Far from the busy world she flies, Florio had gain'd a rude and rocky seat, She left the cave, nor mark'd the stranger there; Florio, with fearful joy, pursued the maid, Yet here Remembrance, sweetly-soothing Power! Long by the paddock's humble pale confined, But why the tale prolong ?-His only child, Had won his soul; and rapturous Fancy shed But ah! few days had pass'd, ere the bright vision fled! Their shifting sail dropt gently from the cove, And still the mitred window, richly wreathed, And now the moon had dimm'd with dewy ray For ever would the fond enthusiast rove, Ah! still he traced her steps along the glade, Say, through what brighter realms she bids it flow Each scene of bliss reveal'd, since chaos fled, There thy bright train, immortal Friendship, soar; Its lights and shades, its sunshine and its showers; Oft may the spirits of the dead descend Oh thou! with whom my heart was wont to share NOTES. Note 1, page 2, col. 2. Up springs, at every step, to claim a tear. I came to the place of my birth and cried, "The friends of my youth, where are they?"-And an echo answered "Where are they?"-From an Arabic MS. Note 2, page 3, col. 1. Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise! When a traveller, who was surveying the ruins of Rome, expressed a desire to possess some relic of its ancient grandeur, Poussin, who attended him, stooped down, and gathering up a handful of earth shining with small grains of porphyry, "Take this home," said he, "for your cabinet; and say boldly, Questa è Roma Antica." Note 3, page 3, col. 1. The church-yard yews round which his fathers sleep. Every man, like Gulliver in Lilliput, is fastened to some spot of earth, by the thousand small threads which habit and association are continually stealing over him. Of these, perhaps, one of the strongest is here alluded to. When the Canadian Indians were once solicited to emigrate, "What!" they replied, "shall we say to the bones of our fathers, Arise, and go with us into a foreign land?" Note 4, page 3, col. 1. So, when he breathed his firm yet fond adieu. See Cook's first voyage, book i, chap. 16. Another very affecting instance of local attachment is related of his fellow-countryman Potaveri, who came to Europe with M. de Bougainville.-See les Jardins, chant ii. Note 5, page 3, col. 2. So Scotia's Queen, etc. Elle se leve sur son lit, et se met à contempler la France encore, et tant qu'elle peut.-BRANTÒME. Note 6, page 3, col. 2. Thus kindred objects kindred thoughts inspire. To an accidental association may be ascribed some of the noblest efforts of human genius. The Historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire first conceived his design among the ruins of the Capitol; and to the tones of a Welsh harp are we indebted for the Bard of Gray. Note 7, page 3, col. 2. Hence home-felt pleasure, etc Who can sufficiently admire the affectionate attachment of Plutarch, who thus concludes his enumeration of the advantages of a great city to men of letters? "As to myself, I live in a little town; and I choose to live there, lest it should become still less." Vit. Dem. Note 8, page 3, col. 2. For this young Foscari, etc. He was suspected of murder, and at Venice suspicion is good evidence. Neither the interest of the Doge, his father, nor the intrepidity of conscious innocence, which he exhibited in the dungeon and on the rack, could procure his acquittal. He was banished to the island of Candia for life. But here his resolution failed him. At such a distance from home he could not live; and, as it was criminal offence to solicit the intercession of a foreign prince, in a fit of despair he addressed a letter to the Duke of Milan, and intrusted it to a wretch whose perfidy, he knew, would occasion his being remanded a prisoner to Venice. Note 9, page 3, col. 2. And hence the charm historic scenes impart: Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and far from my friends be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona. JOHNSON. Note 10, page 3, col. 2. And watch and weep in Eloisa's cell. The Paraclete, founded by Abelard, in Champagne. Note 11, page 3, col. 2. "T was ever thus. As now at Virgil's tomb. Vows and pilgrimages are not peculiar to the religious enthusiast. Silius Italicus performed annual ceremonies on the mountain of Posilipo; and it was there that Boccaccio, quasi da un divino estro inspirato, resolved to dedicate his life to the Muses. Note 12, page 3, col. 2. So Tully paused amid the wrecks of Time. When Cicero was quaestor in Sicily, he discovered the tomb of Archimedes by its mathematical inscription-Tusc. Quæst. v. 3. Note 13, page 3, col. 2. Say why the pensive widow loves to weep. The influence of the associating principle is finely exemplified in the faithful Penelope, when she sheds tears over the bow of Ulysses.-Od. xxi, 55. Note 14, page 3, col. 2. If chance he hears the song so sweetly wild. The celebrated Ranz des Vaches; "cet air si chéri des Suisses qu'il fut défendu sous peine de mort de le jouer dans leurs troupes, parce qu'il faisoit fondre en larmes, déserter ou mourir ceux qui l'entendoient, tant il excitoit en cux l'ardent désir de revoir leur patrie."