414 Recollections, from the Portfolio of [ APRIL, 



gain possession of the seven-hilled (city). He shall reign within it ; 

 shall subdue very many nations, and shall make the Isles desart as far 

 as the Euxine. He shall make desart those that border on the 

 Danube. On the eighth of the Indict, he shall subdue the Peloponnesus. 

 On the ninth of the Indict, he shall lead his forces against the countries 

 of the north. On the tenth of the Indict, he shall overthrow the 

 Dalmatae : again he shall turn back for a time ; he next stirs up a mighty 

 war against the Dalmatse, and is a little broken, and the peoples and 

 tribes, with the assistance of the western nations, shall engage in war 

 by sea and land, and shall overthrow Ishmael ; his descendants shall 

 reign with less, little, very little (power) ; but the yellow-haired race, 

 with all those who help them, shall overthrow Ishmael, and shall take 

 the seven hilled (city) with all its privileges. Then shall they kindle 

 a fierce intestine war until the fifth hour, and thrice shall a voice shout, 

 ( stand, stand, and fear !' Make anxious haste, and on your right 

 hand you will find a man noble, admirable, and courageous. Him ye 

 shall have for your lord, for he is my friend, and in accepting him, my 

 will is fulfilled !" 



To a reader conversant with poetry, few things are more wearying 

 than the paucity of the images that describe female beauty. When he 

 has found in one poet that woman's cheek emulates the rose, or her eye 

 the diamond, that her bosom is living snow, and that ivory and pearls are 

 dusky to her teeth, he has exhausted nearly all the stores of poetic resem- 

 blance, and must be content to feel such delight as he may, in the repeti- 

 tion. Even if he wander through the love poetry of all the European 

 nations, he will be but little relieved by variety. The rose, the lily, and 

 the pearl, are the resource of all ; yet to this there seems one exception in 

 the ancient poetry of Ireland. In the enumeration of his mistress's charms, 

 by an Irish bard, who lived almost two hundred years ago, I find her 

 bosom finely pictured by the " gently rising and falling waves of a sunny 

 lakej" an image which transfers the thought from mere colour and 

 form, to the more striking beauty of life, and the loveliness of motion. 

 The radiance of her eyes, is "as the soft dew shining in the light 

 of dawn," an image of singular softness and serenity ; and the flowing of 

 her hair upon the wind, is "as the springing and glittering of the streams 

 down the sides of the mountain." This image strikes me as bringing 

 admirably before the eye, the wild and shining luxuriance of the 

 mountain girl's locks, as she is seen bounding forth in the vividness 

 of young life and sportive beauty. A shape like " the pine for 

 straightness," and a lip like "the wild strawberry," and words "smooth 

 as the pebbles polished by the flowings of the brook," are as new, and 

 perhaps not less poetically expressive, than those already given ; but 

 one of the most striking comparisons that fancy ever supplied, is found 

 in a little poem from the " Translations of ancient Irish Poetry, by Miss 

 Brooke," that of the sparkling eye of a lovely woman, to " a star in a 

 frosty sky." 



On her soft cheek, with tender bloom 

 The rose its tint bestowed ; 



And in her richer lips' perfume 

 The ripened berry glowed. 



Her neck was as the blossom fair, 



Or like the cygnet's breast, 

 With that majestic, graceful air, 



In snow and softness drest. 



