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© 1995,1996 Untangle Incorporated

Last Updated:Tuesday, February 06, 1996

Note 9

Sir James Mackintosh says of this, "Do you think that even a Chinese could paint the gay colours of a butterfly with more minute exactness than the following lines: 'The velvet nap,' etc.?"- Life, Vol. II. 246. And so the metamorphosis is caused by Arachne's own mortification and vexation, and not by any direct act of the goddess. The following specimen of old-fashioned gallantry is by Garrick:
"UPON A LADY'S EMBROIDERY

"Arachne once, as poets tell,

A goddess at her art defied,

And soon the daring mortal fell

The hapless victim of her pride.

"O, then beware Arachne's fate;

Be prudent, Chloe, and submit,

For you'll most surely meet her hate,

Who rival both her art and wit."

Tennyson, in his "Palace of Art," describing the works of art with which the palace was adorned, thus alludes to Europa:
"...sweet Europa's mantle blew unclasped

From off her shoulder, backward borne,

From one hand drooped a crocus, one hand grasped

The mild bull's golden horn."

In his "Princess" there is this allusion to Danae:
"Now lies the earth all Danae to the stars,

And all thy heart lies open unto me."

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