Translation 7. HAVE lately been much entertained by a translation of the Odes and Epodes of Horace; which, judging from the motto adopted in the title-page, I conceive to be one of the earliest, if not the very first attempt to render the Lyrics of that poet in English verse : Carmina non prius more deeply read than myself. I was not less pleased with the "Epistle Dedicatorie" than with the translation itself: it exhibits, in my humble opinion, a specimen of very elegant santly, with the quaintness of style writing, tinctured, but not unpleapeculiar to the time. Should you think it worthy of a place in your entertaining columns, it is much at your service. I have also transcribed some of the Odes, which I leave you to deal with according to your pleasure +. "EPISTLE DEDICATORIE. "TO THE HONOVRABLE ROBERT Lord Rich, &c. The Author wisheth all happinesse here and hereafter. "My honoured LORD: "To shew that your greatnesse in your selfe hath not made mee fearefull unto It is the production of "Henry Rider, Master of Arts of Emanuel Colledge in Camebridge," and the edition which I happened to meet with was printed in London by Richard Cotes, 1644. On referring, however, to the Catalogue of the editions of Horace in the Library of Dr. James Douglast, I find he was in possession of an earlier edition by the same hand, dated 1638. But I was somewhat disappointed at discovering, from the same source, that Sir Thomas Hawkins had been beforehand by three years in a translation of the Odes and Epodes, the Latin and English being published together; but, as I have not been able to meet with it, I know not whether it was done into Verse or not. 1 therefore still rely upon the motto of Rider. Many of the Odes are beautifully translated, and all of them very closely. Perhaps, Sir, you can inform me whether any original poetry from the pen of this gentleman has reached us. I do not find him mentioned in Campbell's delightful work, nor does Chalmers or any other biographical author that has fallen in my way record his name. I should be happy, therefore, to receive, through studies this way, how hard it is to be tyed the medium of your pages, any information respecting him from some one of your numerous Correspondents, the majority of whom are doubtless despaire, nor your graciousnesse toward me, bold unto presumption, in a modest confidence I now beg a long-since prolearned from, or taught the Spheres a permised patronage: Horace, who either fect musicall harmonie, and made the language of Rome truly Roman (if we may beleeve himselfe), was as meanly descended as my own selfe; yet did not his meannesse deprive him of a presidiarie Macenas, a Roman knight, high in Honours, and (which was the greatest) in his Princes love and it is questionable whether Horace was more helped by Macenas hand, or Mæcenas more honoured by Horace his pen: Horace lived well under Mæcenas protection, Macenas yet lives in Horace his Poesie: Dignum laude Virum Musa velat mori; Cœlo musa beat. I now present unto your Honour's hand, the same Poet, but in an English dresse; nor can it be more difficult to find an English Macenas, than to make an English Horace: It is not unknowne to those that have bent their to the words and matter of another, espe- I cannot account for the additional e in Camebridge. Surely, the typographers of those days were not so careless as to overlook errors of the press in their title-pages: and it would be the height of presumption to suppose for a moment that a M. A. could be ignorant whence was derived the name of that spot "where willowy Camus lingers with delight." + This gentleman had a passion for collecting editions of Horace; that single poet furnishing him with a considerable library. He was in possession of all the editions which were published from 1476 to 1739, being upwards of 450. The first mention of any translation in our language occurs in 1567, when "Two Books of Satyres in English Verse" appeared; and two years afterwards the "Art of Poetry, Epistles, and Satyrs, Engl. by Thon. Drant." No version of any other part of his works is to be found till that above mentioned by Sir Thom. Hawkins in 1635. And the whole of his works were not published in an English dress till 1666 by Mr. Brome. See Poetry for the present Month. much much bound to my Author's phrase, as I shall be to your Honour's favour. "Vouchsafe a gracious aspect to these my labours, and I doubt not but those comfortable raies darted from your eyes, will now give mee life, as they have heretofore given me heat. The loftie riding Sunne in his diurnall course doth shine as bright on a meane cottage, as a Prince's Palace; and though his beames cannot raise it to an equal height, yet they impart light and comfort to both alike. I know the Noblenesse of your disposition will accept of my Translation as well in parchment, as if it had been wrapped up in plush; in vellum as in velvet; considering the matter is still the same, as when that Muses darling Horace wrote it: a curious Cabinet cannot make gold better, nor a Canvase bag or iron chest diminish the worth of it. "I leave my worke and selfe to your gracious patronage, and wish my selfe may be ever esteemed, as I desire to be "Your Honour's humble Servant, "HENRY RIDER." I omit the address of "The Translator to the Judicious Reader," in which" he gives him a taste of one or two passages, wherein," he says, "haply, perhaps unhappily, he may dissent from other judgements;" and which he concludes in these words: "Take, gentle Reader, these my labours in good part; and if I in this shall give thee any contentment, I hope hereafter to increase it to thee in some other subject; whose study in this hath been, to afford thee both profit and delight." I trust the gentle readers of those days were well satisfied with his labours; whether or no he improved upon the bint which he gives them, remains to be discovered. