New-York tribune., 1868-08-11
LITERARY.
THE POEM ATTRIBUTED TO MILTON


shin NJ the Fptaph which have ventnred to aserDc 10
Milton OF the direct questions which he has put to me
onebt first 10 answer which refers to the absence OF
eydence that the book containing 1t was ever IN hohs
hands Such evidence might perhaps be expected on
she ayeaf but original yleaves gone Ihe Oooh
has been rebound since the Epitaph written In IT
this was implied in the statement that word or Two
close 70 the edge OF the binding had suffered by he
stitching to them Of paper from the cover Inc OooA
IN an old Italian binding; whether bound IN ltay y or
England, or when bound, 1t is not easy 10 say, Ino
Fpitaph is preserved because 10 was written oV uP0H
Hyeaf but upon the blank side Of printed page. -
dence m handwriting and signed lntais W Io laOC te
this copy of his poems had been in Milton possession
loop spoke OF my last note on the SUBJECT AUNT
the extreme difficulty OF TINS part OF tne argueno'
Skilled opinions differ aud will differ l can only re-
peat that pay very great qeeTemee @ @ od Sdnh INV
own opinion upon the question OF handwriting The IN
terest with which TINS poem % v mas ba oeSh oTbo r
ties trOuOe but know OF no inquiry that mas not
been met with candOr and most patient courtesy.
Leaving unsettled then, the question of handwriting
will ask leave to make final correction III the reading
Of the text and then endeavOr TO show that at no point
las been found possible to weaken the l~hern5 ~ t
dence that Milton alone could have been the aunor vi
decphered which has already with Mr. Bonds assent
been altered once from entered 10 caNernu; ~ ~ -
read cacnd" AS usually happens, the Ilght reau
Ing though difficult TO find is when found undenlaDle
and 1t is also agreed that in the preceding word so
customary English, though II might Wen nave 5 DeCn
used by scholar like Milton the whole me nov s'si i
remains and rcaders who have not access the book
itself may satisfied that they now nave the poem as IL
The greater number Of Lord Vinchlseas arguments
from internal evidence have already been met and H. TO
show tile complete strength of the for MiltOns
authorship OF the Eptah, take IN succession al MS oD
jeetiOus 10 it, and either directly or by inference include
every other objection that have seen uged fear tha
shall trespass much upon your space anu KNOW t9t
must often repeat what has already been said more eee
lively by others But part OF the reply which con
only recspituatOn is hardly to be separated o
The rest without leaving upon some readers the impress
kOn that after ALL upon some point or otnSr, soJ n
answerable difficulty may nave peen somewiiee Fas ha
will 20 through these arguments from manner as Drley
for wish also to say few words On the matter
Lord Winchsea objects to rhyme and sentiment in the
Meanwhile the MUSES. do deplore,
The loss Of this, their paramour"
In the hymp on Chrsts Nativity Milton says OF nature
cit was no season, then, for her,
To wanton with the sun, her lusty param0nr ,,,...
Here the word has worse rhyme Lor9 MIncnisea i;
dred TO the old French paratper love greatly Para
nour meant the best beloved or is Latnzed IN the
Pronpori,mi Parrlortn,, greamaHs,
He objects to the beautiful 4 I'm metaphor is'
Budded forth It's tender ray"
oyersrained. Had the new poem happened % TO % 4e @
L'AHegro the same objection might have been made 10
''' " Robed in flames and amber light.
The clouds in thousand liyerieS dlght .
Or would II FenSerOso have satisfied the French with
% NOT trickd and froune'd as she was wont
With the Attic boy TO hunt,
But kercheft in q cOmely clOnd' .
porcupne quilts and goose qulls put never OF qls a5
reed the fist OF tuC NOlu
quill taught at school from caainus' OF
eaulis, and used by Milton when he writes,
only to the blubbering rills."
Milton has used the words also III LyeidGs:
"He touched the tender stops oi various Qulils;'
an" To saSder times thou mayst attune thy quill
"Blubberug is a word Of which the sense in MitOn's
time was not degraded. 1t had been first taken from tile
rs 70 be applied to iace swollen WiIa weeping; 5 Ii
with the Dubblng OF swollen stream they stu say IN
Northamptonshire, next county TO that IN which Milton
wrote his early poems, "the water blnbbers mp" and
water" by bouteAiS Thence came ihe image oi lace
swollen with tears. Sir Philip sidney wrote, "Fnr
streams represent unto nle my and MoD here a
the sound back epithet for the nils whence
Lord winchiseas next objection is to the phrase turn
xoaDes TO ms shrine = he w9Gld nave Votaref % d at =;
be devoted at anything 80 Shakespeare "ro'o' a
The next objection the amber-weepng tree which
"Distilleth down SO plenteously."
used such word plenteously" In Paradise Lost he
it, and there, also with emphasis, 10 close nei
The waters generated by their kinds"
As TO rhyme, tree" is as fairly linked win 'plente
on the MaTchi1ness OF MiIchgsteI; tc tSt rbvns
"a tomb whose beauty might compare,
With CleOpatra's sepucbre."
But it is obvious that the intellectual music would have
been destroyed had Milton not preferred an assonance to
true rhyme which would have forced emphasis upon
Lord winchilsea objects to the voice from the tomb
which speaks OF the soul as my more nc pure ana noDer
eds of expTeson discover for himself that
phass is obtained by repeating and varying the form
Thai expresses the sous exataton varying also
10 give simple TO the word pure, which char
aeteristc epthe frequent in the works Of Milton
than believe in those Of any other English poet In
deed the two epithets here linked precisely those
which elsewhere we find applied by Milton the def
tion Of the soul In Paradise Lost (Bk X 7s be calls
AZ that Die breath OF life the spirit Of man; and IN
Paradise Regained tBk- H. L4'0' =. r,o.o,,
Governs the inner man. the noJier part"
Lord Winchlsea next objects TO the rhyme mourn"
Of LyedaS which also dsposes of another Of Lord VIM
shakespeare did in the Midsummer Nights DreaIJ repre-.
sent thyme as growing IN wood; .
"NOw thou art gone and never must return!
Thee shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves
With wild thyme and the gadding vine O'crgrOwn,
And all their echoes mourn
The same rhyme also In the close Of Samson
iseS The rhyme "mourn" and "urn," may remind
lord WinchIsea has ever been used by Lord Byron in
ais Eptaph a Newfoundland Dog:
Ye who PeGehanGe e behold ,o, this, this simple urn
The real defect OF grammar In the lines,
"Infant nature Graded here
In It's principles appear"
ugcests TO Lord Winchsea that Milton incapable OF
suc Oversgt Every student knows that, their
finished works published by themselves. not many of
our old authors free from the and that feature
OF Bentley's edition Of Paradise Lost absurd
attempt rectify the poets grammar, sometimes in pas
sages where there really defect, sometimes where
the defect in Beneys OF the language Of
poetry. Had LycidGs been the poem newy,found Lord
Xinchsea might have been shocked lind within the
nrst seven or eight the author had not
particular enough about the agreement Of his verb with
Bitter constrant and sad occasion dear
Compels me 10 disturb your season due"
The last ten lines are nonsense 70 Lord Winchsea
That statement involves question: not OF style. but OF
the purport and sense OF the whole poem, TO winch will
stances difference between the style OF the Eptaph
and Millions way of writing the reply, 1t Will be
Of kind more or less strongly confirming the opinion
have ventured 10 express that the new poem Is IN NIL
tons manner.
good scholar Milton could have cOnfounded Heicon
the mountain, with us fountains Agamppe and Hippo