Made visionary fabrics round them rise,
And airy spectres skim before their eyes;
Of Talismans and Sigils knew the pow'r,
And careful watch'd the Planetary hour.
Superior, and alone, Confucius stood,
Who taught that useful science, to be good.

105

NOTES.

the descriptions of magic and enchantment. What an exquisite picture has Thomson given us in his delightful Castle of Indolence:

"As when a shepherd of the Hebrid isles,
Plac'd far amid the melancholy main
(Whether it be lone fancy him beguiles,
Or that aërial beings sometimes deign
To stand, embodied, to our senses plain),
Sees on the naked hill, or valley low.
The whilst in ocean Phoebus dips his wain,

A vast assembly moving to and fro,

Then all at once in air dissolves the wonderous show."

Castle of Indolence, Stan. xxx. b. 1.

I cannot at present recollect any solitude so romantic, or peopled with beings so proper to the place and the spectator. The mind naturally loves to lose itself in one of those wildernesses, and to forget the hurry, the noise, and splendour, of more polished life; as in the following beautiful stanza of The Minstrel :

"In the deep windings of the grove, no more
The hag obscene, and grisly phantom dwell;
Nor in the fall of mountain-stream, or roar
Of winds, is heard the angry spirits' yell;
No wizard mutters the tremendous spell,

Nor sinks convulsive in prophetic swoon,

Nor bids the noise of drums and trumpets swell,

To ease of fancied pangs the labouring moon,

Or chase the shade that blots the blazing orb of noon."

Minstrel. Ver. 107. Confucius stood,] Congfutzee, for that was his name, flourished about two thousand three hundred years ago, just be

But on the South, a long majestic race

Of Egypt's Priests the gilded niches graces,
Who measur'd earth, describ'd the starry spheres,
And trac'd the long records of lunar years.
High on his car Sesostris struck my view,
Whom sceptred slaves in golden harness drew;
His hands a bow and pointed jav❜lin hold;
His giant limbs are arm'd in scales of gold.
Between the statues Obelisks were plac'd,
And the learn'd walls with Hieroglyphics grac'd.

Of Gothic structure was the Northern side,
O'erwrought with ornaments of barb'rous pride.

110

115

119

NOTES.

fore Pythagoras. He taught justice, obedience to parents, humility, and universal benevolence; and he practised these virtues when he was a first minister, and when he was reduced to poverty and exile. His family still exists in China, and is highly honoured and respected. The Chinese religion, government, and arts, have been too much magnified by some writers, and too much lessened by others. We may expect an accurate account of this wonderful country from the candour, ability, integrity, and justice, of the late ambassador, Lord Macartney.

Ver. 110. Egypt's Priests, &c.] The learning of the old Egyptian Priests consisted for the most part in geometry and astronomy; they also preserved the history of their nation. Their greatest hero upon record is Sesostris, whose actions and conquests may be seen at large in Diodorus, &c. He is said to have caused the kings he vanquished to draw him in his chariot. The posture of his statue, in these verses, is correspondent to the description which Herodotus gives of one of them remaining in his own time. P.

Ver. 119. Of Gothic structure was the Northern side,] The Architecture is agreeable to that part of the world. The learning of the northern nations lay more obscure than that of the rest; Zamolxis was the disciple of Pythagoras, who taught the immortality of the soul to the Scythians. Odin, or Woden, was the great legislator and hero of the Goths. They tell us of him,

There huge Colosses rose, with trophies crown'd,

And Runic characters were grav'd around.
There sat Zamolxis with erected eyes,

And Odin here in mimic trances dies.

126

There on rude iron columns, smear'd with blood,
The horrid forms of Scythian heroes stood,
Druids and Bards (their once loud harps unstrung)
And youths that died to be by Poets sung.

NOTES.

that, being subject to fits, he persuaded his followers, that during those trances he received inspirations, from whence he dictated he is said to have been the inventor of the Runic chaP.

his laws racters.

This rude nation had great ideas. When Alaric their king was buried in Calabria, 410, they turned the course of the river Vasento where it was most rapid; and having dug a very deep grave in this river's bed, there interred their revered prince, with many rich suits of armour, and much gold and precious stones. They then turned the river back into its usual course, and killed on the spot all that had assisted at this work, that the place of his interment might never be discovered.

