consist in the introduction of civil government, and the acquisition Sed nemora atque cavos montes, sylvasque colebant; Nec commune bonum poterant spectare, neque ullis V. 951-7. The progress of civilization is thus described: Navigia atque agriculturas, monia, leges, Arma, vias, vestes, et cætera de genere horum Præmia, delicias quoque vitæ funditus omnes, Carmina, picturas ac dadala signa, politus Usus, et impigræ simul experientia mentis, Paullatim docuit pedetentim progredientes. Sic unum quidquid paullatim protrahit ætas In medium, ratioque in luminis erigit oras. Namque alid ex alio clarescere corde videbant Artibus, ad summum donec venere cacumen. When it is attempted to civilize a barbarous or semi-barbarous people, the first means which commonly suggest themselves consist in the introduction of useful arts and mechanical inventions; such, for example, as the use of gunpowder, printing, the mariner's compass, the steam-engine, &c. Ib. 1447-56°. In order that a community should deserve the name of civilized, it is necessary that a knowledge of the mechanical arts should be generally diffused throughout it, and that their effects should be visible in the habitations, clothing, implements, &c. of the people over the whole country. The fine arts and literature are perhaps less characteristic of civilization than are the useful arts. Still, so far as their influence extends, they are inconsistent with barbarism, and tend to raise the people from it. The Greeks in Homer's time had but imperfect civil institutions; their mechanical arts were simple and rude; and they were, in all probability, ignorant of writing. The mention of roads amongst the marks of civilization is characteristic of the Roman; and is worthy of notice at so early a date as that of Lucretius. Wakefield cites the verses of Tibullus, who makes the formation of long lines of road a mark of the existing state of society, as contrasted with the golden age: Quam bene Saturno vivebant rege, priusquam 6 Compare Lucian, Amores, c. 33, 34, who in like manner makes the progress of mankind from barbarism to civilization consist mainly in the introduction and improvement of the arts. They can, therefore, scarcely be considered to have been a civilized nation at that time; yet the existence of such poems as those of Homer, and the capacity of the people to enjoy them, were both a sign and a cause of progressive civilization. Generally, it may be said that an advance in civilization is marked by an increased culture of the understanding, and a higher state of intelligence: whilst ignorance, stupor, apathy, and unreasonable credulity or scepticism, are characteristics of barbarism. 3. Civilization is further distinguished by refinement and gentleness of manners in the relations of private society, and generally by a humane spirit in the intercourse of mankind. According to the verses of Ovid, (which by repeated quotation have acquired the weight of a proverb,) the acquisition of the liberal arts softens the manners, and banishes coarseness; so that refinement and humanity are closely connected with intellectual culture, though not identical with it. Barbarians are rude and coarse in their manners, and sensual and brutish in their habits. They are moreover quarrelsome, vindictive, cruel, and ferocious. Thus the comic poet describes the animal propensities of barbarians: οἱ βάρβαροι γὰρ ἄνδρας ἡγοῦνται μόνους τοὺς πλεῖστα δυναμένους φαγεῖν τε καὶ πιεῖν. And Tacitus, favourable as is his picture of the Germans, cannot conceal their long potations, often accompanied with bloodshed: (Germ. 22.) Savages likewise are distinguished by their inhumanity towards the weak and unprotected, as prisoners taken in war: for a like reason they in general treat their women as slaves. The existence of a different usage in the latter respect among the ancient Germans, is one of the sparks of civilization which can be discerned in the midst of their primitive rudeness. On the other hand, a civilized people are distinguished by refinement and gentleness of manners, by the avoidance of all that offends or gives pain in the intercourse of private life. Accordingly, the feelings which have grown out of the customs and ideas of chivalry; the character of a gentleman, and the general behaviour which this character implies; belong peculiarly to civilization. And thus the word civility, which formerly bore the present meaning of civilization, has, in the modern European languages, become synonymous with courtesy. Humanity, in an enlarged sense, is certainly a characteristic of civilization, though some civilized nations have not possessed it in an eminent degree. In the project for civilizing Africa by means of the Niger expedition, (one of the projects to which the Quarterly Reviewer appears to refer), it was assumed, that if the native tribes acquired the habits of civilization, they would disuse the practice of mutual warfare for the purpose of making slaves. Civilization therefore, in the view of the framers of this plan, was thought (and justly) to imply such an amount of intelligence and humanity as would deter the native tribes from the atrocious wars which they now wage against one another, with the object just stated. The plan would doubtless have been successful, if the native Africans could have