Tell me bright Spirit where'er thou hoverest, 40 Oh say me true, if thou wert mortal wight, And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight. VII. Wert thou some star which from the ruin'd roof Of shak'd Olympus by mischance didst fall; Or did of late earth's sons besiege the wall Of sheeny heav'n, and thou some goddess fled Amongst us here below to hide thy nectar'd head? VIII. Or wert thou that just Maid who once before 38. Tell me bright Spirit Anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus 39.that high first-moving sphere,] The primum mobile, that first moved as he calls it, Paradise Lost, iii. 483. where see the note. 40. if such there were.] He should have said are, if the rhyme had permitted. Hurd. 44. Of shak'd Olympus] For shaken. In Cymbeline, a. ii. s. 2. A sly, and constant knave, not to be shak'd. T. Warton. 45 50 Forsook the hated earth, O tell me sooth, Or wert thou that sweet smiling Youth? Or that crown'd matron sage white-robed Truth? Or any other of that heav'nly brood 55 Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some good? IX. Or wert thou of the golden-winged host, offended with the crimes of men Ultima cœlestûm terras Astrea reliquit. up 60 Orb'd in a rainbow; and like glories wearing Mercy will sit between &c. And Mercy is not unfitly represented as a sweet smiling youth, this age being the most susceptible of the tender passions. 53. The late Mr. John Heskin, of Ch. Ch. Oxford, who published an elegant edition of Bion and Moschus, was the author both of this ingenious conjecture and of the reasons for it in the preceding note. T. Warton. 53.—that sweet smiling Youth?] At first I imagined that the author meant Hebe, in Latin Juventa, or Youth. And Mr. Jortin communicated the following note. "A word of two syllables is wanting to fill the measure "of the verse. It is easy to "find such a word, but impos"sible to determine what word "Milton would have inserted. "He uses Youth in the feminine Beautie. gender, as the Latins some"times use juvenis, and by this "fair youth he probably means "the Goddess Hebe, who was "also called Juventas or Ju " venta." But others have proposed to fill up the verse thus, Or wert thou Mercy that sweet smil- For Mercy is often joined with Yea Truth and Justice then 57. Or wert thou of the goldenwinged host.] Mr. Bowle cites Spenser's Hymne of Heavenlie -Bright Cherubins Which all with golden wings are overdight. And Spenser's Heavenly Love has golden wings. Tasso thus describes Gabriel's wings, Gier, Lib. i. 14. Ali bianche vestì ch' han d'or le cime. See Il Penseroso, v. 52. T. War ton. As if to show what creatures heav'n doth breed, Thereby to set the hearts of men on fire But oh why didst thou not stay here below To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our foe, 65 To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart? 70 XI. Then thou the mother of so sweet a child 68. Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence,] It should be noted, that at this time there was a great plague in London, which gives a peculiar propriety to this whole stanza. 68. The application to present circumstances, the supposition that the heaven-loved innocence of this child, by remaining upon earth, might have averted the pestilence now raging in the kingdom, is happily and beautifully conceived. On the whole, 75 from a boy of seventeen, this Ode is an extraordinary effort of fancy, expression, and versification. Even in the conceits, which are many, we perceive strong and peculiar marks of genius. I think Milton has here given a very remarkable specimen of his ability to succeed in the Spenserian stanza. He moves with great ease and address amidst the embarrassment of a frequent return of rhyme. T. Warton. II. Anno ætatis 19. At a Vacation Exercise in the College, part Latin, part English. The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began. HAIL native language, that by sinews weak Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee, These verses were made in 1627, that being the nineteenth year of the author's age; and they were not in the edition of 1645, but were first added in the edition of 1673. 13. -forecast,] See Sams. Agon. v. 254. T. Warton. 18. And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure, 5 10 15 Not those new-fangled toys, and trimming slight Which takes our late fantastics with delight.] Perhaps he here alludes to Lilly's Euphues, a book full of affected phraseology, which pretended to reform or refine the English language; and whose effects, although it was published some Not those new fangled toys, and trimming slight years before, still remained. The But cull those richest robes, and gay'st attire, Which deepest spirits, and choicest wits desire. From a youth of nineteen, these are striking expressions of a consciousness of superior genius, and of an ambition to rise above the level of the fashionable rhymers. He seems to have retained to the last this contempt for the poetry in vogue. In the Tractate on Education, p. 110. ed. 1673, he says, the study of good critics" would make them soon perceive what despicable "creatures our common rhymers " and play-writers be: and shew "what religious, what glorious " and magnificent use might be "made of poetry." Milton's own writings are the most illustrious proof of this. T. Warton. 20 25 30 19. Not those new-fangled toys] Dressed anew, fantastically decorated, newly invented. Shakespeare, Love's Lab. Lost, a. i. s. 1. At Christmas I no more desire a rose, Than wish a snow in May's newfangled shows. In Cymbeline, we have simply Full vaine follies and new-fanglenesse. 29. Yet I had rather, if I were to choose, Thy service in some graver sub ject use, &c.] It appears by this address of |