Millions of suppliant Crouds the Shrine attend. And all degrees before the Goddess bendo;; The Poor theRich, the Valiant, and the Sage And boasting Youth, and narrative Old-age. Temple of Fame 5 N that foft feafon, when defcending show'rs Call forth the greens, and wake the rifing How'rs; When op'ning buds falute the welcome day, And earth relenting feels the genial ray; As balmy fleep had charm'd my cares to reft, And love itself was banish'd from my breast, (What time the morn mysterious vifions brings, While purer flumbers spread their golden wings) A train of phantoms in wild order rose, And join'd, this intellectual scene compose. NOTES. 10 VER. 1. In that foft season, etc.] This Poem is introduced in the manner of the Provencial Poets, whofe works were for the moft part Visions, or pieces of imagination, and conftantly defcriptive. From thefe, Petrarch and Chaucer frequently borrow the idea of their poems. See the Trionfi of the former, and the Dream, Flower and the Leaf, etc, of the latter. The Author of this therefore chofe the fame fort of Exordium. P. I ftood, methougt, betwixt earth, feas, and skies; The whole creation open to my eyes : In air felf-balanc'd hung the globe below, Where mountains rife and circling oceans flow; 20 25 Whofe tow'ring fummit ambient clouds conceal'd. High on a rock of Ice the ftructure lay, Steep its afcent, and flipp'ry was the way; IMITATIONS. VER. 11. etc.] These verses are hinted from the following of Chaucer, Book ii. Tho' beheld I fields and plains, Now hills, and now mountains, Now valeis, and now foreftes, And now unneth great beftes, Now towns, now great trees, Now fhippes fayling in the fees. P. VER. 27. High on a rock of Ice, etc.] Chaucer's third book of Fame. It stood upon fo high a rock; Higher ftandeth none in Spayne 30 The wond'rous rock like Parian marble shone, And fix their own, with labour, in their place: IMITATIONS. What manner ftone this rock was, For it was like a lymed glass, But of what congel'd matere It was, I nifte redily; And found that it was every dele, VER. 31. Infcriptions here, etc.] Tho faw 1 all the hill y-grave Ther names by, for out of drede of So unfamous was woxe her fame ; But men faid, what may ever laft. P. |