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1.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Lucian of Samosata. From the Greek. With the Comments and Illustrations of Wieland and others. By William Tooke, F. R. S. Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and of the Free Economical Society of St. Petersburg. 2 Vols. 4to. pp. 818. and 797. Longman and Co.

F this Veteran in Literature had

putation as an Author, by his accurate and unrivalled publications on the Empire of Russia and its Sovereigns, and not less so by his Translation of "Zollikofer's Sermons," a work which has been justly styled "a stupendous fabric of true piety and genius;"-these large and handsome volumes would have proved an ample monumental record of his profound learning and patient industry.

Neither Lucian of Samosata nor his Writings have hitherto been sufficiently known to the English Reader-though partial Translations. have been published, by Spence, Mayne, Hicks, Carr, and Francklin. But it was reserved for Mr. Tooke, to give this pleasant Author, in our vernacular language as Lucian himself gave it in the Greek; and to illustrate the whole, by rich and copious notes, serious, jocose, and critically

acute.

more

The pious and learned Dr. Mayne, speaking of this celebrated and witty Satirist, says, "For my own part, I know not to whose writings we owe our Christianity, where the true God has succeeded a multitude of false, whether to the grave confutations of Clemens Alexandrinus, Arnobius, Justin Martyr, St. Augustine, Lactantius, &c. or the facetious wit of Lucian:" and this sentiment is quoted and approved by Dryden.

"In rendering into English this Author, who is destined in every age to awaken some efficacious opposition to the incessant industry of superstition, I have taken hold of the clue bequeathed to the world by Mr. Wieland in his version, in qua totus vivit spiratque Lucianus, to use the words whereby it is appropriately characterized by the bipontine critics, and have endeavoured to follow the ease and flu. ency of his diction as nearly as the dif GENT. MAG. July, 1820.

ference of idioms would allow, keeping constantly in view that attractive and engaging simplicity in which the peculiar grace of our Author consists. One word more and I have done. If the observation be true, that absolutely nothing but a Bishop can be bettered by translation, I may at least affirm with strict veracity, that no labour and pains on my part have been spared, that both Lucian and his commentators should be as little as possible the worse for it. With what success, it is not for me, but for the candour and generosity of the publick, to determine."

"Having been as circumstantial as I thought it necessary in my illustrations and notes upon whatever is to be praised, to be justified, and to be blamed, that he may be rightly understood and criticised, and here and there, as far as possible, prevented the abuse, which thoughtlessness and ignorance might make of him-Ishould only be obliged to repeat myself, by engaging here in a more particular discussion and confirmation of my foregoing judgment."

"Concerning my Translation, and the pains I have bestowed upon it, I have little to say, since it must speak for itself. It must have been much freer than it is, had my purpose been to have had it read as an original work. The rule I prescribed to myself respecting the epistles and satires of Horace I have constantly kept in view in the works of Lucian. My principal endeavour has been to do him no injury; and that the beauties which are so much admired in him by the adepts in the Greek language might suffer as little as possible under my hands, I have strove to acquire his spirit, his humour, his geniality, and, as far as the nature of our language, so different from his, perspicuity, and other regards would allow, to imitate even his turns and the colour

ing of his diction. His works being of such diverse kinds, and composed in such a difference of style, that every one of them almost demanded in these respects a different treatment. I am conscious of what I wished to perform; but how can I dare to hope, that I have always and every where actually accomplished it? The learned, who read him with taste in his own language, alone can judge of the difficulties attending a task which is fre

