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A50841
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Notes on Dryden's Virgil in a letter to a friend : with an essay on the same poet / by Mr. Milbourne.
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Milbourne, Luke, 1649-1720.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing M2035; ESTC R19804
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115,901
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234
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pour'd on the Altar I suppose for a second Service But Virgil says only It was acceptable at Tables and to the favourable Gods and this answers that other reading best Rhodia sicmensis dijs servata secundis Secundis belonging to Dijs and not Mensis as Philargyrius only could observe Nor must Bumasthus his old Honours lose In length and largeness like the Dugs of Cows A Grape this of a very strange figure the Grape indeed may be nam'd from the Cows Teat but not for length but for largeness and fullness of juice and this agrees well enough with Pliny's account of it The Sallow loves the watry Grounds and low Not always for it loves the Banks of Rivers as Virgil says and Ditches which are wet but not low The Marshes Alders Alders love boggy and moorish Ground indented with Trenches and Water cuts The Rocky Clift is not the meaning Saxosi montis The baleful Yeugh to Nothern blasts assigns But how comes this in here which his Author has plac'd better below To shores the Myrtles Virgil's Littora are only the sides of Rivers not the salt Beach Regard the extreamest c. Is very clear and elegant instead of See then the utmost c. Balm slowly trickles thro the bleeding Veins Of happy shrubs in Idumaean Plains Our Botanists indeed say the Shrub yields its Gummy juice both by incision by others and by a natural Exudation which last Virgil mentions only but says nothing of the place where it grows which gave opportunity to Mr. D. to show his Skill in Blunder for Idumaea has it not Arabia Foelix is its Native Country to Palaestine is only adventitious and Cultivated in Gardens as Iosephus and Pliny and others inform us For Medicine good That 's out of Ruaeus's Notes not out of his Author With Aethiops hoary Trees and woolly Wood. Where Virgil speaks of Woods among the Aethiopians hoary with soft Wool which I suppose were only the Cotton Trees now very well known And how the Seres spin their Fleecy Forests in a slender twine Did the Seres then spin whole Trees So Mr. D. would make us think but this means only that the Seres drew out the inner Barks of a certain Tree which was spun like Wool and woven of this kind are our present Bengals and spun and woven by the same People for Emmenessius's Fancy that the Chineses were known to the Ancients by the name of Seres and the Siamites by that of Sinae is altogether groundless Who mixing wicked Weeds with Words impure But how can Words and Weeds be mingled together Virgil means they mingle Herbs or the juices of Herbs of a venomous nature and mutter Charms over them as Witches are suppos'd to do And Virgil makes his to do in his Pharmaceutria The Fate of Envy'd Orphans would procure I think those are not call'd Orphans who have Fathers alive but Step-mothers commonly are most spiteful against such Mr. D. here ascribes that to the Flowers which Virgil ascribes to the Leaves and takes no notice at all of them With which the Medes to labouring Age bequeath new Lungs I doubt Mr. D's mistaken here and that no recipe can make new Lungs and perhaps shortness of Breath mayn't always rise from the Corruption of them Nor any Foreign Earth of greater name An impertinent Addition for Rhymes sake The warriour Horse here bred is taught to train Virgil says nothing of that but that the warlike Horse runs at liberty about the Fields Whose waves prepares False Grammar only for Rhyme Or is when known refus'd This with the preceeding verse is either No sence or no English Or rais'd on such a spiry volume ride Is nonsensical fustian and ver 215 17 22. Hills that Seas that Mound that For which but there 's nothing commoner than this false Construction as has been observ'd before Their costly labour and stupendous frame What does Mr. D. mean by the stupendous frames of Cities and their costly Labour Virgil by the operum laborem means their vast Amphi-theaters Theaters Guglia's Aquaeducts and the like Publick Magnificent or useful Works Our two-fold Seas Is a very odd Phrase we talk of our four Seas but few would call them four-fold Seas unless they were Seas of fire Air Earth and Water or however consisting