To hail our coming. Not a step profane Thus, in this calm recess, so richly fraught Rise, ere the watch-relieving clarions play, Caught through St. James's groves a blush of day; (15) Ere its full voice the choral anthem flings Through trophied tombs of heroes and of kings. Haste to the tranquil shade of learned ease,2 Though skill'd alike to dazzle and to please; agros." Distant views contain the greatest variety both in themselves and in their accidental variations. Note 3, page 21, col. 1. Small change of scene, small space his home requires. Many a great man, in passing through the apartments of his palace, has made the melancholy reflection of the venerable Cosmo: "Questa è troppo gran casa à si poco famiglia."-MACH. Ist. Fior. lib. vii. "Parva, sed apta mihi," was Ariosto's inscription over his door in Ferrara; and who can wish to say more? "I confess," says Cowley, "I love littleness almost in all things. A little convenient estate, a little cheerful house, a little company, and a very little feast."-Essay vi. When Socrates was asked why he had built for himself so small a house, "Small as it is," he replied, "I wish I could fill it with friends."-PHÆDRUS, 1. iii, 9. These indeed are all that a wise man would desire to assemble; "for a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love." Note 4, page 21, col. 1. From every point a ray of genius flows! By this means, when all nature wears a louring countenance, I withdraw myself into the visionary Though each gay scene be search'd with anxious eye, worlds of art; where I meet with shining landscapes, Nor thy shut door be pass'd without a sigh. If, when this roof shall know thy friend no more, Some, form'd like thee, should once, like thee, explore; Invoke the lares of this loved retreat, And his lone walks imprint with pilgrim-feet; Then be it said, (as, vain of better days, Some grey domestic prompts the partial praise) "Unknown he lived, unenvied, not unblest; Reason his guide, and Happiness his guest. In the clear mirror of his moral page, We trace the manners of a purer age. His soul, with thirst of genuine glory fraught, Scorn'd the false lustre of licentious thought. -One fair asylum from the world he knew, One chosen seat, that charms with various view! Who boasts of more (believe the serious strain) Sighs for a home, and sighs, alas! in vain. Through each he roves, the tenant of a day, gilded triumphs, beautiful faces, and all those other objects that fill tl.e mind with gay ideas, etc. ADDISON. It is remarkable that Antony, in his adversity, passed some time in a small but splendid retreat, which he called his Timonium, and from which might originate the idea of the Parisian Boudoir, that favorite apartment, où l'on se retire pour être seul, mais où l'on ne boude point.—STRABO, l. xvii. PLUT. in Vit. Anton. Note 5, page 21, col. 1. At Guido's call, etc. Alluding to his celebrated fresco in the Rospigliosi Palace at Rome. Note 6, page 21, col. 1. And still the Few best loved and most revered. The dining-room is dedicated to Conviviality; or, as Cicero somewhere expresses it, Communitati vitæ And, with the swallow, wings the year away!" (16) atque victûs." There we wish most for the society NOTES. Note 1, page 20, col. 2. Oft o'er the mead, at pleasing distance, pass. Cosmo of Medicis took most pleasure in his Apen nine villa, because all that he commanded from its windows was exclusively his own. How unlike the wise Athenian, who, when he had a farm to sell, directed the crier to proclaim, as its best recommendation, that it had a good neighborhood.—PLUT. in Vit. Themist. Note 2, page 20, col. 2. And through the various year, the various day. of our friends; and, perhaps, in their absence, most require their portraits. The moral advantages of this furniture may be illustrated by the pretty story of an Athenian courtesan, "who, in the midst of a riotous banquet with her lovers, accidentally cast her eye on the portrait of a philosopher, that hung opposite to her seat: the happy character of temperance and virtue struck her that she instantly quitted the room; and, retiring with so lively an image of her own unworthiness, home, became ever after an example of temperance, as she had been before of debauchery." Note 7, page 21, col. 1. Read ancient books, or dream inspiring dreams. The reader will here remember that passage of Horace, Nunc veterum libris, nunc somno, etc. which was inscribed by Lord Chesterfield on the frieze of Horace commends the house, "longos quæ prospicit his library. 