Page images
PDF
EPUB

for ever quitt clayme unto Samuel Symonds of London, Printer-his heirs Excuts and Administrators All and all manner of Accon and Accoйs Cause and Causes of Accoñ Suites Bills Bonds writinges obligatorie Debts dues duties Accompts Summe and Sumes of money Judgments Executions Extents Quarrells either in Law or Equity Controversies and demands-And all & every other matter cause and thing whatsoever which against the said Samuel Symonds-I ever had and which I my heires Executers or Administrators shall or may have clayme & challenge or demand for or by reason or means of any matters cause or thing whatsoever from the beginning of the World unto the day of these pssents. In witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seale the twenty ninth-day of April in the thirty third Year of the Reigne of our Sovereign Lord Charles by the grace of God of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland King defender of the ffaith & Anno Dni. 1681.

Signed and delivered in the pssence of

Jos. Leigh Wm Wilkins.

ELIZABETH MILTON,

Alterations by Milton from the first edition in ten Books, for the second edition twelve.

Book viii. V. 1.

The Angel ended, and in Adam's ear,
So charming left his voice, that he a while

Thought him still speaking; still stood fix'd to hear:
Then, as new wak'd, thus gratefully reply'd.'

The latter part of the verse was taken from the line in the first edition

To whom thus Adam gratefully reply'd.'

Book xii. V. 1.

'As one who in his journey bates at noon,

Though bent on speed: so here th' arch-angel paus'd,
Betwixt the world destroy'd, and world restor❜d;

If Adam ought perhaps might interpose :

Then, with transition sweet, new speech resumes.'

Some few additions were also made to the Poem, the notice of which will interest the critical reader.

Book v. V. 637.

'They eat, they drink, and with refection sweet Are fill'd, before th' all-bounteous king,' &c. were thus enlarged in the second edition:

[ocr errors]

They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
Quaff immortality, and joy, (secure

Of surfeit, where full measure only bounds
Excess) before th' all-bounteous king,' &c.

Book xi. V. 484. after

• Intestine stone, and ulcer, cholic-pangs,' these three verses were added:

[ocr errors]

Dæmoniac phrenzy, moping melancholy,
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy;
Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence.'

And ver. 551, of the same book (which was originally thus :
Of rendring up. Michael to him reply'd)

received this addition:

Of rendring up, and patiently attend
My dissolution. Michael reply'd.'

LETTERS.

No. i. ii. Greek letters of C. Deodati to Milton, for merly in the possession of Toland, now in the British Museum, additional MS. No. 5017. f. 71, (see Toland's Life of Milton, p. 23.)

No. iii. an Italian letter to Milton, from Florence, without the name of the author affixed. Carlo Dati was the principal correspondent of Milton: and I should have supposed that he had been the writer of this letter; but that he is represented as a nobleman of large fortune, and in this letter the writer speaks of his being appointed to the professorship of Belles Lettres in the academy of Florence, on the death of from Bonmattei, his other Florentine correspondent. Since Doni. If not from Carlo Dati, I should presume it must be writing the above, I have discovered that Carlo Dati sucIceeded Doni in the professorship. He therefore is the writer. Doni died Dec. 1647, aged fifty-three, he left C.

Dati the office of publishing his works. Heinsius says, 'DATIVM, amicissimum mihi juvenem Donius impense diligebat. C. Dati died in Jan. 1675, aged fifty-six. Dati took the name in the Acad. della Crusca of 'Smarrito. He wrote the Lives of the Antient Painters, 4to. 1667, and other small works. See Salvino Salvino in Fast. Consu laribus, p. 536, and Bandini Comm. de vitâ Donii, p. xci. very interesting mention of C. Dati occurs repeatedly in the Epistles of N. Heinsius. Bayle says he was very civil and officious to all learned travellers who went to Florence. Chimentelli thus speaks of him, 'Clarissimus et amicissimus Car. Datius, nostræ flos illibatus urbis, suadæque Etruscæ medulla, quam omni literarum paratu quotidie auget, atque illustrat.' Nic. Heinsius has dedicated a book of his Elegies to Carlo Dati, in which he mentions his acquaintance with Gaddi, Coltellini, Doni, Frescobaldi and other of Milton's friends. Carlo Dati received him with the same hospitality, which he had showed to Milton. He also mentions his reception by Chimentelli at Pisa.

