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nimble vaulters on the backs of feeds.'

εππων ωκυπόδων επιβήτορας.

Odyf. xviii. 317,

Here, likewife, we fhould underftand, as the tranflation feems to intimate, that the Trojans are not celebrated for their skill in riding, but tricks of horfemanfhip. Had the former been in ufe during this fiege, we cannot fuppofe that fo accurate an obferver and mannerift as Homer, would have omitted, or doubtfully alluded to, a circumftance which would have enabled him to have diverfified his fcenes of battle by a great variety of additional picturefque imagery.

The horfes, to continue our digreffive fubject, which Diomede takes from Eneas, Tewici noi, and with which he afterwards contends in the chariot-race (Il. xxii. 377.), are conftantly styled the fteeds of Troy' by Mr. Cowper, and

the fteeds of Tros' by Mr. Pope, which we confider as their moft appropriate term. Their defcent from the immortal steeds, given by Jove to Tros, is mentioned in the fifth book. Diomede often boafts of their pedigree, and appears as fond of horfes as a Newmarket peer, and eminently knowing in heroic and equeftrian genealogy. We fhall here drop the fubject, left the reader fhould fufpect us of being deeper in the turf than in Homer; we hope, however, he will excufe us in making a farther remark relative to this fpirited hero. When ¿ arhe attacks Mars and Apollo, the phrafe is, Avl 100%, dent as a god.' Thefe deities, likewife, ufe the fame expreffion when complaining of his audacity (II. v. paffim.). According to the common acceptation of the word and act, indeed,

like a devil' appears to be not only the moft literal but most fuitable tranflation; Mr. Cowper accordingly, when Patroclus makes great devaftation among his enemies, and when he perfifts in forming the walls of Troy, though guarded by Apollo (II. xvi. 858.), renders the phrafe Dæmon-like. Phoenix likewife, when he advifes Achilles not to imitate the example of Meleager, fays,

follow thou

No Dæmon, who would tempt thee to a courfe

Like his. I. ix. 748,

· The idea, however, which the word Dæmon here conveys is not exactly that of Homer. It gives us rather the notion of an evil spirit according to the Chriftian fyftem; fuch as Horatio apprehended the ghoft of Hamlet's father to be. Plutarch afferts that Homer entertained the idea of a good and bad Demon or Genius attending each individual: but he constantly ufes eos and Saluar indifferently, as expreffive of the fame meaning,

When

When Agamemnon in the fhades enquires of Ulyffes, whether his fon Oreftes was in Pylos, Orchomenos, or Sparta, he receives this abrupt answer.

Atrides afk not me whether he live,

Or have already died, I nothing know;

Mere words are vanity, and better spared.' Odys. xi. 560. This neither agrees with the tender melancholy they are fuppofed to experience during this interview, and the tears they thed diiconfolate' in the next line; nor with the original, which rendered literally is, Why do you afk me concerning thefe things? For I know not whether your fon is alive or dead.It is wrong to give vain and groundlefs information.

Καμιν δ' ανεμώλια βάζειν.

Two vulturs are faid to prey on the liver of Tityus.

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What is fray?' the original word is aяaμuveтó, drive them away.

Simular of the dead.' Odyf. xxiv. 14.

Images or fhadows (eda) would have given a jufter idea of the deceafed fuitors. A fimular is a counterfeit and furely Mr. Cowper would not have us here understand it in the fame fenfe with Falftaff. To die is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the life of a man.'

Homer celebrates Achilles for his swiftnefs, but never styles him, as Mr. Cowper does, the fwifteft of the fwift.' (II. i. 101.) Nor does that hero call Agamemnon a fhameless wolf' (avara), nor face of flint' (usy avaides), in Homer (Il. i. 195-6). Nor, in the line preceding, is vale-darkning' the exact word for onicsvτa. Mountains may be hady without overfhadowing the adjacent valleys.

It would be endlefs to point out all the little deviations of this kind which occur in Mr. Cowper's tranflation, and which but for his chief boaft of clofely adhering to the original,' might, in general, be easily excused.

That the language is not always very highly polished muft be fufficiently obvious. Mr. Cowper likewife is fully fenfible of it; and to obviate uncandid criticifm,' declares,

To thofe who shall be inclined to tell me hereafter that my diction is often plain and unelevated, I reply beforehand that I know it-that it would be abfurd were it otherwife, and that Homer himself ftands in the fame predicament. In fact, it is one

of

of his numberlefs excellencies, and a point in which his judg ment never fails him, that he is grand and lofty always in the right place, and knows infallibly how to rife and fall with his subject.'

