. 546 
that plan, viz. Meafure for Meafure— 
and in which the condemned perfon is. a 
brother. And it looks a little odd to tell 
a-ftory of Kirk, which was well known 
to the world long before he was born. 
Iris likewile to be obferved, that Mrs. 
Elizabeth Rowe, who begged the man’s 
life, was never fufpected, nor was there 
ever the leaft hint given, that fhe ever 
had, either with Kirk, or any one elfe, 
any correfpondence contrary to the 
firicieft rules of viriue or modefty, fhe 
having to her death, and ever fince, 
fuftained the clearef{ and moft unble- 
muifhed character. 

For the Monioly Magazine. 
7 fo) 
SIMILES OF HOMER, VERGIL, AND 
MILTON (CONTINUED), 
E proceed to fimiles more directly 
drawn from 
WIND, STORM, AND TEMPEST, 
the fenfible effeéts of which are more 
ftriking and terrible, confidering their 
requency, than thofe of any other phe- 
nomena of nature. 
The awful /ound of wind is one of the 
circumftances attending it, moft obvi- 
oufly fitted for poetical application. 
Homer has properly joined it with the 
roaring of the waves, and the rattling of 
fire, as a comparifon for the noife and 
tumult of battle : 
Wot ocean’s chafing waves fo loudly roar, 
Dath’d on the firand by Boreas’ bitter breath ; 
Not rattling Hames, devouring in their march 
The mountain foreft; nor the angry wind, 
Howling with rage amid the high-tapp’d oaks ; 
As roar’d the mingled din of either hoft, 
While, fhouting dread, they rufh’d to mutual 
fight. IL. xiv. 394. 
The expreffive fonoroufnefs of the 
Greek language is no where more ftrik- 
ingly exhibited, than in the original: of 
thefe lines. Virgil has copied the images, . 
but has judicioufly lowered the expref- 
fion, in his application of them as ob- 
jeéts of comparifon to the hum of bees. 
Tum fonus auditur gravior,tractimque fufurrant; 
Frigidus ut quondam fylvis immurmurat Aufter ; 
Ut mare follicitum firidet refluentibus undis ; 
#@iiuat ut claufis rapidus fornacibus ignis. 
GEORG. iv. 260. 
*Tis then in hoarfer tones their hums refound, 
Like hollow.winds, the ruftling foreft round ; 
Or billows breaking on a diftant fhore, 
Or flames in furnaces that inly roar. Prarie 
It is curious to compare Dryden’s 
tranflation with the preceding. He 
feems. to have underftood by “ /ouus 
Similes of Homer; Virgil, and Milton. 
[ Aug. 
gravior,’ a gentler found than ufual ; 
and has accordingly, with wonderful dex- 
terity, accommodated the expreifion of 
the compared founds to this idea. 
Soft whifpers then, and broken founds are heard ; 
As when the woods with gentle winds are ftirr’d 5 
Such itified noife as the clofe furnace hides, 
Or dying murmurs of departing tides. Dayo. 
This is, indeed, “ roaring like any 
fucking dove :” but notwithftanding the 
happinefs of language in this tranflator, 
it is evident that he has quite miftaken 
the “ mare follicitum frridet, and the ** ra 
pidus ignis eftuai,” of the original. - 
The Roman poet makes a nobler ufe 
of the murmuring noile of wind, when 
he employs it to reprefent the found of 
affent uttered by the affembly of the gods. 
== 

cunétique fremebant 
Ccelicole affenfu vario: ceu filamina prima 
Cum deprenfa fremunt fylvis, & cxca volutant 
Murmura, venturos nautis fuadentia ventos. 
fEN. x. 96. 

the gods divide, 
And in mixt murmurs vote on either fide: 
So, ‘pent in woods, at firft with fullen found 
The wind low-murmuring rolls the foreft round; 
A dreadful fignal to the nayal train, 
Of the loud ftorms impending o’er the main. 
Pitt. 
Our great countryman, who never bor- 
rows without fuch improvements as give 
himall the merit of originality, hasabeau- 
tiful paflage founded on this fimilitude. It 
is at the clofe of Satan’s noble {peech to his 
peers : 
He fcarce had finith’d, when fuch murmur fill’d 
Th’ affembly, as when hollow rocks retain , 
The found of bluiVring winds, which al] night: 
long 
Fead rous’d the fea, now with hoarfe cadence 
lull 
Sea-faring men o’er watch’d, whofe bark, by 
chance, 
Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay 
After the tempeft. Par, L, ii, 284 
This fimile is truly Homeric, but in 
, Homer’s beft manner. The fcenery, inte 
which the defcription wanders, is highly 
pidiurefque, and, though fomewhat di- 
greilive from the main purpofe of the 
fimile, yet is in perfeét harmony with it. 
The wiolent a&ion of wind is clofely 
connected with its found, and. ftill more 
firiking to the fenfes. Homer aptly 
compares a fierce conflict, between the 
Greeks and Trojans, to the contention 
of two adverfe winds, rending a foreft. 
As on the hills, with Eurus, Notus ftrives, __ 
In fierce difpute, to fhake fome thick-growa 
wooe 
i Of 
