1807.] 
Evander, Lansus, the son of Mezentius, 
and upon Camilla, the Queen of the 
Volsci; but this feeble interest, excited 
for a moment, and appearing only in 
episodes, cannot compensate for the 
want of that general interest which 
should animate and extend over all the 
machinery of an epic. 
If, after this, it be asked, upon what 
is founded the reputation of Virgil? it is 
answered, that, with all these defects, 
he still deserves the title of prince of the 
Liatin poets; and second in rank among 
those who have distinguished themselves 
in the epopcea. He possesses beauties 
which have justly excited the admiration 
of every age, and which, with many, to 
this day, hold the balance in equilibrium 
between his fame and that of Homer. If 
he has net equalled his great precursor 
in invention, in richness, and in the ge- 
neral effect of his poem, he has sur- 
passed him in many of his detached pas- 
sages, and 11 the exquisite taste which 
he uniformly displays. Next to subli- 
mity, tenderness is, perhaps, a principal 
Inerit in the. epic, and this is a merit 
which Virgil possesses in a very high de- 
gree. He appears to have felt every af- 
fecting scene which he describes, and, 
with a masterly touch, can reach the 
heart by a single stroke. His style is 
supported in an uniform tone of majesty 
and sweetness, and is maintained with a 
consistency and perfection which cannot 
be found im any other poet. The se- 
cond, the fourth, and the sisth books, are 
universally considered as the most finish- 
ed pieces ever produced by the epdpea. 
The character of Dido, upon which, un-- 
der the head of Characters, we shall en- 
large in the next number, is entirely Vir- 
gil’s. Neither Homer, nor anyother poet 
of Greece, presented the model of so ex» 
guisite a portrait, The episodes of Nisus 
and Euryalus, of Cacus, of the funeral 
of Pallas, and of the shield of Eneas, 
are so many chef-d’euvres of the art, 
which amply justily the celebrity of Vir-— 
gil. Nor is he always deficient in vigour. 
and grandeur: the images of horror, pre- 
sentea by a city burned and sacked im 
the night, are strongly delineated, and 
the descéat of Aneas abounds with 
beauties of the highest kind. In these 
he may justly bear a comparison with 
Iiomer, however unequal he is admitted 
to be in other parts of his poem. | In the 
tnany elaborate comparisons which have 
been drawn between these two great 
poets, sufficient care has not been taken 
f° Oppose the peculiar beauties of Vir- 
Account of a receni Voyage to the North Cape. 
547 
gil.to the general excellence of Homer: 
and with his acknowledved deficiency in 
the conduct of his poem, and the pro- 
gressive interest of his fable, a degree of 
inferiority has been arbitrarily assigned 
to the former, without a due regard to 
the many passages in which he has sur- 
passed the other. [tis unreasonable to 
complain that nature has not bestowed 
all.on one man. We should rather ad- 
mire her in the wonderful variety of ber 
gifts, in that inexhaustible fecundity 
which seems to promise for every age 
fresh inspiration to genius, new incite-. 
ments to glory, and a never-failing source 
of enjoyment to man, 
en ose 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ACCOUNT Of @ RECENT vovaGE fo the’ 
NORTH CAPE, accompanied by u VIEW; 
by A. F. SKJOLDEBRAND, @ SWEDISH 
GENTLEMAN. | ; 
A, LTEN, a port of the Frozen Ocean, 
) is. situated on the shore of a bay 
called Kaafiord, which forms part of the 
Altenford, or Gulph of Altea, in 69 deg, 
50 min. north latitude. Vhe life of the 
inhabitants of this place appears rather 
singular to the natives of inore genial 
climates. In sumer, and especially 
when the sun is perpetually above the 
horizon, they rise at ten in the morning, 
‘dine at five or six in the evening, sup at 
one, and go to bed at three or four 
o’clock in the morning, In winter, and 
during the long meht, which lasts from 
the beginning of December to the end of 
January, they remain ia a kind of apathy 
corresponding with the season, More 
than half of the twenty-four hours is dee 
voted to sleep; when they awake, they 
do nothing but warm themselves, almost 
all business being entirely at a stand’ 
The house of the only merchant in the 
place, at which we lodged, stood on the 
summit of a very high hill, wineh slopes 
away.to the sea. A Danish ship lay at 
anchor in the port, waiting for a careo of 
dried and salt fish, of which a considers 
able quantity is exported from Alten, 
Near the shore were store-houses filled 
with that commodity, aad larve heaps 
are likewise piled up in the open air. A 
promontory, composed of a white and 
reddish rock, seretches into the sea, and 
ineloses the interior of the basin. Oa 
the opposite side the gulph is bordered 
by a range of lofty mountains, whose 
summits, speckled with snow, rise to the 
very clouds, eA 
The air of Alten is pure, and very sa- 
4 AQ lubrioas, 
