BOOK THE THIRD. "The spacious west, And all the teeming regions of the south, Pope says B. III. v. 7. "The proper study of mankind is man.” Akenside was fully aware of this axiom, and wrote his poem to confirm the truth of it: and yet it is very remarkable, that he omitted it in his second. poem. It is not impossible, however, that he might have intended to insert it in some other portion of the part, he meditated. It is thus rendered by MAZZA: "Il diffuso occidente, e le feraci Quanto l'Uomo dell' Uom merta i riflessi From the manner in which this passage, and indeed the whole poem, has been translated, how can a French reader "Where the powers Of Fancy neither lessen nor enlarge B. III. L. 18. Diogenes Laertius, lib. vii.; Meditations of M. Aurelius; and the Discourses of Epictetus; Arrian, lib. i. c. 12., and lib. ii. c. 22. See also Characteristics, vol. i, from p. 313 to 321.-AKENSIDE. "Some elate With martial splendour," &c. B. III. v. 98. This picture reminds us of certain parts of Othello's apology; and serves to show the wide difference between the impudence and modesty of valour. Akenside's description is, in fact, a reversion of that, sketched by Shakspeare. "He stalks, resounding in magnific phrase Of pomp and power." B. III. v. 136. have even the smallest conception of that exquisite harmony of rhythmus, which distinguishes the original? "Les vastes contrées de l'occident, les fecondes régions du midi n'offrent rien de si digne de recherches, rien qui mérite autant l'examen de la Science, que l'homme ne mérite l'étude de l'homme." This picture is from Lucian; though I cannot refer to the page or subject. Seneca, who was rich, yet a contemner of wealth, may be supposed to have sat for the original portrait of him, and "Whose eye regards not his illustrious pomp v. 147. "Mark the sehle woods," &c. B. III. 1. 286. In respect to lawgivers, Akenside seems to have given a decided preference to MINOS, SOLON, and NUMA. He does not once mention LYCURGUS. Nearly the whole of the third book of the second poem is devoted to the history of Solon; and a fine scene from nature is rendered much more affecting to the mental eye by the poet's having associated with it two of the most celebrated legislators of antiquity. "Mark the sable woods, That shade sublime yon mountain's nodding brow; Commands your steps! as if the reverend form Of MINOS or of NUMA should forsake Th' Elysian seats, and, down th' embowering shade, I am indebted to Mr. Alison's work on the Nature of the Emotions of Sublimity and Beauty* for the first appreciation of this circumstance †. ⚫ Pages 19, 20, 21. +"There is also a passage in the same poet's Ode to Suspicion," he goes on to observe, "in which a scene, which is, in general, only beautiful, is rendered strikingly sublime, from the imagery with which it is connected. 'Tis thus to work her baneful power, Of fretfulness and strife; When care the infirmer bosom wrings, But come! forsake the scene unblest, Come where, with my prevailing lyre, Throned in the sun's descending car, " "Twas thus, if ancient Fame the truth unfold, Then, though disjoin'd by kingdoms, though the main As Akenside directs us to the B. III. 325-337. poem, recited by Cardinal Bembo, in the character of Lucretius, in Strada's Prolusions, the reader will not be dis pleased to find it here. "Magnesi genus est lapidis mirabile, cui si Corpora ferri plura, stylosve admoveris; inde Non modo vim, motumque trahent, quo semper ad ursam, Verum etiam mira inter se rationę modoque Ergo age, si quid scire voles, qui distat, amicum, |