462. 838. The Morning Post. Coleridge first became a regular contributor to the Post in December, 1799. 839. He and Southey... espoused two partners. Coleridge and Southey married Sarah and Edith Fricker, of Bristol. 842. Botany Bay. An English penal settlement was established in 1787 at Botany Bay, New South Wales. 847. The Excursion. See note on the dedication to Don Juan, line 25, above. 864. Ariosto. An Italian poet (14741533), author of the Orlando Furioso. 871. The épopée. The epic poem. 463. 876. His dear "Waggoners." Words worth's poem The Waggoner, written in 1805, was published in 1819. The poem is minutely descriptive of the lake country that Wordsworth knew so well. 877. He wishes for "a boat." See the Prelude to Wordsworth's Peter Bell. 883. Charles's Wain. Charles's Wagon; the constellation usually known as the Great Bear. 945. O Hesperus! thou bringest all good things. The stanza is an adaptation of one of the Sapphic fragments. 961. When Nero perished. Nero committed suicide in 68 A. D., to save himself from execution following the Senate's proclamation of Galba as emperor. 975. We Cantabs. Students or graduates of Cambridge University. 984. Aristotle. Aristotle's Poetics is one of the world's most famous discussions of the principles of poetry. CANTO IV This canto, of which the greater part is here reprinted, recounts the culmination of the romance between Juan, hero of the epic, and Haidée, daughter of a wealthy pirate and slavedealer on the shores of whose island the sea had cast Juan, sole survivor of a shipwreck. Haidée finds him, loves him, and nurses him back to health. The episode of Haidée and Juan occupies cantos ii, iii, and iv. 464. 43. Pulci was sire. Luigi Pulci (14321487), Italian poet, author of a burlesque epic entitled Il Morgante Maggiore. 469. 456. The Simoom. A hot wind from the desert. 484-6. Venus . . . Laocoön... Gladiator. It is impossible to decide what statue of Venus Byron had in mind. The Laocoon group is a well-known piece of Roman statuary; the so-called Dying Gladiator," equally famous, is not a representation of a gladiator, but of a dying Gaul. SHELLEY OZYMANDIAS 472. 8. The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. The passions survive the hand of the sculptor and the heart of the king. ODE TO THE WEST WIND 473. 21. Mænad. A priestess of Bacchus. 32. Baiæ's bay. Baiæ, near Naples, was a famous watering place during the Roman empire. 43. If I were, etc. The first stanza of the poem has to do chiefly with the effect of the West Wind on the leaves; the second, with its effect on the clouds; and the third, with its effect on the waves. In the first three lines of this stanza these three ideas are woven together. THE INDIAN SERENADE 474. 11. Champak. An Indian tree, somewhat like a magnolia. THE CLOUD 475. 81. Cenotaph. A monument built in honor of a person who is buried in some other place. PROMETHEUS UNBOUND: ACT IV 479. 1. This is the day, etc. Demogorgon's speech gives Shelley's idea of the reconstructed universe for which he was always longing. ADONAIS Shelley's elegy, reminiscent of Milton's 12. Urania. The heavenly Muse, properly the patroness of Astronomy. 480. 30. The Sire of an immortal strain. John Milton. 55. That high Capital. Keats was buried in the Protestant cemetery at Rome. 481. 133. She pined away. Narcissus disdained the love of the nymph Echo; Echo died of grief. 482. 140. To Phoebus was not Hyacinth so dear. The youth Hyacinth, greatly beloved by Apollo, was turned into the flower that bears his name. 141. Nor to himself Narcissus. Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool, and was turned into a flower. 151, 2. The curse of Cain Light on his head. On the head of the critic who, according to the belief of the times, killed Keats with his brutal reviews. 483. 238. The unpastured dragon. The world. 244 ff. The herded wolves, ravens, vultures. Critics "to the conqueror's banner true," i. e., subservient to the political party in power. Keats's friendship with Leigh Hunt, a very advanced Liberal, brought many attacks upon him. 250. The Pythian of the age one arrow 496. The twenty-first of January is St. Agnes's Day; the evening of the twentieth is" the Eve of St. Agnes." The superstition around which the poem centers is made sufficiently clear in the course of the story. 498. 115. The holy loom, etc. On St. Agnes's day, during the celebration of the mass, two lambs might be offered to the church (cf. 1. 71). The nuns afterwards spun and wove the wool. 499. 171. Since Merlin paid his Demon, etc. Merlin, the famous wizard and prophet of Arthurian romance, was the son of a demon, and became himself the victim of magic. See Tennyson's Merlin and Vivien. 174. Tambour frame. An embroidery frame shaped like a tambour, or drum. 500. 241. Clasped like a missal, etc. Clasped probably modifies soul; in the two following lines her soul is likened to a rose that is shut. The line means, then, that her soul was clasped as tightly in sleep as a prayer-book would be by a Christian in a land of Pagans. HYPERION 502. Keats planned to write an epic dealing with the overthrow of Saturn by Jupiter. When the poem was published in 1820, however, only two books and a fragment of a third had been written. 