NOTES ON THE SECOND PART. PAGE 28, LINE 1. They in their glorious course TRUE Glory, says one of the Ancients, is to be acquired by doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read; and by making the world the happier and the better for our having lived in it. live after us. Page 28, line 5. These still exist, &c. There is a future Existence even in this world, an Existence in the hearts and minds of those who shall It is in reserve for every man, however obscure; and his portion, if he be diligent, must be equal to his desires. For in whose remembrance can we wish to hold a place, but such as know, and are known by us? These are within the sphere of our influence, and among these and their descendants we may live for evermore. It is a state of rewards and punishments; and, like that revealed to us in the Gospel, has the happiest influ ence on our lives. The latter excites us to gain the favour of GOD, the former to gain the love and esteem of wise and good men; and both lead to the same end for, in framing our conceptions of the DEITY, we only ascribe to Him exalted degrees of Wisdom and Good ness. Page 32, line 7. Yet still how sweet the soothings of his art! The astronomer chalking his figures on the wall, in Hogarth's view of Bedlam, is an admirable exemplification of this idea.-See the RAKE'S PROGRESS, plate 8. Page 33, line 2. Turns but to start, and gazes but to sigh! The following stanzas are said to have been written on a blank leaf of this Poem. They present so affecting a reverse of the picture, that I cannot resist the opportunity of introducing them here. Pleasures of Memory!-oh! supremely blest, By sighs, and tears, and grief alone : I greet her as the fiend, to whom belong The vulture's ravening beak, the raven's funeral song. She tells of time mispent, of comfort lost, ; Of hopes too fondly nursed, too rudely crossed, What, but the deep inherent dread, Lest she beyond the grave resume her reign, Page 34, line 17. Hast thou thro' Eden's wild-wood vales pursued On the road-side between Penrith and Appleby there stands a small pillar with this inscription: "This pillar was erected in the year 1656, by Ann, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, &c. for a memorial of her last parting, in this place, with her good and pious mother, Margaret, Countess Dowager of Cumberland, on the 2d of April, 1616; in memory whereof she hath left an annuity of 47. to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Brougham, every 2d day of April for ever, upon the stone-table placed hard by. Laus Deo!" The Eden is the principal river of Cumberland, and rises in the wildest part of Westmoreland. Page 35, line 4. O'er his dead son the gallant ORMOND sighed. "I would not exchange my dead son," said he, "for any living son in Christendom."-HUME. The same sentiment is inscribed on an urn at th Leasowes. "Heu, quanto minus est cum reliquis ver sari, quam tui meminisse !" Page 41, line 4. Down by St. Herbert's consecrated grove; A small island covered with trees, among which wer formerly the ruins of a religious house. Page 41, line 21. When lo! a sudden blast the vessel blew, In a mountain-lake the agitations are often violen and momentary. The winds blow in gusts and eddies and the water no sooner swells, than it subsides.-See BOURN'S Hist. of Westmoreland. Page 43, line 7. To what pure beings, in a nobler sphere, The several degrees of angels may probably have larger views, and some of them be endowed with capacities able to retain together, and constantly set before them, as in one picture, all their past knowledge at once.-LOCKE. |