from the Hebrew, produced our author's “ Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Alexander Geddes, L.L.D." 8vo; a work which, while it interests as a highly pleasing and impartially written account of a very profound theologian, and truly original, though somewhat eccentric character, impresses us, at the same time, with a full conviction of the writer's sufficiency for the task which he had undertaken as a biblical critic and scholar.

Two years after the publication of these memoirs, Dr. Good sent to the press his very valuable translation of Lucretius, the most elaborate of all his works in the provinces of philology, poetry, and criticism. It is entitled "THE NATURE OF THINGS, a Didactic Poem, translated from the Latin of Titus Lucretius Carus, accompanied with the original Text and illustrated with various Prolegomena, and a large body of Notes, Philological and Physiological," two volumes 4to. This translation is in blank verse, and in numerous instances, where the original rises into fervour and inspiration, does great credit to Dr. Good's powers of poetical expression. But it is scarcely possible to convey to the reader, without his actual inspection, an adequate idea of the vast body of illustration, critical and philoso

phical, which is included in the notes. Almost every polished language, Asiatic as well as European, is laid under contribution; and the versions which uniformly accompany the numerous parallelisms and quotations are, for the most part, executed in a masterly style.

For a copious critique on this elaborate translation of Lucretius, and for numerous specimens of its execution, I must beg leave to refer to the first and second numbers of my "Literary Hours." There is one passage, however, and one of surpassing beauty too, not quoted in that critique, and which, as descriptive of the seasons, and especially of the season of Spring, I cannot avoid the temptation of inserting in a work professing to be written during the influence of the vernal breezes,

cum tempestas arridet, et anni

Tempora conspergunt viridantes floribus herbas ; it is a picture, likewise, to which justice has been done in transferring it to our language:

It Ver, et Venus; et Veris prænuncius, ante Pennatus graditur Zephyrus, vestigia propter Flora quibus mater præspargens ante viaï Cuncta coloribus egregiis, et odoribus, obplet: Inde loci sequitur Calor aridus, et comes unâ Polverulenta Ceres, et Etesia flabra Aquilonum.

Inde Auctumnus adit, graditur simul Euius Euan:
Inde aliæ Tempestates, Venteique, sequuntur :
Altitonans Volturnus, et Auster fulmine pollens.
Tandem Bruma niveis adfert, pigrumque rigorem
Reddit; Hyems sequitur, crepitans ac dentibus Algu.
LIB. 5. 754.

SPRING comes, and VENUS; and, with foot advanced,
The light-wing'd Zephyr, harbinger beloved,
Maternal FLORA strewing, ere she treads,
O'er every footstep blooms of choicest hue,
And the glad ETHER loading with perfumes.
Then HEAT succeeds, the parch'd ETESIAN breeze,
And dust-discolour'd CERES; AUTUMN then
Follows, and tipsy BACCHUS, arm in arm,

And STORMS and TEMPESTS; EURUS roars amain,
And the red SOUTH brews thunders; till, at length,
COLD shuts the scene, and WINTER's train prevails,
SNOWS, hoary SLEET, and FROST with chattering teeth.

"The whole of this exquisite delineation of the progress of the seasons is," remarks the translator, "inimitable. Almost every idea is personified, and every syllable alive; the order is most exact, and the characters true to themselves. There are few descriptions either in ancient or modern poetry that can dare a comparison with it *."

It must be allowed, however, that the opening group in this animated picture, so delightfully im

* Lucretius, vol. ii. p. 326.

personating Spring and her attendants, is, in fulness and richness of colouring, superior to those which follow; and it has accordingly excited amongst the noblest of the minstrel tribe a spirit of rivalry and competition. Dr. Good, however, having contented himself, in this instance, with a parallel passage from an eastern poet, I shall venture to subjoin two or three corresponding sketches, which, though indebted to Lucretius, may yet be considered as amongst the most exquisite fruits of genius. Horace, describing the approach of Spring, and recommending the enjoyment of its pleasures, forgets not to inform us that at this season

Cytherea choras ducit Venus,
Junctæque Nymphis Gratiæ decentes
Alterno terram quatiunt pede.--Lib. i. Od. 4.

Blithe Venus leads her sportive choir ;
Her Graces and gay Nymphs unite,

Weave the light dance, or wake the lyre.

BOSCAWEN.

And Milton, with the recollection of both poets fresh on his memory, has given us a delineation of the same period of the year, finished in a style of consummate beauty:

The birds their quire apply: airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune

The trembling leaves; while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on th' eternal Spring.-PARADISE LOST, iv. 264.

Nor has Gray, in the opening of his delicious ode on Spring, neglected to approach the same bright fountains of inspiration; nor has he failed, like his great predecessors, to give to his design those masterly touches which individualize and appropriate the whole:

Lo! where the rosy-bosom'd Hours,
Fair Venus' train, appear,
Disclose the long-expecting flowers,
And wake the purple year;
The Attic warbler pours her throat,
Responsive to the cuckoo's note,

The untaught harmony of Spring:
While, whisp'ring pleasure as they fly,
Cool Zephyrs through the clear blue sky
Their gather'd fragrance fling.

Very shortly after the publication of his Lucretius, Dr. Good again turned his attention to Biblical literature; and, in the year 1812, the public was gratified by his version of "THE BOOK OF JOB, literally translated from the original Hebrew, and restored to its natural arrangement: with Notes critical and illustrative, and an Introductory Disserta