And deep his midnight lair1 had made And faint, from farther distance borne, As chief, who hears his warder call, The dew-drops from his flanks he shook; That thickened as the chase drew nigh; With one brave bound the copse he cleared, Yelled on the view the opening pack, Rock, glen, and cavern, paid them back ;7 (1) Lair-derived from lay or lie-the place where any one (deer or other animal) is laid. Cowper (see p. 69) uses the word in the well-known lines:- "But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest, The beast is laid down in his lair." (2) Glenartney-a vale in Menteith. (3) Beacon-from Anglo-Saxon bicn-ian, to beck or beckon, to call by signsanything so placed as to give a signal or warning. The use of the word in the above passage is highly picturesque. (4) Benvoirlich-one of the Grampian mountains. (5) As chief, &c.-This description is full of animation. The stag awakening at the summons of his pursuers-his proud survey of the scene-his decisive action-his escape;-the entrance of the hunting-party--the shouts and halloos which give "Benvoirlich's echoes no rest"-and the deep silence which succeeds -are all touched with the hand of a master. (6) Uam-Var-a mountain in Menteith. To many a mingled sound at once Walter Scott. THE GLORY OF GOD IN CREATION.3 The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, (1) Cairn-a heap of stones-here, a crag or cliff. (2) Linn-a waterfall, precipice. (3) This beautiful poem is a paraphrase of the first four verses of the 19th Psalm, with which it should be compared. (4) For some variations in the commencement, see Appendix, Note B. The words firmament, sky, and heaven, may be thus distinguished:-Firmament (from firmare, to strengthen), that which is strengthened, and therefore solid; -the arch or vault of heaven. The old astronomers believed the sky to be a sort of solid frame, in which the stars were set. Sky (from σkiα, a shadow), originally a cloud or shadow; afterwards, the region of clouds-cloudland. Chaucer speaks of "not a skie" being left"in all the welkin." Heaven-that which is heaved or heaven up, comprehending all the upper regions, as opposed to the earth. In accordance with these distinctions we may correctly speak of the spacious firmament-the blue sky-the spangled heavens, but scarcely of the firmament, with the sky and the heavens, as above. The unwearied sun from day to day, Soon as the evening shades prevail, While all the stars that round her burn, What, though in solemn silence all Addison. THE SLEEPING BABE.3 "She is not dead, but sleepeth." Luke viii. 52. THE baby wept; The mother took it from the nurse's arms, (1) Tale-The idea of the Creation declaring, as if in speech, the goodness and greatness of God is preserved throughout the poem, by the use of the words "proclaim," "publish," "tell," "story," "tidings," &c. (2) What though, &c.—Bishop Horsley translates the 3rd verse of the 19th Psalm thus: "There is no speech, no words, No voice of them is heard; Yet their sound goes throughout the earth;" which is nearly the same rendering as Cranmer's in the Book of Common Prayer. (3) The simple beauty of these lines well deserves attention; particularly, the striking use made of the double meaning of the word sleep. The change in the tense from past to present, heightens the climax, which is almost sublime. Again it weeps, And God doth take it from the mother's arms, Hinds. TO THE RAINBOW. TRIUMPHAL arch,' that fill'st the sky To teach me what thou art ; Still seem, as to my childhood's sight, For happy spirits to alight, Betwixt the earth and heaven. Can all that optics teach unfold When Science from Creation's face And yet, fair bow, no fabling dreams, Have told why thy first robe of beams (1)-Triumphal arch-There is something very fine in the conception of the rainbow being a triumphal arch, raised to celebrate the peace which follows the war of the elements. One copy of this poem in a popular collection reads "triumphant arch," to the utter confusion of the sense. (2) Part-i. e. to depart. Gray in his " Elegy" (see p. 60) writes : "The curfew tolls the knell of parting (i. e. departing or dying) day." (3) Akenside has expressed a very different opinion on this point. Appendix, Note C. See (4) And yet, &c.-i. e. though fiction may be sometimes more agreeable than fact, yet here the fact itself is especially interesting. When o'er the green undeluged1 earth, And when its yellow lustre smiled Methinks, thy jubilee to keep, The earth to thee her incense yields, How glorious is thy girdle, cast As fresh in yon horizon dark, (1) Undeluged-no longer overwhelmed by the deluge. The prefix un in this word does not fully convey the meaning of the writer; un is simply not, without that reference to a previous state which is implied by the prefix dis. (2) Heaven's covenant-strictly speaking, the rainbow is not the covenant, but the sign or token of it. See Gen, ix. 13. (3) The world's grey fathers-this beautiful expression is borrowed from an old poet. See Appendix, Note D. (4) Anthem-literally anti-hymn-a piece of music arranged to be answering to each other-music for a cathedral choir. sung in parts, (5) In the ordinary copies we have "poet's theme," as above; the reading, however, in the standard edition of Campbell's poems is "prophet's theme," a less appropriate expression, though not inconsistent with the first-named; inasmuch as the original idea of a poet included that of a prophet, or one who was, as it were, inspired to sing of things permanently true-of things past, present, and future. |