774 
against the antiquity of the poems 
in question. He now also published 
his verses on the painted window at 
Newicollege. They are an admira- 
ble specimen of his excellence in 
this way, at the same time that he 
was qualified to discern and enjoy 
the. more chastised beauties of Gre- 
cian art. It is difficult to say which 
is preferable, the description of a 
gothic cathedral in the beginning 
of the_poem, or that of New college 
window, in the last paragraph. In 
this year he was presented, by his 
college, to the donative of Hill Far- 
rance, in Somersetshire ; and, about 
the same time, chosen a member of 
the well known literary club. fn 
1785, he was elected Camden pro- 
fessor of history, and appointed to 
the laurel on the death of White- 
head. The Camden professorship 
of history, had been founded by 
the celebrated antiquarian of that 
mame, in 162L,:and such was the 
low state of learning in Oxford, at 
the time of its foundation, that the 
professor is required to leéture the 
bachelors of arts, and the students, 
in civil law, twice a week, in Luci- 
us Florus, or some other of the 
more ancient and distinguéshed histo- 
TiANs. 
The office of poet laureat may 
acquire some credit, from being 
filled by a respectable characier, but 
can confer neue. Gray refused it, 
and Warton, himsel{, once disliked 
the threadbare task, though he af. 
terwards accepted it, and has gained 
credit, by a happy selection and 
adaptation of collateral topics to a 
hackneyed argument. 
The last work of any importance 
iv which our author engaged, was 
an edition of the Juvenile Poems of 
Milton, with noges, eritical, expla- 
matory, and other Wlustrations,— 
: 3 
ANNUAL REGISTER,) 1803. 
Bishop \ Newton, and. the other 
commentators, who. preceded War- 
ton, traced Milton in his imitations 
of the Greek, Latin, and. ltalian 
poets ; to which, indeed, they add- 
ed Shakespeare, Spenser, and @ 
few occasional passages from Chau- 
cer; but they appear not to have 
been aware that, to a consummate 
knowledge of these authors, Milton 
united a iio less intimate acquaint- 
ance with the authors of his own 
country. This circumstance seems 
to have been first noticed and a¢ted 
on by Warton. | ‘To this mode of 
illustration he added another, equal- 
ly new, but more difficult ; it was 
the circumstances concerning Mil-’ 
ton’s early life, situations, friend- 
ships, and connexions, which were 
often so transiently or implicitly 
noticed as to need examination and 
enlargement. In this track he cole. 
lected much information, and has 
not only illustrated the poems which 
were the immediate objeét of his . 
researches, but has, at the same 
time, through them, given lights to 
the future biographer of Milton, 
and to the historian of the state of 
literature and manners during his 
time. He was about this time also 
engaged in preparing a new edition 
of his own poems. A considerable 
part of the impression was already 
finished, wheu he was taken off by 
a sudden and unexpeéted death. 
Until he reached his 62d) year, he 
continued to enjoy vigorous. and 
uninterrupted health. - On being 
seized with the gout, he went. to 
Bath, and flattered himself, on his 
return to college, that he was in a 
fair way of recovery; but on May. 
20, 1790, alter passing a cheerful 
evening, in the common room, he 
was suddenly seized with. a paraly- 
tic stroke, and died next day at 2 
o’clock. 