-ROUSSEAU. The maladie de pays is as old as the human heart. JUVENAL'S little cup-bearer Suspirat longo non visam tempore matrem, Et casulam, et notos tristis desiderat hædos. And the Argive, in the heat of battle, Dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos. Note 15, page 4, col. 2. Say why Vespasian loved his Sabine farm. This emperor, according to Suetonius, constantly passed the summer in a small villa near Reate, where he was born, and to which he would never add any embellishment, ne quid scilicet oculorum consuetudini deperiret.-SUET. in Vit. Vesp. cap. ii. chateau at Richelieu, he sacrificed its symmetry to preserve the room in which he was born-Mém. de Mlle de Montpensier, i, 27. An attachment of this nature is generally the characteristic of a benevolent mind; and a long acquaintance with the world cannot always extinguish it. "To a friend," says John, Duke of Buckingham "I will expose my weakness: I am oftener missing a pretty gallery in the old house I pulled down, than pleased with a saloon which I built in its stead, though a thousand times better in all respects."-See his Letter to the D. of Sh. This is the language of the heart; and will remind the reader of that good-humored remark in one of Pope's letters-"I should hardly care to have an old post pulled up, that I remembered ever since I was a child." Nor did the Poet feel the charm more forcibly than his Editor. See HURD's Life of Warburton, 51, 99. The Author of Telemachus has illustrated this subject, with equal fancy and feeling, in the story of Alibée, Persan. Note 16, page 4, col. 1. Why great Navarre, etc. That amiable and accomplished monarch, Henry the Fourth of France, made an excursion from his camp, during the long siege of Laon, to dine at a house in the forest of Folambray; where he had often been regaled, when a boy, with fruit, milk, and new cheese; and in revisiting which he promised himself great pleasure.—Mém. de Sully. Note 17, page 4, col. 1. When Diocletian's self-corrected mind. there amused himself with building, planting, and Diocletian retired into his native province, and gardening. His answer to Maximian is deservedly celebrated. He was solicited by that restless old man to reassume the reins of government, and the Impe rial purple. He rejected the temptation with a smile of pity, calmly observing, "that if he could show Maximian the cabbages which he had planted with his own hands at Salona, he should no longer be urged to relinquish the enjoyment of happiness for the pursuit of power."-GIBBON. Note 18, page 4, col. 1. Say, when contentious Charles renounced a throne. When the emperor Charles V. had executed his memorable resolution, and had set out for the monastery of St. Justus, he stopped a few days at Ghent. says his historian, to indulge that tender and pleas ant melancholy, which arises in the mind of every man in the decline of life, on visiting the place of his nativity, and viewing the scenes and objects fa miliar to him in his early youth.-ROBERTSON. Note 19, page 4, col. 1. Then did his horse the homeward track descry. The memory of the horse forms the groundwork of a pleasing little romance of the twelfth century entitled, Lai du Palefroy vair."-See Fabliaux du XII. siècle. A similar instance occurs in the life of the venerable Pertinax, as related by J. Capitolinus. Posteaquam Ariosto likewise introduces it in a passage full of in Liguriam venit, multis agris coemptis, tabernam truth and nature. When Bayardo meets Angelica in paternam, manente forma priore, infinitis ædificiis cir- the forest, cumdedit.-Hist. August. 54. And it is said of Cardinal Richelieu, that, when he built his magnificent palace on the site of the old family * Va mansueto alla Donzella, * Che in Albracca il servia già di sua mano. Orlando Furioso, canto i. 75 Note 20, page 4, col. 1. Sweet bird! thy truth shall Haarlem's walls attest. During the siege of Haarlem, when that city was reduced to the last extremity, and on the point of opening its gates to a base and barbarous enemy, a design was formed to relieve it; and the intelligence was conveyed to the citizens by a letter which was tied under the wing of a pigeon.-THUANUS, lib. lv. c. 5. The same messenger was employed at the siege of Mutina, as we are informed by the elder Pliny Hist. Nat. x. 37 Note 21, page 4, col. 2. Hark! the bee, etc. She tells of time misspent, of comfort lost, What, but the deep inherent dread, Note 25, page 6, col. 1. Hast thou through Eden's wild-wood vales pursued. On the road-side, between Penrith and Appleby, there stands a small pillar with this inscription: This pillar was erected in the year 1656, by Ann Countess-Dowager of Pembroke, etc. for a memorial of her last parting, in this place, with her good and This little animal, from the extreme convexity of pious mother, Margaret, Countess-Dowager of Cum her eye, cannot see many inches before her. Note 22, page 5, col. 1. These still exist, etc. There is a future Existence even in this world, an Existence in the hearts and minds of those who shall live after us. It is in reserve for every man, however obscure; and his portion, if he be diligent, must be equal to his desires For in whose remembrance can we wish to hold a place, but such as know, and are known by us? These are within the sphere of our influence, and among these and their descendants we may live evermore. berland, on the 2d of April, 1616; in memory whereof she hath left an annuity of 41. to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Brougham, every 2d day of April for ever, upon the stone-table placed hard by. Laus Deo!" The Eden is the principal river of Cumberland, and rises in the wildest part of Westmoreland. Note 26, page 6, col. 1. O'er his dead son the gallant Ormond sigh'd. Ormond bore the loss with patience and dignity. though he ever retained a pleasing, however melancholy, sense of the signal merit of Ossory. "I would not exchange my dead son," said he, for any living son in Christendom."