'Absyrtus-like': an allusion, of course, to the story of Medea, who took her brother Absyrtus with her when she fled with Jason. Being nearly overtaken by her father, Medea murdered Absyrtus, and strewed the road with pieces of his body so that the pursuit might be stayed.
P. 46. Daniel.—This sonnet was prefaced to the second edition of Florio's Montaigne (1613), and is often ascribed to the translator; but the weight of criticism credits the authorship to Daniel. Mr. Locker-Lampson was tempted to write a couple of verses for the fly-leaf of the Rowfant Montaigne, which not only belonged to Shakespeare, but was also given by Pope to Gay and enjoyed by Johnson:
For me the halycon days have passed,
I'm here and with a dunce at last.
See note on previous page.
P. 47. Milton.—Milton's prose masterpiece was printed, in a modified form, by Mirabeau, under the title Sur la Liberté de la Presse, imité de l'Anglais, de Milton.
P. 49. Leighton.—
Methinks in that refulgent sphere
That knows not sun or moon,
An earth-born saint might long to hear
One verse of 'Bonnie Doon'.—O. W. Holmes.
P. 49. Hazlitt.—'Because they both wrote essays and were fond of the Elizabethans,' Mr. Augustine Birrell says, 'it became the fashion to link Hazlitt's name with Lamb's. Hazlitt suffered by the comparison.'
P. 50. Hunt.—The poet is Wordsworth and the lines 'Oh that my name' are found in 'Personal Talk'. See page [21].