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just arise¤; and, after an artful prelude, `he presents a supernatural

feast.

"Belioid,

Nature asham'd, or, better to express,

Troubled, that thou should'st hunger, hath purvey'd

From all the elements her choicest store,

To treat thee, as beseems, and as her Lord,

With honour: only deign to sit and eat.

He spake no dream; for, as his words had end,

Our Saviour lifting up his eyes beheld,
In ample space under the broadest shade,

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A table richly spread, in regal mode,
With dishes pil'd, and meats of noblest sort
And savour; beasts of chase, or fowl of game,
I pastry built, or from the spit, or boil'd,
Gris-amber steam'd; all fish, from sea or shore,
Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin,
And exquisitest name, for which was drain'
Pontus and Lucrine bay, and Africk coast.
(Alas, how simple, to these cates compar'd,
Was that crude apple that diverted Eve!)
And at a stately sideboard, by the wine
That fragrant smell cĥiffus'd, in order stood
Tall stripling youths rich clad, of fairer hue
When Ganymed or Hylas; distant more
Under the trees now tripp'd, now solemn stood,
Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades
With fruits and flowers from Amalthea's horn,
And ladies of the Hesperides, that seem'd
Fairer than feign'd of old, or fabled since,

Of fairy damsels, met in forest wide
By knights of Logres, or of Lyones,
Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore,

And all the while harmonious airs were heard.
Of chiming strings, or charming pipes ; and winds---
Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fanu'd - 3.
From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells.
Such was the splendour; and the Tempter now
His invitation earnestly renew'd.

What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat?

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But life preserves, destroys life's enemy,
Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.

All these are spirits of air, and woods, and springs,
Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay

Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord."

B. II. 331-376.

A more exquisite picture was never drawn. We almost hear the music, and smell the perfume of the "fruits and flowers from Amaltheas horn," and behold the attendants "fairer hue than Ganymed or Hyles. These things are of course rejected by our Lord, who, in a style as different as it is perfect, says, "He can at will Command a table in the wilderness,

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The magical disappearance of the feast with the sound of harpies' wings" instead of flights of Angels," needs ho comment.

“Both table and provision vanished quite

With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard."

B. II. 401.

Virgil's well known lines are here imitated.* But Milton did not borrow from poverty. He adopted from choice, and made the passage his own! I reluctantly turn over the leaves of this noble and delightful poem, which is "a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets" from beginning to end. Of the picturesque in painting the following passage, in the third book, is an example above all praise. Every line is a picture.

It was a mountain at whose verdant feet

A spacious plain, outstretch'd in circuit wide,
Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flow'd,

The one winding, the other straight, and left between

Fair champain with less rivers intervein'd,"

Then meeting foin'd their tribute to the sea:

Fertile of corn the globe, of oil, and wine;

With herds the pastures throng'd, with flocks the hills;

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This is one of those passages in which the classic languages have an obvious superiority. It is not translateable into our language. Milton is nearest to the original in his verse. But in conception he appropriates the passage to himself. In Virgil the harpies are seen. In Milton, they are only heard. The dim mysteriousness, and the invisibility of the "harpies' wings and talons" which can only be "heard," givò an inexpressible charm to the scene.

Huge cities and higher tower'd that well might seem
The seats of mightiest monarchs; and so large
The prospect was, that here and there was room
For barren desart, fountainless and dry."

B. III. 253-254,

This is followed by a hird's-eye view of the most famous ancient cities,-Nineveh "built by Ninus of old;"

"Babylon the wonder of all tongues;

Ecbatana her structure vast there shows,
And Hecamtompylos her hundred gates;
There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,
The drink of none but kings."

B. III. 280-280.

The very names of places sound gloriously in Milton's verse. He next describes most magnificently the warlike host, composed of various nations, of the Parthian King in Ctesiphon."

