Sept. 20. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



205 



Again : 



" Where'er the oak's thick branches stretch 

 A broader browner shade, 

 Where'er the rude and moss-grown beech 



O'ercanopies the glade, 

 Beside some water's rushy brink. 

 With me the Muse sliall sit, and think," &c. 



Gray, Ode I. On the Spring. 



" O magnum Isaeidum decus 1 O pulclierrima castra ! 



arma ingentes olim paritura triumphos 1 

 Non sic herbarum vario subridet Aniictu, 

 Planities pictte vallis, montisque supini 

 Clivus, perpetuis Cedrorum versibus altus. 

 Non sic Eestivo quondam nitet liortus in anno, 

 Frondusque, fructusque ferens, Formosa secundum 

 Flumina, mollis ubi viridisque supernatat umbra." 



Cowley, Davideidos lib. i. ad finem. 



1 do not mean that Gray may not have had other 

 poets in his mind when writing these lines (for 

 there is nothing new or uncommon about them)f 

 but rather a careful going over of Cowley's poems 

 convinces me that Gray was sensible of his " merits," 

 and often corrects his want of "judgment" by bis 

 own refined and most exquisite taste. I must give 

 one more instance; and I think that Bishop Hairs 

 allusion to his life at Emmanuel College, and 

 Bishop Ridley's "Farewell to Pembroke Hall," 

 must every one fall into the background before 

 Cowley. Gray's poem ought to be too well known 

 to require quoting : 



" Ye distant spires, ye antique towers. 



That crown the wat'ry glade. 

 Where grateful Science still adores 



Her Henry's holy shade; 

 And ye that from the stately brow 

 Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below 



Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey. 

 Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among 

 Wanders the hoary Thames along 



His silver winding way. 



Ah, ha]7]:)y hills ! ah, pleasing shade I 



Ah, fields beloved in vain 1 

 Where once my careless childhood stray'd, 



A stranger yet to pain. 

 I feel the gales that from ye blow, 

 A momentary bliss bestow. 



As waving fresh their gladsome wing. 

 My weary soul they seem to soothe, 

 And, redolent of joy and youth, 



To breathe a second spring." 



Ode III. On a distant Prospect of Eton College. 



Cowley was educated at Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge ; and if I rightly remember Bonney's Life 

 of lii.sho/) Mtddluton, his aU'ecling allusions to 

 Candjritlgc had the highest praJsG of that accom- 

 piisLed scholar and divine : 



" O mihi jucundum Granta; super omnia nomen f 

 O penitus toto corde recc|)tus amor ! 

 O pulchr.T sine luxu jedcs, vit;c(|ue beatce, 

 Sjilendida paupertas, ingenuusquc decor 1 



O chara ante alias, magnorum nomine Regum 



Digna domus I Trini nomine digna Dei 

 O nimium Cereris cumulati munere campi, 



Posthabitis Ennie quos colit ilia jugis 1 

 O sacri fontes I et sacriE vatibus umbr:e 



Quas recreant avium Pieridumque chori ! 

 O Camus 1 Pheebo multus quo gratior amnis 



Amnibus auriferis invidiosus inops ! 

 Ah mihi si vestrje reddat bona gaudia sedis, 



Detque Deus docta posse quiete ftui ! 

 Qualis erani cum me tranquilla mente sedentera 



Vidisti in ripa. Came serene, tua ; 

 Mulcentem audisti puerili flumina cantu ; 



lUe quidem immerito, sed tibi gratus erat. 

 Nam, memini ripa cum tu dignatus utraque 



Dignatum est totum verba referre nemus. 

 Tunc llquidis tacitisque simul mea vita diebus^ 



Et similis vestrs Candida fluxit aquaj. 

 At nunc coenosje luces, atque obice rautto 



Rumpitur setatis turbidus ordo meae. 

 Quid milii Sequana opus, Tamesisve aut Tliybrldis 



unda ? 

 Tu potis es nostram tollere, Came, sitlm." 



Elegia dedicatoria, ad illustrissimam Academiam 

 Cantahrigiensem, prefixed to Cowley's Works, 

 Lond. 1 669, folio. 



Rt. 

 Warmington, Sept. 8. 1851. 



jHtnar §.attS^ 



'T-n-wTTiafo) — I "keep under my body," &c. 

 1 Cor. ix. 27. One can scarcely allude to this 

 passage without remembering the sarcastic obser- 

 vations of Dr. South upon a too literal interpreta- 

 tion of it. {Sermons, vol. i. p. 12. Dublin, 1720.) 

 And yet deeper and more spiritual writers by no 

 means pass the literal interpretation by with indif- 

 ference. Bishop Andrewes distinctly mentions 

 viraiTtiaffiJiSs, or suggillatio, amongst the " circum- 

 stantise orationis;" as also e/cSi/njcris, vindicta, or 

 revenge-, 2 Cor. vii. 11. (Preces Private, pag. 14. 

 Londini, 1828.) Bishop J. Taylor is equally ex- 

 plicit in a well-known and remarkable passage : 



" If the lust be upon us, and sharply tempting, by 

 inflicting any smart to overthrow the strongest passion 

 by the most violent pain, we shall find great ease for 

 the present, and the resolution and apt sufferance 

 a"-aiust the future danger ; and this was St. Paul's 

 remedy: 'I bring my body under;' he used some 

 rudeness towards it." — Holy Living, sect. iii. Of 

 Chastity. Remedies against Uncleanness, 4. 



The word virw-ma occurs only once in the LXX, 

 but that seems in a peculiarly apposite way : 

 " viTiovta Ka\ (rvvTplfj.fj.ar a crvvuvTa KaKoTs, 

 ir\T)7oi 5e eij Tafiiua. KOiKias.'^ As our English 



version translates it : " The blueness of a wound 

 elcanseth away evil (or, is a purging medicine 

 against evil, margin), so do stripers the inward 

 parts of the belly." (Proverbs xx. 30.) If it were 

 not absolute presumption to differ from the great 



