More Recent
Works, Such As That Of Moers ('De Fontibus Paradisi Amissi Miltoniani,'
Bonn, 1860), Do Not Mention Salandra At All.
Byse ('Milton on the
Continent,' 1903) merely hints at some possible motives for the Allegro
and the Penseroso.
As to dates, there can be no doubt to whom the priority belongs. The
'Adamo' of Salandra was printed at Cosenza in 1647. Richardson thinks
that Milton entered upon his 'Paradise Lost' in 1654, and that it was
shown, as done, in 1665; D. Masson agrees with this, adding that 'it was
not published till two years afterwards.' The date 1665 is fixed, I
presume, by the Quaker Elwood's account of his visit to Milton in the
autumn of that year, when the poet gave him the manuscript to read; the
two years' delay in publication may possibly have been due to the
confusion occasioned by the great plague and fire of London.
The castigation bestowed upon Lauder by Bishop Douglas, followed, as it
was, by a terrific 'back-hander' from the brawny arm of Samuel Johnson,
induces me to say that Salandra's 'Adamo Caduto,' though extremely
rare - so rare that neither the British Museum nor the Paris Bibliotheque
Nationale possesses a copy - is not an imaginary book; I have had it in
my hands, and examined it at the Naples Biblioteca Nazionale; it is a
small octavo of 251 pages (not including twenty unnumbered ones, and
another one at the end for correction of misprints); badly printed and
bearing all the marks of genuineness, with the author's name and the
year and place of publication clearly set forth on the title-page.
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