1826.] The Fourth Volume of the Orlando I'urioso. 5S 



Backed by Astol|)ho, and ascending slow, 



The hippogn |)h throiiiih yielding aether flew ; 

 And next the rider stirred the courser so. 

 That in a thought he vanished out of view. 

 Thus with his pilot does the patron go. 

 Fearing the gale and rock, till he is through 

 The reefs ; then, liaving left the shore behind. 

 Hoists every sail, and shoots before the wind. 



The following stanzas are well translated, and convey a very good idea 

 of the peculiarities of Ariosto's manner. 



Already mighl'st thou hear how loudly ring 



The hubbub and the din, from neighbouring farms. 



Outcry and horn, and rustic trumpeting; 



And faster sound of bells: with various arms. 



By thousands, with spontoon, bow, spit, and sling, 



Lo ! from the hills the rough militia swarms. 



As many peasants from the vale below. 



To make rude war u()on the madman go. 



As beats the wave upon the salt-sea shore. 



Sportive at first, which southern wind has stirred. 

 When the next, liigger than what went before. 

 And bigger than the second, breaks the third; 

 And the vext water waxes evermore, 

 And louder on the beach the surf is heard : 

 The crowd, increasing so, the count assail. 

 And drop from mountain and ascend from dale. 



We presume thai the various quotations fully upliold the liigh opinion 

 we have given of Mr. Rose's translation. He appears to us to possess a 

 thorough knowledge of his author, and to have entered fully into his 

 peculiar vein. It would be easy to point out rugged lines, and here and 

 there portions which would bear some further polishing ; but such 

 trumpery criticism we leave for those who consider it necessary to dis- 

 cover blemishes to display their shallow wit. We do not deal (and never 

 intend to sink so low) in petty detail ; it is sufficient for us to be con- 

 vinced, that a work, as a whole, is worthy of commendation, for no 

 human production was ever perfect. 



THE RAT-TRAP — AN ANECDOTE IN THE LIFE OF CARDINAL CIBO. 



" Knock out his brains — and then he wo'n't bite." 

 There were fourteen cardinals in the family of Cibo, most of them 

 now occupying distinguished places in the pages of Italian history; 

 but among the proudest of that name, and most adventurous, was 

 Claude Sansovino Cibo, " the terror of anarchy and misrule," who 

 governed as legate in the city of Ravenna, during the pontificate of 

 Innocent the Xlth. 



This bold churchman, on his arrival in the Exarcate, to which he 

 had been sent from a know ledge of the fearlessness and decision of his 

 character, found its general affairs in such a state of disorganization, 

 as few rulers would have cared to encounter, far less been competent 

 to reform. That most disastrous of all the old expedients for raising- 

 money, a tampering with the standard of the circulating medium, had been 

 persisted in until the commerce of Romagna — even domestic — was 



