[ 164 ] [Feb. 



THE PALACK OF l.OVK. 



Froia the Ninth Cuntn of the Ilcnriude. 



The description of the Palace of Love, with which the ninth Canto of 

 the Henbiade opens, is one of the most celebrated passages of the original 



xvork • so much so, indeed, as to make it hazardous to attempt to do it justice 



in another language. But this is a difficulty attending all translations, 

 and exists almost in proportion witli the delicacy and idiomatic expres- 

 sion of the original thought. The French language, though in our ideas 

 but little equal to either the dignity or variety of the epic, is confessedly 

 unsurpassed in gracefulness, delicacy, and, to use an untranslatable word, 

 lournure. The reader will find, in a note which the translator has appended, a 

 more particular exemplification of this. 



It may be right to add, that the allegorical personifications of Love and his 

 Court have no reference to the Heathen Deities ; but (as throughout the ma- 

 chinery of the Henriade) are, as it were, individual incarnations of the Passions. 

 The translator has been obliged to transpose and abridge the description of 

 Discord, to avoid trenching upon the main subject of the poem — in the plot 

 of which she bcai's a prominent part. 



i- 



Far in the East, among those sunny seas, 

 Where clust'ring rise the favour'd Cyclades, 

 A palace old, yet time-respected, stands ; 

 Its first foundations were by Nature's hands 

 Deep-laid — and Art, improving on her plan, 

 Adorned the dwelling to the taste of man. 

 There, in those favoured fields, the How'ring myrtle 

 Blossoms unnipt by frosts ; the delicate turtle 

 Murmurs her mui.*ic to the breeze, which brings 

 Of Flora's sweets the sweetest offerings. 

 The ever-teeming earth spontaneous yields 

 Pomona's fruits, and Ceres' golden fields; 

 It knows no labour ; nor the dull delay 

 Which northern seasons wait : the God of Day 

 O'er his own realm, with chosen bounty, showers 

 His ripening rays, alike on fruits and flowers j 

 Commingling thus, in all their charms, together 

 The gentle spring and radiant summer-weather ! 



II. 



Here Man is placed, as though but to enjoy 

 Those peaceful pleasures which can never cloy ; 

 As in the world's young days, when Eden's shade 

 For everlasting love, and rest, seeni'd made ; 

 When Nature's bounty feasted every sense, 

 And made her crowning present — Innocence. 

 Alas I alas ! man, born of woman, never 

 Can know that gift again — 'tis gone for ever ! 

 But here, it seem'd as there were gathered all 

 The blessings he can taste of since the Fall. 

 Sounds of sweet music, swelling, seem'd to float 

 On ev'ry breeze ; its soft luxurious note 

 Shed a deep sense of equal luxury, 

 Of equal softness, from its melody — 

 A sweet, yet heavy, languidness, which stole 

 Over the senses — may I add, the soul ? ._ -»■ 



