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Mr. Pope has not omitted this image in his charming epistle of Eloïfa to Abelard :

Suck my laft breath, and catch my flying foul.

This we have also seen thus retained in a Latin translation of a few of his felect pieces:

Spiritus extremus noftri tua labra per intus

Infiliat, capiafque animam ter amate volantem!

We could not well fuppofe our Tranflator judged this too warm an image, in the fituation of Adonis, for his transfufion, when he has put the following lines into the mouth of Venus on this occafion, p.10. Far other sport might those fair limbs effay

Than the rude combat, or the savage fray;

which befides are very nearly a present of our Tranflator's to his original; though they are much more in the spirit of Ovid than Bion, the former giving occafion, in one of his epiftles, to his tranflator to say almoft the fame thing:

Let dusty warriors in the field delight,

These limbs were fashion'd for another fight:

while Bion only fays, pretty literally-Being so very handsome, how could you encounter wild beafts!

Καλος εων τοσσετον εμηνας θηρσι παλαίειν ;

In the last distich of this translation, which concludes thus,
Spare, Venus, fpare that too luxurious tear

For the long forrows of the mournful year,

we imagine luxuriant would correfpond better to the intention of Bion, which was to represent the tears of Venus as fuperabundant and exceffive, confidering fhe was to mourn him for a year, or at least anniyerfarily.

Δει σε παλιν κλαῦσαι, παλιν εις ετος αλλο δακρύσαι.

A luxurious tear, if the expreffion may be allowed, seems to have a different fenfe, and may even fignify a tear of joy-But having remarked these efcapes, not without a view to the author's confideration of them, in cafe his tranflation fhould hereafter appear in any miscellany, we think we may be juftify'd in commending it upon the whole; and in fuppofing that, as a pretty bagatelle, it may deferve a place among the nuge canore, referring our readers, at the fame time, to the following fpecimen of it, for their own opinion, or entertainment.

Adonis dead, the mufe of woe shall mourn,
Adonis dead, the weeping loves return.

Stretch'd on this mountain thy torn lover lies.
Weep, queen of beauty! for he bleeds — he dies.
Ah! yet behold life's laft drops faintly flow,
In ftreams of purple o'er thofe limbs of fnow!
From the pale cheeks the perifh'd roses fly;
And death dims flow the ghaftly-gazing eye.

Kifs, kifs thofe fading lips, 'ere chill'd in death';
With foothing fondness ftay the fleeting breath.
'Tis vain-ah! give the foothing fondness o'er!
Adonis feels the warm falute no more.

Adonis dead, the muse of woe fhall mourn,
Adonis dead, the weeping loves return.

His faithful dogs bewail their master slain,
And mourning Dryads pour the plaintive frain.
Not the fair youth alone the wound oppreft,
The queen of beauty bears it in her breast.
Her feet unfandal'd, floating wild her hair,
Her afpect woeful, and her Bofom bare,
Diftreft, fhe wanders the wild wastes forlorn,
Her facred limbs by plowing brambles torn.
Loud, as the grieves, furrounding rocks complain,
And Echo thro' the long vales calls her abfent fwain.
Adonis hears not; life's last drops fall flow,
In ftreams of purple, down his limbs of fnow.
The weeping Cupids round their queen deplore,
And mourn her beauty, and her love no more.

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K Art. 22. The Satires of Ludovico Ariosto. 8vo. 35. Millar.

