Deturbata sacro cecidit de limine cœli? Dropt from the zenith like a falling star "On Lemnos the Ægean isle." 25 30 35 40 45 In the last line Bentley reads, " On Lemnos thence his isle.” But, to`say no more, Egean is perhaps ascertained by our Latin text. T. WARTON. Ver. 34. Consuluit rerum summæ,] So, in Par. Lost, B. vi. 673, the Almighty Father is represented "Consulting on the sum of things." TODD. Manè vocans, et serus agens in pascua cœli; Lurida perculsas jaculantur fulmina rupes. Nec per inane furit leviori murmure Corus, Stringit et armiferos æquali horrore Gelonos 54 Trux Aquilo, spirátque hyemem, nimbósque volutat. Rex maris, et raucâ circumstrepit æquora conchâ 60 Ver. 51. Nec variant elementa fidem,] Claudian, De Rapt. Proserp. i. 42. "Pœnè reluctatis iterùm pugnantia rebus 66 Rupissent elementa fidem." TODD.. Ver. 63. Hyacinth the favourite boy of Phoebus, Adonis of Venus. Both, like Narcissus, converted into flowers. T. WARTON. Ver. 64. Terra datum sceleri celavit montibus aurum Conscia, vel sub aquis gemmas.] See El. v. 77. And Comus, 718. " in her own loins "She hutch'd th' all-worshipt ore," &c. Again, ibid. 732. 66 Conscia, vel sub aquis gemmas. Sic denique in ævum "And the unsought diamonds "Would so imblaze the forehead of the deep," &c, T. WARTON. *This poem is replete with fanciful and ingenious allusions. It has also a vigour of expression, a dignity of sentiment, and elevation of thought, rarely found in very young writers. T. WARTON. De Idea Platonicâ quemadmodum Aristoteles intellexit*. DICITE, sacrorum præsides nemorum deæ ; 5 * I find this poem inserted at full length, as a specimen of unintelligible metaphysicks, in a scarce little book of universal burlesque, much in the manner of Tom Brown, seemingly published about the year 1715, and intitled "An Essay towards the Theory of the intelligible world intuitively considered. Designed for fortynine Parts, &c. by Gabriel John. Enriched with a faithful account of his ideal voyage, and illustrated with poems by several hands; as likewise with other strange things, not insufferably clever, nor furiously to the purpose. Printed in the year One thousand seven hundred et cætera." T. WARTON. Ver. 3. This is a sublime personification of Eternity. And there is a great reach of imagination in one of the conceptions which follows, that the original archetype of Man may be a huge giant, stalking in some remote unknown region of the earth, and lifting his head so high as to be dreaded by the gods, &c. v. 21. "Sive in remotâ fortè terrarum plagâ "Incedit ingens hominis archetypus gigas, "Et diis tremendus erigit celsum caput, "Atlante major portitore siderum," &c. T. WARTON. In the opening of this poem there is some resemblance to Claudian, De Laud. Stil. ii. 424. "Est ignota procul, nostræque impervia menti, Natura solers finxit humanum genus, 10 15 20 Ver. 11. Haud ille Palladis gemellus innubæ &c.] "This aboriginal Man, the twin-brother of the virgin Pallas, does not remain in the brain of Jupiter where he was generated; but, although partaking of Man's common nature, still exists somewhere by himself, in a state of singleness and abstraction, and in a determinate place. Whether among the stars," &c. T. WARTON. Ver. 13. "Quamlibèt ejus natura sit communior," that is, communis. T. WARTON. Ver. 15. "Et (res mira!) certo," &c. T. WARTON. Ver. 19. See Virgil, Æn. vi. 713. 46 "animæ, quibus altera fato Corpora debentur, Lethæi ad fluminis undam, "Eternos latices et longa oblivia potant." But this is Plato's philosophy, Phæd. Opp. 1590. p. 400. C. col. 1. T. WARTON. Ver. 21. Sive in remotâ &c.] See Hesiod, Theog. 731, 746, et seq. And compare Virgil, Æn. iv. 480. |