Select Poems Of Thomas Gray Part 23

The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown"

(Gray). See on _Eton Coll._ 4. The MS. has "hallow'd head."

91. _The rose of snow_, etc. "The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster" (Gray).

Cf. Shakes. 1 _Hen. VI._ ii. 4:

"No, Plantagenet, 'Tis not for shame, but anger, that thy cheeks Blush for pure shame, to counterfeit our roses."

93. _The bristled boar_. "The silver boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of _the Boar_" (Gray). Scott (notes to _Lay of Last Minstrel_) says: "The crest or bearing of a warrior was often used as a _nom de guerre_. Thus Richard III. acquired his well-known epithet, 'the Boar of York.'" Cf. Shakes. _Rich. III._ iv. 5: "this most b.l.o.o.d.y boar;"

v. 2: "The wretched, b.l.o.o.d.y, and usurping boar," etc.

98. See on 48 above.

99. _Half of thy heart_. "Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her lord is well known.[2] The monuments of his regret and sorrow for the loss of her[3] are still to be seen at Northampton, Geddington, Waltham, and other places" (Gray). Cf. Horace, _Od._ i. 3, 8: "animae dimidium meae."

[Footnote 2: See Tennyson, _Dream of Fair Women_:

"Or her who knew that Love can vanquish Death, Who kneeling, with one arm about her king, Drew forth the poison with her balmy breath, Sweet as new buds in spring."]

[Footnote 3: Gray refers to the "Eleanor crosses," erected at the places where the funeral procession halted each night on the journey from Hardby, in Nottinghamshire (near Lincoln), where the queen died, to Westminster. Of the thirteen (or, as some say, fifteen) crosses only three now remain--at Northampton, Geddington, and Waltham. The one at Charing Cross in London has been replaced by a fac-simile of the original. These monuments were all exquisite works of Gothic art, fitting memorials of _la chere Reine_, "the beloved of all England,"

as Walsingham calls her.]

101. _Nor thus forlorn_. In MS. "nor here forlorn;" in next line, "Leave your despairing Caradoc to mourn;" in 103, "yon black clouds;"

in 104, "They sink, they vanish;" in 105, "But oh! what scenes of heaven on Snowdon's height;" in 106, "their golden skirts."

107. Cf. Dryden, _State of Innocence_, iv. 1: "Their glory shoots upon my aching sight."

109. "It was the common belief of the Welsh nation that King Arthur was still alive in Fairyland, and would return again to reign over Britain" (Gray).

In the MS. this line and the next read thus:

"From Cambria's thousand hills a thousand strains Triumphant tell aloud, another Arthur reigns."

110. "Both Merlin and Taliessin had prophesied that the Welsh should regain their sovereignty over this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor" (Gray).

111. _Many a baron bold_. Cf. _L'Allegro_, 119: "throngs of knights and barons bold."

The reading in the MS. is,

"Youthful knights, and barons bold, With dazzling helm, and horrent spear."

112. _Their starry fronts_. Cf. Milton, _Ode on the Pa.s.sion_, 18: "His starry front;" Statius, _Theb._ 613: "Heu! ubi siderei vultus."

115. _A form divine_. Elizabeth. Wakefield quotes Spenser's eulogy of the queen, _Shep. Kal._ Apr.:

"Tell me, have ye seene her angelick face, Like Phoebe fayre?

Her heavenly haveour, her princely grace, Can you well compare?

The Redde rose medled with the White yfere, In either cheeke depeincten lively chere; Her modest eye, Her Majestie, Where have you seene the like but there?"

117. "Speed, relating an audience given by Queen Elizabeth to Paul Dzialinski, amba.s.sador of Poland, says: 'And thus she, lion-like rising, daunted the malapert orator no less with her stately port and majestical deporture, than with the tartnesse of her princelie checkes'" (Gray). The MS. reads "A lion-port, an awe-commanding face."

121. "Taliessin, chief of the bards, flourished in the sixth century.

His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration among his countrymen" (Gray).

As Hales remarks, there is no authority for connecting him with Arthur, as Tennyson does in his _Holy Grail_.

123. Cf. Congreve, _Ode to Lord G.o.dolphin_: "And soars with rapture while she sings."

124. _The eye of heaven_. Wakefield quotes Spenser, _F. Q._ 1. 3. 4,

"Her angel's face As the great eye of heaven shined bright."

Cf. Shakes. _Rich. II._ iii. 2: "the searching eye of heaven."

_Many-colour'd wings_. Cf. Shakes. _Temp._ iv. 1: "Hail, many-colour'd messenger;" and Milton, _P. L._ iii. 642:

"Wings he wore Of many a colour'd plume sprinkled with gold."

126. Gray quotes Spenser, _F. Q._ Proeme, 9:

"Fierce warres and faithful loves shall moralize my song."

128. "Shakespeare" (Gray). Cf. _Il Penseroso_, 102: "the buskin'd stage;" that is, the tragic stage.

129. _Pleasing pain_. Cf. Spenser, _F. Q._ vi. 9, 10: "sweet pleasing payne;" and Dryden, _Virg. Ecl._ iii. 171: "Pleasing pains of love."

131. "Milton" (Gray).

133. "The succession of poets after Milton's time" (Gray).

135. _Fond_. Foolish. See on _Prog. of Poesy_, 46.

On the couplet, cf. Dekker, _If this be not a good play_, etc.:

"Thinkest thou, base lord, Because the glorious Sun behind black clouds Has awhile hid his beams, he's darken'd forever, Eclips'd never more to shine?"

137. Cf. _Lycidas_, 169: "And yet anon repairs his drooping head;"

and Fletcher, _Purple Island_, vi. 64: "So soon repairs her light, trebling her new-born raies."

141. Mitford remarks that there is a pa.s.sage (which he misquotes, as usual) in the _Thebaid_ of Statius (iii. 81) similar to this, describing a bard who had survived his companions:

"Sed jam nudaverat ensem Magnanimus vates, et nunc trucis ora tyranni, Nunc ferrum adspectans: 'Nunquam tibi sanguinis hujus Jus erit, aut magno feries imperdita Tydeo Pectora; _vado equidem exsultans_ et _ereptaque fata_ Insequor, et comites feror expectatus ad umbras; _Te_ Superis, fratrique.' Et jam media orsa loquentis Abstulerat plenum capulo latus."

Cf. also a pa.s.sage in Pindar (_Olymp._ i. 184), which Gray seems to have had in mind:

[Greek: Eie se te touton Hupsou chronon patein, eme Te tossade nikaphorois Homilein, k. t. l.

143. Cf. Virgil, _Ecl._ viii. 59: