120 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 145. 



' *'The first regular production of Gray's muse" 

 was a Sapphic ode addressed to Mr. West. The 

 Sapphics were followed in the same letter by some 

 Latin prose and an Alcaic stanza. 



We will pass over the Sapphics, for they bear a 

 faint resemblance to some passages already referred 

 to, and extract part of the prose from Mason's 

 edition, vol. i. 134 : 



" Quicquid enim nugarum tw\ irxoX^s inter ambu- 

 landum in palimpseslo scriptitavi, Iiisce te maxume 

 impertiri visum est, quippe quem probare, quod meum 

 est, aut certe ignoscere solitum probe novi." 



A very natural idea, which Cowley had very 

 naturally expressed : 



" To him my muse made haste with every strain, 



Whilst it was new, and warm yet from the brain. 



He lov'd my worthless rhymes, and, like a friend. 



Would find out something to commend." 



On the Death of Mr. W. Hervey. 



Indeed, any one who will read our Cowley's 

 lines on Crashaw and Harvey, will unite with me 

 in the firm conviction that Gray reproduced them 

 both, either in his poems to Mr. West or upon 

 Lim. 



The Alcaic stanza contains the words "Fons 

 lacrymarum," which reminds us of " the sacred 

 source of sympathetic tears " in The Progress of 

 Poesy, and which Mr. Wakefield adduces from 

 some imaginary in)f)\ SaKpvwv in JEschylus. Mr. 

 Mitford more correctly refers to Sophocles, Antiq. 

 803.; but at Jeremiah ix. 1. we have, in the 

 Greek, Latin, and English respectively, " ir>j7}/ 

 SaKfvoij'," " Fons lacrymarum," and " Fountains of 

 tears." JEschylus uses " KXav/jLaruv irriyai" Agam. 

 861.; and Nonnus, " ttISuku ^aKpvSecra-av" Diony- 

 siachsy lib. xlvi. ad finera. The idea is common in 

 English poetry. Gray also speaks of " The soft 

 springs of pity " in his Agrippina. 



Let us now wander in another direction ; and 

 in quoting from Cowley's Latin Poems I use 

 Bishop Sprat's edition, London, 1688, 8vo., men- 

 tioning the pages, as the lines are not marked : 



" The bloom of young desire, and purple light of love." 

 The Progress of Poesy. 



Mr. Mitford has adduced some really beautiful 

 parallels. I shall only venture upon one or two : 

 " Per me purpurei formosum lumen honoris 

 Et niveam illustrat gratia viva cutem." 



Cowley, p. 10. 



Again : 

 " Dat vegetum membrls habitum.^oremQ'Me venustat 

 Purpureum majestatis, dat dulcia cordi 

 Lumina laetitiae." — Id., p. 300. 



Human passions. — Gray, Ode on the Installation. 

 Humana moUitie. — Cowley, Plantarum, p. 42. 

 Humanos mores. — Ditto, p. 48. 

 Humance pietatis. — Ditto, p. 216. 

 . Humani laboris. — Ditto, p. 337. 



" Felices anima gens jam defuncta periclis 

 Humanis." — 'Vida's Christtad. Vih. vi. 270. 



" The laughing flowers that round them blow 

 Drink life and fragrance as they flow." 



Ode on the Progress of Poesy. 



It seems almost a pity to dissect these marvel- 

 lously beautiful lines. " Laughing flowers ;" 

 "Quid faciat Icetas segetes." — Virg. Georgia, i. 1. 

 "The valleys shall stand so thick with corn that 

 they shall laugh and sing." — Psalm Ixv. 14. " As- 

 trum, quo segetes ^awrferMn^ frugibus." — Virg. Eel. 

 ix. 48. 



" Auram nectaream undequaque fundens, 

 Nullam pra?posuisse fertur olim, 

 Ridenti milii dulce, dulce olenti." 



Cowley, Plantaritm, p. 178. 



" Drink life and fragrance as they flow." 

 " Qus Fontcs Fluviosque bibunt." 



Cowley, p. 1. 



" Dulcia Flumina libo." — Id. p. 12. 



" Perpetuumque bibunt folia insatiata liquorem." 



Id. p. 31. 



" Deque venenato fliimine vita bibit." — Id. p. 34. 



" In quibus ipse animus vitam animamque bibit." 



Id. p. 46. 



Also in the very bold figure : 



" O ver ! O pulchras ductor puleherrime gentis ! 

 O Florum Xerxes innumerabilium? 

 Quos ego (nam gens est non aversata liquores) 

 Epotare etiam Flumina posse reor." 



Id. 152. 



" So does a thirsty land drink all the dew of heaven 

 that wets its face." — Bp. J. Taylor, Sermon vi., The 

 Return of Prayers, Part. III. 



" The earth which drinheth in the rain that cometli 

 oft upon it." — Hebr. vi. 7. 



I cannot refrain from quoting Anacreon : 



" 'H 7^ fiifKaiva nlvei. 

 Hive I 5e BfvSpe' avrriv, 

 Tllvft 5k OdKaffaa S' aiipas, 

 'O S' i}Aios BakaxTcray, 

 Thv S' il)\iov ff(\r]vr)." —Ode xix. 



Which is thus translated by Buchanan : 



" Et terra sicca potat, 

 Terrasque silva, et aura 

 Sylvas, et asquor auras, 

 Et sol repotat asquor, 

 Et luna solem." 



Epigramm., lib. i. ad calccm. 



Barnes, in his Life of Anacreon, adduces the 

 following from Maximilianus Virentius, Epigr. 

 lib. iv. : 