of different Materials The rest is Apocryphal For veins of Silver and for Ore of Gold But why were the veins of Brass forgotten And greater Scipio 's double Name This is another of the Elegantiae Drydenianae and perhaps may have some meaning in it but it lies very deep Their fertility Instead of What kind of Trees their Nature will best agree with Yet this suffices the Palladian Plant. Here Virgil honestly names the Olive Tree that his Readers might know his meaning but Mr. D's Prudence has left his learned Gardiner to find out if he can what the Palladian Plant is Virgil too says the Grounds above nam'd delight in Olive Woods as being the best for that use our Translator it suffices it makes a sorry shift or will serve with much ado and a Soil which wants all Succour is a very perspicuous expression Wild Olive shoots Seedlings are never call'd Shoots by learned Gardiners Then when the bloated Tuscan blows his Horn And reeking Entrails are in Chargers born Here 's somewhat of the Horn sticks in Mr. D's Head which his Author has not the least hint of The Tuscans us'd to play on their Pipes it may be what we call Flageolets at the time of Sacrificing their Pipes were made either of Box or Ivory but we don't use to talk of Ivory Horns nor Boxen Horns but perhaps he read for want of his Spectacles in some Commentator Tubicen for Tibicen Reeking Entrails are such as are newly taken out of the Belly of a Beast just kill'd but Virgil speaks of fumantia exta Smoking Entrails or such as have been just boil'd and come off the fire and from thence are return'd to the Altar Or Goats that for which graze the Field and burn it bare Ridiculous and quite beside Virgil's purpose who reflects not on the Goats as burning up the Fields for then no Pasture would be fit for them but as mischievous to all manner of Trees where they can come at their Barks for their bite kills the Trees which tho the Latines may express by Uro is not well interpreted by burning with us Swans sail down the watry Road. A choice Phrase above Virgil's reach There Christal Streams perpetual tenour keep Perpetual tenour is a choice Phrase too and us'd as I remember by Mr. D. in the beginning of Ovid's Metamorphosis and there with as little sence as here For what the Day devours the Nightly Due Shall to the Morn in Pearly drops renew A very pleasant mistake Virgil commends the Fertility of the Mantuan Plains because the
kind season 's warm And tho you strip to work you 'll catch no harm But he some Rest in lazy Winter gains And reaps the Fruits of all his former pains From House to House the jolly Farmers feast With easie Thoughts and honest plenty blest As Sea-men when their Ships have made their Port Put out their Wast-cloaths and dissolve in sport Yet then beat Acorns down your Olives clear Get what your Bays and Purple Myrtles bear When Earth lies cover'd o'er with driving Snow And Rivers scarce beneath their Ice can flow The Swain for greedy Cranes his Springes sets And for the Stag extends his Toils and Nets Or traces to their Fourms the listning Hares Or else his Balearian sling prepares With mighty force he whirls it round his Head And strikes the game with glowing Bullets dead What should I sing what Constellations Reign What Storms in Autumn sweep along the Plain The Farmers work when days in length decline And Summer Beams with fainter Furies shine Or when wet Spring rolls hurrying towards an end And bearded Ears o'er all the Fields ascend And Milky Grains the swelling Husks extend Oft have I seen the gathering Vapours jarr And full grown Winds commence a fatal War Then when the Reapers ply'd the Golden Field And Mowers made the crackling Barlies yield I 've seen the storm tear up the standing Corn The weighty heaps on rapid Whirl-winds born And Stalks and Ears like horrid Tempests fly Spread far and wide and darken all the Sky Oft have I seen prodigious Spouts ascend And gathering Clouds their heavy Wings extend Till Heaven all black with gloomy Tempests grown Seas thro the Air at once rusht tumbling down Drench'd all the chearful Harvest drown'd the Field The slimy Dikes and low sunk Rivers fill'd Till the swell'd Waters o'er their Bounders flow'd And Seas enrag'd with foaming Whirl-winds glow'd Nay Iove himself in that unnatural Night With ruddy Bolts enhaunc'd the dismal fright Shock'd the wide World with hideous Thunders roar Till Savage Forests Herds could bear no more In Humane hearts dejecting Terrors reign'd While he stern Lightnings with a fatal Hand At Rhodope and lofty Athos hurl'd And flames around the glowing Mountains whirl'd And pouring Rains and Storms embodied