PREC. And when thou wast gone
I felt an aching here. I did not speak
To any one that day.
VIC. Sweet Preciosa!
I loved thee even then, though I was silent!
PREC. I thought I ne'er should see thy face again.
Thy farewell had to me a sound of sorrow.
VIC. That was the first sound in the song of love!
Scarce more than silence is, and yet a sound.
Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings
Of that mysterious instrument, the soul,
And play the prelude of our fate. We hear
The voice prophetic, and are not alone.
If any doubt that WORDSWORTH'S 'comfort in the strength of love'
can be exaggerated, let him or her 'inwardly digest' the following
picture of the power of this passion, drawn by VICTORIAN:
WHAT I most prize in woman
Is her affection, not her intellect.
Compare me with the great men of the earth--
What am I? Why, a pigmy among giants!
But if thou lovest--mark me, I say lovest--
The greatest of thy sex excels thee not!
The world of the affections is thy world--
Not that of man's ambition. In that stillness
Which most becomes a woman, calm and holy,
Thou sittest by the fireside of the heart,
Feeding its flame. The element of fire
Is pure. It cannot change nor hide its nature,
But burns as brightly in a gypsy camp
As in a palace hall.
How forcible are the following thoughtful lines:
HYP. HAST thou e'er reflected
How much lies hidden in that one word _now_?
VIC. Yes; all the awful mystery of Life!
I oft have thought, my dear Hypolito,
That could we, by some spell of magic, change
The world and its inhabitants to stone,
In the same attitudes they now are in,
What fearful glances downward might we cast
Into the hollow chasms of human life!
What groups should we behold about the death-bed,
Putting to shame the group of Niobe!
What joyful welcomes, and what sad farewells!
What stony tears in those congealéd eyes!
What visible joy or anguish in those cheeks!
What bridal pomps, and what funereal shows!
What foes, like gladiators, fierce and struggling!
What lovers with their marble lips together!
But we are admonished of our lack of space; and are left only room
to say to every lover--whether of some precious maid, or more
precious 'wife and mother now,' or lover only of the beautiful and
the true in poetry--to obtain the 'Spanish Student,' and lay 'its
gentle teachings to the new-warmed heart.'
CLASSICAL STUDIES: ESSAYS ON ANCIENT LITERATURE AND ART: with
the Biography and Correspondence of eminent Philologists. By
DAVID SEARS, President of Newton Theological Institution;
Professor B. B. EDWARDS, of Andover; and Professor C. C. FELTON,
of Harvard University. Boston: GOULD, KENDALL, AND LINCOLN.
THIS work will be warmly welcomed by scholars, and all true lovers
of classical learning. Professor EDWARDS furnishes an essay upon
the study of Greek literature, of classical antiquity, and upon
the school of philology in Holland; President SEARS presents the
reader with an article upon the schools of German philology, a very
voluminous correspondence between eminent philologists in Germany,
together with a history of the Latin language: and Professor FELTON
contributes an admirable paper upon the Wealth of the Greeks in
Works of Plastic Art; the superiority of the Greek Language in the
use of its Dialects; the education of the Moral Sentiment among the
Ancient Greeks; and, as we have reason, from internal evidence, to
believe, the excellent 'Introduction.' We are glad to learn from
this last-mentioned treatise, that amidst the din of practical
interests, the rivalries of commerce, and the great enterprises of
the age, classical studies are gaining ground in public estimation.
It is a much more common thing now for young men to continue
them after leaving college than in former days. 'The excitements
of modern literature lend additional ardor to classical studies.
The young blood of modern literature has put new life into the
literature of the dead languages.' GOETHE'S 'Iphigenia,' TALFOURD'S
'Ion,' MILTON'S 'Samson Agonistes' and its Dorian choruses, and
the creations of the myriad-minded poet of England, are cited,
in proof of this position. In short, the benefits, direct and
indirect, of classical study are so forcibly illustrated in this
work, that we hope to see it widely diffused, as an offset against
the declamations of the ignorant--who undervalue what they do not
understand--against classical acquirements and sound learning.
THE FIRST TEN CANTOS OF THE INFERNO OF DANTE ALIGHIERI. Newly
translated into English verse. By T. W. PARSONS. Boston: WILLIAM
D. TICKNOR.
THE well-printed pamphlet before us, as will be seen from its
title-page, is merely a specimen of a larger, and as we infer, yet
unfinished attempt. We can hardly believe however that it will
long remain incomplete, if the approving voice of capable judges
shall have weight with the author, to 'whet his purpose.' Although
the work must needs abide a triple test, in a comparison with the
original, with previous translations, and with finished English
poems, it is our own belief, and that of others 'whose judgment
cries in the top of ours,' that it will endure the ordeal with
honor to the translator. We regard Mr. PARSONS'S translation as
indeed excellent. The versification is melodious and smooth, and
the translator has evidently been scrupulously careful to confine
himself to the exact sense of the original. To the merits of the
great creations of DANTE, it is of course quite unnecessary to
advert; but of the illustrious Italian's claims to the character
of _a philosopher_ it may not be amiss to speak. We glean from a
comprehensive and instructive essay, addressed by the translator to
the reader, that DANTE was the greatest philosopher of his age. As
early as the fourteenth century, he was familiar with the sphericity
of the earth, and alluded to the existence of a western hemisphere.
He was acquainted with the theory of winds, and had a curious
insight into the phenomena of the production of rain. 'He hinted at
the laws of gravitation, anticipated NEWTON'S theory of attraction
and repulsion, and announced the tendency of the magnet to the polar
star. He anticipated also the discovery of the circulation of the
blood; he described and explained the phenomena of the shooting
stars; and long before the telescope of GALILEO, he taught us that
the milky way was nothing else than the combination of light with
an immense number of smaller orbs.' The fine etching of the bust
of DANTE, which forms the frontispiece of the pamphlet before us,
indicates we think, beside the other noble characteristics of the
poet, this philosophical bent of his mind. The translator's lines on
this bust are admirable. We annex a few forceful stanzas:
'SEE from this counterfeit of him
Whom Arno shall remember long,
How stern of lineament, how grim
The father was of Tuscan song.
There but the burning sense of wrong,
Perpetual care and scorn abide;
Small friendship for the lordly throng;
Distrust of all the world beside.
Faithful if this wan image be,
No dream his life was, but a fight;
Could any BEATRICE see
A lover in that anchorite?
To that cold Ghibeline's gloomy sight
Who could have guessed the visions came
Of Beauty, veiled with heavenly light,
In circles of eternal flame?
The lips, as Cumæ's cavern close,
The cheeks, with fast and sorrow thin,
The rigid front, almost morose,
But for the patient hope within,
Declare a life whose course hath been
Unsullied still, though still severe,
Which, through the wavering days of sin,
Kept itself icy-chaste and clear.
Peace dwells not here; this rugged face
Betrays no spirit of repose;
The sullen warrior sole we trace,
The marble man of many woes.
Such was his mien, when first arose
The thought of that strange tale divine,
When hell he peopled with his foes,
The scourge of many a guilty line.'
We counsel Mr. PARSONS to pursue the commendable task which he has
allotted to himself, the commencement alone of which redounds so
much to the credit of his taste, scholarship, and skill. He cannot
fail of entire success.