This, indeed, is somewhat qualified by a previous observation, that—
The worst of Prince Giovanni, as his bride
Too quickly found, was an ill-tempered pride.
How nobly does Mr. Hunt celebrate the combined charms of the fair sex, and the country!
The two divinest things this world HAS GOT,
A lovely woman in a rural spot!—p. 58.
A rural spot, indeed, seems to inspire Mr. Hunt with peculiar elegance and sweetness: for he says, soon after, of Prince Paulo—
For welcome grace, there rode not such another,
Nor yet for strength, except his lordly brother.
Was there a court day, or a sparkling feast,
Or better still—to my ideas, at least!—
A summer party in the green wood shade.—p. 50.
So much for this new invented strength and dignity: we shall add a specimen of his syntax:
But fears like these he never entertain'd,
And had they crossed him, would have been disdain'd.—p. 50.
* * * * *
After these extracts, we have but one word more to say of Mr. Hunt's poetry; which is, that amidst all his vanity, vulgarity, ignorance, and coarseness, there are here and there some well-executed descriptions, and occasionally a line of which the sense and the expression are good— The interest of the story itself is so great that we do not think it wholly lost even in Mr. Hunt's hands. He has, at least, the merit of telling it with decency; and, bating the qualities of versification, expression, and dignity, on which he peculiarly piques himself, and in which he has utterly failed, the poem is one which, in our opinion at least, may be read with satisfaction after GALT'S Tragedies.