


$70 
tion. In fummer it rifes to the furface in 
large fleece-like maffes, commonly of a 
deep-green colour, and a fpungy texture, 
inclofing numerous globules of air, to 
which it owes its buoyancy. If raked out 
of the water, and expofed for a few days 
to the fun, it lofes its green colour, and 
becomes very tolerably bleached. 
Iam, &c. A. 

For the Monthly Magazine. 
[ Continued from page 542. | 
ASSO in fome meafure retrieved with 
me, the character of Italian poetry; and 
' af it were not for fome unfortunate paffages, 
where his devils, witches, and enchanters 
put a fpell upon praife, and bear him 
away into thofe regions of infipid extrava- 
gance, where Dante and oblivion dwell to- 
gether, I would hail him in the words of 
Cowley to Sir William Davenant. 
€¢ Methinks heroic poefy till now, 
Like fome fantaftic fairy land did thew _ 
Gods, devils, nymphs, witches, and giant’s 
race, 
And all but man in man’s chief work had 
place. 
Thou, like fome worthy knight with facred 
arms, 
Doft drive the monfters thence, and end the 
charms : \ 
Inftedd of thofe, dof men and manners plant 5 
~The things which that rich foil did chiefly 
want. 
Act leat, Taflo has more of nature and 
character, than either of his predeceffors 
in [Italian epic. And though he have not 
quite exorcifed the land, he has, at leaft, 
confined the evil {pirits ina limited circle ; 
and not permitted them to wander to and 
fro upon the earth, to intrude themfelves 
on all occafions, to infpire every paflion, 
and conduct every action, that the hifto- 
rian of the country records. ‘Taffo pof- 
fefles neither the majefty of Homer, nor 
the dignity of Virgil; but excels both in 
the excitement of intereft, and fympathetic 
pleafure. In the turbulence of ancient 
times, when the ftorm of war did not only 
yage around the palace, but beat on every 
private roof, this tender feeling was com- 
paratively little known ; but in the pro- 
grefs of civilization, and the lapfe of more 
- pacific ages, it has been matured into adeli- 
cate and refined fenfibility ; it has reared 
its {weet head in the vales of domeftic 
peace, and the gales that have blown over 
them breathe its fragrance. ‘Thus has'Taffo 
mingled even his defcription of battle 
with fuch traits of humanity and affection, 
as perpetually recal the mind to fcenes of 
home-felt pleafure. For the more eafy 
introduction of fuch ideas, perhaps he in- 
voked the aid of female warriors. ‘Fhele 
Remarks on the principal Italian Poets. 
2 
[December, 
are characters, which, from the prejudice 
of education, are of very difficult manage- 
ment. But the poet has fo blended the 
ftrong. and the beautiful, the brave and 
the tender, that not even the excefs of mo- 
dern effeminacy can feparate the fubjeét 
of its terror, from the objeét of its admi- 
ration. Thus, the firft introduction of 
Clorinda is in an aét of benevolence and 
fympathetic feeling, for a fufferer, of her 
own fex; and fhe at once engages our 
gratitude and admiration, by exerting the 
influence which her valour commands, in 
the prevention of a deed which her huma- 
nity abhors. For fhe becomes the pre- 
ferver of Sofrenia and Olinde; and the 
value of her interference is fully felt by 
the reader, on the perufal of their pathetic 
ftory in the fecond canto. And again you 
fee nothing of the heroifm of Gildippe, 
without alfo perceiving, that it is always 
exerted as a confequence and proof of the 
moft tender conjugal affection. Her wreatly 
of viétory was never the barren laurek 
alone; 
¢¢ But in her garland, as fhe ftood, 
- You might difcern a myrtle bud.” 
The ** Jerufalem Delivered’’ is much 
more varied in its fubjeét, than the Iliad 5 
and the unity of defign, and connection of 
parts, is better, than in the Atneid. Ho- 
mer allows the humanity of a modern 
mind too little refpite from battle. And 
Virgil, with greater variety, exhibits ra- 
ther a fucceffion of ftories, than a concate- 
nation of incidents forming one ftory. ‘Taf- 
fo has avoided both thefe faults. His 
incidents conduét to the cataftrophe ; and 
not, like thofe of the A®neid, only to the 
end of a journey, where alone the circum- 
{tances which pruduce the denouement,. 
are to commence; and his Jerufalem is 
frained, but not, like the Iliad, /meared 
with blood. 
The great blemifh of Taffo’s poem is 
the frequent recourfe to fupernatural agen- 
cy- And as the actors, in thefe cafes, 
are generally of infernal extraction, they 
involve all the abfurdity, without partici- 
pating any of the dignity, of the gods and 
goddefles of antiquity. Sometimes, in. 
deed, they are furrounded with a terrific 
grandeur, that refembles the fublimity of 
Milton.—Satan, in his infernal conclave, 
(cant. 4.) concludes his exhortation of 
oppofition to the Chriftians thus : 
<< Perifh the Chriftian camp! and e’en its 
ruins f 
Perifh with it!’ x 
And then follows this inundation of 
devils : 
“<< Nor did the God-defying fpirits wait 
His clofing words ; but on the wing they rofe 
are Up-foaring 
’ 
