There will come no other Virgil, unless his soul, in accordance with his
own philosophy, is among us to-day, crowned with years and honours, the
singer of "Ulysses," of the "Lotus Eaters," of "Tithonus," and "OEnone."

So, after all, I have been enthusiastic, "maugre my head," as Malory
says, and perhaps, Lady Violet, I have shown you why it is "right" to
admire Virgil, and perhaps I have persuaded nobody but myself.

P.S.--Mr. Coleridge was no great lover of Virgil, inconsistently. "If
you take from Virgil his diction and metre, what do you leave him?" Yet
Mr. Coleridge had defined poetry as "the _best_ words, in the best
order"--that is, "diction and metre." He, therefore, proposed to take
from Virgil his poetry, and then to ask what was left of the Poet!




AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE


_To the Lady Violet Lebas_.

Dear Lady Violet,--I do not wonder that you are puzzled by the language
of the first French novel. The French of "Aucassin et Nicolette" is not
French after the school of Miss Pinkerton, at Chiswick. Indeed, as the
little song-story has been translated into modern French by M. Bida, the
painter (whose book is very scarce), I presume even the countrywomen of
Aucassin find it difficult. You will not expect me to write an essay on
the grammar, nor would you read it if I did. The chief thing is that "s"