Letter to Macpherson. Macpherson had published some poems which he claimed to be translations from the ancient Gaelic poet, Ossian. Johnson asserted that they were forgeries; Macpherson wrote threatening him with personal violence; this letter, Johnson told Boswell, "put an end to our correspondence." 10. your Homer. Macpherson had made a prose translation of the Iliad. On the Art of Flying. — Rasselas was the fourth son of the Emperor of Abyssinia. According to custom he, with his brothers and sisters, was "confined in a private palace till the order of succession should call him to the throne. The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the Abyssinian princes was a spacious valley, surrounded on every side by mountains. The only passage by which it could be entered was a cavern that passed under a rock. The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth which opened into the valley was closed with gates of iron forged by the artificers of ancient days, so massy that no man could without the help of engines open or shut them." (Chapter I.) 95 ff. This passage is of special interest in view of the use of airships in war to-day (1917). Johnson's words, however, can hardly be considered as prophecy. BOSWELL. This First Meeting took place in 1763; Johnson was fifty-five years old. Davies was a bookseller. 11. Reynolds was the most famous portrait painter of the day. He made several portraits of Johnson. 35. Miss Williams, a dependent of Johnson's. 40. Garrick, then the greatest actor and theatrical manager of London, had been a pupil of Johnson's; and the two had come to the great city together to seek their fortune. Character of Goldsmith. 6. Edward Malone, editor of Shakspere, and friend of Boswell. 20. He had sagacity, etc. This sentence, with its many high-sounding polysyllables, is very much in Johnson's own manner. Boswell was very jealous of any one who enjoyed Johnson's favor as Goldsmith did; a fact which prevented his giving an altogether fair picture of Goldsmith. 32. Nihil, etc. Inaccurately quoted from Johnson's Latin epitaph on Goldsmith, in Westminster Abbey: Qui nullum fere scribendi genus non tetigit, nullum quod tetigit non ornavit · "who failed to touch scarcely any kind of writing, and failed to adorn no kind that he touched." 37. parterre, a flower garden arranged on some formal design. 43. un étourdi, a rattle-brain. 54. Fantoccini, a puppet-show. 76. The Traveller; or, A Prospect of Society, is a poem in which Goldsmith drew a series of pictures of foreign scenes. 81. Mrs. Piozzi, intimate friend of Johnson for twenty years. Her Anecdotes of Johnson and her letters are said to be second only to Boswell in interest. Sir John Hawkins published a life of Johnson a few years before Boswell. Johnson's Manner of Talking. — 8. strongly impregnated, etc., thoroughly filled with the spirit of Johnson. GOLDSMITH. -1. Auburn is not an individual village. It contains some features from Lissoy in Ireland, Goldsmith's early home, and some from other villages both in England and Ireland. 4. parting, departing. 10. cot, cottage. 12. decent, comely. Cf. Il Penseroso, 36. 27. mistrustless, free from mistrust or suspicion. smutted, dirty. The phrase means that the youth was entirely unconscious of the fact that his face was dirty. 34. all these charms are fled. Goldsmith wrote this poem to lament the moving of population from the country to the cities. 38. The preacher, like his village, is not a photograph, but a composite picture. It is drawn from the poet's father and from his brother; and some characteristics (as, for instance, line 60) are from the writer himself. The Schoolmaster is a description chiefly of Goldsmith's early teacher, "Paddy" Byrne. 16. cipher, work out arithmetical problems. 17. presage, foretell. 18. gauge, calculate the capacity of barrels. The Retaliation, a series of humorous characterizations of his friends, was written in reply to an epigram on Goldsmith by the actor Garrick : "Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll, 6. Townshend was a Whig member of Parliament. 7-8. These lines commemorate Burke's lack of ability as a speaker. The House of Commons would not stay to hear his speeches, though they read them, when printed, with enthusiasm. BURKE. The Letter to the Sheriffs, addressed really to the whole body of voters in Bristol, which Burke represented in Parliament, was occasioned by the passage of bills granting letters of marque and suspending the Habeas Corpus Act in certain cases. (See any history of the United States for explanation of the meaning and objects of these bills.) It expresses the same thoughts as Burke's better known speeches On Conciliation and On Taxation of the American Colonies. He never wavered in his opposition to the course of government or in his prediction of defeat for it. 53. court gazette, official publication of the government. 62. author, etc., Thomas Paine, whose Common Sense appeared several months before the Declaration of Independence. Letter to a Noble Lord.· A pension had been granted to Burke by the Crown, and the grant had been attacked by the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale. The Letter, addressed to a kinsman of the Marquis of Rockingham, a great benefactor of Burke, is a review of his services to his country and a defense of the grant. A proposal to make Burke a peer, with the title of Lord Beaconsfield, had been abandoned when Burke's son died. 12. HE, Burke's son Richard. COLLINS. This Ode was written in memory of British soldiers who fell during the War of the Austrian Succession. Ode to Evening. -1. oaten stop. See note on Lycidas, 33. 