Endnotes
King Henry the Sixth, Founder of the College. ↩
“And bees their honey redolent of spring.”
—Dryden’s “Fable on the Pythagorean System”
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“Madness laughing in his ireful mood.”
—Dryden’s “Fable of Palamon and Arcite,” II 43.
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“—a bank …
O’ercanopied with luscious woodbine.”
—Midsummer Night’s Dream, II 2.
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“Nare per sestatem liquidam.”
—Virgil, Georgic, IV 59.
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“… sporting with quick glance
Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold.”
—Par. Lost, VII 405.
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“While insects from the threshold preach,” etc.
—M. Green, in The Grotto. Dodsley’s Miscellanies, v 161.
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“… squilla di lontano
Che paia ’l giorno pianger, che si muore.”
—Dante, Purgat. l. 8.
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“Ch’ i veggio nel pensier, dolce mio fuoco,
Fredda una lingua, e due begli occhi chiusi
Rimaner doppo noi pien di faville.”
—Petrarch, Son. 169.
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“… paventosa speme.”
—Petrarch, Son. 114.
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Hatton, preferred by Queen Elizabeth for his graceful person and fine dancing. ↩
The Housekeeper. ↩
Groom of the Chambers. ↩
The Steward. ↩
A famous highwayman hanged the week before. ↩
“Mocking the air with colours idly spread.”
—Shakespeare’s King John, V 1.
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The hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail, that sat close to the body, and adapted itself to every motion. ↩
“The crested adder’s pride.”
—Dryden, Indian Queen.
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Snowdon was a name given by the Saxons to that mountainous tract which the Welsh themselves call Craigian-eryri; it included all the highlands of Caernarvonshire and Merionethshire, as far east as the river Conway. R. Hygden, speaking of the castle of Conway built by King Edward the First, says, “Ad ortum amnis Conway ad clivum montis Erery;” and Matthew of Westminster (ad ann. 1283), “Apud Aberconway ad pedes montis Snowdoniae fecit erigi castrum forte.” ↩
Gilbert de Clare, surnamed the Red, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, son-in-law to King Edward. ↩
Edmond de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore. They both were Lords-Marchers, whose lands lay on the borders of Wales, and probably accompanied the king in this expedition. ↩
The image was taken from a well-known picture of Raphael, representing the Supreme Being in the vision of Ezekiel. There are two of these paintings (both believed original), one at Florence, the other at Paris. ↩
“Shone, like a meteor, streaming to the wind.”
—Milton’s Paradise Lost, I 537.
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The shores of Caernarvonshire opposite to the isle of Anglesey. ↩
Cambden and others observe, that eagles used annually to build their aerie among the rocks of Snowdon, which from thence (as some think) were named by the Welsh Craigian eryri, or the crags of the eagles. At this day (I am told) the highest point of Snowdon is called the eagle’s nest. That bird is certainly no stranger to this island, as the Scots, and the people of Cumberland, Westmoreland, etc., can testify; it even has built its nest in the Peak of Derbyshire. (See Willoughby’s Ornithol., published by Ray.) ↩
“As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart.”
—Julius Caesar, II 1.
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See “The Fatal Sisters.” ↩
Edward the Second, cruelly butchered in Berkley-Castle. ↩
Isabel of France, Edward the Second’s adulterous Queen. ↩
Triumphs of Edward the Third in France. ↩
Death of that King, abandoned by his Children, and even robbed in his last moments by his Courtiers and his Mistress. ↩
Edward, the Black Prince, dead some time before his Father. ↩
Magnificence of Richard the Second’s reign. See Froissard and other contemporary writers. ↩
Richard the Second (as we are told by Archbishop Scroop, and the confederate Lords in their manifesto, by Thomas of Walsingham, and all the older Writers) was starved to death. The story of his assassination by Sir Piers of Exon, is of much later date. ↩
Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancaster. ↩
Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth, Richard Duke of York, etc., believed to be murthered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Caesar. ↩
Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her Husband and her Crown. ↩
Henry the Fifth. ↩
Henry the Sixth very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the Crown. ↩
The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster. ↩
The silver Boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of the Boar. ↩
Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her Lord is well known. The monuments of his regret and sorrow for the loss of her, are still to be seen at Northampton, Geddington, Waltham, and other places. ↩
It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairyland, and should return again to reign over Britain. ↩
Accession of the Line of Tudor. Both Merlin and Taliessin had prophesied, that the Welsh should regain their sovereignty over this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the House of Tudor. ↩
Speed, relating an audience given by Queen Elizabeth to Paul Dzialinski, ambassador of Poland, says: “And thus she, lion-like rising, daunted the malapert Orator no less with her stately port and majestical deporture, than with the tartness of her princely cheeks.” ↩
Taliessin, Chief of the Bards, flourished in the VI Century. His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration among his countrymen. ↩
“Fierce wars and faithful loves shall moralize my song.”
