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gil-the praifes of Italy. The fimplicity of the introdu&tory verfes admirably ferves as a fhade, which gives additional luftre to the brilliant colouring of the fubfequent defcription. The great advantages of relief and contraft are facrificed by all uniformly adorned writers. Pope and Gray, who, though they be poets of very different rank, are both mafters of poetical style, have both rejected part of thefe advantages, in purfuit of that equal polish which diftinguishes their writings. Thomfon and Darwin, writers of far more unequal merit, have entirely facrificed them to that uniform gaudiness of style which they affect. We fhall extract Mr. Sotheby's tranflation of the noble verfes in which Virgil has celebrated the praifes of his country, which almoft immediately follow the laft cited paffage.

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"Yet nor the Median groves nor rivers roll'd,
Ganges and Hermus, o'er their beds of gold;
Nor Ind, nor Bactra, nor the blissful land
Where incenfe fpreads o'er rich Panchaia's fand;
Ner all that fancy paints in fabled lays,

O native Italy! tranfcend thy praise.

Though here no bulls beneath th' enchanted yoke,
With fiery nostril o'er the furrow smoke,
No hydra teeth embattled harvest yield,
Spear and bright helmet briftling o'er the field;

Ye golden corn each laughing valley fills,

The vintage reddens on a thoufand hills,

Luxuriant olives fpread from shore to shore,
And flocks unnumber'd range the pastures o'er.
Hence the proud war-horfe rushes on the foe,
Cli umnus hence, thy herds more white than fnow,
And frately bull, that of gigantic fize,
Supreme of victims, on the altar lies,

Bath'a in thy facred ftream, oft led the train
When Rome, in pomp of triumph, deck'd the fane.
Here Spring perpetual leads the laughing hours,
And Winter wears a wreath of fummer flowers;
Th' o'erloaded branch twice fills with fruits the year,
And twice the teeming flocks their offspring rear,
Yet here no lion breeds, no tiger ftrays,

No tempting aconite the touch betrays;
No monftrous inake th' uncoiling volume trails,
Or gathers orb on crb his iron fcales;
Bu inany a peopled city tow'rs around,
And many a rocky cliff with caftle crown'd,
And many an antique wall, whofe hoary brow
O'erfhades the flood that guards its bafe below,

Bleft in thy race, in battle unfubdu'd,
The Marfian youth, and Sabine's hardy brood,

By

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By ftrenuous toil the bold Ligurian steel'd,
And fpear-arm'd Volfci that difdain to yield;
Camilli, Marii, Decii, fwell thy line,

And thunderbolts of war each Scipio thine.
Thee, Cæfar! chief, whofe fword the eaft o'erpow'rs,
And the tam'd Indian drives from Roman tow'rs,
All hail, Saturnian earth! hail, lov'd of fame!
Land rich in fruits, and men of mighty name;
For thee I dare the facred founts explore,
For thee the rules of ancient art rettore;
Themes once to glory rais'd, again rehearse,
And pour thro' Roman towns th' Afcræan verfe."

This paffage alone would be fufficient to justify the commendation which we have beftowed on Mr. Sotheby, in which we have, defignedly, rather underftated our approbation, that there might be no fufpicion of our wish to exaggerate, and that our praise might appear to be, what it really is, both confiderate and impartial. Whoever will compare the above extract with previous verfions, will, notwithstanding the great fpirit of fome of Dryden's lines, be convinced of the general fuperiority of the prefent tranflation. In the beginning of the paffage, none of the tranflators have been content with the fimplicity of Virgil's "Laudibus Italiæ certent"; they feem all to have been afraid of trufting Italy without an epithet: and perhaps they were right. Virgil was addreffing Italians, whofe feelings were fufficiently excited by the mere name of their country. But his tranflators were fpeaking to other nations, who had no fuch feelings connected with the found of Italy. They were therefore obliged to difplay fome of the circumstances which made Italy not only dear to her own children, but delightful or interefting to other nations. This they have done varioufly. Dryden has rendered it thus:

Can with fweet Italy contend in fame.

Warton thus :

can vie

With the bleft fcenes of beauteous Italy.

The Abbé Delille:

A l'antique Aufonie ont ils rien qui s'égale.

And Mr. Sotheby:

O native Italy! tranfcend thy praife.

Dryden has expreffed the affection of men for their country with which we naturally fympathize; the Abbé Delille that reverence which we feel for antiquity; Mr. Sotheby has expreffed the veneration of a patriot for his country, by the

folemn

folemn form of invocation, and his love by that epithet, "native", which with fo fweet, though irrefiftible an influence, attracts virtuous hearts to the fcene of their firft pleasures. Dr. Warton has not availed himfelf of any of thefe interefting circumftances. He has employed only vague epithets of common-place defcription, which call up no picture, and infpire no feeling. It is, however, but juftice to him to obferve, that he has rendered one phrafe of this paffage more exactly, and more elegantly (as it feems to us) than any other tranflator. The phrafe is alienis menfibus aftas." It is abfolutely mistranflated by Dryden :

And fummer funs recede by flow degrees.

The tranflation of Mr. Sotheby, though very elegant, is perhaps more florid than the manner of Virgil will admit : And winter wears a wreath of fummer flowers.

Dr. Warton feems to have gone as near an exact tranflation as can be hoped for in poetry.

