Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

he sprinkles, rather liberally, moral sentences, glosses on the text, parenthetical apothegms.-A considerable store of classical learning is revealed in many passages;—the idea of Apollo's harp sounding forth "musick to the ocean," is a well-known antique piece of mystification; see Book II. where, likewise Leander's ineptness in love, seems suggested by that of Daphnis in Longus's exquisite Pastoral Romance.-Deep knowledge of the human heart is displayed in Hero's longing shamefacedness, which wears the semblance of hypocrisy, and yet is not.-Leander

66 - knock'd and call'd, at which celestial noise,
The longing heart of Hero much more joys,
Than nymphs and shepherds, when the timbrel rings,
Or crooked dolphin when the sailor sings:-
:-
She staid not for her robes, but straight arose,
And, drunk with gladness, to the door she goes,-
Where seeing a naked man she screech'd for fear*,

These lines would be highly gratifying to the derisive qualities of a French critic: but here, in England, their reign is over; and thanks to the Germans, with the Schlegels at their head, a truer philosophical method of judging, is beginning to obtain among us.

And ran into the dark herself to hide;
(Rich jewels in the dark are soonest spied)
Unto her was he led, or rather, drawn

By those white limbs which sparkled through the lawn,” &c.

How much more truly is this in the genuine nature of woman, and therefore how much more lovely to a healthy mind than either those outrageous personifications of ill-timed chastity, so common in romances ten or twelve years ago, or that unrestrained prostitution of the person which seems considered so venial by Percy B. Shelley and Co.-The two lines

"Then standing at the door she turn'd about As loth to see Leander going out :"

contain a pretty illustration of the extreme of love:-some of our diluting modern writers would have spun out this light touch to a fine length. What a brilliant fancy shines out in the following verses:

"The men of wealthy Sestos, every year,
For his sake, whom their goddess held so dear,
Rose-cheek'd Adonis, kept a solemn feast;
Thither resorted many a wand'red guest

DEDICATION.

To the greatest genius born since the glorious day of Michel-Agnolo,

HENRY FUSELI, ESQ. A. M.

AND P. P. ROY. ACAD.

who, in his embodied conception of Hero and Leander, has raised mortal passion to the sublime, by its burning intensity, this little revival is offered, as an unworthy but sincere testimony of the deepest admiration for the diversified powers of his mind and art.

The Binder will cut, out this leaf and place it before Preface.

To meet their loves:—sien as hat wine at al
Came lovers home from that great iestra.
For every street, like to a frnunen,

Glister'd with breathing stars,

*

But far above the loveliest Hero shin d.
And stole away th' enchanted gazer's mind:

[ocr errors]

Nor that night-wandering, pale, and watery star,
(When yawning dragons draw her whirling car,
From Latmos' mount, up to the gloomy sky,
Where crown'd with blazing light and majesty
She proudly sits) more over-rules the flood,
Than she the hearts of those that near her stood."

But this preface swells apace, and the conclusion seems to retire before me as I advance like an ignis fatuus. Chapman's portion still hangs on my hands, but I shall dispatch him in a few words, both on account of what has been heretofore said of him in the preface to his Hymns of Homer, and for the sake of the reader, who has been all-too-long amused with vain speeches in the cold portico of our theatre. It appears almost idle to point out where the supplement commences, as the style of our noble

« ZurückWeiter »