XIV. "J'ai passé mon enfance à la cour de Pépin; • Aux détestables grecs nous a rejoints : soudain Tout a changé : les francs, et Giselle, et son frère • Ne sont plus rien pour moi....que dis-je? au lieu d'hymen, Il n'est plus entre nous que la haine et la guerre." Vol.I.p.181. The description of the despair by which the wives of the Huns defend themselves, is not without its merit. XXXVI. "Les femmes sur les chars s'élancent à leur place. A l'aspect des chrétiens une sombre fureur A la cour de son père elle fut la prêtresse : XXXVII. "Sa longue chevelure abandonnée aux vents, Et couvrent les vainqueurs d'un nuage de traits." Vol.II.P.121. The death of Theudon would have been perfect, were it not for a few verses here and there, which in great measure spoil the effect. XXXIX. "A ces mots, comme un trait Charles s'est élancé. Il pousse jusqu'au centre, où, d'un œil courroucé, Du héros téméraire, Pour frapper à coup sûr, semblait chercher le sein. Charle Charle écarte la pointe ; et sa puissante main XL. "Le dard touche à son but: sur la triple cuirasse Rabaisse sur le roi cette arme meurtrière. "Le héros attentif, reserrant son rival, La mort répand déjà sa livide pâleur: Il chancelle un moment, la main sur sa blessure; Vol. II. P. 122. The poem, as it may be expected, contains many allusions to the man who for so many years has been the admiration and the Scourge of mankind. The bees embroidered in gold on his imperial mantle may be traced. "Dans le centre d'élève un pavillon brillant Où les abeilles d'or sur la pourpre étincellent." The celebrated motto of Grenadiers suivez votre General which gave to him the memorable victory at the bridge of Lodi, is equally recorded in the episode of Monclar: "Le héros irrité de tant de resistance Vers Narbone, s'élance En s'écriant: Français, Français, suivez mes pas." An allusion to Josephine may be traced in this portrait of Adelinde, the first and divorced wife of Charles. "Adelinde, jadis l'objet de nos amours, Remplissant tous les jours Par des bienfaits nombreux par des vertus chretiennes." The The excuse of Charles for marrying Armélie, after having divorced Adelinde, is not without application. "Ses vertu ses exploits, et ses nobles travaux And again, "Paris est embelli par les mains paternelles'; Les lettres de son peuple adoucissent les mœurs.” We know not whether the following stanza may not have its allusion: XXVI. "Ainsi, vaillant guerrier, dans les jours de combats Tremble devant le fer dont s'est armé ton bras. D'où les avaient tirés les vices de la paix: Et te proclame encor l'enfant de la victoire." Vol. II. P. 40. Besides there are many other passages which seem to imply a parallel. Charles rewarding Tsolier on the field of battle; the rapidity of his marches; the description of his great qualities as a general and many more touches of the same species, all seem to imply an allusion, which becomes still more striking. As in the 9th canto our poet strongly inveighs against ambition, and speaks very freely against conquerors, and against all those who have interfered with the rights of the see of Rome, whom he places all in hell without the least mercy. In passing our judgment upon the merits of the poem before us, we shall declare without hesitation, that it is the work of a mind cast in no common mould. We have consulted its dignity by comparing it in various points of view with the noblest productions of the Italian Muse, and by examining its construction according to the strict rules of epic poetry. However unfavourable the result may have been, we do not consider that our labour has been expended in vain. It is worthy of that severity of criticism, which could scarcely have been applied to any other poetical production of the age it has substance enough to bear the weight of the justest censure, and is, perhaps, better able to support its condemnation, than many others can sustain their honours. Among the few, the very few, who fill the foremost rank of poetry and genus, it can never stand; but among those who stand second second on the favoured ground, it will claim a distinguished place. Too ponderous to be wafted along by the gale of popular applause, it will float uninjured down the stream of time, long after its more successful rivals shall have sunk into oblivion, never to rise again. Our observations have been hitherto confined to the French copy of this extraordinary poem, aud to the errors and beauties which are chargeable upon Lucien alone. We should be guilty, however, of the most culpable neglect, where we to pass over in silence the admirable version, which has been presented to the world by two of our countrymen, whose names stand so deservedly high in the records of scholarship and literature. To the labours of these two gentlemen we shall direct the attention of our readers in a subsequent Number, giving a brief abstract of the poem as it appears in its English dress, and considering it no longer as the work of Lucien Bonaparte, but of Dr. Butler and Mr. Hodgson. ART. III. Additional Notes and Illustrations to the Practical Exposition, &c. By the Rev. H. H. Norris. 