row, and the real difcrimination of every fpecies of intelligence. Mr Champion further obferves, that The miles of Ferdofi are pleniffima nectaris-his invention [is] lively and vigorous. When we confider the aftonishing length of the production, and the conftant flame that animates the whole, preferving an equal blaze, leaves the mind of a common reader in aftonishment, and leads the poetical genius through unknown regions of the imagination. The reflections of Ferdofi are apimated and moral; the verfifications fmooth and polifhed; a quality, tho' poffeffed in general by the Perfian poets, is heightened by the poefis divina vis, and gives that beauty to the range of enchantment which at once feizes on the avenues of the heart; nor can the judgment, in its coolest moment, cenfure the exuberance. The annals of the Perfian kings and heroes would have been cold and infipid, and only would have been perufed as they might have related to historical facts. Ferdof, piercing through the bounds of nature, created new worlds, and making them fubfervient to his plan, regulated his own fphere with fuch fuperior ability and fanciful fyftem, that the conduct of his poems appears in the natural order of that imaginary creation dignified by himself; they may not bear the touchstone of truth; but the fables of the eaft admitted them. There are no fatiguing digreffions. Every fucceeding poet has copied Homer. Ferdofi followed or imitated none, his genius was above all tranflation, the invention was his own. The ftory, a recital of actions that happened, in a certain degree embellished by fable: Afiatic fplendour favoured the magnificent defcriptions.' Such is the account that Mr Champion has given of the Shah Namel and its author; it is curious, and, no doubt, exhibits the fentiments of the Perfians refpecting their favourite bard; but we would caution the Englifh reader against railing his expecta tions to a high degree. When we compared Ferdofi with Homer, we did not mean to intimate that the poem of the former was ftrictly epic. The Shah Nameh muft not be tried by the rules of Ariftotle. It does not relate a complete action, which has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and which is enlivened by a mufing epifodes; but it is, as we have already hinted, a series of historical poems, in which the author has taken the fame liberty with the Perfian hif tory, that Homer took with the account of the fiege of Troy. Angels, demons, and fairies, are affociated with the kings and warriors of Perfia, as gods and goddeffes are with the heroes of the Iliad.. The Shah Nameh may be thought heavy, as it has no unity of defign, and no general intereft; but it evinces the genius and perfeverance of Ferdofi, conveys information, and deferves attention, as a most celebrated fpecimen of Eafter poetry; though the very nature of the poem, and its great length, will prevent many from using it. Mr Champion mentions the difficulty of his undertaking, as an apo logy for its defects. To confiderable praife he is entitled, for fo new and arduous an attempt; and we hope he will be encouraged to perfevere, till he has tranflated the whole of thefe poems; and that his future labours may be more perfect than those which he has at prefent laid before the public*. • Monthly Review. Sir Gawen: was towards fun-fet when Sir Gawen, after having traverfed a very lone and unfrequented part, arrived at the edge of a thick and dark foreft; the fky was fuddenly overcaft, and it began to rain, the thunder rolled at a diftance, and fheets of livid lightning flashed a erofs the heath. Overcome with fatigue and hunger, he rode impatiently along the borders of the foreft, in hopes of difcovering an entrance, but none was to be found. At length, juft as he was about to difmount with an intention of breaking the fence, he difcerned, as he thought, fomething moving upon the heath, and, upon advancing towards it, it proved to be an old woman gathering peat, and who, overtaken by the ftorm, was hurrying home as faft as her infirm limbs could carry her. The fight of a human creature filled the heart of Sir Gawen with joy, and haftily riding up, he enquired how far he had deviated from the right road, and where he could procure a night's lodging? The old woman now flowly lifted up her palfied head, and discovered a set of features which could fcarcely be called human ; her eyes were,red, and glanced upon eve ry object but the perfon