503. 23. There came one. Thea, sister of Hyperion. 30. Ixion's wheel. Ixion was chained for all eternity to a revolving wheel. 504. 147. The rebel three. Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. 166. Hyperion. When the action of the poem commences, the victory of Jupiter is incomplete. Hyperion is still god of the sun. 506. 246. Tellus. Goddess of the earth. 307. Cælus. God of the heavens. ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER 507. George Chapman (1559?-1634) published his translation of Homer in 1598 and 1609. Keats first read it in 1816. 11. Stout Cortez. Historical accuracy would compel the substitution of Balboa for Cortez. BRIGHT STAR 508. Usually known as Keats's "last sonnet," written while he was en route to Italy. CAMPBELL YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND 15. Blake. Oliver Cromwell's most successful admiral. He died at sea in 1657. Nelson. The victor of Trafalgar. MOORE THE HARP THAT ONCE THROUGH TARA'S HALLS 509. Tara was formerly an Irish capital city. OH, BREATHE NOT HIS NAME The famous Irish rebel was executed in 1803 because of treasonable correspondence with Napoleon, and armed rebellion against the crown. WOLFE THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE Sir John Moore, an English general in charge of an army in the Peninsular War, was shot at Corunna, Spain, in January, 1809. At his own request he was buried within the ramparts of the town. LAMB CHRIST'S HOSPITAL 512. The essay purports to be written by a student of Christ's Hospital who feels that Lamb's earlier essay, Recollections, etc., is too flattering an account of life at the institution. 37. Banyan . . . days. Days on which no meat was served. 39. Double-refined. Sugar. 44. Caro equina. Horseflesh. 513. 54. Griskin. Lean loin of pork. 62. The Tishbite. Elijah. 73. I was a poor friendless boy. True of Cole 514. 187. Upon the leads. On the lead-covered roof. A horse which 191. Caligula's minion. Caligula named first consul. 514. 240. He ate strange flesh. See Antony and Cleopatra, I. iv. 67. 515. 316. A hypochondriac lad. True of Lamb himself. 353. Auto da fe. The name given to executions, usually by burning, under the Spanish Inquisition; literally, "act of faith." 355. "Watchet weeds." Blue uniform. 516. 378. Ultima Supplicia. Last punish ments. 395. San Benito. A special robe worn by the condemned at the auto da fe. 419. An accidence. A primer containing the rudiments of grammar. 446. Insolent Greece, etc. From Ben Jonson's lines to Shakespeare. 461. Rousseau. Both Rousseau and Locke believed in letting a child follow his own natural impulses. ents 517. 487. Helot . . . Spartans. Spartan par- 503. Gideon's miracle. The method by your saucepans; the advice of a slave to scullions, parodying some serious counsel given by a father to his son, in Terence's Adelphi. 535. Caxon. Slang term for wig. 559. Rabidus furor. Rabid rage. 518. 585. Literary life. Coleridge's Biographia Literaria. 588. The Country Spectator. A magazine 600. Grecian. The two best scholars 518. 636. Regni novitas. The newness of the kingdom. 639. Jewel or Hooker. English bishops and writers of the sixteenth century; Hooker was author of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. 664. Mirandula. Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher of the fifteenth century, one of the leading scholars of the Renaissance. 666. Jamblichus, Plotinus. Neo-Platonic philosophers of the fourth and third centuries A. D. 674. Fuller. Thomas Fuller, author of The Worthies of England, 1662. Lamb adapts Fuller's description of the trials of wit between Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, substituting Coleridge for Jonson, and C. V. LeG. for Shakespeare. 519. 695. Nireus formosus. Handsome Nireus; Homer called Nireus the handsomest of all the Greek host before Troy. 709. Sizars. University students who received free board; formerly they performed certain menial duties in return for the financial assistance. 19. Sport their cloth. Wear a garb of black, like a clergyman. 28. Fauces Averni. The jaws of hell. 522. 53. Kibed. Chilblained. 56. Tester. Sixpence. 59. 'Yclept. Called. 71. The only Salopian house. The only shop devoted to the sale of saloop, or sassafras tea. 88. Fuliginous. Sooty. 137. Covent Garden. The fruit and vegetable market of London. 523. 165. Westward. I. e., homeward from work, for Lamb lived in the Temple, west from Cheapside. 181. Hogarth. William Hogarth (16971764), the famous eighteenth century painter of London life. The March to Finchley, one of his most animated pieces of work, depicts a company of soldiers marching through a crowd in the utmost confusion; one of the figures in the foreground is that of a sweep, with just such a grin as Lamb describes, except that he is grinning not at the pie-man, but at a soldier who is stealing milk from a milkmaid. 208. A sable cloud, etc. Adapted from Comus, 1. 