Of true experience from this great event, 1 On the conclusion of this tragedy, Dr. Johnson has the following remarks:-"While Samson is conducted off by the messenger, his father returns with hopes of success in his solicitation; upon which he confers with the chorus till their dialogue is interrupted, first by a shout, and afterwards by screams of horror and agony. As they stand deliberating where they shall be secure, a man who had been present at the show enters, and relates how Samson, having prevailed on his guide to suffer him to lean against the main pillars of the theatrical edifice, tore down the roof upon the spectators and himself. This is undoubtedly a just and regular catastrophe, and the poem therefore has a beginning and an end which Aristotle himself could not have disapproved; but it must be allowed to want a middle, since nothing passes between the first act and the last, that either hastens or delays the death of Samson. The whole drama, if its superfluities were cut off, would scarcely fill a single act; yet this is the tragedy, which ignorance has admired, and bigotry applauded."-Rambler, No. 139. END OF SAMSUN AGONISTES. Poems on Several Occasions. "Baccare frontem Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro. VIRGIL, Eclog. 7. I. ANNO ÆTATIS XVII. ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT DYING OF A COUGH. I. O fairest flower! no sooner blown but blasted, That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss, II. For since grim Aquilo, his charioteer, By boisterous rape the Athenian damsel2 got, Of long-uncoupled bed, and childless eld,3 III. So mounting up in icy-pearléd car, Through middle empire of the freezing air He wandered long, till thee he spied from far; 1 The daughter, and probably the first child, of the poet's sister. 2 Orithyia, daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens, was drowned while crossing the Ilissus in a high wind: hence the fable that she was carried off by Boreas or Aquilo. 8 Old age. There ended was his quest, there ceased his care. But all unwares with his cold-kind embrace Unhoused thy virgin soul from her fair biding place.1 IV. Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate; But then transformed him to a purple flower: V. Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead, Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb, Hid from the world in a low-delvéd tomb; VI. Resolve me then, O soul most surely blest! VII. Wert thou some star which from the ruined roof Of sheeny Heaven, and thou some goddess fled VIII. 4 Or wert thou that just maid who once before 1 The legend of the Erl King will probably suggest itself to many readers as a parallel to this graceful fiction of Milton's. 2 While playing at quoits. 3 Rather, "did fall." 4" Nectared" here seems equivalent to "divine." 5 Astræa, the goddess of justice. And cam'st again to visit us once more? Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some good? IX. Or wert thou of the golden-wingéd host, To scorn the sordid world, and unto Heaven aspire? X. But oh! why didst thou not stay here below To stand 'twixt us and our deservéd smart? XI. Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, That till the world's last end shall make thy name to live II. ANNO ÆTATIS XIX. [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 1 Two syllables are wanting to complete this line. It is probable that "Mercy" is the youth implied, and that we should read, Jortin proposes "Or wert thou Mercy, that," &c. 2 About the time when this poem was written (i. e. 1625) a great "plague raged in London. Milton was at this time only in his 17th year. And mad'st imperfect words with childish trips, The daintiest dishes shall be served up last. For this same small neglect that I have made; How he before the thunderous throne doth lie, To the touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings It appears, by this address of Milton's to his native language, that even in these green years he had the ambition to think of writing an epic poem; and it is worth the curious reader's attention to observe how much the Paradise Lost corresponds in its circumstances to the prophetic wish he now formed.-Thyer. 2 An epithet peculiar to Apollo among the poets. Cf. Pindar, Pyth iii. 26, Hor. Od. i. 21, 2. |