"The Reader may see these notes and illustrations, as translated by me, in the Gentleman's Magazine, from September 1806 to November 1811." quently

quently the most arduous where it seems the easiest; and it is them from whom I promise myself the most candour and indulgence-ardently as I have wished to have no need of the latter. They will therefore perhaps, with the former, approve of my having here and there, for the same reason, been now briefer, now ampler in expression, than Lucian; that I have every where strove to avoid his elegant tautologies (a species of fashionable beauty then prevalent, to which our taste cannot well be adapted), where they would only have been injurious to him; but on the other hand I have sometimes lent him words for the sake of rendering his thoughts more apparent. Perhaps, however, by an excessive care in endeavouring not to stray too far from his manner, I may occasionally have missed somewhat of his elegance: for which reason I could wish, that readers who are strangers to his language, therefore perhaps the generality of those into whose hands this translation will come,-lest they should sin against the Lucianic graces, would rather imagine that he has lost much on this side. So much the seldomer on the contrary I believe I have mistaken the meaning of his words and thoughts, and can the more confidently hope this, but therefore with less merit on my part, since I could not only avail myself of the labours of my predecessors in various languages, but also of the celebrated editor of Eschylus, whose ingenuity and taste are no less conspicuous than his knowledge of the Greek language and literature, who has such a friendship both for Lucian and for me as to revise the greater part of this translation in manuscript, and to employ some of the few moments left him by the mul tiplicity of his other affairs, in correcting it."

From a work of this elaborate description it is not within our plan to give many extracts; but we shall take a future opportunity of selecting some short specimens. In the mean time we present to our Readers a few biographical traits.

"Lucian's life, comprises the whole period of Hadrian and the two Antonines, a series of more than sixty years, which upon the whole was the golden age of the world under the Roman Augustuses, and in general formed one of the most bril liant passages in the annals of mankind.”

"The precise year of his birth is uncertain; and, after all the pains that Vossius, Johnsius, Dodwell, La Croze, Du Soul, and others have employed to settle his chronology, nothing accurate or probable can be obtained, more than that he was born about the latter end of Trajan's reign, or very early in that of Hadrian;

that he flourished under both the Antonines, and that under Aurelius Commodus, or shortly after him, he ceased to live.

"That he was of mean parentage, and apprenticed out to his maternal uncle, a sculptor, to learn statuary, and by what accident his good genius brought him out of the workshop almost as soon as he had set his foot in it, and placed him in the career he was destined to pursue, is related by himself in the ingenious Address to his townsmen of Samosata, which stands at the head of his works: but in none of them does he make any mention either of the means whereby he extricated himself from the obstacles which bis penury opposed to his studies, or where, and under what masters he qualified himself for the oratory of the bar, which he at first professed. For a youth of uncommon natural endowments, who in Lucian's slender circumstances would addict himself to literature, in hopes of soon being able not only without support from his family conuexions, but trusted entirely to fortunate events, to acquire respect and wealth, there was at that time no readier way, than either forensic eloquence or the profession of a rhetorician, by which those who determined upon the former were initiated into the mysteries of oratory, and qualified for its practice. Lucian accordingly (as he gives us to understand in his Angler and in the Double Indictment) began pretty early to enter upon the former method; and it is presumable, that he followed the profession of an advocate some years between the ages of twenty and thirty, not without success. However, as it did not so well answer his expectations in Greece (probably on account of the excessive competition and the prejudice which must have been against him at first as a Syrian, i. e. a semi-barbarous Greek), as to overcome his natural aversion from this profession, which must be continuaily increasing as he experienced more of the disagreeable affairs in which it involved him he resolved to leave Greece, and with it his present means of subsistence, and to settle in Gaul, one of the richest provinces of the Roman empire, and in point of civilization and politeness yielded to no other; and where at Lyons, Toulouse, Nismes, but particularly at Marseilles (on which Cicero had already conferred the title of the Gallic Athens), the Literature and the Arts of Greece were

held in high estimation.

