have already observed, rende utmost accuracy of description sary. Still it is a fault. Th natural agents excite an inter it is not the interest which is p supernatural agents. We feel could talk to the ghosts and without any emotion of uneart We could, like Don Juan, ask supper, and eat heartily in the pany. Dante's angels are go with wings. His devils are ugly executioners. His dead merely living men in strange sit The scene which passes betw poet and Farinata is justly cel Still, Farinata in the burning exactly what Farinata would ha at an auto da fe. Nothing can touching than the first inter Dante and Beatrice. Yet wh but a lovely woman chiding, wi austere composure, the lover fo affection she is grateful, but who she reprobates? The feeling give the passage its charm wo the streets of Florence as well summit of the Mount of Purgat

The spirits of Milton are unlik of almost all other writers. His in particular, are wonderful cr They are not metaphysical a tions. They are not wicked men are not ugly beasts. They h horns, no tails, none of the fee-f of Tasso and Klopstock. The just enough in common with nature to be intelligible to hum ings. Their characters are, lik forms, marked by a certain dim blance to those of men, but exag to gigantic dimensions, and ve mysterious gloom.

Perhaps the gods and dæn Eschylus may best bear a com with the angels and devils of The style of the Athenian had have remarked, something of t ental character; and the same liarity may be traced in his myt It has nothing of the ameni elegance which we generally f the superstitions of Greece. rugged, barbaric, and colossal legends of schylus seem to har less with the fragrant groves and

eady observed, rendered the | ful porticoes in which his countrymen. accuracy of description neces- paid their vows to the God of Light till it is a fault. The super- and Goddess of Desire, than with those gents excite an interest; but huge and grotesque labyrinths of eterthe interest which is proper tonal granite in which Egypt enshrined ural agents. We feel that we her mystic Osiris, or in which Hindostan k to the ghosts and dæmons, still bows down to her seven-headed any emotion of unearthly awe. idols. His favourite gods are those of 1, like Don Juan, ask them to the elder generation, the sons of heaven End eat heartily in their com- and earth, compared with whom Jupiter Dante's angels are good men himself was a stripling and an upstart, gs. His devils are spiteful the gigantic Titans, and the inexorable cutioners. His dead men are Furies. Foremost among his creations ving men in strange situations. of this class stands Prometheus, half he which passes between the fiend, half redeemer, the friend of man, Farinata is justly celebrated. the sullen and implacable enemy of inata in the burning tomb is heaven. Prometheus bears undoubtedly hat Farinata would have been a considerable resemblance to the Satan o da fe. Nothing can be more of Milton. In both we find the same than the first interview of impatience of control, the same ferocity, d Beatrice. Yet what is it, the same unconquerable pride. In both ely woman chiding, with sweet characters also are mingled, though in omposure, the lover for whose very different proportions, some kind she is grateful, but whose vices and generous feelings. Prometheus, bates? The feelings which however, is hardly superhuman enough. passage its charm would suit He talks too much of his chains and his ts of Florence as well as the uneasy posture: he is rather too much of the Mount of Purgatory. depressed and agitated. His resoluirits of Milton are unlike those tion seems to depend on the knowledge all other writers. His fiends, which he possesses that he holds the ular, are wonderful creations. fate of his torturer in his hands, and e not metaphysical abstrac- that the hour of his release will surely hey are not wicked men. They come. But Satan is a creature of anougly beasts. They have no ther sphere. The might of his inteltails, none of the fee-faw-fum lectual nature is victorious over the and Klopstock. They have extremity of pain. Amidst agonies gh in common with human which cannot be conceived without be intelligible to human be- horror, he deliberates, resolves, and even heir characters are, like their exults. Against the sword of Michael, arked by a certain dim resem- against the thunder of Jehovah, against those of men, but exaggerated the flaming lake, and the marl burning tic dimensions, and veiled in with solid fire, against the prospect of us gloom. an eternity of unintermitted misery, his spirit bears up unbroken, resting on its own innate energies, requiring no support from any thing external, nor even from hope itself.

ps the gods and dæmons of s may best bear a comparison angels and devils of Milton. e of the Athenian had, as we marked, something of the Ori- To return for a moment to the paaracter; and the same pecu- rallel which we have been attempting ay be traced in his mythology. to draw between Milton and Dante, we nothing of the amenity and would add that the poetry of these which we generally find in great men has in a considerable degree rstitions of Greece. All is taken its character from their moral barbaric, and colossal. The qualities. They are not egotists. They of Æschylus seem to harmonize rarely obtrude their idiosyncrasies on the fragrant groves and grace- their readers. They have nothing in

santness of external objects, or better to luxuriate amidst sun and flowers, the songs of nightin the juice of summer fruits, an coolness of shady fountains. H ception of love unites all the vo ousness of the Oriental haram, a the gallantry of the chivalric to ment, with all the pure and quiet tion of an English fireside. His reminds us of the miracles of scenery. Nooks and dells, bea as fairy land, are embosomed most rugged and gigantic elev The roses and myrtles bloom un on the verge of the avalanche.

