P. 6, 1. 8. 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. P. 6. 1. 23. Nor spare the hoary head, nor bid your eye "Thine eye shall not spare them." P. 6, 1. 28. 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, P. 7, 1. 30. The harness'd Amorite. Joshua x. P. 8, 1. 12. Or serve his altar with unhallow'd fire. 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! 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 σa; 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. The Temple of the sepulchre. P. 13, 1. 14. And bade the rock with Parian marble shine. See Cotovicus, p. 179; and from him Sandys. P. 13, 1. 18. The British queen. St. Helena, who was, according to Camden, born at Colchester. See also Howel's Hist. of the World. P. 13, 1. 22. And pale Byzantium fear'd Medina's sword. The invasions of the civilised parts of Asia by the Arabian and Turkish Mahometans. P. 13, 1. 26. The wandering hermit waked the storm of war. Peter the Hermit. The world has been so long accustomed to hear the Crusades considered as the height of frenzy and injustice, that to undertake their defence might be perhaps a hazardous task. We must, however, recollect, that had it not been for these extraordinary exertions of generous courage, the whole of Europe would perhaps have fallen, and Christianity been buried in the ruins. It was not, as Voltaire has falsely or weakly asserted, a conspiracy of robbers; it was not an unprovoked attack on a distant and inoffensive nation; it was a blow aimed at the heart of a most powerful and active enemy. Had not the Christian kingdoms of Asia been established as a check to the Mahometans, Italy, and the scanty remnant of Christianity in Spain, must again have fallen into their power, and France herself have needed all the heroism and good fortune of a Charles Martel to deliver her from subjugation. P. 14, 1. 1, 2. While beardless youths and tender maids assume The weighty morion and the glancing plume. See Vertot, Hist. Chev. de Malthe, liv. 1. P. 14, 1. 6. Tabaria's stream. Tabaria (a corruption of Tiberius) is the name used for the sea of Galilee in the old romances. P. 14, 1. 12. By northern Brenn or Scythian Timur led. Brennus, and Tamerlane. P. 14, 1. 15. There Gaul's proud knights with boastful mien advance. The insolence of the French nobles twice caused the ruin of the army; once by refusing to serve under Richard Coeur-de-Lion, and again by reproaching the English with cowardice in St. Louis's expedition to Egypt. See Knolles's History of the Turks. P. 14, 1. 16. Form the long line. The line (combat à-la-haie), according to Sir Walter Raleigh, was characteristic of French tactics; as the column (herse) was of the English. The English at Créci were drawn up thirty deep. P. 14, 1. 26. Whose giant force Britannia's armies led. All the British nations served under the same banner, Sono gl' Inglesi sagittarii, ed hanno Gente con lor, ch' è più vicina al polo. La divisa dal mondo, ultima Irlanda. Tasso, Gierusal. Lib. i. 44 Ireland and Scotland, it is scarcely necessarv to observe, were synony mous. P. 14, 1. 29. Lords of the biting axe and beamy spear. The axe of Richard was very famous. See Warton's Hist. of Ancient Poetry. P. 16, 1. 6. And burst his brazen bonds, and cast his cords away. Psalm ii. 3; cvii. 16. P. 16, 1. 7. Then on your tops shall deathless verdure spring. "I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more the reproach of famine among the heathen." -"And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden," &c. Ezek. xxxvi. |