ses. "The writings of Horace have an air of frankness and openness about them; a manly simplicity, and a contempt of affectation or the little pride of a vain and mean concealment, which at once take hold on our confidence. We can believe the account which he gives of his own character, without scruple or suspicion. That he was fond of pleasure is confessed; but, generally speaking, he was mo derate and temperate in his pleasures; and his convivial hours seem to have been far more mental, and more enlightened by social wit and wisdom, than are those of the common herd of Epicurean poets. Of his amorous propensities, with the contamination of his times clinging about them, we may, out of respect to his good qualities, be silent. For let it never be forgotten, that Horace forms an honourable exception to the class of voluptuaries, and that he has left us much that is praise-worthy and valuable to redeem his er rors."

แ

'Horace, of all the writers of antiquity, most abounds with that practical good sense, and familiar observation of life and manners which render an author, in a more emphatic sense, the reader's companion. Good sense, in fact, seems the most distinguished feature of his Satires; for his wit seems to me rather forced; and it is their tone of sound understanding, added to their easy, conversational air, and a certain turn for fine raillery, that forms the secret by which they please. His metre is even studiously careless: he expressly disclaims the fabrication of polished verse, and speaks of his 'Pedestrian Muse.' Swift is a far better copyist of his manner than Pope, who should have imitated Juvenal. But the lyric poetry of Horace displays an entire command of all the graces and powers of metre. Elegance and justness of thought, and felicity of expression, rather than sublimity, seem to be its general character, though the poet sometimes rises to considerable grandeur of sentiment and imagery In variety and versatility his lyric genius is unrivalled by that of any poet with whom we are acquainted;

and there are no marks of inequality, or of inferiority to himself. Whether his Odes be of the moral and philosophical kind; the heroic, the descriptive, or the amatory, the light and the joyous: each separate species would seem to be his peculiar province. His epistles evince a knowledge of the weaknesses of the human heart, which would do honour to a professed philosopher. What Quintilian, and the moderns after him, call the "Art of Poetry," seems to have been only the third epistle of the second book, addressed to the Pisos. The style and manner differ in no respect from the former epistles. The observations are equally desultory, and we meet with the same strokes of satirical humour; which appear unsuitable to a didactic piece. Dr. Hurd, indeed, has discovered the utmost order and connexion in this epistle, which he supposes to contain a complete system of rules for dramatic composition. But Hurd was a pupil of Warburton; and, together with much of his ingenuity, had imbibed also much of the paradox of his master. His commentary, however, is extremely interesting."*

• Elton's Specimens of the Classic Poets, Vol. 2. p. 175.

METRES OF HORACE.

1. DACTYLIC HEXAMETER.

Laūdā būnt ălii clă|rām Rhōdōn | aŭt Milÿ|lënën.

The structure of this species of verse is sufficiently well known; it consists of six feet, the fifth of which is a dactyl, and the sixth a spondee, while each of the other four feet may be either a dactyl or spondee. Sometimes, however, in a solemn, majestic, or mournful description, or in expressing astonishment, consternation, vastness of size, &c. a spondee is admitted in the fifth foot, and the line is then denominated Spondaic.

The hexameters of Horace, in his Satires and Epistles, are written in so negligent a manner as to lead to the opinion, that this style of composition was purposely adopted by him to suit the nature of his subject. Whether this opinion be correct or not must be considered elsewhere. It will only be requisite here to state, that the peculiar character of his hexameter versification will render it unnecessary for us to say any thing respecting the doctrine of the caesural pause in this species of verse, which is better explained with reference to the rhythm and cadence of Virgil.

2. DACTYLIC TETRAMETER a posteriore.1

The Tetrameter a posteriore, or Spondaic tetrameter, consists of the last four feet of an hexameter; as,

Cērlūs ēļnīm prō¦misit A|pollo.

Sometimes, as in the hexameter, a spondee occupies the last place but one, in which case the preceding foot ought to be a dactyl, or the line will be too heavy; as, 2

Mēnsō|rēm cōhì|bēnt Är|chÿtā.

3. DACTYLIC TRIMETER CATALECTIC.

The Trimeter catalectic is a line consisting of the first five half-feet of an hexameter, or two feet and a half; as,

Arboribusque comae.

Horace uniformly observes this construction, viz. two dactyls and a semi-foot. Ausonius, however, sometimes makes the first foot a spondee, and twice uses a spondee in the second place; but the spondee injures the harmony of the verse.

4. ADONIC.2

The Adonic, or Dactylic Dimeter, consists of two feet, a dactyl and spondee; as,

(1) The expression a posteriore refers to the verse being considered as taken from the latter part of an hexameter line (a posteriore parte versus hexametri), and is consequently opposed to the dactylic tetrameter a priore. This last is taken from the first part (a priore parte) of an hexameter, and must always have the last foot a dactyl.

(2) This verse derives its name from the circumstance of its being used by the Greeks in the music which accompanied the celebration of the festival of Adonis: that part probably which represented the restoration of Adonis to life.

Risit Apollo.

Sappho is said to have written entire poems in this measure, now lost. Boëthius has a piece of thirty-one Adonic lines (lib. 1. metr. 7.), of which the following are a specimen.

Nubibus atris

Condita nullum
Fundere possunt

Sidera lumen.

Si mare volvens

Turbidus auster

Misceat aestum, &c.

The measure, however, is too short to be pleasing, unless accompanied by one of a different kind. Hence an Adonic is used in concluding the Sapphic stanza. (No. 10.) In tragic choruses, it is arbitrarily added to any number of Sapphics, without regard to uniformity. (Vid. Senec. Oedip., act 1. Troades, act 4. Herc. Fur.,act 3. Thyest.,act 3.)

5. IAMBIC TRIMETER.

Iambic verses take their name from the Iambus,' which in pure Iambics, was the only foot admitted. They are scanned by measures of two feet; and it was usual, in reciting them, to make a short pause at the end of every second foot, with an emphasis (arsis) on its final syllable.

The Iambic Trimeter (called likewise Senarius, from its containing six feet,) consists of three measures (metra). The feet which compose it, six in number, are properly all iambi; in which case, as above stated, the line is called a

(1) The term Iambus ("Iaubos) is derived, according to some etymolo gists, from lárro, "to injure," or "attack," on account of its having been originally used in satirical composition. Lennep makes it the same with labos, and deduces this last from law; the same as w, to throw at."