Te circum late campos populatur Enyo, Et fata carne virum jam cruor arva rigat; 75 80 85 and the duke of Saxon Lawenburgh, in Lower Saxony, of which Hamburgh, where Young refided, is the capital. See v. 77. Germany, in general, either by invafion, or interiour commotions, was a fcene of the most bloody war from the year 1618, till later than 1640. Gustavus Adolphus conquered the greater part of Germany about 1631. See Note on EL. iii. fupr. v. 10. 84. Vivis et ignoto folus inopfque folo.] Qvid, of Achæmenides, METAM. XIV. 217. SOLUS, INOPS, exfpes. Thefe circumstances, added to others, leave us ftrongly to fuf pect, that Young was a nonconformift, and probably compelled to quit England on account of his religious opinions and practice. He feems to have been driven back to England, by the war in the Netherlands, not long after this Elegy was written. See v. 71. feq. And the first Note. 86. Sede peregrina quæris egenus opem.] Before and after 1630, many English minifters, puritanically affected, left their cures, and fettled in Holland, where they became paftors of feparate congregations when matters took another turn in England, they returned, and were rewarded for their unconforming obftinacy, in the new presbyterian establishment. Among these were Nye, Burroughs, Thomas Goodwin, Simpson, and Bridge, eminent members of the Affembly of Divines. See Wood, ATH. OXON. ii. 504. Neale's HIST. PUR. iii. 376. Siccine Siccine te decet innocuos exponere fœtus, 90 Quos tibi profpiciens miferat ipfe Deus, Haud aliter vates terræ Thefbitidis olim 100 100. Sidoni dira.-] Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. SIDONI is a vocative, from Sidonis, often applied by Ovid to Europa the daughter of Agenor king of Sidon or Syria. FAST. B. v. 610. SIDONI, fic fueras accipienda Jovi. And, ibid. 617. And ART. AMATOR. iii. 252. See alfo METAM. xiv. 30. ii. 840. Some of thefe fcriptural allufions are highly poetical, and much in Milton's manner. His friend, who bears a facred character, forced abroad for his piety and religious conftancy by the perfecutions of a tyrannic tribunal, and diftreffed by war and want in a foreign country, is compared to Elijah the Tifhbite wandering alone over the Arabian deferts, to avoid the menaces of Ahab, and the violence of Jezebel. See B. KINGS, i. xix. 3. feq. He then felects a most striking miracle, under which the power of the Deity is displayed in fcripture as a protection in battle, with reference to his friend's fituation, from the furrounding dangers of war. "You are fafe under the radiant fhield of him, who in the dead of night fuddenly dispersed the Affyrians, while the found of an unfeen trumpet was clearly heard in the empty air, and the noises of "invifible horfes and chariots rufhing to battle, and the diftant "hum of clashing arms and groaning men, terrified their numerous army." 46 Terruit et denfas pavido cum rege cohortes, Aere dum vacuo buccina clara fonat, See Talis et horrifono laceratus membra flagello, At tu fume animos, nec fpes cadat anxia curis, At nullis vel inerme latus violabitur armis, Ille Sionææ qui tot fub moenibus arcis ; Inque fugam vertit quos in Samaritadas oras See B. KINGS, ii. vii. 5. "For the Lord had made the host of "the Syrians to hear a noife of chariots and a noise of horses, " even the noise of a great hoft, &c." Sionæa arx is the city of Samaria, now befieged by the Syrians, and where the king of Ifrael now refided. It was the capital of Samaria. Prifca Damafcus was the capital of Syria. Pavido cum rege is Benhadad, the king of Syria. In the fequel of the narrative of this wonderful confternation and flight of the Syrians, the folitude of their vaft deserted camp affords a most affecting image, even without any poetical enlargement. "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold there was no man there, neither voice of man; but "horfes tied, and affes tied, and the tents as they were." Ibid. vii. 10. This is like a scene of inchantment in romance. 101. Talis et horrifono laceratus membra flagello, &c.] Whipping and imprisonment were among the punishments of the arbitrary Star-chamber, the threats REGIS ACHABI, which Young fled to avoid. 109. At nullis vel inerme latus, &c.] See the fame philosophy in COMUS, V. 421. ́ Cornea 120. Cornea pulvereum dum verberat ungula campum, I' ELEG. V. Anno ætatis 20.* In adventum veris. N fe perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro, Jam revocat Zephyros vere tepente novos; Induiturque brevem Tellus reparata juventam, Jamque foluta gelu dulce virefcit humus. Fallor? an et nobis redeunt in carmina vires, 5 123. Et tu quod fupereft, &c.] For many obvious reasons, AT is likely to be the true reading. 125. This wish, as we have seen, came to pass. He returned: and when at length his party became fuperiour, he was rewarded with appointments of opulence and honour. * In point of poetry, fentiment, felection of imagery, facility of verfification, and Latinity, this Elegy, written by a boy, is far fuperiour to one of Buchanan's on the fame fubject, intitled MAI CALENDE. See his EL. ii. p. 33. OPP. edit. 1715. I. 1. In fe perpetuo Tempus revolubile gyro.] Buchanan, DE SPHÆ RA, P. 133. ibid. In fe præcipiti femper revolubilis orbe. 5. Fallor? An et, &c.] So in the Epigram, PRODIT. BOM Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adeft? Munere veris adeft, iterumque vigefcit ab illo, This formulary is not uncommon in Ovid. As thus, FAST. B. v. 549. Fallor? An arma fonant? non fallimur, arma fonabant. See alfo Buchanan's EPITHALAMIUM, SILV. iv. p. 52. edit. ut fupr. FALLIMUR? an nitidæ, &c. And CoмUS, V. 221. Was I DECEIV'D? &C. 6. Ingeniumque mihi munere veris adeft.] See v. 23. There is a notion that Milton could write verfes only in the spring or fummer, which perhaps is countenanced by thefe paffages. But what poetical mind does not feel an expanfion or invigoration at the return of the spring, at that renovation of the face of nature with which every mind is in some degree affected? In one of the Letters to Deodate he says, "fuch is the impetuofity of my tem"per, that no delay, no reft, no care or thought of any thing "elfe can stop me, till I come to my journey's end, and put a "period to my prefent ftudy." PROSE-WORKS, ii. 567. In the PARADISE LOST, he fpeaks of his aptitude for compofition in the night, B. ix. 20. If anfwerable fkill I can obtain From my celestial patronefs, who deigns Again, to Urania, B. vii. 28. Not alone, while thou Vifit'ft my fumbers NIGHTLY, or when morn Again, he fays that "he vifits NIGHTLY the fubjects of facred "poetry." B. iii. 32. And adds, v. 37. Then feed on thoughts that voluntary move Harmonious numbers. In the fixth Elegy, he hints that he compofed the Ode on the Nativity in the morning, v. 87. Dona quidem dedimus Chrifti natalibus illa, Illa fub AURORAM LUX mihi PRIMA dedit. That is, as above, "when morn purples the east." In a Letter to Alexander Gill, he fays that he tranflated the hundred and fourteenth Pfalm into Greek heroics, "fubito nefcio quo impetu ante |