by whom the was addreffed, and, at intervals, they emitted a fiery difagreeable light; her hair, of a dirty grey, hung matted with filth in large maffes upon her fhoulders, and a few thin portions rushed abrupt and horizontally from the upper part of her forehead, which was much wrinkled, and of a parchment hue; her cheeks were hollow, withered, and red with a quantity of acrid rheum, her nofe was large, prominent and fharp, her lips thin, fkinny and livid, her few teeth black, and her chin long and peaked, with a number of bushy hairs depending from its extremity; her nails alfo were acute, crooked and bent over her fingers, and her garments ragged and fluttering in the wind, difplayed every poffible variety of colour. The knight was a little daunted, but the old woman having mentioned a dwelling at fome diftance, and offering to lead the way, the pleasure received from this piece of news effaced the form er impreffion, and getting from his horfe, he laid hold of the bridle, and they flow ly moved over the heath. The form had now ceafed, and the moon rifing gave prefage of a fine night, juft as the old woman, taking a fudden VOL. XII. No. 69. Dd Talé. turn, plunged into the wood by a path narrow, and almoft choaked up with a quantity of briar and thorn. The trees were thick, and fave a few glimpses of the moon which now and then poured light on the uncouth features of his companion, all was dark and difinal; the heart of Sir Gawen mitgave him; neither ipoke, and the knight pursued his guide merely by the noife the made in hurrying through the bushes, which was done with a celerity totally incon fiftent with her former decrepitude. At length the path grew wider, and a faint blue light, which came from a building at fome diftance, glimmered before them; they now left the wood and iffued upon a rocky and uneven piece of ground, the moon ftruggling through a cloud, caft a doubtful and uncertain light, and the old woman, with a leer. which made the very hair of Sir Gawen ftand on end, told him that the dwelling was at hand. It was fo, for a Gothic caftle, placed on a confiderable elevation, now came in view; it was a large maffy ftructure, much decayed, and fome parts of it in a totally ruinous condition; a portion, however, of the keep, or great tower, was flill entire, as was alfo the entrance to the court or enclosure, preserved probably by the ivy, whofe fibres crept round with folicitous care. Large fragments of the ruin were fcattered about, covered with mofs and half funk in the ground, and a number of old elm-trees, through whole foliage the wind fighed with a fullen and me lancholy found, dropped a deep and fettled gloom, that fearce permitted the moon to ftream by fits upon the building. Sir Gawen drew near, ardent.curiofity mingled with awe dilated his bofom, and he inwardly congratulated himself upon fo fingular an adventure, when turning round to queftion his com panion, a glimpse of the moon poured full upon his eye fo horrid a contexture of feature, fo wild and preternatural a combination, that, finote with terror and unable to move, a cold fweat trickled from every pore, and immediately this infernal being feizing him by the arm, and hurrying him over the draw-bridge to the great entrance of the keep, the portcullis fell with a tremendous found, and the knight starting as it were from a trance, drew his fword in act to destroy his treacherous guide, when inftantly a horrible horrible and infernal laugh burst from her, and in a moment the whole caftle was in an uproar, peal after peal iffuing from every quarter, till at length growing faint they died away, and a dead filence enfued. Sir Gawen, who, during this frange tumult, had collected all his fcattered powers, now looked round him with determined refolution; his terrible companion had difappeared, and the moon fhining full upon the portcullis convinced him that any efcape that way was impracticable; the wind fighed thro' the elns, the feared owl, uttering his 'difcordant note, broke from the ruftling .bough, and a dim twinkling light beamed from a loop hole near the fummit of the great tower. Sir Gawen entered the keep, having previously reafoned himfelf into a state of cool fortitude, and bent up every power to the appalfing enterprize. He extended his fword before him, for it was dark, and proceeded carefully to fearch around, in hopes either of difcovering fome aperture which might lead to the veftibule or