NOTES TO CANTO THE NINTH 1.-Stanza i. line 1. Oh, Wellington! (or "Villainton "-for Fame ["Faut qu' lord Villainton ait tout pris, N'y a plus d'argent dans c'gueux de Paris," &c.-DE BERANGER.] 2.-Stanza i. line 8. Humanity would rise, and thunder "Nay!" 3. Stanza ii. line 2. In Marinet's affair-in fact, 'twas shabby, [The late Lord Kinnaird was received in Paris, in 1814, with great civility by the Duke of Wellington and the royal family of France, but he got himself presented to Buonaparte during the hundred days, and intrigued with that faction in spite of the Duke's remonstrances, until the re-restored government ordered him out of the French territory in 1816. In 1817, he became acquainted at Brussels with Marinèt, who was mixed up in a conspiracy to assassinate the Duke in the streets at Paris. This fellow at first promised to discover the man who actually shot at his Grace, but, on reaching Paris, would say nothing; and Lord Kinnaird's avowed cause of complaint against the Duke was, that he did not protect this creature from the French police. Marinet was tried along with the actual assassin, and both were acquitted by the Parisian jury.] 4. Stanza iv. line 1. You are "the best of cut-throats :"-do not start; ["Thou art the best o' the cut-throats."-Macbeth, act iii. sc. iii.] 5.-Stanza v. line 8. And "Europe's Liberator "-still enslaved. Vide Speeches in Parliament, after the battle of Waterloo. VOL. II. L 6. Stanza viii. line 3. Not leaving even his funeral expenses: ["In other illustrious men you will observe that each possessed some one shining quality, which was the foundation of his fame: in Epami nondas, all the virtues are found united; force of body, eloquence of expression, vigour of mind, contempt of riches."-DIOD. SIC. lib. xv.] 7.-Stanza viii. line 8. Renown'd for ruining Great Britain gratis. ["The emoluments of office, almost in every department of the state, and especially in all the highest, are notoriously inadequate to the expenditure which the situation requires. Mr. Pitt, who was no gambler, no prodigal, and too much a man of business to have expensive habits of any kind, died in debt; and the nation discharged his debts, not less as a mark of respect, than as an act of justice."-SOUTHEY.] 8. Stanza xviii. line 2. Like Pyrrho, on a sea of speculation. ["Pyrrho, the philosopher of Elis, was in continual suspense of judgment: he doubted of everything; never made any conclusion; and when he had carefully examined a subject, and investigated all its points, he concluded by still doubting of its evidence."-AUL. GEL.] [ 9. Stanza xix. line 1. "But heaven," as Cassio says, "is above all- 10. Stanza xix. line 6. Is special providence," though how it gave "We defy augury: there is a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow."-Hamlet.] 11.-Stanza xx. line 6. That forms this desk, of what they mean; lykanthropy ["A kind of madness, in which men have the qualities of wild beasts."-TODD.] 12.-Stanza xxvii. line 2. I've heard them in the Ephesian ruins howl In Greece I never saw or heard these animals; but among the rains of Ephesus I have heard them by hundreds. 13.-Stanza xxxiii. line 8. Because he could no more digest his dinner ; He was killed in a conspiracy, after his temper had been exasperated by his extreme costivity to a degree of insanity. 14.-Stanza xxxv. line 7. With clownish heel, your popular circulation "The age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe."-Hamlet.] 15.-Stanza xli. line 2. "The time is out of joint,"—and so am I ["The time is out of joint:-O cursed spite! 16. Stanza xliii. line 5. And brilliant breeches, bright as a Cairn Gorme, [A yellow-coloured crystal, denominated from a hill in Invernessshire, where it is found.-JAMIESON.] 17. Stanza xlvii. line 8. And had just buried the fair-faced Lanskoï. He was the grande passion of the grande Catherine. See her Lives under the head of "Lansko."-["Lanskoï was a youth of as fine and interesting a figure as the imagination can paint. Of all Catherine's favourites, he was the man whom she loved the most. In 1784, he was attacked with a fever, and perished in the flower of his age, in the arms of her majesty. Catherine gave herself up to the most poignant grief, and remained three months without going out of her palace at Tzarskoselo. She afterwards raised a superb monument to his memory, in the gardens of that imperial seat."-TOOKE.] 18. Stanza xlix. line Bid Ireland's Londonderry's Marquess show This was written long before the suicide of that person. 19. Stanza Iv. line 1. Oh thou "teterrima causa" of all "bell"- 20. Stanza lvii. line 8. With his despatch, forgot to break the seal. ["The union of debauchery and ferocity which characterised Catherine are admirably depicted in her manner of feeding her ambition with the perusal of the despatch, and gratifying her rising passion with the contemplation of Juan."-CAMPBELL.] 21.-Stanza lviii. line 8. Her face was noble, her eyes fine, mouth gracious. ["Catherine had been handsome in her youth, and she preserved a gracefulness and majesty to the last period of her life. She was of a moderate stature, but well proportioned; and as she carried her head very high, she appeared rather tall. She had an open front, an aquiline nose, an agreeable mouth, and her chin, though long, was not misshapen. Her hair was auburn, her eyebrows black and rather thick, and her blue eyes had a gentleness which was often affected, but oftener still a mixture of pride. Her physiognomy was not deficient in expression; but this expression never discovered what was passing in the soul of Catherine, or rather it served her the better to disguise it."-TOOKE.] 22.-Stanza Ixiii. line 7. A man" (as Giles says); for though she would widow all "His fortune swells him, it is rank, he's married."--Sir Giles Overreach; MASSINGER'S " New Way to pay Old Debts." 23. Stanza Ixvi. line 2. New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill ;" [Hamlet, act iii. sc. iv ] 24.-Stanza lxviii. line 5. Or duchess, princess, empress, "deigns to prove" ["Not Cæsar's empress would I deign to prove: No! make me mistress to the man I love."-POPE: Eloïsa.] 25.-Stanza 1xxi. line 2. In its meridian, her blue eyes or gray— ["Several persons who lived at the court affirm that Catherine had very blue eyes, and not gray, as M. Rulhières has stated."-TOOKE.] 26.-Stanza lxxix. line 8. Of several ribands, and some thousand peasants. A Russian estate is always valued by the number of the slaves upon it. 27.-Stanza kxxx. line 6. And was not the best wife, unless we call [Peter was deposed and imprisoned in 1762, and strangled the week after. Catherine, his wife, connived at the murder, and patronised the murderers.] |