First her balmy lips he prest, And devour'd the new-made Kiss: But, O my Muse, thy tattling tongue restrain, She crowns the silent, leads the blabbing swain Change then, sweetest nymph of Nine, To the softest, Lydian measures ! My Cynthia calls, whose natal hour Th' assistant Graces saw, and smil'd; Then deign'd this Cyprian charm to pour With lavish bounty o'er the child : Sithence where'er the Siren moves along, In pleasing wonder chain'd is ev'ry tongue, Love's soft suffusion dims the aching eyes, Love's subtlest flame through ev'ry art'ry flies: Our trembling limbs th' unequal pulse betray, We gaze in transport lost-then faint and die away. NOTES ON THE ODES. CLASS THE FIRST. Page 27. ODE VI. I From the desart bade thee come,] Num. ch. 23. The Poet has here, and in what follows, beautifully availed himself of the Divine Historian. 29. Ambition shuns the dreaded Dame, And pales his ineffectual flame ;] See Hamlet. ib. Wealth sighs her triumphs to behold, And offers all his sums of gold; She in her chariot seen to ride,] See Characteristicks vol ii. p. 252. ODE VIII. Page 42. 'Twas thus, O poor enamour'd maid,] Vide Musaeum καθ' Ηρω και Λεανδρον. 44. The Queen of arts ?-With giant-stride] See the account, which is given in the second book of Thucydides, of the plague at Athens. Amongst many other extraordinary circumstances are the following: το μεν γαρ ετος, εκ πανίων μάλιςα δη εκείνο ανοσον ες τας αλλας ασθενειας ετυγχανεν ον· ει δε τις και προεκαμνε τι, ες τετο πανία απεκρίθη.Τα γας ορνεα, και τετραποδα, ὅσα ανθρωπων ἁπλείαι, πολλων αλαφων γιγνομένων, προσγει, η γευσαμένα διεφθειρείο. n 8 ib. Sister of pale-ey'd Grief and Care,] According to the Table of Cebes, Αθυμια is the sister of Οδυρμος. ODE XVI. Page 81. Aghast the purple tyrant stood, Forgot the cursed thirst of blood, And long'd to grasp thee in his arms;] Al luding to the story of Damon and Pythias. ODE XVII. Page 84. Since Taste with absolute domain,] By Taste, is here meant the modern affectation of it. 85. And thou, blest Bard! around whose sacred brow,] Dr. Akenside. ODE XVIII. Page 86. Or her's who yonder shines from far gerald. In youth's soft prime and beauty's pride, ODE XIX. Page 90. PALEMON asks thy kindly aid;] Author of Clarissa. ODE XXIII. Page 103. The Author of this admirable Ode was born, about the year 1720, at a small village near Cameron, on the banks of the Eden. Having been bred to the practice of surgery, he served some time on board a ship of war, and in that capacity was present at the siege of Carthagena. On the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, he quitted the navy, and obtaining a diploma, repaired as a physician to Bath. His success however in this situation falling short of his hopes, he at once relinquished the profession, and devoted himself entirely to the pen, upon which he depended for his future subsistence. His novels were popular and his history productive, but his travels written in ill-humor and ill-health decreased his reputation. Of all his works this Ode is the best. He died on a second excursion to Italy for the recovery of his health at Leghorn, October 21, 1771. ib. The vanquish'd were baptiz'd with blood."] Charlemagne obliged four thousand Saxon prisoners to embrace the Christian religion, and immediately after they were baptized ordered their throats to be cut. Their prince Vitikind fled for shelter to Gotrick king of Denmark. |