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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.-Mém. de SULLY.

P. 26, 1. 1.

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 celebrated. "If," said he, "I could show him the cabbages which I have planted with my own hands at Salona, he would no longer solicit me to return to a throne."

P. 26, 1. 5.

Say, when contentious CHARLES, &c.

When the Emperor Charles the Fifth had executed his memorable resolution, and had set out for the monastery of Justé, he stopped a few days at Ghent 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 birth, and the objects familiar to him in early youth.

P. 26, 1. 6.

To muse with monks, &c.

Monjes solitarios del glorioso padre San Geronimo, says Sandova. In a corner of the Convent-garden there is this inscription. En esta santa casa de S. Geronimo de Justé, se retiró à acabar su vida Cárlos V. Emperador, &c.- PONZ.

P. 26, 1. 29.

Then did his horse the homeward track descry,

The memory of the horse forms the ground-work of a pleasing little romance, entitled, "Lai du Palefroi vair."

See Fabliaux du XII, Siècle. Ariosto likewise introduces it in a passage full of truth and nature. Wheu Bayardo meets Angelica in the forest,

Va mansueto a la Donzella,

Ch'in Albracca servìa già di sua mano.

ORLANDO FURIOSO, i. 75.

P. 27, 1. 25.

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, lv. 5.

The same messenger was employed at the siege of Mutina, as we are informed by the elder Pliny. Nat. Hist. x. 37.

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P. 21, 1. 12.

Hark! the bee, &c.

This little animal, from the extreme convexity of her eye, cannot see many inches before her.

P. 31, 1. 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.

P. 31, 1. 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 live after us. * It is in reserve for every man, however obscure; and his portion, if he is 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 influence 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 Goodness.

* De tous les biens humains c'est le seul que la mort ne nous peut ravir.-Bossuet.

P. 32, 1. 28.

Ah, why should Virtue fear the frowns of Fate?

The highest reward of Virtue is Virtue herself, as the severest punishment of Vice is Vice herself.

P. 34, 1. 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.

P. 34, 1. 27.

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,

And justly proud beyond a Poet's praise;
If the pure confines of thy tranquil breast
Contain, indeed, the subject of thy lays!
By me how envied!-- for to me,
The herald still of misery,

Memory makes her influence known

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 misspent, of comfort lost,
Of fair occasions gone for ever by ;

Of hopes too fondly nursed, too rudely crossed,
Of many a cause to wish, yet fear to die;

For what, except the instinctive fear
Lest she survive, detains me here,
When "all the life of life" is fled?-
What, but the deep inherent dread,

Lest she beyond the grave resume her reign,

And realize the hell that priests and beldames feign?

P. 36, 1. 3.

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:

* By Henry F. R. Soame of Trinity College, Cambridge.

“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 2nd of April, 1616; in memory whereof she hath left an annuity of 4. to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Brougham, every 2nd 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.

P. 36, 1. 14.

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 the Leasowes. quanto minus est cum reliquis versari, quam tui meminisse!"

P. 40, 1. 29.

Down by St. Herbert's consecrated grove;

"Heu,

A small island covered with trees, among which were formerly the ruins of a religious house

P. 41, 1. 15.

When lo! a sudden blast the vessel blew,

In a mountain-lake the agitations are often violent and momentary. The winds blow in gusts and eddies; and the water no sooner swells than it subsides. See BOURN's Hist. of Westmoreland.

P. 42, 1. 17.

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.

5*

HUMAN LIFE.

THE ARGUMENT.

Introduction-Ringing of bells in a neighbouring Village on the Birth of an Heir-General Reflections on Human Life-The Subject proposed— Childhood-Youth-Manhood-Love-Marriage-Domestic Happiness and Affliction-War-Peace-Civil Dissension-Retirement from active Life-Old Age and its Enjoyments-Conclusion.

THE lark has sung his carol in the sky;
The bees have hummed their noon-tide lullaby.
Still in the vale the village-bells ring round,
Still in Llewellyn-hall the jests resound:
For now the caudle-cup is circling there,

Now, glad at heart, the gossips breathe their prayer,
And, crowding, stop the cradle to admire
The babe, the sleeping image of his sire.

A few short years—and then these sounds shall hail
The day again, and gladness fill the vale;
So soon the child a youth, the youth a man,
Eager to run the race his fathers ran.

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