Instinct with power divine, and on each theme
Directs the lustre of its plastic beam.

See HOMER's fire, with tempered warmth, pervade*
The cool opaque of Academus' shade;

See LIvy's eagle eye expanding gaze

On that bright orb, and drink the golden blaze; While full, condensed, the flame, in fervour strong, Rolls peals of thunder from th' Athenian's tongue.+

Congenial spirit made the arts aspire,

Bold ZEUXIS' genius caught the POET's fire ;‡
And bolder PHEIDIAS, soaring far above, ||
Bade marble emulate the nod of Jove.

* Vivida ista vis animi, atque calor ingenii, qui vatem confingit, inter sylvas Academi, quodam loci temperamento, ut ità dicam, "frigus captabit opacum.” Sic enim mihi de PLATONE videtur.

DEMOSTHENIS non tam vibrarent fulmina, nisi numeris contorta

ferrentur.

‡ Ipse HELENAM cùm pinxisset, quod de opere homines censuri essent minimè expectandum ratus, protinùs hos versus adjecit, ex Iliade

Ου νεμεσις Τρωασ καὶ εὐκνήμιδας Αχαιουσ

Τοιη δ' αμφὶ γυναικι πολύν χρόνον αλγεα πάσχειν·
Αινωσ Αθαναίησι θεῇσ εἰσ ώπα ἔοικεν.

|| Απομνημονεύουσι δε του φειδίου, διοτι προσ τον Παναινον ειπε πυνθανο μενον, προσ τί παράδειγμα μελλει ποιήσειν τὴν εικόνα του Διοσ, ὅτι πρὸσ τὴν Ομήρου, δι επών εκλεθεῖσαν τουίων. H καὶ κυανέησιν &C. Ειξῆσθαι γὰρ μάλα δοκεῖ καλώσ.

To nobler heights extends the Muse's aim,

And blends the PATRIOT'S with the POET's name:
When, fired with more than mortal frenzy, rode
The Persian despot, semblance of a God,
Idol of Majesty! and from his car

Saw harnessed myriads thronging to the war,
Saw emptied realms his crowded ranks supply,
Obedient following where his standards fly,
Whilst helms, shields, corslets, with conflicting rays,
Flash o'er the earth an undulating blaze; *

Taught by her BARD, young Greece with transport draws The best of omens from her Country's cause, t

Firm in the consciousness of worth! The day キ

Had NOT arrived to take that worth away. ‡

TO FREEDOM'S arm see Suza's tyrant yield.

Nor vain the hope-on each ensanguined field

Ac latè fluctuat omnis

Ære renidenti tellus.

† Εἰς οἰωνὸς ἄριςτοσ αμύνεσθαι περὶ παίρησ.

* Ημισυ γαρ τησ αρελησ αποαίνυται ευρύοπα Ζευσ
Ανδροσ, ευτ' αν μιν κατα δουλιον ημαρ έλησινο

SHE, kindling through the ranks, impetuous drove*

Her sons to battle

-messenger of Jove!

Who, thundering from on high, each heart inspired
With sacred frenzy, and each bosom fired;

Whilst mitred Persia, smit with panic fear,
Crouch'd at the lightning of Achaia's spear—
Mean slaves of Despots, whom their breasts disown,†
Murderers of others' rights, regardless of their own!

There is here a beautiful disorder of expression, the noblest effect of art. Pope, in his version of this passage, has put more of brilliancy, than of enthusiasm.

Servitia regum superborum, suæ libertatis immemores, alienam oppugnatum venire.

There are no battles, recorded in the annals of antiquity, in which the interest of modern nations seems to have been directly involved, if we except the battle of Marathon, and the subsequent engagements, that decided the contest between Greece and Persia. It would have been a matter of perfect indifference, as affecting us, whether CÆSAR or POMPEY had got the better in the plains of Pharsalia. Not so at Marathon; there the conflict was between civilization and barbarbarism; between the genius of liberty, and the spirit of despotism; and had the issue been in favour of the latter, the sacred light, which was one day destined to cheer, animate, and invigorate the human mind, would have been extinguished for ever. There is some thing perniciously durable in the system of oriental despotism. It is, to day, what it was thousands of years ago. Revolution itself has no effect upon its character. The

Hence, in each clime, in every age, the bard *
Has been his own exceeding great reward,
Taught by the muse, by all mankind approved,
By sages honoured, and by heaven beloved.

Nature, great Goddess, to his glance reveal'd
Those charms, from all but poet's eyes conceal'd,
Which learned pride could never yet detect,
Which all its pains serve only to dissect. †

fair form of liberty has its infancy, its youth, its manhood, and, alas! its decay and death: but oriental despotism seems to be immortal. Under its blighting influence, man becomes brutified, losing all taste for freedom. Subit quippe etiam ipsius inertiæ dulcedo, et invisa primò desidia postremò amatur. This is the true secret of the system; gross sensuality, the only happiness, of which a slave is sensible, can be fully enjoyed under the system of oriental despotism; this debilitates the frame both of his mind and body, and disposes each to that sluggish indolence, that turns with aversion from even contemplating any design, requiring energy, firmness, and perseverence.

* Πάσι γαρ ανθρωποισιν επιχθονίοισιν αοιδοί

Τιμής εκμοροι εισι, και αιδουσε δυνεκ' αρα σφεασ
Οιμασ μουσ' εδιδξε, φίλησε δε φυλον αοιδων.

+ "Qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas," quemque, præ cæteris om> nibus, Maro noster felicem nuncupat, decuit quidem avaλulxwo Naturam, redactumque in membra corpus ejus, atque etiam in partes, separatim introspexisse. Minutum hunc Philosophum, at minimè Poëtam, habeo ; quem πασῃ φαντασιᾳ, ut stoica secta discipulam, opertet επίλε γειν, ὅτι φαντασία ἔι, καὶ ου πάντωσ το φαινόμενον. Iste nec simul ac species patefacta 'st verna diei," phoμeidɛa Apgodíly, nec "media nimborum in nocte," Aiα TEGTIXEρauvoy unquam conspexit.

To him DIVINITY, half veil'd, appears,
Still present to his eyes, or to his ears;
He hears itin the silence of the floods;
He sees it- -in the darkness of the woods ;
Sees it embodied, though with varying form,
The calm as VENUS, and as Jove the storm ;
Sees her bright smile add beauty to the spring,
And, 'midst the storm, the storm-delighted King!

Daughter of Jove, he cries, by all implored,
In heav'n, on earth, by Gods and men adored;
Beneath whose sway the silver planets move,
And oceans roll, impelled by mystic love;
At whose bright glance the earth in beauty glows,
And from her lap spontaneous treasures throws,

Whatever may be thought of the Rhapsodist's attempt at version of the two following celebrated passages, we conceive that the passages themselves fully illustrate the opinion of the Rhapsodist, namely, that a mere description of the phenomena of nature, however accurate, and even animated, will not answer the general purposes of poetry. No man will deny the accuracy and animation of the two Latin poets, in their description of SPRING and of the TEMPEST, so far as the mere phenomena of nature are concerned. And, yet, how dull, how uninteresting, would each of them, comparatively, have seemed, if the Divine personages had not been introduced to embody their respective features; if, in each scene, the eye of the poet, "simul ac species patefacta 'st verna Dia," çıxaμeidea Αφροδίτην, et “ media nimborum in nocte" Δια τερπικεραυνον nunquam conspexisset. These shed a glory over each scene, that Nature, by herself, cannot boast of.

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