expresses what some reviewer might possibly say of us, charging us with the Athenian failing of Tepívoia. His words are these, 'It is the fault into which men are apt to fall in commenting upon works which they highly admire; because from an attentive study of them they discover beauties which general readers do not notice, they are tempted to think that still deeper study will bring to light still greater treasures; and attribute to every word of their author some deep meaning, or some particular beauty.' We plead guilty to the impeachment in some slight degree, but with very large reservations; on no subject would Teρívola be more pardonable, than when exhibited in commenting on the prose works of our great national Poet; and we only hope, that, if it be our failing, it may be the failing also of every one who condescends to criticise our labours.

But we must not forget that our labour of love, for such it has in truth been to us, is not quite ended ; but at once proceed to our author's Familiar Letters, originally written in Latin, and translated in Bohn's edition, by Mr. Fellowes, of Oxford, whose translation of the Second Defence we were not altogether pleased with. They extend over a period of about forty years, the date of the first being 1625, and of the last 1666. And we cannot better express our own views and feelings than by adopting, and cordially subscribing to those expressed by the Editor

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of the above named edition in his introductory remarks.

'For nobleness of sentiment, and lofty dignity of thought, no letters with which I am acquainted surpass these. They commence in youth, and, few, alas, as they are, carry us forward to a period not far removed from the writer's death. It seems to me impossible to peruse them without the deepest interest. They open to us, though doubtless much too little, a view into the every-day frame of mind, and household habits, of our great poet; and few, perhaps, will read these valued fragments of his inner life, without experiencing the sincerest regret that there should be no more of them, without perceiving with sorrow the number of the leaves decrease, and the end approaching, of what, to all who love, as I do, the memory of this good and great man, must be an enjoyment of the most perfect and exalted nature.'

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These letters were published by Milton himself, in 1674, the last year of his life, to which he added some Academical Exercises to complete the volume. title in Latin is "Authoris Epistolarum Familiarum Liber Unus: Quibus accesserunt ejusdem, jam olim in Collegio Adolescentis Prolusiones quædam Oratoria." These latter are seven in number, and though highly lauded by Masson, in his Life of Milton, as distinguished by peculiar characteristics, and full of biographical light, and each described and translated

The Latin

The Latin

by him in part, they are, in the opinion of the editor, uninteresting and unreadable. Masson states, 'though they have been in print since 1674, I really have found no evidence that as many as ten persons have read them through before me.' At all events, there is another who has read them through, of whom the biographer has never heard. We shall, therefore, pass them by, only remarking that Masson has restored to its proper connexion the sixth with the first piece in his "Miscellaneous Poems," commencing, "Hail native language," &c., and which is thus headed, "Anno ætatis xix. At a Vacation Exercise in in the College, part Latin, part English. speeches ended, the English thus began." is in prose, that of this sixth Prolusion, and the English is in verse. The above-named writer says, 'the sixth exercise stands by itself, as a voluntary discourse delivered by appointment in the summer vacation, 1628, at a meeting of the youths of the University, held for the purpose of fun and frolic. essay consists of two parts-the first being a dissertation on the compatibility of occasional frolic with philosophical studies; and the second a frolicsome harangue, expressly comic and even coarse, introductory to the other sports of the day. We have the interesting fact, handed down to us by Aubrey and after him by Wood, here authenticated for us by Milton himself, that, at Christ's College, he used to go by the nick

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name of 'the Lady?" "An denique ego à Deo aliquo vitiatus * ut sic repente ἐκ θηλείας εἰς ἄῤῥενά årλaxteínv av? A quibusdam audivi nuper Domina. At cur videor illis parum masculus? verum utinam illi possint tam facile exuere asinos, quam ego quicquid est faminæ."

FAMILIAR LETTERS.

"THO

I.-To his Tutor, Thomas Young.

HOUGH I had determined, my excellent tutor, to write you an epistle in verse, yet I could not satisfy myself without sending also another in prose, for the emotions of my gratitude, which your services so justly inspire, are too expansive and too warm to be expressed in the confined limits of poetical metre ; they demand the unrestrained freedom of prose, or rather the exuberant richness of Asiatic phraseology: though it would far exceed my power accurately to describe how much I am obliged to you, even if I could drain dry all the sources of eloquence, or exhaust all the topics of discourse which Aristotle or the famed Parisian Logician has collected. You complain with truth that my letters have been very few and very short; but I do not grieve at the omission of so pleasurable a duty, so much as I rejoice at having such a place in your regard as makes you anxious often to hear from me. I beseech you not to take it amiss, that I have not now written to you for more than