[Illustration]
Page 129. _Al Aaraaf._ A star was discovered by Tycho Brahe which
appeared suddenly in the heavens—attained, in a few days, a brilliancy
surpassing that of Jupiter—then as suddenly disappeared, and has never
been seen since.
Page 130. _Capo Deucato._ On Santa Maura—olim Deucadia.
Page 130. _Her who loved a mortal—and so died._ Sappho.
Page 130. _And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnamed._ This flower is much
noticed by Lewenhoeck and Tournefort. The bee, feeding upon its blossom,
becomes intoxicated.
Page 131. _Clytia._ Clytia—the Chrysanthemum Peruvianum, or, to employ
a better-known term, the turnsol—which turns continually towards the
sun, covers itself, like Peru, the country from which it comes, with
dewy clouds, which cool and refresh its flowers during the most violent
heat of the day.—_B. de St. Pierre._
Page 131. _That aspiring flower that sprang on Earth._ There is
cultivated in the king’s garden at Paris, a species of serpentine aloe
without prickles, whose large and beautiful flower exhales a strong
odour of the vanilla, during the time of its expansion, which is very
short. It does not blow till towards the month of July—you then
perceive it gradually open its petals—expand them—fade and die.—_St.
Pierre._
Page 131. _Valisnerian lotus._ There is found, in the Rhone, a beautiful
lily of the Valisnerian kind. Its stem will stretch to the length of
three or four feet—thus preserving its head above water in the
swellings of the river.
Page 131. _Thy most lovely purple perfume._ The Hyacinth.
Page 131. _The Nelumbo bud._ It is a fiction of the Indians, that Cupid
was first seen floating in one of these down the river Ganges, and that
he still loves the cradle of his childhood.
Page 131. _To bear the Goddess’ song, etc._ And golden vials full of
odours which are the prayers of the saints.—_Rev. St. John._
Page 132. _A model of their own._ The Humanitarians held that God was to
be understood as having really a human form.—_Vide Clarke’s Sermons_,
vol. i., page 26, fol. edit.
The drift of Milton’s argument leads him to employ language which would
appear, at first sight, to verge upon their doctrine; but it will be
seen immediately, that he guards himself against the charge of having
adopted one of the most ignorant errors of the dark ages of the
Church.—_Dr. Sumner’s Notes on Milton’s Christian Doctrine._
This opinion, in spite of many testimonies to the contrary, could never
have been very general. Andeus, a Syrian of Mesopotamia, was condemned
for the opinion, as heretical. He lived in the beginning of the fourth
century. His disciples were called Anthropomorphites.—_Vide du Pin._
Among Milton’s minor poems are these lines:
Dicite sacrorum præsides nemorum Deæ, etc.
Quis ille primus cujus ex imagine
Natura solers finxit humanum genus?
Eternus, incorruptus, æquævus polo,
Unusque et universus exemplar Dei.