Ulysses' descent into hell with that of the seventh canto of the "Henriade," and you will see that the latter is enriched with an infinity of beauties which M. de Voltaire owes only to himself." Without going the whole length of this comparison, we may admit that it is not altogether devoid of justice.
The peculiar difficulty of Voltaire's task lay in the introduction of supernatural personages and events into times so recent as the period of the wars of the League. There were old men living when Voltaire was born who came into the world before Henry IV. quitted it. To bring Truth, and Discord, and divine personages, on so modern a stage, was more than audacious. Nevertheless, if we can get rid of the feeling of incongruity, we find that they fulfil important parts in the plan. Discord, for instance, supplies a link between the fanaticism and intrigue which prevailed at Rome and the state of feeling which actuated the Leaguers in Paris, and brings personages and events into relation with the main action whose appearance would otherwise have remained unaccounted for. It was Voltaire's object, by all means, to exalt out of the sphere of common life the fabric of his poem—likelihood was of small account with him compared with unity and artistic completeness; and viewed in this way, we must allow that the business of the epic has been as well managed as was possible under the circumstances.
Moderate in length compared with some of its predecessors, the "Henriade" contains between four and five thousand lines, divided pretty equally into ten books. It is written, like his tragedies, in rhymed Alexandrines—a kind of verse common in French poetry, but to
