my foul is bath'd in ecftafies,

Till all

And lapp'd in Paradise.

Infcription in a Hermitage, ver. 29:

Or let me fit

Then, as my taper waxes dim,
Chaunt, ere I fleep, my meafur'd hymn.

See alfo Triumph of Ifis, ver. 157:

Ye temples dim, where pious duty pays
Her holy hymns of ever-echoing praise.

And Grave of Arthur, ver. 179:

He plans the chauntry's choral fhrine,

The daily dirge, and rites divine.

200

To mark repetitions of this kind is not altogether useless, as fuch things are of service in developing or illuftrating a character. I hazard a fuggeftion that this fondness for choir-service may have been, though infenfibly, the cause that our poet has repeatedly made ufe of the word "chaunt," applied to poetical compofition, and to exprefs fimply finging.

V. 199. The clear flow-dittied chaunt,] Il Penferofo, 163. “anthems clear," &c. Comus, ver. 86, "fmooth-dittied fong."

V. 200. Till all my foul is bath'd in ecftafies,

And lapp'd in Paradife.]

Il Penferofo, ver. 161:

There let the pealing organ blow

To the full-voic'd quire below,

In fervice high and anthems clear,

As may with fwcetnefs, through mine ear,

Diffolve me into ecftafies,

And bring all heaven before my eyes.

Comus, ver. 256:

Who, as they fung, would take the prifon'd soul,

And lap it in Elyfium.

See also Spenfer, F. 2. IV. ii. 9:

That having caft him in a foolish trance,

He feemed brought to bed in Paradife.

To whom perhaps it came from Chaucer; Floure and Leafe,

ver. 113:

205

Far in fequefter'd iles of the deep dome,
There lonesome liften to the facred founds,
Which, as they lengthen thro' the Gothic vaults,
In hollow murmurs reach my ravish'd ear.
Nor when the lamps expiring yield to night,
And folitude returns, would I forfake
The folemn manfion, but attentive mark
The due clock fwinging flow with fweepy fway,
Measuring Time's flight with momentary found.

Whereof I had fo inly grete plefure,

As methought I furely ravishid was
Into Paradise.

Dryden's paraphrafe of the laft paffage, which by the way blends fome of the expreffions in the two former, may be confidered as a very fair specimen of the manner in which he fills up the outline of his great original:

And I fo ravifh'd with her heav'nly note,

I ftood intranc'd, and had no room for thought,
But all o'erpower'd with ecftafy of blifs,

I feemed brought to bed in Paradife.

V. 200. my foul is bath'd in ecftafies,] Ode on Summer, ver.

126:

Bathes my blithe heart in ecftafics.

Comus, ver. 812:

Will bathe the drooping fpirits in delight.

But the metaphor is common in Spenfer, under its various modifications of batbed, fwimming, drowned, in pleafure.

V. 209. The due clock fwinging flow] In The Hamlet, ver. 28. "the curfeu echoes duly." Il Penferofo, ver. 76. " Swinging flow "with fullen roar."

Ibid. with fweepy fway,] Gray's Fragment on Education and Government:

And where the deluge burft with fweepy fway.

216

Nor let me fail to cultivate my mind With the foft thrillings of the tragic Muse, Divine Melpomene, fweet Pity's nurse, Queen of the ftately ftep, and flowing pall. Now let Monimia mourn with streaming eyes Her joys incestuous, and polluted love: Now let foft Juliet in the gaping tomb Print the last kifs on her true Romeo's lips, His lips yet reeking from the deadly draught: Or Jaffier kneel for one forgiving look. Nor feldom let the Moor on Defdemone Pour the mifguided threats of jealous rage. By foft degrees the manly torrent steals From my fwoln eyes; and at a brother's woe My big heart melts in fympathizing tears.

220

225

What are the fplendors of the gaudy court, Its tinfel trappings, and its pageant pomps?

V.217. Now let foft Juliet in the gaping tomb, &c.] See Act. v. Jul. What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true-love's hand?

I will kifs thy lips:

Haply fome poifon yet does hang on them.

Thy lips are warm.

V. 227. Its tinfel trappings, and its pageant pomps?] Par. Loft, ix. 36:

Bafes and tinfel trappings, gorgeous knights, &c.

L'Allegro, ver. 127:

And pomp and feaft and revelry

With mask and antique pageantry.

To me far happier feems the banish'd lord,
Amid Siberia's unrejoicing wilds

Who pines all lonesome, in the chambers hoar 230
Of fome high caftle fhut, whose windows dim
In diftant ken difcover tracklefs plains,
Where Winter ever whirls his icy car;
While ftill repeated objects of his view,
The gloomy battlements, and ivied fpires,
That crown the folitary dome, arise;

235

While from the topmost turret the flow clock,
Far heard along th' inhofpitable wastes,
With fad-returning chime awakes new grief;
Ev'n he far happier feems than is the proud, 240
The potent Satrap, whom he left behind
'Mid Mofcow's golden palaces, to drown
In ease and luxury the laughing hours.

Illustrious objects ftrike the gazer's mind With feeble blifs, and but allure the fight, 245 Nor rouze with impulfe quick th' unfeeling heart.

V. 233. Where Winter ever whirls his icy car;] Milton on the death of a fair infant, ver. 15. reprefents Winter" in icy-pearled "car." But fee The Paffion, ver. 36 :

See, fee the chariot and those rushing wheels,

That whirl'd the Prophet up at Chebar flood.

Drayton fays of the Britons, "they could wield their armed cars." Poly-olb. S. x. vol. iii. p. 850. Our poet again in Newmarket, ver. 174:

Whirl'd the fwift axle through the Pythian duft,

Thus feen by fhepherd from Hymettus' brow,
What dædal landscapes fmile! here palmy groves,
Refounding once with Plato's voice, arise,
Amid whofe umbrage green her filver head 250
Th' unfading olive lifts; here vine-clad hills.
Lay forth their purple ftore, and funny vales
In profpect vaft their level laps expand,
Amid whose beauties glistering Athens tow'rs.
Tho' thro' the blissful fcenes Iliffus roll

255

His fage-infpiring flood, whofe winding marge The thick-wove laurel fhades; tho' rofeate Morn Pour all her fplendors on th' empurpled scene; Yet feels the hoary Hermit truer joys,

As from the cliff, that o'er his cavern hangs, 260 He views the piles of fall'n Persepolis

In deep arrangement hide the dark fome plain.

V. 247. Thus feen by fhepherd from Hymettus' brow,
What dædal landscapes fmile! &c.]

See the defcription of Athens in Par. Reg. iv. 247:
There flowery hill Hymettus with the found.
Of bees induftrious murmur oft invites
To ftudious mufing; there Iliffus rolls

His whispering ftream; within the walls then view
The fchools of ancient fages, &c.

Compare alfo Par. Loft, iv. 254:

Or palmy hilloc, or the flowery lap

Of fome irriguous valley spread her store,

Flowers of all hues, and without thorn the rofe;

Another fide umbrageous grots and caves

Of cool recefs, o'er which the mantling vine

Lays forth her purple grape, &c.