NOTE O. P. 27, 1. 3. 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 cheese; and in revisiting which he promised himself great pleasure. Memoires de SULLY, tom. ii. p. 381. NOTE P. P. 27, l. 5. When DIOCLETIAN's self-corrected mind— Diocletian retired into his native province, and there amused himself with building, planting, and gardening. His answer to Maximian is deservedly G 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 q. P. 27, 1. 9. Say, when ambitious CHARLES renounc'd a throne— When the emperor Charles V had executed his memorable resolution, and had set out for the monastery 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. 29, 1. 1. 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 оц Contes du XII et du XIII. Siecle. iv. 195. Ariosto likewise introduces it in a passage full of truth and nature. When Bayardo meets Angelica in the forest, Va mansueto a la Donzella, Ch'in Albracca il servìa già di sua mano. ORLANDO FURIOSO, canto i. 75. NOTE S. P. 30, l. 13. 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. THUANUS, lib. lv. c. 5. The same messenger was employed at the siege of Mutina, as we are informed by the elder Pliny. Hist. Nat. x. 37. |