The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-28

OF the author, whoever Iue autiVl may D7'
He comes to this conclusion from the
peculiar form of some of the oontractions.
il may also be stated that the poem
was written in the book before it was put iuto
its present binding, which is an old Italian
one, but, whether made in England or in Italy,
is not yet known. Indeed, so far, no attempt
would seem to have been made to get at the
history of the volume, which, If it were
traced, might throw q ray of light on this
doubtful matter. 1t seems to us that, after
all, the chief difficulty lies in the signature.
If that shall prove to be 81. NJ, then the
poem, sppposing it to be authentic and not
forgery, must be- accepted as Milton's, ne
matter whose the handwriting may be; II,
however, it shall be decided by experts that it
is ''P. NJ, then we must look about for some
other author, and rest puzzled as to why the
unknown writer should have chosen this
place. of all in the world, to write his lines.
But we are far from being without hope that
the signature may finally prove to be 81. NJ"
1t is to be remembered that it Is not
easily decipherable. 1t is partly covered by
the Museum stamp and different eyes see it
differently; but patient study with the micro
scope can hardly fail i'll time to separate the
two, and settle this matter definitely. There
is one point in this matter of the handwriting
to which we may alude in passing. Mr..
Morley thinks that the handwriting OF "The
Epitaph" has an affinity with some lines,
signed 81. NJ" and attributed to Milton,
which were found on blank leaf in copy of
the 'Mel Heliconium" by Alexander Rosse
Mr.. Mason does not b}lieve that these lines
are by Milton, nor that they are in his hand
writing, and Mr.. Bond says that he long ago
came to the same conclusion. We will give
these lines as printed by Mr.. Mason, because
we think they present curious point for con-
sideration:-
"On Mel Hc,iconiunl ,0riUcn by Mr.. RoSse, Chap
tam to His 1idjeSty Il e. 10 Charles y.
"Those shapes, of old trausdgured by the
OF wanton Ovid, wakened with th alarms
Ofpowerful ROsse. gain nOber forms, and try
The force of g. dtviner alchemy.
so the quaint chemist, with Ingenious power,
From calciDed herCs extracts a glorious flower;
From pois nous weeds sweet and wholesome
juice. j. M"
We do not wonder at Mr.. ,Masson's excla-
nation, 'Did Milton write this stuff - But
will it not be little singular Gf the resem-
blance between the handwriting of 'The Epi-
taph" and that of the lines on the "Mel He'll
conium, which Mr.. Morley thinks he sees,
shall be found to exst) that there is also a re-
semblance in the words employed in each
Mr.. Mason, though he draws no conclusion
from the observation, calls our attention to the
fact that both in "The Epitaph" and in the
lines on the "AIel IIelicOniuu" the words
"chemic' or Chemist" and "thymy," are
used, and that in both we have a "bee' or
"bees." TO these we will now add the word
"calcined,' which, when Mr.. Mason wrote
(July 25), was being read 'caverned," but
which was announced by Mr.. Morley, Mr..
Bond asserting, to be- ''caloned," in his letter
published July 27. The point to which we
wish to call attention is, that although Milton
once uses the compound word "arch- h-chemic"
and ''alchemist," and ''alchemy," each once,
he never uses, we believe, either 'calcined'
or "thymy." This may bs worth thinking on.
But leaving the question of the handwriting
to be settled as it may, let us examine the in
ternal evidence that the poem affords to it's
authorship. Perhaps, at this stage of the in
vestgation, il will be advisable to take the
poem in It's five divisions as originally printed,
and give the gist of all that has b9en said
about each, for and against. The first OF these
is as follows:-
HE whom Heaven did call away
Out of this Hermitage OF clay,
Has left some reliques in this urn
AS q pledge of his return"
These lines have been allowed to pass uu-
challenged. Only Mr.. Dixon has called atten-
ton to the beauty OF the word Hermitage" in
this connection.
meanwhile the muses. 10 deplOre
The loss of this their p2ramour,
with whom ne sported ere the day
Budded forth its tender ray.
Aud now Apollo loaves his lays
And puts on cypress for mis- Days
ID6 sacred SlSJGIS tune JnGlf QulllS
OHly to the bubbling rills,
And while his doom they think upon,
Make their own tears their Helicpn;
Leaving the two-topt Mount divine
To turn Votaries to his snrine."
The Earl of Winchilsea, who was the first to
take up the lance, or rather, for nothing can
be less elegant or knightly than his style of
attack, let us say "the club" against Mr..
Morley and the poem, quarrels with the
rhymes from beginning to end, leading oil
with the words ''deplore'' and "paramour."
He signalized his entrance into the critical
arena by two egregious blunders, for be says
that Milton had a far too exquisite ear for
rhyme, to make "deplore" rhyme to "para-
mour," and far too exquisite sense of pro-
priety, to use the word "paramour" at all
But not only does Milton, in the code on the
Nativity" " make "paramour" rhyme to cher, -
far worse rhyme than the one in "The Epi-
taph," it is notorious fact that rhymes
equally bad abound in his verse, and the only
reason why we have not more than we have
is, that he wrote so, comparatively, little
rhymed verse. He had, indeed, an exquisite
ear for rhythm, but he either had not an ear
for rhymes, or he was very careless about
them. AS is we'll known, he had no re-
spect for rhyme, speaking of it as
" no necessary Adjunct or true Orna'
ment of Poem or good Verse X X bat
the Invention of barbarous Age to set of
wretched matter and lame Meeter.'' And
again, C. thing of itself, to all judicous
ears triveal and of no true musical delight, ~
"the jingling sound of like endings."
Perhaps the hottest of the battle has been
waged about the word "Helicon," which, al
the disputants agree, Milton must have used
here for "Hippocrene," or "Aganippe," " and
which it is argued is a blunder-putting
mountain for fountain or spripg-suoh a'