are historical fragments, the connexion of which must be studied, in order to form a just estimate of their poetic merits and demerits. The geographic supplement, which is put into the mouth of Thetis, is still colder, notwithstanding the singular idea of the globe which hovers in the air, and which exalts the miracle of the geographic lecture. But thus is the sympathy of the reader more powerfully excited by the passage towards the end of the Lusiad, where Camoens speaks of himself, which he had refrained from doing in the preceding part of the work. As he approached the close of his labour, he was impressed with the conviction, that no earthly happiness awaited him; and now saw "his years descending, and the transition, from summer to autumn, near at hand; his genius, frozen by the coldness of fate, and he himself borne down by sorrow into the stream of black oblivion and eternal sleep." His heart then pours forth the epiphonema of the poem, consisting of a didactic apostrophe to his sovereign, full of loyalty, but not less abounding in honest zeal for truth, justice, and virtue.

An epic poem, so powerfully imbued with intensity of feeling and character as the Lusiad, naturally calls to mind Dante's Divina Comedia, and Klopstock's Messiah. But the Lusiad bears, in other respects, no more resemblance to the Messiah, than to every other great poem, in which the beauties make amends for the exercise of indulgence towards numerous faults. The Lusiad presents a greater similarity to the works of Dante. Both poems are epic, though neither are epopees, in the strict sense of the term. Both are singular, but truly poetic in invention, and, in both,

the full stream of purest poetry is incessantly broken by false learning, and various unpoetic excressences. But, with respect to the invention, the Divina Comedia is, in its original plan, trivial, and only becomes grand by the poetic filling up of the vast divisions of hell, purgatory, and heaven. The Lusiad is more poetic in its outline, but not so rich in its internal parts. Finally, the two poems are distinguished by the kind of feeling which prevails in each, and by a total difference of style. Dante introduced all the variety of the terrestrial world, of which he had perfect command, into the mystic region of a celestial and subterraneous existence, in which he, as a Christian, placed faith; and the whole plan of his extraordinary poem has for its object, the pious apotheoses of his beloved Beatrice. Camoens glowed with patriotism and heroism; and to avoid weakening the patriotic, and nationally heroic character of his poem, by the force of religious interest, he preferred introducing into his terrestrial fiction, the heaven of mythology, because he felt that it afforded him the finest imagery. Dante's style is, throughout, energetic, frequently rude, and always characteristic of the spirit of the extraordinary writer, who stood alone, and who, in a great measure, himself created the language in which he expressed his feelings. Camoens, like Ariosto, was wholly the man of his age, and his country; a fact which is sufficiently evident from the delicate and luxuriant style, which he partly borrowed from Ariosto, and which he only cultivated as far as was necessary, for the expression of the serious epopœia.

MEMOIR OF MADAME CATALANI.

THE distinguished character who forms the subject of our present memoir, was born in Sinigaglia, a small town in the papal territories, about the year 1782. Though the accident of birth can add nothing, in the sight of universal reason, to those mental or physical qualities which lead to excellence, and which nature only can bestow, it is, however, due to the celebrated ANGELICA CATALANI to say, that she was born of parents highly respectable, though poor; and that this circumstance, which, in England, only facilitates the approach to the temple of fame, was nearly depriving the world of those splendid powers, which are the admiration of the present, and will continue to be the theme of future ages. Madame Catalani owed more to birth than to fortune; and she was, therefore, destined to take the veil, like other females similarly circumstanced. When fortune and birth stand at a distance, and view each other with jealous eye, the one too proud to court, and the other too capricious to favour, the nunnery is the only asylum which the pride of birth has discovered, in Italy, to secure the fair sex from the contingencies of circumstances and situations. Angelica, however, discovered such superior powers during her noviciate, in singing the praises of her Creator, that her parents were induced, by the solicitation of friends, to change their intention of withdrawing their daughter from all commerce with the

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world. She was, accordingly, suffered to cultivate her musical powers, and the combined energies of nature and of art, soon qualified her to take the first parts in serious opera. Her vocal powers, however, were not the only qualities which recommended her to public favour. Beauty and youth, when accompanied by elegance and grace of deportment, will not easily yield their contested sovereignty to the dominion of music, There is a witchery in beauty as well as in sound; and it is so difficult to say which exercises the strongest influence over the heart and its affections, that the admirers of the fair Angelica were at a loss to determine which recommended her most to public esteem! In the latter, however, she stood unrivalled; in the former, she had many competitors; and if her innocence and beauty were more highly esteemed, it was only because they were found connected with such extraordinary endowments. It is certain, however, that the grace and elegance of her movements and person, heightened and refined as they were by the severe dignity of virtue, rendered her one of those miracles of nature, which only certain ages are permitted to behold.

Her celebrity procured her an invitation from the prince and princess of Brazil, now king and queen of Portugal. The opera house at Lisbon boasted, at this time, some of the first Italian singers in Europe. The fascinating Grassini, and the still more enchanting Crescentini, were among its principal ornaments; and to the instructions of the latter, who was deemed a prodigy in his art, Madame Catalani owes much of the celebrity she has since obtained, She remained five years in Lisbon, on a salary of three thousand

moidores, and was honoured with many presents of great value. During her residence in this capital, she married Monsieur Vallebraque, still retaining the name which had raised her to such celebrity: instead, however, of Signora, she was henceforth known by the name of Madame Catalani. She received letters of recommendation to the royal family of Spain, from the princess of Brazil, who was particularly attached to her; and whose esteem was less founded on her professional eminence, than on her private virtues.

In Spain she was honoured with the friendship of the royal family, and became extremely popular with the nobility and gentry during her residence at Madrid.

After having visited the French metropolis, in 1806, she arrived in England, and appeared at the operahouse, in the Hay Market, in the latter end of that year. Her annual salary was only £2000, and one benefit, a sum not more than half what she received at Lisbon, but she looked forward to that encouragement which, if it is not always, at least should be always, the prize of superior attainments; and her expectations were amply realized.

Madame Catalani made her first appearance on the 13th of December, 1806, in the character of Semiramide; and, to give a full display to her powers, a new composition of Portogallo was substituted for Bianchi's original music, as being more suited to her natural and acquired powers. She was accordingly received with the most unbounded applause, and her fame became every day more firmly established.

In 1808, her salary was increased to £5250, and two clear benefits. Her health, however, did not keep