The flame paft gleaming with a bluish glare,
And Imokes of fulphur fill the tainted air."

Mr. BERESFORD's Translation.

Again I rush to arms, and crave to die,
Of all men miferable moft: for Ah!

What counfels or what fortunes now were left?
And canst thou then have hop'd, O honour'd fire!
That I could ever hence my fteps withdraw,
Thee left and hath impiety like this
Fallen from a father's lips? if fo ordain
The heavenly powers, that of a town fo great
No ftone be fpar'd, if fix'd within their breafts
Stand this refolve, and it delight thee thus
To add to finking Troy thyfelf and thine,
Then to a death like this the inviting door
Stands wide, and red from Priam's ftreaming blood,
Pyrrhus incontinent will here be feen,
Who maffacres before the father's eyes
The fon, and at the altar kills the fire.

Was it for this, O mother ever blefs'd!

Thou hurriedft them through hottile darts and fires
Unarm'd, that I might view the fwarming foe
E'en in our fecret chambers, and behold
Afcanius, and my fire, and, fast befide,
Creufa, welt'ring in each other's blood?
Arms, foldiers! bring me arms! their latest day
Now calls aloud the vanquish'd give me back
To yonder Grecians: let me fly again
To the re-kindling fights; ne'er fhall it be
That we have all this day died unreveng'd.
Again I brace my falchion on, again
Adapting thruft my arm into my fhield,
And from without my roof was rushing forth
Infuriate, when my feet embracing faft

Lo! in the threshold planted, crouch'd my wife,
And to his fire upheld our tender boy.

"Flict thou to death? fnatch us with thee thro' all;

But if in arms experience bids repofe

Yet further hope, then firft protect thy home.

O fay, to whom lulus thy fweet boy,

To whom thy fire-and the once call'd thy wife,
To whom is the abandon'd?"

Thus the cries,

While all the roof with lamentation rang:
When, frange to tell! a fudden prodigy
Rifes to view; for 'midit the embraces fond
And kaffes by his forrowing parents giv'n,
Bencla! the tuft that o'er lulus' head
Plays wanton feems t'effuse a streaming light,
And c'er his hairs th' innoxious flame to play
With lambent wave, feeding around his brows.

We

We, panic feiz'd, began to quake with dread,
And fwiftly thake from off his blazing hair
The flame, and quench i' th' ftream the holy fire.
But ftraight my fire Anchifes tow'rd the stars
Uprais'd his joyful eyes; and hands and voice
Lifted at once to heaven: Almighty Jove!
If fupplication aught may bend thy will,
Look down upon us now! we crave no more:
And if our pious deeds deferve thine aid,
That aid, O Father, give! thefe figns confirm.
Scarce had my parent ceas'd, when to the left
With fudden burst it thunder'd, and a star
That fall'n from heaven, a trailing glory drew,
Quick through the shades ran blazing: then 'tis feen
Behind the topmoft roof fwift gliding down,
And midft the Idaan groves, (thus marking plain
Our course predeftin'd,) from our wond'ring gaze
Low finking luftrous: in a lengthen❜d line

The glittering track gives light, and wide and far
With fulph'rous odours fume the regions round.'

We shall next quote the description of the ftorm in the third book. (192-206.)

Mr. PITT's Verfion.

"Now yanish'd from our eyes the leffening ground;
And all the wide horizon ftretching round,
Above was sky, beneath was fea profound :
When black'ning by degrees, a gath'ring cloud,

Charg'd with big ftorms, frown'd dreadful o'er the flood,
And darken'd all the main; the whirlwinds roar,
And roll the waves in mountains to the shore.
Snatch'd by the furious guft, the vessels keep
Their road no more, but fcatter o'er the deep;
The thunders roll, the forky lightnings fly;
And in a burst of rain defcends the sky.
Far from our coaft was dash'd the navy wide,
And dark we wander o'er the toffing tide.
Not fkilful Palinere in fuch a sea,

So black with ftorms, diftinguifh'd night from day;
Nor knew to turn the helm, or point the way :
Three nights, without one guiding star in view,
Three days, without the fun, the navy flew;
The fourth, by dawn, the fwelling fhores we fpy,
See the thin fmokes, that melt into the sky,
And bluish hills juft op'ning on the eye."

Mr. BERESFORD's Tranflation.

When now our fhips had reach'd the main, and land
Is feen no more, but sky on all fides round,

On al! fides water, a grofs, leaden, cloud,
Bringing down night and winter, o'er my head

Low stoop'd its burthen. Darkness, brooding broad,

}

} }

Cloth'd

Cloth'd the great deep in horror. Growing winds
Roll occan, and build up ftupendous feas.
Tofs'd wild, we bound o'er all the vafty gulf.
Dun clouds of ftorm fhut day: a night of rain
Ravishes heaven from view. Thro' prifons of gloom
Leap doubling forks of fire. From our due path
We drive, and travel vague the blind abyss:
No more can Palinurus' felf difcern,
Mid th' elemental chaos, night from day:
Or, in the wildernefs of billows round,
Remember, or find out, our deftin'd courfe.
In folid darknefs thus three doubtful funs
We roam the feas, as many ftarless nights.
Dawn'd the fourth day, when land firft feem'd at length
To raife its head, and mountain tops from far

Op'ning to roll their fumes.'

We fhall finish our quotations with that most pathetic paffage, in which the poet relates the dreadful omens that preceded the death of the unfortunate Queen of Carthage. (Lib. iv. 453-472.)

Mr. PITT'S Verfion.

"While to the Gods fhe pour'd the wine, fhe view'd
The pure libation turn'd to fable blood.