7. brede, embroidery. wove, for "woven." See note on Il Penseroso, line 91. 11-12. Cf. Lycidas, 28. 21. folding star, the star indicating the hour when flocks should be put into the fold. 23 ff. Hours elves - nymph - Pleasures; these are all subjects to prepare. 41. wont, is accustomed. 49. Sylvan shed, trees. 51, 52. thy refers here, as everywhere else in the poem, to “evening." - GRAY. The Elegy is probably the most famous English poem composed between Milton and Wordsworth, and its author is by most critics ranked as the greatest poet in that period. 1. parting, departing. 7. beetle. Cf. Ode to Evening, 11-12. 26. glebe, soil. 32. This line may be called the "text" of the poem. 35. hour is the subject of awaits. 39. fretted vault, ceiling ornamented with carvings. 41. storied urn, burial urn ornamented with pictures. 43. provoke, call forth. 45-48. "Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid some heart once filled with inspiration hands that might have governed a nation or might have written great and moving poetry." This paraphrase may help to interpret other stanzas, e.g., 57–60. 52. genial, natural. 53-56. This stanza, despite a century and a half of wearisome quotation and mis-quotation, may still be kept in mind as a specimen of truly great poetry. 57. John Hampden was a prominent Puritan who refused to pay taxes levied illegally by Charles I. 60. The eighteenth century, as a rule, believed that Cromwell's personal ambition was responsible for the bloodshed of the Civil War. 71. (to) heap, etc. Modifies forbade (67). It means, “write flattering poetry to gain fame and wealth." Cf. Lycidas, 64– 69. 73. far, i.e., they being far. 81. unlettered muse, the untrained poets who wrote the inscriptions on their tombs. 89. parting. See note on line 1. 95. chance, perchance. 113. the next (morn). COWPER prefaced The Task with these words: "The history of the following production is briefly this: A lady, fond of blank verse, demanded a poem of that kind from the Author, and gave him the Sofa for a subject. He obeyed; and having much leisure, connected another subject with it; and pursuing the train of thought to which his situation and train of mind led him, brought forth at length, instead of the trifle which he at first intended, a serious affair a Volume." The poem, as Cowper truly said, "cannot boast a regular plan"; nor has it a clearly-marked central theme. It contains some satirical passages, some political, some descriptive; but the passages of greatest merit are reflective in character, like that given in this volume. The title of Book II, "The Time-Piece," Cowper thought was very appropriate. It "is intended to strike the hour that gives notice of approaching judgment, dealing pretty largely in the signs of the times." The Task was written in 1783-4; after much agitation the slave trade was abolished in England in 1808; slavery itself was abolished in all British colonies in 1834. The first line of the Selection is an echo of Jeremiah IX, 2. Sonnet. Mrs. Unwin was Cooper's closest friend and faithful companion for some thirty years. 8. This line makes a claim found in many poets; it is almost a regular feature of Elizabethan sonnet-sequences. BURNS. ing. brattle, scamper. To a Mouse. 1. sleekit, sleek. 5. laith, loath. 4. bickerin, hurryrin, run. 6. pattle, plow spade. 13. whyles, sometimes. 14. maun, must. 15. daimen icker, occasional ear of grain. thrave, shock. 17. lave, remainder. 20. silly, weak. wa's, walls. win's, winds. 21. big, build. 22. foggage, rank grass. 24. snell, sharp. 29. coulter, plow. 31. stibble, stubble. 34. but, without. hald, hold, home. 35. thole, endure. 36. cranreuch, frost. 37. no thy lane, not alone. 40. a-gley, awry. To a Mountain Daisy. - 3. stoure, dust. 15. glinted, glanced. 21. bield, shelter. 23. histie, barren. 29. plow-share. 31 ff. When Burns moralizes, he frequently drops into English. 39. The card is that of the compass. he Tam O'Shanter is Burns's only tale. It is probable that the experiences at the inn are much like many of the poet's own sat far too often "bousing at the nappy." A public-house in Ayr said to be Burns's favorite resort is called Tam O'Shanter Inn. The motto of the poem is from a translation of the sixth book of the Eneid by Gawin (or Gavin) Douglas, a Scotch poet who died in 1522. Brownyis (brownies) and Bogillis (bogles, bogies) are goblins or spirits. 1. chapman billies, peddler fellows. 2. drouthy, dry, thirsty. 5. bousing, drinking. 18. as taen, as to 24. siller, 4. tak the gate, take the road, go home. nappy, ale. 6. fou, full. unco, very. 8. mosses, marshes. slaps, holes in fences. 13. fand, found. 14. frae, from. ae, one. 15-16. The poet's tribute to his birthplace. have taken. 19. skellum, rascal. 20. bletherin, idle-talking. blellum, babbler. 23. ilka, every. melder, grinding. silver, money. 25. naig, nag, horse. ca'd, driven. "That you and the blacksmith got roaring full for every horse that was shod.” 28. Kirkton, Churchtown; probably no particular village is referred to. 30. Doon. Ayr was on the river Doon. 31. warlocks, wizards. mirk, dark. 33. gars me greet, makes me weep. 39. ingle, chimney corner. 40. reamin swats, foaming ale. 41. Souter, shoemaker. 43. lo'ed, loved. 59-66. Cf. note on To a Mountain Daisy, line 31. It may be questioned whether the Scotch poem is improved by this bit of sentimental English. Evanishing (66) certainly seems not to fit. 61. Supply "that" before falls. 67. tether, hold back. 69. This line means "midnight." 71. sic, such. 78. Deil, devil. 81. skelpit, hurried. dub, puddle. 82. despising, regardless of. 84. crooning, etc., humming some old Scotch song. 86. |