Shed sweets unborrow'd of the vernal gale,
As 'mid their rifled beds he wound his way,
Chid the slow sun and zephyr's long delay.
Hence first his bees new swarms unnumber'd gave,
And press'd from richest combs the golden wave;
Limes round his haunts diffused a grateful shade,
And verdant pines with many a cone array'd;
And every bud, that gemm'd the vernal spray,
Swell'd into fruit beneath th' autumnal ray.
He lofty elms transposed in order placed,
Luxuriant pears at will his alleys graced,

And grafted thorns that blushing plums display'd,
And planes that stretch'd o'er summer feasts their

shade.

Ah! fav'rite scenes! to other bards resign'd, I leave your charms, and trace my task assign'd. SOTHEBY.*

Returning, however, from this digression to a further exemplification of the merits of our anonymous translator, I have great pleasure in bringing forward an extract which must, I think, with every one who is alive to the charms of poetic language and melody, place the occa

*Georgic. lib. iv.

Atque equidem, extremo ni jam sub fine laborum.

v. 116.

ad

Pretereo, atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo.

v. 148.

sional felicity with which this version is executed, in the most striking point of view. The original, after asserting the possibility of calling forth beauties even from the most apparently barren and hopeless site, thus proceeds to show in what manner this magic result is to be effected.

Le sol le plus ingrat connoîtra la beauté.
Est il nud? que des bois parent sa nudité:
Couvert? portez la hache en ses forêts profondes:
Humide? en lacs pompeux, en rivières fécondes
Changez cette onde impure; et par d'heureux tra-

vaux,

Corrigez à la fois l'air, la terre et les eaux:

Aride enfin? cherchez, sondez, fouillez encore; L'eau, lente à se trahir, peut-être est près d'éclore.

Il est des soins plus doux, un art plus enchanteur. C'est peu de charmer l'œil, il faut parler au cœur. Avez-vous donc connu ces rapports invisibles Des corps inanimés et des êtres sensibles? Avez-vous entendu des eaux, des prés, des bois, La muette éloquence et la secrète voix ?

Rendez-nous ces effets. Que du riant au sombre, Du noble au gracieux, les passages sans nombre. M'intéressent toujours. Simple et grand, fort et doux,

Unissez-tous les tons, pour plaire à tous les goûts.

Là, que le peintre vienne enrichir sa palette;
Que l'inspiration y trouble le poëte

Que le sage, du calme y goûte les douceurs;
L'heureux, ses souvenirs; le malheureux, ses pleurs.

Chant i.

To render justice to these lines, exhibiting, as they do, a great and almost equal share of sweetness, energy, and grace, must, it is evident, require talents of no common order. How the demand has been answered by our translator it will be a delightful as well as an easy task to show. I think it right, however, to premise, that in the first paragraph of the subsequent version, I have taken the liberty of transposing a single couplet.

The wildest waste with warmest charms may glow;
A shady robe o'er naked Nature throw;
Where'er immured she lies in gloomy night,
Quick let the axe admit the beaming light;
Where stagnant fens in putrid torpor sleep,
Let lakes spread wide, or fertile rivers sweep;
If dry the site, search, dig, explore the soil,
Where least you hope the bubbling fount may boil;
Thus o'er the ground your hands shall plenty show'r,
And health shall glow where sickness pined before!

Nor charm the eye alone; with nobler art Awake the soul, and interest the heart.

Do

you the viewless ties of being know, That link the chain of Nature here below?

Have you the silent music understood

That breathes around from hill, and vale, and flood?
That music we require, from grave to gay,
From bold to fair let just transition stray.
Be grand or simple, be sublime or chaste,
Each tone unite, and charm each various taste.
The canvass thence shall drink a richer dye,
The bard there burn with inspiration high,
Till his rapt eyes in finer frenzy roll;
There shall the sage to peace becalm his soul;
Remember'd joys the happy heart shall cheer,
And the wretch feel the luxury of a tear.

Of this very highly finished and interesting extract, the concluding couplet of the first paragraph, whilst it gives the general import of the French, is at the same time, both in its imagery and sentiment, a noble and truly poetical expansion of the original; an eulogium which will apply with perhaps still more force and propriety to the last six lines of the second portion, which need not indeed fear a comparison, as to beauty of expression and harmony

of construction, with the most artfully polished couplets of our best bards.

Nor can I leave the passage without briefly noticing the very finely-sustained contrast which subsists between its two parts; the first triplet, as well in diction as in thought, breathing a tone of deep and lofty enthusiasm, whilst the second steals upon the heart with a tender and subduing melody, and touches, at its close, one of pity's sweetest chords.

After these cursory remarks on the merits of the version, it would be unpardonable to pass by the admirable doctrine of the original, which teaches us, that landscape gardening is not, in its highest aim, necessarily limited to the exclusive production of the picturesque, to the mere harmony of forms and colours, lights and shades, but that it may, under the guidance of a feeling and poetic mind, successfully appeal to the heart, calling forth those emotions and associations which, through the medium of cheerfulness or tenderness, grandeur or sublimity, hallow and endear its scenery.

The circumstances and arrangements most conducive to the excitement of these impressions, are then entered into; and the foremost place is