68.

Desmonds mouldering turrets

-] The

castle of the Earl of Desmond, on the banks of the river Mulla in Ireland, was sometime the residence of SPENSER, the place where he wrote the greatest part of the FAERIE QUEENE.

95. Gama, the dearling care of Beauty's heavenly Queene.] See the LUSIAD.

ibid. That none mote see it more als he the Gods did pray.] For this speech to his army, and prayer of Alexander, see Q Curtius.

THE MINSTREL.

Page 127. To this Poem the following Preface was prefixed by its Author:

"The design was, to trace the progress of a Poetical Genius, born in a rude age, from the first dawning of fancy and reason, till that period at which he may be supposed capable of appearing in the world as A MINSTREL; that is, as an itinerant Poet and Musician;-a character which, according to the notions of our forefathers, was not only respectable, but sacred.

"I have endeavoured to imitate SPENSER in the measure of his verse, and in the harmony, simplicity, and variety of his composition. Antique expressions I have avoided; admitting, however, some old words, where they seemed to suit the subject: but I hope none will be found that are now obsolete, or in any degree not intelligible to a reader of English poetry.

"To thsoe, who may be disposed to ask, what could induce me to write in so difficult a measure, I can only answer, that it pleases my ear, and seems from its Gothic structure and original, to bear some relation to the subject and spirit of the Poem. It admits both simplicity and magnificence of sound and of language, beyond any other stanza that I am acquainted with. It allows the sententiousness of the couplet, as well as the more complex modulation of blank verse. What some critics have remarked of its uniformity growing at last tiresome to the ear, will be found to hold true, only when the poetry is in other respects faulty."

131. But he, I ween, was of the north countrie :] There is hardly an ancient ballad, or romance, wherein a Minstrel or Harper appears, but he is characterised, by way of eminence, to have been "OF THE NORTH COUNTRIE." It is probable, that under this appellation were formerly comprehended all the provinces to the north of the Trent.

See PERCY's Essay on the English Minstrels. 145. Or hags, that suckle an infernal brood,

And ply in caves th' unutterable trade,] Allusion to SHAKSPERE.

Macbeth. How now, ye secret, black, and midnight

hags,

What is't you do ?

Witches. A deed WITHOUT A NAME.

Macbeth, A&t iv. sc. 1.

t

146. Behold, with berries smear'd, with brambles torn, The babes now famish'd lay them down to die.] See the fine old ballad, called, THE CHILDREN IN

THE WOOD.

151. Thus on the chill Lapponian's dreary land, &c.] Spring and Autumn are hardly known to the Laplanders. About the time the Sun enters Cancer, their fields, which a week before were covered with snow, appear on a sudden full of grass and flowers.

SCHEFFER'S History of Lapland, p. 16. 153. And where the Atlantic rolls wide continents have bloom'd.] See PLATO's Timeus.

167. "This praise, O Cheronean Sage,-] PLUTARCH. 171. "Then waken from long lethargy to life

"The seeds of happiness, and powers of thought,

&c.] The influence of the Philosophic Spirit, in humanizing the mind, and preparing it for intellectual exertion and delicate pleasure;-in exploring, by the help of geometry, the system of the universe; in banishing superstition;-in promoting navigation, agriculture, medicine, and moral and political science: from Stanza XLVI to Stanza LVI. 176. From Nature's beauties variously compared

And variously combined, he learns to frame

Those forms of bright perfection,—] General ideas of excellence, the immediate archetypes of sublime imitation, both in painting and poety. See ARISTOTLE'S Poetics, and The Discourses of Sir JoSHUA REYNOLDS.

177. When the great Shepherd of the Mantuan plains]

VIRGIL.

178. Art thou, my GREGORY, for ever fled!] This excellent Person died suddenly, on the roth of Feb. 1773. The conclusion of the Poem was written a few days after.

THE END.