This horrid omen to herfelf reveal'd,

Ev'n from her filter's ears he kept conceal'd;
Yet more a temple where the paid her vows
Rofe in the palace to her former fpoufe;
A marble ftructure; this fhe drefs'd around
With fnowy wool; with facred chaplets crown'd.
From hence, when gloomy night fucceeds the day,
Her husband feems to fummon her away.

Perch'd on the roof the bird of night complains,
In one fad length of melancholy strains;
Now dire prelictions rack her mind, foretold
By prefcient fages, and the feers of old;
Now ftern Eneas, her eternal theme,
Haunts her distracted foul in every dream;
In fumber now the feems to travel on,
Through dreary wilds, abandon'd and alone;
And treads a dark uncomfortable plain,
And feeks her Tyrians o'er the wafte in vain.
So Pentheus rav'd, when flaming to his eyes,
He faw the furies from the deeps arife;
And view'd a double Thebes with wild amaze,
And two bright funs with rival glories blaze.
So bounds the mad Creftes o'er the stage,
With looks diftracted, from his mother's rage;
Arm'd with her fcourge of fnakes the drives him on,
And, wrapt in flames, purfues her murd'ring fon;
He flies, but flies in vain; the furies wait,
And fiends in forms tremendous guard the gate."

Mr.

Mr. BERESFORD's Tranflation.

She fees, while spreading forth
On th' incenfe-reeking-altars gifts to heaven,
The holy liquors, terrible to tell!

Grow black, chang'd as they pour to blood obfcene.
This dire phænomenon to none befide,

Not to her filter's self, the Queen reveals.
Moreover, in the dome a marble fane
Stood facred to her ancient lord, the which

In veneration high fhe held, and hung

With fnowy fleeces round, and feftal wreaths.

Forth utter'd hence, what time night holds the world
In gloomy rule, feem'd voices o'er her ear

To fwell, and calling accents of her lord;
And lone on roofs, and battlements, the owl

To moan with funeral voice, and long-drawn screams
Wind out into a melancholy wail.

And many a firain, befide, of augurs old
Harrows her heart with bodings horrible :
In fleep, himself Æneas, cruel, fierce,
Oft hunts her into madness; and fle feems
Still by herself forfaken solitary,
And all alone o'er long and dreary ways
For ever ever journeying on, to feek,
Far off, her Tyrians in deferted climes.
Thus frenzied Pentheus fees legions of fiends
And double funs appear, and Thebes two-fold;
Or thus does he of Agamemnon born

Upon the tragic scene infuriate fly

His mother, with black fnakes and torches arm'd,
Th' avenging furies couching in the door."

From thefe fpecimens of Mr. Beresford's poetical talents, we apprehend that fome readers will be inclined to rank him with thofe tranflators whofe works are compared, by Don Quixote, to the wrong fide of a piece of tapestry; or, to use Dryden's expreffion, his tranflation may be faid to bear the fame resemblance to Virgil which a human skeleton does to a human form in the vigour of health, and in the bloom of beauty. On the particularities of his verfification we shall not enlarge, only remarking that the fenfe is often perplexed, that many of the words are ill-chofen, and ill-arranged, and that the numbers are generally rugged and uncouth.

We cannot difmifs this work without observing that it is no light offence to degrade fuch a poet as Virgil by a feeble translation. It is not impoffible that fuch a publication may fall into the hands of perfons who are not intimately converfant with the beauties of Virgil's language, and who may not be poffefled of any other tranflation; and what muft they think of the merit of this celebrated poet, fo highly extolled by the critics? To

4

Speak

fpeak in the mildeft terms, -as tranflations of this fort have a tendency to leffen our respect for those authors whom we cannot too much admire, and whom it would be our glory to imitate with fuccefs, they must be deemed injurious not only to the fair fame of the great originals, but to the taste of the rifing generation.

ART. II. The Trunfactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. V. 4to. pp. 498. 18s. Boards. Elmiley, London. 1794.

TH

'HE objects purfued by this flourishing fociety continue to be ranged under the three grand claffes of SCIENCE, POLITE LITERATURE, and ANTIQUITIES. The first of these comprehends a variety of articles, which, for the fake of method, we fhall diftinguish into Meteorological, Geological, Agricultural, Chemical, Aitiological, and Mifcellaneous.

SCIENCE. Meteorology.

On this curious fubject, four papers are furnished by that accurate and laborious philofopher, Richard Kirwan, Efq. LL. D. F. R. S. and M. R. 1. A.'

1. A comparative view of meteorological obfervations made in Ireland fince the year 1788; with fome hints towards forming prognoftics of the weather.-The winter of 1788-1789 was intenfely cold over a large portion of the globe, and was even the moft fevere in the fouthern parts of Europe; a fact which induces Dr. Kirwan to fuppole the easterly winds that produced it to have proceeded from Tartary and the confines of Siberia. Diftinguishing the feafons by the general modifications of wet, dry, hot, and cold, the following probabilities are here inferred from the perufal of a multitude of obfervations, made in England, between the years 1677 and 1789:

· ift. That when there has been no ftorm before or after the vernal equinox, the enfuing fummer is generally dry, at least five times in fix.

2d. That when a florm happens from any easterly point either on the 19th, 20th, or 21ft of March, the fucceeding fummer is generally dry, four times in five.

3d. That when a ftorm arifes on the 25th, 26th, or 27th of March, and not before, in any point, the fucceeding fummer is generally dry, four times in five.

4th. If there be a storm at S. W. or W. S. W. on the 19th, 20th, or 22d, the fucceeding fummer is generally wet, five times in fix.' With regard to the quantities of rain that fall annually or monthly in Ireland, Dr. K. could procure no account except the vague and popular eftimations of Dr. Rutty, who kept a journal of the weather at Dublin from the year 1725 to the year 1765 inclufively. During that period there were 6 wet

Springs,