Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze,
Or frost to flow'rs, that their gay wardrobe wear,
When first the white-thorn blows;

Such, Lycidas, thy lofs to fhepherds ear.

Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep Clos'd o'er the head of your lov'd Lycidas?

For neither were ye playing on the steep,

Where your old Bards, the famous Druids, lie,
Nor on the fhaggy top of Mona high,

Anglefey, or the fhady iland as it was
called by the ancient Britons. And
Deva is the river Dee, the mean-
ing of which word Deva is by
fome fupposed to be God's water
or divine water. See Camden's
Cheshire. And for the fame rea-
fon that it is here called wifard
ftream, it has the name of ancient
hallow'd Dee in our author's Vaca-
tion Exercife; and Spenfer thus in-
troduces it among his rivers, Faery
Queen, B. 4. Cant. 11. St. 39.

And Dee, which Britons long
ygone
Did call divine, that doth by

Chester tend.

And Drayton in his Polyolbion.
Song X.

A brooke it was, fuppos'd much
bus'nefs to have seen,
Which had an ancient bound
'twixt Wales and England been,

Nor

And noted was by both to be an ominous flood,

That changing of his foards, the future ill or good

Of either country told, of either's war or peace,

The fickness or the health, the dearth or the increase &c.

Thefe places all look toward Ireland, and were famous for the refidence of the Bards and Druids, who are diftinguish'd by moft authors, but Milton fpeaks of them as the fame, and probably as priests they were Druids, and as poets they were Bards. For Cæfar, who has given us the best and most authentic account of the ancient Druids,

fays that among other things they learn a great number of verses. Magnum ibi numerum verfuum edifcere dicuntur. De Bel. Gall. Lib. 6. c. 13.

56. Ay

Nor yet where Deva fpreads her wifard stream: 55
Ay me! I fondly dream

Had ye been there, for what could that have done?
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore,
The Muse herself for her inchanting fon,
Whom univerfal nature did lament,

When by the rout that made the hideous roar,
His goary vifage down the ftream was fent,
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore?
Alas! what boots it with inceffant care
To tend the homely flighted shepherd's trade,

56. Ay me! 1 fondly dream
Had ye been there, for what could

that have done?] We have
here follow'd the pointing of Mil-
ton's manufcript in preference to
all the editions: and the meaning
plainly is, I fondly dream of your
having been there, for what would
that have fignified? Mr. Thyer
conjectur'd that the paffage fhould
be fo pointed, and Milton has fo
pointed it, tho' he does not often
obferve the ftops in his Manufcript.
Mr. Jortin likewife perceiv'd this
to be the fenfe, and afks whether
this tranfpofition would not be bet-
ter than the common reading.

Had ye been there - Ay me,
fondly dream

For what could that have done?
What could the Mufe &c.

I

60

65

And

but in his Manufcript he alter'd these lines with judgment. And afterwards his goary vifage was a correction from his divine vifage.

66. And ftrictly meditate the thank

lefs Mufe ?] Meditate the Mufe, Virg. Ecl. I. 2. Musam meditaris. The thankless Mufe, that earns no thanks, is not thank'd by the ungrateful world: as ingratus in Latin

२

And strictly meditate the thankless Muse?
Were it not better done as others ufe,

To fport with Amaryllis in the shade,

Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair?

Fame is the spur that the clear spi'rit doth raise 70 (That laft infirmity of noble mind)

To fcorn delights, and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,

Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred fhears, 75
And flits the thin fpun life. But not the praise,

is used in a paffive as well as
active fignification. Salluft. Cat.
XXXVIII. otium ingrato labori
prætulerat. Virg. Æn. VII. 425.
I nunc, ingratis offer te, irrife,
periclis.

68. To sport with Amaryllis in the
fbade,

Or with the tangles of Neare's

bair?] Amaryllis, a country lafs in Theocritus and Virgil. Neera, Egon's mistress in Virgil's third Eclogue. Peck.

69. Or with the tangles &c] So corrected in the Manufcript from Hid in the tangles &c.

70. Fame is the fpur &c] The reader may fee the fame fentiment inlarg'd upon in the beginning of VOL. II.

Phœbus

the third book of Paradife Regain'd, and confirm'd by numerous quotations from the Heathen philofophers in a note by Mr Jortin.

73. But the fair guerdon] Prize, reward, recompenfe A word from the French, often ufed by our old writers, and particularly penfer. Faery Queen. B. 1. Cant. 7. St. 15.

To gain fo goodly guerdon-
Cant. 1c. St. 59.

That glory does to them for guer
don grant.

75. Comes the blind Fury &c] Of the three fatal fifters, the firit prepar'd the flax upon the diftaff, the itamen of human life; the fecond fpun it; and the third cut it off with her fhears, when the deitin'd Q

hour

Phœbus reply'd, and touch'd my trembling ears;
Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,
Nor in the glift ring foil

Set off to th' world, nor in broad rumor lies,

But lives and fpreads aloft by thofe pure eyes,
And perfect witnefs of all-judging Jove;
As he pronounces laftly on each deed,

Of fo much fame in Heav'n expect thy meed.

80

O fountain Arethufe, and thou honor'd flood, 85 Smooth-fliding Mincius, crown'd with vocal reeds, That strain I heard was of a higher mood: But now my oat proceeds,

hour was come. Thefe were diftinct from the Furies, but Milton calls the laft a blind Fury in his indignation for her cutting his friend's untimely and undeferv'd. Richardfon. Milton here has made the Fates the fame with the Furies; which is not quite deftitute of authority, for fo Orpheus in his hymns, two of which are addrefs'd to thefe Goddeffes, ftiles them,

Αλλά θεαν μοιραι εφοπλοκαμοι πολυμορφοι. Sympfon. 77. Phoebus reply'd, and touch'd my trembling ears;] Virgil Ecl. VI. 3.

Cynthius aurem

Vellit et admonuit.

As guileful goldsmith, that by fecret skill

With golden foil doth finely over. fpread

Some bafer metal &c. 85. O fountain Arethufe, &c.] Now Phoebus, whofe ftrain was of a higher mood, has done fpeak

And liftens to the herald of the fea

That came in Neptune's plea ;

He afk'd the waves, and afk'd the fellon winds,
What hard mishap hath doom'd this gentle fwain?
And question'd every guft of rugged wings

That blows from off each beaked promontory;
They knew not of his story,

And fage Hippotades their anfwer brings,
That not a blast was from his dungeon ftray'd,
The air was calm, and on the level brine
Sleek Panope with all her fifters play'd.
It was that fatal and perfidious bark

9°

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