B. iii. 408. And the loud woods with fhrill cicadas ring.

We extremely object to this retention of Latin terms in an English verfion, and by far therefore prefer, with Dryden, the adoption of our own proper appellation grasshopper. For the fame reafon we would venture to read, for afculus, b. ii. v. 21, the beech; for ilex, b. iii. 183, the holly,' or, as Dryden has it, the holly-green;' for loti, b. ii. 110, lotus:" and fo of It is true Warton has fet the examothers. many ple for thus interweaving Latin terms into an English verfion, in every inftance excepting the latter, of those we have now adduced; yet we cannot but with Mr. Sotheby had inclined to the example of Dryden, and given his own language credit for a fufficiency of difcrimination in the subject of natural history. Its vocabulary, in this fcience, is at leaft equal to that of Greece or Rome.

B. iii. 524. Ad terramque fluit devexo pondere cervix..

'And prone to earth his ponderous neck defcends.'

This verfion is far fuperior to that of either Warton or Dryden, but it nevertheless falls far fhort of the picturesque beauty of the original. The expreffion FLUIT devexo corpore is fo curiously happy, as perhaps to be incapable of transfufion; and is fcarcely inferior to the exquifite pencil of Lucretius, from whom it is copied, when defcribing the abrupt death of the birds that fly over the Avernus. De Rer. Nat. vi. 743. Remigiom oblitæ, pennarum vela remittunt, Præcipitesque cadunt, molli cervice profufæ, In terram.'

The lines that follow, in Mr. Sotheby's verfion, are elegantly rendered, and true to the original.

Ah! what avails his unremitting toil

And patient strength, that tam'd th' unwilling foil!' &c.

The whole paffage ftrongly reminds us of Pope's inimitable defcription of the death of the pheafant, in his Windfor Foreft; and it is highly probable the English bard derived his first hint from this delineation of Virgil.

He feels the fiery wound,

Flutters in blood, and panting beats the ground.
Ah! what avail his gloffy, varying dyes,

His purple creft, and scarlet-circled eyes,

The vivid green his fhining plumes unfold,

His painted wings, and breaft that flames with gold!'

B. iii. 566, ignis facer.' In Mr. Sotheby's verfion, th' acsurfed flame; in Dr. Warton's, th' infatiate flame;' who, CRIT. REY. VOL. XXX. September, 1800.

C

nevertheless, intimates, that it is poffible facer may mean accurfed or direful, though he does not choose to employ either of thofe terms himself: thus, adds he auri facra fames ;-facer efto. Yet ignis facer is not a general expreffion, but a peculiar and idiopathic difeafe; and from its fymptoms, which are minutely described by Lucretius, lib. vi. 660, as alfo from the exprefs declaration of Celfus, lib. v. cap. 28, there can be little doubt but it was the erysipelas, or St. Anthony's fire of modern times. Sacer is certainly, therefore, neither a transferable nor a metaphorical adjunct; and perhaps it would be better to tranflate the difeafe literally, the holy fire" or 'flame.'

From thofe parts of this elegant and accomplished poem, in which Mr. Sotheby appears to have been most successful, we with pleasure select the following, b. i. v. 443.

• Oft fhalt thou fee, ere brooding storms arise,
Star after ftar glide headlong down the skies,
And, where they fhoot, long trails of lingering light
Sweep far behind, and gild the shades of night;
Oft the fall'n foliage wing its airy way,
And floating feathers on the water play.
When lightning flashes from the northern pole,
From east to west when thunders widely roll,
The deluge pours, and, fearful of the gale,
The conscious feaman furls his dripping fail.
Not unforeseen the fhowery tempefts rage;
Earth, ocean, air, the gradual ftorm prefage.
The crane beneath his flight fees clouds arife,
Folds his aërial wing, and downward flies;
The heifers gaze aloft where vapours fail,
And with wide noftril drink the diftant gale;
The twittering fwallow fkims the pool around;
Along the marshes croaking frogs refound;
Ants, as from fecret cells their eggs they bear,
Each following each, the track continuous wear;
The vaft bow drinks; and, ruftling on the wing,
The crows beneath their plumes wide darkness fling.
Then fhalt thou view the birds that haunt the main,
Or where Cayfter floods the Afian plain,

Dafh forth large drops, that down their plumage glide,
Dance on the billows, dive beneath the tide,
In gay contention dip their wings in vain,
And prelude, as they fport, th' impending rain:
But o'er dry fands the raven stalks alone,

Swells her full voice, and calls the tempest down.
Nor yet unconfcious of the threatening gloom
The virgin labours o'er the nightly loom,

When fputtering lamps flash forth unfteady fire,

And round th' o'erloaded wick dull flames expire.' P. 40.

The most defective part of this admirable defcription is the omiffion of the characteristic feature in the original of the focial qualities of the corvus, a generic term including the crow and the rook; but both in this verfion, and that of Dr. Warton, erroneously tranflated crow. The Latin text is as follows, v. 381.

E paftu decedens agmine magno

Corvorum increpuit denfis exercitus alis.

More accurately, so far as relates to the term crow, rendered by Warton:

on rustling pinions loud

The crows, a numerous hoft! from pasture homeward crowd.'

