[4] I occasionally thought I had hit on something new, but usually discovered that I had been anticipated—and then deeply sympathized with St. Jerome’s old tutor, Donatus. It will be remembered that Jerome, in his commentary on “There is no new thing under the sun,” tells us that Donatus used to say, Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt, “Confound the fellows who anticipated us!”
[5] The flippancy is at times amusing, as when he says: “The account of the whale swallowing Jonah, though the whale may have been large enough to do so, borders greatly on the marvellous; but it would have approached nearer to the just idea of a miracle if Jonah had swallowed the whale.”
[6] Altered from “That,” which may be a misprint. “Thou” gives the same meaning and runs more smoothly.
[7] Compare “I never nursed a dear gazelle” ([p. 181]).
[8] See Milton’s imitation of a fugue. Par. Lost XI.
[9] “I take the risk,” or “Mine the risk.”
[10] The above is a concrete illustration of Browning’s meaning in the preceding quotation, but a far wider illustration is seen in the terrible cruelties inflicted on the one side by the Inquisition and on the other by the Protestants. This was again due to the introduction of intellectualism, which distorted the Religion of Love into a Religion of Hate.
[12] The girls are bathing.
[13] The information in this note comes partly from Notes and Queries.