nexed lines, displaying, very accurately, the varied hues and shapes, which sometimes, during the night, shoot along the cope of heaven, and alarm the ignorant and unphilosophic. Such are the forms it in the air resembles; To herdmen, rot: to ploughmen, hapless seasons: W. 1. D. 2. Milton, who has so admirably discriminated the sexes in his delineation of the garden of Eden, must have read, with no common pleasure, a part of the description which Sylvester has drawn of our first parents; the lines, considering the period at which they were written, are truly exquisite, both as to imagery and versification. hardly one, Could have the Lover from his Love descry'd, Or known the Bridegroom from his gentle Bride: W. 1. D. 6: The portion marked by Italics in this quo tation, strongly recals to my recollection. four beautiful lines in the Luciad of Camoens, as translated by Mickle. Ah, who can boast he never felt the fires, The character and abilities of David af ford ample scope for poetical eulogy, and, in the work before us, some fancy and many lines are devoted to the memory of the sacred Bard. I have selected a few from the mass, which are well worth preservation. Scarce was he born, when in his cradle prest And th' heav'nly Muse, under his roof descending, To seem amid the new-shorn fields to light, Live, live, sweet Babe! thou miracle of mine, So clear, that Poesy, whose pleasure is Touch not these sacred stops, these silver strings: In this passage, three lines, which I have distinguished by Italics, have been quoted by Mr. Dunster; the whole, however, as here selected, is excellent. The second, third, and fourth couplets, have much that is Miltonic in their style and imagery, and the address of the heavenly Muse may justly termed apposite and melodious. be Israel having offended the Almighty, he permits the Canaanites to prevail, and their Prince, who is represented of an immense stature, is introduced arming his gigantic form. Numerous have been the attempts in poetry to describe Beings beyond the common dimensions of mankind, and the picture, in Sylvester's version, will hold no mean rank in the collection. Their Prince Arms the broad mountain of his hairy breast Waving with every wind, and made to kiss Th' earth, now on that side, and anon on this; In quiver made of lizard's skins he wears His poison'd arrows; and the bow he bears. Is of a mighty tree, strung with a cable; His shaft a lever, whose keen head is able To pierce all proof, stone, steel and diamant; Thus furnished, the Tyrant thus doth vaunt: "Sirs, shall we suffer this ignoble race, "Thus shamefully us from our own to chace? Shall they be victors ere they overcome? "Shall our possessions and our plenty come "Among these mongrels? Tush! let children quakę "At dreams of Abram: let faint women shake "At their dread God, at their sea-drying Lord; "I know no Gods above my glittering sword:" This said, he sallies, and assaults the foe With furious skirmish, and doth charge them so As stormy billows rush against a rock; As boisterous winds, that have their prison broke, Roar on a forest. W. 2. D. 3. P. 4, The speech of this Herculean Warrior is spirited and characteristic, and the similies, at the close, have force and propriety. As a contrast to the above, in point of imagery, I shall now present a delineation, which, I think, in any poet, would be |