[113] We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Psalm cxxxvii. 2.—Wakefield.
Pope says that "each muse" hung up her lyre because Cowley was thought to excel in many departments of verse. "He was beloved," said Dr. Felton, "by every muse he courted, and has rivalled the ancients in every kind of poetry but tragedy." Dr. Sprat entitled his poem on him an "Ode to the English Ovid, Anacreon, Pindar, and Virgil."
[114] Warton mentions, that "living lyre" is used by Cowley.
[115] This couplet was a triplet in the manuscript with the following middle line:
What bard, what angel, tunes the warbling strings?
It is surprising that Pope did not feel the bathos of the expression, "'Tis yours, my lord," introduced into the midst of the high-flown adulation.
[116] Philips:
And paint those honours thou art sure to wear.—Steevens.
[117] Meaning, I apprehend, the star of the knights of the Garter installed at Windsor.—Wakefield.
The order was founded by Edward III., the builder of Windsor Castle, which further connected it with Pope's subject. Denham had celebrated the institution of the garter in Cooper's Hill, and Lord Lansdowne, in his Progress of Beauty, "sung the honours" in a few despicable verses, which certainly added no "lustre to the silver star."