Terra, nec optatos pofcit egena toros;
Alma falutiferum medicos tibi gramen in ufus
Præbet, et hinc titulos adjuvat ipfa tuos :
Quod fi te pretium, fi te fulgentia tangunt
Munera, (muneribus fæpe coemptus amor)
Illa tibi oftentat quafcunque fub æquore vasto,
Et fuperinjectis montibus abdit opes.

Ah quoties, cum tu clivofo feffus Olympo
In vefpertinas præcipitaris aquas,

75

80

Cur te, inquit, curfu languentem, Phoebe, diurno Hefperiis recipit cærula mater aquis?

Quid tibi cum Tethy? Quid cum Tarteffide lympha, Dia quid immundo perluis ora falo?

Huc ades, ardentes imbue rore comas.

86

Frigora, Phoebe, mea melius captabis in umbra,

Mollior egelida veniet tibi fomnus in herbą,
Huc ades, et gremio lumina pone meo.
Quaque jaces, circum mulcebit lene fufurrans
Aura, per humentes corpora fufa rofas.
Nec me (crede mihi) terrent Semelëia fata,

90

83. Quid tibi cum Tethy, &c.] In the manner of Ovid, EPIST. HEROID. VI. 47•

QUID mihi cum Minyis? QUID cum Tritonide pinu ?
QUID TIBI Cum patrio, navita Tiphy, mea?

Aura, per bumentes corpora fufa rofas.] See Note on

v. 69. And EL. iii. 48.

Aura fub innumeris humida nata rofis.

Again, PARAD. REG. B. ii. 363. Fragrant gales are introduced, as enhancing the voluptuoufness of the inchanted banquet in the wilderness.

And winds,

Of gentleft gale, Arabian odours fann'd

From their foft wings, and Flora's earliest fmells.

Where fee the Note.

91.

Semeleia fata.] An echo to Ovid's Semeleia proles,

МЕТАМ.

Nec Phaetonteo fumidus axis equo;

Cum tu, Phoebe, tuo fapientius uteris igni,
Huc ades, et gremio lumina pone meo.
Sic Tellus lafciva fuos fufpirat amores;

Matris in exemplum cætera turba ruunt :
Nunc etenim toto currit vagus orbe Cupido,
Languentefque fovet folis ab igne faces.
Infonuere novis lethalia cornua nervis,

95

100

Trifte micant ferro tela corufca novo.
Jamque vel invictam tentat fuperaffe Dianam,
Quæque fedet facro Vefta pudica foco.
Ipfa fenefcentem reparat Venus annua formam,
Atque iterum tepido creditur orta mari.
Marmoreas juvenes clamant Hymenæe per urbes,
Littus, io Hymen, et cava faxa fonant.
Cultior ille venit, tunicaque decentior apta,
Puniceum redolet veftis odora crocum.

106

METAM. B. v. 329. ix. 640. And in other places. Semele's story is well known. See Ovid's AMOR. iii. 3. 37.

-Semele miferabilis arfit,

Officio eft illi pœna reperta fuo, &c.

And FAST. vi. 485.

93. More wifely than when you lent your chariot to Phaeton, and when I was confumed " by the excess of your heat." He alludes to the fpeech or complaint of TELLUS, in the ftory of Phaeton. See METAM. ii. 272. And Note on v. 58. Not to infift particularly on the defcription of the perfon of Milton's TELLUS, and the topics of perfuafion selected in her approaches and her fpeech, the general conception of her courtship of the fun, is highly poetical.

105. Marmoreas juvenes clamant Hymenæe per urbes.] See Ovid, EPIST. HEROID. xiv. 27. 66 Vulgus Hymen, Hymenæe, vo"cant, &c." And xii. 143. And AMOR. i. 563. But this was the ufual Prothalamion.

108. Puniceum redolet veftis odora crocum.
7.] So in L'ALLEGRO.

V. 124.

There let Hymen oft appear
In SAFFRON ROBE.-

VOL. I.

M m m

Se

Egrediturque frequens, ad amœni gaudia veris,
Virgineos aura cincta puella finus:

110

Votum eft cuique fuum, votum eft tamen omnibus

unum,

Ut fibi quem cupiat, det Cytherea virum.

