their names alive.


_The Historic Muse_. The ancients held that there were nine Muses or
Goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences; and of these, one was
the Muse of History.


_Gives bond in stone, &c._ = Pledges herself. The pith of the phrase is
in its almost homely simplicity, the more striking in its contrast with
the classical allusions by which it is surrounded.


_Her trust_, i.e., what is trusted to her.


_To anticipate the skies_ = to ennoble our life and so approach that
higher life we hope for after death.


_Till persecution dragged them into fame_ = forced them by its cruelty
to become famous against their will.


_No marble tells us whither_. Because they have no tombstone and no
epitaph.]