NOTE S то тне FOURTHE PIST LE: NOTE I. VERSE 103. PROCEED, ye Sifters of the tuneful Shell.] For the advice which I have thus ventured to give such of my fair readers as have a talent for poetry, I fhall produce them a much higher poetical authority. In the age of Petrarch, an Italian Lady, named Giustina Perrot, was defirous of distinguishing herself by this pleasing accomplishment; but the remarks of the world, which represented it as improper for her sex, discouraged her so far, that she was almoft tempted to relinquish her favourite purfuit. In her doubts on this point, fhe confulted the celebrated Poet of her country in an elegant Sonnet; and received his answer on the interesting subject in the fame poetical form. I fhall add the two Sonnets, with an imitation of each, ΙΟ 10 vorrei pur drizzar queste mie piume 1o Colà, Signor, dove il defio n'invita, E dopo morte rimaner' in vita Col chiaro di virtute inclyto lume Ma' volgo inerte, che dal rio costume THE SONNET OF GIUSTINA TO PETRARCH. GLADLY would I exchange inglorious ease For future fame, the Poet's fond defire! And still to live, in fpite of death, afpire Bid me, with fcorn, from Helicon retire, THE ANSWER OF PETRARCH. LUXURIOUS pleasure, and lethargic ease Have deaden'd in the world each bright defire: That all, who join the Heliconian choir, Are frantic deem'd by Folly's dull decrees. What charms, what worth to Laurel-wreaths belong? Naked and poor Philofophy we view, Exclaims the crowd, on fordid gain intent. Affociates in thy path thou'lt find but few; The more, I pray thee, Nymph of graceful song, Indulge thy fpirit in its noble bent! NOTE II. VERSE 210. As wounded Learning blushes to recite!] Milton fold the copy of Paradise Loft for the fum of five pounds, on the condition of receiving fifteen pounds more at three subsequent periods, to be regulated by the fale of the Poem.-For the ceiling at Whitehall, Rubens received three thoufand pounds. NOTE III. VERSE 298. Receive the Laurel from Imperial Charles!] Ariofto is faid to have been publicly crowned with laurel at Mantua, by the Emperor Charles the Vth, towards the end of the year 1532. This fact has been difputed by various writers, but it seems to be fufficiently established by the researches of Mazzuchelli. The custom of crowning Poets with laurel is almoft as ancient as poetry itself, fays the Abbé du Refnel, in his Recherches fur les Poetes couronnez, a work which contains but scanty information on this curious topic. Petrarch is generally fuppofed to have revived this ancient folemnity, which had been abolished as a pagan institution in the reign of the Emperor Theodofius. It appears however, from two paffages in the writings of Boccacio, that Dante had entertained ferious thoughts of this honourable distinction, which his exile precluded him from receiving, as he chofe, fays his Biographer, to be crown'd only in his native city. An amufing volume might be written on the honours which have been paid to Poets in different ages, and in various parts of the world. It is remarkable, that the most unpolished nations have been the most lavish in rewarding their Bards. There are two inftances on record, in which poetical talents have raised their poffeffors even to fovereign dominion. The Scythians chose the Poet Thamyris for their king, though he was not a native of their country, επι τοσέτον ηκε κιθαρωδίας, ως και βασιλεα σφων, καιπερ επήλυτον οντα, Σκύθας ποιησασθαι. Hif. Poet. Script. Edit. Gale, p. 250. Saxo Grammaticus begins the fixth book of his History by relating, that the Danes bestowed their vacant diadem on the Poet Hiarnus, as a reward for his having compofed the best epitaph on their deceased fovereign Frotho. From the four Latin verfes which the Hiftorian has given us, as a tranflation translation of this extraordinary epitaph, we may venture to affirm, that the poetical monarch obtain'd his crown on very eafy conditions. For him her fountains gush with golden ftreams.] Of the great wealth which flowed into the hands of this extraordinary Poet, his friend and biographer Montalvan has given a particular account. This author concludes that Lope de Vega gained by his dramatic works alone a fum nearly equal to 20,000 pounds fterling; the revenue arifing from the pofts he held, and from his penfion, was very confiderable. His opulence was much encreased by the most splendid instances of private liberality. He received many coftly prefents from various characters to whom he was perfonally unknown; and he was himself heard to say, in speaking of his generous patron, that the Duke of Seffa alone had given him, at different periods of his life, fums almost amounting to fix thoufand pounds. It must be confeffed, that the noble patrons of English poetry have not equalled this example of Spanish munificence, even if we admit the truth of our traditionary anecdotes concerning the generofity of Lord Southampton to Shakespeare, and of Sir Philip Sidney to Spenfer. Confidering the liberality for which our nation is so justly celebrated, it is remarkable, that not a fingle English Poet appears to have been enriched by our monarchs: yet Spenfer had every claim to the bounty of Elizabeth; he fung her praises in a strain which might gratify her pride; and of all who have flattered the great, he may justly be confidered as the most worthy of reward. His fong was the tribute of his heart as well as of his fancy, and the sex of his idol may be said to purify his incense from all the offenfive particles of fervile adulation. The neglect which he experienced from the vain, imperious, and ungrateful Elizabeth, appears the more striking, when we recollect, that her lovely rival, the beautiful and unfortunate Queen of Scots, fignalized her superior generofity by a magnificent prefent of plate to the French Poet Ronfard. This neglected Bard was once the darling of France, and perhaps equalled Lope de Vega in the honours which he received: his fovereign, Charles the Ninth, compofed fome elegant verses in his praise, and the city of Toulouse prefented him with a Minerva of maffive filver. |