And chides the tardy seals that yet detain Thy Lion, Judah, from his destined reign! And who is He? the vast, the awful form,(53) Girt with the whirlwind, sandaled with the storm? A western cloud around his limbs is spread, His crown a rainbow, and a sun his head. To highest heaven he lifts his kingly hand, And treads at once the ocean and the land; And, hark! his voice amid the thunder's roar, His dreadful voice, that time shall be no more! Lo! cherub hands the golden courts prepare, Lo! thrones arise, and every saint is there;(54) Earth's utmost bounds confess their awful sway, The mountains worship, and the isles obey; Nor sun nor moon they need,-nor day, nor night; God is their temple, and the Lamb their light:(55) And shall not Israel's sons exulting come, Note 9, page 1, col. 2. The robber riots, or the hermit prays. The mountains of Palestine are full of caverns, which are generally occupied in one or other of Hail the glad beam, and claim their ancient home? the methods here mentioned. Vide Sandys, MaunOn David's throne shall David's offspring reign,drel, and Calmet, Passim. And the dry bones be warm with life again.(56) Hark! white-robed crowds their deep hosannas Note 16, page 2, col. 1. Thy tents, Nebaioth, rise, and, Kedar, thine! tic ruins of Estakhar, or Persepolis, the ancient capital of Persia, an account follows of the wild See Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xiv. p. 43. local traditions just alluded to. Vol. ii. p. 190. Ed. The mighty master of the iv'ry throne. Note 24, page 2, col. 2. Through nature's mazes wandered unconfined. Amst. 1735, 4to. Vide also Sale's Koran; D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. (article Soliman Ben Dao ud); and the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, passim. Note 26, page 2, col. 2. 2 Chron. vii. 3. Viewed the descending flame, and blessed the present God. "And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their The Arabian mythology respecting Solomon is faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worin itself so fascinating, is so illustrative of the pre-shipped." sent state of the country, and on the whole so agreeable to Scripture, that it was judged improper to omit all mention of it, though its wildness might have operated as an objection to making it a principal object in the poem. Note 25, page 2, col. 2. Note 33, page 3, col. 1. Beat o'er her soul the billows of the proud. Note 34, page 3, col. 2. Weep for your country, for your children weep. Note 35, page 3, col. 2. And the pale parent drank her children's gore. Josephus vi. p. 1275. Ed. Huds. And Tadmor thus, and Syrian Balbec rose. Palmyra ("Tadmor in the desert") was really built by Solomon, (1 Kings ix. 2 Chron. viii.) and universal tradition marks him out, with great probability, as the founder of Balbec. Estakhar is also attributed to him by the Arabs. See the Romance of Vathek, and the various Travels into the East, more particularly Chardin's, in which, after a minute and interesting description of the majes- been very exalted when they ascribed so large a Note 36, page 3, col. 2. The stoic tyrant's philosophic pride. 3 share to Titus. For the horrible details of his conduct during the siege of Jerusalem and after its capture, the reader is referred to Josephus. When Note 43, page 4, col. 1. Tabaria's stream. Tabaria (a corruption of Tiberias) is the name we learn that so many captives were crucified, that used for the Sea of Galilee in the old romances. δια το πλήθος χώρα το ενελείπετο τοις ςταυροις και σταυροι τοις σωμασιν; and that after all was over, in cold blood and merriment, he celebrated his brother's birthday with similar sacrifices; we can hardly doubt as to the nature of that untold crime, which disturbed the dying moments of the "darling of the human race.' After all, the cruelties of this man are probably softened in the high priest's narrative. The fall of Jerusalem nearly resembles that of Zaragoza, but it is a Morla who tells the tale. Note 41, page 4, col. 1. The wandering hermit waked the storm of war. Note 44, page 4, col. 1. By northern Brenn, or Scythian Timur led. Note 45, page 4, col. 1. There Gaul's proud knights with boastful mien advance. The insolence of the French nobles twice caused the ruin of the army; once by refusing to serve under Richard Cœur de Lion, and again by reproaching the English with cowardice in St. Louis's expedition to Egypt. See Knollee's History of the Turks. Note 46, page 4, col. 1. Form the long line. The line (combat a la haye), according to Sir Walter Raleigh, was characteristic of French tactics; as the column (herse) was of the English. The English at Créci were drawn up thirty deep. Note 47, page 4, col. 2. Whose giant force Britannia's armies led. Sono gl' Inglesi sagittarii ed hanno Tasso, Gierusal. lib. i. 44. Ireland and Scotland, it is scarcely necessary to observe, were synonymous. Note 48, page 4, col. 2. Lords of the biting axe and beamy spear. The axe of Richard was very famous. See Note 49, page 4, col. 2. 1 And burst his brazen bonds, and cast his cords away. Psalm ii. 3. cvii. 16. Peter the hermit. The world has been so long accustomed to hear the Crusades considered as the height of phrenzy and injustice, that to undertake their defence might be perhaps a hazardous task. We must however recollect, that, had it not been for these extraordinary exertions of generous cou-Warton's Hist. of Anc. Poetry. rage, the whole of Europe would perhaps have fallen, and Christianity been buried in the ruins. It was not, as Voltaire has falsely or weakly asserted, a conspiracy of robbers; it was not an unprovoked attack on a distant and inoffensive nation; it was a blow aimed at the heart of a most powerThen on your tops shall deathless verdure spring. ful and active enemy. Had not the Christian "I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the inkingdoms of Asia been established as a check to the Mahometans, Italy, and the scanty remnant of crease of the field, that ye shall receive no more Christianity in Spain, must again have fallen into the reproach of famine among the heathen.”—And their power; and France herself have needed all the heroism and good fortune of a Charles Martel to deliver her from subjugation. Note 42, page 4, col. 1. While beardless youths and tender maids assume The weighty morion and the glancing plume. See Vertot. Hist. Chev. Malthe, liv. 1. Note 50, page 4, col. 2. they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden," &c. Ezek. xxxvi. Note 51, page 4, col. 2. Courts the bright vision of descending power. "That great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God." Rev. xxi. 10. Ar that dread season when th' indignant North And Elbe slept soft beneath his linden shade:- And the far-distant fife that thrilled along the road. Yes, sweet it seems across some watery dell To catch the war-note on the quivering gale, Oh! song of hope, too long delusive strain! Oh! on that hill may no kind month renew There Europe, soiled with blood her tresses gray, away. Thus mused my soul, as in succession drear Rose each grim shape of Wrath and Doubt and Fear; Defeat and shame in grizzly vision passed, Then as my gaze their waving eagles met, Had fleshed the maiden steel of Brunswic's sword. And are they dreams, these bodings, such as Their lonely comfort o'er the hermit's bed? Thus sadly musing, far my footsteps strayed, That same was she, whose ancient lore refined "It may not be. Destruction's gory wing They fight, they bleed!-Oh! had that blood been When Charles and Valour Austria's armies led; Her backward beaten ranks, and countless slain; "Oh! nursed in many a wile, and practised long, Enough of vengeance! O'er the ensanguined I gaze and seek their numerous host in vain; The manliest firmness in the fairest form- blood, While one firm rock the floods of ruin stayed, And silence marks the track where France has And Albion!"-Darker sorrow veiled his browbeen.) Far other scenes than these my fancy viewed: "Friend of the friendless-Albion! where art thou? |