Traces, indeed, of the peculia racter of Milton may be found his works; but it is most strong played in the Sonnets. Those re able poems have been undervalu critics who have not understood nature. They have no epigram point. There is none of the ing of Filicaja in the thought, none hard and brilliant enamel of Pe in the style. They are simple bu jestic records of the feelings poet; as little tricked out fo public eye as his diary would been. A victory, an unexpected upon the city, a momentary fit pression or exultation, a jest t out against one of his books, a which for a short time restored t that beautiful face over which the had closed for ever, led him t sings, which, without effort, s themselves into verse. The un sentiment and severity of style characterise these little pieces r us of the Greck Anthology, or p still more of the Collects of the E Liturgy. The noble poem o Massacres of Piedmont is stri collect in verse.

The Sonnets are more or less ing, according as the occasions gave birth to them are more or l teresting. But they are, almost out exception, dignified by a so and greatness of mind to whi know not where to look for a pa It would, indeed, be scarcely s draw any decided inferences as character of a writer from pa

external objects, or loved directly egotistical. But the qualities uxuriate amidst sunbeams which we have ascribed to Milton, , the songs of nightingales, though perhaps most strongly marked of summer fruits, and the in those parts of his works which treat shady fountains. His con- of his personal feelings, are distinguishlove unites all the voluptu-able in every page, and impart to all

his writings, prose and poetry, English, Latin, and Italian, a strong family likeness.

the Oriental haram, and all ry of the chivalric tournaall the pure and quiet affecEnglish fireside. His poetry His public conduct was such as was 3 of the miracles of Alpine to be expected from a man of a spirit Nooks and dells, beautiful so high and of an intellect so powerind, are embosomed in its ful. He lived at one of the most ed and gigantic elevations. memorable eras in the history of manand myrtles bloom unchilled kind, at the very crisis of the great re of the avalanche. conflict between Oromasdes and Ariindeed, of the peculiar cha- manes, liberty and despotism, reason Milton may be found in all and prejudice. That great battle was but it is most strongly dis- fought for no single generation, for no he Sonnets. Those remark-single land. The destinies of the hus have been undervalued by man race were staked on the same cast › have not understood their with the freedom of the English people. They have no epigrammatic Then were first proclaimed those here is none of the ingenuity mighty principles which have since in the thought, none of the worked their way into the depths of brilliant enamel of Petrarch the American forests, which have roused e. They are simple but ma- Greece from the slavery and degradaords of the feelings of the tion of two thousand years, and which, little tricked out for the from one end of Europe to the other, e as his diary would have have kindled an unquenchable fire in rictory, an unexpected attack the hearts of the oppressed, and loosed city, a momentary fit of de- the knees of the oppressors with an unr exultation, a jest thrown wonted fear. it one of his books, a dream Of those principles, then struggling a short time restored to him for their infant existence, Milton was iful face over which the grave the most devoted and eloquent literary d for ever, led him to mu- champion. We need not say how ich, without effort, shaped much we admire his public conduct. s into verse. The unity of But we cannot disguise from ourselves and severity of style which that a large portion of his countrymen ise these little pieces remind still think it unjustifiable. The civil Greck Anthology, or perhaps war, indeed, has been more discussed, of the Collects of the English and is less understood, than any event The noble poem on the in English history. The friends of 3 of Piedmont is strictly a liberty laboured under the disadvantage of which the lion in the fable com. onnets are more or less strik-plained so bitterly. Though they were ding as the occasions which the conquerors, their enemies were the h to them are more or less in- painters. As a body, the Roundheads But they are, almost with- had done their utmost to decry and tion, dignified by a sobriety ruin literature; and literature was even tness of mind to which we with them, as, in the long run, it alwhere to look for a parallel. ways is with its enemies. The best , indeed, be scarcely safe to book on their side of the question is decided inferences as to the the charming narrative of Mrs. Hutchof a writer from passages inson. May's History of the Parlia

verse.

freedom. These are the parts Revolution which the politicia whom we speak, love to conten and which seem to them not ind vindicate, but in some degree to pa the good which it has produced. to them of Naples, of Spain, South America. They stand zealots for the doctrine of Divine which has now come back to us, thief from transportation, und alias of Legitimacy. But menti miseries of Ireland. Then Will a hero. Then Somers and Shrev

Then the Rev

The very sam

are great men. is a glorious era. sons who, in this country, never o opportunity of reviving every wr Jacobite slander respecting the of that period, have no sooner St. George's Channel, than they to fill their bumpers to the glorio immortal memory. They may boast that they look not at men, measures. So that evil be don care not who does it; the ar Charles, or the liberal William dinand the Catholic, or Freder Protestant. On such occasion deadliest opponents may recko their candid construction. Th assertions of these people have impressed a large portion of the with an opinion that James the was expelled simply because he Catholic, and that the Revolut essentially a Protestant Revolut

But this certainly was not the nor can any person who has a more knowledge of the history times than is to be found in Gold Abridgment believe that, if Jar held his own religious opinions wishing to make proselytes, or i ing even to make proselytes, contented himself with exertin his constitutional influence for tl pose, the Prince of Orange wo have been invited over. Our an we suppose, knew their own m and, if we may believe then hostility was primarily not to but to tyranny. They did no out a tyrant because he was a C but they excluded Catholics f crown, because they thought the