Upon the faltering tongue :-the scalp is bare,
And the moist nose of infancy is there!

His bread the wretch must break with boneless gum,
So grievous to his dearest friends become,
That Cossus,-with the will before his eyes-
Might with disgust be taken by surprise!-
That torpid palate can no longer taste,
Or food or wine, the banquet's joys are past!
Another organ fails, and sing who may,

Or strike the chord, he hears no more the lay."

Some of the couplets are remarkable for their terse and vigorous brevity; witness the following:

"Mors sola fatetur

Quantula sint hominum corpuscula."

"Death, death alone makes thoughtless man confess
The humbling secret of his littleness."

And again :

"Summum crede nefas animam preferre pudori,
Et propter vitam, vivendi perdere causas.'
"Virtue for mere existence ne'er betray,

NOR BASELY BAKTER LIFE'S GREAT END AWAY!"

These extracts are sufficient to give the reader an idea of the manner in which Dr. Badham has executed his task. It will be acknowledged that he is not deficient in the principal quali ties requisite for a translator; and he certainly has struck out beauties which were overlooked by his predecessors. But there are parts of his work in which he has not been fortunate, but must yield the palm to some of his rivals. It was due to him to point out his merits; it is due to the public to notice his defects. The description of a gradual decay is one of Juvenal's most exquisite passages :

"Festinat enim decurrere velox

Flosculus anguste miseræque brevissima vitæ

Portio; dum bibimus, dum serta, unguenta, puellas

Poscimus, obrepit non intellecta senectus."

"For youth, too transient flower! of life's short day

The shortest part, but blossoms to decay.

Lo! while we give the unregarded hour

To wine and revelry, in pleasure's bower,

The noiseless foot of time steals swiftly by,
And, ere we dream of manhood, age is nigh."

Such is Gifford's pleasing version; but it is not more pleasing than the liquid, pensive numbers of Hodgson.

"Swift down the pathway of declining years,
As on we journey through this vale of tears,
Youth wastes away, and withers like a flower,
The lovely phantom of a fleeting hour:
'Mid the light sallies of the mantling soul,
The smiles of beauty, and the social bowl,

Inaudible, the foot of chilly age

Steals on our joys, and drives us from the stage."

Dr. Badham's attempt will not afford an equal degree of

pleasure.

"Life's floweret droops, and withers e'er tis blown!
Most brief its utmost date, and all the while

We fill the cup, or court the fair one's smile,
Age steals with noiseless tread, and ere we fear,
The sad, unwelcome visitant is here."

Our next and last extract shall be from the 5th Satire, where Juvenal is lashing the hangers-on at the table of Virro. "Has Virro ever drank to thee, or deign'd

To touch the goblet which thy lips have stain'd?
Or hast thou ever pledged thy ruling God,
Rash slave, or hail'd him with an equal's nod?
Few are the words that safely can be spoke.
By the mean wearer of a threadbare cloak.
But if to Trebius by the hand of heaven,
The sudden fortune of a knight be given,
Or by some friend more bountiful than fate-
How is his worth increas'd with his estate!
Into a lord the little wretch is turn'd,
And courtly Virro loves the man he spurn'd.
Slaves! wait on Trebius; would my brother taste
The sweet-bread? let it at thy side be placed,

Dear Trebius!'-can'st thou not the cause divine?

He is thy fortune's brother and not thine." Hodgson. This is very fair; but there is still more life, and more collo quial freedom and fashion in Gifford.

"Does Virro ever pledge you?' ever sip
The liquor touch'd by your unhallow'd lip?
Or is there one of all your tribe so free,
So desperate as to say; Sir, drink with me?'
O! there is much that never can be spoke
By a poor client in a threadbare cloak.

But should some God, or man of godlike soul,
The malice of your niggard fate controul,
And bless you with a knight's estate; how dear
Would you be then! how wondrous great appear
From nothing! Virro, so reserv'd of late,
Grows quite familiar: Brother, send your plate,
Dear brother Trebius! you were wont to say,
You lik'd these dainties; let me help you, pray.'
You, riches, are his brother;' and to you
This warmth of friendship, this respect, is due."

In following the march of these passages, Dr. Badham halts considerably.

"O! when shall Virro drink to such a guest;

When touch the goblet which thy lips have press'd?
Or which of you will be so rash, so lost,

When uninvited, as to pledge his host?

NO. VIII. Aug. Rev.

VOL. I.

3 I

The words are not a few which want controula,
Which none may utter with a cloak in holes!
But should some god, or mortal weil inclin'd,
Leave thee a fortune, than the fates more kind,
How very soonthy abject state will end!
Now much caressed, now greatly Virro's friend!
Help worthy Trebius, put that cover near,

Come, brother-taste this haunch before me here.'-
Brother! O gold omnipotent, for thee

This speech is meant of kind fraternity!"

