Dauntless they rush into the hallow'd grove ! A poplar, mighty tree, that bore aloft Its towering head to heav'n (beneath whose shade A Dryad I, by Ceres' love preferr'd, Within the circle of this clafping rind, Coëval grew, and now in ruin join'd : But inftant vengeance fhall thy fin pursue, And death is chear'd with this prophetic view. It is obfervable, that Callimachus calls thefe trees KAAA, beauteous and defirable, as well as facred; fo the prophet fays, ye fhall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have DESIRED, &c. Ifai. i. 29. As the first tree was pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be defired to make one wife, Gen. iii. 6. And we may juft remark, that Ceres does not fpeak of the trees as all facred or dedicated to her, ver. 69, 70. Ta solo averμueva Aeropea. Ceres was generally defcribed (and so her prieftefs, who reprefented her) with a crown made of corn, and with poppies and that for very obvious reafons; for he was the Goddess of corn, amongst which poppies are always found: « Το γαρ τρογγύλον, &c. The roundnefs and globular make of which, fays Phurnutus, reprefents the form of the earth, which is fpherical: the inequality of the poppies fhews the vallies of the earth, and the tops of the mountains the inner parts are like the trees, and caverns of the earth and by the innumerable feeds is figuified the great fertility of 60 Nicip the earth, &c." Various other reasons are moreover added by mythologifts. Some fay, that the priestefs here is defcribed, with a key only as a badge of her office; others make it a myftical emblem of the fecrecy of the Eleufinian myfteries; but the true reafon muft be drawn from that power which this Goddess reprefents in nature, which was the grand fecret in thefe fame Eleufinian myfteries, namely, her locking up and opening again the womb of earth, whereby the work of vegetation is carried on, the feeds buried, and locked up in the earth for a feason, and at the proper time brought forth; the mystery of Proferpine's abode under and above the earth, as fhewn at large before. And hence, in the firft Orphic hymn, to Пpolugaia, the Goddess who prefided over all entrances, &c. whom he calls Afrais, Einavia, &c. and speaks of as the Goddess of child-births, and` all the births of nature; hence, I fay, he gives her, as the opener and butter, the epithet of which is reclaimed by God to himself in the facred Scriptures, and he who alone hath the power of the new birth, and the refurrection from the dead, is faid "To have the key of the houfe of David laid upon his fhoulders; fo he fhall open and none shall fhut, and he shall shut and none fhall open. Comp. Ifaiah xx2. 22. with Revel. iii. 7. See, for a further account hereof, Holloway's Originals, vol. 1. p. 185-90. Nicippa's form, her priestess: and in hand The crown and poppies bore: the mystic key Hung from her fhoulders and in fort like this, : She ftrove to footh the vile offending mortal : My fon, whofe luckless hands thus wound the trees, "That heav'ns high powr's hold facred-oh, defift: "Ev'n by thy parents tender love, I plead, 65 70 "Defift, my fon : and send thy fervants hence, "Dread CERES."-He, with looks more furious far Ey'd her askance, than upon Tmarus mount 75 When anguish flashes fury) growling views Th' advent'rous hunter: "Hence, he cries, this axe "Left in that corfe thou feeleft: hence and know, "For Eryfichthon this thy facred wood "A fplendid dome fhall form: whofe jovial roof “Shall with the banquets revels ceaseless ring.” 80 He Ver. 65. Nicippa her priestess, &c.] Virgil has imitated our author here. -In vultus fefe transformat aniles, &c. EN. 7.416. With filver hairs her temples were o'erfpread, Her wither'd face with wrinkles was imboft, He spoke infulting: Nemefis his words Ill-omen'd, frowning mark'd: CERES incens'd, 85 90 Ver. 86. On earth, &c.] Almoft all the poets have on fome occafion or other given a description of this kind: Homer led the way, where fpeaking of Difcord he fays, Difcord, dire fifter of the flaught'ring pow'r, She ftalks on earth, and fhakes the world. First small with fear, fhe fwells to wond'rous And stalks on earth, and tow'rs above the skies. and of Orion he fays, Ingrediturque folo, & caput inter nubila condit. N. X. 767. He walks on earth, his head within the clouds. The introduction and grandeur of the perfonage in Callimachus renders his defcription not inferior to either of thefe great poets: upon each of which the reader may find a critique by Longinus, as alfo by Scaliger, both of whom are mentioned and referred to in Mr. Pope's note on the paffage above from Homer. Our Milton, 3 She inferior to no poet in any respect, hath, in my -On th' other fide Satan alarm'd, PARAD. LOST, b. 4. ver. 985. But ftrange it is, that while we are admiring and applauding these high efforts of human genius, we fhould forget that great fountain from whence they flow, and where fublimity reigns in every page. What are these descriptions to those magnificent words of the Omnipotent― Thus faith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool where is the house that ye build unto me; and where is the place of my reft? Ifai. Ix. 1. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the fpan, and comprehended the duft of the earth in a meafure, and weighed the mountains in fcales, and the hills in a ablance? xl. 12. But fuch paffages are innu merable: I fhall only juft obferve, that in the book of Wisdom, we have the exact image, which these poets have borrowed." And it TOUCHED the HEAVEN, but it STOOD upon the earth." xviii. 16. She fuffers to retire: while thus fhe pafs'd On him the dreadful fentence: "Build, ay, build, “To share the jovial banquets: feasts indeed, Her heavy hand avenging: hunger keen, Twice ten prepar'd him food, twelve flaves drew wine, Ver. 103. For Bacchus, &c.] Bacchus, by Pindar called Пapidpos, the affeffor of Ceres, was worshipped together with her; to him as well as her the invention of agriculture has been affigned; Ceres is called in the Orphic hymn to her, Bpopolo σvos: all which Spanheim has obferved, and which is eafily accounted for, upon the obfervation made in the 1ft note of this hymn, that Liber and Ceres, according to Virgil, are duo lumina mundi, the Sun and Moon, affeffors, mutual operators in the productions of nature, and fo the honour of one is neceffarily 95 100 105 With joined and connected with the honour and worhip of the other. In the 123d verfe we have an inftance of the fimplicity of the primitive ages, when Kings fans fed their fathers flock, and the chief of the people were not averfe to paftoral employments. But this I only hint, numbers having already treated the fubject fo fully. In the 90th line, &c. we have an example of retorting punishment, which feems to have been of general ufage; to which allude these lines in Shakespear's Lear, The With painfulness of care, detain'd their fon: Th' Ormenidæ invite: His mother cries, To her Actorion's nuptials: tears o'erflow'd "Thee Triopas shall vifit; but my fon, "Nine days has groan'd beneath a deadly wound 110 115 120 Or ait proinde Theodoritus Quæft. 10. in Numeros, p. 146. t. 1. δι ων γας η αμαρτία, δια τέτων η του papia per quæ enim quis peccat, per ea punitur. Alterum vero exemplum eft epulantis quotidie divitis, Luc. xvi. 27. ac in ea etiam parte qua plus deliquerat, itidem puniti, feu, ut de eo ait Chryfoftomus Serm. Ixiii. in Divitem & Lazarum P. 730. t. 5. Tn yrwooar zodagerai, de #5 THE Ipa ¶n außare. in linguâ punitur, qua cibos acceperat," |