No children run to lisp their sire's return, VARIATIONS. Ver. 24. Or] Nor, мs. W. See also Thomson's Winter, 311: NOTES. "In vain for him the officious wife prepares Ver. 24. Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share] "Interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati." So Dryden, vol. ii. p. 565, ed. Warton : "Whose little arms about thy legs are cast, Virg. Georg. ii. ver. 523. W. And climbing for a kiss prevent their mother's haste." See also Thomson's Liberty, iii. 171, and Ovid. Heroid. Ep. viii. 93. * In the earlier editions, "Into the mingling rack." And, what is singular, five lines farther on it stood: "Lays him along the snows, a stiffen'd corse, Unstretch'd, and bleaching in the northern blast." In the MS. copy I have, Thomson has altered it, with a pen, to“ stretch'd out," as it is read in the subsequent editions. "Unstretch'd" is a Scotticism, meaning "unfolded." In Thomson's Winter, 975, the couplet "Far-distant flood to flood is social join'd: was probably suggested by the following passages: Also, 66 - Ægeas transit in undas 66 Tyrrhenum; sonat Ionio vagus Hadria Ponto." Lucan. Phars. v. 614. "J'entens deja fremir les deux mers etonnées, Boileau, Epitre i. 146. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, VARIATIONS. Ver. 25. Sickle] Sickles, Ms. W. 30 NOTES. Ver. 27. How jocund did they drive their team afield] "He drove afield." Lycidas, 27. W. Ver. 28. How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke] "But to the roote bent his sturdie stroake, And made many woundes in the waste oake." Spenser's February, ed. Todd, vol. i. p. 43. W. Ver. 33. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r] "Very like," says the editor, (in a note to the following passage of Cowley,) " in the expression as well as sentiment, to that fine stanza in Mr. Gray's Elegy, vol. ii. p. 213, Hurd's ed.: "Beauty, and strength, and wit, and wealth, and power, Have their short flourishing hour; And love to see themselves, and smile, And joy in their pre-eminence a while; E'en so in the same land Poor weeds, rich corn, gay flowers together stand. Alas! Death mows down all with an impartial hand.'” Gray's stanza is, however, chiefly indebted to some verses in his friend West's Monody on Queen Caroline: Await alike th' inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, VARIATIONS. Ver. 35] Await] Awaits, Ms. M. and W. Ver. 37, 38. Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, If memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise] "Forgive, ye proud, th' involuntary fault, If memory to these no trophies raise," Ms. M. and W. 35 40 NOTES. "Ah me! what boots us all our boasted power, Our golden treasure, and our purple state ; They cannot ward the inevitable hour, Nor stay the fearful violence of fate." Dodsley's Misc. ii. 279. Ver. 36. The paths of glory lead but to the grave] In the new Biographia Britannica, vol. iv. p. 429, in the Life of Crashaw, written by Mr. Hayley, it is said that this line is "literally translated from the Latin prose of Bartholinus in his Danish Antiquities." Ver. 39. The long-drawn isle] "And the long isles and vaulted roofs rebound." Ibid. Fretted] Dart's Westminster Abbey, p.7. Cymbeline, act ii. sc. 4. W. And so Hamlet, act ii. sc. 2: "This majestical roof fretted with golden fire." Ver. 40. The pealing anthem swells the note of praise] "There let the pealing organ blow, To the full-voiced quire below, In service high, and anthem clear." Il Pens. 163. W. VOL. I. Can storied urn, or animated bust, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 45 Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; But knowledge to their eyes her ample page Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll; 50 Chill penury repress'd their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul. VARIATIONS. Ver. 47. Rod] Reins, мs. M. Ver. 41. Animated bust] 73. W. NOTES. "Heroes in animated marble frown," Temple of Fame, Ver. 44. The dull cold ear of death] "And sleep in dull cold marble," Shaksp. Henry VIII. act iii. sc. 2. "Sunt mihi quas possint Ver. 47. Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd] sceptra decere manus," Ovid. Ep. v. ver. 86. "Proud names that once the reins of empire held," Tickell's Poem to Earl of Warwick, ver. 37. Ver. 48. Or wak'd to extasy the living lyre] "Waken raptures high," Milt. Par. Lost, iii. 369. And Lucretius, ii. 412: "Mobilibus digitis expergefacta figurant." "Begin the song, and strike the living lyre." Cowley. And Pope's Winds. For. 281: 66 where Cowley strung His living harp, and lofty Denham sung." W. Ver. 51. Their noble rage] "Be justly warm'd with your own native rage." Pope's Prol. to Cato, 43. W. And: Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear: Some village-Hampden, that, with dauntless breast, VARIATIONS. Ver. 58. Fields] Lands, erased in мs. M. NOTES. 55 "There is many a rich stone laid up in the bowells of the earth, many a fair pearle in the bosome of the sea, that never was seene, nor never shall bee," Bishop Hall's Contemplations, 1. vi. p. 872. See Quart. Rev. No. xxii. p. 314. Ver. 55. Full many a flower is born to blush unseen] "Like roses that in deserts bloom and die." Pope's Rape of the Lock, iv. 157. W. Also Chamberlayne's Pharonida, part ii. b. iv. p. 94: "Like beauteous flowers which vainly waste their scent And Young's Univ. Passion, Sat. v. p. 128: "In distant wilds, by human eyes unseen, She rears her flow'rs, and spreads her velvet green; "Like woodland flowers, which paint the desert glades, A. Philips' Thule, p. 135. |