a part throughout his poem. In general, the marvellous is carried to extravagance. The poet was too great an admirer of the romantic spirit of knight errantry.

In describing magnificent objects, his style is firm and majestic. In gay and pleasing descrip tion, it is soft and insinuating. Erminia's pastoral retreat in the seventh book, and the arts and beauty of Armida in the fourth book, are exquisitely beautiful. His battles are animated, and properly varied by incidents. It is rather by actions, characters, and descriptions, that he interests us, than by the sentimental part of his work. He is far inferior to Virgil in tenderness; and, when he aims at being sentimental and pathetic, he is apt to become artificial.

It has often been objected to Tasso, that he abounds in point and conceit; but this censure has been carried too far. For, in his general character, he is masculine and strong. The humor of decrying him, passed from the French critics to those of England. But their strictures are founded either in ignorance or prejudice. For the Jerusalem is, in my opinion, the third regular epic poem in the world; and stands next to the Iliad and Æneid. In simplicity and fire, Tasso is inferior to Homer; in tenderness to Virgil; in sublimity to Milton; but for fertility of invention, variety of incidents, expression of characters, richness of description, and beauty of style, no poet, except the three just named, can be compared to him.

QUESTIONS.

1. What kind of a poem is Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered? 2. What is the subjact of it? 3. What

renders the subject august? 4. What is the capital quality of Tasso? 5. What enliven the poem? 6. What is said of the machinery used in this poem? 7. How does Tasso chiefly interest us? 8. What rank does Dr. Blair assign to the Jerusalem? 9. How dow does Tasso compare with Homer, Virgil and Millon?

THE LUSIAD OF CAMO ENS.

THE Portuguese boast of Camoens, as the Italians do of Tasso. The discovery of the East Indies by Vasco de Gama, an enterprise alike splendid and interesting, is the subject of the poem of Camoens. The adventures, distresses, and actions of Vasco and his countrymen, are well fancied and described; and the Lusiad is conducted on the epic plan. The incidents of the poem are magnificent; and, joined with some wildness and irregularity, there is displayed in it much poetic spirit, strong fancy, and bold description. In the poem, however, there is no attempt toward painting characters. Vasco is the hero, and the only personage that makes any figure.

The machinery of the Lusiad is perfectly extravagant; being formed of an odd mixture of Christian ideas and Pagan mythology. Pagan divinities appear to be the deities; and Christ and the Holy Virgin to be inferior agents. One great object, however, of the Portuguese expedition is to extend the empire of Christianity, and to extirpate Mahometanism. In this religious undertaking the chief protector of the Portuguese is Venus, and their great adversary is Bacchus. Jupiter is introduced, as fortelling

Y

Vasco during a storm

fine

the downfall of Mahomet. implores the aid of Christ and the Virgin; and in return to this prayer Venus appears, and discovering the storm to be the work of Bacchus, complains to Jupiter, and procures the winds to be calmed. All this is most preposterous; but, towards the end of his work, the poet offers an awkward apology for his mythology; making the goddess Thetis infórm Vasco, that she and the other heathen divinities are no more than names to describe the operations of Providence. In the Lusiad, however, there is some machinery of a different kind. The appearance of the genius of the river Ganges, in a dream to Emanual, king of Portugal, inviting him to discover his secret springs, and acquaiating him that he was the monarch, destined to enjoy the treasures of the East, is a happy idea. But in the fifth canto, the poet displays his noblest conception of this sort, where Vasco recounts to the king of Malinda, all the wonders of his voyage. He tells him, that when the fleet arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, which had never been doubled before, by a navigator, there appeared to them suddenly a huge phantom, rising cut of the sea in the midst of tempest and thunder, with a head that reached the clouds, and a countenance that filled them with terror. This was the genius of that hitherto unknown ocean; and he menaced them in a voice of thunder for invading those unknown seas; fortelling the calamities that were to befall them, if they should proceed; and then with a mighty noise disappeared This is a very solemn and striking piece of machinery; and shows that Camcens was a poet of a bold and lofty imagination.

QUESTIONS.

2. What was

1. Of what nation was Camoens? the subject of his Lusiad? 3. What is displayed in it? 4. Who is the hero? 5. What is said of the machinery? 6. What apology does the poet make for his improper mixture of christianity and paganism? 7. What machinery is there of a different kind?

THE TELEMACHUS OF FENELON. IT would be unpardonable in a review of epic peets to forget the amiable Fenelon. His work, though in prose, is a poem; and the plan in general is well contrived, having epic grandeur and unity of action. He employs the ancient mythology; and excels in the application of it. There is great richness as well as beauty in his descriptions. To soft and calm scenes, his genius is more peculiarly suited; such as the incidents of pastoral life, the pleasures of virtue, or a country flourishing in peace.

His first books are eminently excellent. The adventures of Calypso are the chief beauty of his work. Vivacity and interest join in the narration. In the books which follow, there is less happiness in the execution, and an apparent languor. The author, in warlike adventures, is most unfortunate.

Some critics have refused to rank this work among epic poems. Their objection arises from the minute details it exhibits of virtuous policy, and from the discourses of Mentor, which recur too frequently, and too much in the strain of common-place morality. To these peculiarities, however, the author was led by the design with which he wrote, that of forming a young

prince to the cares and duties of a virtuous monarch.

Several epic poets have described a descent into hell; and in the prospects they have given us of the invisible world, we may observe the gradual refinement in the opinions of men, con. cerning a future state of rewards and punishments. Homer's descent of Ulysses into hell, is indistinct and dreary. The scene is in the country of the Cimmerians, which is always covered with clouds and darkness; and when the spirits of the dead appear, we hardly know whether Ulysses is above or below ground. The ghosts, too, even of the heroes, appear dissatisfied with their condition.

In Virgil, the descent into hell discovers great refinement, corresponding to the progress of philosophy. The objects are more distinct, grand and awful. There is a fine description of the separate månsions of good and bad spirits. Fenelon's visit of Telemachus to the shades, is still much more philosophical than Virgil's. He refines the ancient mythology by his knowledge of the true religion, and adorns it with that beautiful enthusiasm, for which he is so remar kable. His relation of the happiness of the just is an excellent description in the mystic strain.

QUESTIONS.

1. What are the chief beauties of Telemachus? 2. In what is the author most unfortunate?/ S. With what design was this poem written ? 4. What is the advantage of the descent into hell over that of Homer and Virgil?