picturesque of all poets has thrown his light from the cieling. Æneid. i. 726. And hence the "starry lamps" of Milton, that So thro' the vales of Loire the bee-hives glide. An allusion to the floating bee-house, or barge laden with bee-hives, which is seen in some parts of France and Piedmont. NOTE P. P. 113, l. 4. And, with the swallow, wings the year away! It was the boast of Lucullus that he changed his climate with the birds of passage. PLUT. in Vit. Lucull. How often must he have felt the truth here inculcated, that the master of many houses has no home! Wake the lion's loudest roar, Clot his shaggy mane with gore, With flashing fury bid his eye-balls shine; Meek is his savage, sullen soul, to thine! Thy touch, thy deadening touch has steel'd the breast,* Whence, thro' her rainbow-shower, soft Pity smil'd; Has clos'd the heart each godlike virtue blest, To all the silent pleadings of his child. At thy command he plants the dagger deep, At thy command exults, tho' Nature bids him weep! I. 2. When, with a frown that froze the peopled earth, Thou dartedst thy huge head from high, Night wav'd her banners o'er the sky, And, brooding, gave her shapeless shadows birth. |