—Spenser, Proeme to the Fairy Queen.
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Shakespeare. ↩
Milton. ↩
The succession of Poets after Milton’s time. ↩
“Awake, my glory; awake, lute and harp.”
—David’s Psalms.
Pindar styles his own poetry, with its musical accompaniments, Αἰοληίς μολπὴ, Αἰολίδες χορδαὶ, Αἰολίδων πνοαὶ αὐλῶν, Aeolian song, Aeolian strings, the breath of the Aeolian flute.
The subject and simile, as usual with Pindar, are united. The various sources of poetry, which gives life and lustre to all it touches, are here described; its quiet majestic progress enriching every subject (otherwise dry and barren) with a pomp of diction and luxuriant harmony of numbers; and its more rapid and irresistible course, when swollen and hurried away by the conflict of tumultuous passions. ↩
Power of harmony to calm the turbulent sallies of the soul. The thoughts are boriowed from the first Pythian of Pindar. ↩
This is a weak imitation of some incomparable lines in the same Ode. ↩
Power of harmony to produce all the graces of motion in the body. ↩
Μαρμαρυγὰς θηεῖτο ποδων· θαύμαζε δὲ θυμῷ.
—Homer, Od. Θ 265.
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Λάμπει δ’ ἐπὶ πορφυρέησί
Παρείησι φῶς ἕρωτος.
—Phrynichus, apud Athenaeum.
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To compensate the real and imaginary ills of life, the Muse was given to mankind by the same Providence that sends the day, by its cheerful presence, to dispel the gloom and terrors of the night. ↩
“Or seen the Morning’s well-appointed Star
Come marching up the eastern hills afar.”
—Cowley.
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Extensive influence of poetic genius over the remotest and most uncivilized nations: its connection with liberty, and the virtues that naturally attend on it. (See the Erse, Norwegian, and Welsh fragments, the Lapland and American songs.) ↩
“Extra anni solisque vias.”
—Virgil, Aeneid, VI 795.
“Tutta lontana dal camin del sole.”
—Petrarch, Canzon, 2.
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Progress of Poetry from Greece to Italy, and from Italy to England. Chaucer was not unacquainted with the writings of Dante or of Petrarch. The Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt had travelled in Italy, and formed their taste there. Spenser imitated the Italian writers; Milton improved on them; but this school expired soon after the Restoration, and a new one arose on the French model, which has subsisted ever since. ↩
Shakespeare. ↩
Milton. ↩
“Flammantia moenia mundi.”
—Lucretius, I 74.
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“For the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels … And above the firmament, that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone … This was the appearance of the glory of the Lord.”
—Ezekiel, 1:20, 26, 28.
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“Οφθαλμῶν μἐν ἄμερσε· δίδου δ” ἠδεῖαν ἀοιδήν.
—Hom. Odyssey, Θ 64.
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Meant to express the stately march and sounding energy of Dryden’s rhimes. ↩
“Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?”
—Job 39:19.
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“Words, that weep, and tears, that speak.”
—Cowley.
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We have had in our language no other odes of the sublime kind, than that of Dryden on St. Cecilia’s Day; for Cowley (who had his merit) yet wanted judgment, style, and harmony, for such a task. That of Pope is not worthy of so great a man. Mr. Mason indeed of late days has touched the true chords, and with a masterly hand, in some of his Choruses—above all in the last of Caractacus: Hark! heard ye not yon footstep dread? etc. ↩
Διὸς πρὸς ὄρνιχα θεῖον
—Olymp. II
Pindar compares himself to that bird, and his enemies to ravens that croak and clamour in vain below, while it pursues its flight, regardless of their noise. ↩
Niflheimr, the hell of the Gothic nations, consisted of nine worlds, to which were devoted all such as died of sickness, old-age, or by any other means than in battle. Over it presided Hela, the Goddess of Death. ↩
Lok is the evil Being, who continues in chains till the Twilight of the Gods approaches, when he shall break his bonds; the human race, the stars, and sun, shall disappear; the earth sink in the seas, and fire consume the skies; even Odin himself and his kindred-deities shall perish. For a further explanation of this mythology, see Mallet’s Introduction to the History of Denmark, 1755, quarto. ↩
The Valkyriur were female Divinities, servants of Odin (or Woden), in the Gothic mythology. Their name signifies “choosers of the slain.” They were mounted on swift horses, with drawn swords in their hands; and in the throng of battle selected such as were destined to slaughter, and conducted them to Valhalla, the hall of Odin, or paradise of the Brave; where they attended the banquet, and served the departed Heroes with horns of mead and ale. ↩
“How quick they wheeled, and, flying, behind them shot
Sharp sleet of arrowy showers.”
—Milton’s Par. Regained, III 323, 324.
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“The noise of battle hurtled in the air.”
—Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, II 2.
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