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NOTE n. P. 19.

Say why VESPASIAN lov'd his Sabine farm.

This emperor, according to Suetonius, constantly passed the summer in a small villa near Reate, where he was born, and to which he would never add any embellishment; ne quid scilicet oculorum consuetudini deperiret. SUET. in Vit. Vesp. cap. ii.

A similar instance occurs in the life of the venerable Pertinax, as related by J. Capitolinus. Posteaquam in Liguriam venit, multis agris coemptis, tabernam paternam, manente forma priore, infinitis ædificiis cir cundedit. Hist. August. 54.

And it is said of Cardinal Richelieu, that, when he built his magnificent palace on the site of the old family chateau at Richelieu, he sacrificed its symmetry to preserve the room in which he was born.

Mémoirs de Mile de Montpensier, 1. 27.

An attachment of this nature is generally the characteristic of a benevolent mind; and a long acquaintance with the world cannot always extinguish it.

To a friend," says John Duke of Buckingham, "I will expose my weakness: I am oftener missing a pretty gallery in the old house I pulled down, than pleased with a saloon which I built in its stead, though a thousand times better in all respects." See his Letter to the D. of Sh.

This is the language of the heart; and will remind the reader of that good-humoured remark in one of Pope's letters" I should hardly care to have an old post pulled up, that I remembered ever since I was a child." POPE'S Works, viii, 151.

Nor did the Poet feel the charm more forcibly than his Editor. See HURD's Life of Warburton, 51, 99.

The elegant author of Telemachus has illustrated this subject, with equal fancy and feeling, in the story of Alibée, Persan. See Recueil de Fables, composées pour l'Education d'un Prince.

NOTE O. P. 19.

Why great NAVARRE, &c.

That amiable and accomplished monarch, Henry the Fourth of France, made an excursion from his

camp, during the long siege of Laon, to dine at a house in the forest of Folambray; where he had often been regaled, when a boy, with fruit, milk, and new checse; and in revisiting which he promised himself great pleasure. Mem. de SULLY, ii. 381.

NOTE . P. 19.

When DIOCLETIAN'S felf corrected mind

Diocletian retired into his native province, aud there amused himself with building, planting, and gardening. His answer to Maximian is deservedly celebrated. He was solicited by that restless old man to re-assume the reins of government, and the Imperial purple. He rejected the temptation with a smile of pity, calmly observing, "that if he could shew Maximian the cabbages which he had planted with his own hands at Salona, he should no longer be urged to relinquish the enjoyment of happiness for the pursuit of power." GIBBON, ii. 175.

NOTE 9.

P. 17,

Say when ambitious CHARLES renounc`d a throne—

When the emperor Charles V. had executed his memorable resolution, and had set out for the mo

nastery of St. Justus, he stopped a few days at Ghent,

says

his historian, to indulge that' tender and pleasant. melancholy, which arises in the mind of every man' in the decline of life, on visiting the place of his nativity, and viewing the scenes and objects familiar to him in his early youth.

ROBERTSON'S Hist. iv. 256.

NOTE r. P. 20.

Then did his horse the homeward track descry.

The memory of the horse forms the groundwork of a pleasing little romance of the twelfth century, entitled, "Lai du Palefroi vair." See Fabliaux ou Contes du XII et du XIII Siecle. iv. 195,

Ariofto likewise introduces it in a passage full of truth and nature.. When Bayardo meets Angelica in the forest,

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Ch'in Albracca il fervia già di fua mano.

ORLANDO FURIOȘo, canto i. 75%

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NOTE S. P. 21.

Sweet bird thy truth shall HARLEM's walls attest:

During the siege of Harlem, when that city was reduced to the last extremity, and on the point of opening its gates to a base and barbarous enemy, a design was formed to relieve it; and the intelligence was conveyed to the citizens by a letter which was tied under the wing of a pigeon.

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THUANUS, lib. lv. c. J.

The fame messenger was employed at the siege of Mutina, as we are informed by the elder Pliny.

Hift. Nat. x. 37.

NOTE t. P. 22.

Hark! the bee, &c.

This little animal, from the extreme convexity of

her eye, cannot see many inches before her.

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