Then, towards the last, the nostrils close-collaps'd; Were it not that the description of the plague by Thucydides would occupy too much room, its insertion here, as an object of comparison with the Roman Bard, might gratify the curious; the concluding lines, however, of this last quotation from Lucretius will equally prove the poet's faithful attention to nature and his models; they are a transcript from the celebrated passage in Hippocrates, who has admirably thrown into one picture the various symptoms. of dissolution, symptoms "well known to those that tend the dying." εὶς ἐξεῖα, ὀφθαλμοι κοιλοι, κρόταφοι ξυμπε πλωκότες, ώτα ψυχρά και ξυνεςαλμένα, και οἱ λάβοι τῶν τῶν ἀπεςραμμένοι και τὸ δέρμα τὸ περι το μέτωπον, σκληρὸν τε και περιελαμένον και καρφαλέον ἐον· και τὸ χρώμα το ξύμπαντος πρόσωπα χλωρον τε ἢ και μέλαν ἐὸν, και πελιὸν μολιβδῶδες. A From the extracts now given, the reader will be able to appreciate the merits both of the original and translation. It is with peculiar propriety, that blank verse has been chosen as the medium of the latter; for though the controversy still exist with regard to the superior aptitude of blank or rhymed verse for the Epopee, there can be little doubt that in a philosophic poem, where much depends upon the fidelity of the representation, this species of metre, freed as it is from the shackles of similar termination, and possessing a dignity and variety unknown to the couplet, has very powerful claims to preference. It is impossible, on a subject so multiform and intricate as that of this poem, to employ rhyme, though even in the hands of a master, without great redundancy, and circumlocution, and imparting rather the air of a feeble paraphrase than of a spirited and faithful version. In the translation by Creech, the couplet has led, in almost every page, to the most ridiculous redundancies; a want of taste, however, in the selection of language, is as conspicuous in Creech, as a deficiency of skill and address in the management of his versification. One pleonasm, out of a thousand, will be adequate to shew the absurdities into which he has fallen, from the dire necessity of providing a rhyme. In the fixth book, Lucretius has observed that "when an ardent fever pervades the frame, the odour of wine becomes so intolerable as to occasion, for a time, the deprivation of sense." Cùm membra hominis percepit fervida febris, Tun fit odor vini plage mactabilis instar. Lib. vi. 804. which Creech has thus elegantly versified ; To those whom feyers burn, the smell In the construction of Blank Verse, however, the utmost attention is required, and the nicest ear must be exercised, in forming and arranging the style, in varying and adjusting the pauses. The mechanism of rhyme, however polished, may be acquired by practice, whereas the harmony demanded from the poet who rhymes not, is usually the result of a combination of very many lines, and not only more difficult as being more complicated, but must necessarily be accompanied with a beauty of diction and a vigour of thought, which, in the couplet, are but too often compensated for, in VOL. I. E the opinion of the generality of poetical amateurs, by the monotonous jingle which attends it. Few, therefore, have attained to excellence in this species of composition; Shakspeare, Milton and Dyer, Akenside, Mason and Cowper, may be considered as furnishing the best models, and in their school Mr. Good seems to have studied with success. His blank verse strikes me as meriting much praise for melody and variety of rythm, for that disposition of cadence and pause which gratifies a correct ear, and which even in the longest composition loses not the charm that first attracted. An undertaking so difficult, as a poetic version of Lucretius must assuredly be deemed, cannot fail, I should hope, of meeting with due encouragement from the literary world. Should the observations and quotations which have been given in this paper, have the smallest tendency to place in a clearer point of view the merits of the Roman and his Translator, it may, I think, with confidence be asserted, that the public will be benefited by the attempt. NUMBER III. The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, SHAKSPEARE. IMAGINATION, that fruitful source of the beautiful and sublime, when duly tempered and chastised by the strict ratiocination of science, throws a fascinating charm over all the walks of life; unveils, as it were, scenes of fairy texture, and draws the mind, with salutary influence, from the sordid cares, and selfish pursuits, the sanguinary tumult, and materialized enjoyments of the herd of mankind, to repose on all that is good and fair, on all that the Almighty Architect, in animate or inanimate nature, has poured forth to excite the admiration, the love and gratitude of his intellectual creatures. |