TASSO GERUS. LIB. CANT. XIV. ST. 32. "Preser commiato, e sì 'l desio gli sprona," &c. DISMISS'D at length, they break through all delay And first to Ascalon their steps they bend, Nor yet in prospect rose the distant shore; Scarce the hoarse waves from far were heard to roar, A vestment unadorn'd, though white as new-fall'n snows; Against the stream the waves secure he trod, As on the Rhine, when Boreas' fury reigns, plain; So moved the seer, but on no harden' The river boil'd beneath, and rush'd toward the main. Where fix'd in wonder stood the warlike pair, His course he turn'd, and thus relieved their care: "Vast, oh my friends, and difficult the toil To seek your hero in a distant soil! No common helps, no common guide ye need, For adverse fate the captive chief has hurl'd Scarce had he said, before the warriors' eyes When mountain-high the waves disparted rise; And in the midst a spacious arch appears. Their hands he seized, and down the steep he led The Po was there to see, Danubius' bed, Sulphureous veins and living silver shine, Which soon the parent sun's warm powers refine, In one rich mass unite the precious store, The parts combine and harden into ore : Here gems break through the night with glittering beam, And paint the margin of the costly stream, All stones of lustre shoot their vivid ray, NOTES. ON THE SPRING. P. 1. The original manuscript title given by Gray to this Ode, was "Noontide." It appeared for the first time in Dodsley's Collection, vol. ii. p. 271, under the title of "Ode." ON THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE CAT. P. 4. On a favourite cat called Selima, that fell into a China tub with gold fishes in it, and was drowned. Walpole, after the death of Gray, placed the China vase on a pedestal at Strawberry Hill, with a few lines of the Ode for its inscription. ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLlege. P. 7. Her Henry's holy shade.] King Henry the Sixth, founder of the College. THE PROGRESS OF POESY. P. 15. Eolian lyre.] Pindar styles his own poetry P. 16. Oh! Sov'reign of the willing soul.] Power of harmony to calm the turbulent passions of the soul. The thoughts are borrowed from the first Pythian of Pindar. P. 16. The Lord of War.] Mars, the god of war. P. 16. The feather'd king.] The eagle of Jove. P. 16. Thee the voice, the dance, obey.] Power of harmony to produce all the graces of motion in the body. P. 16. Idalia.] The favourite retreat of Venus in Cyprus. P. 16. Cytherea's day.] The festival of Venus. P. 17. Man's feeble race what ills await!] To compensate the real and imaginary ills of life, the muse was given to mankind by the same Providence that sends the day, by its cheerful presence, to dispel the gloom and terrors of the night. P. 18. In climes beyond the solar road.] Extensive influence of poetic genius over the remotest and most uncivilised nations: its connexion with Liberty, and the virtues that naturally attend on it. P. 18. Woods, that wave o'er Delphi's steep.] Progress of Poetry from Q |