[Footnote 53: These wings (Chalcondyles, l. viii. p. 208)
are no more than an Oriental figure: but in the tragedy of
Irene, Mahomet's passion soars above sense and reason: -
Should the fierce North, upon his frozen wings. Bear him
aloft above the wondering clouds, And seat him in the
Pleiads' golden chariot - Then should my fury drag him down
to tortures.
Besides the extravagance of the rant, I must observe, 1.
That the operation of the winds must be confined to the
lower region of the air. 2. That the name, etymology, and
fable of the Pleiads are purely Greek, (Scholiast ad Homer,
Sigma 686. Eudocia in Ionia, p. 399. Apollodor. l. iii. c.
10. Heyne, p. 229, Not. 682,) and had no affinity with the
astronomy of the East, (Hyde ad Ulugbeg, Tabul. in Syntagma
Dissert. tom. i. p. 40, 42. Goguet, Origine des Arts, &c.,
tom. vi. p. 73 - 78. Gebelin, Hist. du Calendrier, p. 73,)
which Mahomet had studied. 3. The golden chariot does not
exist either in science or fiction; but I much fear Dr.
Johnson has confounded the Pleiades with the great bear or
wagon, the zodiac with a northern constalation.]