NOTES.

NOTES ON "PALESTINE."

P. 3, 1. 16.

Folds his dank wing.

Alluding to the usual manner in which sleep is represented in ancient

Authorities for these celestial warriors may be found, Josh. v. 13. 2 Kings vi. 2. 2 Macc. v. 3. Ibid. xi. Joseph. Ed. Huds. vi. p. 1282, et alibi passim.

P. 3, 1. 20.

Sion's towery steep.

It is scarcely necessary to mention the lofty site of Jerusalem. "The hill of God is a high hill, even a high hill as the hill of Bashan."

P. 4, 1. 4.

Mysterious harpings.

See Sandys, and other travellers into Asia.

P. 4, 1. 11.

Then should my Muse.

Common practice, and the authority of Milton, seems sufficient to justify using this term as a personification of poetry.

P. 4, 1. 18.

Thy house is left unto thee desolate.

Matt. xxiii. 38.

P. 4, 1. 23.

The seer.

Moses.

P. 4, 1. 28.
Almotana's tide.

Almotana is the Oriental name for the Dead Sea, as Ardeni is for Jordan.

P. 5, 1. 2.

The robber riots, or the hermit prays.

The mountains of Palestine are full of caverns, which are generally occupied in one or other of the methods here mentioned. Vide Sandys, Maundrell, and Calmet, passim.

P. 5, 1. 6.

Those stormy seats the warrior Druses hold.

The untameable spirit, feodal customs, and affection for Europeans, which distinguish this extraordinary race, who boast themselves to be a remnant of the Crusaders, are well described in Pagés. The account of their celebrated Emir, Facciardini, in Sandys, is also very interesting. Puget de S. Pierre compiled a small volume on their history; Paris, 1763. 12mo.

P. 5, 1. 11.

Teach their pale despot's waning moon to fear.

"The Turkish sultans, whose moon seems fast approaching to its wane." Sir W. Jones's first Disc. to the Asiatic Society.

P. 5, 1. 20.

Sidonian dyes and Lusitanian gold.

The gold of the Tyrians chiefly came from Portugal, which was probably their Tarshish.

P. 5, 1. 26.

And unrestrain'd the generous vintage flows.

In the southern parts of Palestine the inhabitants reap their corn green, as they are not sure that it will ever be allowed to come to maturity. The oppression to which the cultivators of vineyards are subject throughout the Ottoman empire is well known.

P. 6, 1. 8.

Arabia's parent.

Hagar.

P. 6, 1. 17.

The guarded fountains shine.

The watering-places are generally beset with Arabs, who exact toll from all comers. See Harmer and Pagés.

P. 6, 1. 18.

Thy tents, Nebaioth, rise, and Kedar, thine!

See Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xiv. p. 43, Ed. Vales.

Smokes on Samaria's mount her scanty sacrifice.

A miserable remnant of Samaritan worship still exists on Mount Gerizim. Maundrell relates his conversation with the high priest.

P. 7, 1. 8.

And refluent Jordan sought his trembling source.

Psalm cxiv.

P. 7, 1. 11.

To Israel's woes a pitying ear incline,

And raise from earth Thy long-neglected vine!
See Psalm 1xxx. 8-14.

P. 7, 1. 30.

The harness'd Amorite.

Joshua x.

P. 8, 1. 12.

Or serve his altar with unhallow'd fire.

Alluding to the fate of Nadab and Abihu.

P. 8, 1. 20.

The mighty master of the ivory throne,

Solomon. Ophir is by most geographers placed in the Aurea Cherso

nesus. See Tavernier and Raleigh.

X

P. 8, 1. 26.

Through Nature's mazes wander'd unconfined.

The Arabian mythology respecting Solomon is in itself so fascinating, is so illustrative of the present state of the country, and on the whole so agreeable to Scripture, that it was judged improper to omit all mention of it, though its wildness might have operated as an objection to making it a principal object in the poem.

P. 9, 1. 4.

And Tadmor thus, and Syrian Balbec rose.

Palmyra ("Tadmor in the Desert") was really built by Solomon, (1 Kings ix. 2 Chron. viii.) and universal tradition marks him out, with great probability, as the founder of Balbec. Estakhar is also attributed to him by the Arabs. See the romance of Vathek, and the various travels into the East, more particularly Chardin's, in which, after a minute and interesting description of the majestic ruins of Estakhar, or Persepolis, the ancient capital of Persia, an account follows of the wild local traditions just alluded to. Vol. ii. p. 190. Ed. Amst. 1735, 4to. Vide also Sale's Koran; D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. (article Solimon Ben Daoud); and the Arabian Night's Entertainments, passim.

P. 9, 1. 8,

Houseless Santon.

It is well known that the Santons are real or affected madmen, pretending to extraordinary sanctity, who wander about the country, sleeping in caves or ruins.

P. 9, 1. 14.

How lovely were thy tents, O Israel!

Numbers xxiv. 5.

P. 9, 1. 15.

For thee his ivory load Behemoth bore.

Behemoth is sometimes supposed to mean the elephant, in which sense it is here used.

P. 9, 1. 16.

And far Sofala teem'd with golden ore.

An African port to the south of Bab-el-mandeb, celebrated for gold mines.

P. 9, 1. 26.

The Temple rear'd its everlasting gate.

Psalm xxiv. 7.

P. 9, 1. 27.

No workman steel, no ponderous axes rung.

"There was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was in building." 1 Kings vi. 7.

P. 10, 1. 2.

View'd the descending flame, and bless'd the present God.

"And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped." 2 Chron. vii. 3.

P. 10, 1. 4.

Beat o'er her soul the billows of the proud.

Psalm cxxiv. 4.

P. 11, 1. 20.

Weep for your country, for your children weep!
Luke xxiii. 27, 28.

P. 12, 1. 2.

And the pale parent drank her children's gore.

Joseph. vi. p. 1275. Ed. Huds.

P. 12, 1. 18.

The stoic tyrant's philosophic pride.

The Roman notions of humanity cannot have been very exalted when they ascribed so large a share to Titus. For the horrible details of his conduct during the siege of Jerusalem and after its capture, the reader is referred to Josephus. When we learn that so many captives were crucified, that διὰ τὸ πλῆθος χώρα τε ἐνελείπετο τοῖς σταυροῖς καὶ σταυροὶ τοῖς σúμnow; and that after all was over, in cold blood and merriment, he celebrated his brother's birthday with similar sacrifices; we can hardly doubt as to the nature of that untold crime, which disturbed the dying moments of "the darling of the human race." After all, the cruelties of this man are probably softened in the high priest's narrative. The fall of Jerusalem nearly resembles that of Zaragoza, but it is a Morla who tells the tale.

P. 13, 1. 13.
Yon pompous shrine.

The Temple of the sepulchre.