range of a Ship, against fire, that it would require more than common carelessness, to produce the dreadful event that has been suspected. The most probable opinion, and indeed the only one which seems to have any foundation, is, that this Frigate foundered in the Mosambique Channel. Captain LEE, though a stranger to its navigation, would not be dissuaded from attempting it; and it is said that Mr. VANSITTART was so averse from this rash action, that if an outward bound East-Indiaman had been at the Cape, he would have quitted the AURORA. To this may be added, that on the 19th of November, 1773, a Black was examined before the East-India Directors, who affirmed" that he was one of five persons, who had been saved from the wreck of the AURORA; that the said Frigate had been cast away on a reef of rocks off MOCOA; that he was two years upon an island after he had escaped; and was at length miraculously preserved by a country Ship happening to touch on that island." Such are the principal events respecting FALCONER which I have been able to collect. In his Person he was about five feet seven inches in height; of a thin + Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xli. p. 237. PAGE 108. 1. 20. That pipes among the shades of Ender may. A Song entitled the Birks of Endermay, was written by Mallet, and is mentioned by Dr Currie in his Life of Burns. (Page 278.) PAGE 110. 1. 20. No human Footstep marks the trackless And thus PETRARCH, sand. Dove vestigio uman l'arena stampi. F. D. PAGE 111. I. 22. The seat of Sacred Troy is found no more. Amidst the disputes that have harassed the learned World on this subject, I am glad to subjoin the opinion of my Brother, Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, who has so lately visited TROY; and, after a minute examination of every particular on the spot, has been convinced that such a City did exist, as was described by Homer.-"Travellers visiting the Plain of TROY in search of Columns, or Statues, by which the scite of ancient ILIUM may be determined, are not less idly occupied, than those persons who have pretended to discover such remains: the latter class, have fallen into the error of the Painter, employed by Comte de Caylus, (See Winkelman, Liv. iv. ch. 8. Note,) to illustrate the Picture by Polygnotus at Delphi, according to Pausanius; who ornamented the City of Troy with Columns, and Statues of Marble-Monuments of the Arts, that were unknown at the time of the Trojan War. All that we can expect to disco ver, in order to identify the Scene of that War, are the features of Nature as described by Homer; and these are found, precisely answering his description." E. D. C.- Dr Chandler has lately considered this subject in his History of Troy. PAGE 112. 1. 9. Whose gleam directed loved LEANDER o'er The rolling Hellespont A few years since, a servant of the Neapolitan Consul at the Dardanelles, swam across the Hellespont; and, after a short walk on the Asiatic Coast, returned back in safety, notwithstanding the extreme rapidity of the Current. E. D. C. PAGE ibid. 1. 22. Remote from Ocean lies the DELPHIC Plain. Falconer very properly writes Delphic. Swift made a point of writing Delphos, instead of Delphi; and until I had perused Bentley's Dissertation on Phalaris, I thought it should be thus written. Jortin, on this account, says of Swift, that "he should have received instruction from whatever quarter it came; from Wotton, from Bentley, or from Beelzebub." It was my Relation Dr Wotton, who first noticed the absurd use of Delphos, for Delphi; see the above Dissertation, (Preface, page 46.) where Bentley defends Dr Wotton's opinion. Few Travellers have visited DELPHI, although it is perhaps the most interesting, even in its present state, of all that were Grecian Cities. Some remains of its celebrated Temples may still be seen, astonishing by their prodigious size and workmanship. But the beauty of the Castalian Spring, adorned with wild and hanging foliage, surrounded by the precipices, and rocks of Parnassus, is unequalled. E. D. C. PAGE 116. 1. 10. Th' impelling Floods, that lash her to the Shore: Falconer was too fond of Similes, particularly in the third Edition, where the following was introduced after the above line: "As some benighted Traveller, through the Shade, And yawning pits, and quaginires lurk before And after the ninth, and tenth Lines in the same Page, "As some fell Conqueror, frantic with success, Sheds o'er the Nations ruin and distress." Both these Similes come too quick after that of the retreating army. In this, and other similar instances, I have preferred the second Edition. PAGE 117. After the fourth Line, the second Edition reads, "Such flaming horror, Aмos' † Son foretold, Down-rushing on th' Assyrian King of old." And in the same Page, subsequent to the fourth Line, in the same Edition, "Aghast on deck the shivering Wretches stood, While Fear, and chill Despair congealed their blood: Isaiah, Chap. xxx. And lo! all terrible, THE KING OF KINGS Red burning, shoots destruction through the air! After the two lines that follow, are also inserted, "Wide bursts in dazzling sheets the sulphured Flame, PAGE 118. I. 10. Forth issues o'er the Wave the weeping Morn! It is to be lamented that FALCONER did not here describe that beautiful phenomenon called the MARINE RAINBOW, which is sometimes observed in a Sea much agitated. Twenty or thirty may be seen together, and in a position opposite to that of the common Bow. The Weeping Morn has been selected by Mr Pocock as the subject of a large Marine Picture, which he executed with his usual Genius. PAGE 120. 1. 2. still they dread her broaching-to. The great difficulty of steering the Ship at this time before the Wind, is occasioned by its striking her on the quarter, when she makes the least angle on either side; which often forces her stern round, and brings her broadside to the Wind and Sea: this is an effect of the same cause which is explained in the last note of the second Canto. FALCONER. |