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COURT OF VENUS. (No. 127).

AN agreeable young gentleman, that has a talent for poetry, and does me the favour to entertain me with his performances after my more serious studies, read me yesterday the following translation:

The Court of Venus, from Claudian, being Part of the Epithalamium on Honorius and Maria.

"In the famed Cyprian isle a mountain stands,
That casts a shadow into distant lands.

In vain access by human feet is tried,
Its lofty brow looks down with noble pride

On bounteous Nile, thro' seven wide channels spread,
And sees old Proteus in his oozy bed.

Along its sides no hoary frosts presume
To blast the myrtle shrubs, or nip the bloom.
The winds with caution sweep the rising flowers,
While balmy dews descend, and vernal showers.
The ruling orbs no wintry horrors bring,
Fix'd in th' indulgence of eternal spring.
Unfading sweets in purple scenes appear,
And genial breezes soften all the year.
The nice, luxurious soul uncloy'd may rove,
From pleasures still to circling pleasures move,
For endless beauty kindles endless love.

"The mountain, when the summit once you gain,
Falls by degrees, and sinks into a plain ;

Where the pleased eye may flowery meads behold
Enclosed with branching ore, and hedged with gold;
Or where large crops the generous glebe supplies,
And yellow harvests, unprovoked, arise.
For, by mild zephys fann'd, the teeming soil
Yields every grain, nor asks the peasant's toil.

These were the bribes, the price of heavenly charms,
These Cytherea won to Vulcan's arms.

For such a bliss he such a gift bestow'd,

The rich, th' immortal labours of a god.

"A sylvan scene, in solemn state display'd,
Flatters each feather'd warbler with a shade;
But here no bird its painted wings can move,
Unless elected by the Queen of Love,
Ere made a member of this tuneful throng,
She hears the songster, and approves the song.
The joyous victors hop from spray to spray,
The vanquish'd fly with mournful notes away.

grove,

"Branches in branches twined compose the
And shoot, and spread, and blossom into love.
The trembling palms their mutual vows repeat,
And bending poplars bending poplars meet.
The distant platanes seem to press more nigh,
And to the sighing alders alders sigh.

Blue heavens above them smile, and all below
Two murmuring streams in wild meanders flow:
This mix'd with gall, and that like honey sweet,
But, ah! too soon th' unfriendly waters meet!
Steep'd in these springs (if verse belief can gain)
The darts of love their double power attain:
Hence all mankind a bitter sweet have found,
A painful pleasure, and a grateful wound.

"Along the grassy banks in bright array

Ten thousand little loves their wings display.
Quivers and bows their usual sport proclaim,

Their dress, their stature, and their looks the same ;
Smiling in innocence, and ever young,

And tender as the nymphs from whom they sprung. For Venus did but boast one only son,

And rosy Cupid was that boasted one :

He, uncontroll'd, through heaven extends his sway, And gods and goddesses by turns obey:

Or, if he stoops on earth, great princes burn,

Sicken on thrones, and wreath'd with laurels mourn.
Th' inferior powers o'er hearts inferior reign,
And pierce the rural fair, or homely swain.

"Here love's imperial pomp is spread around,
Voluptuous liberty, that knows no bound,

And sudden storms of wrath, which soon decline,
And midnight watchings o'er the fumes of wine:
Unartful tears, and hectic looks, that show
With silent eloquence the lover's woe:

