HERO AND LEANDER.

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Nearly every device suited to such a tale is exemplified to the full. The extravagance of the passion is redeemed by the devotedness of the pair, and their speedy destruction; while the language is throughout equal to the occasion. There is all the seriousness of Sappho, notwithstanding the profuse decoration growing out of the long-continued cultivation of poetic style.

The descriptive art embraces personal beauty, with the addition of reciprocal attachment; and the intensity of the lovers' own feelings, heightened by the sympathy of beholders. There is no additional excellence of character depicted, such as to give securities for the permanence of their mutual flame; this did not enter into the early romance of love. At the same time, the sacredness of the marriage bond is respected, although the lovers take the law into their own hands.

Marlowe has improved upon the poem in the ways suited to his own genius. His description of Hero's beauty is more elaborately minute; every item of her dress being turned to account. The temple of Venus, where Leander was love-smitten, is also described with gorgeous and suggestive minuteness, so as to harmonize with the great occasion: this is omitted in the original. The dialogue of the courtship is re-shaped, while proceeding in the same lines as in Musæus.

The transition to modern literature brought certain changes of view which altered the forms of erotic delineation, while there was still a very large infusion of the classical elements. The influence of the Christian religion was opposed to the laxity of manners in the Pagan world; and the age of chivalry and knight errantry effected a compromise or union of the two greatest sources of human interest-war and love. The knight-errant, moved by devotion to some fair one, went out on a series of adventures to rescue the oppressed and assist the weak, having at the same time the pleasure of slaying or discomfiting his foes. Chivalry established the lofty ideal of gentleness, purity or chastity, truth, and protectorship. The literature of Provence gave birth to the troubadours, who were pre-eminently the poets of love. The trouvères, whose subjects were more various, were animated by the chivalrous spirit. Subsequent French literature contributed to the erotic theme.

The great poets that made the earliest literary fame of Italy, were all more or less inspired by the love sentiment, and gave it embodiment-Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. The age of the Renaissance culminated in Ariosto and Tasso.

In England, Chaucer, after studying French and Italian models, developed his own peculiar style, and gave inimitable examples of erotic treatment. Spenser worked the theme in a more idealized and elevated form; takign full advantage of both aspects of chivalry,-the malign pleasure of routing enemies, and the devotion of love and protectorship.

Shakespeare makes plentiful use of the love passion as an ingredient in his plots; but has not many plays turning wholly upon it: and therefore does not often tax his genius to represent its highest fury.

The garden scene in Romeo and Juliet has abundance of intensity in his best manner. At the outset, Romeo bursts forth in hyperbolical references to the rising sun, with a number of other celestial comparisons, all very grand in themselves, but not specially adapted to suggest or to support tender feeling.

Juliet appears :—

It is my lady; O, it is my love;

O, that she knew she were !

She speaks, yet she says nothing: what of that?

He then falls into a hyperbolical strain on her beauty, still making large use of the heavens and the stars; and ending with the wish to be a glove on her hand to touch her cheek. An exclamation drops from her—' Ah me!' He opens out again with his celestial imagery, and composes by means of it a splendid eulogium on her beauty.

She speaks again, still unaware that he is listening :

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

She is bent on business; her mind is occupied with the fatal feud between the families :

"Tis but thy name that is my enemy;-
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

ROMEO AND JULIET.

What's in a name? that which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes,
Without that title.

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She then plays upon the topic of the name, but without becoming needlessly fantastical:

Romeo, doff thy name;

And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Her mind is made up; and her love-making consists in emphatically saying so. Romeo discovers himself, and gives a new turn to both their thoughts. After mutual recognition, Juliet again recurs to the peril of their situation, while Romeo is high-vaunting and sanguine.

Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye

Than twenty of their swords; look then but sweet
And I am proof against their enmity.

And again, with his usual hyperboles :

I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far

As that vast shore wash'd with the furthest sea,
I would adventure for such merchandise.

Then comes Juliet's clenching speech :

But farewell compliment!
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say-Ay;
And I will take thy word; yet, if thou swear'st,
Thou may'st prove false; at lovers' perjuries,
They say, Jove laughs. O, gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully:
Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won,
I'll frown, and be perverse, and say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo; but, else, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond;
And therefore thou may'st think my haviour light :
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
But that thou over-heard'st, ere I was ware,
My true love's passion: therefore pardon me;
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.

The whole speech bears the stamp of sincerity and depth of feeling; there are no far fetched plays of fancy; all is direct, strong and plainly-worded. Nevertheless, Romeo does not follow suit; he is back at his celestial similes :—

Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear

That tips with silver all the fruit-tree tops.

Juliet checks him, and retorts the changeableness of his favourite moon. She further advises him against swearing; but, if he must, then to swear by himself-

Which is the god of my idolatry

She now falls back upon the seriousness of the situa

tion :

Although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract to-night;
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden.

She

This is direct enough; but she too must now indulge in
similes, although not with Romeo's expansiveness.
very soon reverts to business :—

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,
Ere one can say-It lightens.

The simile is not so apt as to be inevitable or irresistible :
it is simply the poet's necessity of providing figurative
material. The same may be said of her next comparison :-
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.

She now drops the search for figures, and is more successful when using plain and homely language, in keeping with her state:

Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart, as that within my breast.

This is the language, of feeling, and yet not either original or far-fetched.

The two still continue the parley, and Juliet again reiterates her affection, by the help of new hyperbolical comparisons:

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep: the more I give to thee
The more I have, for both are infinite.

This is too close an imitation of Romeo, and is by no means impressive or convincing. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the genuine ring of emotion accompanies her speeches far more than her lover's.

Our great poets, with few exceptions, have cultivated

EROTIC EXAMPLES-ANACREON.

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the same field: while the creation of prose romance has bestowed upon it an ever-increasing expansion.

The literature of every civilized or half-civilized nation has embraced the arts and circumstances of love-making, and certain recurring devices may be traced throughout; while the degree of perfection attained necessarily varies with the genius of each people. Arabia, Persia, India, China, Japan, afford contributions to display the passion alike in its happy and its unhappy issues.

The most characteristic form of erotic composition is the growth of the sexual passion in its first outburst of youthful intensity; the consummation being the marriage union. But although this consummation quenches the flame of ungratified desire, it still admits of a high order of amatory feeling; and this too receives the occasional attention of the poet. It appears both in the Iliad and in the Odyssey; but was not often celebrated in the ancient world.

The remaining illustrations will be chiefly cast into a systematic array, with a view of indicating the causes leading to success or to failure in this great emotional quality.

The authors of the Anacreontic Odes had before them the whole compass of classic poetry, Greek and Roman. For an example of personal description we can refer to the companion Odes, 16 and 17, the one on feminine, and the other on masculine beauty. The whole of Anacreon has been translated by Moore, with considerable variations to suit his own ideas of effect. We shall quote a portion of the translation of Ode 16; and a comparison with the original will be further illustrative of the arts of personal description.

The method of proceeding, from the hair downwards in order, shows a desire to present a suggestive and cohering picture of the highest beauty. The figurative accompaniments add to the impression without destroying the continuity of the impression.

Paint her jetty ringlets straying,
Silky twine in tendrils playing:
And if painting hath the skill
To make the spicy balm distil,
Let every little lock exhale
A sigh of perfume on the gale.