1 74 Gleanings from the 



" Qua fe fubducere colles 

 Incipiunt, mollique jugum demittere clivo, 

 Ufque ad aquam et veteres jam frafta cacumina, fagos." 1 



Thus it combined for the great Latin poet thofe 

 ftriking features of mountain and marfhland which 

 in our own days have refpectively nurtured a 

 Wordfworth and a Tennyfon. Many pafTages 

 from Virgil's poetry could be pointed out in which 

 he has felicitoufly depicted the fcenery of both 

 diftricts ; and in thofe of the marfh country fome 

 touches remind us at times of a kindred art, as 

 feen in Mr. Millais's beautiful picture of "Chill 

 October." For inftance ("Eel.," i. 48): 



" Quamvis lapis omnia nudus, 

 Limofoque palus obducat pafcua junco ;" 



and (ibid., 56) the boundary hedge: 



" Vicino ab limite fepes 

 Hyblaeis apibus florem depafta falifti ;" 



and more clofely ftill ("Eel.," vii. 12): 



"Hie virides tenera praetexit arundine ripas 

 Mincius, eque facra refonant examina quercu." 



Among all his defcriptions of bird-life it is fmall 

 wonder that he loved moft ardently the birds of 

 marfh and river-fide, fwans, cranes, halcyons, and 

 the like on the one hand ; and thofe of the cliff 

 and bare hillfide on the other, eagles and hawks ; 

 but the former clafs decidedly predominates. As 

 for the fmaller tribes of twittering fongfters in- 

 habiting the ordinary bufhes and brakes, he feems 

 not to have beftowed a thought on them. A 

 1 " Eel.," ix. 7. 



