Quò sequar? aut quæ nunc artus avulsaque membra The tenderness of Mr. Fox's heart manifested itself by his always dwelling, in poetry, with peculiar pleasure upon domestic and affecting traits of character, when happily pourtrayed by the author. The choice I had made of the Æneid provéd most gratifying to myself, and was agreeable to Mr. Fox. Perhaps, when the malevolent and ignorant supposed this great man preparing to pay his court to the first Consul of France, he was then, with genuine feeling, examining some beauty in the Æneid, and adding to its lustre by his own remarks. One cannot forget such things, where such a man was an actor. Antwerp remains impressed on my memory; but it is Antwerp with Mr. Fox in it, dilating with warmth upon the amiable and engaging character of Evander, enjoying Virgil with all the warmth of a young ingenuous mind. and not disdaining to listen to the opinions, and to enter indulgently into the feelings of one, every way his inferior, and far removed in regard both to age and rank. My readers will, in the concluding pages of this work, observe, that this classical taste and fondness for the tender parts of the Æneid, endured to the closing moments of Mr. Fox's life. In all this kind of devotion to poetry in him, there was not a glimpse of vanity perceptible, although his memory and discrimination had made him master of all the best of the ancient and modern poets, so as to be superior to most men in conversing upon, and examining their merits; yet he would sometimes appear to be instructed, and listen with satisfaction to remarks of little value! The subject he liked at all times, and if it were not treated with much ability or knowledge, still he respected the wish in another to understand, and discover the beauties of those charming poets, whose works afford so rich a source of amusement and improvement to mankind. Where there was but a latent gem of taste, Mr. Fox loved to encourage and to foster it, by example and approbation, into growth and expansion. The heart-rending tale of Nisus and Euryalus, obliterated, in no disagreeable manner, the reflections I- had been making upon the past and present state of Antwerp. In pointing out to Mr. Fox the abandonment of the mother of Euryalus to despair, I was quite gratified to find that he admired the passage as I did; and I was not at all ashamed of the tears which fell for the fate of Euryalus, and my forgetfulness of the great and pompous city in the middle. of which I then was. I could not, however, bid adieu to Antwerp, without regretting that this beautiful city had so long suffered from the policy of commercial greediness. If I may be allowed to designate Ghent as the inland capital, and Antwerp as the maritime one of the old Netherlands, one can never testify sufficient admiration at these stupendous erections of a respectable and independent people, or sufficient regret at their degradation and decay: neither possess, now, much more than a quarter of their ancient population; and, as `independent cities, they are never destined to rise again. Such are the vicissitudes of states, and small ones more especially are liable to great and improbable changes. As we descended the stair-case of our lofty, and princely inn, I closed the Æneid, and we proceeded on our journey towards Holland. We now travelled through a flat and disagreeable country: the golden plains of Austrian Flanders no longer waved before us; and as we advanced, the way became less and. less pleasing. Every thing was now quickly growing Dutch; the dress of the people, the dull flatness of the country, announced a great change. It was curious, nevertheless, to hear, as we did, from our postillions, that we were still, though a considerable way beyond Antwerp, in the territory of France! This enormous extension of territory could not fail to surprize, because, however well things are understood upon paper, if we are inclined to diminish an evil, or to deny its existence, we delude our minds into an oblivion of circumstances and facts, and often proceed, by new errors, to wipe away Mr. the stinging remembrance of former ones. |