was Origin of Paradise Lost: Sylvester's Du Bartas" contains indeed, more material prima stamina of the Paradise Lost, than, as I believe, any other book whatever: and my hypothesis is, that it positively laid the first stone of that monumentum ære perennius. That Arthur, for a time, predominated in Milton's mind over his, at length preferred, sacred subject, was probably owing to the advice of Manso, and the track of reading into which he had then got. How far the Adamo of Andreini, or the Scena Tragica d'Adamo et Eva of Lancetta, as pointed out by Mr. Hayley; or any of the Italian poems on such subjects, noticed by Mr. Walker; contributed to revive his predilection for sacred poesy, it is beside my purpose to inquire. If he was materially caught by any of these, it served, I conceive, only to renew a primary impression made on his mind by Sylvester's Du Bartas; although the Italian dramas might induce him then to meditate his divine poem in a dramatic form. It is, indeed, justly observed by Mr. Warton, on the very fine passage, ver. 33, of the Vacation Exercise, written when Milton only nineteen, that it contains strong indications of a young mind anticipating the subject of Paradise Lost.'-Cowley found himself to be a poet, or, as he himself tells us, 6 was made one,' by the delight he took in Spenser's Fairy Queen, which was wont to lay in his mother's apartment;' and which he had read all over, before he was twelve years old. That Dryden was, in some degree, similarly indebted to Cowley, we may collect from his denominating him the darling of my youth, the famous Cowley.' Pope, at a little more than eight years of age, was initiated in poetry by the perusal of Ogilby's Homer and Sandys's Ovid; and to the latter he has himself intimated obligations, where he declares, in his Notes to the Iliad, that English poetry owes much of its present beauty to the translations of Sandys.' The rudimenta poetica of our great poet I suppose similarly to have been Sylvester's Du Bartas; which, I conceive, not only elicited the first sparks of poetic fire from the pubescent genius of Milton, but induced him, from that time, to devote himself principally to sacred poesy, and to select Urania for his immediate Muse, magno perculsus amore." While I agree with Mr. Munster, that Milton has adopted several thoughts and expressions from Sylvester, I hope I may be permitted to observe that, although the poem of Du Bartas treats largely of the creation of the world and the fall of man, the origin of Paradise Lost may not perhaps be absolutely attributed to that work." Smit with the love of sacred song," Milton, I apprehend, might be influenced, in his long choosing and beginning late," by other effusions of sacred poesy, in the language which he loved, and in the epic form, on several subjects; besides those of Dante, of Tasso, and of the Italian poets already mentioned. In the following list the Muses of Spain and Portugal also will be found to have chosen congenial themes: I. Discorso in versi della Creazione del Mondo sino alla Venuta di Gesù Cristo, per Antonio Cornazono. 4to. 1472. II. Della Creatione del Mondo, Poema Sacro, del Sig. Gasparo Mvrtola. Giorne sette, Canti sedici. 12mo. Venet. 1608. III. Epamerone, overo l'opera de sei Giorni, Poema di Don Felice Passero. 12mo. Venet. 1609. IV. Creacion del Mundo, Poema Espagnol, por el Doctor Alonzo de Azevedo. 8vo. en Roma, V. Da Creação et Compolicão do Homem, Cantos tres por Luis de Camoens, em Verso Portu gues. 4to. em Lisboa 1615. Rimas 2da. Parte.-Paris, 12mo. 1759. The first of these poems is noticed by Baretti in his Italian Library, p. 58; who also mentions an epic poem, first printed in Sicily, and since at Milan, of which he had forgot the dates, entitled, "L' Adamo del Campailla. It is a philosophical poem, much admired by the followers of the Cartesian system, who were very numerous when the author wrote it." Ib. p. 66. Baretti also mentions another epic poem "Le sei Giornate, di Sebastiano Erizzo. The six Days, that is, the Creation performed in six days, &c." Ib. p. 64. But this is a mistake. Le sei Giornate of Erizzo is neither a poem, nor at all connected with the history of the Creation. It is a series of novels: Le sei giornate, nelle quali sotto diuersi fortunati & infelici auenimenti, da sei giouani raccontati, si contengono ammaestramenti nobili & utili di morale Filosofia ". The second of the before-mentioned poems is in my possession; and I have given some account of it in the notes on B. iv. 753, and B. v. 689, of Paradise Lost. The three next are mentioned by Mr. Bowle, together with the preceding poem; as also with the Adamos of Andreni, Soranzo, and Serafino della Salandra, and with the Angeleida of Valvasone; in his manuscript notes on Lauder's Essay. He has added a reference to the following work, which might not be unknown to Milton, VI. Il Caso di Lucifero, di Amico Aguifilo. Crescimbeni, 4. 