"That he must have already conceived the resolution to abandon for ever the temple of chicane, and confine himself entirely to the profession of a teacher of rhetoric, if we had not his own testimony for it, might be concluded from the cireumstance, that the Latin language, in which he seems never to have made great proficiency, was the only one used in ju

ridical

ridical proceedings in Gaul, as in the rest of the Roman provinces. Greece excepted, which was allowed to enjoy certain privileges above the other subjugated nations, as being the parent of the Arts and Sciences, of elegant manners and graceful accomplishments, for which the Romans, conscious of their own barbarity, entertained always a great respect, which was highly honourable in the masters of the world."

2. History and Antiquities of Kensington, interspersed with Biographical Anecdoles of Royal and distinguished Personages, and a Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures in the Palace, from a Survey made by the late B. West, Esq. P. R. A., by Command of his Majesty. By Thomas Faulkner, Author of "The Historical Accounts of Chelsea and Fulham." 8vo. pp. 624. Nichols and Son. IN this handsome volume, the third and the best in the series of his useful lucubrations, Mr. Faulkner confirms the validity of his claim to public notice as a Topographer of no mean talent. Of his three works much has been borrowed from bulkier collectors, and especially from that celebrated literary pioneer, the Rev. Daniel Lysons; but the loan is repaid to the world with interest, and its employment exhibits judgment, discrimination, and taste: much, too, and in the book before us by far the most valuable portion, is derived from sources undoubtedly original, and narrated with considerable correctness of expression.

greater refinement. By means of the general knowledge of the events of past ages, we indemnify ourselves, in a measure, for the shortness of our duration; we add, as it were, centuries to our li mited period of existence, and console ourselves with the pleasing thought of being present at those scenes, and conversing with those persons, that the his torian successively describes. Thus the hope of elucidating antient manners, and of throwing a ray of light upon the obscurity of antiquity, is the first great stimulus of the parochial historian, who, by a constant reference to writers of established reputation, and by a diligent examination of records, endeavours to exhibit a conti nued and connected narrative of facts."

A manly Dedication TO THE KING duly notices his Majesty's patronage of Literature and the Fine Arts. A Preface of four pages next gratefully specifies the writer's obligations for aid whilst a List of Subscribers demonstrates the firm ground on which rest his hopes of remuneration. The work is divided into eleven chapters, and is adorned with twenty-two cuts of varied excellence: of these cuts, the lithographic representation of a drawing by M. Gauci, from a bust by A. Canova, of Buonaparte, strikes us as most interesting. It confronts page 173. The Contents are of a multifarious description: viz. etymology, situation, boundaries, and perambulation. Kensington division of the hundred of Ossulstan. Highways and parochial ways. Commission of Sewers. Stratification, soil, agriculture, botanic gardens, and nurseries. Mineral springs and wells. Manor of Earl's Court. Domesday. The De Vere family. Holland House, aneedotes, description. Manor of Abbots' Kensington. Annexation of Manor and Church to the Abbey of Abingdon. Composition between the Abbot of Abingdon and the Bp. of London. The Prior of Colne. First endowment of the vicarage. Manorhouse and rectory. Lives of the Vi cars. Parish Church, monuments, epitaphs, biography. Benefactions. Alms-houses. National school. Workhouse. Population. Register and documents. Inhabitants, institutions, and societies. Royal palace, pictures, gardens. Hyde-park. Bayswater. Gravel-pits. Manor of Knotting-barns. Knotting - hill, Earl's Court, again. Little Chelsea. Bromplate ourselves on living at a period of ton. Kensington Gore. From this

"The study of our national Antiquities," says Mr. F. " ever since the days of Camden, has engaged the attention of scholars, and at no period have the la-. bours of the topographer been more favourably received than in this age of antiquarian research; to fill up, therefore, a chasm in this interesting department of literature, and to rescue an antient and respectable appendage of the Metropolis from apparent neglect, is the design of the present work. History in general possesses something agreeable to the inquisitive mind, but that which treats of the affairs of our own country has a peculiar claim to attention. It may be remarked that there exists a general desire amongst us to become acquainted with the manners and customs of our ancestors, and this laudable curiosity induces us to examine into their domestic economy, in order to compare it with our own; we even admire their rudeness and simplicity, while at the same moment we congratu

rich bill of fare we proceed to cull a tid-bit or two for our Readers.

