ya — 
phy of Apollonius Rhodius, the seventh, 
on the Hesperides and their gardens. 
_ ~~ On these subsidiary parts of the work 
ve shall not offer many remarks. Most 
readers will perhaps be inclined to con- 
__ sider two volumes of illustrations as too 
_ many for one volume of poetry, They 
_ however display a very considerable ex- 
‘tent of elegant and useful reading. 
The style of Mr. Preston’s criticism we 
think liable to great objection. The ju- 
_dicious and useful observations which it 
contains, and such observations are by 
mo means wanting, are almost hidden 
under a cloud of declamation. Take, 
as a specimen, the third paragraph, 
which is a kind of table of contents to 
_ ‘the fourth essay. 
; «* When we come to consider the poem 
- of Apollonius Rhodius, we may trace the 
following excellencies—a knowledge of the 
human heart, and a display of the feelings— 
powers of exhibiting the impassioned, the 
tender, and pathetic—a certain retired and 
chaste majesty, not unaccompanied with a 
genius for producing the great and terrible— 
an elaborate and romantic invention, such 
as bears more traces of poetical device, and: 
approaches nearer to the fictions of romance, 
in modern times, than most of the compo- 
sitions of antiquity—a spirit of elegance and 
- refinement, in sentiment and manner, some-, 
thing more recherché, and removed, from 
common apprehension, at the same time, 
' that they are recognised to be perfectly con- 
 formable to nature—a graphical distinctness 
nd accuracy of description—a precision in 
resenting both spiritual and material na- 
are—argumentative and declamatory powers 
“—achastised and musical ear, producing an 
_ LAHARPE, in a passage quoted in 
the preface of the work before us, ex- 
claims, “ that we shall never see Ana- 
ereon translated.’”’ Dr, Girdlestone ap- 
_ pears to be a man of reading, who laud- 
_ ably employs many of those hours, which 
the duties of his profession leave vacant, 
in the gratification of a literary turn. 
We are not, however, able to flatter him, 
in his present undertaking he has 
eceeded moré happily than his prede- 
sors, lis versions are deficient in 
ease and liveliness which characte- 
the original. Uncouth inversions of 
iwuage sometimes occur; and a forced 
dunnatural accentuation is sometimes 
‘Necessary to reduce the verses to their 
_ Proper cadence, The article is occa. 
GIRDLESTONE’S TRANSLATION OF ANACREON. 
* 487 
uncommon sweetness and pomp of numbers 
—a curious felicity of expression ; and ele- 
gance of diction—descriptive powers—the 
appositeness and beauty of his similitudes.” 
In a metrical disquisition (iii. 241.) 
Mr. Preston observes, ‘ that in a verse 
composed wholly of monosyllables there 
can be no czsura, and consequently 
that such a verse can scarcely be ad- 
mitted in correct composition.” This 
we conceive to be so far from self-evi- 
dent, that it is not even the fact. A 
czsura is nothing more than a pause ac- 
commodated to the nature of the verse, 
and a pause may certainly succeed a 
monosyllable, asin the followmg verse 
of Ausonius. 
«¢ Perdere si quis in his dignabitur otia musis.” 
Dryden is quoted as remarking that a 
line of monosyllables is always harsh. 
Dryden’s observation is not, we believe, 
made universally, but geperally. He 
himself quotes two exceptions (to which 
many others might be added) one from 
Creech, and one from his own transla- 
tion of Virgil. 
«* Nor could the world have borne so fierce a 
flame. 
Arms and the man I sing, who fore’d by 
fate.”— 
The true reason why a line composed 
of monosyllables is frequently harsh, is 
to be found in the number of consonants 
which such words usually contain. 
Agr. IIL. The Odes of Anacreon, translated from the Greek into English Verse. By 
‘s Tuomas Girpuestone, 4f.D. 8vo. pp. 104 
* 
sionally omitted with injurious effect, as 
in the following instances: 
«© You to post of honour wing,”’—page 43. 
«© As heswordof Hector wav'd,”—page 51. 
We insert the fifteenth ode as a speci- 
men of the work: 
«« Far from Gyges’ cares I fly 
What for Croesus’ wealth care [? 
Gold in me no contests breeds, 
Me no king with envy feeds. 
Odours sweet around me strew, 
With perfumes my beard bedew. 
Round my head fresh roses twine, 
These these cates ate cares of mine. 
Pleasure flies on this day’s wings, 
Who knows what to-morrow brings? 
Bi 3 