ftaircafe, or of wreaking his vengeance on the wretch who had thus decoyed him. All was ftill as death, but as he ftrode over the floor, a dull, hollow found issued from beneath, and rendered him apprehenfive of falling through into fome difmal vault, from which he might never be able to extricate himself. In this fituation, dreading the effect of cach light footflep, a found, as of many people whispering, ftruck his ear, he bent forward, liftening with eager attention, and as it feemed to proceed from a little diftance before him, he determined to follow it: he did fo, and inftantly fell through the mouldering pavement, whilft at the fame time peals of horrid laughter burft with reiterated clamour from every chamber of the caftle. Sir Gawen rofe with confiderable difficulty, and much stunned with the fall, although fortunately the fpot he had dropped upon was covered with a quantity of damp and foft earth which gave way to his weight. He now found himfelf in a large vault, arched in the Gothic manner, and fupported by eight mafly pillars, down whofe fides the damp moisture ran in cold and heavy drops, the moon fhining with great luftre through three iron-grated windows, which, although rufty with age, were. ftrong enough to refift the efforts of Sir Gawen, who, after having in vain tried to force them, looked around for his Sword, which, during the fall, had ftarted from his grasp, and in searching the ground with his fingers, he laid hold of, and drew forth the fresh bones of an enormous fkeleton, yet greasy and moift from the decaying fibres; he trembled with horror; a cold wind brushed violently along the furface of the vault, and a ponderous iron door, flowly grating on its hinges, opened at one corner, and difclofed to the wandering eye of Sir Gawen a broken ftaircafe, down whofe fteps a blue and faint light ifhed by fits, like the lightning of a fummer's eve. Appalled by these dreadful prodigies, Sir Gawen felt, in fpite of all his refolution, a cold and death-like chill pervade his frame, and kneeling down, he prayed fervently to that power, without whofe mandate no being is let loofe upon another, and feel. ing himself more calm and refolved, he again began to fearch for his fword, when a moon-beam falling on the blade at once restored it to its owner. Sir Gawen having thus refumed his wonted fortitude and refolution, held a parley with himf If, and perceiving no other way by which he could escape, boldly relolved to brave all the terrors of the flair-cafe, and, once more recommending himself to his Maker, began to afcend. The light fill flafhed, enabling him to climb thofe parts which were broken or decayed. He had proceeded in this manner a confiderable way, mounting, as he fuppofed, to the fummit of the keep, when fuddenly a fhrill and agonizing fhriek iffued from the upper part of it, and fomething rudely brush ing down, grafped him with tremendous ftrength: in a moment he became motionlels, cold as ice, and felt himself hurried back by fome irrefiftible being; but juft as he reached the vault, a fpectre of fo dreadful a fhape flaiked by within it, that, ftraining every muscle, he fprang from the deadly grafp; the iron door rufhed in thunder upon its hinges, and a deep hollow groan refounded from beneath. No fooner had the door clofed, than yelling fereams, and founds which almoft fufpended the very pulfe of life, issued from the vault, as if a troop of hellish furies, with their chains untied, were dashing them in writhing frenzy, and howling to the uproar. Sir Gawen ftood petrified with horror, a ftony fear ran to his very heart, and difmayed every fenfe about him, he flared wide with his long locks upstanding fliffly, and the throbbing of his heart op pressed him. The tumult at length fub fiding, Sir Gawen recovered fome por- tion died away; the fearce diftinguished tion of ftrength, which he immediately form of fome terrific being floated flowmade ule of to convey himfelf as far as ly by, and again another dreadful groan poffible from the iron door, and prefent- ran deepning through the gloom. Sir ly reached his former elevation on the Gawen itood for fome time incapable of flair-cafe, which, after afcending a few motion, at length fummoning all his formore fleps, terminated in a winding titude, he advanced with his fword exgallery. The light which had hitherto tended to the darkest part of the room: flafhed inceffantly, now difappeared, and initantly burft forth in