Treves fears no more,' freed from its dire alarms; And scarce can teach his subjects to obey; Such are th' effects of ANNA's royal cares: Treasurer Godolphin, "will give France as much uneasiness as any thing that has been done this summer."-G. 1 Treves fears no more.-The French garrison of 300 men, on hearing of Marlborough's approach, abandoned the fort which commanded the town.-G. Traerbach feels the terror of his arms. There is some exaggeration in this account of the siege of Traerbach. The French garrison consisted of only 600 men, and the siege was conducted by the Prince of Hesse.-G. 3 The work of ages sunk in one campaign. A gross exaggeration; for, though Louis XIV. was defeated, humbled, and reduced to the greatest straits, the great conquests of his reign, Franche-Comté, Flanders, and Alsace still remain untouched.-G. 4 Ranges through nations, &c. If this had been said after Fulton, it would probably we supposed to mean that Britannia ranged through nations by means of steamboats. As it stands, it must be taken for a somewhat circuitous way of saying that her armies marched wherever they chose.-G. But who can tell the joys of those that lie Make ev'ry subject glad, and a whole people blest. Thus wou'd I fain Britannia's wars rehearse, That, if such numbers can o'er time prevail, When actions, unadorn'd,' are faint and weak, Cities and countries must be taught to speak; Fiction may deck the truth with spurious rays, And proudly shine in their own native light; 1 When actions unadorned, &c. Voltaire in the "Discours préliminaire to his poem ou the battle of Fontenoi, justifies his limited use of fictitious personages, by the example of Addison. "C'était ce que sentait M. Addison, bon poëte et critique judicieux. Il employa dans son poëme, qui a immortalisé la campagne de Hochstadt, beaucoup moins de fictions qu'on ne s'en est permis dans le Poëme de Fontenoi. Il savait que le duc de Marlborough et le prince Eugène se seraient très peu souciés de voir des dieux où il était question des grandes actions des hommes; il savait qu'on rélève par l'invention, les exploits de l'antiquité, et qu'on court risque d'affaiblir ceux des modernes par de froides allégories; il a fait mieux, il a intéressé l'Europe entière à son action."-Voltaire, Œuvres v.—11, p. 164. 2 "He best can paint them who shall feel them most."-Eloîsa to Abelard. When actions, &c. An apology, gracefully enough made for the prosaic plan of this poem: for though the author's invention had not supplied him with a better, his true taste could not but tell him, this was defective. TRANSLATION OF PSALM XXIII.' I. THE Lord my pasture shall prepare, When in the sultry glebe I faint, III. Though in the paths of death I tread, This piece was first published in the Spectator.—G. |