Ver. 492. As when Brutus rofe, &c. Cicero himfelf defcribes this fact. "Cæfare "interfecto-ftatim cruentum altè extollens M. "Brutus pugionem, Ciceronem nominatim excla"mavit, atque ei recuperatam libertatem eft gratu"latus." Cic. Philipp. ii. 12. Ver. 548. Where virtue rifing from the awful depth Of truth's myfterious bofom, &c. According to the opinion of those who affert moral obligation to be founded on an immutable and univerfal law; and that which is usually called the moral fenfe, to be determined by the peculiar temper of the imagination and the earliest affociations of ideas. Ver. 591. Lyceum. The school of Aristotle. Ver. 592. Academus. The school of Plato. Ver. 594. Ilyffus. One of the rivers on which Athens was fituated. Plato, in fome of his fineft dialogues, lays the scene of converfation with Socrates on its banks. NOTES ON THE SECOND BOO K. Ver. 19. At laft the Mufes rofe, &c. ABOUT the age of Hugh Capet, founder of the third race of French kings, the poets of Provence were in high reputation; a fort of ftrolling bards or rhapsodists, who went about the courts of princes and noblemen, entertaining them at feftivals with mufic and poetry. They attempted both the epic ode, and satire; and abounded in a wild and fantastic vein of fable, partly allegorical, and partly founded on traditionary legends of the Saracen wars. These were the rudiments of Italian poetry. But their taste and compofition must have been extremely barbarous, as we may judge by those who followed the turn of their fable in much politer times; fuch as Boiardo, Bernardo, Tafso, Ariosto, &c. Ver. 21. Valclufa. The famous retreat of Francisco Petrarcha, the father of Italian poetry, and his mistress Laura, a lady of Avignon. Ver. 22. Arno. The river which runs by Florence, the birthplace of Dante and Boccacio. Ver. 23. Parthenope. Or Naples, the birth-place of Sannazaro. The great Torquato Taffo was born at Sorrento, in the kingdom of Naples. Ver. 23. -the rage Of dire ambition, &c. This relates to the cruel wars among the repub |