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, ACADEMICUS. March 14. YOUR Correspondents have Some absurd etymologies have also been offered of the word Gooseberry, which is merely a corruption of Gorze-berry, Gorze signifying furze or a prickly bosh. resting optical phænomenon seen in the Fata Morgana denote a very inteSouth of Europe, and which Miss Edgeworth mentions as occasionally seen in the North of Ireland. The Encyclopædia Britannica enumerates many farfetched etymologies of this name, which is a corruption of Fêtes de Morgana, or the Entertainments of Morgana. This was a celebrated Fairy, who makes a great figure in the old Romances, and of whom an account may be seen in Dunlop's History of Fiction. Your Correspondents have taken much pains to trace the origin of the word Cockney, and not very successfully. It is clear from their quotations that it originally signified London itself, and has only latterly been applied to the inhabitants. The name is a corruption of Coquina, an imaginary place of great celebrity in the old Minstrelsy, and famous for good eating. Popular wit applied the name to London, which was represented as paved with gold, and so plentiful that pigs ran about the streets, crying Who will eat me." This coarse humour has now disappeared, but whoever wishes for an account of the old original city of Coquina, will find it in a work called "Métrical Tales." Polydore Vergil was the first writer who ventured to publish the popular account which traces the origin of the British Nation to the Trojaus. The Tale of Troy divine was formerly universally current among the populace, and none but an antiquary can conceive the total revolution of po Ywuch Cobete upon the origin of pular taste in this respect. Stories the addition LL. D.; some deriving it from Legis Legum Doctor, and others from Legum Latarum Doctor. Neither are correct, for it simply signifies Legum Doctor, the letter L being doubled to denote the plural number. All Roman Antiquaries know that nothing is commoner than this reduplication, as in Coss. and innumerable other instances. The French at this day use MM. to denote the plural Messieurs, and it may be added that if two distinct words were intended, it would have been written L. L. D. and not LL. D. circulated among our ancestors coutained the most familiar anecdotes of Hector, Achilles, and the whole Ilian heroes; while no pedigree of a sovereign was complete that did not trace his line to some ancient warrior. They *A learned friend tells me that the "Paijs de Cocagne" is still proverbial in France as an El Dorado, where all good things may be got for nothing. There are cagne," which are long poles well greased, also popular amusements "Mats de Co. having dainties fixed at the top, the portion of the fortunate adventurer who can climb up to them. adopted adopted the most absurd and fanciful resemblances, and among these none more so than the present. The Trino bantes are represented by Geographers as inhabiting the country round London, and this has been transformed to Troy Novante. Having so easily built a Troy in Britain, the next object was to trace the name of the country, and as no Greek or Roman name came nearer than Brutus, Brutus was placed at the head of the Trojan colony. Yours, &c. E. F. B. I' Muirtown, InvernessMr. URBAN, shire, Dec. 7, 1818. HAVE been obliged by your kind attention to my Communications on various occasions. Perhaps at present you may allow a corner for this, which regards my residence at Soveze, in Languedoc, during the winter of 1788-9. This place is about 30 miles to the East of Toulouse, and eight miles North of Castlenaudari. It is remarkable for three circumstances; viz. being the seat of a very extensive Military School, to attend the masters of which I was sent to Soveze; for the reservoir of the Royal Canal, called the Bason of St. Feriol; and lastly, for a very wonderful cave in one of the mountains, two miles to the South-east, which I can at this period never reflect upon without feelings of astonishment. The Royal Military School was one of the twelve in France established upon the breaking up of the School at La Fleche. It was one of seven under the direction of the Monks of the Benedictine order; the other five being directed by the Dominicans, and I believe some other order. It contained 600 young men of the best families destined for the Army (which was entirely supplied with officers from these Establishments), and it may give some idea of the liberal and noble nature of this School, when I say, that the Manege never contained less than 35 horses, and generally more. Dancing, Musick, the English, German, and Italian Languages, formed likewise part of the plan of Education of this most noble School, which besides possessed the inestimable advantage of being far removed from cities, and having, no vacations, which too often, at a vast