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


detect this manifest slip--Lord Winchelsea
denies that the production of fifty mistakes
from the works of Spsnser, Drayton, Brown,
Holland, Barnleld, or the bluudering geutle-
man whom Mr.. Dixon finely terms the learned
canon Of Loretto' will affect Milton who was
not in the habit of laundering in such mat
ters;" and another writer, "W. V. H." (Mr.
Vernon lIarcourt, "lIistoricus 2'') says: ~
admit that MIR. Hepworth Dixons research
has clearly established that the poets of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
did habitually employ Helicon in the
sense of fountain or stream-to greater
extent indeed, | confess than | was aware"
[ w. V. H. had said in previous letter that
the attempt TO prove that Milton used the word
Helcon tropically was too "subtle and far
fetched."1 "If Mr.. Dixon could satisfy me
that Milton himself had ever used Helicon in
this loose and paraphrastic sense, | would
yield the point at once. But my difficulty,
which is special and personal as respects
Milton, is not altogether met by citations
from other authors of undoubted learning,
but of a less severe and rigorous classicslity."
Unfortunately it so happens that Milton only
uses the word "HelicOn' once in his acknow-
lodged poems, and in that instance correctly.
In the Epitaph on the Countess of Winche5-
ter, we have:-
"Here he tears of perfect m oan
Wept for thee in HelicOn."
IL III U5 uSlu uJJeIly lnduuIlSSlulS W SuppOS6
that Milton meant to use figure here, aud to
speak of the muses. making sacred mount of
their tears or their grief, leaving for that "the
two-topt mount divine" and perhaps this is
too far-fetched a reading, why should we not
be willing to allow that in common with so
many poets of his time and of earlier times,
his own beloved Spenser among them-he al
lowed himself the freedom OF this use of
Helicon for its springs, which, however it may
be found fault with on the score of neglect of
classicality, can at least be defended on the
score of poetcalness. Beside may we not set
off the well chosen epithet "two-topt," applied
to lIelicon, against the doubtful slip about which
so much dust has been raised That, at least,
shows both leaning and poetry. It may be
remarked, before leaving this octave, that
Lord Winchelsea objects to the collOcation
"votary at" as bad grammar. But, as we
have said before, il it were, that would be no
argument against Milton's authorship, for he
is careless of grammar; we must remember
that il was far from being as settled in his time
as we have it; aud with regard to the preposi-
tions especially, the usage of old times not
only differed greatly from ours, but was gov
erned by no absolute law. Indeed the law
that governs the colocatiOn of verbs and par
ticiples with their following propositions is
not yet everywhere agreed upon But, let
this go; Miltons grammar was too loose for us
to build arguments upon.
"Think not, reader, me less best,
Sleeping IN tnis narrow clst,
Than If my ashes did lie hld
Under some stately pyramid.
If O rich tomb makes happy, then,
That Bee was happier Ear than men
Who, busy in the thymy wood
Was fettered by the golden flood
Which from The amber.weeplng tree
Distilleth down SO plenteously;
For so this little WantOu Elf
Most gloriOusiy enshrued Itself,
a tomb whose beauty might compare
With Cleopatra's sepulchre"
| iii q 80
strongly recall two lines in Milton's Epitaph
on Shakespeare, which, Cleveland says, was
the first of Milton's pieces that was published
since they first appeared among other recom-
mandatory verses pretixed to the folio edition
OF Shakespeare's plays in 1852, but without
MiltOn's name or initials. We shall see a
little further on, that in these same verses is
contained sentiment borrowed from the same
source to which we owe the fancy of the Bee
in Amber in this new-found Epitaph; the coin
cidence of the two verbal resemblances in the
same poem has not thus far, we believe, been
pointed out. 1t is at least worth noting. Tne
lines in the new Epitaph that recall those in
the Eptaph on Shakespeare are:-
"Or that his hallowed relics should be hid
| Under starry potndug pyramid"
Here, beside the rhyme, we have the word
''reliques" used in the fourth line of the new
| Epitaph, but only used in one other place by
Milton, paradise Lost iii, 49l).
The pretty fancy of the Bee is almost direct
rendering OF an Epigram of Martial. Book iv.,
eP. So.
"Flentibus Heliadum ramus dun vipera repit
FluXit in obstsntem suctna gutta teram,
Qu@ dum mirstur pipgut sc rore teneri,
Concrete riguit VIncta repente gelu,
Ne tibi regsli placeas, cleopatra, sepulcro,
| Vipera 81 tumulo nobliore jaceJ."
But in Martial, it is viper and not a bee,
who is caught in the drop Of amber, change
which Milton made for the sake of poetry. 1t
is also to be noticed as was first pointed out
by Professor Morley, that from this same
epgram Milton borrowed the thought con-
tanned in the closing line of the epitaph or
Shakespeare
"Aud SO sepulchred In such pomp dost lie
That Kings, for such tomb, would Wish tC
die"
Here, also, we have the word "sepulchred,' u
which in all its roots is rare one with Milton
He uses it, in all his poems, only four times
each time different form, "sepulchered, y
'sepulchre, " "sepulchres," and "sepulchral.'
employed, ''reliques' and "sepulohre," f." rarely
used by Milton, and use made, in each, of the
same Epigram of Martial besides that each
contains the same rhyme, "hid" and "pyra
MIDI 1t would seem that these condolences
could hardly be accidental, but We are aware
that they may be as well used to substantiate
a charge of forgery OF plagiarism as a claim o.
authenticity.
Lord Winchilsea objects that amber is rare
substance, and that, therefore, Milton would
never have said it was distilled down
"plenteously." But a correspondent reminds
him that it is not necessary that the amber
should be the precious kind since there are
other gums of the same nature, and called by