The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles - Volume Ii Part 23
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Volume Ii Part 23

[Footnote 113: Particularly Joanna Baillie, Mrs Hemans, Miss Landon, and my namesake--no otherwise related than by love of kindred music--Caroline Bowles.]

[Footnote 114: Criminals were banished to this island.]

[Footnote 115: The period is uncertain.]

[Footnote 116: Now Tino.]

[Footnote 117: See the first chapter of Revelation.]

[Footnote 118: Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.]

[Footnote 119: Rev. i. 17, 18.]

[Footnote 120: Domitian, who had banished him, and who had so proclaimed himself, was now dead, but without its being known to St John.]

[Footnote 121: See the harrowing account of the siege of Jerusalem, when the prophecy in St Matthew was fulfilled to the letter.]

[Footnote 122: Josephus.]

[Footnote 123: Rev. iv. 3.]

[Footnote 124: Rev. iv. 3.]

[Footnote 125: Rev. iv. 4.]

[Footnote 126: A chasm is shown in the cave, from which it is said the voice in the Revelation proceeded.]

[Footnote 127: Rev. iv. 6. I follow the best expositors in making those appearances (translated "beasts") the higher order of angels.]

[Footnote 128: Rev. v. 2.]

[Footnote 129: The book would be utterly and for ever sealed, but for our Lord Jesus Christ.]

[Footnote 130: Quails and rock pigeons are the only land-birds on the island, as there are no bushes.]

[Footnote 131: The islands of the aegean are divided into the Sporades and Clycades; Patmos is among the Sporades.]

[Footnote 132: Evodias succeeded St Peter as Bishop of Antioch; Ignatius, disciple of St John, succeeded Evodias (_Eusebius_).]

[Footnote 133: The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.]

[Footnote 134: "And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel" (1 Kings xviii.

42).]

[Footnote 135: The wind which blew when St Paul was shipwrecked, now called Levanter, from its violence.]

[Footnote 136: [Greek: Oroon ep oinopa ponton] (_Homer_.)]

[Footnote 137: Seven Churches of Asia.]

[Footnote 138: Adriatic.]

[Footnote 139: Sardis, now Sart. Thyatira, now Ist-kissar, or White Castle.]

[Footnote 140: A fine expression of Sharon Turner.]

[Footnote 141: Priests of Cybele.]

[Footnote 142: There were a hundred altars to the G.o.ddess in Cyprus.]

[Footnote 143: The names of the ill.u.s.trious visitors who heard the sound, twelve centuries past, may be seen in Poc.o.c.k.]

[Footnote 144: The pyramids. The first time the author met the celebrated Dr Clarke, before the publication of his Travels, the first question eagerly asked was, "Of what colour are the pyramids?" To his surprise, the answer was, "As white as snow." But I have used the word "pale," as more in harmony with the picture, and less startling.]

[Footnote 145: The Hermes of the Greeks, the Mercury of the Romans, the Teut of the Celts, and the great teacher of the one unknown G.o.d, before Egypt sank into the grossest superst.i.tion.]

[Footnote 146: Perhaps the idea may be fanciful, but, to my ear, nothing more clearly reflects the image than the very words of the sentence--

"R[']an [)]al[']ong [)]up[']on th[)]e gr[']ound"

Handel, in his sublime Oratorio, "Israel in Egypt," seems to have felt this.]

[Footnote 147: Thomas, as by tradition we receive, chose Parthia; Andrew, Scythia (_Eusebius_).]

[Footnote 148: "Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae" (_Lucan_).]

[Footnote 149: See the exquisite tragedy of "Iphigenia in Tauris," by Euripides. Euripides may be alluded to here, as St Paul quoted Menander.]

[Footnote 150: "Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him" (Acts xvii. 18),--a singular and most interesting circ.u.mstance.]

[Footnote 151: Epicurus.]

[Footnote 152: The Hill of Mars. How striking the coincidence! Ovid says--

"Mavortis in Arce."]

[Footnote 153: Temple of Minerva, on the Acropolis.]

[Footnote 154: The celebrated gardens of Epicurus.]

[Footnote 155: Philippi and Thessalonica, in Macedonia.]

[Footnote 156: Grecian Apollo.]

[Footnote 157: Nero.]

[Footnote 158: See that most interesting chapter in Irenaeus, descriptive of the progress of the gospel to the Celts, and to the "extremities of the earth."]