His torments projecting,
And sadly reflecting
That a lover forsaken,"
&c. &c. &c.
In this instance it is shown that Sir Walter was not indebted for the comic song to his wonderful genius, but to his stupendous memory; and it is just possible that it may be so in the other, in which case one would be very glad to see the remainder of the "old ditty."
T. W.
Minor Queries.
56. Was Milton an Anglo-Saxon Scholar?
—I have long been very curious to know whether Milton was an Anglo-Saxon scholar. He compiled a history of the Saxon period: had he the power of access to the original sources? Is there any ground for supposing that he had read our Saxon Paradise Lost; I mean the immortal poetry of Cædmon? If he really knew nothing of this ancient relic, then it may well be said, that the poems of Cædmon and of Milton afford the most striking known example of coincident poetic imagination.
I should be extremely obliged to any of your learned correspondents who would bring the faintest ray of evidence to bear upon this obscure question.