We have a collection of Menander's fragments and the titles of feventy-three comedies; the fragments confift only of fhort fentences, and do not give us the fpirit and character of the dialogue, much lefs of any one entire fcene; for though Hertelius has gone further than Grotius and Le Clerc in arranging them under diftinct topics, and has brought into one view every paffage of a correfpondent fort, ftill it is a mere disjointed medley, interefting only to the curious, but affording little edification to the generality of readers: Many of them however are to be respected for their moral fentiment, fome are of a very elevated caft, and others, (more in number than I could wifh) of a gloomy, acrimonious and morofe quality. Antient authorities are nevertheless fo loud in the praife of Menander, that we cannot doubt of his excellence. Quintilian after applauding him for his peculiar addrefs in preferving the manners and diftinctions proper to every character he introduces on his fcene, adds in general terms, "that he eclipfes every writer of his clafs, and 66 by the fuperior brilliancy of his genius throws "them all into fhade."-He condemns the perverted judgment of his contemporaries for af fecting fecting to prefer Philemon on fo many occafions; and C. J. Cæfar, whilst he is passing a compliment upon Terence, ftiles him only dimidiatum Menandrum. Dion Chryfoftom recommends him as a model for all who study to excel in oratory," and let none of our wife men re"prehend me," he adds, "for preferring Me nander to the old comic poets, inafmuch as his "art in delineating the various manners and graces is more to be efteemed than all the "force and vehemence of the antient drama." There is fo much claffical elegance in the lines, which T. Faber has prefixed to his edition of Terence, particularly in the introductory stanza, and this is withal fo appofite to the subject in hand, that I shall conclude this paper by tran, fcribing it. Sacrum Menandri pectus Elyfias penetrarat oras & Tum dolore percita, Virgineafque Suffufa lacrymis genas, Huc et illuc curfitarunt Perque lucos, perque montes, Perque vallium finus, Curfitarunt Curfitarunt Gratia, Queis nova fedibus Templa ponere poffent. T N° CXXXVIII. Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vafto. (VIRGIL.) HE various authors, who have contri buted to the collection of Menander's rel mains, feem to have extracted from him, as if by general agreement, little elfe but the most unfavourable delineations of the human character: So far from finding thofe facetious and fprightly fallies to be expected from a comic writer, thofe voluptuous defcriptions, which Pliny alludes to, 'or any fragments of the love fcenes Ovid tells us he fo abounded in, we meet a melancholy difplay of the miferies, the enormities, the repinings of mankind. What can be more gloomy and misanthropic than the following ftrain of difcontent, extracted by Euftathius! "Suppose "Suppofe fome God should fay"- Die when thou wilt, • Mortal, expect another life on earth; And for that life make choice of all creation • What thou wilt be; dog, sheep, goat, man or horfe; ⚫ Chufe only in what form; there thou art free- « The warrior cock is pamper'd for his courage, Is flattery's prize; the informer takes the next, "And barefaced knavery garbles what is left. "I'd rather be an afs than what I am, "And see these villains lord it o'er their betters." Another fragment prefents itself of the fame caft, but coloured a little nearer to the hue of comedy― "All creatures are more bleft in their condition, "Whilft "Whilst we, befides our neceffary ills, "Make ourselves forrows of our own begetting: "All these are torments we may thank ourselves for." The reader will obferve that thefe are specimens of a general disgust against mankind, and of difcontent with the common lot of human life; as fuch they can clafs with the humour of no other character but that of an abfolute mifanthrope, a kind of Timon; for general invective differs widely from that, which is pointed against any particular vice or folly, and in fact can hardly be confidered as falling within the province of comedy in any cafe. If Menander hath been justly celebrated for his faithful pictures of the living manners of the age he wrote in, we cannot but receive a gloomy impreffion from the dark and difmal tints, in which these fketches are caft; and though the age we live in hath follies and failings enough ftill to feed the comic poet's appetite for fatire, we may confole ourselves in the comparison of our own time with his, provided the ftage is to be |