interest. Our greatest poet of modern days felt constrained
to say,
I twine
My hopes of being remember'd in my line
With my land's language;
and in such aspirations may the Duke de Rivas indulge in the retrospect of his past labours to ensure for him a like future remembrance.
Passing by the poems written under the influence of an adhesion to the rules of the classical school, we find the poem of the f Moro Esposito/ or 'Cordova and Burgos in the fifteenth century,’ well-deserving of being classed with the poetical romances of Sir Walter Scott, on the model of which it was written. The subject is the History of the Seven Infantes of Lara, made known to the English reader by Southey and Lockhart, and it contains many passages of extraordinary merit, though severe criticism would point out many faults. "To make felt," says his biographer, "or to record all the beauties of this book, a book as large would be necessary, and they may well compensate for the defects, notwithstanding that at times those same beauties make us see at what small cost the author might have sent forth his work more finished." As in every-day life, he has joined in his narration scenes of the most opposite character, the most magnificent descriptions with what is most ludicrous, and the tenderest with what is oppressing to sensibility. The passages referring to his native city of Cordova are peculiarly beautiful, and show the feelings of the exile, as they lean to his country, in all ages and under all circumstances,—to "sweet Argos" or sacred Athens—
γενοίμαν,
ίν’ ύλάεν έπεστι πόντον
πρόβλημ’ άλίκλυστον, άκραν
ύπό πλάκα Σουνίου,
τάς ίεράς όπως προσεί–
ποιμ’ άν Άθάνας.
