ing the wrath of Agamemnon, in the first book of the Iliad, strikes off a glowing image in two words:

.......οσσε δ' οἱ πυρι γαμπελουντι είκλην.

....And from his eye-balls flash'd the living fire.

This indeed is a figure, which has been copied by Virgil, and almost all the Poets of every age.....oculis micat acribus ignis.....ignescunt iræ: auris dolor ossibus ardet. Milton describing Satan in Hell, says,

With head uplift above the wave, and eye
That sparkling blaz'd!.....

.He spake and to confirm his words outflew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty cherubims. The sudden blaze

Far round illumin'd Hell.....

There are certain words in every language particularly adapted to the poetical expression; some from the image or idea they convey to the imagination; and some from the effect they have upon the ear. The first are truly figurative; the others may be called emphatical.... Rollin observes, that Virgil has upon many occasions poetized (if we may be allowed the expression) a whole sentence by means of the same word, which is pendere.

Ite mea, felix quondam pecus, ite capella.
Non ego vos posthac, viridi projectus in antro,
Dumosa pendere procul de rupe videbo.

At ease reclin'd beneath the verdant shade,
No more shall I behold my happy flock
Aloft hang browsing on the tufted rock.

Here the word pendere wonderfully improves the landscape, and renders the whole passage beautifully picturesque. The same figurative verb we meet with in many different parts of the Æneid.

Hi summo in fluctu pendent, his unda dehiscens
Terram inter fluctus aperit.

These on the mountain billow hung; to those
The yawning waves the yellow sand disclose.

In this instance, the words pendent and dehiscens, hung and yawning, are equally poetical. Addison seems to have had this passage in his eye, when he wrote his Hymn, which is inserted in the Spectator:

For though in dreadful worlds we hung,

High on the broken wave.

And in another piece of a like nature, in the same collection:

Thy Providence my life sustain'd
And all my wants redress'd,
When in the silent womb I lay,
And hung upon the breast.

Shakespeare, in his admired description of Dover cliff, uses the same expression :

.....half way down

Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!

Nothing can be more beautiful than the following picture, in which Milton has introduced the same expressive tint:

.....he, on his side

Leaning half rais'd, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamour'd..........

We shall give one example more from Virgil, to show in what a variety of scenes it may appear with propriety and effect. In describing the progress of Dido's passion for Æneas, the Poet says,

Iliacos iterum demens audire labores

Exposcit, pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore.

The woes of Troy once more she begg'd to hear;
Once more the mournful tale employ'd his tongue,
While in fond rapture on his lips she hung.

The reader will perceive in all these instances that no other word could be substituted with equal energy; indeed no other word could be used without degrading the sense, and defacing the image.

There are many other verbs of poetical import fetched from Nature, and from Art, which the Poet uses to advantage both in a literal and metaphorical sense; and these have been always translated for the same purpose from one language to another: such as quasso, concutio, cio, suscito, lenio, sævio, mano, fluo, ardeo, mico, aro, to shake, to wake, to rouse, to sooth, to rage, to flow, to shine or blaze, to plough......Quassantia tectum limina Eneas, casu concussus acerbo.....Ere ciere viros, Martemque accendere cantu.....Eneas acuit Martem & se suscitat ira.....Impium lenite clamorem.....Lenibant curas .....Ne sævi magna sacerdos.....Sudor ad imos manabat solos.....Suspensæque diu lachrymæ fluxere per ora...... Juvenali ardebat amore.....Micat areus ensis....Nullum maris aquor arandum. It will be unnecessary to insert examples of the same nature from the English poets.

The words we term emphatical, are such as by their sound express the sense they are intended to convey; and with these the Greek abounds, above all other languages, not only from its natural copiousness, flexibility, and significance, but also from the variety of its dialects, which enables a writer to vary his terminations occasionally as the nature of the subject requires, without offending the most delicate ear, or incurring the imputation of adopting vulgar provincial expressions. Every smatterer in Greek can repeat

Βηδ' ακέων παραθινα πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης,

in which the two last words wonderfully echo to the sense, conveying the idea of the sea dashing on the shore. How much more significant in sound than that beautiful image of Shakespeare...........

“The sea that on th' unnumber'd pebbles beats."

And yet, if we consider the strictness of propriety, this last expression would seem to have been selected on purpose to concur with the other circumstances, which are brought together to ascertain the vast height of Dover cliff for the poet adds, "cannot be heard so high.' The place where Gloster stood was so high above the surface of the sea, that the hoor, or dashing, could not be heard; and therefore an enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare might with some plausibility affirm, the poet had chosen an expression in which that sound is not at all conveyed.

In the very same page of Homer's Iliad, we meet with two other striking instances of the same sort of beauty. Apollo, incensed at the insults his priest had sustained, descends from the top of Olympus, with his bow and quiver rattling on his shoulder as he moved along :

Εκλαγξαν δ' αρ' οις ω επι ωμων.

Here the sound of the word 'Exλayev admirably expresses the clanking of armour; as the third line after this surprisingly imitates the twanging of a bow.

Δείνη δε κλαγγή γενετ αργυρεοιο βιοιο.

In shrill-ton'd murmurs sung the twanging bow.

Many beauties of the same kind are scattered through Homer, Pindar, and Theocritus, such as the Boubevon μελίσσα, susurrans apicula ; the ἂδυ ψιθύρισμα dulcem susurrum; and the μodila for the sighing of the pine.

The Latin language teems with sounds adapted to every situation, and the English is not destitute of this signifi

cant energy. We have the cooing turtle, the sighing reed, the warbling rivulet, the sliding stream, the whis pering breeze, the glance, the gleam, the flash, the bickering flame, the dashing wave, the gushing spring, the howling blast, the rattling storm, the pattering shower, the crimp earth, the mouldering tower, the twanging bow-string, the clanging arms, the clanking chains, the twinkling stars, the tinkling chords, the trickling drops, the twittering swallow, the cawing rook, the screeching owl; and a thousand other words and epithets wonderfully suited to the sense they imply.

Among the select passages of poetry which we shall insert by way of illustration, the reader will find instances of all the different tropes and figures, which the best authors have adopted in the variety of their poetical works, as well as of the apostrophe, abrupt transition, repetition, and prosopopœia.

In the mean time it will be necessary still farther to analize those principles, which constitute the essence of poetical merit; to display those delightful parterres, that teem with the fairest flowers of imagination, and distinguish between the gaudy offspring of a cold insipid fancy, and the glowing progeny, diffusing sweets, produced and invigorated by the sun of Genius.