‘ony 
The poct rifes in dition and imagery, 
whére Achilles, in like manner, 1s paint- 
edas dealing deftruétion all around in 
the midft of the Trojan hoft : 
As onfome arid hill a raging fire 
Runs madly through the dells, till all the wood. 
Is wrapt in flame, while by the wind con- 
volv’d, 
This way and that the fiery flakes are hurl’d : 
So raged on every fide the deathful ipear. 
Iv. xx. 490, 
The fcene is here very diflinétly paint- 
ed: the fire runs along the woody hol- 
lows interpofed between the feveral fum- 
mits of the mountain, and, aided by the 
eddying winds, fpreads through all the 
extent of grove. . 
Mr. Pope has, however, confuled the 
picture, by {peaking of the flame flying 
vp the mountain o'er the fiubble, and en- 
tirely drops the ftriking and appropriate 
aétion of the wind. The refemblance 
in this fimile is not confined to the de- 
frudive force of the fire; but the glit- 
tering ef the Vulcanian fpear was un- 
doubiedly meant to be compared to the 
dight of the conflagration. 
Virgil has imitated this and the pre- 
ceding paffages, and has enriched and 
extended the fimile, by the figure.of the 
author of the conflagration, triumphing 
in the fuceef$ of his purpofe : 
Ac velut optato, vertis zeftate coortis, 
Difperfa immittit fylvis incendia pattor; 
Correptis fubito mediis, extenditur una 
Horrida per latos acies Vulcania campos : 
{lle fedens victor flammas defpeCtat ovantes. 
Non aliter focitim virtus coit omnis in unum; 
Tegue juyat, Paila. 
As when in fammer we!come winds arife, 
The watchful fhepherd to the foreft flies, 
And fires the mid-moft plants; contagion 
{preads, 
And catching flames infect the neighb’ring 
heads 5 
Around the foreft flies the furious blat, > 
And all the ieafy nation finks ar lait, 
And Vulcan rides in triumph o’er the wafte : 
The pattor, pleas’d with his dire victory, 
Beho!ds the fatiate flames in fheets afcend the 
fky: , 
So Pallas’ troops their featter’d flrength unite, 
And pouring on their foes, their prince delight. 
Drypden. 
Neither this verfion, thor Pitt’s, has 
done juftice to the figure of the fhepherd, 
who, rejofing in his conqueft, looks down 
upon the trivmphing flames.” The appli- 
cation to Pallas, however, does not feem 
very happy; fince the prince was himfelf 
actively engaged as the leader and exam- 
le of the war; and did not fit, like the 
( fhe ghee: a tranquil fpeétator of the 
mifchief he kad only fet in motion. 
Sites of Homer, Virgil, fe / 
HEN, X. 404. 
a) 
Tt may be proper to obferve, refpeéct-. 
ing Virgil, that he has given a ftill finer 
and more elaborate defcription of a grove 
on fire, though not for the purpofe of 
fimile, in the fecond Georgic. 
Three other different fimiles derived 
from burning, are fupplied by the ex- 
hauttlefs invention of Homer. The firft 
is taken from a city on fire; and its ap- 
plication is to the Ajaxes, preffed by the 
affailing Trojans, as they retreated with > 
the body of Patroclus : 
The furious war purfu’d: like rapid fire, 
That in its fudden rage a city burns, 
While in the mighty blaze the domes around 
In ruin fink, and roaring winds confpire 
To fan the flame: thus, as they flow retir’d, 
The horrid din of mingled fteeds and men 
Tumultuous follow’d. - IL. xvii. 736. 
The numerous iflands of the Archipe- 
lago, in Homer’s time, the feat of con- 
tinual war and rapine, of mutual preda- 
tory invafions, and reciprocal leagues of 
detence, furnifhed a frequent fpeétacle 
of what the poet has reprefented in the. 
following lively pictures : 
As froma town invefted by the foe, 
On fome lone ifle, the diftant fmoke afcends, 
When all day long they ftrive in bloody fight ; 
Now, as the fun declines, the turrets round 
Blaze thick, and high the fparkling flames 
arlic, aN 
That haply, neighb’ring friends, the fignal feen, 
May launch their warlike thips, and fuccour 
bring: 
So from the hero’s head the dazzling ray 
Flaih’d up to heav’n. IL. xviii, 207., 
_ i doubt not here, that the. poet affo- 
ciated in his mind the occaffon of thefe 
two luminous appearances, that from the 
beficged town, avd from the head of 
Achilles, as berth conneéted with fuccour 
and relief; though, in faét, Achilles 
was about to z/iow aid, while the pur- 
pofe of the town was to demand it.— 
Hefe flight and imperfect ‘affociktions 
are conformable to the operations of a 
mind hurried along by a variety of quick 
and ftrong conceptions. 
The remaining fimile tikewife is de- 
‘rived from the ito¢k of ideas which the 
Grecian bard gained: from his maritime 
hituation 2 
As thines the light to failors on the maia 
“OF fire enkindled on the lofty top 
Of fome lone hill; while tempetts far to fea 
Bear them unwilling from their friends away : 
So from the burnifh'd thield a dazzling light 
Flath’d to the fy. In: xix. 375. 
Lhe } ole ate b] he 7 a 
Lhe whele refemblance here confifts 
in the objets themfelves : one light com- 
pared to another. 
Jo A. 
Ta 
[To Fe cantinued.q 
