SATIATE harpies! foul detested band!
Scourge of justice on a sinful land,
righteous punishment by Heaven assign'd
Italy, with tenfold error blind!
ere harmless infants, tender mothers die
h meagre want; for while a vain supply
day prepares, they see their destin'd food
nce devour'd by this infernal brood.
hance betide who first unclos'd the cave,
ich years had shut) and thus a passage gave
nce gluttony and all uncleanness spread
Italy their venom'd bane have shed.

1. Insatiate harpies !---] In general the Italian commentators the harpies to signify Avarice. Others may imagine, and ome reason, that the poet rather means to satyrize the vice touy, which perhaps might be prevalent in his age. Fornari f which opinion is likewise Sir John Harington, that Ariosto

the soldiers of the anamu whose avarice and

Fair Virtue then was banish'd from mankind,
And peace and temp'rance from the world disjoin'd;
Whence pain, and poverty, and impious strife
Ilave vex'd, and long shall vex the sweets of life,
Till time shall come, when thus with 'wakening cries
Our country bids her sons from Lethe rise.

"Is there not one that dares the worth unfold

"Which Calaïs and Zetes show'd of old;

15

20

"To many a house his saving hand afford,

66 And free from filth and spoil the genial board; "As those could help to aged Phineas bring,

"And since Astolpho to the Nubian king?"

With dreadful sound the Paladin had chas'd

25

The brutal harpies through th' aërial waste,

Till at a mountain's foot his flight he stay'd,
Where in a gaping cavern's fearful shade

The monsters enter'd---Hence with wondering ears
Laments and groans the listening warrior hears,
That reach'd through winding vaults the upper air;
Sure sign of Hell and endless torments there.

Astolpho now resolves t' explore the way,
And visit beings lost to cheerful day,
To earth's deep centre undismay'd to go,
And search the secrets of the world below.
Why should I doubt to enter here (he cries)
When such defence my trusty horn supplies,

30

35

Ver. 20.---Calais and Zetes--] Feigned by the poets to have been sons of the wind Boreas and Orithya, daughter of king Eritheus; they were born with wings and drove the harpies from the table

Whose sound can Pluto's self and Satan quell,
And from his post the three-mouth'd dog repel?

40

He said; and lighting from his seat with speed,
Ty'd to a neighbouring tree his feather'd steed,
Then grasp'd his horn, his every hope and aid,
And fearless plung'd amid the murky shade.
Ere far he reach'd, thick wreaths of noisome smoke 45
And steams of sulphur on his senses broke:

His sight and smell the stifling fumes confess'd,
Yet onward still th' embolden'd hero press'd;
But as he press'd, the darkness deeper spread,
And grosser vapours noxious poison shed.
When, lo! as if suspended from above,

He sees an object, scarce distinguish'd, move,
Move, as by winds some wretched corse is blown,
Long time expos'd to rains and parching sun;

So faint the straggling beams of wandering light
In these dire realms of smoke and dreary night.
In vain the duke explores with heedful care
What mocks his eyes, and seems to flit in air:
Then from the sheath his shining sword he drew,
And thrice he struck, when soon the warrior knew

39

50

55

60

Ver. 39. Pluto, Satan, and Cerberus,---] In like manner Tasso blends the Heathen fables with the Christian doctrines. See Jeru salem Delivered, Book iv. Spenser, in a description of Hell according to the Heathen mythology, after the mention of Tantalus, introduces the soul of Pilate washing his hands in the infernal river. He look'd a little further and espy'd

Another wretch, whose carcass deep was drent
Within the river.........

The knight him calling, asked who he was,

Who lifting up his head him answer'd thus:

I Pilate am, the falsest judge, alas! &c.

Fairy Queen, B. ii. C. 7. st. 61.

The seeming image but an empty shade,
That like a cloud deceiv'd his mortal blade.
Then thus he heard a female voice complain:
Ah! come not here to work me further pain!
Suffice this smoke torments my wretched ghost,
This smoke that rises from the burning coast.

The duke, with terror seiz'd, his step repress'd,
And in these words the hapless shade address'd:
So may high Heaven these stifling fumes repel,
As thou shalt deign thy mournful state to tell;

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70

Thy tidings to our living world I bear,

If this can aught avail to soothe thy care.

The ghost reply'd---To visit but in name

The cheerful realms of light from which I came,

So grateful seems, that gladly I disclose,

75

For such reward, the story of my woes;

Else should I now with lips unwilling tell

My name, and earthly state from which I fell.
Once was I Lydia call'd, of royal strain,
(Whose sire o'er Lydia held his wide domain)
By God's eternal judgment here expos'd

80

To endless pains, with poisonous smoke enclos'd;
Who, while alive, such scorn and hatred show'd

To one, whose heart with love's affection glow'd.
Unnumber'd others fill this dreary gloom,
Whom to like penance like offences doom.

Here cruel Anaxarete in woe,

Ver. 87.---Anaxarete---]

85

Anaxarete was a beautiful damsel of Cyprus, beloved by Iphis, a native of the same place, who, in deŠportion at not being able to move her to return his passion, was

Encompass'd round with denser fumes below
Is deeper plac'd; on earth her body turns

To harden'd stone, while here her spirit mourns;
Unfeeling maid! who view'd in shameful death
Her pendant lover yield his wretched breath,
Daphne is here, who now regrets the pace
That held Apollo once so long in chace.
'Twere hard to tell th' unbodied female train
That here for black ingratitude remain;

Or speak the crimes of every dame or maid,
Where countless numbers fill the mournful shade;
But harder still each man ingrate to name,

Whose deeds on earth here equal vengeance claim, 100
Where each in death severer judgment mourns,
The vapour smokes him, and the furnace burns.
Since dames are form'd more easy to believe,
Man merits heavier pains who shall deceive
Their weaker sex-this Jason has confest,
This Theseus finds, and he *, the wandering guest,
Whose arms the Latian's ancient realm oppress'd.

* Æneas.

105

Ver. 93. Daphne is here,] Nothing can be wilder than this idea of Ariosto, who in a region of future punishment upon a Christian system, places Daphne for running away from Apollo.

Ver. 106.-he, the wandering guest,] I know not what the defenders of Eneas will say to Ariosto, for placing their hero in such company; but, upon the whole, I believe the ladies will not think themselves the less obliged to him. Surely, let every one frankly confess his feelings on the impartial perusal of the Eneid, and he will not declare his heart strongly affected in favour of a character, which it is supposed was meant by Virgil for a model of perfection. Who does not revolt at the great incident of the ivth book, and at the other incidents in the latter part of the poem, where a foreign prince comes to separate two lovers, apparently plighted to each other, and for whom I will venture to affirm, that every reader of