veriore essent cura ac diuturniore prosecuti. Sed fatendum est ibidem eos quoque inveniri, qui, numeros cum meminerint et verba tenuerint, plurimum se profecisse credunt, neque ultra cuiquam esse progredi.

The following passage savors a little of Roman antipathy to the "gens teterrima," but it is impossible to forbear smiling at the liveliness of the illustrations.

Est et alia culpa graviorum hominum a studio pravo antiquitatis derivata; scilicet mundi rectorem, qui neque videri neque qualis sit concipi potest, ea prece, iis verbis, quibus Romani Jovem suum adorare: quasi barba aurea qua induitur quidquam dignitatis conferat. Sapientes ipsi non semper viderunt ut sit ineptum et improbandum curtas Judæorum religionis hoc ritu celebrare, morosos, invitos, reclamantes homines, opipare quodammodo ungere, dicta nominaque inficeta mimice ac moleste fingere, gentem togatam facere. Romanis autem literis eorum poesin committere, quid est nisi Castaliam Asphaltide turbare, jusque in liberæ latinitatis mare magnum pro lacu ejurare? A Pindo et Olympo (juvat quorundam verba portentosa describere).

"Est impossibile spectare profunda Sabaoth." Judæi nihilo magis in poeticis operibus quam in vita civili cum ceteris mortalibus congruunt. Cum Amaryllide et Lycoride inauspicato lege

rentur

Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, Esther, Judith, Anna, Noemis,2 nec prudenter conjungeres cum Alexide et Corydone Insignes pueros Sidrach Misach Abdenagoque,3 nec Tityro comites ibunt, me auctore,

Esaus et patriam deductus Jacob in unam,+

et possunt tutiores domi esse

Osea, Amos et Michæas, simul Abdia, Jonas..5

Zacharias vim passus, et Angelus ipse Malachim

In a character of Alfieri (p. 191-2.) we meet with a sentence containing exactly as many paradoxes as lines.

Optimos bistoricos_ Italia semper tulit: ii qui præstantissimi non habentur, Cornelius Tacitus et Curtius Rufus, neminem successorem habuerunt apud gentes exteras vel stylo vel ingenio parem.

The allusion, in the following passage, needs no explanation.

Summi poetæ in omni poetarum sæculo viri fuerunt probi: in nostris id vidimus et videmus; neque alius est error a veritate longius quam magna ingenia magnis necessario corrumpi vitiis. Secundo plerique posthabent primum, hi malignitate, illi ignorantia, et quum aliquem inveniunt styli morumque vitiis notatum, nec inficetum tamen nec in libris edendis parcum, eum stipant, prædicant, occupant, amplectuntur. Si mores aliquantulum vellet corrigere, si stylum curare paululum, si fervido ingenio temperare, si moræ tantillum interponere, tum ingens nescio quid et vere epicum, quadraginta annos natus, procuderet. Ignorant vero febriculis non indicari vires, impatientiam ab imbecillitate non dif

! Prud. 2 Fortun. 3 Alcim. 4 Victor. 5 Tertul. ❝ Id.,

ferre: ignorant a levi homine et inconstante multa fortasse scribi posse plusquam mediocria, nihil compositum, arduum, æternum.

Of the modern Latin poets in general, and of our own in particular, he thus speaks:

Reliqui vermiculata, ut ita loquar, veterum pavimenta eruerunt, et novis figuris et barbaris in morem suum pepigerunt. Clarigatione edita, nudi prorsus hi furunculi atque inopes decederent. Vitiæ quæ reprehen-, dimus non sunt linguæ propria, sed in auctorum sita debilitate, de quibus dici potest id quod Borbonius de autumno,

"Si calor est hodie, cras tibi frigus erit," quodque pejus est, utraque sæpe veniunt intempestiva. Latinitatis institiam raro culpabis, raro negligentiam, at eam sæpissime sedulitatem quam Græci μATALOтEXVIαv appellabant. Colligunt nimios thesauros, nimis utuntur usitatis: ipsa diligentia, cura, solicitudo, et auctoritatis utrinque admonentis reverentia, deturbat iis animi aciem, excipit, suspendit, frangit impetus, facitque difficilem quendam et molestum incessum, ut inter vepres atque urticas ambulantium. Poesin videri decet qualis depingitur Aurora, quæ flores suos cadere sinit, non disponit: at quantam curam adhibeat necesse est ne nimiam adhibuisse videatur.