No. iv. Letter from Peter Heimbach. To this letter, an answer by Milton is found among his Epistles, p. 65. There is an address to Cromwell in Latin written by Heimbach, printed in London, 1656. This letter was sent after an interval of nine years in their correspondence; and was an affectionate inquiry concerning Milton's safety, during the plague of the preceding year.

No. v. Letter from Leo ab Aizema,' informing Milton he had printed a Dutch translation of his Book on Divorce, see Milton's Answer, p. 42, Feb. 1654. Leo ab Aizema, was a gentleman of Friesland, born at Doccum, 1600. He printed some Latin poems, and Historia Pacis a fæderat : Belgis ab An. 1621. He was the resident for the Hans Towns, at the Hague, and was a clever, friendly, and liberal man. See Saxii Onom. Lit. Vol. iv. p. 216.

No. I.

Θεόσδοτος Μίλτωνι ευφραινεσθαι.

(Condoling with him on the bad weather, and anticipating a meeting on the return of the fine.)

Ἡ μὲν παροῦσα κατάστασις τοῦ ἄερος δοκέι φθονερώἔρον διακεῖσθαι, πρὸς ἃ ἡμεῖς πρωὶ διαλυόμενοι εθέμεθα, χειμάζοῦσα, καὶ ταρασσομένη δύο ἤδη ὅλας ἡμέρας, ἄλλ'

1 πρωὴν in Marg

ὅμως τοσοῦτὸν ἐπιθυμῶ τῆς σῆς συνδιαιτήσεως, ὥσθ' ὑπὸ ἐπιθυμίας ήδη ἐυδίαν, καὶ γαλήνην, καὶ πάντα χρυσᾶ εις τὸν ἅυριον ὀνειρώττειν, καὶ μόνον ου μαντεύεσθαι, ἵνα λόγων φιλοσόφων, καὶ πεπαιδευμένων ευωχώμεθα ἓξ αλλήλων, διὰ τοῦτο οῦν ἥβουλόμην πρὸς σὲ γράφειν, του προκαλεισθαί, καὶ ἅναθαρσύνειν χάριν, δέισας μὴ πρὸς ἕτερα ἅττα νοῦν προσέχης ἅπέλπισας ἡλιασμούς, καὶ ᾔδυπαθέιας, ἕις τὸ παρόνγε. “Αλλα σύ θάρσει ὦ φίλε, καὶ ἔμμενε τῷ δόξαντι συναμφοῖν, καὶ ἀναλάμβανε διάθεσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἑορταστικὴν, καὶ φαιδροτέραν τῆς καθημερινῆς και γὰρ ἐσαύριον ἕσταὶ πάντα καλῶς, καὶ ὅ αὴρ, καὶ ὁ ἥλιος, καὶ ὅ πόταμος, καὶ δένδρα καὶ ὅρνίθια, καὶ γῆ, καὶ ἄνθρωποι ἑορτάζουσιν ἡμῖν, συνγελασουσιν, καὶ σύγχο ρευσουσι, τὸ δὴ ἀνεμέσητως λελέχθω· μόνον σὺ ἕτοιμος γίνου, ἥ κληθεῖς ἐξορμᾶσθαι, ἢ καὶ ἄκλητος ποθοῦντι ἐπέλθειν. *Αυτομάτος δὲ οὗ ἦλθε βοὴν ἀγαθος Μενέλαος, Εῤῥωσο.

No. II.

Θεόδοτος Μιλτωνι γαριεν.

(Describes the pleasantness of his situation, and of the season, and exhorts Milton to relax from his studies, and take recreation. This letter was probably sent from Cheshire to Milton at Horton, or in London; it must have been written about May.)

