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. Sonetti Cinqu[=a]nta. Dedicati al' III'mo Signore et Padrone Oss'mo Signor Giovanni Milton, Nobil' Inghilese."
It seems that this MS. had been presented, together with Milton's works, to the Academy della Crusca, by Mr. Brand Hollis, but had by some chance again found its way to England, and was sold by auction at Evans's some short time before Mr. Todd published this second edition of Milton's Life.