Made visionary fabrics round them rise,
And airy spectres skim before their eyes;
Of talismans and sigils knew the pow'r,
And careful watch'd the planetary hour.
Superior, and alone, Confucius stood,
Who taught that useful science, to be good.
But on the South, a long majestic race
Of Egypt's priests the gilded niches grace,
Who measur'd earth, describ'd the starry spheres,
And trac'd the long records of lunar years.
High on his car, Sesostris struck my view,
Whom scepter'd slaves in golden harness drew :
His hands a bow and pointed jav'lin hold;
His giant limbs are arm'd in scales of gold.
Between the statues obelisks were plac'd,
And the learn❜d walls with hieroglyphics grac'd.

Of Gothic structure was the Northern side,
O'erwrought with ornaments of barb'rous pride:

NOTES.

"In the deep windings of the grove, no more
The hag obscene, and grisly phantom dwell;
Nor in the fall of mountain-stream, or roar
Of winds, is heard the angry spirit's yell;
No wizard mutters the tremendous spell,
Nor sinks convulsive in prophetic swoon,

Nor bids the noise of drums and trumpets swell,
To ease of fancied pangs the labouring moon,

Or chase the shade that blots the blazing orb of noon."

105

110

115

120

MINSTREL.-Warton.

Ver. 107. Confucius stood,] Congfutzee, for that was his name, flourished about two thousand three hundred years ago, just before Pythagoras. He taught justice, obedience to parents, humility, and universal benevolence : and he practised these virtues when he was a first minister, and when he was reduced to poverty and exile. His family still exists in China, and is highly honoured and respected.-Warton.

Ver. 110. Egypt's priests, &c.] The learning of the old Egyptian priests consisted for the most part in geometry and astronomy: they also preserved the history of their nation. Their greatest hero upon record is Sesostris, whose actions and conquests may be seen at large in Diodorus, &c. He is said to have caused the kings he vanquished to draw him in his chariot. The posture of his statue, in these verses, is correspondent to the description which Herodotus gives of one of them, remaining in his own time.-P.

Ver. 119. Of Gothic structure was the Northern side,] The architecture is agreeable to that part of the world. The learning of the northern nations

There huge Colosses rose, with trophies crown'd,
And Runic characters were grav'd around.
There sat Zamolxis with erected eyes,

And Odin here in mimic trances dies.

There on rude iron columns, smear'd with blood,

125

The horrid forms of Scythian heroes stood,

Druids and Bards (their once loud harps unstrung),
And youths that died to be by Poets sung.
These, and a thousand more, of doubtful fame,
To whom old fables gave a lasting name,

130

NOTES.

lay more obscure than that of the rest. Zamolxis was the disciple of Pythagoras, who taught the immortality of the soul to the Scythians. Odin, or Woden, was the great legislator and hero of the Goths. They tell us of him, that, being subject to fits, he persuaded his followers, that during those trances he received inspirations, from whence he dictated his laws he is said to have been the inventor of the Runic characters.-P.

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This rude nation had great ideas. When Alaric their king was buried in Calabria, 410, they turned the course of the river Vasento, where it was most rapid; and having dug a very deep grave in this river's bed, there interred their revered prince, with many rich suits of armour, and much gold and precious stones. They then turned the river back into its usual course, and killed on the spot all that had assisted at this work, that the place of his interment might never be discovered.-Warton.

Ver. 122. Runic characters] The Gothic mythology, by being more nobly wild, is more affecting to the imagination than the classical. The magicians of Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser, have more powerful spells than those of Apollonius, Seneca, and Lucan. The enchanted forest of Ismeno is more poetical than even the grove, which Cæsar, in Lucan, orders to be cut down, b. iii. v. 400. What a group of dreadful images do we meet with in the Edda! Hence are drawn those thrilling numbers which Gray has given us in his Descent of Odin.-Warton.

I cannot admit that the Gothic mythology is, in general, so nobly wild, as Dr. Warton represents it. That it is gloomy, terrific, and in parts highly poetical, is very true; but there is a ludicrousness in many of its images, and a littleness, instead of that grandeur which is essential to the higher species of poetry. The story of Thor and the Cat, and many other of his extraordinary feats, are far from being "nobly_wild." must, however, except the sublime description in the Edda, of the "Twilight of the Gods, and Surtur the Black Angel." Such a mixture of wild ideas is common in the superstitions of all rude nations. The Northern superstitions can be traced, I believe, clearly to the East.– Bowles.

I

Ver. 127. Druids and Bards, &c.] These were the priests and poets of those people, so celebrated for their savage virtue. Those heroic barbarians accounted it a dishonour to die in their beds, and rushed on to certain death in the prospect of an after-life, and for the glory of a song from their bards in praise of their actions.-P.

In ranks adorn'd the Temple's outward face;
The wall in lustre and effect like glass,
Which o'er each object casting various dyes,
Enlarges some, and others multiplies:
Nor void of emblem was the mystic wall,
For thus romantic Fame increases all.

135

The Temple shakes, the sounding gates unfold,
Wide vaults appear, and roofs of fretted gold:
Rais'd on a thousand pillars, wreath'd around
With laurel-foliage, and with eagles crown'd:
Of bright transparent beryl were the walls,
The friezes gold, and gold the capitals:

140

As heav'n with stars, the roof with jewels glows,

And ever-living lamps depend in rows.

