on of Milton's
Life.

I know not if there has been any further notice of this MS., which is
interesting as a monument of the respect and attention our great poet
received from the most distinguished literary men of Italy at the time
of his visit, and I should be glad if any of your correspondents can
indicate its existence, {147} and the place where it is now preserved.
When it was on sale, I had permission to copy the title and a few of the
sonnets, which were such as we could not imagine would have given
pleasure to the chaste mind of Milton; each of them containing, as the
title indicates, an _equivoque_, which would bear an obscene sense, yet
very ingeniously wrapped up. The first sonnet opens thus:--

"Queste Sonnetti, o Tina, ch' i' ho composto,
Me gl' ha dettati una Musa buffona,
Cantando d' improviso, alla Carlona,
Sul suono, spinto dal oalor del Mosto."

The second may serve to show the nature of the _equivoque_:--

"Tina, I' so legger bene, e rilevato
La Storia di Liombrune, e Josafatte,
Se ben, per esser noto in queste fratte
Sotto il Maestro mai non sono stato.

"E il lere del dificio m' ha giurato,
Quand' egli ha visto le Poesie ch' i' ho fatte,
Ch' elle son belle, e i piedi in terra batte,
E vuol ch' io mi sia in Pisa adottorato.

"Io canto, quand' io son ben ben satollo,
Sul Chitarrin con voce si sottile,
Ch'io ne disgrado insien Maestro Apollo.

"Vien un poco da me, Tina gentile,
Che s' egli avvien che tu mi segga in collo,
M' sentirai ben tosto alzar lo stile."

Antonio Malatesti was a man of mark in his time, being distinguished for
his talent as an improvisatore. Among his friends were Galileo,
Coltellini, and Valerio Chimentelli, who have all commendatory poems
prefixed to Malatesti's "Sphinx," a collection of poetical enigmas,
which has been frequently reprinted. Beside his poetical talent, he
studied astronomy, probably under Galileo; and painting, in which he was
a pupil of Lorenzo Lippi, author of the "Malmantile Raqquistato," who
thus designates him under his academical name of _Amostante Latoni_
(canto i. stanza 61.):--

"E General di tutta questa Mandra
Amostante Laton Poeta insigne.
Canta improviso, come un Calandra:
Stampa gli Enigmi, 'Strologia, e Dipigne."

Malatesti was a member of the Academy degli Apatisti, of which Milton's
friends Coltellini and Carlo Dati had been the principal founders. The
house of the latter was a cour