nocturnas imagines.” Edit. Amftel. Schrevelio, 1658. TODD. Ver. 62. Donec nitentes ad fores &c.] Milton's natural difpofition, fo confpicuous in the Paradife Loft, and even in his Profe-Works, for defcribing divine objects, fuch as the blifs of the faints, the splendour of heaven, and the mufick of the angels, is perpetually breaking forth in fome of the earliest of his juvenile poems. And here more particularly in difplaying the glories of heaven, which he locally reprefents, and clothes with the brightest material decorations, his fancy, to fay nothing of the apocalypfe, was aided and enriched with defcriptions in romances. By the way, this fort of imagery, fo much admired in Milton, appears to me to be much more practicable than many readers feem to fuppofe. T. WARTON. Naturam non pati fenium *. HEU, quàm perpetuis erroribus acta fatifcit Avia mens hominum, tenebrisque immersa pro fundis Oedipodioniam volvit fub pectore noctem ! 5 * This was an academical exercife, written in 1628, to oblige one of the fellows of Chrift's college, who having laid aside the levities of poetry for the gravity and folidity of profe, impofed the boyish task on Milton, now about nineteen years old. " Quidam ædium noftrarum Socius, qui Comitiis hifce academicis in Difputatione philofophicâ refponfurus erat, carmina fuper quæftionibus pro more annuo componenda, prætervectus ipfe jam diu leviculas illiufmodi nugas, et rebus feriis intentior, fortè meæ puerilitati commifit." Milton's Letter to A. Gill, dat. Cambridge, Jul. 2. 1628. Epift. Fam. Profe-Works, 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 nôrim rerum poeticarum judicem acerrimum, et mearum candidiffimum, &c." It is ftill a custom at Cambridge, to print the comitial verses accompanying the publick difputations. What a curiofity would be the sheet with Milton's Copy! To be able to write a Latin Verse 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 Verses at Cambridge, and the Carmina Quadragefimalia at Oxford. From fuch rude beginnings is elegance derived. T. WARTon. See the obfervation on Hakewill's treatife upon the fubject here poetically defcribed, in the Life of Milton prefixed to this edition. TODD. Ver. 5. Sonnet of Drummond's : incifas leges adamante perenni] So, in a |