Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,

The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,

And read their history in a nation's eyes,

Their lot forbad: nor circumscrib'd alone

Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd;

60

65

NOTES.

For the expression 'desert air,' Mr. Wakefield refers to Pindar Olymp. i. 10: Egýμas iaitegos. Also Fragm. Incert. cxvi.

Ver. 59. Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest] So Philips, in his animated and eloquent preface to his Theatrum Poetarum, p. xiv. ed. Brydges: "Even the very names of some who having perhaps been comparable to Homer for heroic poesy, or to Euripides for tragedy; yet nevertheless sleep inglorious in the crowd of the forgotten vulgar.”

Ver. 60. Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood] Mr. Edwards, the author of "The Canons of Criticism,' here added the two following stanzas, to supply what he deemed a defect in the poem :

"Some lovely fair, whose unaffected charms

Shone with attraction to herself unknown;

Whose beauty might have bless'd a monarch's arms,
Whose virtue cast a lustre on a throne.

"That humble beauty warm'd an honest heart,
And cheer'd the labours of a faithful spouse;

That virtue form'd for every decent part,

The healthful offspring that adorn'd their house."

Ver. 61. Th' applause of list'ning senates]

"Tho' wond'ring senates hung on all he spoke."
Pope's Mor. Essays, i. 184.

Forbad to wade thro' slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of luxury and pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame:

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 68. And] Or, мs. M. and W.

Ver. 71. Shrine] Shrines, мs. W.

NOTES.

70

Ver. 67. Wade thro' slaughter to a throne]

"And swam to empire thro' the purple flood."

Temple of Fame, 347. W.

Ver. 68. And shut the gates of mercy on mankind] "The gates of mercy shall be all shut up," Shaksp. Henry V. act iii. sc. 3. Also in Henry VI. part iii: "Open thy gate of mercy, gracious Lord." And so says an obscure poet :

"His humble eyes, sighs, cries, and bruised breast,

Forc'd ope the gates of mercy, gave him rest.”

Nath. Richards's Poems, Sacred and Satyrical, 12mo. 1641. p. 145.

Also Congreve's Mourning Bride, act iii. sc. 1:

"So did it tear the ears of mercy from his

Voice, shutting the gates of prayer against him.”

Ver. 72. With incense kindled at the Muse's flame] After this verse, in Mr. Gray's first

MS. of the poem, were the four following stanzas:

"The thoughtless world to majesty may bow,

Exalt the brave, and idolize success;

But more to innocence their safety owe,

Than pow'r or genius e'er conspir'd to bless.

"And thou who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead,
Dost in these notes their artless tale relate,

By night and lonely contemplation led
To wander in the gloomy walks of fate :

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenour of their way.

Yet ev❜n these bones from insult to protect

Some frail memorial still erected nigh,

75

With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

80

Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd Muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply:

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 82. Elegy] Epitaph, Ms. M.

NOTES.

"Hark! how the sacred calm, that breathes around,
Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease;
In still small accents whisp'ring from the ground,
A grateful earnest of eternal peace.

"No more, with reason and thyself at strife,

Give anxious cares and endless wishes room;
But through the cool sequester'd vale of life
Pursue the silent tenour of thy doom."

And here the poem was originally intended to conclude, before the happy idea of the hoary-headed swain, &c. suggested itself to him. Mr. Mason thinks the third of these rejected stanzas equal to any in the whole elegy.

Ver. 74. Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray]

"With all thy sober charms possest,

Whose wishes never learnt to stray."

Langhorne's Poems, p. ii. p. 123. Park's ed.

Ver. 75. Along the cool sequester'd vale of life]
"Foe to loud praise, and friend to learned ease,
Content with science, in the vale of peace."

Pope's Ep. to Fenton, 6. W.

And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing lingʻring look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires ;

85

90

NOTES.

"Mollia per placidam delectant otia vitam."

Manil. Astr. iv. 512.

Ver. 87. Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day]" Dias in luminis oras," Lucretius, i. 23. W.

Ver. 88. Nor cast one longing ling'ring look behind] So Petrarch, 192:

"Che 'l piè va innanzi, e l'occhio torna indietro."

So Whitehead's Ode I. vol. ii. p. 263:

"The voice resum'd again, proceed,

Nor cast one ling'ring look behind."

Mr. Wakefield quotes a passage in the Alcestis of Euripides, ver. 201. This passage is almost literally translated in the Lettere di Jacopo Ortis, p. 81. "E chi mai cede," &c. Ver. 89. On some fond breast the parting soul relies] So Drayton in his 'Moses,' p. 1564. vol. iv. ed. 1753:

"It is some comfort to a wretch to die,

(If there be comfort in the way of death) To have some friend, or kind alliance by To be officious at the parting breath."

Ver. 90. Some pious drops the closing eye requires]

"No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear

Pleas'd thy pale ghost, or grac'd thy mournful bier;
By foreign hands thy dying eyes were clos'd."

Pope's Elegy, 81.

And,

"Then from his closing eyes thy form shall part," ver. 80.

And so Solon, ver. 5. ed. Brunck.:

Ev'n from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.

For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead,
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,

Some kindred spirit shall enquire thy fate,

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 92. Ev'n, live] And, glow, Ms. M. and W.

Ver. 92. Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires]

95

"Awake and faithful to her wonted fires." So the first and second editions.

NOTES.

Μηδ' ἐμοὶ ἄκλαυστος θάνατος μόλοι, ἀλλὰ φίλοισι

Καλλείποιμι θανῶν ἄλγεα καὶ στοναχάς. W.

Ver. 91. Ev'n from the tomb the voice of nature cries] Some lines in the Anthologia
Latina, p. 600. Ep. cliii. have a strong resemblance to those in the text:

"Crede mihi vires aliquas natura sepulchris
Adhibuit, tumulos vindicat umbra suos."

So also Ausonius (Parentalia), p. 109. ed. Tollii:

"Gaudent compositi cineres sua nomina dici.” Ver. 92. Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires]

"Ch' i veggio nel pensier, dolce mio fuoco,
Fredda una lingua, e due begli occhi chiusi
Rimaner doppo noi pien di faville."

"Interea cave, sis nos adspernata sepultos, Non nihil ad verum conscia terra sapit." Mr. Wakefield cites Pope's Ep. to M. Blount, ver. 72:

"By this e'en now they live, e'en now they charm,
Their wit still sparkling, and their flame still warm."