Page images
PDF
EPUB

NOTE 9. Page 74.

And, when a sage's bust arrests thee there

Siquidem non solum ex auro argentove, aut certe ex ære in bibliothecis dicantur illi, quorum immortalesanimæ in iisdem locis ioi loquuntur: quinimo etiam quæ non sunt, finguntur, pariuntque desideria non traditi vultus, sicut in Homero evenit. Quo majus, ut equidem arbitor, nullum est felicitatis specimen, quam semper omnes scire cupere, qualis fuerit aliquis.

PLIN. Nat. Hist. xxxv. 2. Cicero speaks with great affection of a little seat under Aristotle in the library of Atticus. "Literis sustentor et recreor; maloque in illa tua sedecula, quam habes sub imagine Aristotelis, sedere, quam in istorum sella curuli!" Ep. ad Att. iv. 10.

Nor should we forget that Dryden used to draw inspiration from the "majestic face" of Shakspeare; and that a print of Newton was the only ornament of the closet of Buffon. Ep. to Kneller Voyage a Montbart par Herault de Sechelles.

In the chamber of a man of genius we

[blocks in formation]

Quis tantis non gaudeat et glorietur hospitibus, exclaims Petrarch -Spectare, etsi nihil aliud, certe juvat

-Homerus apud me mutus, immo vero ego apud illum sur dus sum. Gaudeo tamen vel aspectu solo, et sæpe illum amplexus aceusyirans dico: O magne vi, &c. Epist. Var. Lib.

NOTE 11. Page 75.

A sullen captive broods in silence there.

This thought is most beautifully dilated in an inscription for an ice-house, by a lady of great celebrity in the literary world. Nor has it escaped Waller, in his verses on St. James's Park, v. 53.

NOTE 12. Page 75.

These eyelids open to the rising ray.

Your bedchamber, and also your library, says Vitruvius, should have an eastern aspect; usus enim matutinum postulat lumen.

Not so the picture gallery, which requires a north light uti colores, propter constantiam luminis immutata permaneant qualitate. L. vi. c. 6.

NOTE 13. Page 76.

Like those blest youths, forgive the fabling page.

See the legend of the Seven Sleepers, as translated

from the Syriac by the care of Gregory of Tours.

GIBBON'S Hist. o, 38.

NOTE 14. Page 76.

Catch the blest actions of the wise and great.

Mr. Pope delights in enumerating his illustrious guests. Nor is this an exclusive privilege of the poet. The Medici palace at Florence exhibits a long and imposing catalogue. "Semper hi parietes columnæque eruditis vocibus resonuerunt."

Another is also preserved at Chanteloup, the seat of the duke of Choiseul.

NOTE 15. Page 77.

Nor boast, O Choisy! seat of soft delight

At the petits soupes of Choisy were first introduced those admirable pieces of mechanism, afterwards carried to perfection by Loriot, the confidente and the servante; a table and a side-board, which descended, and rose again covered with viands and wines. And thus the most luxurious court in Europe, after all its boasted refinements, was glad to return at last by this singular contrivance to the quiet and privacy of human life.

Vie privee de Louis XV. tom. ii. p. 43.

NOTE 16. Page 77.

Sheds, like an evening-star, its rays serene,

At a Roman supper, statues were sometimes employed to hold the lamps.

-Aurea sunt juvenum simulacra per ædeis,
Lampadas igniferas manibus retinentia dextris.

A fashion as old as Homer!

LUCR. ii. 24.

Odyss. vii. 100.

On the proper degree and distribution of light we may consult a great master of effect. Il lume grande, ed alto, e non troppo potente, sara quello, che rendera le particole de' corpi molto grate. Tratt. della Pittura di Lionardoda Vinci, c. xli.

Hence every artist requires a broad and high light. Hence also, in a banquet-scene, the most picturesque of all poets has thrown his light from the ceiling.

Eneid i. 730. And hence the "starry lamps" of Milton, that from the arched roof,

Pendent by subtle magic,

. yielded light

As from a sky.

Paradise Lost, i. 276.

NOTE 17. Page 78.

So through the vales of Loire the bee-hives glide.

An allusion to the floating bee-house, or barge laden with bee-hives, which Goldsmith says he saw in some parts of France and Piedmont.

Hist. of the Earth, viii. 87.

NOTE 18. Page 79.

And, with the swallow, wings the year away!

It was the boast of Lucullus that he changed his cli

mate with the birds of passage.

PLUT. in Vt. Lucull.

How often must he have felt the truth here inculcated,

that the master of many houses has no home!

TO THE GNAT.

WHEN by the green-wood side at summer eve,
Poetic visions charm my closing eye;

And fairy scenes, that fancy loves to weave,
Shift to wild notes of sweetest minstrelsy;
'Tis thine to range in busy quest of prey,
Thy feathery antlers quivering with delight,
Brush from my lids the hues of heaven away,
And all is solitude and all is night!

Ah now thy barbed shaft, relentless fly,
Unsheaths its terrors in the sultry air!

No guardian sylph, in golden panoply,

Lifts the broad shield, and points the sparkling spear.
Now near and nearer rush thy whirring wings,
Thy dragon-scales still wet with humane gore.
Hark, thy shrill horn its fearful larum flings!
-I wake in horor, and 'dare sleep no more!'

SKETCH OF THE ALPS

AT DAY-BREAK.

THE sun beams streak the azure skies,
And line with light the mountains brow;
With hounds and horns the hunters rise,
And chase the roebuck through the snow.

T

« PreviousContinue »