1-dapes inemptas.- Hor. 2 Innocuas amo delicias doctamque quietem. Note 8, page 21, col. 1. And, when a sage's bust arrests thee there. Siquidem non solum ex auro argentove, aut certe ex ere in bibliothecis dicantur illi, quorum immortales Hence every artist requires a broad and high animæ in iisdem locis ibi loquuntur: quinimo etiam light. Hence also, in a banquet-scene, the most que non sunt, finguntur, pariantque desideria non picturesque of all poets has thrown his light from traditi vultus, sicut in Homero evenit. Quo majus the ceiling.--Æn. i, 726. (ut equidem arbitror) nullum est felicitatis specimen, quam semper omnes scire cupere, qualis fuerit aliquis-PLIN. Nat. Hist. Cicero speaks with pleasure of a little seat under Aristotle in the library of Atticus. "Literis sustentor et recreor; maloque in illa tua sedecula, quam habes sub imagine Aristotelis, sedere quàm in istorum sella caruli!"-Ep. ad Att. iv, 10. And hence the "starry lamps" of Milton, that -from the arched roof Pendent by subtle magic, -yielded light As from a sky. Note 13, page 22, col. 1. Beyond the triumphs of a Loriot's art. Nor should we forget that Dryden drew inspira-duced those admirable pieces of mechanism, afterAt the petits soupers of Choisy were first introtion from the "majestic face" of Shakspeare; and that a portrait of Newton was the only ornament of the closet of Buffon.-Ep. to Kneller. Voyage à Montbart. In the chamber of a man of genius we Why, such and such. Note 9, page 21, col. 1. Which gathers round the Wise of every Tongue. Quis tantis non gaudeat et glorietur hospitibus, exclaims Petrarch. Spectare, etsi nihil aliud, certè juvat-Homerus apud me mutus, imò verò ego apud illum surdus sum. Gaudeo tamen vel aspectû solo, et sæpe illum amplexus ac suspirens dico: O magne vir, etc.-Epist. Var. lib. 20. Note 10, page 21, col. 2. Like those blest Youths. See the Legend of the Seven Sleepers.-GIBBON, €. 33. Note 11, page 21, col. 2. Catch the blest accents of the wise and great. wards carried to perfection by Loriot, the Confidente and the Servante; a table and a side-board, which descended and rose again covered with viands and wines. And thus the most luxurious Court in Europe, after all its boasted refinements, was glad to return at last, by this singular contrivance, to the quiet and privacy of humble life.-Vie privée de Louis XV, tom. ii, p. 43. Between 1. 10, and 1. 11, col. 1, were these lines, since omitted: Hail, sweet Society! in crowds unknown, Though the vain world would claim thee for its own. Mr. Pope delights in enumerating his illustrious They were written in 1796. guests. Nor is this an exclusive privilege of the poet. 66 The Medici Palace at Florence exhibits a long and imposing catalogue. Semper hi parietes columnæque eruditis vocibus resonuerunt." Note 14, page 22, col. 1. So through the vales of Loire the bee-hives glide. An allusion to the floating bee-house, or barge laden with bee-hives, which is seen in some parts Another is also preserved at Chanteloup, the seat of France and Piedmont. of the Duke of Choiseul. Note 12, page 21, col. 2. Sheds, like an evening-star, its ray serene. At a Roman supper, statues were sometimes employed to hold the lamps. -Aurea sunt juvenum simulacra per ædeis, A fashion as old as Homer!-Odyss. vii, 100. Note 15, page 22, col. 1. Caught through St. James's groves at blush of day. Groves that Belinda's star illumines still, Note 16, page 22, col. 1. And, with the swallow, wings the year away! It was the boast of Lucullus that he changed his climate with the birds of passage.