the branches of a tree; on which I immediately leaped out, although it was still a considerable height from the ground. I had scarcely quitted the Balloon when it broke from it's confinement, soared blazing into the air, and I saw it no more. I spent the whole of that sleepless night in reflection on my voyage, and thankfulness at my deliverance; but it will scarcely be credited, that the following day, my friends, although alarmed at my stay and the dangers which I had under

brow

gone, disbelieved my supernatural message, deemed the appearances I had seen a dream, and the mark upon my arm occasioned by the fire which had caught the Balloon whilst I slept. I cannot now decide how this may be; the impression is still existing; but what makes me yet think that all was not visionary, is, that the melancholy fate of Pilatre de Rozier and M. Romaine, who were the next that ascended into the air after me, com. pletely realized the Angel's prediction.

"IMMORTAL Vida! on whose honour'd The poet's bays and critic's ivy grow! Cremona now shall ever boast thy name, As next in place to Mantua, next in fame!"

This elegant Latin poet and critic was born, as the foregoing lines indicate, at Cremona; and went afterwards to Rome, where he flourished in the highest reputation during the successive pontificates of Julius II. Leo X. and Clement VII. His merits were soon discerned by Leo, who, fond of giving encouragement to men of letters, received him with great kindness and distinction, admitted him to his court, and rewarded him with honours and emoluments. After Leo's death, Vida was raised by Pope Clement to the rank of Apostolical Secretary, and in 1532 promoted to the Bishopric of Alba. In this high office he continued till the year 1566, when he died; more respected for his talents, integrity, and strict attention to his episcopal duties, than for the wealth and influence which he had acquired from his preferments. It has been observed by Mr. Roscoe, in his Life of Leo X. that of all the writers of Latin poetry in the sixteenth century, Vida has been the most generally known beyond the limits of Italy. This, he adds, is to be attributed not only to the fortunate choice of his subjects, but to his admirable talent of uniting a considerable portion of elegance, and often of dignity, with the greatest fluency and clearness of style; insomuch that the most complex descriptions or abstruse illustrations are rendered perfectly easy and familiar to the reader. Eur. Mag. Vol. 81. March 1822.

His merits do not, however, appear to have been sufficiently appreciated in this country, till attention was attracted to them by these commendatory lines of Pope.

The works of Vida are numerous; but the best are his "Art of Poetry," in three books; his "Bombyx;" "Scacchiæ Ludus;" and " Christiad." Of these, observes Dr. Warton, the Poetics must perhaps be esteemed the most perfect. This poem has the merit of being one of the first pieces of criticism which appeared in Italy after the revival of learning; being written about the year 1520. Although it's precepts principally regard epic poetry, yet many of them are applicable to every species of composition. The Bombyx, or Silkworm, is written with classical purity, and a happy mixture of the styles of Virgil and Lucretius. The Scacchiæ Ludus, or Game of Chess, is celebrated not only for the felicity, but for the masterly execution, of it's subject. The various stratagems and intricacies of that ingenious game, so difficult to be described in Latin verse, are here expressed with the greatest perspicuity and elegance, so that perhaps it might be wholly learned from this description. In the Christiad, continues the same author, there are, amidst many prosaic flatnesses, some fine ideas and bold expressions. The passage in which he has drawn the persons and insignia of his angels with so much dignity, seems to have been remembered by Milton, in his elegant picture of Raphael, and of the other celestial beings which adorn his Paradise Lost.

Kk

"And Boileau still in right of Horace sways."

This eminent poet formed one of that brilliant constellation which adorned the age of Louis XIV.; and by his Art of Poetry, Satires, Epistles, and Lutrin, has shewn himself to be one of the best writers that France ever produced. In these different