“We look'd and saw what numbers numberless

The city gates out pour'd, light-armed troops,
In coats of mail and military pride;

In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong,
Prancing their riders bore, the flower and choice
Of many provinces from bound to bound;
From Arachosia, from Candaor east,
And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs

Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales;
From Atropatia and the neighbouring plains

Of Adiabene, Media, and the south

Of Susiana, to Balsara's haven,

He saw them in their forms of battle rang'd;

How quick they wheel'd, and flying behind them shot

Sharp sleet of arrowy showers against the face

Of their pursuers, and overcame by flight;

The field all iron cast a gleaming, browa :
Nor wanted clouds of foot, nor on each horn
Cuirassievs all in steel for standing fight,
Chariots, or elephants in lors'd with towers
Of archers.;. nor of labouring pioneers

A multitude, with spades and au uvou'd

To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill,
Or where plain was raise hill, or overlay
With bridges rivers proud, us with a yoke ;

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The last passage I shall now extract is of a very different character. It is that hopeless expression of utter hopelessness, which Í refered to in my last essay, as even finer, because much stronger, than the parallel passage in Paradise Lost. The despair in this instance is so intense that Satan affectingly turns to the Son of God, whom he is tempting, aud almost entreats him to

"Stand between him and his Father's ire."

"All hope is lost

Of my reception into grace: what worse?
For where no hope is left. is left no fear :
If there be worse, the expectation more
Of worse torments me than the feeling can.
I would be at the worst: worst is my port,
My hurbour, and my ultimate repose;
The end I would attain, my final good.
My error was iny error, and my crime
My crime; whatever, for itself too condemn'd ;
And will alike be punish'd, whether thou
Reign or reign not; though to that gentle brow

Willingly could I fly, and hope thy reign,
From that placid aspect and much regard,
Rather than aggravate my evil state,

Would stand between me and thy Father's ire,
(Whose ire I dread more than the fire of Hell)
A shelter, and a kind of shading cool
Interposition, as a summer's cloud."

B. III. 204-222.

Rich as our language is in poetical beauties I know nothing in the whole range of English poetry more exquisite of its kind than this transition from the vehemence of despair to something like

hope.

B.

SIR,

Original Correspondence.

A CEYLON MECHANICS INSTITUTE.

CEYLON

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CEYLON MAGAZINE.

I have read with much interest the letter on the subject of “a Mechanics Institute for Ceylon" which appeared in your last number and I trust that you will not deny me room for a few hasty remarks thereon.

Í cordially agree with your correspondent "Lanka" as to the beneficial results likely to arise from the establishment of such an Institution in this Island. I agree with him, also, in thinking that government should support such an undertaking. Are not the officials and merchants Interested in the moral and intellectual advancement of those in their service? Most assuredly they are, and I doubt not the idea being liberally entertained by them. The system, however, might be carried out much further than “Lanka" proposes. Why should not its benefits be extended to the great body of Singalese and Malabars? I would have Lectures on the different branches of Agriculture,→→ Coffee and Sugar planting,-the growth of Cotton, Indigo, Silk, &c. &c. with a model room for the exhibition of Agricultural and Mechanical implements. There should also be small prizes—either money or medals-for any improve ments in the mode of cultivating grains, vegetables, and fruits, or in the Tools &c. employed by natives in their Agricultural pursuits, which although hat trifling in themselves, would tend to stir up a spirit of enquiry and emulation amongst our native population, particularly if the names of the parties obtaining the prizes were made public. These are merely hints made on the spur of the moment, but I think them worthy of some reflection should the proposed scheme be carried out. I may here remark that I consider the formation of the Institution should originate with the Committee of the Fettah Library; they should solicit the co-operation of some of the European gentlemen of Colombo, both clerical and lay, and the joint, committee should then take such steps as might appear advisable for the speedy attainment of their object. Hoping ere long to be a member of "the Ceylon Mecha■ies' Institution,"

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Colombo, February 28,: 1841.

I remain,

Your's faithfully,

CEYLONESE.

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