80 Set off to the world, nor in broad humour lies;
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes,
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove;
As he pronounces lastly on each deed,

85

Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed.”
O fountain Arethuse, and thou honour'd flood,
Smooth-sliding Mincius, crown'd with vocal reeds.
That strain I heard was of a higher mood:
But now my oat proceeds,

And listens to the herald of the sea

go That came in Neptune's plea ;

He ask'd the waves, and ask'd the felon winds,

What hard mishap hath doom'd this gentle swain?
And question'd every gust of rugged wings
That blows from off each beaked promontory:

95 They knew not of his story;

And sage Hippotades their answer brings,
That not a blast was from his dungeon stray'd,
The air was calm, and on the level brine
Sleek Panope with all her sisters play'd.

100 It was that fatal and perfidious bark,

Built in the eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark,
That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.

Notes.

(The numbers refer to the lines.)

Monody (Gr. monos, single, odē, a song); a song sung by one person alone.

1. Yet once more; Milton is called from his other pursuits to write poetry again.

2. sere (or sear); dry, dried or scorched up, withered.

3. crude (Lat. crudus); raw, unripe.

5. mellowing; ripening.

6. dear; grievous hurtful.

7. season due; your proper season. He is plucking laurel and myrtle in the summer time, instead of in the autumn or winter. Mr. King was drowned in the month of August. 8. Lycidas; a name chosen by Milton in imitation of ancient classical poetry. He represents himself as a shepherd who

had been accustomed to feed his flocks with his friend.

9. peer; equal.

11. build the lofty rhyme; construct or compose noble songs. 13. welter; to roll, wallow.

14. meed; reward, gift, tribute.

15. Sisters, etc.; the nine Muses, daughters of Jupiter; the goddesses who presided over song. The sacred well means the fountains of the Muses, Aganippe and Hippocrene, which issued from Mount Helicon.

18. coy; bashful, reserved, shy.

20. urn; grave. The ashes of the dead were anciently deposited in urns.

21. he; i.e., the poet inspired by the Muse.

25. high lawns; the meadows on the slopes of the hills.

27. afield; to the field.

28. gray-fly; the trumpet-fly.

29. batten; to fatten, feed.

32. ditties; songs.

33. temper'd, etc.; accompanied and regulated by the rude pipes made of reeds or oat stems.

34. Satyrs, Fauns; rural beings described by the poets as covered with hair and having the hinder parts of a goat.

40. gadding; roving, rambling, growing luxuriantly.
42. copse; coppice, wood of small trees and brushwood.

45. canker; the canker-worm.

46. taint-worm; poisonous worm.

weanling; newly weaned.

48. white-thorn; hawthorn.

52. steep; the mountains of North Wales.

54. Mona; Anglesea.

55. Deva; the River Dee, celebrated in stories of wizards, etc.

57. Supply the ellipsis thus:-"Had ye been there (it would have been useless)—for what could that have done?" 58. the Muse; Calliope, mother of Orpheus a celebrated musician, who moved stones and trees by the sounds of his harp. He was torn in picces by the Thracian women during their revels, and his head was thrown into the Hebrus, a river in Thrace.

64. boots; profits.

66. meditate, etc.; study the poetic art.

68. to sport, etc.; to devote oneself to pleasure.

70. clear; illustrious, renowned. (Lat., clarus). The prose order is; "that doth raise the clear spirit," etc.

71. last infirmity; a desire for fame is a weakness which noble spirits are most prone to.

73. guerdon; reward. The prose order is; "But when we hope to find the fair guerdon.”

75. Fury; Destiny, who cuts the thread of life.

77. Phabus; Apollo, the god of song.

79. foil; that by which anything is set off, and its beauty increased by contrast.

82. Jove; Jupiter, the supreme deity of the ancients.

85. Arethusa; a fountain in Sicily, the haunt of woodnymphs.

86. Mincius; a river in north Italy, now the Mincio.

90. Neptune; the god of the sea. "Who came to hold an investigation on behalf of Neptune."

91. felon, malignant, malicious.

96. Hippotades; Eolus, son of Hippotas, god of the winds. 99. Panope; a sea nymph. The ship was lost in a calm sea.

COMPOSITION.

As an additional specimen of English Composition we here insert one of Cowper's letters. Cowper is considered one of our best letter-writers, and the pupil could not have placed before him a better model of the epistolary style.

"TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ., OLNEY, November 11, 1782.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,-Your shocking scrawl, as you term it, was, however, a very welcome one. The character, indeed, has not quite the neatness and beauty of an engraving; but if it cost me some pains to decipher it, they were well rewarded by the minute information it conveyed. I am glad your health is such that you have nothing more to complain of than may be expected on the down-hill side of life. If mine is better than yours, it is to be attributed, I suppose, principally to the constant enjoyment of country air and retirement; the most perfect regularity in matters of eating, drinking, and sleeping; and a happy emancipation from everything that wears the face of business. I lead the life I always wished for, and, the single circumstance of dependence excepted (which, between ourselves, is very contrary to my predominant humour and disposition), have no want left broad enough for another wish to stand upon. "You may not, perhaps, live to see your trees attain to the dignity of timber: I nevertheless approve of your planting, and

III.

225

Q

the disinterested spirit that prompts you to it. Few people plant when they are young; a thousand other less profitable amusements divert their attention; and most people, when the date of youth is once expired, think it too late to begin. I can tell you, however, for your comfort and encouragement, that when a grove which Major Cowper had planted was of eighteen years' growth, it was no small ornament to his grounds, and afforded as complete a shade as could be desired. Were I as old as your mother, in whose longevity I rejoice, and the more because I consider it as in some sort a pledge and assurance of yours, and should come to the possession of land worth planting, I would begin to-morrow, and even without previously insisting upon a bond from Providence that I should live five years longer.

"I saw last week a gentleman who was lately at Hastings. I asked him where he lodged. He replied, at P- -'s. I next inquired after the poor man's wife, whether alive or dead. He answered, dead. So then, said I, she has scolded her last; and a sensible old man will go down to his grave in peace. Mr. P, to be sure, is of no great consequence either to you or to me; but, having so fair an opportunity to inform myself about him, I could not neglect it. It gives me pleasure to learn somewhat of a man I knew a little of so many years since, and for that reason merely I mention the circumstance to you.

"I find a single expression in your letter which needs correction. You say, I carefully avoid paying you a visit at Wargrave. Not so; but connected as I happily am, and rooted where I am, and not having travelled these twenty years-being besides of an indolent temper, and having spirits that cannot bear a bustle -all these are so many insuperables in the way. They are not, however, in yours; and if you and Mrs. Hill will make the experiment, you shall find yourselves as welcome here, both to me and to Mrs. Unwin, as it is possible you can be anywhere. "Yours affectionately, W. C.”