[15] For this poem the Author must crave peculiar indulgence; it was written at the desire of a lady, who asked him for his opinion of our living poets in verse, and was completed in a very short space of time, so that there are necessarily many faults in it: it would not, however, have been inserted, were it not for the particular wish of the lady for whom it was written.
[16] The gardens of Adonis.
[17] Æschylus, who may, I think, be called the Father of Tragedy, although Thespis was the first inventor of it.
Ignotum Tragicæ genus invenisse Camænæ,
Dicitur, et plaustris vexisse poëmata Thespis,
Quæ canerent agerentque peruncti fæcibus ora.
Post hunc, personæ pallæque repertor honestæ
Æschylus, et modicis instravit pulpita tignis,
Et docuit magnumque loqui, nitique cothurno.”—Hor.
[18] The nightingale is said to be particularly and faithfully attached to the rose tree.
[19] Ponsonby is generally called the chieftain, or leader, throughout the whole battle.
[20] Chrishna, is the Apollo of the Hindoo Mythology, and his smile is supposed to have been so bright as to have diffused an halo around his whole face.
“The griding sword with discontinuous wound
“Pass’d through him:——”
Milton.