Boldness unfledg'd, and to stol'n raptures new,
Half trembling stands, and scarcely dares pursue :
Fears that delight, and anxious doubts of joy,
Which check our swelling hopes, but not destroy:
And short-breath'd vows, forgot as soon as made,
On airy pinions flutter through the glade.
Youth, with a haughty look, and gay attire,
And rolling eyes, that glow with soft desire,
Shines forth exalted on a pompous seat,
While sullen cares and wither'd age retreat
"Now from afar the palace seems to blaze,
And hither would extend its golden rays;
But by reflection of the grove is seen
The gold still varied by a waving green.
For Mulciber with secret pride beheld
How far his skill all human wit excell'd;
And, grown uxorious, did the work design
To speak the artist, and the art divine :
Proud columns, towering high, support the frame,
That hewn from Hyacinthian quarries came.
The beams are emeralds, and yet scarce adorn
The ruby walls, on which themselves are born.
The pavement rich with veins of agate lies,
And steps with shining jaspers slippery rise.
"Here spices in parterres promiscuous blow,
Not from Arabia's fields more odours flow.
The wanton winds through groves of cassia play,
And steal the ripen'd fragrancies away.
Here with its load the mild amomum bends;
There cinnamon in rival sweets contends;
A rich perfume the ravish'd senses fills,
While from the weeping tree the balm distils.

"At these delightful bowers arrives at last
The God of love, a tedious journey past;
Then shapes his way to reach the fronting gate,
Doubles his majesty, and walks in state.
It chanced, upon a radiant throne reclined,
Venus her golden tresses did unbind :
Proud to be thus employ'd, on either hand
Th' Idalian sisters, ranged in order, stand.
Ambrosial essence one bestows in showers,
And lavishly whole streams of nectar pours;
With ivory combs another's dexterous care
Or curls or opens the dishevel'd hair.
A third, industrious, with a nicer eye,
Instructs the ringlets in what form to lie;
Yet leaves some few that, not so closely prest,
Sport in the wind, and wanton from the rest.
Sweet negligence! by artful study wrought,
A graceful error, and a lovely fault.

The judgment of the glass is here unknown,
Here mirrors are supplied by every stone.
Where'er the goddess turns, her image falls,
And a new Venus dances on the walls.
Now while she did her spotless form survey,
Pleased with love's empire and almighty sway,
She spied her son, and fired with eager joy
Sprung forwards, and embraced the favourite boy."

L. EUSDEN.

PRIDE OF BIRTH. (No. 137).

HORACE, JUVENAL, BOILEAU, and indeed the greatest writers in almost every age, have exposed, with all the strength of wit and good sense, the vanity of a man's valuing himself upon his ancestors; and endeavoured to show that true nobility consists in virtue, not in birth. With submission, however, to so many great authorities, I think they have pushed this matter a little too far. We

ought in gratitude to honour the posterity of those who have raised either the interest or reputation of their country, and by whose labours we ourselves are more happy, wise, or virtuous than we should have been without them. Besides, naturally speaking, a man bids fairer for greatness of soul, who is the descendant of worthy ancestors, and has good blood in his veins, than one who is come of an ignoble and obscure parentage. For these reasons I think a man of merit, who is derived from an illustrious line, is very justly to be regarded more than a man of equal merit who has no claim to hereditary honours. Nay, I think those who are indifferent in themselves, and have nothing else to distinguish them but the virtues of their forefathers, are to be looked upon with a degree of veneration even upon that account, and to be more respected than the common run of men who are of low and vulgar extraction.

After having thus ascribed due honours to birth and parentage, I must, however, take notice of those who arrogate to themselves more honours than are due to them on this account. The first are such who are not enough sensible that vice and ignorance taint the blood, and that an unworthy behaviour degrades and disennobles a man, in the eye of the world, as much as birth and family aggrandise and exalt him.

The second are those who believe a new man of an elevated merit is not more to be honoured than an insignificant and worthless man who is descended from a long line of patriots and heroes; or, in other words, behold with contempt a person who is such a man as the first founder of their family was, upon whose reputation they value themselves.

But I shall chiefly apply myself to those whose quality sits uppermost in all their discourses and behaviour. An empty man of a great family is a creature that is scarce conversible. You read his ancestry in his smile, in his air, in his eyebrow. He has, indeed, nothing but his nobility to give employment to his thoughts. Rank and precedency are the important points which he is always discussing within himself. A gentleman of this turn began a speech

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