22. 1. Laurels. I. i. 9. Horace calls the bay " Apollinaris” (Od. IV. ii. 9). See Faerie Queene, 2. ye Myrtles brown. At a Greek banquet a myrtle bough was held by each guest as in his turn he sung; e.g. see Aristophanes' Clouds, 1364: “ ἔπειτα δ' ἐκέλευσ' αὐτὸν ἀλλὰ μυρρίνην λαβόντα and the famous Scolium: σε ἐν μύρτου κλαδὶ τὸ ξίφος φορήσω,” κ.τ.λ. For the brown, comp. Horace's "pulla myrtus " (Od. I. xxv. 18), à propos of which Orelli quotes Jacob's quotation from Goethe's Italian Travels, "niedrige graulichgrüne Myrten," and Ovid's "nigra myrtus" (Art. Amat. iii. 690). ivy. "Doctarum hederæ præmia frontium" (Hor. Od. I. i. 29). See Virg. Eclog. vii. 27, and viii. 13: "Hanc sine tempora circum Inter victrices hederam tibi serpere lauros." It was sacred to Bacchus. === 3. crude. Originally bleeding, raw, and then in various derived senses, as uncooked, unripe, &c. Cruel is of the same root. 4. forc'd. See 1. 6. "Here," says Warton, "is an inaccuracy of the poet; the 'mellowing' year could not affect the leaves of the laurel, the myrtle, and the ivy; which last is characterised before as never sere.'" The fact is, Milton is thinking more of " the meaning " than "the name " (see Paradise Lost, vii. 5); he is thinking more of what these leaves and berries represent—that is, Foetical fruit-than of the berries and leaves themselves. 6. Sad occasion dear. Comp. Spenser's Faerie Queene, I. i. 53: Shakspere, Hamlet, I. ii. 182: "Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven, "deare constraint." As You Like It, I. iii. 34: "My father Hated his father dearly." Julius Cæsar, III. i. 196: "Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death?" Where see Craik's note. Horne Tooke proposes to connect the word with Ang.-Sax. derian, to hurt, and to make its sense of " precious" a secondary one: but dear is without doubt the Anglo-Saxon deore, cognate with Old German tiur, Modern German theuer. Perhaps, as Craik suggests, it may be supposed "that the notion properly involved in it of love, having first become generalized into that of a strong affection of any kind, had thence passed on into that of such an emotion the very reverse of love." 7. [How is the verb here in the singular?] to disturb your season due: i.e. to anticipate your proper season. 10. Comp. Virg. Eclog. x. 3. 11. to build the lofty rhyme. Comp. Latin "condere carmen" (Hor. Ep. I. iii. 24); Ars Poet. 436; and Aristophanes' nuрywσas pýμата σeμvá (Frogs, 1004). So Eur. Suppl. 997 22. 11. rhyme. between the English rime and the Greek rhythm. Only Latin verses of King's are extant. Anthologies on the King's recovery, Cantab. 1632. 13. welter. See Hymn Nat. 124. The orthography of this word arises from a false notion of a connexion There is a copy of Latin iambics in the See Warton's note. to. See Hymn Nat. 132. Comp. Greek vπó with genitive or dative, and the phrase made to order." Of ships before is generally used, as in 3 Henry VI. I. iv. 4. 14. melodious tear. The epithet may be justified by noting that Spenser calls the songs in which the Muses lament the condition of his times "the tears of the Muses." 15. the Sacred Well. See Paradise Lost, iii. 28. In the mountain range of Helicon, in Western Boeotia, there were two fountains sacred to the Muses, Aganippe and Hippocrene. Aganippe was the more famous. Near it was the grove of the Muses. Virgil mentions "Aonie Aganippe" (Aonia was the name of that part of Boeotia where Helicon was) as one of the special haunts of the Muses. (Eclog. x. 12.) Propertius sings of his mistress, that she is "Par Aganippeæ ludere docta lyræ." In "She has skill to play as sweetly as the lyre of Aganippe :" that is, as well as the Muses. our Elizabethan writers Helicon is very often spoken of as it were the well: e.g. Browne, in his Brit. Past., calls it "the sacred well" (I. v. end). Milton seems to speak of it correctly in his Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester, 55–6: "Here be tears of perfect moan Wept for thee in Helicon." Comp. the former burden of Theocritus' first Idyl: “ ἄρχετε βωκολικᾶς, Μῶσαι φίλαι, ἄρχετ ̓ ἀοιδᾶς.” and the burden of the Epitaph. Bionis, ascribed to Moschus: Milton probably has in his mind in this passage the opening lines of Hesiod's Theogony Μουσάων Ελικωνιάδων ἀρχώμεθ ̓ ἀείδειν, αἴθ ̓ Ἑλικῶνος ἔχουσιν ὄρος, μέγα τε ζάθεόν τε, καί τε περὶ κρήνην ἰοειδέα ποσσ ̓ ἁπαλοῖσι ὀρχεῦνται καὶ βωμὸν ἐρισθενέος Κρονίωνος,” κ.