heaving the stone up the hill, its immediate return from the top to the bottom of the mountain, and the renewal of his fruitless toils:

Και μεν Σισυφον εισείδον, κρατερ αλγέ εχονία,
Λααν βασάζοντα πελώριον αμφοτέρησιν
Ητοι ο μεν, σκηριπλομενα χερσιν τε ποσιν τε,
Λααν ανω ώθεσκε ποτι λόφον αλλ' οτε μελλοι
Ακρον υπερβάλλειν, τοτ' αποτρεψασκε κραταιις
Αυλις επειδα πεδονδε κυλινδελο λαας αναίδης.
Αυταρ όγ' αψ ωσασκε τι]αινομενα καλα δ' ίδρως
Έρρεεν εκ μελεων, κονίη δ' εκ κρατα ορώρει το

I have attempted to do juftice to the great Poet's description, in the following translation :

There I faw SISYPHUS, in toils immenfe,
Straining and tugging with th' enormous ftone..
With hands and feet exerting all their strength,
Up the high hill he drives the pond'rous load,
And gains the top: but fcarce the top is gain'd,
Ere the huge orb rebellious back results,
Whirls with impetuous fury down the steep,
And bounding thunders thro' the vales below.
His unavailing task the wretch renews ;

Sweat bathes his limbs, and duft in clouds afcends,

In Ifaiah lxiii. 1-3. we have the following defcription. "Who is he that comes from Edom, " with died garments from Bozrah? This that " is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the "greatness of his ftrength? I that speak in righteousness,

Y 3

+ HOMER, Ody, lib. ii. ver. 592.

teousness, mighty to fave. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like ss him that treads in the wine-vat? I have trod"den the wine-prefs alone, and of the people ss there was none with me: for I will tread them " in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood fhall be fprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment."

Upon this passage the very ingenious Doctor LowTH thus exprefses himself *. "It would be "blameable in us to pafs over in silence that "noble and fuperlatively magnificent image of "the divine vengeance taken from a wine-prefs, "and frequently adopted by the facred Poets, "but never fo much as attempted in any other "poefy. But with what colours of the Latin "tongue fhall we be able to represent what "is impofsible to be properly exhibited in any "other than the native language? With what "touches fhall we furnish only a slight fketch of

that defcription, in which the Prophet ISAIAH "has painted the Mefsiah as an avenger?

"Ille patris vires indutus & iram, <<Dira rubens graditur, per ftragem & fracta potentum "Agmina,

Religio eft hoc in loco filentio tranfire egregiam, & fupra modum magnificam ultionis divinæ imaginem ductam à torculari, fæpiufque à facris vatibus ufurpatam; fed quam nulla alia poefis aufa eft vel attigiffe. Quibus autem Latini fermonis coloribus ea exprimere poffumus, quæ nifi fuis dignè exhiberi omnino nequeunt? Quibus lineamentis vel tenuem umbram ejus defcriptionis effingere, qua Ifaias depinxit Meam vindicem? Prælect. Academic. p. 61.

Agmina, prona folo; proftratifque hoftibus ultor Infultat; ceu præla novo fpumantia mufto Exercens, falit attritas calcator in uvas, Congeftamque ftruem fubigit: cæde atra recenti "Crura madent, rorantque infperfæ fanguine veftes."

I cannot but think that thefe lines are very happy in expressing the ideas they contain; and it would be a pleasure to me if I could as fuccefsfully render them into English.

He with his Father's ftrength and terrors arm'd,
His face all glowing with vindictive flames,
Marches thro' flaughter, o'er his routed foes,
All proftrate on the ground, and treads them down,
Exulting in his vengeance; as the hind
Tramples the prefs, foaming with floods of wine,
O'er the crush'd clusters bounds, and the huge heap
Levels beneath his feet: the victor's steps
Are mark'd with reeking gore, the purple drops
Stain all his robe, and from its skirts diftil.

Nor is our English language deftitute of similar beauties, or utterly incapable of furnishing words that shall correfpond with our ideas.

What think we of the following lines in Dr AKENSIDE's poem, intitled, The Pleasures of Imagination?

Down the fteep windings of the channell'd rock,
Remurm'ring rush'd the congregated floods
With hoarfer inundation; till at last

They reach'd a grafly plain, which, from the skirts
Of that high defert, fpread her verdant lap,
And drank the gufhing moisture, where confin'd

Y 4

In

In one smooth current, o'er the lilied vale
Clearer than glafs it flow'd

*

But perhaps there is not a passage that can be met with, in which there is fuch a conformity in the found to the fenfe, as in the poem of Mr DYER, intitled, The Ruins of Rome.

Deep lies in duft the Theban obelisk Immenfe along the wafte; minuter art, Gliconian forms, or Phidian, fubtly fair O'erwhelming; as th' immenfe Leviathan The finny brood, when near Tërne's fhore Out-ftretch'd, unweildy, his island length appears Above the foamy flood. Globose and huge, Gray-mould'ring temples fwell, and wide o'ercaft The folitary landscape, hills, and woods, And boundless wilds; while the vine-mantled goats The pendent goats unveil, regardless they Of hourly peril, tho' the clefted domes Tremble to ev'ry wind. The pilgrim oft At dead of night, 'mid his oraison hears, Aghaft, the voice of time, difparting tow'rs Tumbling all precipitate, down-dafh'd, Rattling around, loud-thund'ring to the moon f.

Book ii. line 281.

+ Ruins of Rome, line 26.

CHAPTER

1

CHAPTER XX.

The PROSOPOPEIA Confidered.

§ 1. The Profopopeia branched into its feveral kinds. § 2. Inftances of good and bad qualities of the mind, or the passions and appetites of human nature being defcribed as real and diftinct perfons, from SILIUS ITALICUS, OVID, SPENSER, BLACKMORE, and MILTON. § 3. Examples of clothing with corporeal forms, or endowing with Speech and action imaginary beings, or general notions and abstracted ideas, from YOUNG, VIRGIL, CICERO, and MILTON. § 4. InStances from CICERO, of perfons filent introduced as fpeaking, and perfons deceafed as perfons living. § 5. Examples of countries, woods, rocks, rivers, temples, and other inanimate beings, afJuming the powers and properties, and expreffing the motions of living, and fometimes reasonable beings, from MILTON, POPE, SPENSER, CICERO, and VIRGIL. § 6. Various inftances of the Profopopeia from Scripture. $7. Remarks and ObJervations upon this Figure.