CVII. (5) Oh Hesperus! thou bringest all good things— To the young bird the parent's brooding wings, Are gather'd round us by thy look of rest; CVIII. (6) Soft hour! which wakes the wish and melts the heart Of those who sail the seas, on the first day When they from their sweet friends are torn apart; Is this a fancy which our reason scorns? Ah! surely nothing dies but something mourns! CIX. When Nero perish'd by the justest doom Of nations freed, and the world overjoy'd, Some hands unseen strew'd flowers upon his tomb : (7) Of feeling for some kindness done when power CX. But I'm digressing; what on earth has Nero, Or any such like sovereign buffoons, To do with the transactions of my hero, More than such madmen's fellow man-the moon's? Sure my invention must be down at zero, And I grown one of many " wooden spoons" Of verse (the name with which we Cantabs please CXI. I feel this tediousness will never do— They'll never find it out, unless I own END OF CANTO III. NOTES TO CANTO III. Note 1, page 25, stanza xlv. For none likes more to hear himself converse. Io non credo piu al nero ch' all'azzurro ; Ma sopra tutto nel buon vino ho fede, E credo che sia salvo chi gli crede. PULCI, Morgante Maggiore, Canto 18, Stanza 151. Note 2, page 38, stanza lxxi. That e'er by precious metal was held in. This dress is Moorish, and the bracelets and bar are worn in the manner described. The reader will perceive hereafter, that as the mother of Haidee was of Fez, her daughter wore the garb of the country. F Note 3, page 39, stanza lxxii. A like gold bar above her instep rolled. The bar of gold above the instep is a mark of sovereign rank in the women of the families of the deys, and is worn as such by their female relatives. Her Note 4, page 39, stanza lxxiii. person if allow'd at large to run. This is no exaggeration; there were four women whom I remember to have seen, who possessed their hair in this profusion; of these, three were English, the other was a Levantine. Their hair was of that length and quantity, that when let down, it almost entirely shaded the person, so as nearly to render dress a superfluity. Of these, only one had dark hair; the Oriental's had, perhaps, the lightest colour of the four. Note 5, page 62, stanza cvii. Oh Hesperus! thou bringest all good things— Εσπερε παντα φερεις Φερεις οινον φερεις αιγα Φερεις ματερι παιδα. Fragment of Sappho. |