IMITATIVE HARMONY.

mind an awful picture of the dismal and horrific effects produced by the monster while on the beach; but the very last especially, is a highly poetical effort, shewing the power of an accurate antithesis.-Again:

Narrative continued.

1. Tout fuit, et, sans s'armer d'un courage inutile,
2. Dans le temple voisin chacun cherche un asile.
3. Hypolite, lui seul, digne fils d'un héros,

4. Arrête ses coursiers, saisit ses javelots,

5. Pousse au monstre, et d'un dard lancé d'une main sûre 6. Il lui fait dans le flanc une large blessure.

7. De rage et de douleur le monstre bondissant, 8. Vient aux pieds des chevaux tomber en mugissant ; 9. Se roule, et leur présente une gueule enflammée 10. Qui les couvre de feu, de sang et de fumée.

Now the scene is changed. All have fled; but Hippolytus stands bravely alone, against this dangerous anomalous monster, and, seizing his javelins, discharges one at him, and inflicts a deep wound; upon which the monster, rolling on the earth with rage and excruciating pain, falls at the horses' feet, and covers them with the fire, blood, and smoke, issuing from his hellish mouth. The poet, in this part of the narrative, by this terrific circumstance, prepares the flight of the horses, the ultimate cause of the death of Hippolytus. The expression tout fuit in the first line, is a beautiful laconic phrase. Arrête ses coursiers, saisit ses javelots, in the fourth line, and pousse au monstre in the fifth, represent three distinct actions, finely pourtraying the necessary preparations before the dart is launched. Monstre bondissant in the seventh line, tomber en mugissant in the eighth, se roule and gueule enflammée in the ninth, are all bold expressions, whose imitative harmony increases the beauty of the picture in a tenfold degree.-Let us go on.

IMITATIVE HARMONY.

Narrative continued.

1. La frayeur les emporte, et sourds à cette fois
2. Ils ne connaissant plus ni le frein ni la voix.
3. En efforts impuissants leur maître se consume;
4. Ils rougissent le mords d'une sanglante écume,
5. On dit qu'on a vu même, en ce désordre affreux,
6. Un dieu qui d'aiguillons pressait leurs flancs poudreux.
7. A travers les rochers la peur les précipite.

8. L'essieu crie, et se rompt. L'intrépide Hypolite
9. Voit voler en éclats tout son char fracassé;
10. Dans les rênes lui-même il tombe embarassé.

The horses can stand no longer. Panic-struck, and forgetful of their master's voice, they bound off amid rocks; the axle-tree is broken, and Hippolytus, after beholding his chariot shattered to pieces, at last falls entangled among the reins. This is the catastrophe which the poet had prepared in the beginning of the narrative, and which is the most interesting part of the whole drama, especially in the four last lines. The words en efforts impuissants, in the third line, are remarkable for their imitative harmony; but the seventh line, la peur les précipite, is exceedingly happy in conveying the idea of that furious hurry with which Hippolytus's frightened coursers are seized. The beginning of the eighth, L'essieu crie, et se rompt, is a beautiful and original stroke of genius. One would think he hears the axle-tree splitting at the word crie, and breaking abruptly in two parts at the word rompt. To complete the association of the poetical image with nature, the author has taken care to leave the broken chariot, in the middle of the line, so that the verse is broken also. Voler en éclats, and char fracassé, in the ninth line, are two charming proofs of Imitative Harmony; especially fracassé, whose syllabical construction, consisting of fra, presents the image of an object that has been destroyed

IMITATIVE HARMONY.

with considerable noise and violence.*-Let us proceed.

Narrative continued.

1. Excusez ma douleur: cette image cruelle
2. Sera pour moi de pleurs une source éternelle.
3. J'ai vu, Seigneur, j'ai vu votre malheureux fils
4. Traîné par les chevaux que sa main a nourris,
5. Il veut les rappeler, et sa voix les effraie

6. Ils courent. Tout son corps n'est bientôt qu'une plaie.
7. De nos cris douloureux la plaine retentit;
8. Leur fougue impétueuse enfin se rallentit.
9. Ils s'arrêtent, non loin de ces tombeaux antiques,
10. Où des rois ses ayeux sont les froides reliques.
11. J'y cours en soupirant; . . . . . et sa garde me suit.
12. De son généreux sang la trace nous conduit:
13. Les rochers en sont teints; les ronces dégoûtantes
14. Partout de ses cheveux portent les dépouilles sanglantes.

The style and tone of the narration are now quite altered. The mind is no longer interested by any of those bold, nervous expressions, nor by any striking poetical images. The poet becomes a sentimental writer in describing the grief that overwhelms the attendant of Hippolytus, on seeing his master dragged among rocks, brambles, and thorns, while a profusion of blood is gushing from the numberless wounds on his lacerated and disfigured body. The repetition of j'ai vu in the third line, makes a deep impression, and the whole of the fourth is one of the most harmonious verses in the narrative. Ils courent, in the beginning of the sixth line, is a fine specimen of Hypotyposis, which delights in the use of the present indicative mood. Enfin se rallentit at the end of the eighth, and ils s'arrêtent at the beginning of the ninth, are both examples of Imitative Harmony, expressing slow motion and interruption. The remaining lines

* Such words are called Onomatopeias, a figure of Rhetoric.

IMITATIVE HARMONY.

still belong to the Hypotyposis, and with an affecting poetical strain, bring before us the heart-rending picture of the dreadful situation of our hero.-We now come to the last part.

Narrative continued.

1. J'arrive, je l'appelle, et me tendant la main 2. Il ouvre un œil mourant qu'il referme soudain. 3. "Le ciel, dit-il, m'arrache une innocente vie 4. Prends soin, après ma mort, de la triste Aricie. 5. Cher ami, si mon père un jour désabusé, 6. Plaint le malheur d'un fils faussement accusé, 7. Pour appaiser mon sang et mon ombre plaintive, 8. Dis-lui qu'avec douceur il traite sa captive; 9. Qu'il lui rende..."-à ces mots, ce héros expiré 10. N'a laissé dans mes bras qu'un corps défiguré ; 11. Triste objet où des Dieux triomphe la colère, 12. Et que méconnaîtrait l'œil même de son père. Racine, having put in action all his talents in the exhibition of energetic and awful poetical imagery, at last returns, in the above sweet lines, into his element, and, like Richard, may well say, Racine's himself again! for the last farewell of Hippolytus is replete with noble sentiments, uttered in a style of sweetness, elegance, and harmony, which completely justifies La Harpe, the French Aristarque, declaring that Racine, of all French writers, is the most correct, and the most harmonious.

Thus the narrative has been given at length; and it is to be hoped, that the short criticism attending it, while proving serviceable to that portion of the British nation having a partiality for the French language, will also have the effect of enlightening the other, whose indifference or dislike for French poetry may have been hastily conceived.

A VIEW OF FRENCH LITERATURE.

Names of all the Authors mentioned in this Grammar,
with figures referring to the pages containing paragraphs of

1.-EPIC WRITERS.

II. TRAGIC WRITERS.