England was not always the seagirt garden of the world. It owes its blooming pride to patient perseverance and assiduous culture, to perspicacity in research, and skill in training.

"The learned Linacre first introduced from Italy the damask rose. Thomas

Lord Cromwell, in the reign of Henry VIII., enriched our fruit-gardens with three different plums. In the reign of Elizabeth, Edmund Grindall, afterwards Abp. of Canterbury, transplanted here [hither] the tamarisk. Oranges were brought here [hither] by one of the Carew family, To Sir Walter Raleigh we are indebted for that useful root the potatoe. Sir Anthony Ashley first planted cabbages in this country. The fig trees planted by Cardinal Pole, in the reign of Henry VIII. are still standing at Lambeth. Sir Richard Weston first brought clover-grass into England in 1645. The mulberry is a native of Persia, and is said to have been introduced in 1576. The almond was introduced in 1570, and came from the East. The chesnut is a native of the South of Europe. The walnut is a native of Persia, but the time of its introduction is unknown. The apricot came from America about 1562. The plum is a native of Asia, and was imported into Europe by the Crusaders, and the damascene takes its name from the city of Damascus. The alpine strawberry was first cultivated in the King's garden, in 1760. The peach is a native of Persia. The pectarine was first introduced about 1562. Cherries are said to have come originally from Cerasus, a city of Pontus, from which Lucullus brought them into Italy, and they were introduced into Britain about the year 53. It appears that they were commonly sold in the streets in the time of Lydgate, who mentions them in his poem called Lickpeuny:

Hot pescode owu began to cry, Strawberys rype, an cheryes in the ryse.' "Filberts were so named, from Phillipert King of France. The quince called Cy

donia, from Cydon, was cultivated in this country in Gerard's time. The red queen apple, was so called in compliment to Queen Elizabeth. The cultivation of the pear is of great antiquity, for Pliny mentions twenty different kinds. Most of our apples came originally from France. It is by the surprising perfection of modern horticulture that the supply of the Metropolis is rendered independent of foreign nations; for it is a well-known fact that, during the reign of Elizabeth, and even long after her time, the London fruiterer depended upon foreign aid for

the daily supply of his customers: however, by the application of large capitals, and by modern improvements in this vaJuable department of domestic economy, we have rivalled, if not surpassed, the most favoured nations of the Continent,"

The gigantic energies resulting from combination of pecuuiary means by the establishment of companies and societies, and the amazing advantages they possess over the most determined and successful efforts of individual powers, are apparent in Mr. F.'s account of the sinking of a well by Mr. L. Vulliamy, and of the erection of the West Middlesex Waterworks, pp. 41-45. Both undertakings presented their comparative difficulties, which were finally overan expence and loss of time preponcome; but the proportion of labour derated against the intelligent solitary projector. Mr. V. put his plan into execution in 1794; the Company began their operations in 1806. We cannot devote more space in our Review department to the subject, which nevertheless is in itself curious and pregnant with important conclusions.

In page 114, we perused with pleasure, a tribute of respect to the transcendent merit of the Moralist, Joseph Addison: that tribute, however, honourable as it is, does little more than inadequately atone for the indiscretion in publishing a slander so vapid and so vile, so preposterous and so incredible, as that which stains the volume in page 150, i. e. that, in the gallery of Holland House, forsooth! Addison had a table, with a bottle of wine placed at each end, and that, in the fervour of composition, he was in the habit of reeling along this narrow gallery in all the solitariness of sottish indulgence, between glass and add, that the tradition was invented glass. Truly does our good Author probably (as an excuse for intemperance) by such as can empty two bottles of wine, but never produce a Spectator or a Freeholder. Why, then, should he record, and thus spread, the scandalous fabrication?