Οὐδὲν ἔχω ἐγκάλειν τῇ νῦν διαγωγῆ μου, ἐκτὸς τούτου ἑνὸς, ὅτι στερίσκομαι ψυχῆς τίνος γενναίας λόγον ἄιτειν καὶ διδόναι ἐπισταμένης, τοίην του κεφαλὴν ποθέω, τὰ δ ̓ ἄλλα ἄφθονα πάντα υπάρχει ἐνταῦθα ἐνἀγρῷ· τί γὰρ ἂν ἔτι λείποι, ὁπόταν ἤματα μακρὰ, τόποι κάλλιστοι ἄνθεσι, καὶ φύλλοις κομῶντες, καὶ βρύοντες, ἐπὶ παντὶ κλάδῳ ἀηδὼν ἤ ἀκανθίς, ἢ ἄλλο τὶ ὄρνιθιον ᾠδαῖς, καὶ μινυρισ τοῖς ἐμφιλοτιμειται, περίπατοι ποικαλώτατοι, τράπεζα τίνα ἐταῖρον τουτεστι πεπαιδευομένον, καὶ μεμνημενον ουτε ἐνδεὴς. ὄυτε κατάκορος, ὕπνοι ἀθόρυβοι ; ἐι ἐσθλὸν ἐπὶ τούτοις, ἐκτώμην, τοῦ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλέως ευδαι μονέστερος ἄν γενοίμην· ἀλλ' ἐστιν ἄει τὶ ἐλλιπὲς ἐν τοῖς

ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγμασι, πρὸς ὅ δει μετριότητος. Σὺ δὲ

ὦ θαυμάσιε, τι καταφρόνεις τῶν τῆς φύσεως δωρημάτων τι καρτερεις ἀπροφασίστως βιβλίοις, καὶ λογιδίοις παν· τητι, καὶ ταῖς ὡραις, και πανου ἀναγινώσκων τὰς σπου· του

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

δας, καὶ τὰς ἀνέσεις, καὶ ῥαστώνας τῶν πάλαι σοφῶν αυτὸς κατατριβόμενος τέως. Ἐγὼ μὲν ἐν ἀπασιν ἄλλοις ἥττων σοῦ ὑπαρχων, ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέτρον πόνων εἰδέναι κρέιττων, καὶ δοκῶ ἐμαυτῶ, καὶ ἔιμι. Εῤῥωσω, καὶ παῖζε, ἄλλ' ου κάτα Σαρδανάπαλον τὸν ἐν σόλοις.

Note.-These two Greek letters are printed in exact conformity with the original MS.

Illmo Sig. e Pron Osso.

No. III.

Fino l'anno passato risposi alla cortesissima ed elegantissima lettera di V.S. Illma affettuosamente ringraziandola della memoria che per sua grazia sì compiace tenere della mia Osservanza. Scrissi, come fo adesso in Toscano, sapendo che la mia lingua è a lei sì cara, e familiare che nella sua bocca non apparisce straniera. Ho di poi ricevuto due copie delle sue eruditissime poesie delle quali non mi poteva arrivare donativo più caro, perchè quantunque piccolo, racchiude in se valore infinito per esser una gemma del tesoro del Signor Giov. Miltoni. E come disse Theocrito ;

Gran pregio ha picciol dono, e merta onore
Ciò che vien da gl' amici.

Le rendo adunque quelle grazie che maggiori per me si possono
e prego il Cielo che mi dia fortuna di poterle dimostrare la
mia devozione verso il suo merito. Non asconderò alla
benevolenza di V. S. Illma, alcune nuove che son certo, le
saranno gratissime. Il Serenissimo Granduca mio Signore
s' è compiaciuto conferirmi la catedra, e lettura delle lettere
umane dell' Academia fiorentina vacata per la morte dell'
Eruditissimo Signor Gio. Doni gentilhuomo Fiorentino.
Questa è carica onorevolissima, e sempre esercitata da gen-
tilhuomini e literati di questa Patria, come già dal Poliziano,
da" due Vettori, e due Adriani lumi delle Lettere. La pas-
sata Settimana, per la morte del Serenissimo Principe Lorenzo
di Toscana, Zio del Granduca Regnante, feci l'orazione fune-
rale; come ella sia publicata, sarà mia cura invia ne copia a
V. S. Illma. Ho alle mani diverse opere, quali a Dio pia-

Petrus, and, I believe, Franciscus Victorius. See the Life of the latter by Bandini.

2 The two Adriani were Marcello, and his son Giambattista, both professors of literature at Florence, and both Secretaries of State. The father died in 1521, the son in 1570. Giambattista wrote the Storia dé suoi Tempi, a work highly praised by De Thou.

« PreviousContinue »