-PLUT. in Vit. Lucull. How often must he have felt the truth here inculcated, that the master of many houses has no home! 31 Jacqueline. I. "T WAS Autumn; through Provence had ceased The vintage, and the vintage-feast. The sun had set behind the hill, The moon was up, and all was still, And from the convent's neighboring tower Up rose St. Pierre, when morning shone; By Turenne, when the Rhine ran blood; He slung his old sword by his side, And snatch'd his staff and rush'd to save; Unhappy in thy youth!" he said. "Call as thou wilt, thou call'st in vain; ¡And, as she pass'd her father's door, And he, who through the breach had led Oh! she was good as she was fair; And, as she grew, her modest grace, Her down-cast look 't was heaven to trace, Her voice, whate'er she said, enchanted; Soon as the sun the glittering pane She, who would lead him where he went, At eve light up the chimney-nook, Which, when a tale is long, dispenses In her who mourn'd not, when they miss'd her With Frederic blowing bubbles in the sun; Nor spinning by the fountain-side, Barbe Bleue or Chaperon Rouge half-told Where once a wild deer, wild no more, II. The day was in the golden west; And, curtain'd close by leaf and flower, The doves had cooed themselves to rest In Jacqueline's deserted bower; The doves-that still would at her casement peck, That casement, underneath the trees, And feigning, as they grew in size, With dimpled cheeks and laughing eyes, St. Pierre sat by, nor saw nor smiled. And his heart told him he had dealt A father may awhile refuse; When her young blushes had reveal'd The ocean-wave, the mountain-wind; Or fix thy foot upon the ground To stop the planet rolling round. The light was on his face; and there 1 Cantando "Io amo! Io amo!"-Tasso. Now he sigh'd heavily; and now, Who, for you told me on your knee, And true it was! And true the tale! My father-if not for his own, Inly he vow'd-"'t was all he could!" Nor can ye wonder. When a child, They loved-but under Friendship's name; 1 Argus. 2 Called in the language of the country pas de l'Echelle. The day was named, the guests invited; III. That morn ('t was in Ste Julienne's cell, That morn, ere many a star was set, -And now the village gleams at last; So saying, through the fragrant shade Gently along he led the maid, While Manchon round and round her play'd: (When Lubin calls, and Blanche steals round, And many an acorn-cup is found Under the greenwood tree) From every cot above, below, They gather as they go Sabot, and coif, and collerette, The housewife's prayer, the grandam's blessing! Babes that had learnt to lisp her name, But what felt D'Arcy, when at length Her father's gate was open flung? Ah, then he found a giant's strength; For round him, as for life, she clung! And when, her fit of weeping o'er, Onward they moved a little space, And saw an old man sitting at the door, Saw his wan cheek, and sunken eye That seem'd to gaze on vacancy, Then, at the sight of that beloved face, At once to fall upon his neck she flew; But not encouraged-back she drew, And trembling stood in dread suspense, Her tears her only eloquence! All, all the while-an awful distance keeping; Then Jacqueline the silence broke. While D'Arcy as before look'd on, "His praises from your lips I heard, She, whom in joy, in grief you nursed; On her you thought-but to be kind! Two kneeling at your feet behold; One-one how young;-nor yet the other old. Her bridal be her dying day. Well, well might she believe in you!- He shook his aged locks of snow; 66 That very look thy mother wore When she implored, and old Le Roc consented. True, I have done as well as suffer'd wrong, Yet once I loved him as my own! -Nor can'st thou, D'Arcy, feel resentment long; Let each meet each as friend to friend, All things by all forgot, forgiven. And that dear Saint-may she once more descend But now, in my hands, your's with her's unite. Had Louis' then before the gate dismounted, 1 Louis the Fourteenth. 2 Alluding to a popular story related of Henry the Fourth of France; similar to ours of "The King and Miller of Mansfield." |