IDYL II. "A basket by Hephaestus wrought in gold, Europa bore -a marvel to behold."-P. 291. Even Warton censured the ornaments on this basket as extravagant. I can, however, as readily believe the wonders of Hephæstus' workmanship in this instance, as those of the shield of Hercules, or those of the shield of Achilles. The story of Iö is introduced with good effect. "He hid his godhead, and a bull became."-P. 293. Zeus was much addicted to these transformations, changing himself at one time into a swan, at another into a shower of gold, which was a very sensible mode of introducing himself into the chamber of a beauty; and here, as we read, into a bull. The disguised god landed with his lovely prize in Crete, not far from Gortyna. Here he re-assumed his own form, and, beneath a plane-tree, embraced the maiden. Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon, were the fruit of his dalliance. Europa was afterwards espoused by Asterion, the King of Crete, who brought up her sons with as much tenderness as though they were his own; and Minos was king after him. "Around their king in close array did keep The loud-voiced Tritons, minstrels of the deep."-P. 295. Triton was a son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. He was the trumpeter of his father, and his trumpet was a conch-shell. This god in later times was multiplied into many. "As Venus, when she stood Effulgent on the pearly car, and smiled, Fresh from the deep, and conscious of her form, To see the Tritons tune their vocal shells, And cærulean sisters of the flood With loud acclaim attend her o'er the waves To seek the Idalian bower."-Pleasures of Imagination. There are two beautiful passages in Ovid, taken from this poem. “Mæonis elusam designat imagine tauri Europen: verum taurum, freta vera putares. Et comites clamare suas tactumque vereri Assilientis aquæ ; timidasque reducere plantas." "Præbuit, ut taurus, Tyria sua terga puellæ Sæpe puellares subduxit ab æquore plantas, Et metuit tactus assilientis aquæ.- Fast. v. 605. IDYL III. "In softest murmurs, Hyacinth! prolong The sad, sad woe thy lettered petals keep."-P. 298. Hyacinthus, a Spartan youth, the son of Clio, was in great favour with Apollo. Zephyrus, being enraged that he preferred Apollo to him, blew the discus when flung by Apollo, on a day that Hyacinthus was playing at discus-throwing with that god, against the head of the youth, and so killed him. Apollo, being unable to save his life, changed him into the flower which was named after him, and on whose petals the Greeks fancied they could trace the notes of grief, aï, aï. A festival called the Hyacinthia was celebrated for three days in each year at Sparta, in honour of the god and his unhappy favourite. "The tears by Naiads shed are brimful bourns."-P. 299. Bourn, a stream of water. The word "burn" is yet in use in Scotland in this sense. Browne uses it in the following passage from his Britannia's Pastorals: "By this had Chanticleer, the village-clock, The hills and valleys here and there resound Began to leap and catch the drowned fly, "Lorn Echo mid her rocks thy silence mourns, Nor with her mimic tones thy voice renews."- P 299. The Nymph Echo was of a very kind disposition, and among other lovers had favoured Zeus. She was so complaisant as to keep watch for him when he was toying with any other of the Nymphs. On such occasions she used to engage Hera in conversation; and as she was very fluent in speech, and entertaining withal, she generally succeeded to admiration in detaining the jealous goddess, while her vagrant lord was indulging his taste for variety. But Hera at last discovered the trick, and declared that Echo should in future have little use of her tongue; and immediately she lost all power of expressing any thing else than the sounds which she heard. "Nor so much Ceyx wailed for Halcyon."-P. 300. Ceyx perished by shipwreck; and his wife, on finding his lifeless body on the strand, cast herself into the sea. The gods, out of compassion, changed them both into the birds called Hal cyons. "Nor in the valley, neighbour to the sun, The funeral birds so wail their Memnon's tomb upon."-P. 300. Aurora was so much enamoured of Tithonus that she besought Zeus to make him immortal; but she forgot to ask immortal youth for him; so that while she was in her fresh and imperishable youth, her paramour became infirm and old, whereupon she forsook his bed, but was still kind to him, although it was said by some, that, vexed at the squeaking treble of the old immortal, she turned him into a grashopper: but by this Tithonus, when he was yet young, she had two sons, of whom Memnon was one. He was slain before Troy by Achilles. Aurora was so disconsolate at his death, that she entreated Zeus to confer on him such honours as should distinguish his memory from that of all other mortals. He consented to do this, and immediately a numerous flight of birds issued from the funeral pyre on which the body was laid, and after they had thrice flown round the flames, they divided themselves into two bodies, and fought so fiercely that above half of them fell into the fire. These birds were called Memnonides, and were said to return annually to the tomb of Memnon, at Troas, and repeat the same bloody engagement. "When in a garden fair, Mallows, crisp dill, or parsley, yields to fate, These with another year regerminate."-P. 303. "There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the ground, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant; but man dieth and wasteth away ; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he ?"— Job, ch. xiv. |