Five of these fatires are translated by a reverend Gentleman, whofe name is fignified, or rather very nearly revealed, by the Editor, the Rev. Mr. Temple Henry Croker, in this contraction, H-rt-n: the tranflation of the fecond and laft being acknowledged by the Editor himself. A summary account of the life of Ariofto is prefixed by the fame gentleman, many of the incidents related in it being taken from the fatires themselves, which contain above two thoufand lines. The celebrated author is reprefented in it by his admiring biographer, not only as a poet fuperior to all the moderns, which will perhaps be contested by many; but as a man of great abilities, virtue, and probity, and indeed of a moft amiable difpofition, many traces of which are visible throughout thefe tranflations. One remarkable incident in his life is, that Pope Leo X. fhould publish a bull in favour of his Orlando Furiofo, excommunicating all who should difapprove it, or defraud him of his profits; and yet never promote or reward the author, to whom he had alfo confiderable political obligations; though, perhaps, the pontiff might confider his bull as no mean benefaction. This will naturally remind our readers of a like neglect of the author of Hudibras by one of our monarchs, who was faid to carry that poem conftantly about him: a poem which gave fo many proofs of the author's attachment to the caufe of the royalifts, and contained fo much wit and ridicule on their enemies. A fecond incident is that of Ariofto's flaying infenfibly, in a fit of meditation or abfence, among a gang of Banditti, who, on discovering him to be Ariofto, treated him with the utmost respect; entertained him with finging feveral parts of his own Poem to him; and reconducted him fafely to his fortrefs of Garfagnana, of which he was then governor. This will equally remind us of fome extraordinary and miraculous protections, which not only Horace and other antient pocts, but even

fome

fome modern ones have affumed, as a compliment perhaps to their poetry, and the fuppofed divinities infpiring it: as Ovid fays,

Eft deus in nobis, agitante calefcimus illo.

With regard to thefe fatires of Ariofto, though they chiefly arofe from his diffatisfactions with the great, murmuring when unprefer'd, complaining for want of leifure and liberty when employed, and hence neceffarily abound with egotifms; they evince him nevertheless to be a man of fenfe, of honour, and of fentiment. While they fhew an excellent difcernment of human nature, they have nothing of that turgid imagination and extravagance, fo confpicuous throughout his Orlando; and which, in fpight of its numerous admirers, the judicious Horace must have frequently branded with his incredulus odi, as he commends one of his intimates for laughing at all fuch marvels as Ariosto revels in :

Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, fagas,

Nocturnos lemures, portentaque thessala rides.

In his firft fatire, after enumerating the inceffant and groveling fervilities, which an unreasonable, and even retentive patron may expect, he fays, the noblest use of life is to read and reflect; adding, more senfibly, perhaps, than practicably,

Thefe teach in home-fpun clothes, with tafte refin'd,

To dine on humble food, but feast the mind;

To dare be poor and free, with just disdain,
To fcorn the wretch that drags a willing chain;
In proper bounds my wifhes to confine,
Though difappointed, never to repine,
With filence and contempt, unmov'd to fee
The flatt'rer or buffoon prefer'd to me;
To eat at common hours, nor fafting wait,
That other folks may see me dine in state;
For pride, convenience never to forego,
Or facrifice a fubftance to a show.

The following verfes, in the fame fatire, evince that love of natural freedom, and that ingenuity of fpirit, which generally accompany true genius.

For this to Heav'n I lift my grateful hands,
That in my father's houfe, and father's lands,
Without dependence or constraint I live,
My honeft neighbours chearful can receive;
Far from a court can pafs my life in peace,
Ufe no low arts my fubftance to encrease.
Unpity'd and unenvy'd take my lot,
Nor blush for what I want, or what I got.

His fecond fatire is juftly fevere on the corruptions of the court of Rome, and the shocking vices of the Italian priests. Mr. Croker obferves very appofitely here in a note, p. 48. That as more than one part of the Orlando Furiofo is fevere on the Popes, it is whimsi

cal

cal to fee Leo X. excommunicating those who do not approve of that very poetry, which condemns the papal tyranny.'

His fixth fatire, addreffed to Hannibal Maleguccio, on the choice of a wife, is very severe on the fex; though fhort of the rancour of Juvenal's on the fame fubject, and entirely free from his groffness and obscenity; for which Ariofto had too much delicacy and elegance. These induce him, with his utmost invectives, to allow all proper indulgence to the fair. As the ufe of paint among the ladies here seems rather more extenfive than formerly, we give a few lines on that topic from this fatire.

The beauty-wash excepted, grant your wife
All ornaments that fuit her rank in life:
No paint on any terms would I permit,
And here our humours do, or ought to hit.
If Erculano had the wit and grace,

To know what meets his kifs on Lydia's face,
The loathfome thought would all defire remove,
And ferve the quickeft cure for ill-plac'd love.

