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NOTES.

Page 3, note 1.

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HE original manufcript title given by Gray to this Ode was "Noontide." It appeared for the first time in Dodfley's Collection, vol. ii. p. 271, under the title of " Ode."

P. 4, note 3.

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P. 4, note 2.—" A bank o'ercanopied with lufcious woodbine."-Mids. N. Dr. Act. ii. Sc. 2.

"How low, how indigent the proud,

How little are the great!"-DodЛley.

P. 4, note 4.-" Sporting with quick glance, fhow to the fun their waved coats dropp'd with gold."-Par. L. vii. 405-6.

"While infects from the threshold preach," Green, in the Grotto. DodЛley, Mifc. v. p. 161.

P. 7, note 1.-This Ode firft appeared in Dodfley, Col. vol. ii. p. 274, with fome variations.

P. 7, note 2.

"The penfive Selima reclined,

Demureft of the tabby kind."-DodЛley.

P. 8, note 3.-" Two beauteous forms."-DodЛley.

P. 8, note 4.-"A foe to fifh."-DodЛley.

P. 8, note 5.-Looks.] Eyes.-MS.

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P. 11, note 1.-This, as Mason informs us, was the first English production of Gray which appeared in print. It was published in folio, in 1747, and appeared again in Dodsley, Col. vol. ii. p. 267, without the name of the author.

P. 11, note 2.-King Henry the Sixth, founder of the College.

P. 12, note 3." And bees their honey redolent of Spring," Dryden's Fable on the Pythag. Syftem.

P. 12, note 4.-"To chafe the hoop's elufive speed."-MS.

P. 17, note 1.-This Hymn first appeared in Dodfley, Col. vol iv. together with the "Elegy in a Country Churchyard."

P. 21, note 1.-Finished in 1754. Printed together with the " Bard, an Ode," Aug. 8, 1757.—MS.

When the author first published this and the following Ode, he was advised, even by his friends, to fubjoin some few explanatory notes; but had too much respect for the understanding of his readers to take that liberty.

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P. 21, note 2.-" Awake, my glory: awake, lute and harp."-David's Pfalms.

Pindar styles his own poetry, with its mufical accompaniments, Aloxis poλan, μολπή, Αἰολίδες χορδαὶ, Αἰολίδων πνοαὶ αὐλῶν, Æolian fong, Æolian ftrings, the breath of the Eolian flute.

The subject and fimile, as usual with Pindar, are united. The various fources of poetry, which gives life and lustre to all it touches, are here described; its quiet majestic progress enriching every subject (otherwise dry and barren) with a pomp of diction and luxuriant harmony of numbers; and its more rapid and irresistible course when swoln and hurried away by the conflict of tumultuous paffions.

P. 22, note 3.-Power of harmony to calm the turbulent fallies of the foul. The thoughts are borrowed from the first Pythian of Pindar.

P. 22, note 4.-This is a weak imitation of some beautiful lines in the fame ode. Pyth. i. ver. 10.

P. 22, note 5.-Power of harmony to produce all the graces of motion in the body.

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P. 23, note 8.-To compenfate the real and imaginary ills of life, the Muse was given to mankind by the fame Providence that sends the day, by its cheerful prefence, to difpel the gloom and terrors of the night.

P. 24, note 9.-" Or feen the morning's well appointed star

Come marching up the eastern hills afar."- Cowley.

P. 24, note 10.-Extensive influence of poetic genius over the remoteft and most uncivilized nations: its connection with liberty, and the virtues that naturally attend on it. [See the Erfe, Norwegian, and Welsh fragments, the Lapland and American fongs.]

Petrarch.

"Tutta lontana dal camin del fole."-Petr. Canz. ii.

P. 25、 note 11.—Progrefs of Poetry from Greece to Italy, and from Italy to England. Chaucer was not unacquainted with the writings of Dante or of The Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt had travelled in Italy, and formed their tafte there. Spenfer imitated the Italian writers; Milton improved on them: but this school expired foon after the Restoration, and a new one arofe on the French model, which has fubfifted ever since.

note 12.-"Nature's darling." Shakespeare.

P. 26, note 12.

"The flowery May, who from her green lap throws

The yellow cowflip, and the pale primrose."

Milton, Son. on May Morn.

P. 26, note 13.-Milton, P. L. vi. 771.

P. 26, note 14.—" Flammantia monia mundi."—Lucret. i. 74.

"For the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. And above the firmament that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone. This was the appearance of the glory of the Lord."-Ezek. i. 20. 26. 28.

P. 27, note 15.—Οφθαλμῶν μὲν ἄμερσε· δίδου δ ̓ ἡδεῖαν ἀοιδὴν.

Hom. Od. . ver. 64.

P. 27, note 16.-" Haft thou clothed his neck with thunder?"—Job. This verse and the foregoing are meant to express the stately march and founding of Dryden's rhymes.

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P. 27, note 17.-" Words that weep, and tears that speak.”

Cowley, Prophet, vol. i. p. 113.

We have had in our language no other odes of the fublime kind, than that of Dryden on St. Cecilia's Day; for Cowley, who had his merit, yet wanted judgment, style, and harmony, for fuch a task. That of Pope is not worthy of so great a man. Mr. Mason indeed, of late days, has touched the true chords, and with a masterly hand, in fome of his chorufes; above all in the laft of Caractacus:

"Hark! heard ye not yon footstep dread?" &c.

Pindar compares

P. 27, note 18.—Diòs πpòs öpvixa letov, Olymp. ii. 159. himself to that bird, and his enemies to ravens that croak and clamour in vain below, while it pursues its flight, regardless of their noise.

P. 29, note 1.-This ode is founded on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward the First, when he completed the conqueft of that country, ordered all the Bards that fell into his hands to be put to death.

P. 29, note 2.-" Mocking the air with colours idly spread."

King John, Act v. Sc. 1.

P. 29, note 3.-The hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail that fat close to the body, and adapted itself to every motion.

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