APPENDIX, NO II. 435 
like tlie rose-bud, were just opening, as if to address one, 
while a graceful smile met and enraptured the beholder. 
But the joy which sparkled in her eye, and the weli-arched 
brows, and the grace and symmetry of her whole person, 
no description can adequately convey to posterity. But, 
Helen ! matchless beauty ! scion of the Loves ! Venus's 
peculiar care ! choicest gift of Nature ! prize of victory ! 
where were your nepenthes, and that sovereign balm of all 
ills, which Polydamna^, the wife of Thone, bestowed upon 
you? — where were your irresistible p/iiZ^re5.^ why did you 
not employ them now, as formerly ? I believe that Destiny 
had decreed that you should perish by fire — you, whose 
very image ceased not to inflame the beholders into love ! 
1 might almost add, that, by consigning this your image to 
the flames, the Latins avenged the manes of their ances- 
tors% and the destruction of their paternal city, Troy ! 
But the mad and unfeeling avarice of these men will not 
suffer me to indulge a pleasantry: — whatever was rare, 
whatever was beautiful, they coveted and destroyed. Those 
verses*, which Homer sang in thy praise, O beauteous 
Helen ! were in vain addressed to illiterate barbarians, 
who were ignorant even of their very alphabet. Another cir- 
cumstance must also be mentioned : Upon a column was 
erected a female figure, in the prime of youth and 
(2) Vide Horn. Od. lib.iv. ver.228. 
(S) " Ultus avos Trojae, templa et temerata Minervae." 
Virg. ^neid. lib. vi. 841. 
(4) Vide//, iii. ver. 215. 
" No wonder such celestial charms 
For nine long years have set the world in arms ! 
What winning graces ! what majestic mien ! 
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen." 
F F 2 
