of the country, Milton became anxious to enjoy the learned fociety, and the refined amusements of town. • Excipit hinc feffum finuofi pompa Theatri.' He writes to Deodati, I will tell you feriously what I defign.-' To take chambers in one of the inns of court, where I may have the benefit of a pleasant and fhady walk, and where with a few affociates I may enjoy more comfort, when I choose to stay at home, and have a more elegant society when I choose to go abroad: in my present fituation you know in what obscurity I am buried, and to what inconveniences I am expofed.'-His feventh Elegy discovers that these shady" and suburban walks were enlivened by forms that made no light impreffion even on a scholar's heart. Et modo qua noftri fpatiantur in urbe Quirites, Aft ego progredior tacite querebundus, et excors, 44 In the time of Milton's youth, the fashionable places of walking in London were Hyde Park, and Gray's Inn Walks. See Warton's Quotations from Sir A. Cokaine's Poems, p. 470. In his Prolufiones, p. 113, he mentions the pleasures of London; Cum ex eâ urbe, quæ caput urbium eft, huc nuper me reciperem, Academici, deliciarum omnium, quibus is locus fupra modum affluit, ufque ad faginam, prope dixerim, fatur; fperabam mihi iterum aliquando otium illud Literarium, quo ego vitæ genere etiam coeleftes animas gaudere opinor; eratque penitus in animo jam tandem abdere me in Literas et jucundiffimæ Philofophiæ These plans of life were fuddenly changed by his mother's death in 1637,5 (who was buried in Horton Church,) and he then obtained his father's permiffion to go abroad. He left England in 1638, having previously obtained some directions for his travels from Sir Henry Wotton;46 and as a prefiding maxim of prudence, and means of safety, amid civil broils, and spiritual diffenfions, he was defired to recollect the following fentence, which that experienced statesman had himself received from old Alberti Scipione at Sienna, a Roman courtier, who lived in times of danger, and had also impressed on other travellers. I penfieri stretti, ed il vifo sciolto.'" On his arrival at Paris, by the favour of Lord Scudamore, he was prefented to Grotius, then refiding at the French court, as ambassador from the celebrated queen of Sweden. Philips fays, that Grotius took the vifit kindly, and gave him entertainment suitable to his worth, and the high commendations he had heard of him.' After a refidence of a few days, he proceeded directly to Nice, and embarked for Genoa,* from thence he passed perdius et per nox affidere, ita semper affolet laboris et voluptatis viciffitudo amovere fatietatis tædium,' &c. 45 Mr. Godwin fays, There is great confufion among all the biographers of Milton, refpecting the period of his travels, and this confufion originates with Milton himself.' See his Life by Philips, P. 357. 46 See Wotton's Remains, p. 342. 47 Boccha Chiufa, occhi aperti.' The wifeft of men, fays, &c. v. J. Hall's Efays, p. 93. 12mo. 1646. 48 through Leghorn and Pifa in his way to Florence. Milton had studied the language and literature of Italy with peculiar diligence and fuccefs; and at Florence he found himself honourably received by the most enlightened perfons, as well as by the learned academicians. He formed a friendship with Gaddi, Carlo Dati," Frefcobaldi, Clementelli, and other ingenious fcholars, whose names are well known in the literary history of the times. Dati presented him with an encomiaftic infcription in Latin, and Francini with an Italian ode. A manuscript entitled, La Tina,' by Antonio Malatefti,50 was also de Ye fountains, fparkle through her marble fanes : Nor her long age of conqueft seem a dream. Genoa, April 1822. 48 See his verfes to his friend, Giov. Salfilli, 10. Нæс ergo alumnus ille Londini Milto See also his Epit. Damonis, ver. 137. J. M. Quin et noftra fuas docuerunt nomine fagos 49 On Carlo Dati, fee Walker's Memoirs of Italian Tragedy, p. 200, 4to. Fabroni has written the life of C. Dati in the xvi. vol. of Vitæ Italorum, p. 15-36; where he mentions among others, Milton's teftimony to Dati's character. 