goddess Thetes inform Vafco, that fhe and the other heathen divinities are no more than names to describe the operations of Providence.

In the Lufiad, however, there is fome fine machinery of a different kind. The appearance of the genius of the river Ganges in a dream to Emanuel king of Portugal, inviting him to discover his secret springs, and acquainting him that he was the monarch, deftined to enjoy the treasures of the East, is a happy idea. But in the fifth canto, the poet difplays his noblest conception of this fort, where Vafco recounts to the king of Melinda all the wonders of his voyage. He tells him that, when the fleet arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, which had never been doubled before by any navigator, there appeared to them fuddenly a huge phantom, rifing out of the fea in the midst of tempest and thunder, with a head that reached the clouds and a countenance, that filled them with terror. This was the genius of that hitherto unknown ocean; and he menaced them in a voice of thunder for invading those unknown feas; foretelling the calamities that were to befal them, if they fhould proceed; and then with a mighty noife difappeared. This is a very folemn and ftriking piece of machinery; and shows that Camoens was a poet of a bold and lofty imagination.

THE TELEMACHUS OF FENELON.

It would be unpardonable in a review of epick

poets to forget the amiable Fenelon. His work, though in profe, is a poem; and the plan in general

is well contrived, having epick grandeur and unity of action. He employs the ancient mythology; and excels in application of it. There is great richness as well as beauty in his defcriptions. To foft and calm fcenes, his genius is more peculiarly fuited; fuch as the incidents of pastoral life, the pleasures of virtue, or a country flourishing in peace.

་ His first books are eminently excellent. The adventures of Calypfo are the chief beauty of his work. Vivacity and intereft join in the narration. In the books which follow, there is lefs happinefs in the exe-cution, and an apparrent languor. The author in warlike adventures is moft unfortunate.

Some criticks have refufed to rank this work among epick poems. Their objection arifes from the minute details it exhibits of virtuous policy, and from the dif courses of Mentor, which recur too frequently, and too much in the ftrain of common place morality. Το these peculiarities, however, the author was led by the defign with which he wrote, that of forming a young prince to the cares and duties of a virtuous monarch.

Several epick poets have defcribed a defcent into hell; and in the profpects they have given us of the invisible world, we may obferve the gradual refinement in the opinions of men concerning a future ftate of rewards and punishments. Homer's defcent of Ulyffes into hell is indiftinct and dreary. The fcene ist in the country of the Cimmerians, which is always covered with clouds and darknefs; and, when the fpirits of the dead appear, we hardly know whether Ulyffes is above or below ground. The ghosts too,. even of the heroes, appear diffatisfied with their con dition.

In Virgil the defcent into hell difcovers great refine. ment, corresponding to the progress of philosophy. The objects are more diftinct, grand, and awful. There is a fine description of the feparate mansions of good and bad fpirits. Fenelon's vifit of Telemachus to the fhades is ftill much more philofophical than Virgil's. He refines the ancient mythology by his knowledge of the true religion, and adorns it with that beautiful enthufiafm, for which he is fo remarkable. His relation of the happiness of the juft is an excellent description in the mystick strain.

THE HENRIADE OF VOLTAIRE.

THE Henriade is without doubt a regular epick poem. In feveral places of this work, Voltaire difcovers that boldness of conception, that vivacity and livelinefs of expreffion, by which he is so much distinguished. Several of his comparifons are new and happy. But the Henriade is not his mafter-piece. In the tragick line he has certainly been more fuccessful, than in the epick. French verfification is illy fuited to epick poetry. It is not only fettered by rhyme, but wants elevation. Hence not only feeblenefs, but sometimes profaick flatnefs in the ftyle. The poem confequently languishes; and the reader is not animated by that fpirit which is inspired by a fublime compofition of the epick kind.

The triumph of Henry IV. over the arms of the League is the fubject of the Henriade. The action of the poem properly includes only the fiege of Paris. It is an action perfectly epick; and conducted with due

regard to unity, and to the rules of criticks. But it has great defects. It is founded on civil wars; and prefents to the mind those odious objects, maffacres and affaffinations. It is alfo of too recent date, and too much within the bounds of well-known hiftory. The author has farther erred by mixing fiction with truth. The poem, for instance, opens with a voyage of Henry's to England, and an interview between him and Queen Elizabeth; though Henry never faw England, nor ever converfed with Elizabeth. In fubjects of fuch notoriety a fiction of this kind fhocks every intelligent reader.

A great deal of machinery is employed by Voltaire for the purpose of embellishing his poem. But it is of the worst kind, that of allegorical beings. Difcord, cunning, and love appear as perfonages, and mix with human actors. This is contrary to all rational criticifm. Ghofts, angels, and devils, have a popular existence; but every one knows that allegorical beings are no more than reprefentations of human paffions: and difpofitions; and ought not to have place, as actors, in a poem which relates to human tranfactions.

In juftice however it must be obferved, that the machinery of St. Louis poffeffes real dignity. The profpect of the invisible world, which St. Louis gives to Henry in a dream, is the finest paffage in the Henriade. Death bringing the fouls of the departed in fucceffion before God, and the palace of the deftinies opened to Henry, are ftriking and magnificent objects.

Though fome of Voltaire's epifodes are properly extenden, his narration is too general. The events are fuperficially related, and too much crowded. The ftrain of fentiment, however, which pervades the Hensiade, is high and noble.

MILTON'S PARADISE LOST.

MILTON chalked out a new and very extraordinary course. As foon as we open his Paradife Loft, we are introduced into an invisible world, and furrounded by celeftial and infernal beings. Angelsand devils are not his machinery, but his principal actors. What in any other work would be the marvellous, is in this the natural courfe of events; and doubts may arise, whether his poem be strictly an epick compofition. But whether it be fo or not it is certainly one of the highest efforts of poetical genius; and in one great characteristick of epick poetry, majefty and sublimity, is equal to any that bears this name.

The fubject of his poem led Milton upon difficult ground. If it had been more human and lefs theological; if his occurrences had been more connected with real life; if he had afforded a greater display of the characters and paffions of men; his poem would have been more pleafing to moft readers. His fubject however was peculiarly fuited to the daring fublimity of his genius. As he alone was fitted for it, fo he has fhown in the conduct of it a wonderful ftretch of imagination and invention. From a few hints given in the facred fcripture, he has raised a regular ftructure, and filled his poem with a variety of incidents.. He is fometimes dry and harfh; and too often the metaphysician and divine. But the general tenor of his work is interefting, elevated and affecting. The artful change of his objects, and the fcene, laid now in heaven, now on earth, and now in hell, afford fufficient diversity; while unity of plan is perfely fupported.