Full in the passage of each spacious gate,

145

The sage Historians in white garments wait;

Grav'd o'er their seats the form of Time was found,

His scythe revers'd, and both his pinions bound. -
Within stood Heroes, who through loud alarms
In bloody fields pursu'd renown in arms.
High on a throne with trophies charg'd, I view'd
The Youth that all things but himself subdu'd;
His feet on sceptres and tiaras trod,

And his horn'd head bely'd the Libyan God.

NOTES.

150

Ver. 147. The sage Historians, &c.] The white garments are suitable emblems of pure purpose and undecorated truth; veritatis non fucate; for which we seem to want an elegant appropriate term in our language.— Wakefield.

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Ver. 152. The Youth that all things but himself subdu'd;] Alexander the Great the Tiara was the crown peculiar to the Asian princes: his desire to be thought the son of Jupiter Ammon, caused him to wear the horns of that god, and to represent the same upon his coins; which was continued by several of his successors.-P.

Ver. 154. bely'd the Libyan God.]" Bely'd the God," are expressions from Dryden :

Ver. 132.

A dragon's fiery form "bely'd the God."

IMITATIONS.

The wall in lustre, &c.]

St. Cecilia's Ode.-Bowles.

"It shone lighter than a glass,
"And made well more than it was,
"As kind of thing Fame is."-P.

There Cæsar, grac'd with both Minervas, shone ;
Cæsar, the world's great master, and his own;
Unmov'd, superior still in ev'ry state,

And scarce detested in his Country's fate.

155

165

But chief were those, who not for empire fought,
But with their toils their people's safety bought: 160
High o'er the rest Epaminondas stood;
Timoleon, glorious in his brother's blood;
Bold Scipio, saviour of the Roman state;
Great in his triumphs, in retirement great;
And wise Aurelius, in whose well-taught mind,
With boundless pow'r, unbounded virtue join'd,
His own strict judge, and patron of mankind.
Much-suff'ring heroes next their honours claim,
Those of less noisy, and less guilty fame,
Fair Virtue's silent train: supreme of these
Here ever shines the godlike Socrates :

NOTES.

170

Ver. 155. The greatest panegyric that ever Alexander and Cæsar met with, is from Lord Bacon, in the Advancement of Learning, b. i. p. 75, first edition.-Warton.

Ver. 161. Epaminondas stood ;] “ In other illustrious men you will observe that each possessed some one shining quality, which was the foundation of his fame in Epaminondas all the virtues are found united; force of body, eloquence of expression, vigour of mind, contempt of riches, gentleness of disposition, and, what is chiefly to be regarded, courage and conduct in war."-Diodorus Siculus, lib. xv.-Warton.

Ver. 162. Timoleon, glorious in his brother's blood;] Timoleon had saved the life of his brother Timophanes in the battle between the Argives and Corinthians; but afterwards killed him when he affected the tyranny, preferring his duty to his country to all the obligations of blood.-P.

Ver. 162. Timoleon, glorious] Mr. Harte told me, our author had once intended to write an epic poem on the story of Timoleon; and it is remarkable that Dr. Akenside had the same design; he hints at it himself in the last stanza of the thirteenth ode, b. i. on Lyric Poetry:

“But when from envy and from death to claim,

A hero bleeding for his native land;

When to throw incense on the vestal flame
Of liberty, my genius gives command;
Nor Theban voice, nor Lesbian lyre,
From thee, O muse, do I require;
While my presaging mind,

Conscious of powers she never knew,

Astonish'd grasps at things beyond her view,

Nor by another's fate submits to be confin'd."

He told me himself that the last line alluded to the Leonidas of Glover.-Warton.

He whom ungrateful Athens could expel,

At all times just, but when he sign'd the Shell:
Here his abode the martyr'd Phocion claims,
With Agis, not the last of Spartan names:
Unconquer'd Cato shows the wound he tore,
And Brutus his ill Genius meets no more.

But in the centre of the hallow'd choir,
Six pompous columns o'er the rest aspire;

NOTES.

175

Ver. 172. He whom ungrateful Athens, &c.] Aristides, who for his great integrity was distinguished by the appellation of the Just. When his countrymen would have banished him by the Ostracism, where it was the custom for every man to sign the name of the person he voted to exile in an Oyster shell; a peasant, who could not write, came to Aristides to do it for him, who readily signed his own name.-P.

Ver. 174. martyr'd Phocion] Who, when he was about to drink the hemlock, charged his son to forgive his enemies, and not to revenge his death on those Athenians who had decreed it.-Warton.

Ver. 178. But in the centre of the hallow'd choir, &c.] In the midst of the Temple, nearest the throne of Fame, are placed the greatest names in learning of all antiquity. These are described in such attitudes as express their different characters: the columns on which they are raised are adorned with sculptures, taken from the most striking subjects of their works; which sculpture bears a resemblance, in its manner and character, to the manner and character of their writings.-P.

Ver. 178. But in the centre] The six persons Pope thought proper to select as worthy to be placed on these pillars as the highest seats of honour, are Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Horace, Aristotle, and Tully. It is observable that our author has omitted the great dramatic poets of Greece. Sophocles and Euripides deserved certainly an honourable niche in the Temple of Fame, as much as Pindar and Horace. But the truth is, it was not fashionable in Pope's time, nor among his acquaintance, attentively to study these poets. By a strange fatality they have not in this kingdom obtained the rank they deserve amongst classic writers. We have numberless treatises on Horace and Virgil, for instance, who in their different kinds do not surpass the authors in question, whilst hardly a critic among us has professedly pointed out their excellencies.

I own I have some particular reasons for thinking that our author was