In hurdled cotes amid the field secure, Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors To them who lived; nor on the virtue thought 186 190 195 For prospect what well used had been the pledge 200 Of immortality. So little knows Any, but God alone, to value right The good before him, but perverts best things 186. hurdled, fenced about with sticks or twigs closely interwoven. -secure. See II. 399. 192. So clomb. See John x. 1. 193. lewd meant originally belonging to the laity, hence ignorant, in which sense it is perhaps used here. "The 194. the Tree of Life. tree of life also in the midst of the garden." Genesis ii. 9. 196. cormorant. The cormo 205 210 198. virtue, peculiar power or properties. 200. For prospect, as a place from which to look abroad. had been, would have been. 210. Eden. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden." Genesis ii. 8. 211-214. Auran, or Haran (also called Charran), was a city in the northwestern part of Mesopotamia, the name anciently given cant is a kind of sea-fowl, ex- to the country lying between the tremely voracious. rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Or where the sons of Eden long before Our death, the Tree of Knowledge, grew fast by How, from that sapphire fount the crispéd brooks, Seleucia was a city in the southeastern part of Mesopotamia, on the river Tigris, built near the ancient Telassar, by Seleucus, a Macedonian general who became king of Syria and the founder of a line of Grecian kings. - The exact situation of the Garden of Eden has always been a matter of conjecture. pleasant soil. The word Eden means pleasure, delight. 218. all amid them, "in the midst of the garden." Genesis ii. 9.-blooming, blooming with. 221. the Tree of Knowledge. 240 Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold 245 Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm, If true, here only, and of delicious taste. 238. orient, eastern; such as is found in the East. 239. error, wandering course. 241. nice Art, nice Art had set. 242. boon, bountiful. 245. unpierced, not penetrated by the rays of the sun. 246. Imbrowned, darkened. 247. of various view, presentng various scenes. 250 255 260 265 250. amiable. lovely or pleasing to the sight. See Psalm lxxxiv. 1.- Hesperian fables. See III. 568. - true, proved true. 261. or connects fall and unite. 264. quire, choir. - apply, add; or, ply; employ. 265. attune, make tuneful. 266. universal Pan. Pan was the god of shepherds and flocks. 1 Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance, Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye; As the word Pan in Greek signifies all, he is sometimes supposed to typify all Nature. He often led the dances of the Nymphs. 267. the Graces, three in number, were the attendants of Venus, the goddess of beauty, and sometimes of other deities.-the Hours were the goddesses of the seasons, whose course was represented in their dance. 269-272. Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres, was seized by Pluto, or Dis, the god of the infernal regions, while she was gathering flowers in the fertile plain of Enna in Sicily, and borne away by him to be the queen of the lower world. Her mother, in ignorance of her fate, sought her through the world. 273. Daphne. The city of Antioch, in Syria, was situated not far from the sea in the beautiful valley of the river Orontes. Near it was a celebrated grove, called Daphne and consecrated to Apollo. 274. Castalian spring. Castalia was a fountain on Mount Parnassus, sacred to Apollo and the Ethiop line Muses. The spring that w the grove of Daphne was a called. 275-279. that Nyseian Nysa or Nyssa in Africa, the god Bacchus was said t been brought up. Cha Ham, was a name given to ter Ammon, who was worsh in Libya, in the north of A Amalthea was sometime sidered as the mother of Bad Rhea here seems to be the as Cybele, who is called the er of all the gods. 280-285. Mount Amara v Ethiopia, near the Equin line. In the midst of the of which the ridge was comp or on the summit of the tain, there was said to be a and beautiful plain. Her children of the kings of sinia were kept confined, un the death of their father o them was taken from this " py Valley" to succeed hi The hill of Amara was said a whole day's journey his Nilus head, the source of Nile. By Nilus' head, enclosed with shining rock, Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed; 292. image. "God created man in his own image." Genesis i. 27. 300. front, forehead. — sublime, elevated; noble. 301. hyacinthine, probably dark 285 290 295 300 305 310 brown or black. The ancient poets used the word to represent different colors. 308. required is here a partici ple. |