The city sparkles like a grain of salt.”
In a passage of Song IX. of the “Polyolbion,” excerpted by Mr. Bullen, Drayton says—
“The mightie Giant-heape so less and lesser still
Appeareth to the eye, untill the monstrous hill
At length shewes like a cloud; and further being cast,
Is out of kenning quite.”
The identity of epithet might possibly be accidental, but the resemblance extends to the entire passage.
A singularly beautiful stanza from Drayton’s “Barons’ Warres,” also in Mr. Bullen’s selection, must have been unconsciously present to Shelley’s mind when he wrote in “The Witch of Atlas”—
“While on her hearth lay blazing many a piece
Of sandal wood, rare gems, and cinnamon.