great poets. A recent verſion, which ſo capable and accomplished a critic as Mr. Prime pronounces to be "in many reſpects the beſt Engliſh verſion hitherto produced, and peculiarly valuable for thoſe who do not read the Latin, and who deſire to gain ſome idea of the power and beauty of this moſt celebrated hymn of the Church," alſo illuſtrates this remarkable fact. The author is Edward Sloſſon, Eſq., of the bar of New York.
And in this connection it may be obſerved, that even ſo accompliſhed a maſter in proſe and verſe as Macaulay has ſucceeded no better in the difficult taſk than is ſhown by his verſion written for the London Chriſtian Obſerver in 1826, beginning—
"On that great, that awful day,
This vain world ſhall paſs away.
Thus the Sibyl ſang of old;
Thus hath holy David told.
There ſhall be a deadly fear
When the Avenger ſhall appear;
And, unveiled before his eye,
All the works of men ſhall lie."