Principes sunt Buchananus, Oënus, epigrammatum scriptor suis temporibus non injucundus, et Miltonus, et Maius, qui Pharsaliæ supplementum addidit, et Jortinus, et Graius, nostraque ætate Tuedelius, adolescens longe doctissimus, græco carmine sapphico memorabilis, et morum suavitate et corporis pulchritudine et immatura morte. Nominandus est et Ansteius, ob miras britannici poematis facetias, at senex latine scripsit ut puer. Sunt et Frerii perelegantia, et Vellesleii, ejusdem qui nominis auctoritate, sine armis propemodum, reges Indiæ compescuit; cujus frater, imperator, Hispanias Galliasque, deletis multarum gentium exercitibus, a latronum servorumque insolentia liberavit. Et Britanni et juvenis carmen est, Alcæi metro, de Mari libero: alterum de Cartesii, tertium de Neutoni philosophia, Lucretii stylo scriptum; qui nisi extitisset, nos Italis Gallisque in hac poesi minores existimandi essemus. Cum ejus operibus nihil ex latinis auctoribus post Ovidii sæculum comparari potest, et antecedentium paucissima.

Sed nibil de Jonesio, de Addissono, de Culeio? Thus pingue barbarorum, Arabum videlicet Persarumque, tam assidue odoratus est Jonesius, ut rosam verbenamque non senserit: poeta vix mediocris fuit, vir prudens, orator strenuus, judex integerrimus, civis optimus. Quicumque in eadem arena desudet, raro unam inveniet solidam, teretem, rotundam, ex multo marcore ac putredine, margaritam. Culeii quidem accuratius conservanda sunt, tum latina tum britaunica, omnia enim quæ oportet evitare complectuntur. Addissonum, ut ferunt de Antæo, vel tantillum supra humum elevatum, vires deficiunt. Novimus quem Tibullo ac Propertio prætulit. bonus Cuperus. Mirum ut perperam, ue dicam stolide, judicaverit poeta pæne inter summos nominandus. Vinnius autem, ita appellabant eum familiares, nihil admodum habet suum, et, aliena quum latina faceret, frigida est plerumque concinnitatis affectatio.

A character of Propertius gives rise to observations on the obloquy to which great poets are exposed from the jealousy of their contemporaries, and this again introduces an apostrophe to Wordsworth.

Habebant antiqui Ruvidos, Cæsios, Aquinos, Suffenos, ut habemus in Britannia nostra Brogamos, Jefrisios, et centum alios librariorum vernas, cum venenis et fuligine prostantes, bonis omnibus et scriptoribus et viris ipsa rerum natura infensos. At quibus ego te vocibus compellem, vir, civis, philosophe, poeta, præstantissime, qui sæculum nostrum ut nullo priore minus gloriosum sit effeceris; quem nec domicilium longinquum, nec vita sanctissima, neque optimorum voluntas, charitas, propensio, neque hominum fere universorum reverentia, inviolatum conservavit; cujus sepulchrum, si mortuus esses anteaquam nascerentur, ut voti rei inviserent, et laudi sibi maguæ ducerent vel aspici vel credi ibidem ingemiscere. In eorum ingeniis observandum est quod Narniensi agro eve nisse meminit Cicero, siccitate lutum fieri. Floces et fraces, ut veteres dicerent, literarum, discant illud utinam quod exemplo docent, nihil afferre opis vesanientem animum ingenii malaciæ. Commode se haberent res mortalium si unum quisque corrigeret: de facto universi consentiunt, de homine plerique dissident.

He thus characterises Ovid:

Famam ejus fortunasque defendere, cujuscunque sit gentis, cujuscunque sæculi, suum quisque officium existimet, nam poetis, et doctis quidem omnibus, una patria est, mundus videlicet universus; idque hac ipsa re probari potest, quod qui injuria eos affecerunt, vel temporibus diu anteactis vel longinquis locis, communi hominum consensu damnati sunt, ut videmus in Cicerone, in Longino, in Boethio, in Ovidio, in Lucano. Solet eandem et Seneca movere misericordiam, inter paucos nuncupandus qui famam probitatis non meritam per sæcula conservarunt: eandem et Tassus, qui distributione argumenti cunctos unus epicos superavit. Ibi vixit et ibi mortuus est Torquatus, ubi maximi hominum fere semper aut paruerunt aut succubuerunt minimis. Horatium quis egregium poetam esse, quis inter clarissimos annumerandum neget? sed libavit ille nec respuit quæ nunc vocaremus Ovidiana vitia, et, primo quidem et secundo Carmine, pleno eorum se haustu proluit. Dixerat,

Me doctarum hederæ præmia frontium

Diis miscent superis...

In argumentationibus, difficillimum, poeta semper est, nec validus minus quam ornatus.

Si causas agere amat Ovidius, ut amat nimis, propositi semper compos est, tenet, vertit, exigit, absolvit: nihil claudum aut curtum aut absonum est, nunquam deficit argumenta comprobatio. Minus hoc esse censeat aliquis, quam revera est, e poetæ virtutibus; agedum, bifariam saltem, in sententiis videlicet ac describendis locis, nulli secundus est sive Græcorum sive Romanorum. Ceteroquin eum cum Virgilio nemo unquam sanus contulerit. Suus Hyacintho decor est neque idem tamen qui Apollini. A Virgilio tantum differt Ovidius: stat medius inter illum et Ariostum, spectandus mirabili varietate, luxu discincto, opulentissima negligentia.