fierce irraditions he was left in almost total darkness, ex- a blue fulphureous fplendour, and the cept that now and then, the moon threw mangled body of a man diftorted with a few cool rays through fome broken the agony of death, his every fibre rack loop-holes, heightening the horror of the ed with convulfion, his beard and hair fcene. He dreaded going forward, and fiff and matted with blood, his mouth fearfully looked back it fome yelling open, and his eyes protruding from their fiend fhould again plunge him into the marble fockets, rushed on the fixed and vault. He flood fulpended with appre- maidenning ffs of Sir Gawen, whofe hendion: a mournful wind howled thro' heart had beat no more, had not a hife, the apartments of the caftle, and liften- as of ten thousand fiends, loud, horrible, ing, he thought he heard the iron door roused him from the dreadful feeneį grate upon its hinges; he started with he started, uttering a wild thriek, his terror, the fweat itood in big drops up- brain turned round, and running, he on his forehead, his knees finete each knew not whither, burft through the other, and he rushed forward with def- folding doors. Darkness again spread perate defpair, till having fuddenly turn- her fable pall over the unfortunate Sir ed a corner of the gallery, a taper, burn- Gawen, and he hurried along the naring with a faint light, gleamed through row palage with a feeble and a faula narrow dark paffage: Sir Gawen ap- tering step. His intellect hook, and, oproached the light; it came from an verwhelmed with the late appalling obextenfive room, the folding doors of jects, had not yet recovered any degree which were wide open: he entered; a of recollection, and he wandered as in a finall taper in a maffy filver candlefiick dream, a confufed train of horrible ideas flood upon a table in the middle of the palling unconnected through his mind: room, but gave to inconfiderable an illu- at length, however, memory resumed her mination, that one end was wrapped in function, refumed it but to daunt hin palpable darkness, and the other scarce- with harrowing fuggeftions; the direful ly broken in upon by a dim light that horrors of the room behind, and of the ftreamed through a large ramified win- vault below, were fill prefent to his dow, covered with thick ivy. An arm- eyes, and as a man whom hellish fiends chair, shattered and damp with age, was had frightened, he flood trembling, pale, placed near the table, and the remains and flaring wild. All was now filent of a recent fire were fili vifible in the and dark, and he determined to wait in grate. The wainscot of black oak, had this fpot the dawn of day, but a few formerly been hung with tapeflry, and minutes had fearce elapfed, when the feveral portions ill clung to thofe parts iron door fcreaming on its hinges, belwhich were near the fire; they poffef lowed through the murmuring ruin. fed fome vivacity of tint, and with much Sir Gawen nearly fainted at the found, gilding, yet apparent on the chimney- which, paufing for fome time, again piece, and feveral mouldering reliques of fwelled upon the wind, and at laft died coftly frames and paintings, gave indif- away in fariti melancholy fhrieks; 2putable evidence of the ancient grandeur gain all was filent, and again the fame of the place. Sir Gawen elofed the fold- fearful noife ftruck terror to his fou, ing doors, and, taking the taper, was a- Whilft his mind was thus agitated with bout to furvey the room, when a deep horror and apprehention, a dim light hollow groan from the dark end of it freaming from behind, accompanied with fmote cold upon his heart; at the fame a foft, quick, and hollow tread, convintime the found, as with fomething fall-ced Sir Gawen that fomething was pur ing with a dead weight, echoed through the room. Sir Gawen replaced the taper, the flame of which was agitated, now quivering, funk, now ftreaming, flamed aloft, and as the last pale por fuing him, and ftruck with wildering fear, he rushed unconscious down the teps; the vault received him, and its portal fwinging to their clefe, founded as the fentence of death. A dun fætid Dd 2 fmoke fmoke filled the place, in the centre of which arose a faint and bickering flame. Sir Gawen approached, and beheld a corfe fufpended over it by the neck; its fat dropped, and the flame, flashing through the vault, gleamed on a throng of hideous ghaftlyfeatures,that now came forward thro' the fmoke. Sir Gawen, with the