126. To which may be subjoined another poem that might have attracted the great poct's notice, as it is pronounced by Baretti to be little inferior to Dante himself. VII. Il Quadriregio,sopra i regni d' Amore, di Satanasso, dei vizi, e delle virtu, di Mons. F. Frezzi Vescovo di Foligno. fol. Perug. 1481. I may venture also to point out VIII. La Vita & Passione di Christo, &c. composta per Antonio Cornozano, in terza rima. Venet. 1518. 12mo. In which the second chapter of the first book is entitled De la creatione del mondo. IX. La Humanita del Figlivolo di Dio, in ottaua rima, per Theofilo Folengo, Mantoano. Venegia. 1533. 4to. In ten books: in the second of which Adam and Eve are particularly noticed. Dr. Burney has considered the sacred drama of Il Gran Natale di Christo by the elder Cicognini, as subservient to Milton's plan. See the note on Par. Lost, B. x. 249. There is also a poem of P. Antonio Glielmo, Milton's contemporary, entitled Il Diluvio del Mondo ; and there are the Mondo Desolato of the “shepherd-boy," G. D. Peri, (the author also of the epic poem, Fiesole Distrutta,) 6 Proemio. p, 1.-This work of Sebastian Erizzo was printed at Venice in quarto, by Giouan Varisco &c. in 1567 7 Now the property of Richard Gough, Esq. to whom I am much indebted for the use of the book. • He died in 1644. See Elogii d' Huomini Letterati, scritti da Lorenzo Crasso, parte sec. Venet. 1666. p. 287. and the Giudicio Estremo of Toldo Costantini; both published before Milton perhaps had determined the subject of his song. The writer of the article Pona (François) in the Nouveau Dict. Hist. à Caen, edit. 1786, says that Pona published L'Adamo, poema, 1661. The Adamo by this writer, (of which I am possessed) is not however a poem, although abounding with poetical expressions, but a history, in three books, of the creation and of our first parents. I have made extracts from it in the notes on Par. Lost, B. ix. 704, 897, &c. Pona was an author not a little admired in Italy: he died in 1652. Loredano, in a letter to him, says L'ingegno di V. S. è un giardino di Paradiso, ove non nascono che fiori immortali. Tale hò riconosciuto l' angelico. Loredano himself has also written an Italian Life of Adam; which is mentioned in the notes on Par. Lost, B. ix. 529, 1009. It is probable that Pona and Loredano were acquainted with Milton: that they were among those discerning persons, who, in the private academies of Italy, whither," the poet tells us, "he was favoured to resort "," fostered his blooming genius by their approbation and encouragement. Loredano was the founder of the Accademia degli Incogniti. His house at Venice was the constant resort of learned men. Gaddi, an Italian friend whom Milton names, and who has celebrated the foundation of the academy3, would hardly fail to in. troduce the young Englishman to the founder of it, if by no other means he had become known to him. Italy, then, may perhaps be thought to have confirmed, if not to have excited, the design of Milton to sing "Man's disobedience, and the mortal taste of the forbidden fruit." Mr. Bowle, in his catalogue of poets who have treated Milton's subject before him, mentions Alcimus Avitus, archbishop of Vienna, who wrote a poem, in Latin hexameters, De Origine Mundi. Phillips, in his account of this author adds the name of Claudius Marius Victor, a rhetorician of Marseilles, who wrote upon Genesis in hexameters also; which are said to be extant. Pantaleon Candi dus, a German poet, has a copy of verses, I find, in his Loci communes theologici, &c. Basil. 1570, p. 24-27, entitled Lapsus Ada; and in a nuptial hymn, in the same volume,p. 110, he has painted the creation of Eve in lines not unworthy the attention of Milton. Ergo, novum molitus opus, pater ipse profundum Eximit insertam lato sub pectore costam, Egregium, et toto fulgentem pectore formam; The former in 1637; and I believe there is an earlier edition: the latter in 1648. Lettres de Loredano, edit. Bruxelles, 1708. p. 88. * See the preface to his Church Government, B. II. and his Epitaph. Damon. v. 133, &c. 3 See Jacobi Gaddii Adlocutiones, et Elogia, &c. Florentiæ, 1636. 