COMPLIMENTARY VERSES. IN PARADISUM AMISSAM SUMMI POETÆ JOHANNIS MILTONI. Qui legis Amissam Paradisum, grandia magni Et sine fine magis, si quid magis est sine fine, Dum ferus hic stellas protegit, ille rapit! Et flammæ vibrant, et vera tonitrua rauco Excidit attonitis mens omnis, et impetus omnis Ad pœnas fugiunt, et ceu foret Orcus asylum Et quos fama recens vel celebravit anus. SAMUEL BARROW, M. D. ON PARADISE LOST. WHEN I beheld the poet blind, yet bold, I lik'd his project, the success did fear; Jealous I was that some less skilful hand Might hence presume the whole creation's day My causeless, yet not impious, surmise. Thou hast not miss'd one thought that could be fit, And all that was improper dost omit: So that no room is here for writers left, But to detect their ignorance or theft. That majesty which through thy work doth reign And things divine thou treat'st of in such state As them preserves, and thee, inviolate. At once delight and horror on us seize, So never flags, but always keeps on wing. Where could'st thou words of such a compass find? Rewards with prophecy thy loss of sight. Well mightest thou scorn thy readers to allure The poets tag them, we for fashion wear. I too, transported by the mode, offend, And while I meant to praise thee, must commend.1 In number, weight, and measure, needs not rhyme. ANDREW MARVEL VOL. I. 1 See note in Life, p. lxxvii. R |