452 



NATIONAL POETRY, 



was to have had twenty-four. His Francus, son of Hector, was not, in 

 truth, worthy to figure by the side of ^Eneas, son of Priam. Ronsard was 

 called the Pindar of France, though he was utterly lacking in lyrical inspira- 

 tion. His odes, with their accumulation of strophes and antistrophes, were 



Fig. 349. Portrait of Fig. 350. Portrait of J. du Bellay. Fig. 351. Portrait of Eemy 

 Bai'f. Belleau. 



Fac-simile of Engravings by Leonard Gaultier, from the Series known as " Chronologic collee." 

 In the Library of M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot, Paris. 



but feeble counterfeits of the odes of Pindar ; his language, overladen with 

 Greek and Latin words, is far too hyperbolic, and is obscured by the array of 

 mythological lore. Yet he possessed in the highest degree nobility of style 



Fig. 352. Portrait of 

 J. Daurat. 



Fig. 353. Portrait of Jodelle. 



Fig. 354. Portrait of 

 P. Ronsard. 



Fac-simile of Engravings by Leonard Gaultier, from the Series known as " Chronologie collee." 

 In the Library of M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot, Paris. 



and harmony of rhythm, and he imitated with success both Horace and 

 Theocritus ; but he distinguished himself the most in his imitations of 

 Anacreon, whose writings had just been exhumed by Henri Estienne. 



