t79I- CHARACTER OF GEORGE BUCHANAN, i?33 



pulfed with the lofs of thirty thoufand men from 

 the walls of Metz, our author addrefled Henry the 

 fecond of France in an ode to which Horace can 

 not often produce a paralell. Where every ftanza is 

 excellent, feleftion becomes an office of delicacy — 

 Having, with his ufual impetuofity, reproached Charles 

 as a monfter more hideous than the Gorgon jSifters, or 

 the Hydra, having placed in the mod ftriking point 

 of view, his barbarity, his ambition, and his power, 

 he thus, in a tranfport of exultation, defcribes the 

 nnguilh of the defeated tyrant : 



Tu bellicofe dux bone Gallis 

 8perare prcnitam cunfta fuperbiam 

 Compefcuifti : tu dedifti 

 Indomitolaqueos furori. 



Qui? vukus illi ? qui dolor intimis 

 AiT.t niedullis ? fpiritus impotens 

 Cum claullra fpedlaret Mofella 

 Et jus-enum intrepidam coronani. 



Sic unda rupes favit in obvias, 

 Claufus caminis ignis inseftuat, 

 Hyrcana Uc tigris cruento 

 Dente fuas furit in catenas. 



In EiigliJ}:> thus, 



« Thou worthy leader of gallant France hafl blafc-r 

 ** ed that pride forvfard to hope for eVery fuccefs } 

 ** Thou halt fixed bounds to fury till now irrefiftible. 



" What were his looks ? What agonies convullcd 

 *<. every nerve, when his impotent haughtinefs beheld 

 " the ramparts of the Mo fellef, and her intrepid band 

 « of youth ? 



" Thus rages a waye againft oppofing rOcfcs ; thus 

 ** fubterranean fire ftruggles for a paflige ; thus the 

 *' Hyrcanian tyger champs his chains with his bloody 

 «* teeth." 



No reader will expeft that the heaUtfics of the ori- 

 ginial can be transfufcd into a profe tranflation. 



t Mctz {lands on the banks of that river. 



Vol. V. f G g 