50 The full title of this work is La Tina, Equivoci Rusticali di Antonio Malatefti, exposti nella sua villa de Taiano il Septembre dell' anno 1637. Sonnetti Cinquante, dedicate all' Ill Signore, e Padrone off" il dicated to him while he was at Florence, by its author. His vifit to the great and injured Galileo must not pass unnoticed. Most of the biographers of Milton have have afferted that our poet visited the philofopher in prifon; but the fuperior information of Mr. Walker has proved that Galileo was never a prisoner in the inquifition at Florence, but was confined at Rome, and at Sienna.51 After his liberation he went to his villa at Arcetri, where it is probable that Milton faw him. From Florence he paffed to Sienna, and then to Rome, where he refided two months, experiencing the civilities, and partaking the hofpitality of the learned and the great. L. Holstenius, a laborious and eminent scholar, was at that time keeper of the Vatican Library; he introduced Milton to Cardinal Barberini, who was the 52 Signor Giovanni Milton nobil' Inghilefe. This manufcript was difcovered by Mr. Brand on a book-stall, it was fent as a prefent to the Academia della Crufca, but came back to England, and was fold by Evans the auctioneer, in Pall Mall. See Todd's Life, p. 34. Mr. Hollis searched unsuccessfully the Laurentian Library for fix Italian fonnets of Milton, addreffed to his friend Chimentelli; for other Italian and Latin compofitions, and for his marble bust, said to be at Florence. v. Warton's Milton, p. 333. Hollis's Memoirs, p. 167. 491. 51 See Walker's Memoir of Taffoni, p. 238. After quoting a letter from Galileo to his friend Vicenzo Renieri, he fays, "I fhall offer no apology for the length of this interesting epistle, as it seems to fettle a long difputed point in regard to the imprisonment of Galileo. It fhews that he was only confined under an arreft, beneath the hofpitable roofs of his friends in Florence, Rome, and Sienna; but never thrown into any of the prifons belonging to the Inquifition. Yet it has been thought that he was pining in the damp and gloom of a dungeon, when Milton vifited him in 1639, and Voltaire asserts that he was mis en prison. It is probable that Milton found him in his villa at Arcetri; he was then thin, and borne down, as Grotius defcribes him, with age, perfecutions, and infirmities, but he was perfectly free from all perfonal reftrictions." See Prof. Powell on Natural Philofophy, p. 176: "He was not configned to a dungeon but lodged in the apartments of fome of its officers." 32 Cardinal Barberini;' but fee Walker's Memoir of Italian Tra peculiar guardian, or patron of the English;' and who, at a musical entertainment waited for our youthful poet at the door, and presented him with refpect to the company.5 Milton speaks of the Cardinal as one 'Cujus magnæ virtutes, rectique ftudium ad provocandas item omnes artes liberales egregie comparatum, femper mihi ob oculos verfatur.' Salfelli and Selvaggi" praised him in fome common place verses, (yet the best, I suppose, which they could give); and wherever he went, admiration and esteem accompanied him. From Rome he paffed on to Naples, in company with a hermit, to whom he owed his introduction to Manso, Marquis of Villa, a nobleman of distinguished rank and fortune (who had fupported a military character with high reputation,) of unblemished morals, a polite scholar, and known to pofterity as the friend, the patron, and gedy, p. 144. Barberini was elected Pope in 1623. "The cardinal to whom Milton was introduced was probably Francisco Barberini, one of the nephews of Urban, who was not only a lover of mufic, but like his uncle, an admirer and patron of literary merit, and therefore likely to feel the attractions of fuch talents as Milton was endowed with. As Doni, Tefti, and Bracciolini were retainers of the Barberini family, when Milton was at Rome, they were probably personally known to him. Had he therefore kept a detailed account of his travels, it might be expected to throw much light on a brilliant period in the literary history of modern Italy." 53 It was at the concerts of Barberini, that Milton heard Leonora Baroni fing: who with her mother, Adriana of Mantua, was esteemed the first finger in the world. Milton has celebrated her in three Latin epigrams. It was the fashion for all ingenious strangers who visited Rome to leave fome verses in her praise. Pietro della Valle who wrote in 1640, on the Mufes of his Time, fpeaks of the fanciful and mafterly ftyle in which Leonora touched the Arch lute to her own accompaniments, v. Warton's Milton, p. 479. 54 Malone thinks that Dryden's lines under Milton's picture were an enlargement of Selvaggi's distich. See Scott's Dryden, vol. xi. P. 160. |