LUCAN'S PHARSALIA.

LUCAN is inferior to Homer and Virgil; yet he deserves attention. There is little invention in his Pharsalia; and it is conducted in too historical a manner to be strictly epic. It may be arranged, however, in the epic class, as it treats of great and heroic adventures. The subject of the Pharsalia has all the epic dignity and grandeur; and it possesses unity of object, viz. the triumph of Cæsar over Roman liberty.

But, though the subject of Lucan is confessedly heroic, it has two defects. Civil wars present objects too shocking for epic poetry, and furnish odious and disgusting views of human nature. But Lucan's genius seems to delight in savage scenes.

The other defect of Lucan's subject is, that it was too near the time in which he lived. This deprived him of the assistance of fiction and machinery; and thereby rendered his work less splendid and amusing. The facts, on which he founds his poem, were too well known, and too recent, to admit fables and the interposition of gods.

The characters of Lucan are drawn with spirit and force. But, though Pompey is his hero, he has not made him very interesting. He marks not Pompey by any high distinction, either for magnanimity or valour. He is always surpassed by Cæsar. Cato is Lucan's favourite character; and, whenever he introduces him, he rises above himself.

In managing his story, Lucan confines himself too much to chronological order. This breaks the thread of his narration, and hurries him from place to place. He is also too digressive; frequently quitting his subject, to give us some geographical description, or philosophical disquisition.

There are several poetical and spirited descriptions in the Pharsalia; but the strength of this poet does not lie either in narration or description. His narration is often dry and harsh; his descriptions are often overwrought, and employed on disagreeable objects. His chief merit consists in his sentiments; which are noble, striking, glowing, and ardent. He is the most philosophical, and the most patriotic poet of antiquity.

He was a stoic; and the spirit of that philosophy breathes though his poem. He is elevated and bold; and abounds in well timed exclamations and apostrophes.

As his vivacity and fire are great, he is apt to be carried away by them. His great defect is want of moderation. He knows not where to stop. When he would aggrandise his objects, he becomes tumid and unnatural. There is much bombast in his poem. His taste is marked with the corruption of his age; and instead of poetry, he often exhibits declamation.

On the whole, however, he is an author of lively and original genius. His high sentiments, and his fire, serve to atone for many of his defects. His genius had strength, but no tenderness or amenity. Compared with Virgil, he has more fire and sublimer sentiments; but in every thing else falls infinitely below him, particularly in purity, elegance, and tenderness.

Statius and Silius Italicus, though poets of the epic class, are too inconsiderable for particular criticism.

What is the subject of the Pharsalia?
What are its two defects?

How are Lucan's characters drawn?

What fault in the management of the story?

What is his great defect?

How does he compare with Virgil ?

TASSO'S JERUSALEM.

JERUSALEM Delivered is a strictly regular epic poem. and abounds with beauties. The subject is the recovery of Jerusalem from infidels, by the united pow ers of Christendom. The enterprise was splendid, venerable, and heroic; and an interesting contrast is exhibited between the Christians and Saracens. Religion renders the subject august, and opens a natural field for machinery and sublime description. The action too lies in a country, and in a period of time, sufficiently remote to admit an intermixture of fable with history.

Rich invention is a capital quality in Tasso. He is full of events, finely diversified. He never fatigues

his readers by mere war and fighting. He frequently shifts the scene; and from camps and battles transports us to more pleasing objects. Sometimes the solemnities of religion; sometimes the intrigues of love; at other times the adventures of a journey, or the incidents of pastoral life, relieve and entertain the reader. The work, at the same time, is artfully connected; and, in the midst of variety, there is perfect unity of plan.

Many characters enliven the poem; and these distinctly marked and well supported. Godfrey, the leader of the enterprise, is prudent, moderate, and brave; Tancred, amorous, generous, and gallant. Rinaldo, who is properly the hero of the poem, is passionate and resentful, but full of zeal, honour, and heroism. Solyman is high minded; Erminia, tender; Armida, artful and violent; and Clorinda, masculine. In drawing characters, Tasso is superior to Virgil, and yields to no poet but-Homer.

