June 18, 1798.
We are indebted for the following imitation of Catullus to a literary correspondent. Whether it will remove the doubts we formerly expressed, of Citizen Muskein’s acquaintance with the classics, from the minds of our readers, we cannot pretend to say. It is given to us as a faithful translation from the French—as such, we present it to our readers; premising only, that though the Citizen Imitator seems to have Sans-culottized the original in two or three places, yet he everywhere expresses himself with a naïveté and truth in his verse that we seek for in vain in many of his countrymen who have recorded their victories and defeats in very vulgar prose.
AN AFFECTIONATE EFFUSION OF CITIZEN MUSKEIN TO HAVRE-DE-GRACE.
Fairest of cities,[[284]] which the Seine
Surveys ’twixt Paris and the main,
Sweet Havre! sweetest Havre, hail!
How gladly with my tatter’d sail,[[285]]
Yet trembling from this wild adventure,
Do I thy friendly harbour enter!
Well—now I’ve leisure, let me see