[35] The 'conceit' is found in Vida's Christiad, lib. ii. 431, iii. 984: also in a Hymn of St. Ambrose. Cf. too Psalm lxvii. 16. Victor Hugo has adapted it as follows: 'Here is a whimsical explanation of the miracle of the wedding at Cana in Galilee:
La nymphe de ces eaux aperçut Jésus-Christ,
Et son pudique front de rougeur se couvrit.'
The nymph of these waters perceived Jesus Christ,
And her modest brow was dyed with shame.
(Victor Hugo: a Life, 1863, i. 269). Whence the brilliant Frenchman fetched his 'whimsical explanation' is not doubtful. In the last line of Crashaw's epigram the reading in Poemata Anglorum Latina is
'Vidit et erubuit nympha pudica Deum.'
'Lympha' is inferior, and a (mis)reading for 'nympha.'
[36] From Prolusiones of Strada.
[37] Gifford here has one of his many singular notes, because he could think of no other meaning than 'merriment' for 'mirth,' which, as 'joy' or 'gladness,' is quite in place, and indeed accurately descriptive of the combined gladness and sadness of the pathetic contest.
[38] Professor M'Carthy, who finds the influence of Crashaw in Shelley, has suggested one line from the 'Suspicion' as a motto for Hood's 'Song of the Shirt,' viz. in st. xliii.
'They prick a bleeding heart at every stitch.'