Yet hither oft a glance from high They send of tender sympathy To bless the place, where on their opening soul First the genuine ardour stole. 'Twas Milton struck the deep-ton'd shell, And, as the choral warblings round him swell, Meek Newton's self bends from his state sublime, And nods his hoary head, and listens to the rhyme. III. "Ye brown o'er-arching groves, That contemplation loves, Where willowy Camus lingers with delight! NOTES. Ver. 26. And nods his hoary head, and listens to the rhyme] 20 25 Pope's Prol. to the Sat. 143. W. Ver. 27. Ye brown o'er-arching groves] "To arched walks of twilight groves, Il Penser. 133. W. And so Pope, in his Translation* of the Odyssey: "Brown with o'er-arching shades." This stanza, supposed to be sung by Milton, is very judiciously written in the metre which he fixed upon for the stanza of his Christmas Hymn: ""Twas in the winter wild," &c. MASON. Ver. 29. Where willowy Camus] "Or where the Cam thro' willows winds his way." Dart's Westm. Abbey, p. 61. * I possess Pope's copy of Chapman's Translation of Homer's Iliad; and find that he was very industrious in his examination of it. Wherever Chapman introduced any thing of his own, Pope has marked it, and sometimes written "Interpolated" against eight or nine successive lines. This copy Warburton gave to Mr. Thomas Warton. Oft at the blush of dawn I trod your level lawn, Oft woo'd the gleam of Cynthia silver-bright In cloisters dim, far from the haunts of Folly, With Freedom by my side, and soft-eyed Melancholy." 30 NOTES. Nought have we here but willow-shaded shore, To tell our Grant his banks are left forlore." Hall's Sat. b. i. sat. 1. Ver. 29. Lingers with delight] This image is enlarged in some beautiful lines by T. Heyrick of Peter-House; a much neglected poet. See p. 83. 1691. 4to. "So some smooth river, loth to leave the plains And those fresh fields where health and pleasure reigns, In many wand'ring turns his passage takes, A thousand stops, a thousand windings makes; Plays with his flowery banks, oft turns his head, And with full eyes o'er-looks his watery bed; Courts every wanton shade, and feigns delay," &c. In this volume of Heyrick are two poems by Joshua Barnes, pag. vii. 15. Ver. 50. Oft at the blush of dawn] Mr. Wakefield has justly remarked that this stanza is indebted to the following passage in the Il Penseroso of Milton, ver. 61: "Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy !* *Gaw. Douglas, in his Translation of Virgil, Prolog. to book xiii. p. 450, describes the notes of the nightingale as merry: "The mery nyghtyngele Philomene, That on the thorne sat syngand fro the splene, And Thomson, in his Agamemnon, p. 63: "Ah! far unlike the nightingale !-she sings And Gascoigne's Complaynt of Phylomene: "Him will I cheare with chaunting all this night, And with that word she 'gan to clear her throate; IV. But hark! the portals sound, and pacing forth With solemn steps and slow, High potentates, and dames of royal birth, Great Edward, with the lilies on his brow From haughty Gallia torn, 35 40 NOTES. Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among I woo to hear thy even-song; And missing thee, I walk unseen, But let my due feet never fail To walk the studious cloysters pale." Ver. 155. Ver. 34. Soft-eyed Melancholy] " And sensible soft Melancholy," Pope's Poem on a certain Lady at Court, ver. 8. W. Ver. 36. With solemn steps and slow] "With wand'ring steps and slow," Par. Lost, b. xii. ver. 648. W.-And Pope's Odyssey, b. x. ver. 286. Dunciad, b. iv. ver. 465, as quoted by Mr. Todd. Ver. 38. And mitred fathers in long order go] "Unde omnes longo ordine possit Adversos legere, et venientum discere vultus." Virg. Æn. vi. 754. W. Ver. 39. Great Edward, with the lilies on his brow] Edward the Third, who added the fleur de lys of France to the arms of England. He founded Trinity College. But such a lively song, now by this light, Yet never hearde I such another note." Mr. Fox has, I think, given no authority but that of Chaucer, for the merry notes of the nightingale; see his Letter to Lord Grey, p. 12. Nor do I recollect any other instances in English poetry, than those which I have mentioned. VOL. I. L And sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn That wept her bleeding Love, and princely Clare, And Anjou's heroine, and the paler rose, The rival of her crown and of her woes, And either Henry there, NOTES. "Draw mighty Edward as he conq'ring stood, The lilies on his shield stain'd red with Gallic blood." So T. Warton, i. 20. ed. Mant: 45 Dart's Westm. Abbey, p. 36. "I see the sable-suited Prince advance, With lilies crown'd, the spoil of bleeding France." And Philips, in 'Cyder,' ii. 592: "Great Edward thus array'd, With golden Iris his broad shield emboss'd." Ver. 41. And sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn] Mary de Valentia, countess of Pembroke, daughter of Guy de Chatillon, comte de St. Paul in France; of whom tradition says, that her husband Audemar de Valentia, earl of Pembroke, was slain at a tournament on the day of his nuptials. She was the foundress of Pembroke College or Hall, under the name of Aula Mariæ de Valentia. GRAY. Ver. 42. That wept her bleeding Love, and princely Clare] Elizabeth de Burg, countess of Clare, was wife of John de Burg, son and heir of the earl of Ulster, and daughter of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, by Joan of Acres, daughter of Edward the First. Hence the poet gives her the epithet of princely. She founded Clare Hall. GRAY. Ver. 43. And Anjou's heroine, and the paler rose] Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry the Sixth, foundress of Queen's College. The poet has celebrated her conjugal fidelity in 'The Bard,' epode 2d, line 13th. Elizabeth Widville, wife of Edward the Fourth, hence called the paler rose, as being of the house of York. She added to the foundation of Margaret of Anjou. GRAY. Poems, vol. iii. p. 38: So Whitehead, in his Ver. 45. And either Henry there] Henry the Sixth and Eighth. The former the founder of King's, the latter the greatest benefactor to Trinity College. GRAY. The murder'd saint, and the majestic lord, (Their tears, their little triumphs o'er, And thus they speak in soft accord V. "What is grandeur, what is power? The bee's collected treasures sweet, 50 55 60 NOTES. Ver. 49. Their human passions now no more] "One human tear shall drop, and be forgiven," Pope's Eloisa, 358. W. Ver. 50. Save Charity, that glows beyond the tomb] "Charity never faileth," St. Paul, 1 Corinth. xiii. 8. W. Ver. 56. The liquid language of the skies] Cui liquidam Pater Hor. Od. I. xxiv. 3. W. And so Lucretius, v. 1378: "Liquidas voces." Calpurn. Eclog. iv. ver. 149. And Ovid. Amor. I. xiii. 8. Ver. 62. The bee's collected, treasures sweet] This comparison we find also in Theocr. Id. vii. 83: Κρέσσον μελπομένω τεῷ ἀκουέμεν, ἢ μέλι λείχει. And in Calpurn. Eclog. iv. ver. 150. These four verses,, as Mr. Wakefield remarks, were suggested by Milton's |