poems he has explained, in strong yet harmonious numbers, the principles of reason and good taste; and was the first who discovered and developed, by the union of example with precept, the highly difficult art of French versification. He had the rare merit, which can belong only to superior genius, of forming, by his lessons and productions, the first school of poetry in France; and of all the poets who have preceded or followed him, none was better qualified than himself to be the head of such a school. In fact, the severe and decided correctness which characterizes his works, renders them singularly calculated to serve as a study for scholars in poetry.* His Art of Poetry will ever remain a monument of his genius and judgment, for the happy arrangement of it's ideas, and the elegance of it's versification. Dr. Warton considers it the very best poem extant on that subject. It is in French what that of Horace is in Latin, the "code of good taste." The brevity of his precepts, enlivened by proper imagery, the justness of his metaphors, the harmony of his numbers, as far as alexandrine lines will permit, the exactness of his method, and the perspicuity of his remarks, when duly considered, all tend to confirm this opinion. It is scarcely to be conceived how much is comprehended in four short cantos. To this work it is that Despreaux owes his wellmerited reputation;-a work, which was of the highest utility to his nation in diffusing a just way of thinking and writing; banishing every species of false wit, and introducing a general taste for the manly simplicity of the ancients, on whose writings, especially those of Horace, he had formed his taste. His chief talent was the didactic. Fancy was not the predominant faculty of his mind.

* Biog. Dict. art. Boileau.

In his Epistles, the poet has intermixed precepts of literature and morality with the most striking truth and the happiest precision. In the celebrated mock-heroic poem called the Lutrin, he ridicules with admirable elegance and severity the indolence and luxury of the priests. This work displays such variety, ty, action, and grace, and abounds in such beautiful imagery, such unexpected incidents, and such entertaining digressions, that we cannot but admire the poet's artin raising this exquisite production from a subject apparently so unfertile.+ Every line teems with the most delicate pleasantry, the most animated descriptions, the most refined ideas, and the most interesting scenes; and, at the same time is enriched with all that strength and harmony of verse, that delicacy of satire, and energy of. style, by which his other productions are so eminently distinguished. Amongst these, we must not omit to mention his Satires, which do not yield in wit or humour to any of his preceding works. Passages of the most lively ridicule, as well as of the most caustic severity, abundantly interspersed throughout the poem, plainly indicate how peculiarly adapted his genius was to this class of poetry. To these Satires less value is certainly attached than to his other compositions; though it must be allowed that he never attacks bad taste and bad writers but with the weapons of pleasantry, and never speaks of vice and wicked men but with censure and indignation. He soon, however, became sensible, that in order to descend with honour to posterity, it was not sufficient to supply ephemeral food to the malignity of contemporaries, but to turn his thoughts to subjects of a more durable and important nature. This conviction led him to produce those excellent works which have rendered. his name immortal.-As a translator, he has acquired considerable reputation by his admirable version of Longinus, entitled, "Traité du Sublime."

Boileau, says Warton, has been charged with borrowing from the ancients; but his enemies, who flattered themselves that they should injure his

The poet here alludes to the Essay on Poetry written by Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, which was so much praised by Ad Addison, Roscommon, and other writers of his own time. Dryden extolled it highly; and it must be allowed, that the precepts it contains are judicious, sometimes original, and often happily expressed. A later critic, however, gives a very different character to the poem. He affirms it to be of the satiric, rather than of the preceptive, kind; and declares that it's author, in discoursing on the various species of poetry in their different gradations, has followed the plan laid down by Boileau to no other purpose than to manifest his own inferiority. As a poet, if we may credit the testimony of his contemporaries, he was one of no common rank; but modern criticism represents him as a writer that sometimes glimmers, but seldom shines; feebly laborious, and at best but

pretty.

Whilst Earl of Mulgrave, he wrote the "Essay on Satire," (A.D. 1679) in which he is said to have had the assistance of Dryden; but Mr. Malone, in his life of that poet, says that did not amount to much. It was, however, sufficient to draw down upon him the vengeance of those whose characters it exposed, and who suspected him to be the author of the satire. The Earl of Rochester, the Duchess of Portsmouth, one of Charles II.'s, mistresses, and others, were so provoked by the attack, that, as was generally supposed, for the real ac

tors were never discovered, they procured Dryden to be waylaid and beaten. This incident is mentioned by the Duke of Buckinghamshire, the true writer, in his Art of Poetry; where he says of Dryden,

rhymes,

"Though praised and beaten for another's His own deserve as great applause sometimes."

The proportion of objectionable poetry which falls to the share of Dryden is abundantly sufficient, without his being responsible for any more, either in person or reputation. Nor was it quite consistent with the rules of poetical justice that he should bear the weight of patrician resentment for one, who, in return, so severely censured the impropriety and bombast of some of his dramatic productions.

