And but could have kept them clofe to their Sides. that they were earnest to help them, is confirmed by what follows immediately : But vainly ftretching out their Fingers grey, They whifp'ring call, and beckon him away. What a fad Fright muft they be in? They not only stretch out their Arms but their Fingers. Fingers grey, is an elegant and just Expreffion; though it requires a little Circumlocution to explain it. Hoary fignifies grey (as Canus in Latin, and hoary Hairs are the fame as grey Hairs) and hoary likewise means frofty, from Hoar-froft. Now as the Fingers of the Trees were covered with the Froft, they were hoary, and if hoary, grey. How judiciously does our Poet employ his Epithets! W-RB-RT-N. Zoilus, Jun. impertinently cavils at this truly grand Paffage, in the following Words: What Occafion (fays he) had the Poet to say, that the Trees ftretched out their Fingers, when he had told us before, that they extended their Arms. This is Tautology. And why (fays the Critic) did they only whispering call him? They fhould have hollaed out as loud as they could bawl, or else they could not be heard.' So far Zoilus: but in the first Place, Fingers here is not Tautology; for could not the Trees ftretch out their Arms, and yet double their Fifts? Befides it was neceffary, you fee, for the Trees to ftretch out their Fingers, as well as their Arms, to beckon him away. As to the Second Remark, would he have the poor Trees do more than they could? A whole Foreft, when heartily thumped by furious Blafts, could but mew at most, as we find some Lines above; then surely the fimple Trees could but whisper. And as they grew very near the Bank, Whispering was enough, and could very well be heard. Nay, if they could not, fomebody else might; For F4 The The Ice with crackling Voice bids him retreat, And from the Centre underneath his Feet, Darts to the Banks his fhining Character. The older MSS. have it, cackling Voice; but, as Scaliger obferves, this Expreffion can only be applied to a Goofe: wherefore he rightly alters it to crackling, which is the Tone of Voice Ice always speaks in. The Sun beholds the Silver-beaming Star, And veils in thick'ning Clouds his melting Light, The Winter-monarch fhivers at the Sight. By the Winter-monarch is certainly meant his frigid Majefty, King January, newly in his Reign.' who, though Cold is as natural to him as his Skin, yet could not help fhivering at this lamentable Spectacle. While from his Icicle-fring'd Seat of Snow, Of Ice-lip'd Winds, o'er Hail-white Pavements He breath'd from Marble Lungs increafing Cold. We have here a particular Defcription of his Majefty's State Coach. The Cushion was made of the fineft blanched Snow; and edged round with a beautiful Fringe of Icicles, a la-mode de Paris. And when his Majefty chofe to tafte (or take) the Freezing Air,' he always went in a frozen Equipage, which, inftead of being dragged by Horfes, was pushed along by half a Dozen chubby-faced Winds with Lips of Ice, and rattled over the Ways which were paved with huge Hail-ftones. How fuitable is, this to the Grandeur of a Winter-monarch! And how much does it exceed the famous Defcription of Neptune in Homer's Iliad, Book the 13th. And And breath'd from Marble Lungs.] How judicioufly does our Poet furnish his Monarch with Lungs adapted to every thing about him For had they been of meer Flesh and Blood, they must have thaw'd his Throne, his Coach, and his very Dominions, and forced the poor Prince to paddle in warm Water of his own making. Swift from the Puff defcends a faline Shower, The knitting Winds exert their utmoft Power." Why is the Shower faline? Because all Salts are cold, and as the Breath that proceeds from Marble Lungs muft of confequence be cold, it may therefore be called faline. We are alfo to fuppofe the Monarch puffed away as faft as he could, fo that he may be faid to shower out his Breath. The knitting Winds.] Some other Copies have it knotting, which Burman prefers, as being a more genteel Employment than that of Knitting. But the Context will not bear it. The Allufion is to a Hole in a Stocking, to which the Hole in the Ice is compared; and therefore 'twas neceffary that the Winds fhould be Mafters of the Knitting-Needle to be able to repair the Breach. In vain,-in vain-the lucid Footing gone, Reader, didft thou ever see a long ghaftly Figure of nothing but Bones with an Hour-glafs and Sithe in his Hands, on a Country Tomb-ftone, or before an old Ballad of Death and the Lady? If thou haft, then wilt thou eafily perceive the Propriety of this Image, and conclude that March has Reafon to have his Eyes frighted at the grinning, bony Form. Who is The Poet very judic***y t*lls us tha* ***tation of th* *** had bee*. As there is but one Copy of these truly-valuable Notes, preferved in the Cotton Library, it is in vain to hope that this Hiatus valde Deflendus can ever be reftored. For -Quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignis, Nec potuit ferrum, nec edax abolere Vetuftas, What nor offended Jove's avenging Ire, The little Moufe could fecretly destroy, Than Time, or Jove more fell, or Fire, or Savage Goth. A N INSPECTOR NUM NUMBER 66666, The Man, that hath no Mufic in his Soul, SHAKESPEARE. AFTER I had chatted away an Hour or fo over a Difh of Coffee and Criticism at the Bedford, I went off in a Coranto, whipped into my Chariot, and drove away to the Concert in DeanStreet. When I had run over every pretty Face in that Affembly worth looking at, I directed my Coachman to go to the Theatre. I entered the right Hand Stage-box; a general Whisper went round the House: every Eye was fixed on my Person, though Barry was in one of the most tender and pathetic Parts of Othello. Prefently after, the Mufic ftruck up: the Men of Fashion in the Boxes leered towards me with a Smile of Approbation: the Pretty dear Creatures Auttered their Fans at me: the City Gallants of the first Gallery perufed me with a ftare of Astonishment: and the peafant Inhabitants among the Gods looked as if they were afking one another, Which is He?In the mean Time, the fhrill Cry of Oranges and Nonpareils, |