I bought them, shrouded in that living shrine, 385 390 The Goddess fmiling feem'd to give confent; 395 So back to Pollio, hand in hand they went. Then thick as Locufts black ning all the ground, A tribe, with weeds and fhells fantastic crown'd, REMARK S. was ravished with the hope of poffeffing fo rare a treasure, he bargain'd with him on the fpot for the moft curious of them, and was to recover them at his own expence.. VER. 383. each Demi-God,] They are called so on their Coins. VER. 387. Witness great Ammon!] Jupiter Ammon is called to witness, as the father of Alexander to whom those Kings fucceeded in the divifion of the Macedonian Empire, and whose Horns they wore on their Medals. VER 394. Douglas] A Physician of great Learning and no lefs Tafte; above all curious in what related to Horace, of whom he collected every Edition, Tranflation, and Comment, to the number of feveral hundred volumes. VER. 397. Then thick as locufts black’ning all the ground,] The fimilitude of Locufts does not refer more to the numbers than to the qualities of the Virtuofi: who not only devour and lay waste VOL. VI. D Each with fome wond'rous gift approach'd the Pow'r, A Neft, a Toad, a Fungus, or a Flow'r. But far the foremost, two, with earnest zeal, 400 The first thús open'd: Hear thy fuppliant's call, Bright with the gilded button tip its head. REMARK 3. every tree, fhrub, and green leaf in their Course of experiments } but fuffer neither a mofs nor fungus to escape untouched. SCRIBL. VER. 409. and nam'd it Caroline] It is a compliment which the Florists usually pay to Princes and great perfons, to give IMITATIONS. VER. 405. Fair from its humble bed, &c. named it Caroline! Each maid cry'd, charming! and each Youth, divine! Now proftrate! dead! bebold that Caroline : No Maid cries, charming! and no Youth divine! These verses are tranflated from Catullus, Epith, Ut flos in feptis fecretus nafcitur bortis, 411 Did Nature's pencil ever blend fuch rays, He ceas'd and wept. With innocence of mien, Of all th' enamel'd race, whofe filv'ry wing REMARKS. 420 their names to the most curious Flowers of their raifing: Some have been very jealous of vindicating this honour, but none more than that ambitious Gardiner, at Hammersmith, who caufed his Favourite to be painted on his Sign, with this infcription, This is My Queen Caroline. VER. 418. Difmifs my foul, where no Carnation fades] It is a trite obfervation, that men have always placed the happiness of their fancied Elyfium in fomething they took moft delight in here. The joys of a Mahometan paradife confift in young mai dens, always virgins: Our modefter Votary warms his imagina, tion only with Carnations always in bloom; which, alluding, at the same time, to the perpetual spring of the old Elyfian fields, IMITATIONS. VER. 421. Of all th' enamel'd race,] The Poet feems to have an eye to Spenfer, Muiopotmos. Of all the race of filver winged Flies Or fwims along the fluid atmosphere, Once brightest fhin'd this child of Heat and Air. 425 The rifing game, and chac'd from flow'r to flow'r. 435 My fons! (she answer'd) both have done your parts: Live happy both, and long promote our arts. But hear a Mother, when she recommends To your fraternal care, our fleeping friends. 440 REMARKS, give an inimitable pleasantry, as well as decorum, to the conclufion of his Pray'r. VER. 440. our fleeping friends,] Of whom see v. 345. above IMITATIONS, VER. 427, 428. It fled, I follow'd, &c.] -I started back, It started back; but pleas'd I foon return'd, Milton. 445 The common Soul, of Heaven's more frugal make, Poiz'd with a tail, may fteer on Wilkins' wings. VARIATIONS. VER. 441. The common foul &c.] in the firft Edit. thus, A drowzy Watchman in the land of Nod, REMARKS. 450 VER.444. And breaks our reft, to tell us what's a clock] i. e. When the feast of life is just over, calls us to think of breaking up; but never watches to prevent the disorders that happen in the heat of the entertainment. VER. 450. a wilderness of Mofs;] Of which the Naturalifts count I can't tell how many hundred fpecies. VER.452. Wilkins' wings.] One of the first Projectors of the Royal Society, who, among many enlarged and useful notions, entertain'd the extravagant hope of a poflibility to fly to the Moon; which has put fome volatile Genius's upon making wings for that purpose. |