New-York tribune., 1868-08-27

That unsuhstantial Death is amOrOus
And that the lean abhOrred monster keeps
Thee here in dark 10 be his DaramOuf'

"--shan believe
That unsubstautial Death is amorous
Aud that tue lean abhorTed monster Keeps
Thee here in dark 10 be his paramOur'
anv notion of an unholy, dishonoring love coud
have entered his mind. To acknowledge that, would
be TO admit the existence Of at least one blot upon
the exquisite purity of thought which Characterzes
not only all the intercourse between the lovers but
ROmeOs whole conversation after nfst seeing Junet
But we do not need 10 dilate upon the slgmhcation
of a word familiar every reader of English poetry
and which has been called in question only by Lord
Wnchilsea. who is sufficiently proved by the part he
has played IN this discussion 10 be person OF It!le
reading, and of still less critical perception. llls
next objection, that the verb budded rs nOt active
but neuter seems 10 be an idle one Tor u Is certainly
used here in an active sense; and Is admitted 10y
experts that the poem is In handwriting OF MtoTs
time that use. familiar enough, OF the verb IN
an active is not modern; and, beside, Milton,
no more than other writers Of his tme was not such
a martinez in grammar as 10 hesitate abOut taxing
50 trhing liberty II he ielt ineiined. 1" vi" haiuy
DO believed however that Lord Wincmlsea objects,
not merely TO the grammar. but TO the Deautiful
metaphor itself
the Epitaph on the Countess Of Winchester, where,
speaking of Hymen, Milton says;
"And In his garland, as he stood,
Ye might discern cypress bud"
Lord Winclnlseas next objection is to the word
"Guills1 owe have heard =" he says, "Of qUlls upon
the fretfnl poTcupne, and we have heard OF goose
and other quills but must take upon mo 10 remon-
stTate when anything illustrative OF the bath0s or
art of sinking in poetry Is sought TO be brought
home to John Milton" But his lOrdships memory
is none of the best, and seeing how much e5o he has
fOrgntteu IL ia not so very surprising that he should
need TO he reminded Of the line in Lycidas.-
He touch'd the tender Stops Of various quills."
IFS use i'm this sense was not uncommon in old I'm
olish uoetrv as reference 10 the Dictionaries might
have shown the noble Earl. Beside Milton and
Spenscr Richardson and Johnson give later exam
pies from Dryden Gay, and Collins Nor IS bis OBJ
Tecuon to the word 'blubbering" much better
founded. "Spenser used IL always seriously" says
Mr.. Morley, and though 1t is now AOmey word;
usrd only In ridicue it was by means degraded
i'm "A
many words, such as brat" "wenCh" imp ana
others, had formerly 10 bad nor ludcIqus sgniilca
ton hut were applied seriously TO dignties, and
even TO sacred persons So with "blubberDg," It, az
first. meant only the bubblng Of swollen stream.
Then came the image OF O. lace swollen WIN teals'
SO Sidney wrote. " ar streams represent unto mo
my bubbered face" and SpenseT and Cbancer used
ii in the same sense. North, In ms translation OF
PutaTch (see Richardson, makes Cleopatra " blub-
erD and it is not to be supposed that the Nurse in
Romeo and Juliet" when she says OF her young
mistress
Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering."
uses the word in any but serious and respectful
sense.
Perhaps the hottest Of the battle has been wsped
about the word Helcon," which all the disputants
agree Milton must have used here for liippocrene,
or Aganippe0 and which it is argued is a blunder-
puttiDg a mountain for a fountain sprug-suCh as
man OF the poets learning famous at once for its Cx
tent and It's mlnuteness conld mover have committed
Mr. Morley meets this objection squaTely, showing,
as Mr. Dixon does atteTwaTd much more IN detail,
that HelicOn, famed for ITS abundant waters, was
used by poets before Milton to represent them IL IS
one Of the COmmOneBt forms OF tOpe 10 put the con-
tauer 1OT the thing contained, as when 1t Is said
he drank the cup Thus HellcOn pass d INTO poetry
as for all its waters. Spenser, who, IKE Mil
ton was a scholar and delighted in the adonment Of
his with thoughts from the old Latin and mod
ern Italian writers transferred the name of tle
mountain to its streams much more distinctly than 1t
is here done. when fresh h0m college, he wrote III
Tie Shepherds Calendar
Aid exc you Virgins that on Parnasse dwell,
Whence t0relh BeliCOH, Ue learned Uel-'
and Spenser it max be remembered, was MiltOn's
favorite poet.p In late number OF The LOnd0u
AtheRRHB Mr. Dixon brings forward q long array of
instances showing that the use OF hellc0n ioT its
fountains was common IN our early poetry but LORD
Wincbelsea whose learning helped him to the fact
that "paramour" always meant illicit love" that
MltOn's rhymes were never faulty, and that quilts
v,gs a word he never could have used, but who had
not learning enough to detect this manifest slip
Lord WiDchelsea denies that "the production of 80
mistakes from the works OF spenseri Drayton Brown,
Holland Barnhed, or the laundering gentleman
whom Mr. Dixon finely terms the learned canon Of
LorettO will affect Milton who was not IN the habit
of blundering in such mattGrsi ana anotner wrlter
"W V H. MIR Vernon Harcourt, HistorcusFD
saws. admit that Mr.. Hepworth DlG0ns IeSearch
has clearly established that the poets OF the loth ana
18th centuries did babitually employ Hecon in the
sense of fountain or streamto greater extent IN
deed confess than was aware.p wv V. III. had
said In previous letter that the attempt TO prove
that Milton used the word HelicOn tIopicaly was TOO
subtle and far-fetched"l Ii Mr Dixon could
satisfy me that Milton himself had ever used Helicon
I'm this loose and paraphastic sense, i wonld
yield the point at once. But my dlincuity,
which is special and personal as respects 9ects
other authors OF undonbted learning, ,gnt
Of a less severe and rigorous classlcality" IN
fortunately il so happens that Milton only uses the
word Heliconn once in his acknowledge poems,
and in that instance correctly In the Epitaph on
the Countess of Winchester, we have:
r, IIgTe be be tears ears Of @; Perfect Perfect moan
Fit be held utterly lnadmissble 10 suppose mat
hilton meant TO use figure here, aud to speak " tbe