the father had been brought safely from the house, several hastened to the relief of the daughters. They were dressed, and were descending the stairs. The eldest, who had behaved with great presence of mind, was supporting her sister, who trembled with agitation. "Take care of this box," said Emily. It contained her father's title-deeds." "For heaven's sake, preserve this locket!" sobbed Matilda; it was a miniature of her mother!

We have left, but not forgotten you, beautiful creatures! Often, when we are sitting in solitude, with a pen behind our ear, and a proof before our eyes, you come, hand in hand, to our imagination! Some, indeed, enjoin us to prefer esteem to fascination ;-to write Sonnets to Sensibility, and to look for a wife in Sense. These are the suggestions of Age, perhaps, of Prudence. We are young, and may be allowed to shake our heads as we listen!

P. C.
The Etonian.

CRITIQUE ON THE LUSIAD OF CAMOENS.

THIS Critique we have extracted from Bouterwek's History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature, as the subjet cderives an interest from its having been made a subject of controversy among the critics, since Voltaire attacked it. The present critique is rendered still more interesting by its originality, as the critic takes a view of the Lusiad different from that of all former commentators. The extract is so long, that

we cannot venture to lengthen it by any observations of our own, except that we agree, in general, with the views of the critic. There are, however, some positions to which we should object, and which we may notice at some future time, in treating on Portuguese literature, as we cannot, without considerably exceeding the limits which we have proposed to each article, treat of it here.—ED.

"The Lusiad of Camoens is a heroic poem ; but so essentially different, in the unity of the epic plan, from all other heroic poems, that to avoid falling into the unwarrantable misconception, with which this noble work is every where judged, except in Portugal and Spain, it is necessary, in considering it, to drop the ordinary rules of comparison, and to proceed on the general idea of epic poetry, unmodified by any prepossession for known models.* Camoens struck out a totally new path in the region of epopoeia. The style of his poem is formed chiefly on the ancient models, and in his diction he has imitated the elegant stanzas

Even the apology for Camoens, which precedes Mickle's version of the Lusiad, defeats itself, for the English translator makes the Homeric epic his standard, and, in order to justify the Lusiad, misconstrues the machinery of the Iliad. The remarks on the Lusiad, by Voltaire, in his Discours sur le Poeme Epique, are beneath criticism; and the judgment pronounced on this poem, by Von Junk, in the Introduction to his Portuguese Grammar, evinces a total want of poetic taste. No one should attempt a translation of the Lusiad, who does not possess an intimate acquaintance with the Portuguese language and poetry for it is otherwise impossible to seize the spirit of Camoens. The English translation by Mickle is, hitherto, the only one in which it can be said that, at least, the elegant dignity of Camoens' style is represented.

of the Italians; but the epic idea of the work is entirely his own; and the kind of composition which forms its ground-work, was something entirely new in poetic literature. The object of Camoens was to recount, in epic strains, with pure poetic feeling, the achievements of the heroes and great men of Portugal in general, not of any individual in particular, and consequently not of Vasco da Gama, who is commonly considered the hero of the Lusiad. He was not to be satisfied with drawing up a poetically-adorned official report, like the Spanish Azaucana, written at a latter period by Ercilla. The title which Camoens gave to his heroic poem, sufficiently denotes the nature of its sub→ ject. He named it Os Lusiadas, that is to say, the Lusitanians or Portuguese. This choice of a title was doubtless influenced by the prevailing taste of the Portuguese poets of that age, to whom the common name of their nation appeared unpoetic, and also by the popular notion that the favourite term, Lusitania, was derived from a certain mythological hero, named Lusus, who visited Portugal in company with Ulysses, and who, conjointly with the Greek warrior, built the city of Lisbon (Ulyssipolis). Camoens is not to blame if the editors of his poem, wishing to reconcile its somewhat unusual title with the names of other epic composi→ tions, have converted the Lusiadas into the Lusiada.+ But the poem may be designated by its common title,

See the History of Spanish Literature, p. 408.

+ The edition with the Commentaries of Faria e Sousa, published in the year 1636, has the old title of Lusiadas ; but in the book itself, the poem is frequently styled the Lusiada. The latter title is, therefore, far from being a recent innovation. ›

without offence to its spirit or its subject. At the same time, it must not be forgotten, that the Lusiad is a totally different kind of heroic poem from all those epopees, whether successful or unsuccessful, in which a single hero is the mainspring of the whole epic action. According to the plan which Camoens sketched for his national poem, he was enabled to dispense with the choice of a hero, whose achievements should throw those of all others into the shade, and form the sole source of epic interest. To this plan, however, an essential beauty of epic poetry was necessarily sacrificed. The composition lost the advantage of those little groups of characters, which would otherwise have been assembled around the principal character. From its plan, therefore, the Lusiad cannot be accounted such a model of epic perfection as the Iliad, or even as the Æneid, in which that perfection, more faintly presented, is still to be found. But as a narrative poem, deriving a total effect from the union of its parts, the Lusiad may be considered an epic whole, and consequently, a poem entirely different in kind from the Metamorphoses of Ovid, or even the Divina Comedia of Dante. A poetic and epic grouping of all the great and most interesting events in the annals of his native country was what Camoens wished to accomplish. He, therefore, very happily selected the event which constitutes the most brilliant epoch in Portuguese history, as a common keeping point for all the different parts of his epic picture. The discovery of the passage to India by Vasco da Gama, was certainly not an heroic achievement, in the usual sense of the term, but in that age, when such adventures bordered on the

incredible, it was a truly heroic enterprize. Camoens made this event the ground-work of the epic unity of his poem. But in that unity, Vasco da Gama is merely the spindle, round which the thread of the narrative is wound. His dignity, as the leader of his intrepid countrymen, renders him, in some degree, conspicuous; but in other respects he is not distinguished, and the interest of the whole poem depends no more on him than on his companions. The heroes who shine with the greatest lustre in the Lusiad, even the constable, Nuna Alvarez Pereira, who is the most remarkable among them, are all introduced, in, what are styled, the episodes. But the Lusiad has in reality no episode, except the short story of the giant Adamastor. Another portion of the work, which is commonly called an episode, is a poetic sketch from the ancient history of Portugal, and belongs as essentially to the whole as any of the other principal parts of the great picture. It even occupies near one half of the poem. It is precisely on these parts, called episodes, that the epic grandeur of the whole composition rests, and in them the finest passages in the poem occur. Unless the idea of the plan of the Lusiad be rightly seized, the composition will appear in a false light on whatever side it may be viewed.

The Lusiad, designated as a whole, may, therefore, be termed an epic national picture of Portuguese glory, something greater than a mere gallery of poetic stories, but less than a perfect epopee. The principles of the composition are exceedingly simple; but, that they may not be misconceived, it is necessary to understand the epic machinery of the poem, as the poet himself