expence to the parents, more than undo every thing acquired during the busy months, at public institutions. The Revolution, which disbanded the Monkish Rulers (and excellent trainers to arms they were, however it may seem strange,) respected the School of Soveze, which lent many of its best warriors to the standards of the Republic, and I understand its fame and numbers still flourish. I do not know the fate of its sister establishments, though I suspect they were not all so fortunate as Soveze. The Bason of St. Feriol is within a short league to the South-west of Soveze; I think Marmontel, who in his life states his visit to it, says it is above 2000 toises in circuit ;-when I vi sited it, it was empty, on account of some repairs which were going on; it seemed a vast and deep, and somewhat circular chasm, surrounded by mountains; through the middle ran a small rill, which issued from a cleft in the rocks at the East end; at the West end was a wall of fine polished free-stone, which prevented the waters from going off when the bason was full; I think it was 70 feet high, very broad at the bottom, and sloping to a small breadth at the top. The water was let out through the bottom of this wall to the aqueduct, which conveyed the bason supply to the Canal at Castlenaudari, by means of a brass cock, about two feet in diame ter; the noise and view of the waters issuing from this cock was very tremendous, and rapid beyond any thing I have seen; though when the bason was full it must have been more so, from the weight of such a head of water. I come next to the Cave, and I must own my powers of description are totally unequal to the task of giving an idea of it. It enters from a slope near the top of a very high and steep mountain; after descending some hundred yards down a steep archway, we entered a succession of vast halls, covered with the most beautiful roofs of hanging crystallizations, many of them many feet long; from these halls passages ran into labyrinths which human feet never trod, and probably never will; a deep and rapid river runs through several of these immense caves, and the grandeur of the whole was far beyond any idea I had formed from description. I remember it was 12 o'clock when we descended - I did not not think we had been an hour in the cave, and was surprized, and affected with a very uncommon sensation, when on ascending, I found the day almost gone, and the Convent clock striking seven. We had many attendants with candles, which were fastened to the walls as we went on;— some of us went into passages which the others did not explore, but they all conducted to extensive halls, from which many passages branched off, so that the risk of following these was excessive, and kept the party from losing sight of the directing candles; still the extent, which took six hours to wander through, must have been very great; many English have visited Soveze, without perhaps knowing of this curiosity; but many had visited it before we did, and this paper may induce more to take a survey of it. It is certainly the greatest natural curiosity which I have met with, and, I might perhaps add, read of. H. R. D. Mr. URBAN, THE April 4. HE notice which you have taken, in p. 244, of my "Reasons for the immediate Repeal of the Tax on Foreign Wool," calls for my sincere thanks; but in thus acknowledging them, I have to offer a few observations, which, if you think proper, I shall be obliged to you to insert in your valuable Magazine; they naturally arise from that tax. I shall confine myself to a statement of facts, without comment, leaving your readers, and the publick, to draw their own conclusions respecting the policy or impolicy of the Tax on Wool. 1. In order to counteract the effect of that tax, the Spanish Government reduced the duty on the exportation of Wool about four pence per pound; but, as that reduction is upon all Wool exported, whether to England or the Continental Markets, this step is of no advantage to the English Manu land having been thrown upon the Continental Markets, the price of Wool (notwithstanding the reduced price here) is 15 to 20 per cent. lower in France and Flanders than it is in England. 3. In consequence of this low price of Wool, Foreign Merchants, both European and American, who formerly bought their cloth in England, now get their supplies in Flanders. 4. Orders have been offered to Manufacturers in England which would have given employment to extensive clothing districts (where the population is now suffering under the greatest distress from the want of trade, and where the poor-rates amount to twice the rental;) but the English Manufacturers could not undertake those orders, at the prices at which they are purchased abroad. 5. The consequence of the loss of foreign trade is the gradual depreciation of English Wool, which has constantly fallen in price since the tax was imposed; and as only two-thirds of the Wool grown in England is consumed here, and the remainder was exported when manufactured, it follows that, unless foreign trade revives, so that the demand shall again be equal to the growth, English Wool must continue to fall in price, until it is as low in England, as foreign Wool of similar quality is upon the Continent, and until the Manufacturer can again attempt competition with his foreign rival. It is most distressing to be obliged to disclose these facts; but, as the subject will soon be brought before Parliament, it is necessary that Government and the Country should know the real state of the case, before the Trade in Woollens has taken its final leave, never again to return to Great Britain. