Note c.

The church-yard yews round which his fathers sleep;

Every man, like Gulliver in Lilliput, is fastened to some spot of earth, by the thousand small threads which habit and association are continually stealing over him.  Of these, perhaps, one of the strongest is here alluded to.

When the Canadian Indians were once solicited to emigrate, “What!” they replied, “shall we say to the bones of our fathers, Arise, and go with us into a foreign land?”—­Hist. des Indes, par Raynal, vi. 21.

Note d.

So, when he breath’d his firm yet fond adieu,

See cook’s first voyage, book i. chap. 16.

Another very affecting instance of local attachment is related of his fellow-countryman Potaveri, who came to Europe with M. de Bougainville.—­See les JARDINS, chant, ii.

Note e.

So Scotia’s Queen, &c.

Elle se leve sur son lict, et se met a contempler la France encore, et tant qu’elle peut.  BRANTOME, i. 140.

Note f.

Thus kindred objects kindred thoughts inspire.

To an accidental association may be ascribed some of the noblest efforts of human genius.  The Historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire first conceived his design among the ruins of the Capitol; and to the tones of a Welsh harp are we indebted for the Bard of Gray.—­GIBBON’S Hist. xii. 432.—­Mem. of Gray, sect. iv. let. 25.

Note g.

Hence home-felt pleasure, &c.

Who can sufficiently admire the affectionate attachment of Plutarch, who thus concludes his enumeration of the advantages of a great city to men of letters; “As to myself, I live in a little town; and I choose to live there, lest it should become still less,”—­Vit.  Dem.

Note h.

For this young FOSCARI, &c.

He was suspected of murder, and at Venice suspicion is good evidence.  Neither the interest of the Doge, his father, nor the intrepidity of conscious innocence, which he exhibited in the dungeon and on the rack, could procure his acquittal.  He was banished to the island of Candia for life.

But here his resolution failed him.  At such a distance from home he could not live; and, as it was a criminal offence to solicit the intercession of any foreign prince, in a fit of despair he addressed a letter to the Duke of Milan, and intrusted it to a wretch whose perfidy, he knew, would occasion his being remanded a prisoner to Venice.

Note i.

And watch and weep in ELOISA’S cell.

The Paraclete, founded by Abelard, in Champagne.

Note k.

’Twas ever thus.  As now at VIRGIL’S tomb

Vows and pilgrimages are not peculiar to the religious enthusiast.  Silius Italicus performed annual ceremonies on the mountain of Posilippo; and it was there that Boccaccio, quasi da un divino estro inspirato, re-solved to dedicate his life to the muses.