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, A table richly spread, in regal mode, Of fairy damsels, met in forest wide And all the while harmonious airs were heard. What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat? But life preserves, destroys life's enemy, All these are spirits of air, and woods, and springs, 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, 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, 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; 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 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, 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 mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong, Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales; 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 : A multitude, with spades and au uvou'd To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill, 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? Willingly could I fly, and hope thy reign, Would stand between me and thy Father's ire, 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," Colombo, February 28,: 1841. I remain, Your's faithfully, CEYLONESE. |