The flame paft gleaming with a bluish glare, Mr. BERESFORD's Translation. Again I rush to arms, and crave to die, What counfels or what fortunes now were left? Was it for this, O mother ever blefs'd! Thou hurriedft them through hottile darts and fires Lo! in the threshold planted, crouch'd my wife, "Flict thou to death? fnatch us with thee thro' all; But if in arms experience bids repofe Yet further hope, then firft protect thy home. O fay, to whom lulus thy fweet boy, To whom thy fire-and the once call'd thy wife, Thus the cries, While all the roof with lamentation rang: We We, panic feiz'd, began to quake with dread, The glittering track gives light, and wide and far We shall next quote the description of the ftorm in the third book. (192-206.) Mr. PITT's Verfion. "Now yanish'd from our eyes the leffening ground; Charg'd with big ftorms, frown'd dreadful o'er the flood, So black with ftorms, diftinguifh'd night from day; Mr. BERESFORD's Tranflation. When now our fhips had reach'd the main, and land On al! fides water, a grofs, leaden, cloud, Low stoop'd its burthen. Darkness, brooding broad, } } } Cloth'd Cloth'd the great deep in horror. Growing winds Op'ning to roll their fumes.' We fhall finish our quotations with that most pathetic paffage, in which the poet relates the dreadful omens that preceded the death of the unfortunate Queen of Carthage. (Lib. iv. 453-472.) Mr. PITT'S Verfion. "While to the Gods fhe pour'd the wine, fhe view'd This horrid omen to herfelf reveal'd, Ev'n from her filter's ears he kept conceal'd; Perch'd on the roof the bird of night complains, Mr. Mr. BERESFORD's Tranflation. She fees, while spreading forth Grow black, chang'd as they pour to blood obfcene. Not to her filter's self, the Queen reveals. In veneration high fhe held, and hung With fnowy fleeces round, and feftal wreaths. Forth utter'd hence, what time night holds the world To fwell, and calling accents of her lord; To moan with funeral voice, and long-drawn screams And many a firain, befide, of augurs old Upon the tragic scene infuriate fly His mother, with black fnakes and torches arm'd, From thefe fpecimens of Mr. Beresford's poetical talents, we apprehend that fome readers will be inclined to rank him with thofe tranflators whofe works are compared, by Don Quixote, to the wrong fide of a piece of tapestry; or, to use Dryden's expreffion, his tranflation may be faid to bear the fame resemblance to Virgil which a human skeleton does to a human form in the vigour of health, and in the bloom of beauty. On the particularities of his verfification we shall not enlarge, only remarking that the fenfe is often perplexed, that many of the words are ill-chofen, and ill-arranged, and that the numbers are generally rugged and uncouth. We cannot difmifs this work without observing that it is no light offence to degrade fuch a poet as Virgil by a feeble translation. It is not impoffible that fuch a publication may fall into the hands of perfons who are not intimately converfant with the beauties of Virgil's language, and who may not be poffefled of any other tranflation; and what muft they think of the merit of this celebrated poet, fo highly extolled by the critics? To 4 Speak fpeak in the mildeft terms, -as tranflations of this fort have a tendency to leffen our respect for those authors whom we cannot too much admire, and whom it would be our glory to imitate with fuccefs, they must be deemed injurious not only to the fair fame of the great originals, but to the taste of the rifing generation. ART. II. The Trunfactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. V. 4to. pp. 498. 18s. Boards. Elmiley, London. 1794. TH 'HE objects purfued by this flourishing fociety continue to be ranged under the three grand claffes of SCIENCE, POLITE LITERATURE, and ANTIQUITIES. The first of these comprehends a variety of articles, which, for the fake of method, we fhall diftinguish into Meteorological, Geological, Agricultural, Chemical, Aitiological, and Mifcellaneous. SCIENCE. Meteorology. On this curious fubject, four papers are furnished by that accurate and laborious philofopher, Richard Kirwan, Efq. LL. D. F. R. S. and M. R. 1. A.' 1. A comparative view of meteorological obfervations made in Ireland fince the year 1788; with fome hints towards forming prognoftics of the weather.-The winter of 1788-1789 was intenfely cold over a large portion of the globe, and was even the moft fevere in the fouthern parts of Europe; a fact which induces Dr. Kirwan to fuppole the easterly winds that produced it to have proceeded from Tartary and the confines of Siberia. Diftinguishing the feafons by the general modifications of wet, dry, hot, and cold, the following probabilities are here inferred from the perufal of a multitude of obfervations, made in England, between the years 1677 and 1789: · ift. That when there has been no ftorm before or after the vernal equinox, the enfuing fummer is generally dry, at least five times in fix. 2d. That when a florm happens from any easterly point either on the 19th, 20th, or 21ft of March, the fucceeding fummer is generally dry, four times in five. 3d. That when a ftorm arifes on the 25th, 26th, or 27th of March, and not before, in any point, the fucceeding fummer is generally dry, four times in five. 4th. If there be a storm at S. W. or W. S. W. on the 19th, 20th, or 22d, the fucceeding fummer is generally wet, five times in fix.' With regard to the quantities of rain that fall annually or monthly in Ireland, Dr. K. could procure no account except the vague and popular eftimations of Dr. Rutty, who kept a journal of the weather at Dublin from the year 1725 to the year 1765 inclufively. During that period there were 6 wet Springs, |