defperate valour of a man, who fees deftruction before him, ran furious forward; an univerfal fhrick burst forth; the corfe dropped into the fire, which, rifing with tenfold brilliance, placed full in view the dreadful form of his infernal guide, dilated into horror itfelf; her face was pale as death, her eyes were wide open, dead, and fixed; a horrible grin fat upon her features, ner lips, black, and half putrid, were drawn back, difclefing a fet of large blue teeth, and her hair, ftanding ftiffly erect, was of a withered red. Sir Gawen felt his blood freeze within him, his limbs forgot to move, the face, enlarging as it came, drew near, and fwooning, he fell forward on the ground. . Slow paffed the vital fluid through the bofom of Sir Gawen, fcarce did the heart vibrate to its impulfe; on his pal lid forehead fat a chilly fweat, and trequent fpafms thook his limbs; but at length, returning warmth gave fome vigour to his frame, the energy of life became more diffufed, a foothing languor ftole upon him, and on opening his eyes, rushed neither the images of death, nor the rites of witchcraft, but the foft, the iweet, and tranquil fcenery of a fummer's moonlight night. Enraptured with this fudden and unexpected change, Sir Gawen rofe gently from off the ground, over his head towered a large, and majeftic oak, at whofe foot, by fome kind and compaffionate being, he concluded he had been laid. Delight and gratitude dilated his heart, and advan cing from beneath the tree, whofe gigantic branches fpread a large extent of fhade, a vale beautiful and romantic, through which ran a clear and deep fream, came full in view; he walked to the edge of the water, the moon fhone with mellow luftre on its furface, and its banks, fringed with fhrubs, breathed a perfume more delicate than the odours of the Eaft. On one fide, the ground, covered with a vivid, foft and downy verdure, ftretched for a confiderable extent to the borders of a large foreft, which sweeping round, finally clofed up the valley; on the other, it was broken into abrupt and rocky maffes fwarded with mofs, and from whofe clefts grew thick and spreading trees, the roots of which, washed by many a fail of water, hung bare and matted from their craggy beds. Sir Gawen forgot, in this delicious vale all his former fufferings, and giving up his mind to the pleafing influence of curiofity and wonder, he determined to explore the place by tracing the windings of the ftream. Scarce had he en tered upon this plain, when music of the molt ravishing sweetness filled the air, fometimes it feemed to float along the valley, fometimes it ftole along the furface of the water, now it died away among the woods, and now, with deep and mellow fymphony, it fwelled upon the gale. Fixed in aftonishment, Sir Gawen fcarce ventured to breathe, eve ry sense, fave that of hearing, feemed abforbed, and when the last faint warb. lings melted on his ear, he started from the fpot, folicitous to know from what being thofe more than human frainskad parted; but nothing appeared in view; the moon full and unclouded, thone with unufual luftre, the white rocks glittering in her beam, and, filled with hope, he again purfued the windings of the wa ter, which, conducting to the narroweft part of the valley, continued their courfe through the wood. Sir Gawen entered by a path fmooth, but narrow and per plexed, where, although its branches were fo numerous that no preference could be given, or any direct route lorg perfifted in, yet every turn presented fomething to amufe, fomething to fharpen the edge of refearch. The beauty of the trees through whofe interflices the moon gleamed in the most picturesqué manner, the glimpses of the water, and the notes of the nightingale, who now began to fill the valley with her fong, were more than fufficient to take off the fenfe of fatigue, and he wandered on, fill eager to explore, ftill panting for further difcovery. The wadd now be came more thick and obfcure, and at length almoft dark, when the path, taking fuddenly an oblique direction, Sir Gawen found himfelf on the edge of a circular lawn, whose tint and fofinefs were beyond compare, and which feemed to have been lightly brushed by fairy feet. A number of fine old trees, around whofe boles crept the ivy and the woodbine, rofe at irregular diftances; here they mingled into groves, and there feparate, and emulous of each other, they hook their airy fummits in difdain The water |