thing new or original; and is succeeded by a dissertation on the genius of Lucretius, and the philosophy and morals of his poemThe Nature of Things. We have not room to enlarge upon this; but the extracts which we have given will, in some measure, enable our readers to judge of its style and tenor. With respect to Dr. Busby's style of poetry, we think that it would be much better if he were less ambitious of ornament. The simplicity and unaffected plainness of Lucretius in the parts of his work which are purely didactic, contrasted with the richness and luxuriance of the poetical parts, have always appeared to us strikingly beautiful.-Dr. Busby, however, has not imitated him in the perusal of his work we constantly meet a redundancy of epithets, which we should in vain look for in his author; and we must enter our protest against the constant recurrence of such words as " nervid," "vacuous," 99 66 luminate," "sensile," and the Della Cruscan phraseology of "flamy storm," bloomy sprays," "lingual talent," "heapy clouds,” sluicy showers," "beamy moon," and "darkly state." This might, however, be forgiven, if the Doctor's language did not sometimes render him obscure where his author is clear; as in the following passages: Adcipe præterea, quæ corpora tute necesse est which is thus translated: I. 270. "Hear of those things that wing their rapid flight, I. 314. And "Debent nimirum præcellere mobilitate Of which we have the following version: II. 160 "These seeds surpass the solar rays in flight, No council interrupt their rapid course. Forward they dart, nor know, nor seek to know, II. 180. We are almost afraid to take notice of any grammatical ano malies after the very brave defence which Dr. Busby has made in his preface (p. x.), and which, as we think it highly worthy of the reader's perusal, we shall present it entire. "Though, perhaps, the modern poet is not necessarily confined to those strict niceties of grammar which the different construction of a dead language required an ancient to observe; and though, again, eminent beauties may sometimes be obtained in ours by their temporary sacrifice; yet it will, I trust, appear that I have not been too self-indulgent in these violations; that they rarely occur, and never wholly uncompensated; that the curiosa felicitas has not uniformly eluded my pursuit; that I have not constantly trampled down the hedge without culling the flower that tempted me from the lawful path. Though aware of the licence sanctioned by the words of Quintilian,aliud est grammaticé, aliud latiné loqui,' I have endeavoured to avoid the abuse of his authority. If, in some few instances, forms of expression have been admitted, not perfectly defensible by the statutes of grammar, nevertheless, it will, I hope, be allowed, that they are legitimatized by the common law of poetry." This is really the first defence of bad grammar which we have met with. We cannot think that "the statutes of grammar” are adverse to "the common law of poetry," or that bad grammar can, as such, possess eminent poetical beauty. We know that "Great wits may sometimes gloriously offend, And rise to faults true critics dare not mend. From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part, And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art. But though the ancients thus their rules invade (As kings dispense with laws themselves have made), Against the precept, ne'er transgress its end; Let it be seldom, and compelled by need: And have, at least, their precedent to plead." This certainly gives a colouring to Dr. Busby's defence, whe really appears to have been "compelled by need." In fact, we are less inclined to compare him in his hedge-breaking exploits to the sportive rambler, who steps from the path to cull a flower, than to the perishing traveller, who destroys the hedge in obtaining a scanty meal from the sloes which it affords. He seems, indeed, to have pursued the useful rather than the ornamental, and to have erred less from the desire of embellishment than from the exigence of rhyme. We leave it to our readers to decide whether the following passages are allowable, only premising, that if the curiosa felicitas has not eluded our author's pursuit, it has at least escaped our observation. *Shalt thou, then, grudge to die, whose soul half-bred And, e'en awake, are blind to reason's beams?" III. 1260. V. 517: "Bright Phœbus caught the chariot as it whirl'd, Collects the scattered rays, and spares the world; Checks the wild coursers in their maddened flight, And reins them trembling to the car of light; Their wonted course the obedient steeds pursued Smooth glides the solar king, and order is renewed." We notice these breaches of grammatical concord with regret, because they occur in a passage which exhibits particular energy of language and accuracy of translation, and which, were it not for the errors alluded to, we should have extracted, to prove that Dr. Busby does not always want the fire of his author. We are afraid too, from some lines which we have met with, that our author thinks as lightly of quantity as he does of grammar: at least the following lines indicate either an ignorance or a neglect of its rules. Perhaps Dr. Busby was led into this error by Creech, who has this line: "Almost Geryon, with a double face." 66 By night these illusory shapes advance." IV. 40. III. 1263. "Who wasteth life in illusory dreams.” "Their mass integral, and their bonds intense." I. 636. Dr. Busby's rhymes are for the most part good, though we can by no means admit of such as the following 66 Yet, as when burns their holy fire's disease, VI. 1352. "Cattle their coats will cast, their leaves the trees, IV. 62. A few bad rhymes in a poem of such an extent may well be pardoned indeed we should scarcely have adverted to them if our author had not himself said so much upon the subject. He writes thus, "Were it inquired why, in presenting Lucretius to the English reader, I have preferred rhyme to blank verse, my reply would be; -First, because I was distrustful of the unlimited freedom offered by blank verse; secondly, because I thought it, in translation, a dangerous allurement to interpolation; that it affords too much facility for the introduction of extraneous matter, without furnishing in compensation any superior means of force or beauty. Hence I felt a new version of Lucretius, in rhyme, to be a desideratum in English literature. The delicacy, as well as the energetic compression, inherent in the couplet; the advantage of occasionally departing from its uniformity; the powerful climax natural to the triplet, and the majestic pomp- the long resounding march, and energy divine' of the Alexandrine, these appeared not only to embrace every accommodation of which a translator can be solicitous, in regard of authentic expression, but to afford peculiar opportunities for melody, force, magnificence, and all the great qualities of superior versification. Of these advantages I have been strenuous to avail myself. When I strictly adhere to the limits of the couplet, it is for the purpose of condensing the sense of my author; if I have frequently disregarded its termination, and abruptly broken into the succeeding line, I hope it has not always been without adding surprise to strength; and that, in the occasional adoption of the triplet, I have not wholly failed of imitating that grandeur and elevation by which the verse of Lucretius is so eminently distinguished." Dr. Busby certainly has not always failed of elevation in hisuse of the triplet—indeed, in the following passage he has attained an elevation far beyond Lucretius and common sense "While, freer still, the fire and air of earth, V. 625. But we think that he has occasionally failed, and that the addi-, tional line has been at times productive of a grievous bathos And, "From her this first, this sovereign rule I bring, I. 185. "Where bending shores by Ocean's waves are worn, } II. 419. To our author's reasons for adopting the couplet it is but fair to oppose those which led Mr. Good to prefer blank verse. He says, (Pref. xiii.)" Contrary to the example afforded by my Say why the one weighs more, the other less. As more their weight have less' vacuity." I. 411. But we must now turn, and we do it with pleasure, to those parts of our author which show that he can write better, and that many of the failings which we have noticed are rather to be ascribed to a false taste than to a deficiency of ability. In doing this we shall select his translation of some of those parts of Lucretius which are the best known and the most admired. Every reader of Lucretius must have been struck with the picture, which he draws of the dreadful effects of superstition in the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Dr. Busby has given the following translation of it "But, ah! I tremble lest you still suppose From reason's elements seduction flows. Yet at religion, and her ruthless deeds, What soul but shudders, and what heart but bleeds? By the first chiefs of Greece, in youthful bloom, |