8vo. 72 pp. Rivingtons. 1814. WE rejoice to find that the valuable publication of Mr. Norris has reached a second edition; the call for it is a proof that the public mind is open to conviction, and that the editor has succeeded in awakening an attention to his labours, in some degree commensurate with their importance. It is not our intention to make any further remarks upon the work itself, which cannot be considered as any longer amenable to our criticism; but our readers will probably be gratified by a brief analysis of the Appendix, which contains some very interesting documents and observations, in confirmation of the statements made in the original work.. The new matter is given in the form of additional notes and illustrations; partly intended to answer the objections which have been made against some detached portions of the work itself, and partly to furnish still farther proofs of the delusive machinations, and dangerous tendency of the Society. It appears from the advertisement, that, "Of the mass of evidence which the volume contains, three items comprise the whole, against the fidelity of which any excep tions have been taken. The advocates of the Bible Society have publicly attempted to impeach, or rather to soften down by expla nation, the statement of the proceedings at Hertford; and Mr. Cunningham, and the President of the Clapton Bible Association, 6 have have privately protested against the expressions imputed to them." P. 7. In note p. p. 97, an account had been given of the proceedings at the Hertford Auxiliary Meeting. This account, or rather the original Letter which supplied the information of which it gives the substance, has been publicly accused, by a document circulated in the name of the Hertford Committees of extreme incorrectness: but the manner in which this heavy charge is supported, will not we think impress the readers of the "Practical Exposition" with any very unfavourable opinion of the Editor's Informant. For instance; in the printed Report of the Hertford Committee, "Mr. Fordham is represented to express himself as thinking fa vourably of the Bible Society, only on account of the hope he entertained that it would destroy the Established Church: whilst in the Letter the limitation only' is omitted, and the terms pa tronised' and overthrow' are substituted for thinking fa vourably of' and 'destroy,' and no notice is taken of a previous declaration which Mr. F. made, that on all other accounts he is 'a decided enemy' to the Institution. In the Letter, moreover, the feeling which this avowal excited in the Meeting is said to be some disapprobation;' but in the printed Report, the terms' universal disgust' are employed." P. 16. "The Letter also represented Mr. Clayton to have said, that he had travelled forty miles to be present at the meeting, while it appears from the Report that his journey was only twenty-five miles. And instead of speaking of the demolition of the Church as a secondary ob. ject, according to the representation of the Letter, the comparison, as stated in the printed Report, is drawn the other way; and Mr. Clayton is alledged to say, not that the demolition of the Church is of inferior consideration to the circulation of the Bible, but that the circulation of the Bible is an object of a much higher and nobler character' than the demolition of the Church.” P. 17. In p. 276 of the volume, a note is introduced, which states, upon the authority of the same Letter, that "A learned Doctor concluded a long speech with these very words; I earnestly recommend the Society to the Ladies, for if they are active in its cause, "God will be their Lover." It appears from the report of the Committee, that Dr. Olinthus Gregory, the orator in question, did use the disgusting language attributed to him; but that he introduced it as a quotation from Tertullian. Instead then of having himself been the author of an expression from which every delicate and pious mind must be supposed to revolt with horror, the Dr. it seems is only chargeable |