Porson, Do  not  force  me  to  quote  Voltaire  on  the  natural^  and  to  show  yon

'  what  he  calls  it.  If  the  presentiment  had  been  followed  up  by  the  event,  the
poem,  hpwever  tedious  and  verbose,  had  been  less  bald.  In  how  different  a
manner  has  Madame  de  StaSl  treated  this  very  thought,  which  many  others
have  also  entertained  1  Do  me  the  favour  to  take  down  Corinne,  Excuse  my
pronunciation.  "  Comme  je  toumais  mes  regards  vers  le  ciel  pour  Ten
remercier,  je  ne  s^ais  par  quel  hazard  une  superstition  de  mon  enfance  s*est
ranim^e  dans  mon  cceur.  La  lune  que  je  contemplais  iest  couuerie  (Tun  nuage,  et
r aspect  de  ce  nuage  etaitfuneste,"

At  the  close  of  the  last  volume  (give  it  me)  we  find  the  consequence.  *«  Elle
voulut  lui  parlor,  et  n*en  eut  pas  la  force.  Elle  leva  ses  regards  vers  le  ciel,
et  vit  la  lune  qui  se  couvrait  dumdme  nuage  qu*elle  avait  fait  remarquer  a  Lord
Melvil,  quand  ils  s'arreterent  sur  le  bord  de  la  mer  en  allant  a  Naples.  Alon
elle  le  lui  montra  de  sa  main  mourante,  et  son  dernier  soupir  fit  retomber  cette
main.**  Here  you  have  the  poetical,  you  had  before  the  prose  version  of  the
same  description.
Southey. ^It  is  difficult  to  treat  those  subjects  much  better  in  the  haUad*

Porson.'^'Why  then  choose  them?  I  will  however  prove  to  you  that  it
is  no  such  a  difficult  matter  to  treat  them  much  hotter,  and  with  »  v®^  '^i^
atock  of  poetry.
184^.]  Imaginary  Conversation,  ?03

SotUhey, — t  am  anxious  to  see  the  experiment,  especially  if  joti  yourself
make  it.
Porson, — I  have  written  the  characters  so  minute^  according  to  my  custom,
that  I  canuct  make  them  out  distinctly  in  the  inclosure  of  these  green  curtains.