Every ornithologist knows, however, that the focial character here defcribed, is not that of the crow, but of the rook. The crow is not a very fociable bird, and fcarcely ever appears more numerous than in pairs. Dryden, on this account, has more merit than either of his fucceffors:

Huge flocks of rifing rooks forfake their food.'

The following is admirable, and reminds us ftrongly of Buchanan's exquifite ode to the Calends of May, inferted in his book of Mifcellanies.

Yes! lovely Spring! when rofe the world to birth,
Thy genial radiance dawn'd upon the earth,

Beneath thy balmy air creation grew,

And no bleak gale on infant Nature blew.

When herds first drank the light, from Earth's rude bed,

When first man's iron race uprear'd its head,

When first to beafts the wild and wood were given,

And stars unnumber'd pav'd th' expanse of heaven;
Then as through all the vital spirit came,

And the globe teem'd throughout its mighty frame,
Each tender being, ftruggling into life,
Had droop'd beneath the elemental strife,
But thy mild feason, each extreme between,
Soft nurse of Nature, gave the golden mean.'

The fpirit of the original, v. 338,

Orbis, &c.

Ver illud erat, ver magnus agebat

P. 95.

is much better preserved in the above perfonification of Spring han in the parallel paffage of Warton.

Such were the days, the feafon was the fame,
When first arofe this world's all-beauteous frame;
The fky was cloudlefs, balmy was the air,

And fpring's mild influence made young Nature fair.'

The defcription of the chariot-race in lib. iii, 103, of the Latin text, is highly nervous and faithful.

Swift at the fignal, lo! the chariots bound,
And bursting through the barriers feize the ground.
Now with high hope erect the drivers dart,
Now fear exhaufts their palpitating heart.

Prone o'er loofe reins they lafh th' extended steed,
And the wing'd axle flames beneath their speed.
Now, low they vanish from the aching eye,
Now foar in air, and feem to gain the sky.
Where'er they rufh along the hidden ground,
Duft in thick whirlwinds darkens all around,
Each preffes each: in clouds from all behind,
Horfe, horsemen, chariots, thundering in the wind,
Breath, flakes of foam, and sweat from every pore,
Smoke in the gale, and ftream the victor o'er.

Thus glorious thirst of praise their spirit fires,

And fhouting victory boundless strength infpires.' P. 127,

We infert the fame paffage, for a comparison, from Warton.

'Doft thou not fee the car's contending train,
Shoot from the goal, and pour along the plain?
By varying fits, each trembling charioteer,

Now flufh'd with hope, now pale with panting fear,
Plies the loud lafh, hangs headlong o'er the reins;
Swift bounds the fervid axle o'er the plains:
Now deep in duft obfcur'd the chariot flies,
Now mounts in air, and gains upon the skies.
The ftrife runs high, too fierce for dull delay,
The dufty volumes darken all the way:
Bath'd in their followers' foam appear the first :
Such is the love of praise, and glory's eager thirst.'

Of these two we prefer the latter: the abrupt apostrophe with which it breaks forth, fo well calculated to paint the fudden fpeed of the horfes themselves, is here admirably attended to, and transferred from the original, v. 103.

Nonne vides, cum præcipiti certamine campum
Corripuere, ruuntque effufi carcere currus?

Virgil, however, is not the author of this spirited adaptation of the found to the fense: he himfelf has copied it from his great master Lucretius, who employs it on a fimilar occafion, de Rer. Nat. ii. 263.

Nonne vides etiam patefactis tempore puncto

Carceribus, non poffe tamen prorumpere equorum, &c.

Of the defcriptive portions of the Georgics, the two most generally admired are the digreffion on the pleasures of rural life, which clofes the fecond book, and the episode of Orpheus and Eurydice, with which the poem concludes in the fourth. We do not think any of our tranflators have been adequately happy in either of these. To begin with the former-It is thus opened by Mr. Sotheby, v. 569.

Ah! happy fwain! ah! race belov'd of heaven!
If known thy blifs, how great the bleffing given!
For thee juft Earth from her prolific beds

Far from wild war fpontaneous nurture fheds.' P. 103.

The digreffion, in the original, commences in the plural number, and it acquires no benefit from the prefent change to the fingular. It is alfo introduced in the third perfon, and acquires no additional fpirit, that we can perceive, in the prefent variation to the fecond. In this refpect Dr. Warton, we think, has the advantage, as being more faithful to his text. V. 552.

Thrice happy fwains! whom genuine pleafures blefs,

If they but knew and felt their happiness!

From wars and difcord far, and public ftrife,

Earth with falubrious fruits fupports their life.'

As the paffage is fhort, we will now infert the verfification of Dryden, who, like Mr. Sotheby, writes in the fingular number; but, like Dr. Warton, prefers the third perfon to the fecond. V. 639.

O happy, if he knew his happy state!

The fwain who, free from bufinefs and debate,

Receives his easy food from Nature's hand,

And just returns of cultivated land.'

The original comprifes three lines alone, and occurs thus, v. 458.

O fortunatos nimium, fua fi bona norint,

Agricolas quibus ipfa, procul difcordibus armis,
Fundit humo facilem victum juftiffima tellus,'