Galba adopted Piso Frugi Licinianus as his successor in the empire. He was a stranger to his blood, and only endeared to him by his good qualities. Tacitus puts these words in the mouth of Galba upon this occasion: "_Nunc me, deorum hominumque consensu, ad imperium vocatum, preclara indoles tua, et amor patriæ impulit, ut principatum, de quo majores nostri armis certabant, bello adeptus, quiescenti offeram; exemplo divi Augusti, qui sororis filium Marcellum, dein generum Agrippam, mox nepotes suos, postremo Tiberium Neronem privignum, in proximo sibi fastigio, collocavit. Sed Augustus in domo successorem quæsivit, ego in republica: non quia propinquos aut socios belli non habeam; sed neque ipse imperium ambitione accessi, et judicii mei documentum sit non meæ tantum necessitudines quas tibi postposui sed et tuæ._"--Lib. I. _Historiarum_, cap. xv. Note VII. _All at Worc'ster but the honour lost._--P. 32. This is in imitation of the famous letter which Francis the First of France wrote to his mother after the battle of Pavia: "Madam, all is lost except our honour." That of Charles II. certainly was not lost at Worcester. He gave many marks of personal courage, and was only hurried off the field by the torrent of fugitives. He halted a large body of horse, and implored them to return, and but look upon the enemy; yet, though he advanced at their head, they all deserted him but a few of his immediate attendants. Note VIII. _Shocked by a covenanting League's vast powers, As holy and as catholic as ours._--P. 33. The parallel between the French League and the Covenant had already occurred to Dryden as a proper subject for the stage; for, in the first year after the Restoration, he wrote several scenes of "The Duke of Guise," though it was not finished or acted till long afterwards. See Vol. VII. p. 137. Note IX. _With alga, who the sacred altar strews? To all the sea-gods Charles an offering owes: A bull to thee, Portunus, shall be slain; A lamb to you, ye tempests of the main._--P. 34. The ceremonies of classical antiquity, observed by those who escaped from shipwreck, are here detailed. The _alga_, or sea-weed, sprinkled on the altar, alluded to the cause of their sacrifice. Portunus, otherwise called Portumnus, was a sea-god of some reputation. The Greeks called him Palæmon, which was formerly his earthly name. He is mentioned by Virgil: _Et Pater ipse, manu magnâ, Portunus euntem Impulit._ Æneidos, lib. v. Note X. _Booth's forward valour only served to show, He durst that duty pay, we all did owe._--P. 34.