To conclude: Dr. Badham's translation may occasionally want the spirit and energy of Gifford's, and the easy flow of Hodgson's; but it possesses merit peculiar to itself. Most of the translators of Juvenal seem to have imagined that their author's hurried transitions and prominent inequalities should be smoothed down into the uniform polish, and the laboured nicety of modern versification. Abruptness of manner and colloquial phraseology are not less characteristic of this poet, than flowing numbers and sweeping declamation. What we like in the present translation is, that it is a translation, not a paraphrase. It is a good copy, not merely of the matter of the original, but of its manner. It very properly makes a sacrifice of amplification and smoothness, whenever the sententiousness and unpolished grandeur of the original require it. But the boldness of this attempt has had its inconveniences, and been the means of leading the translator into error. His close imitation of his author's manner has, on various occasions, caused him to be obscure: and it is not always quite satisfactory to the reader to be referred to the Notes for an elucidation of such obscurities.-One who had never read a Roman author would say, Gifford's is the best poem: one who had read Juvenal would say, Badham's is the best translation.-The Notes, though pretty numerous, are generally to the purpose; and are amusing, even where they afford no direct illustration of the text.

ART. X.-An Essay to illustrate the Rights of the Poor by Law; being a Commentary on the Statute of King Henry the VII, chapter 12: with observations on the practice of suing and defending in formá pauperis, and suggestions for extending the benefits of such practice. Dedicated by Express Permission to His Royal Highness the DUKE of KENT. By

WILLIAM MINCHIN, Esq. of the Inner Temple, Author of several Law Tracts. Together with a succinct account of all the Public Charities in and near London, their origin and design, &c. and an Address to the Governors, Patrons, Presidents, and Promoters thereof. Dunn and Co. London. 1815. 8vo. pp. 144. 5s. bds.

A celebrated character replied to some one who had observed that Justice was open to every British subject, "and so is the London Tavern-to those that can pay." It cannot be

denied, that, at the present day, there is an enormous expense attending the general prosecution of civil remedies, which the poor are not able to bear: Mr. Minchin has felt this strongly, and has very laudably endeavoured, in the work before us, to bring the question fairly before the public. We shall have pleasure in stating, as clearly as we can, the result of his enquiries.

The hardships to which the poor were exposed in litigation, from fees of office and remuneration to legal advisers, was adverted to by the legislature at a very early period of our history. The 11. Hen. VII. c. 12. accordingly gives poor persons "not able to sue for their remedy after the course of the Common Law" a power of suing without any expense of fees, counsel, or attornies at the discretion of the Chancellor. In the exercise of this discretion it became, in process of time, a rule never to admit any one to the benefit of this act unless he would solemnly depose that, after the payment of his debts, he had not more than five pounds remaining. As it was feared that the admission of the poor to sue without expense might be an encouragement to vexatious litigation the 23 Hen. VII. c. 15. provided that if the defendant recovered judgment for costs against a pauper, the latter, instead of paying them, should suffer such punishment as the Court should think proper to inflict. The law respecting the admission to sue or defend in formâ pauperis seems to have been finally settled by 2 Geo. II. c. 28., which fixes the sum at five pounds, which the property of the applicant must not exceed.

The constructions which the Courts have put on these enactments, form a valuable part of the work before us, and render it acceptable to the practical lawyer, as well as to the philanthropic theorist. Into minutiæ we cannot enter. But the causes which prevent the beneficent intentions of our ancestors from being carried into effect, demand an attentive consideration and must have it.

The first thing which strikes us is the smallness of the sum which the pauper must possess to entitle him to sue in that character, It would surely suffice under the original statute of Henry, if he were "unable to sue;" even though possessed of a somewhat larger sum-necessary perhaps to the support of his family. It seems unreasonable that an unfortunate man must be reduced to five pounds, before he can assert his rights. Such a standard opens the door to perjury and collusion. Another evil is, that the attorney and counsel assigned by the court, being compelled to do that gratis for which otherwise they would receive remuneration, are tempted to neglect the interests of their unfortunate client. But the mischief is still greater which prevents the exercise of charity in legal practitioners when disposed to exert it—which makes their humanity a crime-and compels them to suppress the risings of pity when it might be the most serviceable. Barretry, Maintenance, Champerty, and Embracery, are all of them misdemeanors by the Common or Statute Law, and are so many terms by which the conducting or encouraging of litigation is designated, including in their operation, those who take on themselves to manage the causes of others without those fees which the law allows them to receive.

The

fear of falling under the penalties with which these offences are visited, shuts out all but the very poorest from that relief, to which it was assuredly the original intention of the legislature that others should be entitled.

The miseries resulting from these difficulties are very distinctly shown and illustrated in the work before us. Illegal distresses must be submitted to in silence-outlawries may be incurredeven imprisonment for contempt in not answering a Bill in Chancery may be suffered, by a defendant who has not money to enable him to proceed. Creditors may lose their just claims by the inability of their debtors to recover theirs!—and inheritances may for ever be secured to strangers. To prove that this, and more than all this is true, we need only quote one or two of our author's anecdotes which we have no doubt are au thentic.

"Norfolk. M. M. claims to be entitled to very considerable freehold property, and having obtained the opinion of counsel in favor of her claim, she has been necessitated to apply to some relations for pecuniary assistance to prosecute her rights, and they are able and desirous to assist her. The opinion of counsel has also been taken on the propriety of extending such assistance, and he has declared the same to be illegal. The poverty of M. M. therefore, precludes her from asserting her just pretensions." p. 60, 1.