Lotions, pomatums, ointments, fublimate,
Choice myft'ries of a lady's cabinet,

Punish with swift decays th' uncleanly guile,
And, us'd to mend complections, quickly spoil.

Hence furrows feam the cheeks, and pimples glow,

Time never fails the secret fraud to show;

Hence pois'nous fteams exhales the fetid breath,

And tainted drop the black uneven teeth.

The laft fatire, addreffed to cardinal Bembo, in which he defires his recommendation of a tutor for his fon, atteft that familiarity and efteem in which Ariofto liv'd with the great, with the capable and accomplished fpirits of his time: and the laft diftich of it proves that ardent defire for his fon's fuccefs with the muses, to whom the father certainly was a most zealous and genuine devotee :

That, tho' the father fail'd for want of time,
He to Parnaffus topmoft height may climb.

Upon the whole, these fatires of Ariofto are not without fome refemblance to thofe of Horace, particularly in the many fhort tales or fables, fo aptly introduced, and fo pithily related. We think, however, notwithstanding their frequent merit, they are obviously inferior to Horace's, and lefs interefting, as more particular and perfonal. With regard to this translation of them, though we have not assumed to compare it critically with the Italian, we can affirm, that it generally reads, as the phrafe is, very pleasingly; for we should not count it the leaft compliment to this work to fay, that it greatly excells, as far as they can be compared, the laft tranflation of the Orlando Furiofo; which, from an affectation, as it should feem, of keeping literally to, and preferving the very feries and order of the Italian language, has murdered the English, and finn'd against the grammar idiom or arrangement of it, in a great majority of the numerous Stanzas, of which that long work confifts. In confequence of this,

the

the poetical manes of Ariofto muft appear, to an Englishman, a more difmal reprefentation of him, than the mangled figure of Hector did in the dream of Æneas. Wherefore, in defence of genuine criticism, we may impartially affert, that the panegyrifts of that verfion can never be confiftent in reprehending any English tranflation that may appear hereafter; and that a Tranflator of real merit may henceforth dread their applause more than their cenfure.

K

Art. 23. Genuine Happiness. A poetical Effay. Addreffed to the young Club at Arthur's. By John Bland, Efq;

Townshend.

In this poem, our author acquaints us that,

An artless mufe would aim through tott'ring flight,
To clear the paths of genuine delight,
Inculcate nature's easy rules, and teach,
That human joy is fix'd in human reach.

That men, thro' falfe purfuits, true comforts mifs,
And inftinct, more than reason, points to bliss.
Such are her tenets—and from hence the proves,
Reafon is foe to man, but nature loves.

4to. Is.

Whether reafon be a foe to mankind, in general, is a point we will not undertake to difpute with this author; but that reafon and himself are at variance, in particular, we very readily believe. He is alfo, unhappily, as little the favourite of the mutes, as an adept in moral philofophy; and has nearly as poor pretenfions to rhime as to reason.

Why a work of this nature should be addreffed to the club at Arthur's or wherefore, on a repetition of the word patrons, he should hail the facred found,' we are alfo much at a lofs to conceive. In fact, we wish our poet be not one of thofe fort of people which he himself characterises as

dupes, that thwarting nature's rules,

In fearch of wisdom, dwindle into fools.

K-n-k

Art. 24. The Orphan of China, a Tragedy; as it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury-lane. 8vo. Is. Vaillant.

This is not a translation of Voltaire's celebrated L'Orphelin de la Chine, but rather a new English play, formed upon the Frenchman's model, with confiderable improvements of the plan. It is to Mr. Murphy, author of feveral other dramatic performances, that the public is obliged for this tragedy; which was acted with fuccefs, equal to what most of our modern theatrical productions have met with; yet with lefs fuccefs than it deferved. This is attributed to its being brought on the flage too near the close of the feason, when the warm weather, and the performers benefits, were set in.

As it was the fate of this tragedy to be too late in its exhibition on the theatre, fo it is alfo now (through the Reviewer's indifpofition) too late in its appearance in this journal, to admit of our attempting to do juftice to its merits. Every one has, by this time, feen or read, and most have applauded it.-For ourfelves, we have therefore only to add, in

few

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