Page 129. Al Aaraaf. A star was discovered by Tycho Brahe whichappeared suddenly in the heavens—attained, in a few days, a brilliancysurpassing that of Jupiter—then as suddenly disappeared, and has neverbeen seen since.
Page 130. Capo Deucato. On Santa Maura—olim Deucadia.
Page 130. Her who loved a mortal—and so died. Sappho.
Page 130. And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnamed. This flower is muchnoticed by Lewenhoeck and Tournefort. The bee, feeding upon its blossom,becomes intoxicated.
Page 131. Clytia. Clytia—the Chrysanthemum Peruvianum, or, to employa better-known term, the turnsol—which turns continually towards thesun, covers itself, like Peru, the country from which it comes, withdewy clouds, which cool and refresh its flowers during the most violentheat of the day.—B. de St. Pierre.
Page 131. That aspiring flower that sprang on Earth. There iscultivated in the king’s garden at Paris, a species of serpentine aloewithout prickles, whose large and beautiful flower exhales a strongodour of the vanilla, during the time of its expansion, which is veryshort. It does not blow till towards the month of July—you thenperceive it gradually open its petals—expand them—fade and die.—St.Pierre.
Page 131. Valisnerian lotus. There is found, in the Rhone, a beautifullily of the Valisnerian kind. Its stem will stretch to the length ofthree or four feet—thus preserving its head above water in theswellings of the river.
Page 131. Thy most lovely purple perfume. The Hyacinth.
Page 131. The Nelumbo bud. It is a fiction of the Indians, that Cupidwas first seen floating in one of these down the river Ganges, and thathe still loves the cradle of his childhood.
Page 131. To bear the Goddess’ song, etc. And golden vials full ofodours which are the prayers of the saints.—Rev. St. John.
Page 132. A model of their own. The Humanitarians held that God was tobe understood as having really a human form.—Vide Clarke’s Sermons,vol. i., page 26, fol. edit.
The drift of Milton’s argument leads him to employ language which wouldappear, at first sight, to verge upon their doctrine; but it will beseen immediately, that he guards himself against the charge of havingadopted one of the most ignorant errors of the dark ages of theChurch.—Dr. Sumner’s Notes on Milton’s Christian Doctrine.
This opinion, in spite of many testimonies to the contrary, could neverhave been very general. Andeus, a Syrian of Mesopotamia, was condemnedfor the opinion, as heretical. He lived in the beginning of the fourthcentury. His disciples were called Anthropomorphites.—Vide du Pin.
Among Milton’s minor poems are these lines:
Dicite sacrorum præsides nemorum Deæ, etc. Quis ille primus cujus ex imagine Natura solers finxit humanum genus? Eternus, incorruptus, æquævus polo, Unusque et universus exemplar Dei.
And afterwards—
Non cui profundum Cæcitas lumen dedit Dircæus augur vidit hunc alto sinu, etc.
Page 132. Wingèd Fantasy.
Seltsamen Tochter Jovis Seinem Schosskinde Der Phantasie.—Goethe.
Page 135. Sightless cycles. Sightless—too small to be seen.—Legge.
Page 135. Fire-flies. I have often noticed a peculiar movement of thefire-flies;—they will collect in a body and fly off, from a commoncentre, into innumerable radii.
Page 135. Therasæan reign. Therasæa, or Therasea, the island mentionedby Seneca, which, in a moment, arose from the sea to the eyes ofastonished mariners.
Page 136. Molten stars, etc.
Some star which, from the ruined roof Of shaked Olympus, by mischance did fall.—Milton.
Page 137. Persepolis. Voltaire, in speaking of Persepolis, says, “Jeconnois bien l’admiration qu’inspirent ces ruines—mais un palais érigéau pied d’une chaîne des rochers sterils—peut il être un chefd’œuvre des arts?”
Page 137. Gomorrah. Ula Deguisi is the Turkish appellation; but, onits own shores, it is called Bahar Loth, or Almotanah. There wereundoubtedly more than two cities engulphed in the “dead sea.” In thevalley of Siddim were five—Adrah, Zeboin, Zoar, Sodom and Gomorrah.Stephen of Byzantium mentions eight, and Strabo thirteen (engulfed)—butthe last is out of all reason.
It is said [Tacitus, Strabo, Josephus, Daniel of St. Saba, Nau,Maundrell, Troilo, D’Arvieux], that after an excessive drought, thevestiges of columns, walls, etc., are seen above the surface. At anyseason, such remains may be discovered by looking down into thetransparent lake, and at such distances as would argue the existence ofmany settlements in the space now usurped by the “Asphaltites.”
Page 137. Eyraco. Chaldea.
Page 137. Palpable and loud. I have often thought I could distinctlyhear the sound of the darkness as it stole over the horizon.
Page 137. Young flowers were whispering, etc. Fairies use flowers fortheir charactery.—Merry Wives of Windsor.
Page 138. The moonbeam. In Scripture is this passage—“The sun shallnot harm thee by day, nor the moon by night.” It is, perhaps, notgenerally known that the moon, in Egypt, has the effect of producingblindness to those who sleep with the face exposed to its rays, to whichcircumstance the passage evidently alludes.
Page 139. The lone Albatross. The Albatross is said to sleep on thewing.
Page 139. The murmur that springs, etc. I met with this idea in anold English tale, which I am now unable to obtain and quote frommemory:—“The verie essence and, as it were, springe-heade and origineof all musiche is the verie pleasaunte sounde which the trees of theforest do make when they growe.”
Page 140. Have slept with the bee. The wild bee will not sleep in theshade if there be moonlight.
The rhyme in this verse, as in one about sixty lines before, has anappearance of affectation. It is, however, imitated from Sir W. Scott,or rather from Claud Halcro—in whose mouth I admired its effect:
O! were there an island, Tho’ ever so wild, Where woman might smile, and No man be beguiled, etc.
Page 141. Apart from Heaven’s Eternity—and yet how far from Hell.With the Arabians there is a medium between Heaven and Hell, where mensuffer no punishment, but yet do not attain that tranquil and evenhappiness which they suppose to be characteristic of heavenly enjoyment.
Un no rompido sueno— Un dia puro—allegre—libre Quiera— Libre de amor—de zelo— De odio—de esperanza—de rezelo. Luis Ponce de Leon.
Sorrow is not excluded from “Al Aaraaf,” but it is that sorrow which theliving love to cherish for the dead, and which, in some minds, resemblesthe delirium of opium. The passionate excitement of Love and thebuoyancy of spirit attendant upon intoxication are its less holypleasures—the price of which, to those souls who make choice of “AlAaraaf” as their residence after life, is final death and annihilation.
Page 141. Tears of perfect moan.
There be tears of perfect moan Wept for thee in Helicon.—Milton.
Page 142. The Parthenon. It was entire in 1687—the most elevated spotin Athens.
Page 142. More beauty clung, etc.
Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows Than have the white breasts of the Queen of Love. Marlowe.
Page 142. My pennoned spirit. Pennon, for pinion.—Milton.