As a critic, the coldness and neglect with which Sheffield speaks of Milton's noble epic, must be considered as proofs of his want of critical discernment, or critical courage. However, he may only be added to the number of those who, at a period which is generally considered the Augustan age of England, could be insensible: to the merits of that divine poem. To conclude, says Warton, the Duke of Buckinghamshire is more indebted for his reputation to his high rank and splendid fortune* thanto his talents as a writer.

"Such was Roscommon, not more learn'd than good, With manners gen'rous as his noble blood; To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known,

And every author's merit but his own."

This is indeed a high compliment to the Earl of Roscommon, whose celebrated "Essay on Translated Verse" was esteemed by Addison a masterpiece in it's kind, and is placed by him in the same rank with the Essay on Poetry and the Essay on Criticism. Dryden also has bestowed the highest commendations on this poem.† Although the subject he has chosen may at first sight appear barren and uninteresting, he has contrived to adorn it with many useful

precepts and poetical descriptions. It is indisputably better written, and in a much more close and vigorous style, than the Essay on Poetry. In fact, Roscommon was a better schoJar than Sheffield, having been educated at Caen under the celebrated Bochart. His only other performance of magnitude is the translation of Horace's Art of Poetry, which, in Dr. Johnson's opinion, has not received less praise than it deserves, being a more literal version of the original, without any bold figures or striking images. The Verses in favour of Dryden's Religio Laici" are well intended, but are very inferior in point of poetry. His translation of the "Dies Iræ" is good though it should be mentioned, that he is much indebted to the version of Crashaw, and that the best line in it is borrowed from Dryden. One of his greatest merits is correctness, he being, perhaps, the only correct writer in verse before the time of Addison; and it certainly must be allowed, that if there are not such numerous or striking beauties in his compositions as in those of his contemporaries, there are at least fewer faults. But he has a still higher claim to the regard of posterity; being the only moral writer in the reign of Charles II.;

"Unhappy Dryden! in all Charles's days, Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays." Imit. of Horace, B. II. Epist. I.

It should likewise be mentioned to the honour of Lord Roscommon, that he was the first who had the taste and the spirit publicly to praise the Paradise Lost; with a noble encomium on which, and a rational recommendation of blank verse, he concludes his performance. He also first formed the plan of a society, in imitation of the Italian and French academies, for refining and fixing the standard of the English language; în which he is said to have received the advice and assistance of his friend Dryden; but this design was entirely defeated by the various commotions which then existed both in church and state. " Of his works," says his biographer, Dr. Johnson, "there appears to be but one opinion. He is elegant, but not great; never labouring after exquisite beauties, and seldom falling

into gross faults. His versification is smooth, but seldom vigorous, and his rhymes are remarkably correct. He improved taste, if he did not enlarge knowledge, and may justly be numbered among the benefactors to English literature." His character as an author has been delineated by Fenton with great elegance and perspicuity, though in rather too flattering colours. "In his writings," observes that critic, "we view the image of a mind which was naturally serious and solid; richly furnished and adorned with all the ornaments of learning, unaffectedly disposed in the most regular and elegant order. His imagination might have probably been' more fruitful and sprightly, had his judgment been less severe: but that severity delivered in a clear, masculine, succinct style, contributed to make him so eminent in the didactio manner, that no man, with justice, can affirm he was ever equalled by any of our own nation, without confessing, at the same time, that he was inferior to none. In some other kinds of writing, his genius seems to have wanted fire to attain the point of perfection; but who can attain it?"*

"Such late was Walsh, the Muse's judge and friend, Who justly knew to blame or to commend; To failings mild, but zealous for desert, The clearest head, and the sincerest

heart."

This eulogy has been deemed by some rather too splendid a tribute of friendship to the memory of the poet; and an instance of the liberality of it's author's mind rather than a proof of his judgment, The talents of Walsh certainly do not entitle him to so very magnificent an encomium. His works are in general dull and uninteresting; and the Rambler, No. 152, has styled them, pages of inanity." His three Letters to Pope, however, containing remarks on the pastoral comedy of the Italians, particularly on those Pastorals which Pope was then about to publish, are written with peculiar ease and elegance. Indeed, he at one time so greatly excelled in this department of literature, that he was styled by Dryden, "the best cri