"The goodly London, in her gallant trim,
The phoenix-daughter of the vanish'd old,
Like a rich bride does to the ocean swim,
And on her shadow rides in floating gold."
75. _Sweeping whirlwind's sway_. Cf. the posthumous fragment by Gray
on _Education and Government_, 48: "And where the deluge burst with
sweepy sway." The expression is from Dryden, who uses it repeatedly;
as in _Geo._ i. 483: "And rolling onwards with a sweepy sway;" _Ov.
Met._: "Rushing onwards with a sweepy sway;" _Æn._ vii.: "The
branches bend beneath their sweepy sway," etc.
76. _That hush'd in grim repose_, etc. Cf. Dryden, _Sigismonda and
Guiscardo_, 242:
"So, like a lion that unheeded lay,
Dissembling sleep, and watchful to betray,
With inward rage he meditates his prey;"
and _Absalom and Achitophel_, 447:
"And like a lion, slumbering in the way,
Or sleep dissembling, while he waits his prey."
77. "Richard the Second (as we are told by Archbishop Scroop and the
confederate Lords in their manifesto, by Thomas of Walsingham, and
all the older writers) was starved to death. The story of his
assassination by Sir Piers of Exon is of much later date" (Gray).
79. _Reft of a crown_. Wakefield quotes Mallet's ballad of _William
and Margaret_:
"Such is the robe that kings must wear
When death has reft their crown."
82. _A baleful smile_. The MS. has "A smile of horror on." Cf.
Milton, _P. L._ ii. 846: "Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile."
[Illustration: THE TRAITOR'S GATE OF THE TOWER.]
83. "Ruinous wars of York and Lancaster" (Gray). Cf. _P. L._ vi. 209:
"Arms on armour clashing brayed."
84. Cf. Shakes. 1 _Hen. IV._ iv. 1: "Harry to Harry shall, hot horse
to horse;" and Massinger, _Maid of Honour_: "Man to man, and horse to
horse."
87. "Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth,
Richard Duke of York, etc., believed to be murdered secretly in the
Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly
attributed to Julius Cæsar" (Gray). The MS. has "Grim towers."