Quanto praestantius esset
Numen aquae, viridi si margine clauderet undas
Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum?"
_Sat._ iii. 17.
In imitating this passage, Mr. Rhodes, finding no fons Egeriae, no Numa,
and perhaps no Muses in London, transfers his regrets from a rivulet to
a navigable stream; and makes the whole ridiculous, by suggesting that
the Thames would look infinitely better if it flowed through grass, as
every ordinary brook would do.
"Next he departed to the river side,
Crowded with buildings, tow'ring in their pride.
How much, much better would this river look,
Flowing 'twixt grass, like every other brook,
If native sand its tedious course beguil'd,
Nor any foreign ornament defil'd."
W (1.)
* * * * *
DEDICATION TO MILTON BY ANTONIO MALATESTI.
Dr. Todd, in his _Life of Milton_, ed. 1826, mentions the accidental
discovery of a manuscript by Antonio Malatesti, bearing the following
title:
"La Tina Equivoci Rusticali di Antonio Malatesti, c[=o]posti nella sua
Villa di Taiano il Settembre dell' Anno 1637.
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