Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-05-30

THAT Picture. --There seems to be
difference of opinion among our cotem
poraries as to whether the painting in
store window on Main street represent
Virgil and Dante crossing -" the rive
Styx" or the burning lake in hell.
That our readers may be umpires in tn
controversy, we give in full the line
from which the original painter-Eugen'
de la Croix-received his idea. The,
occur in the third canto Of He'll;
Then looking farther EDWARDS, bcheld
A throng upon the shore-of great stream:
Whereat thus: Sir grant me now to know
Whom here we view, and whence impell' Z
So eager to pass FER, as discern
Through the blear lighty y He thus to me il
few: .il
This shalt thou know. soon as our steps ar
rive
Beside the woful tide of Acheron."
Then with eyes downward cast, and hifd
with shame,
Fearing my words offensive to his ear,
Till we had reached the river, l from speech
Comes on an old man hoary white with ED,
Crying, "Wo to you, wicked spirits hope not
Ever to see the sky again. l come
To take you to the other shore across,
Into eternal darkness. there TO dwell
In fierce heat and in ice. And thou, who there
Standest, live spirit get thee hence. and leave
These who are dead" But soon as he beheld
| left them not, By other way" said he.
By other haven shalt thou come to shore,
Not by this passage; thee a nimbler boat
Must carry" Then TO him thus spake my
guide:
"Charon myself torment not so It's WILD,
Where will and power are one: ask thou no
more"
strightway in silence fell the shaggy cheeks
OF him, the boatman DER the livid lake,
Around whose eyes glared wheeling flames.
Meanwhile
Those spirits, faint and naked, color changed,
And gnash'd their teeth, soon as the cruel
They heard. God and their parents they BIAS
phemed,
The human kind. the place, the time, and seed
That did engender them and give them birth.
Then all together sorely wailing drew
To the cursed strand, that every man must pass
Who fears not God. Charon, demoniac form,
With eyes of burning coal. collects them all.
and each. that fingers, with his
Strikes. Asfall off the light autumnal leaves.
One still another following, till the bough
Strews all its honors on the earth beneath:
L EN- in like manner Adams evil brood
Cast themselves. one by one, down from the
shore,
Each at beck. as falcon at his call.
Thus go they over through the umber'd wave,
And ever they on the opposing bank
Be laded on this side another throng
Still gathers. Son, thus spoke the cour-
teous guide,
''Those who die subject to the wrath of God
ALI here together come from every CLINE,
And to o'erpass the river are not 10TH:
For so heaven Justice gOads them on, that fear
Is turn d into desire. Hence ne'er hath pass
food spirit. If of thee Charon complain.
Now mayst thou know the import of his
words
This said, the gloomy region trembling shook
% terribly, that yet with elammy dews
Fear chills my brow. The sad earth gave a
blast,
That. tightening, shot forth yermillion flame,
Which all my senses conquer quite, and |
DOWN dropp'd. as one with sudden slumber
seized.
The poet evidently makes Charon the
prominent feature, a fact which the
PAINTER overlooked in order to bring the
igures of Dante and Virgil conspicu-
,usly in the foreground, II will be seen
hat neither the river Styx nor the
turning lake in hell" is represented, but
he woful tide of the river Acheron. The
'ainting on exhibition in this city, how
yer, deserves praise from the simple fact
hat ii is an admirable copy from the
riginal, and was painted by our fellow
Dwnsman, Carl Guthrez, whose genius
ives great promise of perfection in the
ne arts.