τ.λ. "With the Muses of Helicon let us begin to sing, with them who haunt the mountain, vast and divine, of Helicon, and with tender feet dance round the dark-coloured fountain [Aganippe] and altar of the mighty Son of Kronos," &c. The "seat of Jove" is this altar. Curiously enough, this altar does not seem to be mentioned elsewhere. See Göttling's note on Hes. 1. c Many of Milton's commentators, not having observed, or unaware of even, Hesiod's mention of it, have accused their author of blundering. In fact, the passage gives us a very remarkable instance of the carefulness of Milton's reading. No doubt, in availing himself of Hesiod's hint, the poet wished to closely connect the Muses and their well with their great father-to connect the ministers of inspiration with its supreme author. See the extract given above from his Reason of Church Government. In Paradise Lost, i. 10-12, and iii. 25-32, he institutes a sort of analogy between the Aonian Mount and its waters, on the one hand, and Zion and its waters on the other. As "Siloa's" brook "flows fast by the Oracle of God," so here he makes the Gentile stream spring from beneath the seat of Jove. 17. sweep the string. So Pope: Descend, ye nine, and sweep the sounding lyre," &c. 22. 18. hence. See note, L'Allegro, 1. 1. 22. Warton quotes "a coy flirting style," from the Apology for Smectymnius. 19. Comp. Gray's Elegy, st. 24. Muse poet. Else it would not be he in 1. 21. See note on Proth. 159. 20. lucky words = words that wish me good luck, wish it may be well with me. urn. See Ovid's Heroid. xi. 124, &c. See 21. as he passes. Comp. Gray's "passing tribute of a sigh" (Elegy, st. 20). Gray was a profoundly admiring student of Milton's works. 22. my sable shroud = 'my black coffin" in Twelfth Night, II. iv. 61; what he has just called metaphorically "his destin'd urn." Todd quotes from a funeral Elegy of Sylvester: In Chaucer chest From my sad cradle to my sable chest, Poore pilgrim I did finde few months of rest." coffin. Sylvester's translation of Du Bartas has "sable tomb." Todd notes that Sylvester, in his Bethulian's Rescue, uses the very phrase sable shrowd, but in a different sense: "Still therefore, cover'd with a sable shroud, Hath she kept home as to all sorrow vow'd." On shroud, see Hymn Nat. 218. marg. 23. I.e. they had been members of the same college. 25. the high lawns. Comp. Gray's "upland lawn" (Elegy, st. 7). 27. we drove a field. Gray adopts this phrase: Elegy, st. 7. See Fob iii. 9, a field. See note on "a Maying," L'Allegro, 20, and Hymn Nat. 207. 28. The object of the principal verb is here made the subject of the dependent one. See Gray's Elegy, and Collins' Ode to Evening: His cloister'd flight, ere to black Hecate's summons The gray-fly, also called the trumpet-fly, hums sharply at noon, or the hottest part of the day. "But by some this [Milton's gray-fly] has been thought the chaffer, which begins its flight in the evening." (Warton.) Perhaps it is better to understand noon to be meant here, the "battening," &c., referring to the evening-to something subsequent to the hearing of the gray-fly. Comp. L'Allegro: "Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, By whispering winds soon lull'd asleep." 29. batt'ning is of the same root as "better." It is often intransitive, as in Coriolanus, IV. v. 35. S 22. 11. rhyme. The orthography of this word arises from a false notion of a connexion between the English rime and the Greek rhythm. Only Latin verses of King's are extant. Anthologies on the King's recovery, Cantab. 1632. 13. welter. See Hymn Nat. 124. There is a copy of Latin iambics in the to. See Hymn Nat. 132. Comp. Greek iró with genitive or dative, and the phrase "made to order." Of ships before is generally used, as in 3 Henry VI. I. iv. 4. 