Since fate relentless stopp'd their heav'nly voice, No more the forests ring, or groves rejoice; Who now shall charm the shades, where COWLEY strung 285 His living harp, and lofty DENHAM sung? 280 Here noble SURREY felt the sacred rage, NOTES. 290 Ver. 282.] The Mira of Granville was the Countess of Newburgh. Towards the end of her life Dr. King, of Oxford, wrote a very severe satire against her, in three books, 4to, called The Toast. Warton. Ver. 291. Here noble Surrey.] Henry Howard Earl of Surrey, one of the first refiners of the English poetry; who flourish'd in the time of Henry VIII. VARIATIONS. P. Ver. 290. her silver star.] All the lines that follow were not added to the poem till the year 1710. What immediately followed this, and made the conclusion, were these; My humble Muse in unambitious strains Paints the green forests and the flow'ry plains; P. Here o'er the Martyr-King the marble weeps, The grave unites; where e'en the Great find rest, Make sacred Charles's tomb for ever known, (Obscure the place, and uninscrib'd the stone) 320 Oh fact accurst! what tears has Albion shed, Heav'ns, what new wounds! and how her old have bled! NOTES. by his most beautiful ode on the prospect of this neighbouring college, from which so many ornaments and supports of state and church have proceeded. Warton. Ver. 314. once-fear'd Edward sleeps:] Edward IV. P. Ver. 316.] See an account of Belerium, so called from Bellerus, a Cornish giant, that part of Cornwall called the Lands End, in Warton's edition of Milton's Poems, p. 28. Warton. Cape Cornwall is called by geographers Promontorium Bolericum, but by Diodorus Siculus, v. 21, Belerium. The same place is intended in Milton's Lycidas, v. 160. Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old. Wakefield. Ver. 319. Make sacred Charles's] Vigneul-Marville, v. 1. p. 152, relates a fact concerning this unhappy Monarch that I do not find mentioned in any history: which he says Lord Clarendon used to mention when he retired to Rouen in Normandy; that one of the first circumstances that gave disgust to the people of England, and to some of the nobility, was a hint thrown out by Charles VARIATIONS. Ver. 321. Originally thus in the MS. Oh fact accurst! oh sacrilegious brood, Sworn to Rebellion, principled in blood! 325 She saw her sons with purple death expire, In that blest moment, from his oozy bed Old father Thames advanc'd his rev'rend head; 330 His tresses dropp'd with dews, and o'er the stream His shining horns diffus'd a golden gleam; NOTES. Charles I. at the beginning of his reign, that he thought all the ecclesiastical revenues that had been seized and distributed by Henry VIII. ought to be restored to the church. Warton. Ver. 329.] It may gratify a curious reader to see an extract of a letter of Prior to Lord Bolingbroke, written from Paris, May 18, 1713, concerning a medal that was to be struck on the Peace of VARIATIONS. Ver. 327. Thus in the MS. Till Anna rose and bade the Furies cease; Let there be peace—she said, and all was Peace. With sparkling flames heav'n's glowing concave shone, He saw, and gently rose above the stream; His shining horns diffuse a golden gleam: With pearl and gold his tow'ry front was drest, The tributes of the distant East and West. IMITATIONS. Ver. 328. The world obey'd, and all was peace !] P. "Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, Peace." Milton. Here o'er the Martyr-King the marble weeps, And, fast beside him, once-fear'd Edward sleeps: Whom not th' extended Albion could contain, 315 From old Belerium to the northern main, The grave unites; where e'en the Great find rest, And blended lie th' oppressor and th' opprest! Make sacred Charles's tomb for ever known, (Obscure the place, and uninscrib'd the stone) 320 Oh fact accurst! what tears has Albion shed, Heav'ns, what new wounds! and how her old have bled! NOTES. by his most beautiful ode on the prospect of this neighbouring college, from which so many ornaments and supports of state and church have proceeded. Warton. Ver. 314. once-fear'd Edward sleeps :] Edward IV. P. Ver. 316.] See an account of Belerium, so called from Bellerus, a Cornish giant, that part of Cornwall called the Lands End, in Warton's edition of Milton's Poems, p. 28. Warton. Cape Cornwall is called by geographers Promontorium Bolericum, but by Diodorus Siculus, v. 21, Belerium. The same place is intended in Milton's Lycidas, v. 160. Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old. Wakefield. Ver. 319. Make sacred Charles's] Vigneul-Marville, v. 1. p. 152, relates a fact concerning this unhappy Monarch that I do not find mentioned in any history: which he says Lord Clarendon used to mention when he retired to Rouen in Normandy; that one of the first circumstances that gave disgust to the people of England, and to some of the nobility, was a hint thrown out by Charles VARIATIONS. Ver. 321. Originally thus in the MS. Oh fact accurst! oh sacrilegious brood, Sworn to Rebellion, principled in blood! 325 She saw her sons with purple death expire, In that blest moment, from his oozy bed Old father Thames advanc'd his rev'rend head; 330 His tresses dropp'd with dews, and o'er the stream His shining horns diffus'd a golden gleam; NOTES. Charles I. at the beginning of his reign, that he thought all the ecclesiastical revenues that had been seized and distributed by Henry VIII. ought to be restored to the church. Warton. Ver. 329.] It may gratify a curious reader to see an extract of a letter of Prior to Lord Bolingbroke, written from Paris, May 18, 1713, concerning a medal that was to be struck on the Peace of VARIATIONS. Ver. 327. Thus in the MS. Till Anna rose and bade the Furies cease; Let there be peace-she said, and all was Peace. With sparkling flames heav'n's glowing concave shone, With pearl and gold his tow'ry front was drest, IMITATIONS. Ver. 328. The world obey'd, and all was peace!] P. 'Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, Peace." Milton. |