simplicity, chastity and propriety of his style, in his exquisite responsiveness to all that appeals to the senses and the emotions, in his ardent and abounding vitality. But, in his enthusiasm for nature, in the intensity of his domestic affections, and in his occasional touches of moral earnestness--and we have seldom to go far for them--he was Roman. His sketches from nature are delightful. What could be more perfect than the following? Has even Tennyson equalled it?-- Hic, qualis flatu placidum mare matutino Horrificans Zephyrus proclivas incitat undas, Aurorâ exoriente, vagi sub lumina solis; Quæ tarde primum clementi flamine pulsæ Procedunt, leviterque sonant plangore cachinni: Post, vento crescente, magis magis increbescunt, Purpureâque procul nantes a luce refulgent. “As in early morning when Zephyr’s breath, ruffling the stilly sea, stirs it into slanting waves up against the glow of the travelling sun; and at first, while the impelling breeze is gentle, they move in slow procession, and the plash of their ripples is not loud; but then, as the breeze freshens, they crowd faster and faster on, and far out at sea, as they float, flash back the splendour of the crimsoning day in their front.” Or, again, in the epistle to Manlius-- Qualis in aerii _pellucens_ vertice montis Rivus _muscoso prosilit e lapide_. How vivid is the picture of the rising sun and of early morning in the Attis, 39-41. Ubi oris aurei sol radiantibus oculis Lustravit æthera album, sola dura, mare ferum, Pepulitque noctis umbras vegetis sonipedibus. In his “Asian Myrtle, in all the beauty of its blossom-laden branches, which the Wood-Nymphs feed with honey dew to be their toy:”-- Floridis velut enitens Myrtus Asia ramulis, Quos Hamadryades Deæ Ludicrum sibi roscido Nutriunt humore.-- --who does not recognise Matthew Arnold’s “natural magic”? Flowers he loved, as Shakespeare loved them. What tenderness there is in the image of the love that perished-- Prati Ultimi flos, prætereunte postquam Tactus aratro est, (xi. 19-21.) --in the beautiful simile, so often imitated in every language in Europe, where the unmarried maiden is compared to the uncropped flower, lxii., 39-45; or where in the Alba parthenice, Luteumve papaver, (lxi. 194-5.) he sees the symbol of maidenhood; or where Ariadne is compared to the myrtles on the banks of the Eurotas, and to the “flowers of diverse hues which the spring breezes evoke”; and, again, the exquisite simile picturing the husband’s love binding fast the bride’s thoughts, as a tree is entwined in the clinging clasp of the gadding ivy-- Mentem amore revinciens, Ut tenax hedera huc et huc Arborem implicat errans. Then we have the garland of Priapus with its felicitous epithets (xix., xx.). It may be said of Catullus as Shelley said of his Alastor--