; Mr. Henry Morley has discovered an unpublished poem which
he believes to be Milton's. He found it written in a handwriting like Milton's on a blank leaf in a copy of the original edition of Milton's poems in the British Museum. The poem was written in 1647, when Milton was 38 years old, and is signed "J. M., Oct., 1647." It is an epitaph, apparently intended for himself, and cer- tainly, if internal evidence may be trusted, it is Milton's. A good critic might have imitated the style, but nobody but Milton him- self could have infused into those long words, and far-fetched thoughts, and forced images such a subtle melody as penetrates lines like these :—
" Think not, render, me less blest, Sleeping in this narrow chest, Than if my ashes did lie hid Under some stately pyramid. If a rich tomb makes happy, then That Bee was happier far than men Who, busy in the thymy wood, Was fettered by the golden flood Which from the Amber-weeping tree Distilleth down so plenteously : For so this little wanton elf Most gloriously enshrined itself, A tomb whose beauty might compare
With Cleopatra's sepulchre."
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