Nunc quoque feptena modulatur orundine pastor,
Et fua quæ jungat carmina Phyllis habet.
Navita nocturno placat fua fidera cantu,
Delphinafque leves ad vada fumma vocat.
Jupiter ipfe alto cum conjuge ludit Olympo,
Convocat et famulos ad fua festa Deos.
Nunc etiam Satyri, cum fera crepufcula furgunt,
Pervolitant celeri florea rura choro,
Sylvanufque fua cypariffi fronde revinctus,
Semicaperque Deus, femideufque caper.
Quæque fub arboribus Dryades latuere vetuftis,
Per juga, per folos expatiantur agros.
Per fata luxuriat fruticetaque Mænalius Pan,
Vix Cybele mater, vix fibi tuta Ceres ;

So alfo Browne, BRIT. PAST. B. ii. S. v. p. 131.'
A roabe vnfit,

Till Hymen's SAFFRON'D weede had usher'd it.

115

120

125

Hence we must explain B. and Fletcher, WOMAN'S PRIZE, A. I. S. ii. vol. viii. p. 179.

Pardon me, YELLOW HYMEN.

The text has a reference to Ovid's Hymen, who is "CROCEO Velatus amictu." METAM. X. I.

119.

Cum fera crepuscula furgunt.] So in QUINT. No

VEMBR. V. 54.

Reddiderant dubiam jam SERA CREPUSCULA lucem. Ovid, METAM.i. 219.

-Traherent cum SERA CREPUSCULA lucem.

121. Sylvanus is crowned with cyprefs from the boy Cypariffus. In the next line, "Semicaperque Deus" is from Ovid, FAST. iv. 752. See also METAM. xiv. 515. "Semicaper Pan."

Atque

Atque aliquam cupidus prædatur Oreada Faunus,
Confulit in trepidos dum fibi nympha pedes;
Jamque latet, latitanfque cupit male tecta videri,
Et fugit, et fugiens pervelit ipfa capi.
130
Dii quoque non dubitant cœlo præponere fylvas,
Et fua quifque fibi numina lucus habet.
Et fua quifque diu fibi numina lucus habeto,
Nec vos arborea dii precor ite domo.
Te referant miferis te, Jupiter, aurea terris
Sæcla, quid ab nimbos afpera tela redis?
Tu faltem lente rapidos age, Phoebe, jugales,
Qua potes, et fenfim tempora veris eant;
Brumaque productas tarde ferat hifpida noctes,
Ingruat et nostro serior umbra polo.

135

140

127. Prædatur Oreada Faunus.] See what is faid of the mountain-nymph Liberty, in L'ALLEGRO, V. 36.

134. Nec

arborea Dii precor ite domo.] PARAD. L. B. V.

137. "From under fhady ARBOROUs roof."

138. -Senfim tempora veris eant.] See EL. i. 48. And the

Note.

E LEG. VI.

Ad Carolum Deodatum ruri commorantem,

Qui cum Idibus Decemb. fcripfiffet, et fua car

mina excufari poftulafset fi folito minus essent bona, quod inter lautitias quibus erat ab amicis exceptus, haud fatis felicem operam Mufis dare fe poffe affirmabat, boc habuit refponfum,

MITT

ITTO tibi fanam non pleno ventre falutem,
Qua tu diftento forte carere potes.

6

At tua quid noftram prolectat Mufa camœnam,
Nec finit optatas poffe fequi tenebras ?
Carmine fcire velis quam te redamemque colamque,
Crede mihi vix hoc carmine scire queas.
Nam neque nofter amor modulis includitur arctis,
Nec venit ad claudos integer ipfe pedes.
Quam bene folennes epulas, hilaremque Decem-
brem,

Feftaque cœlifugam quæ coluere Deum,
Deliciafque refers, hiberni gaudia ruris,
Hauftaque per lepidos Gallica mufta focos!
Quid quereris refugam vino dapibusque poesin ?

10

12. Hauftaque per lepidos Gallica mufta focos.] See Sonnet to Laurence, xx. iii. 10.

Where shall we fometimes meet, and by the fire

Help waste a fullen day?

What neat repaft shall feast us, light and choice

Of Attic tafte, with wine, &c.

Deodate had fent Milton a copy of verses, in which he described

the feftivities of Christmas."

Carmen