Here fummer fhines in feafons not her own.

"

Though hypercritical acutenefs might fuggeft, that as “fummer" is a feafon", there is fome difcordancy in the langhage "feafons not her own", which Virgil has efcaped. The verfion of the fame phrafe, by the Abbé Delille, is excellent.

Même au fein des hivers l'été luit dans nos plaines;

though it wants the poetical circumlocution which gives dignity to the language of Virgil. To expect in any other writei turns of expicilion fo elegant, and yet fo perfectly void of oftentation; fo dignified, and yet so natural, as those of Virgil, would imply both severity to other poets, and irreverence for his unrivalled art.

Our limits will not permit us to give any more fpecimens, and we have produced enough to excite the curiofity of every lover of polite letters; if indeed all fuch perfons be not already. in poffeffion of this elegant work. The peculiar beauty of the following verfes tempt us to infert them.

"Yes, lovely Spring! when rofe the world to birth,
Thy genial radiance beam'd upon the earth,

Beneath thy balmy air Creation grew,

And no bleak gale on infant Nature blew.

When herds firit drank the light, from Earth's rude bed,

When firit to beafts the wilds and woods were given,

When firft man's iron race uprear'd its head,

And ftars unnumber'd paved th' expanfe of heav'n,
Then as thro' all the vital fpirit came,

And the globe tecm'd throughout its mighty frame,

Each

Each tender being, ftruggling into life,
Had droop'd beneath the elemental strife,
But thy mild feafon, each extreme between,

Soft nurse of Nature! gave the golden mean."

In the panegyric on rural life, which is towards the end of the fecond book, there are feveral verfes finifhed with fuch mafterly skill, fo wonderfully excellent, or, to fum up all praife in one word, fo perfectly Virgilian, that they are fevere tefts indeed of a tranflator's art.

-Quibus ipfa procul difcordibus armis,
Fundit humo facilem victum juftiffima tellus.

Georg, Lib. ii. v. 459–460.

DRYDEN.

free from bufinefs and debate,

Receives his eafy food from Nature's hand,

And just returns of cultivated land.

Here the meaning is accurately rendered, but the elegance. is untranslated; and it is perhaps untranflatable.

WARTON.

From wars and difcord far, and public ftrife,
Earth with falubrious fruits fupports their life.

Here the ideas and the elegance are alike loft. The two beautiful and fignificant epithets, "facilem" and "juftiffima", are both unattempted.

DELILLE.

Fidèle a fes béfoins a fes travaux docile,
La Terre lui fournit un aliment facile.

The words which we have marked in thefe verfes will show, that the ideas of Virgil are fkilfully clothed in another language; but the antithetical arrangement of the first line is not Virgilian.

SOTHEBY.

For thee juft earth, from her prolific beds,

Far from wild war fpontaneous nurture sheds.

We will venture to anticipate the decifion of readers of taste, by adjudging to Mr. Sotheby the palm in the tranflation of thefe verfes. Thefe fpecimens, though too few for our gratification, feem more than fufficient to juftify our praise. Upon the whole, Warton's tranflation is inferior to Dryden in every thing but fidelity; and the prefent verfion, ftili more exact than that of Warton, may indeed fometimes yield to that of Dryden, in thofe parts which demand peculiar animation and vigour, but far furpaffes it wherever tenderness, or elegance,

or

or majefty is the prevailing character of the original. The only general cenfure to which it is juftly liable is perhaps fomewhat too great a profufion of ornament, where fevere tafte might have required more didactic fimplicity; and if this objection were harthly urged, it might probably with great truth be answered, that the extreme delicacy of Virgil's elegance might have been unnoticed by modern readers, as they would be repelled by the occafional rufticity and groffness of Homer; and that Mr. Sotheby is juftified for having, in fome degree, modernized Virgil, on the fame principles which excufe . Pope for having, in a much greater degree, modernized Homer.

Mr. Sotheby, in his Advertisement, calls Dr. Warton "the first critic of this age". Has this elegant poet forgotten the name of Dr. Johnfon? We know that there are strange literaty herefies on this fubject, prevalent among the friends of the two Wartons. We have the higheft refpect for the memory of thefe ingenious and accomplished men, and we therefore admonish their admirers not to provoke comparifons, which cannot be advantageous to their fame, whether rank in criticism is to be eftimated by juftnefs of decifion, or by vigour of talent.

ART. XIII. A Maximum; or, the Rife and Progress of Famine. Addreffed to the British People. By the Author of a Refidence in France, during the Years 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, &c. &c. 8vo. 62 pp. Is. 6d. Wright. 1801.

THE confequence of this tract muft by no means be esti

mated from its fize. It contains a statement of facts, and of facts bearing ftrongly, in the way of example, upon the prefent circumftances of this country. Under the preffure occafioned by the exorbitant price of all neceffaries, fome fpeculators have been rath enough to turn their eyes towards the famous French expedient of a Maximum, as a mode of extrication for us. Under thefe circumftances, to prevent as effectually as poffible all hankering after a noftrum fo pernicious, by thowing its actual operation when tried, a writer here steps forward, well-qualified, both by knowledge and abilities, to ftate the truth with effect.

When the celebrated Letters during a Refidence in France were published in 1797, befides commending the truth and

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