Felicia Hemans

“ The head that sinks, with mortal pain opprest!
And thou, assistance lend
To close the languid eye,
Still beautiful, in life's last agony.
Alas! how long a strife!
What anguish struggles in the parting breath,
Ere yet immortal life
Be won by death!
Death! death! thy work complete!
Let thy sad hour be fleet,
Speed, in thy mercy, the releasing sigh!
No more keen pangs impart
To her, the high in heart,
Th' ador'd Alcestis, worthy ne'er to die.
Chorus of Admetus.
'Tis not enough, oh! no!
To hide the scene of anguish from his eyes ”

“ It is not, perhaps, now, the time to plead, with any effect, the cause of Italy; yet cannot we consider that nation as altogether degraded, whose literature, from the dawn of its majestic immortality, has been consecrated to the nurture of every generous principle and ennobling recollection; and whose "choice and master-spirits," under the most adverse circumstances, have kept alive a flame, which may well be considered as imperishable, since the "ten thousand tyrants" of the land have failed to quench its brightness. ”

“ Scene II—The House of Carmagnola.
Antonietta, Matilda.
Mat. The hours fly fast, the morn is ris'n, and yet
My father comes not!
Ant. Ah! thou hast not learn'd
By sad experience, with how slow a pace
Joys ever come; expected long, and oft
Deceiving expectation! while the steps
Of grief o'ertake us, ere we dream them nigh.
But night is pass'd, the long and lingering hours
Of hope deferr'd are o'er, and those of bliss
Must soon succeed. A few short moments more,
And he is with us. ”

“ ITALIAN LITERATURE.
MONTI.
(From Sismondi's Litterature du Midi.)
Vincenzio Monti, a native of Ferrara, is acknowledged, by the unanimous consent of the Italians, as the greatest of their living Poets. Irritable, impassioned, variable to excess, he is always actuated by the impulse of the moment. Whatever he feels is felt with the most enthusiastic vehemence. He sees the objects of his thoughts, they are present and clothed with life before him, and a flexible and harmonious language is always at his command, to paint them with the richest colouring. ”

“ Caius. And what of this?
There is no power in Fortune to deprive
Gracchus of Gracchus. Mine is such a heart,
As meets the storm exultingly; a heart
Whose stern delight it is to strive with fate,
And conquer. Trust me, Fate is terrible,
But because man is vile. ”

“ To grave in adamant the just decree.
That I must die. But thou, I bid thee live!
Pheres commands thee, O Alcestis! live!
Ne'er, ne'er shall woman's youthful love surpass
An aged sire's devotedness. ”

“ Oh! that more strength, or fewer charms were thine,
That those might fear thee more, or love thee less,
Who seem to worship at thy Beauty's shrine,
Then leave thee to the death-pang's bitterness! ”

“ Persuaded that poetry is only another species of painting, he makes the art of the poet consist in rendering apparent to the eyes of all, the pictures created by his imagination for himself, and he permits not a verse to escape him which does not contain an image. Deeply impressed by the study of Dante, he has restored to the character of Italian poetry those severe and exalted beauties by which it was distinguished at its birth ”

“ The character of Alcestis herself, with all its lofty fortitude, heroic affection, and subdued anguish, powerfully recalls to our imagination the calm and tempered majesty distinguishing the masterpieces of Greek sculpture, in which the expression of mental or bodily suffering is never allowed to transgress the limits of beauty and sublimity. ”

“ Carmagnola is consulted by the Doge on the terms of peace offer ed by the Duke of Milan. His advice is received with disdain, and after various insults, he is accused of treason. His astonishment and indignation at this unexpected charge are expressed with all the warmth and simplicity of innocence.
Car. A traitor! I!—that name of infamy
Reaches not me. Let him the title bear,
Who best deserves such meed—it is not mine.
Call me a dupe, and I may well submit,
For such my part is here; yet would I not
Exchange that name, for 'tis the worthiest still. ”

