Or to propitiate. And, if living eyes The thing that hath been as the thing that is, And full assemblage of a barbarous host ; -A few rude monuments of mountain-stone 700 705 710 The appearances of things! From such, how changed Might almost think, at this affecting hour,2 715 * A name of Jupiter among the Druids in Gaul. Toland, in his History of the Druids (p. 247), gives a list of the Dii Gallorum, beginning with Taramis and ending with Adraste or Andate. And, in an edition of Toland's History, edited with elaborate notes by R. Huddleston, schoolmaster, Lunan, and published at Montrose in 1814, I find the following, p. 357 :-"Taramis, or Taranis, is the Gaelic Taran, or Tharan, i.e. 'thunder." This god is the same with the Grecian Zeus, or the Roman Jupiter. By this deity the Celts understood Baal. Taranis, or Tharanis, is sometimes written Tanaris, or Thanaris, which bears a great affinity to the English thunder, the German Donder, and the Roman Tonitru. Lucan mentions him (lib. i.) in these words Et Taranis Scythicæ non mitior ara Dianæ. From the Celts the Germans borrowed Tharanis, and by abbreviation formed their God Thor, whence Thursday, the same as the Roman Dies Iovis." Compare Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i. p. 5.-ED. The same editor of Toland's book on the Druids, whose comment on Taranis is given in the previous note, writes thus of Adraste, or Andate, p. 359-"Respecting this goddess there has been some difference of opinion. The Greeks seem to have considered her as Nemesis, or the goddess of revenge. There can be little doubt that the goddess here meant is the Phoenician Ashtaroth, or Astarte, i.e. 'the moon. See Dio Cassius, i. 64. -ED. That paradise, the lost abode of man, Was raised again: and to a happy few, "Whence but from thee, the true and only God, And from the faith derived through Him who bled Upon the cross, this marvellous advance Of good from evil; as if one extreme Were left, the other gained.—O ye, who come 720 725 730 Whose love, whose counsel, whose commands, have made Vocal thanksgivings to the eternal King; Your very poorest rich in peace of thought And in good works; and him, who is endowed 735 With scantiest knowledge, master of all truth Conscious of that abundant favour showered 740 These fertile fields, that recompense your pains; 1 1827. On your Abodes, and this beloved Land, Our birth-place, home, and Country, while on Earth With earnest joy, that will not be suppressed. * Grasmere Church.-ED. 1814. 745 Or hushed; the roaring waters, and 1 the still— This vesper-service closed, without delay, 750 755 760 765 Her mooring-place; where, to the sheltering tree, 1 1827. 770 But turned not without welcome promise made To enfeebled Power, From this communion with uninjured Minds, What renovation had been brought; and what To seek, in degradation of the Kind, 775 780 785 790 795 Of yet another summer's day. consumed 1814. NOTES THE following are the notes which Wordsworth added to The Excursion in the edition of 1814. In the case of the second, it will be observed that a new note was substituted in 1827 for that of 1814 and 1820. In other respects these "notes" remained unaltered throughout the editions, from 1814 to 1850. I have not thought it necessary to indicate the few, and very slight, changes in the phraseology of separate sentences. The text of the passages, on which the notes are based, is taken from the edition of 1850.-ED. Preface, page 25. Descend, prophetic Spirit! that inspir'st Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic Soul Page 43. much did he see of men. In Heron's Tour in Scotland is given an intelligent account of the qualities by which this class of men used to be, and still are in some degree, distinguished, and of the benefits which society derives from their labours. Among their characteristics, he does not omit to mention that, from being obliged to pass so much of their time in solitary wandering among rural objects, they frequently acquire meditative habits of mind, and are strongly disposed to enthusiasm poetical and religious. I regret that I have not the book at hand to quote the passage, as it is interesting on many accounts. (1814.) At the risk of giving a shock to the prejudices of artificial |