221 f. 229. The young Montagu. Edward Wortley Montagu (1713-1776), son of the famous Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who twice ran away from school, once turning chimney sweep. 523. 232. Defiliations. Instances of parents being deprived of their children. 242. Ascanius. Son of Æneas; in the first book of the Eneid (1. 695 ff.) we are told how on one occasion Venus lulled him to sleep. 524. 283. Incunabula. Cradle. 290. Jem White. A schoolfellow of Lamb's at Christ's Hospital. 299. The fair of St. Bartholomew. Held in Smithfield, one of the poorer districts of London, originally on St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24; later, when the calendar was revised, on September 3. It became the occasion of great disorder and scandal, and was abolished in 1855. Ben Jonson wrote a comedy of this title, dealing with the humors of the Fair, and severely satirizing the Puritans. 312. Quoited. Thrown, as a quoit would be. 335. Rochester. The Earl of Rochester (1647-1680), one of the courtiers of Charles II, noted for his riotous excesses. 341. Old dame Ursula. Lamb so names the woman after one of the characters in Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, mentioned above, a fat pig-woman,-i. e., woman who sold roast pig,-indescribably coarse of behavior. 345. Whereat the universal host... brightness. A paraphrase of Paradise Lost, I. 541-543; see p. 161. 360. Kissing-crust. The soft part of the crust of a loaf where it has touched another in baking. 525. 388. Golden lads, etc. From Cymbeline, IV. ii. DISSERTATION UPON ROAST PIG The Chinese manuscript, and the volume ascribed to Confucius, are inventions of Lamb, who, however, obtained the suggestion for the essay from his friend Thomas Manning, who had travelled in China. 527. 188. Locke. John Locke (1632-1704), author of the Essay concerning Human Understanding. 209. Mundus edibilis. World of edibles. 211. Princeps obsoniorum. Chief of tidbits. 217. Amor immunditiæ. Love of filth. 253. Radiant jellies. shooting stars. There was a popular superstition that if a shooting star could be found fallen on the ground it would turn out to be nothing but a mass of jelly. 528. 312. Villatic. Of the village; the quotation is from Samson Agonistes. 378. Intenerating and dulcifying. Making tender and sweet. The use of such long, highsounding words of Latin derivation, with reference to a subject so commonplace, has much to do with the flavor of the essay. 387. St. Omer's. A French Jesuit college, where, of course, Lamb never attended school. 529. 404. Shalot. A kind of onion. THE SUPERANNUATED MAN One of the most autobiographically exact of Lamb's essays. Lamb was a clerk in the service of the East India Company for thirty-three years, resigning his post in March, 1825, on a pension of twothirds his regular salary. Sera tamen, etc. Quoted from Virgil's first eclogue: Liberty, though late, yet looked upon, or visited, me. Fictitious 530. 162. Boldero. Lacy. names under which Lamb conceals the directors of the East India Company. 164. Esto perpetua. Be thou eternal. 531. 241. A Tragedy by Sir Robert Howard. The Vestal Virgin, or the Roman Ladies; Howard was brother-in-law of Dryden, and did some dramatic work in collaboration with him. 286. Gresham. Sir Thomas Gresham (d. 1579), a wealthy London merchant who founded the Royal Exchange and became Lord Mayor. Whittington. Sir Richard, better known as Dick, Whittington, whose rise from poverty to the Lord Mayorship is familiar from nursery rhymes. 298. Aquinas. St. Thomas Aquinas, Italian philosopher of the thirteenth century; his writings filled seventeen volumes. 532. 310. Carthusian. The Carthusian order of monks was founded by St. Bruno dignitate. From Cicero's phrase, otium cum dignitate-ease with dignity. 397. Opus operatum est. The work has been done. It was my condition overwhelmed me. like passing from life into eternity. Every year to be as long as three, i. e., to have three times as much real time-time that is my own, in it! I wandered about thinking I was happy, but feeling I was not. But that tumultuousness is passing off, and I begin to understand the nature of the gift. Holidays, even the annual month, were always uneasy joys; their conscious fugitiveness; the craving after making the most of them. Now, when all is holiday, there are no holidays. I can sit at home, in rain or shine, without a restless impulse for walkings. I am daily steadying, and shall soon find it as natural to me to be my own master, as it has been irksome to have had a master. "I eat, drink, and sleep sound as ever. I lay no anxious schemes for going hither and thither, but take things as they occur. Yesterday I excursioned twenty miles; to-day I write a few letters. Pleasuring was for fugitive playdays; mine are fugitive only in the sense that life is fugitive. Freedom and life coexistent!" 411. Oaken towel. Staff or club. 415. A firebrand like Bardolph's. Bardolph is one of the characters in Henry IV whom Falstaff is forever twitting about his red nose; e. g.: "O thou art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfirelight. Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking in the night betwixt tavern and tavern." (III. iii.) |