CIV. Saint Peter, who has hitherto been known For an impetuous saint, upraised his keys, Who fell like Phaeton, but more at ease, CV. He first sank to the bottom-like his works, It may be, still, like dull books on a shelf, 99 19 CVI. As for the rest, to come to the conclusion And show'd me what I in my turn have shown; Was, that King George slipp'd into heaven for one And when the tumult dwindled to a calm, I left him practising the hundredth psalm. NOTES TO THE VISION OF JUDGMENT. 1 [George III. died the 29th of January, 1820,- —a year in which the revolutionary spirit broke out all over the south of Europe.] 2 [Louis XVI., guillotined in January, 1793.] 3 ["I believe it is almost impossible for words to give an idea of the beauty and variety which this magnificent phenomenon displayed. The luminous arch had broken into irregular masses, streaming with much rapidity in different directions, varying continually in shape and interest, and extending themselves from north, by the east, to north. The usual pale light of the aurora strongly resembled that produced by the combustion of phosphorus; a very slight tinge of red was noticed when the aurora was most vivid, but no other colours were visible."—Sir E. Parry's Voyage in 181920, p. 135.] 4 [Johanna Southcote, the aged lunatic, who fancied herself, and was believed by many followers, to be with child of a new Messiah, died in 1815.] 5 [This refers to the opposition of George III. to the Catholic claims.] 6 [A gold or gilt key, peeping from below the skirts of the coat, marks a lord chamberlain.] 7 [An allusion to Horace Walpole's expression in a letter-"the summer has set in with its usual severity."] 8 [Among the various persons to whom the letters of Junius have been attributed we find the Duke of Portland, Lord George Sackville, Sir Philip Francis, Mr. Burke, Mr. Dunning, the Rev. John Horne Tooke, Mr. Hugh Boyd, Dr. Wilmot. "I don't know what to think," says Lord Byron in 1813. "Why should Junius be dead? If suddenly apoplexed, would he rest in his grave without sending his eldwλov to shout in the ears of posterity, 'Junius was X. Y. Z., Esq., buried in the parish of ***** › Repair his monument, ye churchwardens! Print a new edition of his Letters, ye booksellers! Impossible, -the man must be alive, and will never die without the disclosure. I like him ;-he was a good hater."-Sir Philip Francis, whose pretensions Lord Byron seems to favour, died in 1818.] 9 [The mystery of "l'homme au masque de fer," the everlasting puzzle of the last century, has in the opinion of some been cleared up, by a French work published in 1825, and which formed the basis of an entertaining one in English by Lord Dover.] 10 [The well-known motto of Junius is, "Stat nominis umbra.”] 11 [Mr. Southey's residence was on the shore of Derwentwater, near the Mountain Skiddaw.] 12 [Mediocribus esse poetis Non Dî, non homines, non concessere columnæ.-Horace.] 13 [The king's trick of thus repeating his words was a fertile source of ridicule to Peter Pindar (Dr. Wolcot).] 14 [Henry James Pye, the predecessor of Mr. Southey in the poet-laureateship, died in 1813. He was the author of many works besides his official Odes, and among others "Alfred," an epic poem. Pye was a man of good family in Berkshire, sat some time in parliament, and was eminently respectable in everything but his poetry.] 15 See "Life of Henry Kirke White." 16 Alfonso, speaking of the Ptolomean system, said that "had he been consulted at the creation of the world, he would have spared the maker some absurdities." 17 See Aubrey's account of the apparition which disappeared "with a curious perfume, and a most melodious twang;" or see the "Antiquary," vol. i., p. 225. 18 A drowned body lies at the bottom till rotten; it then floats, as most people know. 19 [Southey's Vision of Judgment appears to us to be an ill-judged and not a wellexecuted work. Milton alone has ever founded a fiction on the basis of revelation without degrading his subject; but Milton has been blamed by the most judicious critics, and his warmest admirers, for expressing the counsels of Eternal Wisdom, and the decrees of Almighty Power, by words assigned to the Deity. It is impossible to deceive ourselves into a belief that words proceeded from the Holy Spirit, except on the warrant of inspiration itself. It is here only that Milton fails, and here Milton sometimes shocks. The blasphemies of Milton's devils offend not a pious ear, because they are devils who utter them. Nor are we displeased with the poet's presumption in feigning language for heavenly spirits, because it is a language that lifts the soul to heaven. The words are human; but the truths they express, and the doctrines they teach, are divine.-Blackwood, 1822.] VOL. II. |