Mark in the gelid rill flame's embryo form,
Then mix with earth, a transitory worm?
No! like the ray, when, with a tenfold force
Its pencils close, refracted in their course,
Shoot the keen beams of Reason till they pass
With strength collective thro' the fatal glass,
Thence to one radiant goal converging rise,
And form a finish'd Angel in the skies.

END OF THE THIRD BOOK.

970

ADDITIONAL NOTES

TO

THE THIRD BOOK.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

NOTE I. LINE 17.

Accomplish'd Females.

ON an eminence in the Vale of Llangollen, so long and justly celebrated for

its romantic beauties, stands the elegantly simple cottage of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby, two persons of distinction from the sister kingdom; the former being aunt to the present Earl of Ormond, and the latter related to the noble family of Besborough. The early retreat of these accomplished friends from the gaieties of fashion, in the prime of youth and beauty, was at the time a theme of universal wonder, and deemed by many but an eccentric whim of very short duration. Yet now have they nearly closed a period of thirty years, enjoying with undiminished delight, and amidst a paradise of their own creation, the pleasures of philosophic retirement. This retirement, however, has of late years been agreeably diversified by the society of the neighbouring families, and the frequent visits of passing friends and relatives from their native Island.

NOTE II. L. 33. [A].

Dark flow'd her new-born stream.

The waters of the Dee, before they have flowed far from their source, acquire a deep tan colour, which they retain in the whole of their course thro' North Wales. Hence some, tho' perhaps erroneously, have supposed the name to originate from the British word Du, signifying black. This tinge appears to arise from a variety of concurrent causes; as the morasses near its source; the dark rocks that form its bed; and the thick woods which overhang its edge. Nor is such a hue confined to this river, being equally observable in the Virnwy, whose course is very similar both as to soil and shade; so much so, indeed, that a flood of this river is distinguished from one of the Severn by this dun colour at Shrewsbury, several miles below their conflux. A still darker hue is artificially produced at Stow, the magnificent seat of the Marquis of Buckingham, in a stream intended to represent the Styx; and, if the author rightly recollects, is effected by shade alone.

M

NOTE II. L. 34. [B].

Unmingling thro' the silver lake she roll'd.

To the first of the causes abovementioned must be ascribed the truly curious circumstance, that the waters of the Dee are distinguishable, as they pass thro' Bala Pool, by their darker hue; the momentum acquired by their steep descent not allowing them time to mix with those of the lake. For the same reason we are less inclined to dispute another circumstance of general belief, and which the enquiries of the Hon. Daines Barrington have tended to confirm,-that the Gwyniad, or whiting, a species of trout peculiar to mountain lakes, is never caught in the river's track, nor the common red trout, or salmon, in other parts of the pool.

NOTE III. L. 36. [A].

Where cold-breath'd Zephyrs gently curl the waves.

We feel in the sultriest weather a refreshing coolness on the banks of running waters, and that every stream has its attendant breeze. Nor is it difficult to assign the cause, when we consider a well-known circumstance,that the rays of light scarcely warm transparent media as they pass freely thro' them, and others only in proportion to their opacity. The earth being, therefore, the grand receptacle of solar heat, and that fluid or quality being ever disposed to find its equilibrium among the contiguous bodies, the immediately incumbent air becomes rarified and ascends; while, to supply its place, a colder and denser stratum rushes from above the water, and thus "From noon to eve

66

Along the river and the paved brook

"Ascend the chearful breezes." AKENSide.

This circumstance has suggested a great improvement in windmills, which are now placed in situations of this kind, as commanding a more constant current of air, to fill the sails, than on more open and elevated spots. Nor, indeed, are our Cambrian Zephyrs always so gentle as they are represented in the text, or winged with such genial warmth as their namesakes of Greece and Italy. Passing thro' the narrow dells, like pent air thro' the funnel of a bellows, and loaded with vapours from the Atlantic Ocean, they have rendered it necessary for the inhabitants to guard against their penetrative influence by slating the weather side of their buildings down to the very ground.