obliged to acquiefce in a fhort exile from Cambridge.

In fpeaking of his academical life, it is necessary to obviate another remark of a fimilar tendency. "There is reafon, " fays Johnfon, ii to fufpect that he was regarded in his college with no great fondness." To counteract this invidious infinua tion we are furnished with a reply, made by Milton himself, to this very calumny, originally fabricated by one of his contemporaries; a calumny, which he had fo fully refuted, that it ought to have revived no more! He begins with thanking his reviler for the afperfioni: "It has given me,' he fays," an apt occafion to acknowledge public"ly, with all grateful mind, that more than or"dinary favor and refpect, which I found, abově 66 any of my equals, at the hand of those cour"teous and learned men, the Fellows of that "College, wherein I spent fome years; who, at

my parting, after I had taken two degrees, as "the manner is, fignified many ways how much "better it would content them that I would stay, as by many letters, full of kindness and loving refpect, both before that time and long after, I "was affured of the fingular good affection towards me.""Profe Works, vol. 1. p. 15.1

The Latin poems of Milton are yet entitled to more of our attention; because they exhibit lively proofs, that he poffeffed both tenderness and enthusiasm, those primary conftituents of a poet, at an early period of life, and in the highest

degree: they have additional value, from making us acquainted with feveral interesting particulars of his youth, and many of his opinions, which muft have had confiderable influence on his moral character.

His fixth Elegy, addressed to his bofom friend, Charles Diodati, feems to be founded on the idea, which he may be faid to have verified in his own conduct, that strict habits of temperance and virtue are highly conducive to 'the perfection of great poetical powers. To poets of a lighter clafs he recommends, with graceful pleafantry, much convivial enjoyment; but for those who afpire to Epic renown, he prescribes even the simple regimen of Pythagoras.

Ille quidem parce, Samii pro more magiftri,
Vivat, & innocuos præbeat herba cibos;
Stet prope fagineo pellucida lympha catillo,
Sobriaque e puro pocula fonte bibat.
Additur huic fcelerifque vacans & cafta juventus,
Et rigidi mores, & fine labe manus.
Qualis vefte nitens facra, & luftralibus undis,
Surgis ad infenfos, augur, iture Deos.

Simply let thefe, like him of Samos, live;
Let herbs to them a bloodless banquet give;
In beechen goblets let their beverage shine;
Cool from the crystal spring their fober wine:
Their youth fhould pafs in innocence, fecure
From ftain licentious, and in manners pure;

Pure as Heaven's minifter, arrayed in white,
Propitiating the gods with luftral rite.

In his Elegy on the Spring, our poet expreffes the fervent emotions of his fancy in terms, that may be almost regarded as a prophetic defcription of his fublimeft work:

Jam mihi mens liquidi raptatur in ardua cœli,
Perque vagas nubes corpore liber eo;
Intuiturque animus toto quid agatur Olympo,
Nec fugiunt oculos Tartara cæca meos.

I mount, and, undepreffed by cumbrous clay,
Thro' cloudy regions win my easy way;
My spirit fearches all the realms of light,
And no Tartarean depths elude my fight.

With these verses it may be pleafing to compare a fimilar paffage in his English vacation exercise, where, addreffing his native language, as applied to an inconfiderable purpose, he adds,

Yet I had rather, if I were to chufe,
Thy fervice in fome graver fubject ufe;

Such as may make thee fearch thy coffers round,
Before thou clothe my fancy in fit found;
Such, where the deep tranfported mind may foar
Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav'n's door
Look in, and fee each blissful deity,

How he before the thunderous throne doth lie.

A

Dear as the Stagyrite to Ammon's fon,
His pupil, who difdain'd the world he won!
Nor fo did Chiron, or fo Phoenix fhine,
In young Achilles' eyes, as he in mine:
First led by him, thro' fweet Aonian shade,

Each facred haunt of Pindus I furvey'd;

Explor'd the fountain, and the Mufe my guide,

Thrice fteep'd my lips in the Castalian tide.

And again, expreffing his regret upon the length of their separation:

Nec dum ejus licuit mihi lumina pafcere vultu,
Aut linguæ dulces aure bibiffe fonos.

Nor yet his friendly features feaft my fight,
Nor his fweet accents my fond ear delight.

As the tenderness of the young poet is admirably difplayed in the beginning of this Elegy, his more acknowledged characteristic, religious fortitude, is not lefs admirable in the close of it.

At tu fume animos, nec fpes cadat anxia curis,
Nec tua concutiat decolor offa metus.

༢་་

Sis etenim quamvis fulgentibus obfitus armis,
Intenténtque tibi millia tela necem,

At nullis vel inerme latus violabitur armis, ima

+1

Dequel tuo cufpis nulla cruore bibet; (
Namque eris ipfe dei radiante fub ægide tutus
Ille tibi cuftos, & pugil ille tibi: nô

Et tu (quod fupereft miferis) fperare memento,

Et tua magnanimo pectore vince mala;
Nec dubites quandoque frui melioribus annis,
Atque iterum patrios poffe videre lares.

But thou, take courage, ftrive against despair,
Shake not with dread, nor nourish anxious care.
What tho' grim war on every fide appears,
And thou art menac'd by a thousand fpears,
Not one shall drink thy blood, not one offend
Ev'n the defencelefs bofom of my friend;
For thee the ægis of thy God fhall hide;
Jehovah's felf fhall combat on thy fide;
Thou, therefore, as the moft afflicted may,
Still hope, and triumph o'er thy evil day;
Truft thou shalt yet behold a happier time,
And yet again enjoy thy native clime.

The reader, inclined to fymphatize in the joys of Milton, will be gratified in being informed, that his preceptor, whose exile and poverty he pathetically lamented, and whofe profperous return he predicted, was in a few years reftored to his country, and became Master of Jefus College, in Cambridge.

As the year in which he quitted England (1623) corresponds with the fifteenth year of his pupil's age, it is probable that Milton was placed, at that time, under the care of Mr. Gill and his fon; the former, chief matter of St. Paul's school, the latter, his affiftant, and afterwards his fucceffor. It is remarkable, that Milton, who has been fo uncandidly represented as an uncontrolable fpirit,