= 424 
loves juftice, heeds the I-fay-fo’s even of 
authority ; much lefs of ancnymous petu- 
Jance perhaps, or prejudice. It will be 
proper, then, to turn over the Mefiiah, 
book by book, and to mutter the more 
prominent portions of narrative, or deco- 
ration, that if its meritorious paflages 
have been unnoticed or undervalued, they 
may be advertized and preconized. When 
the quantity of comparable value is de- 
fined, the relative weight may be more 
eafily prefumed, or appreciated. 
The introduction, or annunciation, of 
an epic poem is hardly worth analyzing : 
it ufually- confifis of an expofition and an 
invocation; the fimpler it is, the Jefs at- 
tention it folicits, the humbler an expec- 
taticn it raifes, the better. Had Kiop- 
flock’s annunciation contained the fri fe- 
acu lines only, it would have pofiefied chefe 
requifites. His expofition of the fubject 
is tolerably neat, and fufficiently full: 
but if he chofe to invcke only his ‘* im- 
mortal foul,’? he fhould not have talked, 
in other addrefles to his infpiring demon, 
ef the Mufe of Sion. The fubfequent 
Jong apology to the Holy Ghott for the 
undertaking, and the homiletic adjuration 
to his audience ¢o fing ihe eternal fon by a 
godly life, are among the redundancies 
which * Klapftock has not the ardour to 
‘evaporate. Thefe remarks will be fu fhi- 
ciently intelligible, if a tranflation of the 
exordium be tranicrided. 
- ’ 
Ouzm {ub carne Deus lufrans terrena novavit 
Crimine depreffis, cane, mens zxterna, falu- 
tem, 
Infelicis Adz generi dum federis 1&i 
Sanguine reclufit fontem celeftis amoris. 
Hoc fatum eterni. Fruiira te opponere ten- 
tat 
Divine proli Satanas: Juczaquefruftra 
Nititur. Eft aggrefius opus, totumque peregit. 
Af, quacunque pates, ioli res cognita Jo- 
Ye5 . . : 
Quz jam merfa latet tencbris, arcefne poefin ? 
Hance in fecefiu amoto rumore loguaci 
Oranti, omnicreans Flamen, mihi redde fa- 
cratam ! 
Hanc, plenam igne pio, manfuris viribus auge, 
Et mihi fifte deam, tua que veftigia carpat ! 
Hanc latebris gauders, qua tu petis ima Je- 
hove, 
Armet, fcrutator Flamen, fapientia vivax! 
Ut mihi pandantur nebulis arcana remotis, 
Meiliam ut dicar- digno celebrare volatu. . 


* Milton’s invocation is not fortunate: his 
Mufe afforts ill with the perfonages of Chiif- 
tian mythology ; and he pales from addrefi- 
fing her to “addreffing the Holy Ghoft, as if 
they were.beings of equal reality. 
hice “Klopftock's Meffiah. ~ peat 
Qui vos nobilitat, miferi, fi noftis honorem, 
Dum terras adiit falvatum conditor orbis, 
Tendite vati animos. Huc tendite, parvaca- 
terva 
Nobilium ! Dulci queis aon ef carior alter 
Fratre Deo, piacido vultu quos leta fonantes 
Opprimet ufque animis revolutus terminus 
zvi, rs oy 
Hymnum audite meum! Vobis facra vita fit 
hymnus. 
There is a ftanza in one of Milton’s re- 
fufe poems which might have fupplied the 
hint of a happier beginning. : 
See, fee the chariot, and thofe ruthing wheels, 
That whirl’d the prophet up at Chebar flood 5 
My fpirit fome tranfporting Cherub feels, 
To bear me where the towers of Salem ftood, 
Once glorious towers, now funk in guiltlefs 
lood ; 
There doth my foul in holy vifion fit, 
In penfive trance, and anguifh, and ecftatic 
fit. 
Of Klopftock’s firft book the moft pro- 
mirfent fceneis the oath, whieh Jefus and 
the Almighty adminifter to one another on 
Mount Moria, to perform and accept the 
atonement. A Calvinift may gaze with 
awe, but a Monotheiit would fhudder, and 
an Atheift {mile at fuch an interview. 
The effect of tie oath is no deubt intended 
as an improvement of the nod of Jupiter, 
in the Alpha of the Iliad: it is thus def- 
cribed, 
While fpake the Eternals 
Thrill’d thro’ nature an awful earthquake. 
Souls that had never 
Known the dawning of thought now ftarted, 
and felt for the firft time. 
Shudders and trembling of heart affail’d each 
feraph 5 his bright orb, * 
Hufh’d as the earth when tempefts are nigh, 
befide him was paufing. 
But in the fouls of future Chriftians vibrated 
tranfports, 
Sweet foretaftes of immortal exiftence. Senfe- 
defs againft God 
Aught to have plann’d or done, and alone 
alive to defpondence, 
Fell from their threnes in the firy abyfies, 
the Spirits of Evil ; a 
Rocks broke loofe from the fmouldering ca- 
verns, and fell on the falling. 
Hewlings of woe, far-thundering crafhes, re- 
founded thro” heil’s vaults. 
This fally is an epitome of Klopftock’s 
powers and failings. The idea of all 
worlds in the univerfe topping on their 
axles, to the alarm of the dire&ting feraphs, 
is the infuperable of fublimity. Had this 
grand thought been prefented by itfelf in 
fimple finglenefs, it would have compelled 
a paule ef awe 5 it would have feemed to 
bear 
