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ward; and though most of the historians offered their service to introduce him, he left them at the door, and would have no conductor but himself.”*—In the same spirit he tells us, That Q. Curtius intended to conduct Alexander the Great to an apartment appointed for the reception of fabulous heroes; that Virgil hung back at the entrance of the door, and would have excused himself, had not his modesty been overcome by the invitation of all who sate at the table; that Lucan entered at the head of many historians with Pompey, and that seeing Homer and Virgil at the table, was going to sit down himself, had not the latter whispered him, he had forfeited his claim to it, by coming in as one of the historians.

18. With equal rays immortal TULLY shone,

The Roman rostra deck'd the Consul's throne:
Gath'ring his flowing robe, he seem'd to stand,
In act to speak, and graceful stretch'd his hand.†

VOL. I.

Cc

This

* Tatler, No. 81, ut sup.

"After hearing an oration of Tully, "How finely and eloquently has he expressed himself," said the Romans. After Demosthenes had spoke, "Let us rise, and march against Philip," said the Athenians." FENELON.

This beautiful attitude is copied from a statue in that valuable collection, which Lady Pomfret had the goodness and generosity lately to present to the University of Oxford.-Cicero, says Addison, next appeared, and took his place. He had enquired at the door for one Lucceius to introduce him; but not finding him there, he contented himself with the attendance of many other writers, who all, except Sallust, appeared highly pleased with the office.

I cannot forbear taking occasion to mention an ingenious imitation of this paper of Addison, called the Table of Modern Fame, at which the guests are introduced, and ranged with that taste and judgment which is peculiar to the author.* It may not be unentertaining to enumerate the persons in the order he has placed them, by which his sense of their merits will appear. Columbus, Peter the Great, Leo X. Martin Luther, Newton, Descartes, Lewis XIV. William the First Prince of Orange, Edward the Black Prince, Francis I. Charles V. Locke, Galileo, John Faust,

Harvey,

Dr. Akenside. Dodsley's Museum, No. 13.

Harvey, Machiavel, Tasso, Ariosto, POPE, Boileau, Bacon,* Milton,† Cervantes, Moliere.

19. When on the Goddess first I cast my sight,
Scarce seem'd her stature of a cubit's height;
But swell'd to larger height the more I gaz'd,
Till to the roof her tow'ring front she rais'd.‡

This figure of Fame enlarging and growing every moment, which is copied from Virgil, is imagined with strength and sublimity of fancy.

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* "The assembly with one accord invited Bacon forward; the Goddess beckoned him to draw near, and seated him on the highest throne." Museum, No. 13.

+ "I was extremely discontented that no more honourable place had been reserved for Milton. You forget (says my conductor) that the lowest place in this assembly is one of twenty, the most honourable gifts which Fame has to bestow among the whole human species. Milton is now admitted for the first time, and was not but with difficulty admitted at all. But have patience a few years longer; he will be continually ascending in the goddess's favour, and may perhaps at last obtain the highest, or at least the second place in these her solemnities. In the mean time, see how he is received by the man who is best qualified here to judge of his dignity." I looked at him again, and saw Raphael making him the most affectionate congratulations." Museum, No. 13.

Ver. 258.

Parva metu primo, mox sese attollit in auras,
Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit.*

There is another figure of this sort in the Georgics of Virgil, as nobly conceived. Instead of saying that the pestilence among the cattle encreased daily, what an exalted image has he given

us !

Sævit et in lucem Stygiis emissa tenebris

Pallida TYSIPHONE. MORBOS agit ante METUMQUE.
Inque dies avidum surgens caput altius effert.

The sybil in the sixth Eneid is likewise represented as spreading to sight, and growing larger and larger as the inspiration came upon her:

Subito non vultus, non color unus,

Non comptæ mansere comæ ; sed pectus anhelum,
Et rabie fera corda tument; majorque videri,
Nec mortale sonans.†

We have still a fourth instance of Virgil's imagination, in the spirited picture he has drawn of the Fury who appears to Turnus in the seventh Eneid.

*Book IV. ver. 176.

† Ver. 47.

Æneid.* Turnus, at first, suitably to his character, treats her as an impertinent old priestess, whose habit she had indeed borrowed. Upon which she instantly kindles into rage, assumes her own horrid shape in a moment, the serpents hiss around her head, and her countenance spreads forth in all its terrors:

At juveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus;
Diriguere oculi; tot Erinnys sibilat hydris,
Tantaque se facies aperit.

In no part of Virgil's writings is there more true spirit and sublimity, than in this interview between Turnus and the Fury, both whose characters are strongly supported. But to return to FAME. Virgil has represented her as a dreadful and gigantic monster, in which conception, though he might have been assisted by the DisCORD of Homer, yet his figure is admirably designed to impress terror. She has innumerable tongues, mouths, eyes and ears; the sound of her wings is heard at the dead of night, as she flies through the middle of the air:

* Ver. 446.

Nocte

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