We may admit this of Homer; but it muft alfo be allowed that, in the tamer parts of his poems, there is a musical flow, a fonorous cadence, or happy difpofition of words, that charms the reader's ear, and renders him infenfible to the poverty of the fubject. Mr. Cowper's language, though plain, is commonly forcible, the turn of many fentences is truly claffical, and his numbers often happily varied: but we generally look in vain for the long majestic march, or liquid flow of harmony, that cheers us amidft fcenes which would otherwife but faintly intereft the mind. Homer, doubtlefs, poffeffed an amazing exuberance of invention; and his two poems exhibit an infinite variety of description, both as to imagery and character; but an almoft perpetual continuance or renewal of figures auguft or beau tiful, of fituations new or striking, is requifite to fuftain the dignity or energy of blank verfe, when continued through a long fucceffion of pages, fo as to gratify the reader's mind, or interest his attention. As this excellence belongs not even to the ori ginal, it cannot be expected in a clofe tranflation." Measured profe, where fidelity is the great object, muft frequently occur, and either Truth or Poetry be thrown into the back-ground. To palliate this evil, where the strength of the fentiment or grandeur of the incident would not fupport the diction, Mr. Cowper often endeavours, by a claffical combination or diffociation, by tranfpofition or inverfion, to add fome degree of force and vigour to it. Double negatives have taken fome root in our poetic foil, by Milton's having transplanted them from the Greek; and would, on that account alone, have been, at least, excufable. They were fometimes, however, used by more ancient poets, In Fletcher's Mad Lover,' one of the charac ters fays,

Nor none dare disobey.'

Such are the following:

• Nor Thetis not complied."

nor our return

From Ades knew not Circe.*

Some phrases of a fimilar kind add grace and dignity to the diction. The inverfions fprinkled through the following beautiful lines, heighten greatly their effect. The Trojans prepare to force the Græcian entrenchments; and

while they prefs'd to pafs, they spied a bird Sublime in air, an eagle. Right between

Both

Both hofts he foar'd (the Trojan on his left)
A ferpent bearing in his pounces clutch'd
Enormous, dripping blood, but lively still
And mindful of revenge; for from beneath
The eagle's breaft, updarting fierce his head,
Fatt by the throat he ftruck him; anguish-fick
The eagle caft him down into the space
Between the hofts, and, clanging loud his plumes,
As the wind bore him, floated far away.
Shudder'd the Trojans viewing at their feet
The spotted ferpent ominous.'-

Many peculiar arrangements of expreffion might be selected, perfectly unexceptionable; but they tend very often to obfcurity, fometimes to abfurdity. Antenor advifes that Helen fhould be restored to Menelaus;

And hope I none conceive that aught by us
Defigned fhall profper, unlefs fo be done.'
Who hath of late beneath Alcinous' roof
Our king arrived.'————————Odys. viii. 15.
• Her fnowy arms her darling fon around
She threw maternal.'Il. v, 363.

From the shores

"Call'd of Abydus, famed for fleetest mares,
Democoon.' ———Il, iv. 594,

What tangled skains are these to unravel? Again:

Had not creft-toffing Hector huge perceiv'd

The havoc.' Il. v. 805.

Unless we refer to the original, we know not whether huge' is to be applied to the havoc or to Hector.

Thou art young; and were myfelf

Thy father, thou fhouldft be my latest born.' Il. ix. 68. This reads like an ænigma. The original fignifies, in regard to years you might be my youngest fon.'

that, by the will of Jove

We may escape, perchance, this death, fecure."

Odyf. xii. 254.

This fentence is inexplicable. If fecure by the will of Jove, there could be no chance of their perifhing. There is not, however, a word of fecurity in the original. Hom. xii. 215.

So I; then ftriding large, the spirit thence
Withdrew of fwift acides, along

The

The hoary mead pacing, with joy elate

That I had blazon'd bright his fon's renown.'

Odyf. xi. 658.

Befides the inverfions, we diflike that an hoary mead' fhould be fubftituted for a a meadow of afphodel;' an herb ufually planted, as the néte tells us, round the tombs of the deceased. Thence it became appropriated by the poets to the fhadowy regions. Blazon'd bright' is not in unifon with the fimplicity of the original. Hom. xi. 536.

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his ample cheft (i. e. a lion's)

With gory drops, and his broad cheeks are hung.
Tremendous fpectacle. Odyf. xxii. 469.

A cheft hung with drops of blood, and broad cheeks alfo, which is the natural conftruction, must be, indeed, a tremendous fpectacle!

foremost ran

Quefting, the hounds.' Odyf, xix. 543.

Exclufive of the inverfion, our reviewer, in the hunting department, objects to the tranflation of

ιχνη ερευνώντες κύνες είσαν.

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Spaniels, he fays, queft at the starting or fpringing of game, but bounds always open, as in the prefent circumftance, during

the chace.

nor for all the brave

Of my own brothers.' Il. vi. 550. i. e. For all my brave brothers.

The language fuffers more from fuch diftortions to prevent its finking into profe, than might have been required for the fetters of rhyme, againft which Mr. Cowper fo elaborately declaims in his Preface. He there, not only pleads guilty' (if we may ufe the phrafe, when he glories in his confeffion) to a charge that might be urged againit him, of his diction's being often plain and unelevated, and of his numbers having now and then an ugly hitch in their gait, ungraceful in itself, and inconvenient to the reader;' but likewife vindicates his ufe of them. The truth is, fays he, in regard to his limping lines,

poems

of

that not one of them all efcaped me, but, fuch as they are they were all made fuch with a wilful intention. In 'great length there is no blemish more to be feared than fameness of numbers, and every art is ufeful by which it may be avoided. A line, rough in itfelf, has yet its recommendations; it faves the

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