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a feeling of privation takes place, which is different from the effect of darkness, which is less complete; in a room where a few dying embers by fits show faintly some of the surrounding objects, as the darkness is not perfect, it may by a poet be called counterfeit.

Far from all resort of mirth.-Far from any place to which mirth resorts.

Save the cricket on the hearth.-Except that the cricket, which is an emblem of mirth, chirps upon the hearth.

Or the bellman's drowsy charm.-The drowsy sound of the watchman's bell, taking his rounds from house to house.

Where I may oft outwatch the bear.-Where I may sit up till morning, studying the philosophy of the ancients, as taught by Hermes, the Mercury of the Greeks, who was supposed to have brought the knowledge of the Chaldeans into Greece.

Or unsphere

The spirit of Plato, to unfold.

"The spirit of Plato is rightly summoned to unfold these particular notions; for he has treated more largely than any of the philosophers, concerning the separate state of the soul after death, and concerning demons residing in the elements, and influencing

the planets, and directing the course of nature. I would not swell this note with quotations from his works, because the english reader may see a summary of his doctrines at the end of Stanley's Life of that philosopher. And, as Mr. Thyer observes, the word unsphere alludes to the platonic notion of different spheres or regions being assigned to spirits of different degrees of perfection or impurity, the same term is used in the Mask,

verse 2.

"Where those immortal shapes

Of bright aërial spirits live insphered
In regions mild, of calm and serene air.”

N.

The mahometan inhabitants of the East believe in the existence of genii, whom they suppose to have been created, and to have governed the world, before the time of Adam; they consider them as beings intermediate between men and angels.

"Sometimes let gorgeous tragedy,
In sceptred pall come sweeping by,
Presenting Thebes' or Pelops' line,
Or the tale of Troy divine,

Or what (though rare) of later age,
Ennobl'd hath the buskin'd stage.
But, O sad virgin, that thy power
Might raise Museus from his bower,

Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing
Such notes, as, warbled to the string,
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,

And made Hell grant what Love did seek.”

"Sometimes at this hour of night let me see the representations of ancient tragedy, dressed in long flowing robes, presenting the story of the stege of Thebes, of the wretched race of Pelops, or the fall of Troy, or what modern tragedy (the buskined stage) has represented with dignity.

"But O sad virgin (Melancholy, to whom the poet again addresses himself) I wish that thy power could recall to life Musæus, or Orpheus, whose music made tears flow down the iron cheeks of Pluto, and which preyailed upon him to grant the request of Orpheus, to have his wife Euridice restored to him."

Gorgeous tragedy.-The poet alludes to the ancient tragedies of Eschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, amongst the Greeks; and probably of Seneca, amongst the roman poets; and to Shakspeare, Johnson, &c. amongst the modern.

Museus-was a grecian poet, much celebrated amongst the ancients; his works are lost; so are those of Orpheus, except a poem on the expedition of Jason, which by

some is thought to be the work of Orpheus: for these reasons Milton wishes to recall them from the dead, that he might hear them recite their versès.

Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek.-This is a very bold catachresis.

"Or call up him that left half told
The story of Cambuscan bold,

Of Camball, and of Algarsife,

And who had Canace to wife,
That own'd the virtuous ring and glass,
And of the wondrous horse of brass,
On which the tartar king did ride.

"Or call up him from the dead, that left unfinished the story of the bold Cambuscan, and of his sons Camball and Algarsife, and of his daughter Canace, who possessed a wonderful mirror, and a magical ring; who relates the marriage of Canace, and who describes the wonderful brazen horse, on which a tartar king rode to the court of Cambuscan.

Or call up him that left half told
The story of Cambuscan bold.-

"He means Chaucer and his Squire's Tale, wherein Cambuscan is king of Sarra in Tartary, and has two sons, Algarsife and Camball, and a daughter named Canace. This tartar king re

ceives a present from the king of Araby and Ind, of a wonderful horse of brass, that could transport him through the air to any place; and a sword of rare qualities; and at the same time his daughter Canace is presented with a virtuous ring and glass-a glass by which she could discover secrets and future events, and a ring by which she could understand the language of birds.-This tale was either never finished by Chaucer, or part of it is lost; but Spencer has endeavoured to supply the defect in his Fairy Queen, and begins with such a handsome introduction and address to the spirit of Chaucer, that I should be tempted to transcribe it, if it would not prolong this note beyond its due measure.-See Book IV, cant. 2, stanza 32.”

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Thus far bishop Newton. Our young readers, when they hear of the wondrous horse of brass, on which the tartar king did ride, will immediately recollect the Indian, in the Arabian Tales, who rides upon an enchanted horse, that has exactly the same qualities as those of the brazen horse described by Chaucer : he mounts into the air, when one pin is turned, and falls when another is turned.A flying chest, or machine, guided in the

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