122 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 145. 



" Boseam posthabitam Cypron." 



Milton's Eleg. i. 84. 



" As those smiling things, 

 Those Rosal blushes which her portal strew," 

 Beaumont's Psyche, cant. viii. 1 54. 



We might accumulate similar references ad in- 

 finitum. 



In Buchanan's Majce Calendce, whjch may very 

 well be compared with Gray's " Ode on the Spring," 

 we find, — 



" Hunc jocus, hunc tenera mensem cum matre Cupido 

 Vendicat : hunc risus, et sine felle sales : 

 Hunc hilaris genius, genii et germana voluptas, 

 Et pellucentes gratia picta sinus." — Eleg., lib. i. 



Wakefield has some very appropriate remarks 

 and parallels in support of Gray's conformity to 

 ancient mythology in employing Venus, the source 

 of creation and beauty, at the commencement of 

 the spring. I need only refer to his volume, and 

 also to a noble fragment attributed to Sophocles, 

 which is quite top long to transcribe in full, but 

 may be found in the editions of his collected works. 

 Cowley also has many of the same thoughts in his 

 grand exordium to the second book of the Davideis. 



The expression " Attick warbler" has been traced 

 to its source by Mr. Mitford, for so is " Attica 

 aedon" exactly translated. Milton similarly calls 

 the nightingale "chauntress ;" and Nonnus "Att^Is 

 arjSctfj'." — Dionysiacks, lib. xlvii. ad init. 



" Pours her throat" belongs to Pope's " Essay on 

 Man." As Disraeli and Mr. Mitford observe, the 

 word "throat," for the song of a bird, is quite 

 common. 



" And heedless, while they strain 

 Their tuneful throats." 



Philips's Cider, lib. ii. 



The nightingale and cuckoo are likewise con- 

 nected together in Milton's beautiful " Sonnet to 

 the Nightingale," which Wakefield gives in part ; 

 and yet, strange to say, while he eulogises i\xe fifth 

 verse in particular as " exquisitely beautiful," he 

 omits said verse altogether, and jumps from the 

 fourth to the sixth. It is this : 



" Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day." 



The word "untaught" belongs to Cowley, as I 

 before remarked in my first letter : 



" You curious chanters of the wood, 

 That warble forth Dame Nature's lays." 



Sir H. Wotton On the Queen of Bohemia. 



" While, whisp'ring pleasure as they fly," &c. 



Wakefield quotes Milton's glorious description : 



" Now gentle gales. 

 Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense 

 Native perfumes," &c. 



Par. Lost, iv. 156., &c. 



but does not point out that Milton was indebted 



>n 



(i a 



to the opening of the Homeric Hymn to Ceres. 

 Indeed, — 



" Cheered with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles," 

 is not far removed from — 

 "KrjwSei 5' oSyit^ irSs r' ovpavos evphs virep6ev 



raid re iraa' iy4\a<r(re koI aXfxvphv 

 da\dacn]s." 



" What, though the spicg breezes 

 Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle ? " 



Bp. Heher. 



I must particularly refer to Milton's " Elegy on 

 the Death of Bishop Andrewes," line 40, and to a 

 famous collection of illustrations given in War- 

 ton's Notes. We must also remember the old 

 fable of the " Loves of Zephyrus and Flora or 

 Chloris," to which Milton so often alludes. And 

 Cowley : 



" Nupsit odorato Chloris formosa marito, 



Nupsit, et ex illo tempore facta Dea est. 

 Tunc et Terra ferax, et Coelum, et Pontus, et Aer, 



Publica IcEtitice signa dedere suae. 

 Nulla erat in toto nubes circumvaga ccelo, 



Vel si forsan erat, picta decenter erat. 

 Nullus composito spirabat in acre ventus, 



Aut hilares flatu solicitabat aquas. 

 Vel si forsan erat, dulces spirabat adores, 



Mulcebatque hilares officiosus aquas." 



Plantarum, lib. iiL pp. 137-8. 



The passage with which I conclude rather re- 

 minds me of the first and third verses of this 

 delightful " Ode to Spring : " 



" So have I seen the sun kiss the frozen earth, which 

 was bound up with the images of death, and the colder 

 breath of the north ; and then the waters break from 

 their inclosures, and melt with joy, and run in useful 

 channels; and the ^/es do rise again from their little 

 graves in walls, and dance awhile in the air, to tell that 

 there is joy within, and that the great mother of crea- 

 tures will open the stock of her new refreshment, become 

 useful to mankind, and sing praises to her Redeemer." 

 — Bp. J. Taylor, Sermon xxv.. The Duties of the 

 Tongue. 



Kt. 



Warmington. 



QUAINT LINES BY ALAIN CHARTIER. 



Some years ago the Athenceum printed, if I re- 

 member correctly, the following French doggerel ; 



" Quand un cordier cordant 

 Veut corder uiie corde, 

 Trois cordons accordant 

 A sa corde il accorde ; 

 Si I'un des trois cordons 

 De la corde d^corde, 

 Le cordon decordant 

 Fait decorder la corde." 



In reading, a few weeks ago, the works of Alain 

 Char tier, I found out the same curious jVm d esprit 