4to. p. 38. 4 Theat. Poet: edit. 1675. Ancient Poets, p. 12, Agnoscitque suo sumptum de corpore corpus, Offers, egregiâque thori me compare donas, &c. I must not omit to mention an English poem, relating to the state of innocence, entitled The Glasse of Time in the two first Ages, divinely handled by Thomas Peyton, of Lincolne's Inne, Gent. 4to. Lond. 1623; and to observe also that part of Du Bartas had been translated into verse, and published, before the first edition of Sylvester's, " by William Lisle of Wilburgham, Esquier for the King's body," namely, in 1596 and 1598, and again in 1625. See the note on Milton's cxivth Psalm, ver. 11. Lisle's compound epithets, in his translation, are very numerous, and sometimes extremely beautiful. Sylvester has often merit also of this kind: but it is my duty to observe, that Sylvester is not always original; his shining phrases may be frequently traced in contemporary or preceding poets. In the notes on Milton's poetical works, I have sometimes had occasion to exhibit the expressions of Sylvester in this point of view. In justice, however, to this labo rious writer, I shall here close my remarks with a detached specimen of his poetry; to which, if Milton has been indebted, the temptation of the Serpent in Paradise Lost affords such a contrast, that the reader will be at no loss how to appreciate the improvement. Eve, second honour of this vniverse! Is 't true (I pray) that jealous God, perverse, With th' air of these sweet words, the wily snake In Eve's frail brest; who thus replies: "O! knowe Which in the midst of this green ground doth shine; A guilefull call t' allure vs to his net, Perceiving Eve his flattering gloze digest He prosecutes; and, jocund doth not rest, "No, fair," (quoth he) "beleeue not that the care Shall soon disperse the cloud of idiocy, Which dims your eyes; and, further, make you seem O World's rare glory! reach thy happy hand, Reach, reach, I say; why dost thou stop or stand? Of an vncertain God-head, onely great Though self-aw'd zeal: put on the glistering pall Of immortality: do not forestall (As envious stepdames) thy posteritie The soverain honour of Divinitie." SYLVESTER'S DU BARTAS, Edit. 1621. pp. 192, 193. As Milton has been supposed to have been much obliged to other poets in describing the unsubdued spirit of Satan, especially where he says, Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven: I am tempted to make an extract or two from Stafford's Niobe, a prose-work already mentioned, in which Satan speaks the following words; not dissimilar to passages in Fletcher and Crashaw, which have been cited, on the same subject. "They say forsooth, that pride was the cause of my fall; and that I dwell where there is nothing but weeping, howling, and gnashing of teeth; of which that falsehood was the authour, I will make you plainelie perceiue. True it is, sir, that I (storming at the name of supremacie) sought to depose my Creatour; which the watchful, all-seeing eye of Prouidence finding, degraded me of my angelicall dignitie, dispossessed me of all pleasures; and the Seraphin and Cherubin, Throni, Dominationes, Virtutes, Potestates, Principatus, Arch-angeli, Angeli, and all the celestiall Hierarchyes, with a shout of applause sung my departure out of Heauen: my Alleluia was turned into an Ehu; and too soone I found, that I was corruptibilis ab alio, though not in alio; and that he, that gaue me my being, could againe take it from mee. Now for as much as I was once an angell of light, it was the will of Wisedome to confine me to darknes and to create mee prince thereof: that so I, who could not obey in Heauen, might commaund in Hell. And, belieue mee, sir, I had rather controule within my dark diocese, than to reinhabite cœlum empyrium, and there liue in subjection, vnder check." Edit. 1611, pp. 16-18 part the second. Stafford calls Satan the "grim visag'd Goblin," ibid. p. 85. And, in the first part of the book, he describes the devil as having "committed incest with his daughter, the World." p. 3. He also attributes the gunpowder plot to the devil, “with his unhallowed senate of popes, the inuentors and fautours of this vnheard-of attempt in Hell." p. 149. I have thus brought together opinions, delivered at different periods respecting the origin of Paradise Lost; and have humbly endeavoured to trace, in part, the reading of the great poet, subservient to his plan. More successful discoveries 5 See the note p. 336. |