The Telemachus of Fenelon. cover his secret springs, and acquainting 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 Melinda all the wonders of his voyage. He tells him that when the fleet arived at the Cape of Good Hope, which had never been doubled before by any navigator, there appeared to them suddenly a huge hantem, rising out of the sea in the midst of tempests 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; foretelling the calamities that were to befal 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 Camoens was a poet of a bold and lofty imagination, THE TELEMACHUS OF FENELON. IT would be unpardonable in a review of epic poets 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 application of it. There is great richness as well as beauty in his descriptions. To soft and calm scenes, his genius is The Telemachus of Fenelon. 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 this work. Vivacity and interest join in the narration. In the books which follow, there is less happiness in the execution, and an apparent langour. 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 concerning a future state of rewards and punishments. Homer's descent of Ulysses into hell is indistinet 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 The Henriade of Voltaire. and awful. There is a fine description of the separate mansions 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 remarkable. His relation of the happiness of the just is an excellent description in the mystic strain. THE HENRIADE OF VOLTAIRE. THE Henriade is without doubt a regular epic poem. In several places of this work, Voltaire discovers that boldness of conception, that vivacity and liveliness of expression, by which he is so much distinguished. Several of his comparisons are new and happy. But the Henriade is not his masterpiece. In the tragic line he has certainly been more successful, than in the epic. French versification is illy suited to epic poet-ry. It is not only fettered by rhyme, but wants elevation. Hence not only feebleness, but sometimes prosaic flatness in the style. The poem consequently languishes; and the reader is not animated by that spirit which is inspired by a sublime composition of the epic kind. The triumph of Henry IV. over the arms of the League is the subject of the Henriade. The action of the poem properly includes only the siege of Paris. It is an action perfectly epic and conducted with due regard to unity, and The Henriade of Voltaire. to the rules of critics. But it has great defects. It is founded on civil wars; and presents to the mind those odious objects, massacres and assassinations. It is also of too recent date, and too much within the bounds of well known history. The author has farther erred by mixing fiction with truth. The poem, for instance, opens with a voyage of Henry's to England, and an interview between him and Queen Elizabeth; though Henry never saw England, nor ever conversed with Elizabeth. In subjects of such notoriety, a fiction of this kind shocks every intelligent reader. A great deal of machinery is employed by Voltaire for the purpose of embellishing his poem. But it is of the worst kind, that of allegorical beings. Discord, cunning, and love, appear as personages, and mix with human actors. This is contrary to all rational criticism. Ghosts, angels and devils, have a popular existence; but every one knows that allegorical beings are no more than representations of human passions and dispositions; and ought not to have place, as actors, in a poem which relates to human transac、 tions. In justice, however, it must be observed, that the machinery of St. Louis possesses real dignity. The prospect of the invisible world, which St. Louis gives to Henry in a dream, is the finest passage in the Henriade. Death bringing the souls of the departed in succession before God, and the palace of the destinies opened to Henry, are striking and magnificent objects. Though some of Voltaire's episodes are properly extended, his narration is too general. The Milton's Paradise Lost. events are superficially related, and too much erowded. The strain of sentiment, however, which pervades the Henriade, is high and noble. MILTON'S PARADISE LOST. MILTON chalked out a new and very extraordinary course. As soon as we open his Paradise Lost, we are introduced into an invisible world, and surrounded by celestial and infernal beings, Angels and devils are not his machinery, but his principal actors. What in any other work would be the marvellous, is in this the natural course of events; and doubts may arise whether his poem be strictly an epic composition. But, whether it be so or not, it is certainly one of the highest efforts of poetical genius; and in one great characteristic, of epic poetry, majesty and sublimity, is equal to any that bears this name. The subject of his poem led Milton upon difficult ground. If it had been more human and less theological; if his occurrences had been more connected with real life; if he had afforded a greater display of the characters and passions of men; his poem would have been more pleasing to most readers. His subject however was peculiarly suited to the daring sublimity of his genius. As he alone was fitetd for it, so he has shown in the conduct of it a wonderful stretch of imagination and invention. From a few hints, given in the sacred scriptures, he has raised a regular structure, and filled his poem with a variety |