Page:Poetical works (IA poeticalworks00grayrich).pdf/167

 On dreary Arvon's shore^{[N 1]} they lie, 35
Smear'd with gore, and ghastly pale:^{[N 2]}
Far, far aloof th' affrighted ravens sail;^{[N 3]}
 The famish'd eagle^{[N 4]} screams, and passes by.
Dear lost companions of my tuneful art,
 Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes,^{[N 5]} 40

^{[N 6]}

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Notes

"Who with his soft pipe and smooth dittied song
Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar,
And hush the waving woods."Luke.


1. V. 35. The shores of Caernarvonshire opposite the isle of Anglesey. Gray.
2. V. 36. "Smear'd with gore, a ghastly stream." King of France's Daughter: Percy. Reliques, iii. 164; and Macbeth, act ii. sc. 2, "Smear the sleepy grooms with blood."
3. V. 37. This image may be found in Lucret. vi. ver. 1213. xii. 565. Ovid. Met. vii. 550. Lucan. vi. ver. 625. Stat. Theb. i. ver. 624. Prudent. Steph. 5, 400. It is also in Dryden. Pal. and Arcite, ver. 1142:
   "The fowl that scent afar the borders fly,
   And shun the bitter blast, and wheel about the sky."
   
   
4. V. 38. Camden and others observe, that eagles used annually to build their aerie among the rocks of Snowdon, which from thence (as some think) were named by the Welsh Craigian-eryri, or the crags of the eagles. At this day (1 am told) the highest point of Snowdon is called the Eagle's Nest. That bird is certainly no stranger to this island, as the Scots, and the people of Cumberland, Westmoreland, &c. can testify: it even has built its nest upon the peak of Derbyshire. [See Willoughby's Ornithol. by Ray.] Gray. "The Tempest sees their strength, and sighs and passes by," v. Swift's Misc. ii. 189.
5. V. 40. "As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
   That visit my sad heart."
   Jul. Cæsar, act ii. sc. 3Gray.
   
6. V. 34. "Cloud-capt towers," Tempest, act iv. sc. 1. W.—Drayton has used this image very poetically in his Poly-Olbion, vol. iii, p. 1126, in the speech of Skedow:
   "But from my glorious height into its depth I pry,
   Great hills for under me, but as my pages lie;
   And when my helm of clouds upon my head I take."
   
   
   So in the tragedy of Nero, 1624, p. 27: "Hebrus stood still, Pangæa bow'd his head."