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, JAMES BISCHOFF. April 3. counteract what, in an article facturer, who feels the effect of Fo-Tin your last Review, p. 244, reign competition; for, if it reduces the price of Wool fourpence per pound in England, it has a similar effect in France and Flanders, and the relative price will remain the same; the Englishman must still pay the amount of the tax imposed here, or sixpence per pound more than the Foreigner. 2. In consequence of the quantity of Wool which used to come to Eng may be interpreted as a sanction, or countenance given to wilful and deliberate Murder, I transmit to you a paragraph, from the London Chronicle, March 29, 1820, which will shew that means are taken to put a stop to the evil of Duelling in a foreign country: "A Bill has passed its third reading in the Legislature of Alabama, to take effect from from the 1st day of March next, which subjects the party engaged in a duel to three mouths imprisonment, and a fine of 2000 dollars, one half to go to the Public Treasury, the other to the Informer. The Offender to give security for his good behaviour for two years, and to be disqualified from holding any office in the State, and for being a Member of either House of the General Assembly. The Bill requires every officer of the state to take an oath that he has not since the passing of this act violated its provisions, and that he will not during his continuance therein." The enactment, which imposes a new oath of office, is, in my opinion, objectionable; the others are calculated to put down a most disgraceful and wicked practice. A. R. F. R. Comparative Remarks upon a few of the most eminent Writers of our own and a Neighbouring Country. (Continued from p. 206.) IN Mathematics, and Astronomical the services and the genius of La Hire, of Huygens (although not a native genius), and of Gassendi, are acknowledged by other nations beside their own to have been great, it may be alleged that they found a counterpart in the persous of Halley, of Ward, and of Hooke, the latter of whom, as is well known, was highly instrumental in forming the Royal Society, and promoting its object and its advances by his active investigations. If we carry our views forwards to that era of wit, of genius, and of the Muses, the reign of Lewis the Fourteenth (although indeed the advances of science were on the whole equally conspicuous), literary parallels may be found of closer resemblance, and partaking more intimately of the same characteristics of genius. The graces and charms of brilliant wit, which are so conspicuous in Moliere, please also in Congreve, who in as high a degree partakes of them; and the simplicity of La Fontaine may be said to have been afterwards realized on this side the water in the muse of Gay, of Parnell, or of Prior. The tender, the moving, and the pathetic of Racine, may be said to have been rivalled in the tragic effusions of Otway, whose "Orphan" and "Venice Preserved" may in many reGENT. MAG. April, 1820. spects be paralleled with the Esther, and Athaliah. Pope, whose harmonious muse and felicity of satire have among us become proverbial, certainly found a powerful archetype in the writings and kindred genius of Boileau; their works in point of bril. liancy, accuracy, and point nearly assimilate, and bespeak an affinity in the general standard of thinking and capacity in their authors. la originality of wit and of thinking, there may be traced no faint resemblance between Swift and Fonlenelle. La Bruyere and Shaftesbury also may be said to be equally humour the characters or the foibles felicitous in delineating with sprightly of the age; while the eloquent, often the sublime effusions of a Bossuet, or a Massilon, may be found paralleled, if not in compass and strength, yet in elegance and beauty of expression, and a certain ardour of imagination which is mutually apparent in their authors, in the works of Barrow and Atterbury, at the same, or within a short period of that time, which witnessed the ta lents of the former. If the French Academy in the department of history produced a Rollin, in England there appeared about the same period a Hooke. But it would perhaps be departing altogether from that standard of propriety in resemblance which we have endeavoured to elicit, to compare, whilst extending our views through the 18th century, our great bistorians of later times, the Humes, the Robertsons, and the Gibbon's with any contemporary historians of the French school; unless in the boldness of his views, the philosophic temper of his genius, and the general dignity and origina lity of his sentiments, the Abbé Raynal may claim pretensions of equality, both in the meed of fame which individually attaches to his memory, and the particular contexture of his taleut. It is likewise obvious that the splendid endowments of Voltaire (although his genius for History, and all the other purposes of literature, has been eulogized by his admirers,) were wholly incapable of affording him this honourable seat of rivalship: as indeed they are, when magnified in the most extravagant degree, to compete, either in extensiveness or accu racy |