-HUME. It is a state of rewards and punishments; and, like The same sentiment is inscribed on Miss Dolman's that revealed to us in the Gospel, has the happiest urn at the Leasowes. Heu, quanto minus est cum influence on our lives. The latter excites us to gain the favor of God, the former to gain the love and reliquis versari, quam tui meminisse!" esteem of wise and good men; and both lead to the same end; for, in framing our conceptions of the Deity, we only ascribe to Him exalted degrees of Wisdom and Goodness. Note 23, page 5, col. 2. Yet still how sweet the soothings of his art! The astronomer chalking his figures on the wall, in Hogarth's view of Bedlam, is an admirable exemplification of this idea.-See the Rake's Progress, plate 8. Note 24, page 6, col. 1. Turns but to start, and gazes but to sigh! The following stanzas are said to have been written on a blank leaf of this Poem. They present so affecting a reverse of the picture, that I cannot resist the opportunity of introducing them here. Pleasures of Memory!-oh! supremely blest. I greet her as the fiend, to whom belong The vulture's ravening beak, the raven's funeral song. Note 27, page 6, col. 2. High on exulting wing the heath-cock rose. This bird is remarkable for his exultation during the spring. Note 28, page 6, col. 2. Derwent's clear mirror. Keswick-Lake in Cumberland. Note 29, page 7, col. 2. Down by St. Herbert's consecrated grove. A small island covered with trees, among which were formerly the ruins of a religious house. Note 30, page 7, col. 2. When lo a sudden blast the vessel blew. In a lake surrounded with mountains, the agitations are often violent and momentary. The winds blow in gusts and eddies; and the water no sooner swells, than it subsides.-See BOURN's Hist. of Westmoreland. Note 31, page 7, col. 2. To what pure beings, in a nobler sphere. The several degrees of angels may probably have larger views, and some of them be endowed with capacities able to retain together, and constantly set before them, as in one picture, all their past knowledge at once.-LOCKE. Human Life. ARGUMENT. Yet, all forgot, how oft the eye-lids close, Introduction—Ringing of bells in a neighboring Vil- How oft, as dead, on the warm turf we lie, And from the slack hand drops the gather'd rose! lage on the birth of an heir-General Reflections While many an emmet comes with curious eye; on Human Life-The Subject proposed-Child- And on her nest the watchful wren sits by! hood-Youth-Manhood-Love-Marriage-Do- Nor do we speak or move, or hear or see; mestic Happiness and Affliction-War-Peace- So like what once we were, and once again shall be' Civil Dissension-Retirement from active LifeOld Age and its Enjoyments-Conclusion. THE lark has sung his carol in the sky: The bees have humm'd their noon-tide lullaby. Still in the vale the village-bells ring round, Still in Llewellyn-hall the jests resound: For now the caudle-cup is circling there, And say, how soon, where, blithe as innocent, Now, glad at heart, the gossips breathe their prayer, To-day we look as we did yesterday; And, crowding, stop the cradle to admire The babe, the sleeping image of his sire. And we shall look to-morrow as to-day: Yet while the loveliest smiles, her locks grow grey! A few short years-and then these sounds shall hail And in her glass could she but see the face The day again, and gladness fill the vale; Then the huge ox shall yield the broad sirloin; The nurse shall cry, of all her ills beguiled, Twas on these knees he sate so oft and smiled." And soon again shall music swell the breeze; Soon, issuing forth, shall glitter through the trees Vestures of nuptial white; and hymns be sung, And violets scatter'd round; and old and young, In every cottage-porch with garlands green, Stand still to gaze, and, gazing, bless the scene; While, her dark eyes declining, by his side Moves in her virgin-veil the gentle bride. And once, alas, nor in a distant hour, He rests in holy earth with them that went before. To minstrel-harps at midnight's witching hour! She'll see so soon amidst another race, And such is Human Life, the general theme. Yet here high passions, high desires unfold, Prompting to noblest deeds; here links of gold Bind soul to soul; and thoughts divine inspire A thirst unquenchable, a holy fire That will not, cannot but with life expire! Now, seraph-wing'd, among the stars we soar, Now distant ages, like a day, explore, And judge the act, the actor now no more; Or, in a thankless hour condemn'd to live, From others claim what these refuse to give, And dart, like Milton, an unerring eye Through the dim curtains of Futurity. (3) Wealth, Pleasure, Ease, all thought of self resign'd, What will not Man encounter for Mankind? |