With delight we copy, from page 237, an eulogy without the baseness of alloy; and we sincerely give our own personal testimony to its correctness: it respects the late Rey. Richard Ormerod, A. M.

"There was no man, perhaps, who

more

more eminently possessed the faculty of conciliating all ranks and orders in a large and populous parish than Mr. Ormerod. Nor was this affected either by courtly demeanour, or by flattering profession, but by that honest and amiable simplicity of life and heart which both dignify and recommend the Christian Minister. To a native purity of mind and unaffected sanctity of life, he added a calm, gentle, unobtrusive manner, which never failed at once to disarm hostility and to command respect. In his discharge of the complicated duties of a parish priest, he was eminent and exemplary."

This eulogy does equal honour to Mr. Faulkner's head and heart.

The important article, extending from page 247 to page 256, on FuNERAL RITES, contains matter wor

thy to command attention from the enlightened Ruler of our land.

Sepulture, in a populous town and within the walls of a large Church frequented on week-days and crowded to excess on Sundays, is an act of folly; it is an act, whereby the dead are made unconsciously to annoy the living: and no sordid regard for

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fees and perquisites” should be suffered to continue the odious practice. A CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE cannot but abhor it; inasmuch as it tends to undermine a massive building, or at any rate to fill it with noxious steams; whilst the sensitive

mind is shocked, and the pious and tender heart shudders in offering up orisons amidst‍ tombs and graves and mouldering monuments of mortality.

We now close our observations on a work which exhibits no common

Esq. otherwise called Norroy Kinge of Armes, of the East, West, and North Partes of England, from the River of Trent Northward; and in his Company Robert Glover, ul's Portcullis Pursuivant of Armes, in the yeare of our Lord God 1575, Anno 17 Elizabeth. Edited by Nicholas John Philipson, Esq. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. folio, pp. 62.

THE publication of an entire Heraldic Visitation, uncombined with other matter, is a perfect novelty in the annals of genealogical literature; for, notwithstanding that several co pies of these records are extant, both in our public and private libraries, they have never been made accessible to the general reader through the medium of the press.

At the solicitation of several of his

friends, as appears by his Preface, the Editor, being in possession of a copy of Flower's Visitation of the County Palatine of Durham in 1575, has printed a very limited impression of this scarce and curious manuscript; chiefly for the use of his antiquarian acquaintance, and with a view to perpetuate the pedigrees of some of the principal Northern families.

A collection of this nature from such an authority as Glover, who was the amanuensis; or, as he is stiled, the Marshal of Norroy, in compiling and arranging the pedigrees recorded during the survey, would alone be the curious in local genealogy; but sure of a favourable reception from the ingenious Editor has given further interest to his volume, in the exercise of considerable taste and talent in its embellishment; thus unit

proof of care and thought and lite-ing, with its inherent attractions, the

rary desert. Throughout it are scattered little grammatical errors, which may all with ease be removed in a second edition. Let not this worthy

man cease from his meritorious mental toils: let him, henceforth, devolve the routine of his library and of his workshop more and more to his emulous and active sons; but, whilst he superintends their labours with a MASTER's eye, let him release himself at length from the harness and trammel of his trade. Let him show a consciousness of his abilities in a higher sphere of action.-" Sumat superbiam quæsitam meritis."

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superadded merits of elegant typography and decoration.

The Dedication to Sir Cuthbert Sharp, F. S. A. commemorates his friendship, and his acknowledgments for the liberal communications of that gentleman, (whose valuable assistance Mr. Philipson has had the good fortune to share in common with many of his contemporaries,) are more fully expressed in a subsequent part of the Work.

4. Historical and Typographical Account of the Town of Woburn, its Abbey, and Vicinity. 8vo. pp. 140. Dodd, Woburn. LITTLE has yet been done to throw any light upon the History and Antiquities of Bedfordshire; and the magnitude

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