Spenser's Epithalamium. The Nereids of the deep and mortals then 229 There is a description of Morning in another part of the poem which even Milton has hardly surpassed. And human passions are handled as finely as the world of nature and the world of fancy. The desolation of the deserted Ariadne-her complaints, her menaces, her imprecations, that are all so ineffectual-are as tragic as those of Dido; and if the burden of our sympathy is less intolerable, it is only because we know that the lady, instead of terminating her own wretched existence, will permit herself to be consoled. The wedding banquet, the divine guests, the noble mystic song of the Parcæ, are equally fine. They carry us into the region of pure poetry. But the finest Epithalamium, with one exception, that has ever been written, is that on the marriage of Julia, and Manlius Torquatus. Or if the hymn in the fourth book of Paradise Lost' is an Epithalamium, then there are two exceptions. For the sweet Christian gravity of Spenser, whether it harmonise with modern manners or not, is infinitely higher than anything we can expect to find in Catullus. This is the spirit in which Spenser sings of his wedding-day : 'Open the temple gates unto my love, Open them wide, that she may enter in, With trembling steps and humble reverence Of her, ye virgins, learne obedience, Bring her up to th' high altar, that she may That all the woods may answer, and their eccho ring.' That the utmost freedom of speech may be safely permitted in a poem of which this is the prevailing tone, need hardly be said. And while the sacred purity of sentiment raises this English hymn far above the reach of the Roman, its merely poetical merits are as great as his. Greater they could not be. But Catullus, like Spenser, also tries to elevate his nuptial song by choosing the most sacred idea he knew of, for its central motive: an idea, however, as far below that of Spenser as law and order are below religion. For the Roman reverence for Hymen springs from a principle which pervades the whole thought and history of that wonderful people. The sacredness of the family lies at the foundation of their law and religion; and although the austerity of old opinions had been greatly relaxed by this time, it was still to the sacredness of the family that a poet naturally turned when he desired to dignify a nuptial song. 'Nulla quit sine te domus It is thus that he acknowledges the great office of the god whom he is invoking; and the crowning blessing which he promises to the votaries is the stability of their race : "Torquatus volo parvulus Manlio, et facile insciis Noscitetur ab omnibus.' The vivid and charming sensibility of Catullus is expressed in verses so exquisitely musical, that a translator might well be pardoned for failure in any attempt to imitate them. And yet Mr Martin has been more successful here than in many things which at first sight seem less unapproachable. There is, indeed, a magic in the mere melody of the words that cannot be reproduced in another language. "Quis Deus magis, ah magis Est petendus amantibus Quem colent homines magis Cœlitum ? O Hymenæe, Hymen, But the following very beautiful verses retain something even of the sweetness of the original. The feeling of the original is admirably expressed, but its force and versatility are scarcely so well preserved; for Mr Martin will not leave Catullus where he found him. He must expand and enervate : 'Urania's son, whose bome is on The heights of skyey Helicon, Marriage of Julia and Manlius. Who the virgin in her bloom 'Flowers around these brows of thine For their sport with honey-dew, 'And now, ye gates, your wings unfold! The virgin draweth nigh. Behold The torches, how upon the air They shake abroad their gleaming hair! Come, bride, come forth! No more delay! The day is hurrying fast away! 'But lost in shame and maiden fears, She stirs not-weeping, as she hears The friends that to her tears reply, 231 'Dry up thy tears! For well I trow, The day all panoplied in gold, 'As in some rich man's garden plot, Come, bride, come forth! No more delay! 'Oh happy bride, how richly blest! As from thy spouse thou tak'st to-day, Hail, Hymen, Hymenæus ! 'Till hoary age shall steal on thee, With loitering step, and trembling knee, We have been obliged to pass over very slightly and carelessly the greatest works of this remarkable genius. But we have said quite enough to show to those of our readers who are unacquainted with him otherwise, a truly great and original poet. He is one of the very few writers in the world who, on one or two occasions, speaks directly from the heart. The greater number even of great poets speak only from the imagination; sometimes, like Lord Byron, they speak from the temper; but this one speaks, as nature bids him, the joys and sorrows of his own life. Our thorough conviction of his greatness has forced us to speak somewhat unhandsomely of his translator. But, if we have not hesitated to point out Mr Martin's shortcomings, still less have we refused him our admiration where it was due. And we part from him, now, with no small gratitude for a book, which is not indeed a good translation, but a very agreeable and valuable aid to the study of Catullus. The American Republic: Resurrection through Dissolution. 233 ART. X.-The American Union: its Effect on National Character and Policy. By JAMES SPENCE. London: 1861. THE citizens of the Northern portion of the late 'United States' are very indignant with England, in that we regard the dissolution of the Union as probable, and contemplate that probability with complacence. They have come to consider the attempt of the South to establish its independence as utterly hopeless, and the success of such an attempt as an unmixed and unparalleled calamity. Most Englishmen, on the contrary-and ourselves among the number-after some observation and much reflection, have arrived at the conclusion, not only that the Secessionists will succeed in their enterprise, but that this success will eventually be of the most signal service to humanity, to civilisation, and to the cause of universal and enduring peace. The calmness and gratification with which we look upon an event that to them seems so grievous and so humiliating, cannot but be, in the highest degree, mortifying and vexatious. Their irritation is not rational, indeed, nor has it been either rationally or decently expressed; but it is very natural, so natural, that we are bound to explain to them with temper and with gentleness, but at the same time with the utmost fulness and candour, the grounds of our confident anticipations. We cannot hope to do this without startling and wounding them, for we shall have to speak the plain truth without either circumlocution or extenuation; and truth must needs be a bitter draught to those whose whole national life, from the cradle to the present hour, has been one unbroken dream of self-worship and self-delusion. We entertain, then, no doubt that the dissolution of the Union is an accomplished and irreversible fact, and one of the very greatest facts of our day. We can see no grounds on which the continuance of that Union should be desired by any wise or good man; and we view its termination with the most sanguine hopes of advantage to Europe, to Africa, to America itself, and to the highest interests of humanity at large. We proceed to give our reasons; and in doing this we shall avail ourselves largely of the arguments and materials collected by Mr Spence, whose work, notwithstanding some superficial defects, is, in our opinion, incomparably the most sensible and the most informing that has appeared on this engrossing and exciting topic. I. Into the 'constitutional' right of secession we shall not stop to enter. The discussion is purely idle and irrelevant. The question lies wholly out of the domain of constitutional law. It |