more Made the Woods reel and dash'd the founding shore For fear of this observe the Months and Signs Which way old Saturn's frigid Orb inclines See in what secret Roads bright Mercury Northward or Southward wanders thro the Sky But above all the bounteous Gods adore Thy Tilth once past of all thy Yearly store A chearful Sacrifice to Ceres bring When sinking Winter greets the rising Spring When fatted Calves and racy Wines delight And shady Hills to wholsom sleeps invite Then let the merry Youth to Ceres bow And with thy self to her their service vow New Wines with Milk and Honey Sacrifice And let your Prayers before her Altars rise Lead then the Consecrated Heifer round Thrice let her trace the pious Farmer 's Ground Let all the jolly Lads her steps attend And that she may with happy smiles descend To humble Cells let all the Jovial Crew The Goddess with her loudest Prayers pursue Nor let the Sickle touch the ripen'd Corn Till all the Swains with Oaken Wreaths adorn Their chearful Brows and in an Antick Dance Her mighty Name with sacred Hymns advance And that we might by certain Signs descry Heats Rains and e'ry Wind which rakes the Sky Great Iove himself the changing Moons decreed To show what Weather every Month should breed What Signs rais'd Southern storms and when the Swain Should near their Stalls his grazing Herds retain When Storms are brewing from an unseen cause A Billow breaks at Sea with mighty flaws The lofty Hills with crackling noises sound And rising Murmurs roll the Forests round And hollow groans from distant Cliffs rebound The Ship may then expect an angry Sky When off from Sea the Gulls directly fly And with a suddain Clamour stretch to shore And Fen-ducks wanton all the Meadows o'er Or when the Hern his watry haunt forsakes And o'er some Cloud his Airy Passage makes Oft you may see before a Storm can rise Bright Star-like Meteors shoot along the Skies And where they pass thro shades of darksome Night A glittering Tract drawn out of Silver light See Chaff or Leaves as nimbly whisking round And stillest Lakes with floating Feathers crown'd But if a Northern dreadful Tempest roars Or East or Western Gusts assault the Shores High Flouds o'er all the Country Banks prevail The cautious Sea-Man furls the dripping Sail. Nor yet can sudden Flaws the Swain surprize Who reads Prognostics with attentive Eyes If he 'll observe the soaring Crane aspire And from the Vale before the Storm retire He 'll oft the Bullocks spacious Nostrils find Toss'd toward the Skys and snuffing up the Wind. He 'll see the pratling Swallow skim the Lake Or croaking Frogs their old complainings make The busie Ants their ancient Lodgments fly Drag out their Eggs and narrow Tracts apply Vast Bows suck up the Rain and noisy Crows Scar'd early home a threatning Change disclose The Fowls which haunt the Seas and those which near Caâ—ster's Banks and Marshy Pools appear Dip down their Heads and toss the wavy Dew High o'er their Shoulders and their Mates pursue Run back and forward and with Gesture gay Wash wildly and along the Waters play The boding Coughs aloud the Rains implore And stately stalk along the Sandy shore Thus too the merry Maids who Nightly spin Their carded Wools can see the change begin While from their Lamps the glittering sparkles rise And round the Wick a sooty Capping lies By Signs as sure the cunning Swain descrys Fair Weather breaking thro the louring Skys Then all the Stars shoot out with brisker gleams And the bright Moon returns her Brother's Beams With sharper Horns no fleecy Clouds appear Aloft no Halcyons to the Ocean dear Bask with their open Wings along the shore And nasty Swine their Litter toss no more But Foggs descend and belly toward the Plain And when the Sun sinks down beneath the Main From some lone Turrets melancholic height Owles hallow shrilly thro the silent Night The royal Hobby cuts the liquid Air And the poor Lark still rues the Purple hair Where e'er the wretched Lark for shelter flies Her cruel Sire pursues her thro' the Skies Where e'er the cruel Hobby cuts the Skies Away the trembling Lark for shelter flies Then oft the Raven with a hollow noise More deep than usual streins his croaking voice They meet in Flocks with uncouth blithness gay Hop thro the fluttering Leaves and loosly play And to their dear lov'd Nests and young at last Return before the driving Storms are past Not that I think they 're blest with Nobler Sense Or know more nicely what the Fates dispense But when the Weather and the various Air Their tempers change and what before was rare Condens'd appears beneath a Cloudy Sky Or Dense grows rarer