[117.] The lap of earth. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. v. 7, 9:
| "For other beds the Priests there used none, But on their mother Earths deare lap did lie;" |
and Milton, P. L. x. 777:
|
"How glad would lay me down, As in my mother's lap!" |
Lucretius (i. 291) has "gremium matris terrai." Mitford adds the pathetic sentence of Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 63: "Nam terra novissime complexa gremio jam a reliqua natura abnegatos, tum maxime, ut mater, operit."
[123.] He gave to misery all he had, a tear. This is the pointing of the line in the MSS. and in all the early editions except that of Mathias, who seems to be responsible for the change (adopted by the recent editors, almost without exception) to,
"He gave to Misery (all he had) a tear."
This alters the meaning, mars the rhythm, and spoils the sentiment. If one does not see the difference at once, it would be useless to try to make him see it. Mitford, who ought to have known better, not only thrusts in the parenthesis, but quotes this from Pope's Homer as an illustration of it:
"His fame ('tis all the dead can have) shall live."