122 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2n'» S. No 59., Feb. 14. '67. 



You know too — you to ■whom I speak. 



The Grace of God was given in Greek : 



The Greeks at first were well content 



With such Gods as old Homer lent, 



Gather'd of ignorance the cloud, 



Like night-seen Ghost wrapp'd in a shroud. 



Thus Homer to us is the teller 



That Jove was call'd the cloud cosipeller ; 



By this at once the phrase you guess 



In Greek ve^t^iry^P'T^s 



But now the Gospel is the teller 



That Jesus is the cloud Dispeller, 



Who did his Father's truth display 



In the full blaze of cloudless day : 



Therefore let mankind all confess 



He is the sun of righteousness. 



Who pour'd the DAYspring from on high 



Cloudless upon the Human Ej'e, 



Who to his followers points the road 



That leads up to the throne of God." 



' Yes Homer stands Supreme alone, 

 Unmatch'd, nay can be match'd by none. 

 To him succeeding Virgil came, 

 Almost another of the same; 

 The two unite their genial power ; 

 All Stars smil'd on their natal hour. 

 The Books of Heaven the Bliss rehearse 

 By Man unutterable verse, 

 Angels and Happy Spirits hear it, 

 Men's organs far too weak to bear it, 

 Directly pour'd upon their Ear 

 In rapture even its Echo's hear, 

 As from a wilderness of sweets, 

 Where every Shrub the sound repeats, 

 Where every bland breeze spreads the balm, 

 Great Nature cherish'd breathes the calm ; 

 She drops her age, renews her time, 

 And dances wanton in hek prime. 

 The gale of her celestial bukatii 

 Wafts from the World Sin, Pain, and Death ; 

 Chaos engulphs her native guests. 

 In peace the Universe now rests, 

 In peace and good will towards men 

 The throne of God resounds Amen." 



' Old Plutarch cants so long with grave face 

 You seldom can make out the preface ; 

 Homer and he are antipodes. 

 So says the Synod of the Gods, 

 For Homer scarce tunes up his fiddle 

 Before he brings you to the middle ; 

 But Plutarch's grace is long and whining. 

 Before you get to the beginning 

 Of that good dinner you expected, 

 Your appetite is quite dejected, 

 No food substantial can it get, 

 So leaves you and runs off in pet 

 To fish for food with its own net." 



" The moral pieces of Plutarch would at this daj' make 

 a publication both useful and agreeable — They lye buried 

 liitherto in the most contemptible, the most despicable of 

 all Translations — into English from the French, which 

 French was from the Latin of Xylander, who was one 

 of the most contemptible drudges of even the German 

 Presses." 



" Epigram. 



" We Glory, we, benorth the Annan * 

 In George the King and George Buchanan : 

 Brethren of England frank we own 

 Immortal Milton is 3'our own. 

 To whom our George will drop his bonnet 

 And listen to his heavenly sonnet. 

 Run to him from the side of Leven f, 

 And follow him from Hell to Heaven J ; 

 For George too heard those heavenly Airs 

 Struck by the Music of the Spheres §, 

 For George too struck King David's Lyre, 

 While Angels listen'd in full Quire : 

 David witli rapture list'ning hung 

 While his own Psalms a Scotsman sung ; 

 Dumbarton Rock || and Hill of Sion 

 Had each their Bard, and each a high one." 



"Paradise Lost, vii. o. 

 " ' T7ie meaning not the name I call : ' 

 Ah, Milton, there you got a fall : 

 Sorry am I these words down to nick 

 As Language quite anti-Miltonic ; 

 But one word more and I have done, 

 This is a speck-spot on the Sun." 



G.N. 



VICTOKY SWALLOWED UP IN DEATH. 



On the receipt of the intelligence of Lord Nel- 

 son's death, which did not reach this country till 

 November 6, the grief occasioned by the announce- 

 ment was excessive and overwhelming, even in 

 the royal closet. A domestic calamity had be- 

 fallen the nation, which seemed to outweigh for 

 the moment every other thought and consequence 

 of the victory : the joy of the country was a 

 chastened joy ; the price England had paid for it 

 was felt to be too high : — 



" The Park and Tower guns announced the victory to 

 the metropolis ; and Admiral Collingwood's despatch 

 having been forwarded to the King, His Majesty received 

 it about seven o'clock in the morning. The Duke of 

 York arrived at Windsor Castle about eight o'clock, to 

 congratulate their Majesties upon the victory, and to 

 condole with them on the great and heavy loss by which 

 it was purchased. On hearing of the death of Lord Nel- 

 son, His Majesty was so deeply afflicted that a profound 

 silence of nearly five minutes ensued before he could 

 give utterance to his feelings. The Queen, on being in- 

 formed, called the Princesses around her, and read the 

 despatches aloud, while the Royal group are said to have 

 shed tears. The Royal Family then went to chapel^ to 

 return thanks to Almighty God for the success of his 

 Majesty's arms. 



* A river of Dumfriesshire. Allan Ciinninghan styles it 

 " the silver Annan." 



t The river celebrated by Smollett — " On Leven's 

 banks while free to rove," &c. — issuing from Loch Lo- 

 mond into the Clyde at Dumbarton, 



J No doubt alluding to the poetical flights of Milton's 

 genius in the Paradise Lost. 



§ Pitch de Sphara. — M. 



II Dumbarton Castle on the Clyde, not far from which 

 fortress is the village of Killearn, the birthplace of Bu- 

 chanan. 