He abounds in machinery. When celestial beings interpose, his machinery is noble. But devils, enchanters, and conjurors, act too great a part throughout his poem. In general, the marvellous is carried to extravagance. The poet was too great an admirer of the romantic spirit of knight errantry.

In describing magnificent objects, his style is firm and majestic. In gay and pleasing description, it is soft and insinuating. Erminia's pastorał retreat in the seventh book, and the arts and beauty of Armida in the fourth book, are exquisitely beautiful. His battles are animated, and properly varied by incidents. It is rather by actions, characters, and descriptions, that he interests us, than by the sentimental part of his work. He is far inferior to Virgil in tenderness; and, when he aims at being sentimental and pathetic, he is apt to become artificial.

It has often been objected to Tasso, that he abounds in point and conceit; but this censure has been carried too far. For, in his general character, he is masculine and strong. The humour of decrying him, passed from the French critics to those of England. But their strictures are founded either in ignorance or prejudice. For the Jerusalem is, in my opinion, the third regular epic poem in the world, and stands

next to the Iliad and Æneid. In simplicity and fire, Tasso is inferior to Homer; in tenderness, to Virgil; in sublimity to Milton; but for fertility of invention, variety of incidents, expression of characters, richness of description, and beauty of style, no poet, except the three just named, can be compared to him.

What is the subject of the Jerusalem?

What advantages does the subject furnish?
What is Tasso's capital quality?

What is said of his characters?

In this respect how does he compare with Homer and Virgil? What is the fault of his machinery?

What is said of his style?

What is the rank of the Jerusalem?

THE LUSIAD OF CAMOENS.

THE Portuguese boast of Camoens, as the Italians do of Tasso. The discovery of the East-Indies by Vasco de Gama, an enterprize alike splendid and interesting, is the subject of the poem of Camoens. The adventures, distresses, and actions of Vasco and his countrymen, are well fancied and described; and the Lusiad is conducted on the epic plan. The incidents of the poem are magnificent; and, joined with some wildness and irregularity, there is displayed in it much poetic spirit, strong fancy, and bold description. In the poem, however, there is no attempt toward painting characters. Vasco is the hero, and the only personage that makes any figure.

The machinery of the Lusiad is perfectly extravagant; being formed of an odd mixture of Christian ideas and Pagan mythology. Pagan divinities appear to be the deities: and Christ and the Holy Virgin to be inferior agents. One great subject, however, of the Portuguese expedition, is to extend the empire of Christanity, and to extirpate Mahometanism. In this religious undertaking the chief protector of the Portuguese is Venus, and their great adversary is Bacchus. Jupiter is introduced as foretelling the downfall of Mahomet. Vasco, during a storm, implores the aid of Christ and the Virgin; and in return to this

prayer Venus appears, and, discovering the storm to be the work of Bacchus, complains to Jupiter, and procures the winds to be calmed. All this is most preposterous; but, toward the end of his work, the poet offers an awkward apology for his mythology; making the goddess Thetis inform Vasco, that she and the other heathen divinities are no more than names to describe the operations of Providence.

In the Lusiad, however, there is some 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 destined to enjoy the treasures of the East, is a happy idea. But in the fifth canto, the poet displays his noblest conception of this sort, where Vasco 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 suddenly a huge phantom, rising out of the sea 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 seas; foretelling the calamities that were to befall them, if they should proceed; and then, with a mighty noise, disappeared. This is a very solemn and striking piece of machinery; and shows that Camoens was a poet of a bold and lofty imagination.

What is the subject of the Lusiad?

What are the faults of the machinery?
What beauties are mentioned?

THE TELEMACHUS OF FENELON.

It would be unpardonable in a review of epic poets to forget the amiable Fenelon. His work, though in prose, is a poem; and the plan in general is well contrived, having epic grandeur and unity of action. He