His notice of Juvenal is short and emphatic

Hoc habe interea de Juvenale: is est quem nemo curiosus bis leget, nemo probus semel, nemo elegans dimidiatum.

In the concluding division of the Essay, the Italian, German, Dutch, Belgian, and French writers of Latin verse are canvassed in succession.

66

We notice a few of the inaccuracies in language which occur in the Essay. P. 179, "luculenter;" 183, consedunt;" qu. considunt? 190," Enones" pro Enones; 198, "pepigerunt" for pinxerunt; 204, "trochaico Stesichoreo;" 208, and elsewhere, "Tragedia;" 220, "triginta menda magis gravia;" (Paginibus nostris dicitis mihi menda quod insunt, &c.) 227, "terribilis magnificentiæ descriptionem,' a terribly magnificent description; 236, "Trogloditis;" 242,"excerpi" for "excerpsi;" 255, "bellum Persicum' for the Persian war: a Roman would probably understand by this expression the war of Perses; 257, autem" for "tamen." There are also many instances of the confusion

of moods, &c.

Several criticisms on passages in the Latin writers are interspersed throughout the essay, which we reserve for consideration in a future number of the Nuga.

EGYPTIAN, BABYLONIAN, AND PER

SEPOLITAN WRITING.

SINCE the beginning of this present century, I have allowed myself to indulge very flattering hopes, that the literary world was on the eve of being astonished or delighted by two important discoveries; a key to the mysteries of Egyptian hieroglyphics, and a key to the inscriptions found on Babylonian bricks, and Persepolitan marbles. But year after year has elapsed, and, with respect to the hieroglyphics, all my pleasing hopes would be now changed into absolute despair, (notwithstanding the labors of Zoega, Akerblad, Silvestre de Sacy, Champollion, and others) did not the ingenuity and perseverance of our learned countryman, Dr. Young, still justify the most sanguine expectations. Meanwhile, respecting the Babylonian and Persepolitan writing in those letters which the French denominate "caractères à clous," or nail-headed, and we, generally, arrowheaded, or cuneiform, I much fear that, although Tychsen, the late venerable professor at Rostoch, Bishop Münter of Copenhagen, Lichtenstein, Grotefend, and other able philologers, have devoted considerable attention to the subject, not one line,

not even one word, has yet been satisfactorily explained: in fact, the very language of those inscriptions, however numerous the conjectures offered concerning it, does not appear to be ascertained-while some assert that the writing runs, like Hebrew or Arabic, from right to left; another would read it in a perpendicular direction, like the Chinese: and others, (with whom I agree,) from left to right, like Latin or English. From Mr. Grotefend's system of deciphering the Babylonian in'scriptions, some accomplished orientalists of my acquaintance were, at first, inclined to anticipate the most successful results: but their hopes seem latterly to have subsided; and the contradictory opinions of those writers above mentioned, are still to be examined. Perhaps some learned correspondent of the Classical Journal would have the goodness to inform me, whether any attempts more recent than Mr. Grotefend's have been made towards the deciphering of those arrow-headed characters.

Reverting to Egyptian antiquities, I would inquire, at what period may we suppose the art of hieroglyphic writing to have ceased. The celebrated Father Kircher (in Edip. Ægypt. t. iii. p. 484.) declares his opinion, that the custom of embalming human bodies had been discontinued with the art of writing in sacred character, immediately after the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses. Yet, five centuries after this event, (or in the 30th year before Christ) the bodies of Antony and Cleopatra were embalmed according to the Egyptian manner (see Dio Cass. L. 11. §. 11 and 15. Malala, Chron. p. 284.); and so lately as the fourth century of our æra, Saint Antony requested that the monks might not send his body into lower Egypt, lest it should be preserved in houses: μη αφητε τινας το σωμα μου λαβειν εις Αίγυπτον μη πως εν τοις οίκοις αποθωνται—a passage explained by Saint Athanasius, (for to him is attributed the life of Saint Antony) as signifying that the Egyptians would not conceal the body under ground, (μŋ xgutteiv de vπо yην: S. Athan. Op. T. ii. p. 502.) &c. Thus Kircher seems to have formed an erroneous opinion on the subject of embalming; and we must suppose him equally wrong concerning the period at which hieroglyphic writing ceased in Egypt. This, indeed, is sufficiently proved by the Rosetta stone, that gem of antiquity, the ornament of our great National Museum, which exhibits a long hieroglyphic inscription, executed in the time of Ptolemy Epiphanes, nearly three hundred years after the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, as appears from a Greek inscription on the same precious mo

nument.

M. Y.