there is in any one of the prose folios of Jeremy Taylor more fine fancy and original imagery, more brilliant conceptions and glowing expressions, more new figures, and new applications of old figures, more, in short, of the body and soul of poetry, than in all the odes and the epics that have since been produced in Europe."-Article on FORD'S Dramatic Works, August 1811. P. 17, 1. 8. Notes tersely pencill'd show sententious wit. As Witwould says in Congreve's "Way of the World," "Thou hast uttered folios in less than decimo sexto, my dear Lacedemonian ; Sirrah Petulant, thou art an epitomizer of words." P. 17, 1. 9. Philips will sell their gewgaws that amaze, &c. Mine eyes have made Discovery of the caskets, and they open'd; Each sparkling diamond from itself shot forth Fix'd it a glorious star, and made the place Heaven's abstract or epitome.-CITY MADAM. Such was the wealth displayed in the house of a celebrated cha racter, who rivalled in magnificence the Sultan of Gazna, or Musicanus. P. 17, 1. 21. Who buys not glittering toys when very dear. This line may appear absurd to those who have not been at fashionable auction-rooms, nor have witnessed the competition that there is among bidders to purchase articles of no intrinsic value whatever, merely because they belonged to a "Man of Fashion." I have known books to bring a very high price at auctions because they were collected by a black-letter hunter, which might have been bought for half the sum at many booksellers' shops in London. P. 17, 1. 23. Who loves to breathe, &c. I am indebted for this idea to the following beautiful passage in Tom Jones. "It was now the middle of May, and the morning was remarkably serene, when Mr. Allworthy walked forth on the terrace, where the dawn opened every minute that lovely prospect, we have before described, to his eye. And now having sent forth streams of light which ascended to the firmament before him, as harbingers preceding his pomp, in the full blaze of his majesty uprose the Sun; than which one object alone in this lower creation could be more glorious, and that Mr. Allworthy himself presented; a human being replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator, by doing most good to his creatures." This is the portrait of a fictitious personage; but I see in it a close resemblance to one whose memory I shall never cease to venerate! P. 18, 1. 17. Burke says ambition is too bold a vice. "Avarice is a rival to the pursuits of many. It finds a multitude of checks, and many opposers in every walk of life. But the objects of ambition are for the few, and every person who aims at indirect profit, and therefore wants other protection than innocence and law, instead of its rival becomes its instrument. There is a natural allegiance and fealty due to this domineering paramount evil from all the vassal vices, which acknowledge its superiority, and readily militate under its banners; and it is under that discipline alone that avarice is able to spread to any considerable extent, or to render itself a general public mischief."-BURKE's Speech on the Nabob of Arcot's Debts. Così cresce 'l desir vile et immondo Del crudel oro, et l' insatiabil rabbia, Onde non gusta huom mai viver giocondo. ARIOSTO, Satira Quarta. P. 18, 1. 25. Crispus with studied negligence will speak. "Il ne faut pas juger des hommes comme d'un tableau, ou d'une figure, sur une seule et première vue; il y a un intérieur et un cœur qu'il faut approfondir le voile de la modestie couvre le mérite, et le masque de l'hypocrisie cache la malignité; il n'y a qu'un très-petit nombre de connoisseurs qui discerne, et qui soit en droit de prononcer; ce n'est que peu-à-peu, et forcés même par le temps et les occasions, que la vertu parfaite et le vice consommé viennent enfin à se déclarer.” NOTES ON THE THIRD EPISTLE TO A FRIEND IN TOWN. P. 27, 1. 7. When life, and light, and love, the trinal beam, Noi semo usciti fuore Del maggior corpo al Ciel, ch' è pura luce; Amor di vero ben pien di letizia, Letizia, che trascende ogni dolore. DANTE, Del Paradiso, Canto 30. P. 29, 1. 9. Then in my mind are suddenly revived The days when SIDNEY, 'flower of knighthood,' lived. How delightful is the character of Sir Philip Sidney, as given by Dr. Zouch!" The elegance of his manners; the versatility of his genius, adapting itself to the acquisition of universal knowledge; his unbounded munificence; his amiable demeanour in domestic life; his tender feelings for the miseries of those persecuted Protestants who, in defence of their religion and liberties, resisted the savage insolence of Spanish tyranny; the suavity of his disposition, so alluring that he was, as it were, nursed in the lap of the Graces; an experience above his years; an invincible patience under the most acute sufferingsall these qualities will render his name grateful to future ages. His dignified and winning deportment filled every beholder with delight." -ZOUCH's Memoirs of Sidney, p. 349. P. 29, 1. 24. "That now, one boundless present shall endure.” P. 30, 1. 6. And the columnar cactus towers unto the skies. "The hill of calcareous breccia which we have just regarded as an island in the ancient gulf, is covered with a thick forest, of columnar cactus and opuntia. Some thirty or forty feet high, covered with lichens, and divided into several branches in the form of candelabra, wear a singular appearance. Near Maniquarez, at Punta Araya, we measured a cactus, the trunk of which was four feet nine inches in circumference."-HUMBOLDT's Personal Narrative. P. 31, 1. 1. This gifted being, to the haunts of men Preferr'd the mountain's height, or lonely glen, The following beautiful lines, extracted from the tragedy of COUNT JULIAN, are applicable to a great Poet, and excellent Man, who is shadowed out under the character of Eumolpus. No airy or light passion stirs abroad To ruffle or to soothe him; all are quell'd In the cold light, above the dews of morn. COUNT JULIAN, Act. V. Scene 2, by Walter Savage Landor. P. 31, 1. 7. One might his highly polish'd wit compare To the snow-diamond, beautiful and rare. "The most frequent colours of the diamond, as already mentioned, are the white and grey; and of these the most highly prized by the jeweller are the snow-white."-JAMIESON's Mineralogy. P. 31, 1. 23. Yet praise is dear to all-the world's, alas, The spirits; 'tis for that we act and think. "Sic leve, sic parvum est, animum quod laudis avarum P. 32, 1. 17. Antimachus, since such a name the Muse Reluctant for the wayward youth must choose. Antimachus in the "Nubes" of Aristophanes, according to the scholiast, is a very handsome and profligate youth. P. 33, 1. 5. But with alternate colours dark and bright, The glaring contrast shocks the moral sight. Such a contrast of colours was exhibited in the character of the Alcibiadeses, Caesars, Whartons, and Bolingbrokes of their day: the character of Lord Bolingbroke is so admirably painted by Lord Chesterfield, that I will make no apology for introducing it here, though it be well known. "Here the darkest, there the most splendid colours, and both rendered more shining from their proximity. Impetuosity, excess, and almost extravagancy, characterised not only his passions, but even his senses. His youth was distinguished by all the tumult and storm of pleasures in which he most licentiously triumphed, disdaining all decorum. His fine imagination has often been heated and exhausted with his body, in celebrating and deifying the prostitute of the night; and his convivial joys were pushed to all the extravagancy of the most frantic Bacchanals. Those passions were interrupted but by a stronger -Ambition." P. 34, 1. 22. Happy as Demonax, and quite as sage. Demonax was the good Philosopher of Cyprus, as described by Lucian he lived to the age of a hundred. He was a wit, a man of genius, and a virtuous citizen.. |