“ The strains in which their high-toned feelings on this subject are recorded, produce on our minds the same effect with the song of the imprisoned bird, whose melody is fraught, in our imagination, with recollections of the green woodland, the free air, and unbounded sky. We soon grow weary of the perpetual violets and zephyrs, whose cloying sweetness pervades the sonnets and canzoni of the minor Italian Poets, till we are ready to "die in aromatic pain;" ”

“ Phe. In thy looks
There is expression, more than in thy words,
Which thrills my shuddering heart. Declare, what terms
Can render fatal to thyself and us,
The rescued life of him thy soul adores? ”

“ The powerful character of the high-hearted Cornelia, with all the calm, collected majesty which our ideas are wont to associate with the name of a Roman matron; and the depth and sublimity of maternal affection more particularly belonging to the mother of the Gracchi, are beautifully contrasted with the softer and more womanish feelings, the intense anxieties, the sensitive and passionate attachment, embodied in the person of Licinia, the wife of Gracchus. ”

“ Though yet heaven's vengeance spare his haughty crest,
Well hath it mark'd him—and decreed the hour,
When his last sigh shall own the terror of its power.
Are we not creatures of one hand divine? ”

“ Whose life, so long a bright, triumphal day,
O'er Tyber's wave supreme in glory shone!
Thou, stranger! if from barbarous climes thy birth,
Look round exultingly, and bless the earth,
Where Rome, with him, saw Power and Virtue die! ”

“ And serpent-scourges in their restless hands
Are wildly shaken; others lift on high
The steel, th' envenom'd bowl; and hurrying by,
With touch of fire, contagious fury dart
Through human veins, fast kindling to the heart. ”

“ One is Wrath,
Fir'd by my Country's wrongs; and one deep Love,
For those, my bosom's inmates; and the third—
Vengeance, fierce Vengeance, for a brother's blood!
His soliloquy is interrupted by the entrance of Fulvius, his friend, with whose profligate character, and unprincipled designs, he is represented as unacquainted. From the opening speech made by Fulvius (before he is aware of the presence of Caius) to the slave by whom he is attended, it appears that he is just returned from the perpetration of some crime, the nature of which is not disclosed until the second act. ”

“ The appeals made by Gracchus to the people are full of majestic eloquence, and the whole piece seems to be animated by that restless and untameable spirit of freedom, whose immortalized struggles for ascendancy give so vivid a colouring, so exalted an interest, to the annals of the ancient republics.
The tragedy opens with the soliloquy of Caius Gracchus, who is returned in secret to Rome, after having been employed in rebuilding Carthage, which Scipio had utterly demolished. ”

“ Thus hath Apollo said—Alcestis thus
Confirms the oracle—be thou secure.
Phe. O sounds of joy! He lives!
Alc. But not for this,
Think not that e'en for this the stranger Joy
Shall yet revisit these devoted walls.
Phe. Can there be grief when from his bed of death
Admetus rises? What deep mystery lurks
Within thy words? What mean'st thou? Gracious Heaven! ”

“ In many other poets this defect might pass unobserved; but circumstances have thrown the fullest light upon the versatility of Monti, and his glory, as a poet, is attached to works which display him in continual opposition to himself. Writing in the midst of the various Italian revolutions, he has constantly chosen political subjects for his compositions, and he has successively celebrated opposite parties, in proportion to their success. ”

“ After various debates, Malatesti resolves to attack the enemy. The fourth and fifth scenes of the second act represent the tent of the Count in the Venetian camp, and his preparations for battle. And here a magnificent piece of lyric poetry is introduced, in which the battle is described, and its fatal effects lamented, with all the feeling of a patriot and a Christian. It appears to us, however, that this ode, hymn, or chorus, as the author has entitled it, striking as its effect may be in a separate recitation, produces a much less powerful impression in the situation it occupies at present. ”