been civilized by the means which were employed to civilize them. If a community possesses the three marks which have been enumerated, it may properly be considered as civilized, whatever may be its moral or religious state. And accordingly civilization is often, if not opposed to morality or religion, at least distinguished from them. For example, it might be said that the upper classes in some of the chief countries of Europe during the last century were highly civilized, but not moral or religious. On the other hand, many writers have celebrated the virtues of savages; and have supposed that the primitive simplicity, which characterizes the state of nature, is eminently favourable to morality. Thus Ovid, while he rejoices that he lived in a polished and luxurious age, probably would not have doubted the stern virtues of the rude times which had passed: Prisca juvent alios: ego me nunc denique natum Gratulor; hæc ætas moribus apta meis. Non quia nunc, &c. Sed quia cultus adest; nec nostros mansit in annos Rusticitas priscis illa superstes avis. De A. A. III. 121-8. And writers who would not have shared in the imaginations of Rousseau, have thought that the refinements of civilization are dangerous to some of the virtues". It is however to be remarked that the gentleness and refinement of manners which characterize 7 "Although the progress of civiliza- | dangerous enemy is the softness of the tion has undoubtedly contributed to assuage the fiercer passions of human nature, seems to have been less favourable to the virtue of chastity, whose most mind. The refinements of life corrupt while they polish the intercourse of the sexes," &c. Gibbon, c. 9. Compare Dante, Parad. xv. 97-135. civilization, are a moral good, as far as they go; and that humanity, in an extended sense, is the corner-stone of morality. Moreover, the development of Christianity enters largely into the idea of modern civilization. Thus Burke, in his Reflections on the French Revolution, says: "Nothing is more certain than that our manners, our civilization, and all the good things which are connected with manners and with civilization, have, in this European world of ours, depended for ages upon two principles, and were indeed the result of both combined; I mean the spirit of a gentleman, and the spirit of religion." And it is uncertain whether the epithet civilized would be conceded to any existing community which is not Christian. It may be added, that amongst an uncivilized people, in a low state of intelligence, even Christianity loses its distinctive attributes, and becomes little better than a mechanical superstition, as is proved by the accounts of some of the Eastern Churches. Works, Vol. v. p. 154. ed. 8vo. 1815. G. C. LEWIS. XXXI. MISCELLANIES. REMARKS ON TRANSLATION. WORDS, and symbols-which latter include sculpture and painting-are the only medium of communication between the generations of mankind. We shall speak chiefly of the first, and most enduring; referring to the latter occasionally in illustration. The medium of an author's thoughts must be his words; words are the sole material by which he permanently expresses what has passed in his mind; they are the only form and image his ideas assume in developing a particular train of thought or condition of emotion. The only merit therefore in a translation is that of giving the words of an author in another language, as nearly by equivalents as possible. It is true that there are many words, and innumerable phrases and idioms, which cannot be exactly rendered in any other language; but so far from this being a justification for running wild into paraphrase and conjectural circumlocution, it constitutes a yet stronger reason for following the original words as closely as possible, so that all those which can be accurately rendered, may assist in explaining the intended meaning of those which can not be accurately rendered. Then at all events we know what we have to trust to; without this be done, we have no security for any one thing. No professions of admiration and thorough comprehension on the part of the translator are any excuse for abandoning the words of his author. The instant a man says, 'I will give the spirit of the author in the words that author would have used had he lived now, and written in this other language,' it is all over with the original. Translation, in such a case, becomes a mere cover for individval egotism and vanity,— often for presumption-always for something other than it pretends to be. Sometimes it will be necessary to render one idiom by another, as one proverb may often be rendered by another; but the literal words of the original should be given in a note. The same argument is applicable to all obscure or doubtful passages, and a translator might be addressed to this effect:-Let us know what this writer did say in his own words, as closely as they can be rendered by equivalents, and not what you think he meant to say. If you do not consider his meaning clear enough, another reader may find it quite clear; and if the original be really obscure, that is not your fault. Do not venture upon a remedy which would open the door for future licence, and destroy our confidence. Give the world a fair opportunity of judging for itself; and then, out of all these judgments, (instead |