"plus ils jettent dans la composition et de nouveauté et de variété, "premiers charmes de tous les ouvrages d'imagination." And in support of this observation, he instances his episode at the end of the canto on the Vegetable Kingdom, where, after having treated of flowers, and said— “Et sur la mer, enfin, souvent aux matelots he introduces Columbus, on his first voyage to America, smelling the perfume of flowers, at the moment when his followers are going to murder him, for having decoyed them so far from home. This propitious circumstance serves Columbus to animate his crew to fresh exertions, which enable them to reach the shore. Mr. De Lille connects this episode again with the main subject of his song, by making the sailors crown Columbus with a garland of flowers: "On redouble d'efforts, on aborde, on arrive; This slight connection of the episodes with the principal subject, which Mr. De Lille recommends, is the only novelty which we have been able to discover in his vaunted theory of digressions. It reminds us of the trick of a gentleman, who never went into company without having stored his memory with three or four anecdotes, which he would contrive to retail at all events, even when the turn of conversation was not in the least favourable to their introduction. The reason why Mr. De Lille has borrowed very little of the eloquent Buffon, is, because " Depredations committed on the rich are more easily found out, and more severely punished by the police of literature." Might not this strange avowal suggest the uncharitable supposition of his being in the habit of stealing from obscure writers? Surely, when a poet attempts to sing the discoveries of science, and the phenomena of nature, it is no disparagement, to his merit to consult the best authors on the subjects which he intends to treat, provided he paints with poetical enthusiasm what they have recorded with diligent attention. We should have been tempted to arraign the title of Mr. De Lille's poem as a misnomer, since it treats of the three kingdoms of nature only in the four last cantos, the first four being taken up with the four elements; but the plan of the poem was suggested by the late M. Darcet, of the Academy of Sciences and National Institute of France, who observed, "That the four elements being combined in the three king"doms, these two parts of the work were by no means incon"gruous, and might form a regular whole." The first canto, on Light and Fire, opens with the Genius of Nature appearing to the poet in a dream, and ordering him to celebrate the beauties of nature. The poet obeys. He begins with a violent invective against the love of systems, tunes his lyre to sing the light, calls Apollo to his aid, and implores the astronomer Delambre to guide his steps. He then describes the prismatic decomposition of light and its different effects; the coruscations of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern light, which he represents under the form of a female, jealous of her Eastern sister, against whom she prefers very foolish complaints to the God of Light, in a long heavy speech. From light, the poet passes to heat and fire, and enumerates the advantages which men derive from both. The transition from fire to electricity is in his happiest manner: "Mais c'est peu que nos arts règnent en Souverains "Sur ces terrestres feux que gouvernent nos mains; "Le feu des Dieux lui-même a connudeur puissance, “Et la foudre, à nos pieds vient mourir en silence." and so is the description of the electrical machine and its powers. The contrast of the horrible effects of the explosion of gunpowder in fire-arms and mines, with the peaceable scenes of the fire-side at home, is well imagined; but the 1 description of the latter is rather tediously dilated. Together with some conceits like and "Là Vénus s'apperçoit qu' elle est chère à Vulcain." "Et le lit conjugal rend grâce au coin du feu.” It offers the picture of many family pastimes, among which, that of the Slipper is however too vulgar, even in France, to merit a place in a philosophical poem. "Ici sous des genoux qui se courbent en voûte The canto terminates with a short address to imagination. The second canto, on Air, states its nature, combinations, utility, its effects on the reflection of light, and its gravity. This leads to the introduction of the names of Toricelli and Pascal, the latter of whom having like Mr. De Lille been born in Auvergne, this circumstance reminds the poet of his native country. He then passes to the elasticity of the air, and sings the Steam Engine in the following strain : "Au-dessus des bassius sur qui l' onde bouillonne, "Suivant que son nuage ou s'élance ou s'affaisse, "Ravit le noir charbon à la mine féconde “Extrait le plomb, l'airain; puise et reverse l'onde ; "Et la terre, et les eaux, et la flamme, et les airs." The terrible effects of winds and tempests, particularly in the frightful deserts of Africa, where whole armies have been buried under burning sands, are pourtrayed with glowing colours. The destruction of Cambyses' army is acknowledged to have been taken from Darwin. We are only sorry for the poor conceit which closes this animated description: "mais de savants débats "Pour définir les vents imitent leurs combats; The influence of the winds on navigation, on the heat of summer, and the frost of winter, is next described, and followed by a moving picture of the plague, from the desolating scene of which the poet gladly turns to the melodious effects of the vibrating air in musical instruments. He bestows high praises on the harps and pianofortes of Ehrhard, and on the wonderful execution of Séjan on the organ. "Sous ses rapides mains le sentiment voyage; This comparison, with which the canto finishes, is certainly beautiful. The third canto, on Water, describes the different effects and qualities of this element, the horrors of an inundation, the comforts of bathing, which are enlivened by the story of Damon and Musidora, translated from Thomson's Seasons, in a manner not unworthy of the original; the beauties of rivu lets, lakes, and rivers; the efficacy of mineral waters, and the bustle of a watering-place; the various changes which water undergoes in different temperatures, its transmutation into ice, which leads to a short description of skaiting. "L'hiver a ses plaisirs; son souffle rigoureux This is followed by a hail-storm, and a fall of snow, with the distressing story of the wood-cutter perishing in the snow, which is likewise a free translation from Thomson. Both versions, the first of which is only acknowledged as such, are too long for insertion. Some lines are almost literally translated. The English poet says: In vain for him th' officious wife prepares This is rendered in French: "Envain en l'attendant sa femme prévoyante "Envain, d' un air timide entr'ouvrant leur demeure Il ne les verra plus! .. |