“ Of twilight fall, on one deep thought I dwell:
Day beams o'er other lands, if here she fades,
Nor bids the Universe at once farewell.
But thou, I cry, my Country! what a night
Spreads o'er thy glories one dark sweeping pall! ”

“ Scarce of her form a vestige dost thou wear;
She was a Queen with glory mantled;—Thou,
A slave, degraded, and compell'd to bear.
Chains gird thy hands and feet; deep clouds of care
Darken thy brow, once radiant as thy skies ”

“ Is spread before us. Now 'tis yours to speak,
Mine to defend my cause; declare ye then
My treasons!
Doge. By the secret college soon
All shall be told thee.
Car. I appeal not there.
What I have done for you, hath all been done
In the bright noon-day, and its tale shall not
Be told in darkness. Of a warrior's deeds
Warriors alone should judge; and such I chuse
To be mine arbiters; my proud defence
Shall not be made in secret. All shall hear.
Doge. The time for choice is past.
Car. What! is there force
Employ'd against me?—Guards! (raising his voice. )
Doge. ”

“ Shakespeare alone, without compromising the dignity of his Romans, has disencumbered them of the formal scholastic drapery which seems to be their official garb, and has stamped their features with the general attributes of human nature, without effacing the impress which distinguished "the men of iron" from the nations who "stood still before them." ”

“ In the second act, the death of Emilianus is announced to Opimius, the consul, in the presence of Gracchus, and the intelligence is accompanied by a rumour of his having perished by assassination. The mysterious expressions of Fulvius, and the accusations of Cornelia, immediately recur to the mind of Caius. The following scene, in which his vehement emotions, and high sense of honour, are well contrasted with the cold-blooded sophistry of Fulvius, is powerfully wrought up.
Caius. Back on my thoughts the words of Fulvius rush,
Like darts of fire. All hell is in my heart! ”

“ Startle the next! one peril broods o'er all.
It nought avails that Italy should plead,
Forgetting valour, sinking in despair,
At strangers' feet!—our land is all too fair,
Nor tears, nor prayers, can check ambition's speed. ”

“ An angel conducts Basville through the suffering world, and this faithful guide, who consoles and supports the spectator-hero of the poem, acts precisely the same part which is performed by Virgil in Dante. Basville himself thinks, feels, and suffers, exactly as Dante would have done. Monti has not preserved any traces of his revolutionary character; he describes him as feeling more pity than remorse, and he seems to forget, in thus identifying himself with his hero, that he has at first represented Basville, and perhaps without foundation, as an infidel, and a ferocious revolutionist. ”

“ The following scene, in which Alcestis announces to Pheres, the father of Admetus, the terms upon which the oracle of Delphos has declared that his son may be restored, has seldom been surpassed by the author, even in his most celebrated productions. It is, however, to be feared that little of its beauty can be transfused into translation, as the severity of a style so completely devoid of imagery must render it dependent for many incommunicable attractions upon the melody of the original language. ”

“ Let us suppose, in his justification, that he composes as an improvisatore, and that, his feelings, becoming highly excited by the given theme, he seizes the political ideas it suggests, however foreign they may be to his individual sentiments.* [1] In these political poems, the object and purport of which are so different, the invention and manner are, perhaps, but too similar. The Basvigliana, or Poem on the Death of Basville, is the most celebrated; but, since its appearance, it has been discovered that Monti, who always imitated Dante, has now also very frequently imitated himself. ”

“ The joy and emotion of Gracchus, on this meeting with his family, may appear somewhat inconsistent with his having remained so long engaged in political discussion, on the threshold of their abode, without ever having made an inquiry alter their welfare; but it would be somewhat unreasonable to try the conduct of a Roman (particularly in a tragedy) by the laws of Nature. ”

“ Bound by the hair, pale, humbled, and o'ercome,—
I see her now, dismantled of her state,
Spoil'd of her sceptre; crouching to the ground
Beneath a hostile car, and lo! the weight
Of fetters, her imperial neck around! ”