7. Cf. Pope, _Hor. Epist._ ii. 2, 171:
125 lines✦
Pour the full tide of eloquence along,Serenely pure, and yet divinely strong;" and _Ode on St. Cecilia's Day_, 11: "The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow;" also Thomson, _Liberty_, ii. 257: "In thy full language speaking mighty things,Like a clear torrent close, or else diffus'dA broad majestic stream, and rolling onThrough all the winding harmony of sound." 9. Cf. Shenstone, _Inscr._: "Verdant vales and fountains bright;"also Virgil, _Geo._ i. 96: "Flava Ceres;" and Homer, _Il._ v. 499:[Greek: xanthê Dêmêtêr]. 10. _Rolling_. Spelled "rowling" in the 1st and other early editions. _Amain_. Cf. _Lycidas_, 111: "The golden opes, the iron shuts amain;"_P. L._ ii. 165: "when we fled amain," etc. Also Shakes. _Temp._ iv.1: "Her peacocks fly amain," etc. The word means literally _withmain_ (which we still use in "might and main"), that is, with forceor strength. Cf. Horace, _Od._ iv. 2, 8: "Immensusque ruit profundoPindarus ore." 11. The first MS. reading was, "With torrent rapture see it pour." 12. Cf. Dryden, _Virgil's Geo._ i.: "And rocks the bellowing voice ofboiling seas resound;" Pope, _Iliad_: "Rocks rebellow to the roar." 13. "Power of harmony to calm the turbulent sallies of the soul. Thethoughts are borrowed from the first Pythian of Pindar" (Gray). 14. _Solemn-breathing airs_. Cf. _Comus_, 555: "a soft andsolemn-breathing sound." 15. _Enchanting shell_. That is, lyre; alluding to the myth of theorigin of the instrument, which Mercury was said to have made fromthe shell of a tortoise. Cf. Collins, _Passions_, 3: "The Passionsoft, to hear her shell," etc. 17. _On Thracia's hills_. Thrace was one of the chief seats of theworship of Mars. Cf. Ovid, _Ars Am._ ii. 588: "Mars Thracen occupat."See also Virgil, _Æn._ iii. 35, etc. 19. _His thirsty lance_. Cf. Spenser, _F. Q._ i. 5, 15: "his thristy[thirsty] blade." 20. Gray says, "This is a weak imitation of some beautiful lines inthe same ode;" that is, in "the first Pythian of Pindar," referred toin the note on 13. The passage is an address to the lyre, and istranslated by Wakefield thus: "On Jove's imperial rod the king of birdsDrops down his flagging wings; thy thrilling soundsSoothe his fierce beak, and pour a sable cloudOf slumber on his eyelids: up he liftsHis flexile back, shot by thy piercing darts.Mars smooths his rugged brow, and nerveless dropsHis lance, relenting at the choral song." 21. _The feather'd king_. Cf. Shakes. _Phoenix and Turtle_: "Every fowl of tyrant wing,Save the eagle, feather'd king." 23. _Dark clouds_. The first reading of MS. was "black clouds." 24. _The terror_. This is the reading of the first ed. and also ofthat of 1768. Most of the modern eds. have "terrors." 25. "Power of harmony to produce all the graces of motion in thebody" (Gray). 26. _Temper'd_. Modulated, "set." Cf. _Lycidas_, 33: "Tempered to theoaten flute;" Fletcher, _Purple Island_: "Tempering their sweetestnotes unto thy lay," etc. 27. _O'er Idalia's velvet-green_. _Idalia_ appears to be used for_Idalium_, which was a town in Cyprus, and a favourite seat of Venus,who was sometimes called _Idalia_. Pope likewise uses _Idalia_ forthe place, in his _First Pastoral_, 65: "Celestial Venus hauntsIdalia's groves." Dr. Johnson finds fault with _velvet-green_, apparently supposing itto be a compound of Gray's own making. But Young had used it in his_Love of Fame_: "She rears her flowers, and spreads hervelvet-green." It is also among the expressions of Pope which areridiculed in the _Alexandriad_. 29. _Cytherea_ was a name of Venus, derived from _Cythera_, an islandin the Ægean Sea, one of the favourite residences of Aphrodite, orVenus. Cf. Virgil, _Æn._ i. 680: "super alta Cythera Aut superIdalium, sacrata sede," etc. 30. _With antic Sports_. This is the reading of the 1st ed. and alsoof the ed. of 1768. Some eds. have "sport." _Antic_ is the same word as _antique_. The association between whatis old or old-fashioned and what is odd, fantastic, or grotesque isobvious enough. Cf. Milton, _Il Pens._ 158: "With antick pillarsmassy-proof." In _S. A._ 1325 he uses the word as a noun: "Jugglersand dancers, anticks, mummers, mimicks." Shakes. makes it a verb in_A. and C._ ii. 7: "the wild disguise hath almost Antick'd us all." 31. Cf. Thomson, _Spring_, 835: "In friskful glee Their frolicsplay." 32, 33. Cf. Virgil, _Æn._ v. 580 foll. 35. Gray quotes Homer, _Od._ ix. 265: [Greek: marmarugas thêeitopodôn thaumaze de thumôi]. Cf. Catullus's "fulgentem plantam." Seealso Thomson, _Spring_, 158: "the many-twinkling leaves Of aspintall." 36. _Slow-melting strains_, etc. Cf. a poem by Barton Booth,published in 1733: "Now to a slow and melting air she moves,So like in air, in shape, in mien,She passes for the Paphian queen;The Graces all around her play,The wondering gazers die away;Whether her easy body bend,Or her fair bosom heave with sighs;Whether her graceful arms extend,Or gently fall, or slowly rise;Or returning or advancing,Swimming round, or sidelong glancing,Strange force of motion that subdues the soul." 37. Cf. Dryden, _Flower and Leaf_, 191: "For wheresoe'er she turn'dher face, they bow'd." 39. Cf. Virgil, _Æn._ i. 405: "Incessu patuit dea." The gods wererepresented as gliding or sailing along without moving their feet. 41. _Purple light of love_. Cf. Virgil, _Æn._ i. 590: "lumenquejuventae Purpureum." Gray quotes Phrynichus, _apud_ Athenæum: [Greek: lampei d' epi porphureêisipareiêisi phôs erôtos.] See also Dryden, _Brit. Red._ 133: "and her own purple light." 42. "To compensate the real and imaginary ills of life, the Muse wasgiven to mankind by the same Providence that sends the day by itscheerful presence to dispel the gloom and terrors of the night"(Gray). 43 foll. See on _Eton Coll._ 83. Cf. Horace, _Od._ i. 3, 29-33. 46. _Fond complaint_. Foolish complaint. Cf. Shakes. _M. of V._ iii.3: "I do wonder,Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fondTo come abroad with him at his request;" Milton, _S. A._ 812: "fond and reasonless," etc. This appears to bethe original meaning of the word. In Wiclif's Bible. 1 _Cor._ i. 27,we have "the thingis that ben _fonnyd_ of the world." In _TwelfthNight_, ii. 2, the word is used as a verb=dote: "And I, poor monster, fond as much on him,As she, mistaken, seems to dote on me."
✦