stitute, in fact, the leading topics of the fourth and last book.

From such an intimation, much of what is highly beautiful and interesting, much of what is calculated to please the imagination and attach the heart, will naturally be expected; nor will any disappointment ensue from indulging these anticipations; for the work rises in poetic power as it advances, and I am happy, also, to add, that in the bolder and best sustained flights of his author, the translator follows with a vigorous and an equal wing.

Proud, and justly so, of the truly felicitous nature of his theme, the French bard opens this portion of his labours by asking who will venture to despise the subject of his song, and he then, in a triumphant tone, exclaims

Il inspiroit Virgile, il séduisoit Homère:

Which gentle Virgil blush'd not to rehearse,
Which stole a place in mighty Homer's verse!

Alluding to "the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, and the description of the shield of Achilles by Homer, where the sieges and battles are happily contrasted by the vintage, the harvest, and the pastoral scenes of peace."-Translator's Note.

and he very shortly afterwards apostrophises the poet of Greece in the following emphatic

manner:

Chantre divin, je laisse à tes muses altières
Le soin de diriger ces phalanges guerrières;
Diriger les jardins est mon paisible emploi,
Déja le sol docile a reconnu ma loi,

Des gazons l'ont couvert, et de sa main vermeille
Flore sur leur tapis a versé sa corbeille,

Des bois ont couronné les rochers et les eaux.

Divine Enthusiast! be it thine to form

Chant 4.

The phalanx deep, and guide the battle's storm. 'Tis mine the garden's peaceful pomp to sway, And bid the docile soil my voice obey :

The turf spreads smooth, and Flora's rosy hand Shakes her wild blossoms o'er the laughing land, Whilst rocks and waves are crown'd with nodding shade.

After this graceful exordium, the best mode of displaying the embellished scenery, through paths and walks which, from their careless and undulating play, appear to be of Nature's own formation, is the topic next touched upon, and

becomes introductory to a description of the various landscapes to which, like episodes in a well-constructed poem, these desultory windings lead; and which should, like the bardic pictures just alluded to, be so wrought up and finished as to call forth in succession the most pleasing and contrasted emotions of the mind. A few sketches of this kind, which will place the merits of the translator in a very conspicuous light, shall now be brought forward. De Lille is pointing out the diversified views which should attract and gratify the wanderer's eye, as he steals along the sinuous path, or lies reclined beneath the sheltering tree. Here should be seen, he tells us, a gloomy cell, the abode of Silence and of Solitude; there a lovely lake should expand its bosom to the gale, and, beyond, the distant landscape should melt into the horizon, whilst

Quelquefois un bosquet riant, mais recueilli,
Par la nature et vous richement embelli,

Plein d'ombres et de fleurs, et d'un luxe champêtre, Semble dire: "Arretez! où pouvez-vous mieux être ?"

Soudain la scène change; au lieu de la gaieté,
C'est la mélancolie et la tranquillité ;

C'est le calme imposant des lieux où sont nourries
La méditation, les longues rêveries.

Là, l'homme avec son cœur revient s'entretenir,
Médite le présent, plonge dans l'avenir,

Songe aux biens, songe aux maux épars dans sa carrière ;

Quelquefois, rejetant ses regards en arrière,
Se plaît à distinguer dans le cercle des jours
Ce peu d'instans, hélas! et si chers et si courts,
Ces fleurs dans un désert, ces tems où le ramène
Le regret du bonheur, et même de la peine.

Chant 4.

In rendering the first two couplets of this passage, the translator has deviated considerably, and with the happiest effect, from his original. "The question' Où pouvez-vous mieux être ?' he observes in a note, "had so much of the air of a petit-maître's impertinence in it, that it seemed utterly inconsistent with the character of the grove. Though this scene invites us to pleasure, it is to that of a higher cast than what the original seems to give us an idea of; it is to a pleasure which a refined soul, and

a mind entirely devoted to the beauties of nature, can alone enjoy. The translator has endeavoured to introduce none but appropriate images, and those without which the grove would scarcely know to charm." In fact, the first ten lines of the version may be considered, if we except a single image in the opening couplet, as altogether original, and both these, and the residue of the quotation, are, as to beauty of thought, and poetry of diction, entitled to high praise. It can be said of them, indeed, without any injustice to the Gallic bard, that in dignity of tone and pathos of expression they advance a step beyond the general cast and structure of the French poem.

Sometimes let blooming shades attract the sight,
And to their cool refreshing bowers invite,
Where Pleasure loves along the banks to rove
Of a clear brook that murmurs through the

grove : Or, stretch'd some beech-tree's spreading shade

beneath,

Round which the woodbine winds in many a wreath, Delights to hear the bee laborious sing,

Or feel the ev'ning zephyr's balmy wing,