Ver. 122. Runic characters] The Gothic mythology, by being more nobly wild, is more affecting to the imagination than the classical. The magicians of Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser, have more powerful spells than those of Apollonius, Seneca, and Lucan. The enchanted forest of Ismeno is more awfully and tremendously poetical than even the grove which Cæsar in Lucan orders to be cut down, b. iii. v. 400. What a group of dreadful images do we meet with in the Edda! Hence are drawn those thrilling numbers which Gray has given us in his Descent of Odin; an ode, which I think with Lord Oxford (who is himself great in this very species of imagery) equal to any of Gray's. Hence also has our dramatic poetry been enriched with the druidical characters and sentiments of Caractacus. Let French critics and French heads prefer, if they please, the Canidia of Horace and the Erictho of Lucan, to the bold, severe, and irregular strokes of Shakspeare in his Macbeth.

Ver. 127. Druids and Bards, &c.] These were the priests and poets of those people, so celebrated for their savage virtue,

These and a thousand more of doubtful fame,
To whom old fables gave a lasting name,
In ranks adorn'd the Temple's outward face;
The wall in lustre and effect like glass,
Which o'er each object casting various dies,
Enlarges some, and others multiplies:
Nor void of emblem was the mystic wall,
For thus romantic Fame increases all.

130

135

The Temple shakes, the sounding gates unfold,
Wide vaults appear, and roofs of fretted gold:
Rais'd on a thousand pillars, wreath'd around
With laurel-foliage, and with eagles crown'd: 140
Of bright, transparent beryl were the walls,
The freezes gold, and gold the capitals :

As heav'n with stars, the roof with jewels glows,
And ever-living lamps depend in rows.

Full in the passage of each spacious gate,

145

The sage Historians in white garments wait; Grav'd o'er their seats the form of Time was found, His scythe revers'd, and both his pinions bound.

NOTES.

Those heroic barbarians accounted it a dishonour to die in their beds, and rushed on to certain death in the prospect of an after life, and for the glory of a song from their bards in praise of their actions. P.

Ver. 141. Of bright, transparent] This poem, as being merely descriptive, is of an inferior rank to those in Chaucer of the narrative kind, and which paint life and manners.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 132. The wall in lustre, &c.]

"It shone lighter than a glass,
And made well more than it was,
As kind of thing Fame is."

Within stood Heroes, who through loud alarms
In bloody fields pursu'd renown in arms.
High on a throne with trophies charg'd, I view'd
The Youth that all things but himself subdu'd ;
His feet on sceptres and tiaras trod,

And his horn'd head belied the Libyan God.

150

There Cæsar, grac'd with both Minervas, shone;
Cæsar, the world's great master, and his own; 156
Unmov'd, superior still in ev'ry state,

And scarce detested in his Country's fate.
But chief were those, who not for empire fought,
But with their toils their people's safety bought:
High o'er the rest Epaminondas stood;
Timoleon, glorious in his brother's blood;

NOTES.

161

Ver. 152. The Youth that all things but himself subdu'd;] Alexander the Great: the Tiara was the crown peculiar to the Asian princes; his desire to be thought the son of Jupiter Ammon, caused him to wear the horns of that God, and to represent the same upon his coins; which was continued by several of his sucP.

cessors.

Ver. 155. The greatest panegyric that ever Alexander and Cæsar met with, is from Lord Bacon, in the Advancement of Learning, b. i. p. 75, first edition.

Ver. 161. Epaminondas stood ;] "In other illustrious men (says Diodorus Siculus, lib. xv.) you will observe that each possessed some one shining quality, which was the foundation of his fame: in Epaminondas all the virtues are found united; force of body, eloquence of expression, vigour of mind, contempt of riches, gentleness of disposition, and, what is chiefly to be regarded, courage and conduct in war.'

Ver. 162. Timoleon, glorious in his brother's blood;] Timoleon had saved the life of his brother Timophanes in the battle between the Argives and Corinthians; but afterward killed him when he affected the tyranny, preferring his duty to his country to all the obligations of blood. P.

Ver. 162. Timoleon, glorious] Mr. Harte told me our author