To come down to the mechanism of the verse," she
continued, "besides a false rhyme or two, the measure halts a
little.--But we must not forget that the river-god is taking a
poetical stroll in the shackles of a foreign tongue. In this case we
have good assurance that the poet has never been out of his own
country, and to the _eye_ of a foreigner 'flood' and 'wood' and 'home'
and 'come' are perfect rhymes. We must deal gently with the poet while
'trying his 'prentice hand,' hoping better things when he shall
'become an artist true;' and when we remember that to the national
taste sublimity is represented by bombast, artifice takes the place of
nature, and sense is sacrificed to sound, the love of the _ore
rotundo_ demanding mouth-filling words at any price, we cannot fail to
discover the genuine Spanish beauties of the piece. I only wonder that
in his chronological picture of the races he should omit to display
the Phoenician, Jewish and Gipsy maidens to our admiring eyes."
"Heyday!" exclaimed Colonel Bradshawe, who now came in with Major
Warren, while she was still standing in the middle of the floor, with
the paper raised in her hand, "Is this a rehearsal? Are we to have
private theatricals, with Lady Mabel for first and sole actress? With
songs interspersed for her as _prima donna_? Pray let me come in as
one of the _dramatis personae_.
Pages:
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359