14. melodious tear. The epithet may be justified by noting that Spenser calls the songs in which the Muses lament the condition of his times "the tears of the Muses.' "" 15. the Sacred Well. See Paradise Lost, iii. 28. In the mountain range of Helicon, in Western Boeotia, there were two fountains sacred to the Muses, Aganippe and Hippocrene. Aganippe was the more famous. Near it was the grove of the Muses. Virgil mentions Aonie Aganippe" (Aonia was the name of that part of Boeotia where Helicon was) as one of the special haunts of the Muses. (Eclog. x. 12.) Propertius sings of his mistress, that she is "Par Aganippeæ ludere docta lyræ." "She has skill to play as sweetly as the lyre of Aganippe :" that is, as well as the Muses. In our Elizabethan writers Helicon is very often spoken of as it were the well: e.g. Browne, in his Brit. Past., calls it "the sacred well" (I. v. end). Milton seems to speak of it correctly in his Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester, 55–6: "Here be tears of perfect moan Wept for thee in Helicon." Comp. the former burden of Theocritus' first Idyl: “ ἄρχετε βωκολικᾶς, Μῶσαι φίλαι, ἄρχετ' αοιδάς.” and the burden of the Epitaph. Bionis, ascribed to Moschus: “ ἄρχετε, Σικελικαί, τῷ πένθεος ἄρχετε Μοίσαι.” Milton probably has in his mind in this passage the opening lines of Hesiod's Theogony αἴθ ̓ Ἑλικῶνος ἔχουσιν ὄρος, μέγα τε ζάθεόν τε, καί τε περὶ κρήνην ἰοειδέα ποσσ ̓ ἁπαλοῖσι ὀρχεῦνται καὶ βωμὸν ἐρισθενέος Κρονίωνος,” κ.τ.λ. "With the Muses of Helicon let us begin to sing, with them who haunt the mountain, vast and divine, of Helicon, and with tender feet dance round the dark-coloured fountain [Aganippe] and altar of the mighty Son of Kronos," &c. The "seat of Jove" is this altar. Curiously enough, this altar does not seem to be mentioned elsewhere. See Göttling's note on Hes. 1. c Many of Milton's commentators, not having observed, or unaware of even, Hesiod's mention of it, have accused their author of blundering. In fact, the passage gives us a very remarkable instance of the carefulness of Milton's reading. No doubt, in availing himself of Hesiod's hint, the poet wished to closely connect the Muses and their well with their great father-to connect the ministers of inspiration with its supreme author. See the extract given above from his Reason of Church Government. In Paradise Lost, i. 10-12, and iii. 25-32, he institutes a sort of analogy between the Aonian Mount and its waters, on the one hand, and Zion and its waters on the other. As "Siloa's" brook "flows fast by the Oracle of God," so here he makes the Gentile stream spring from beneath the seat of Jove. 17. sweep the string. So Pope: "Descend, ye nine, and sweep the sounding lyre," &c. 22. 18. hence. See note, L'Allegro, 1. 1. 22. Warton quotes "a coy flirting style," from the Apology for Smectymnius. 19. Comp. Gray's Elegy, st. 24. Muse poet. See note on Proth. 159. Else it would not be he in l. 21. 20. lucky words urn. See Ovid's Heroid. xi. 124, &c. See 21. as he passes. Comp. Gray's "passing tribute of a sigh" (Elegy, st. 20). Gray was a profoundly admiring student of Milton's works. 22. my sable shrowd=" my black coffin" in Twelfth Night, II. iv. 61; what he has just called metaphorically "his destin'd urn." Todd quotes from a funeral Elegy of Sylvester : In Chaucer chest 66 From my sad cradle to my sable chest, Poore pilgrim I did finde few months of rest." Todd coffin. Sylvester's translation of Du Bartas has "sable tomb." notes that Sylvester, in his Bethulian's Rescue, uses the very phrase sable shrowd, but in a different sense : "Still therefore, cover'd with a sable shrowd, Hath she kept home as to all sorrow vow'd." On shroud, see Hymn Nat. 218. marg. 23. I.e. they had been members of the same college. 25. the high lawns. Comp. Gray's "upland lawn" (Elegy, st. 7). 27. we drove a field. Gray adopts this phrase: Elegy, st. 7. See Fob iii. 9, a field. See note on a Maying," L'Allegro, 20, and Hymn Nat. 207. 28. The object of the principal verb is here made the subject of the dependent one. See Gray's Elegy, and Collins' Ode to Evening: His cloister'd flight, ere to black Hecate's summons The gray-fly, also called the trumpet-fly, hums sharply at noon, or the hottest part of the day. But by some this [Milton's gray-fly] has been thought the chaffer, which begins its flight in the evening." (Warton.) Perhaps it is better to understand noon to be meant here, the "battening," &c., referring to the evening-to something subsequent to the hearing of the gray-fly. Comp. L'Allegro: "Thus done the tales, to bed they creep, By whispering winds soon lull'd asleep." 29. batt'ning is of the same root as "better." It is often intransitive, as in Coriolanus, IV. v. 35. S |