compofitions would have furnished, had they come down to us entire ? and may I not flatter myself, that as many as feel. this regret, will look with candour upon these attempts ?

STRATON.

This poet fupplies us with the names of two comedies and the fmall bequeft of one fragment; it is however an acceptable one, being interefting as recounting part of a dialogve, which to a certain degree gives fome difplay of character, and alfo as being of a facetious, comic caft in the character of familiar life. The fpeaker is some mafter of a family, who is complaining to his companion in the fcene of the whimsical, conceited humour of his cook

"I've harbour'd a He-Sphinx and not a Cook,
"For by the Gods he talk'd to me in riddles
"And coin'd new words that pofe me to interpret.
"No fooner had he enter'd on his office,

"Than, eyeing me from head to foot, he cries-
"How many mortals haft thou bid to supper!
"Mortals! quoth I, what tell you me of mortals ?
"Let Jove decide on their mortality;

"You're crazy fure; none by that name are bidden.
"No Table-Ufber? no one to officiate

"As Mafter of the Courfes !- -No fuch perfon; "Moschion and Niceratus and Philinus,

"Thefe are my guefts and friends, and amongst these "You'll find no table-decker as I take it.

"Gods! is it poffible? cried he: Moft certain "I patiently replied; He fwell'd and huff'd,

As if forfooth I had done him heinous wrong, "And robb'd him of his. proper dignity; "Ridiculous conceit !. What offering mak'ft thou "To Eryfichthon? he demanded: None"Shall not the wide-born'd ox be fell'd! cries he;

"I facrifice

"I facrifice no ox-Nor yet a wether ?

"Not I, by Jove; a simple sheep perhaps : "And what's a wether but a sheep! cries be.

"I'm a plain man, my friend, and therefore fpeak "Plain language -- -What! Ifpeak as Homer does ; "And fure a cook may use like privilege

"And more than a blind poet

Not with me;

"I'll have no kitchen-Homers in

my house;

"So pray discharge yourself!-This faid, we parted."

N° CVI.

THEOPHILUS.

THE fragments of this poet fupply me with a paffage upon the fertile fubject of love, which is of a very lively caft, and in a mifcellaneous collection like this certainly deferves to be received as one of the beauties of the Greek stage

"If love be folly as the fchools wou'd prove, "The man must lose his wits who falls in love;

46

Deny him love, you doom the wretch to death, "And then it follows he muft lofe his breath, "Good footh! there is a young and dainty maid "I dearly love, a minstrel fhe by trade; "What then? muft I defere to pedant rule, "And own that love transforms me to a fool? "Not I, fo help me! By the Gods I fwear, "The nymph I love is faireft of the fair; "Wife, witty, dearer to her poet's fight, "Than piles of money on an author's night; "Muft I not love her then? Let the dull fot, "Who made the law, obey it! I will not."

We have the names of feven comedies afcribed to this author.

TIMOCLES.

Of this name we have two comic poets upon record, one of whom was an Athenian born, and to him Suidas afcribes fix comedies; of the other's birth-place we have no account, but of his plays we have eleven titles, and the fragments of both are quoted indifcriminately: Amongst these I have felected one, which is so far matter of curiofity as it gives fome description of the illuftrious orator Demofthenes

"Bid me fay any thing rather than this; "But on this theme Demofthenes himself "Shall fooner check the torrent of his speech "Than I-Demofthenes! that angry orator,

That bold Briareus, whose tremendous throat, "Charg'd to the teeth with battering-rams and spears, "Beats down oppofers; brief in speech was he, "But, croft in argument, his threat'ning eyes “Flaflı'd fire, whilst thunder vollied from his lips.”

To one of the poets of the name of Timocles, but to which I know not, we are alfo indebted for a complimentary allufion to the powers of Tra gedy; it is the only inftance of the fort, which the Greek Comedy now furnishes, and I am gratified by the discovery, not only for the intrinfic merit of the paffage, but for the handsome tribute which it pays to the moral ufes of the tragic

drama.

« Nay,

દ

Nay, my good friend, but hear me! I confefs "Man is the child of forrow, and this world,

"In which we breathe, hath cares enough to plague us,
"But it hath means withal to footh these cares,
"And he, who meditates on other's woes,
"Shall in that meditation lofe his own:

"Call then the tragic poet to your aid,
"Hear him, and take inftru&tion from the ftage:
"Let Telephus appear, behold a prince,
"A fpectacle of poverty and pain,

"Wretched in both.-And what if you are poor?
"Are you a demi-god! are you the fon
"Of Hercules? begone! complain no more.
"Doth your mind struggle with distracting thoughts?
"Do your wits wander? are you mad? Alas!
"So was 'Alcmaon, whilft the world ador'd
"His father as their God. Your eyes are dim;
"What then? the eyes of Oedipus were dark,
"Totally dark. You mourn a fon; he's dead;
"Turn to the tale of Niobe for comfort,

"And match your lofs with her's. You're lame of foot; "Compare it with the foot of Philoctetes,

"And make no more complaint. But you are old, "Old and unfortunate; confult Oëneus;

"Hear what a king endur'd, and learn content. "Sum up your miferies, number up your fighs, "The tragic ftage fhall give you tear for tear, And wash out all afflictions but its own."

With the poet XENARCHUS, author of eight dramas, I conclude my catalogue of the writers of the Middle Comedy; one fhort but fpirited apostrophe I collect from this poet, and Î offer it in its naturalized state as a fmall remembrance of my zeal to catch at every relique of his fhipwrecked mufe.

"Ah faithlefs women! when you
"I register your oaths in air."

L3

fwear

I have

I have now produced a lift of comic poets, thirty-two in number, who were celebrated writers for the Athenian stage within the period we have been reviewing, and in thefe translations the reader has before him every thing that time has fpared of their productions except a few fhort and infignificant fentences, which had nothing to recommend them: The imperfect anecdotes here given of the feveral authors may be thought to contain very little interefting matter, but it has been no flight task to collect even these, and I am perfuaded that my fearch has left nothing behind, which can give any further elucidation to the fubject; if I were as fecure of not having trefpaffed upon the public patience through too much diligence and minuteness, I fhould difinifs my anxiety.

The period of the Middle Comedy was of short duration, and thirty-two comic authors are no inconfiderable number to have flourished within that æra; yet we may well fuppofe others, and probably many others, did exift within the time, of whom no memorial whatever now furvives: Most of these names, which I have now for the first time brought together, will I dare fay be new even to my learned readers, for not many men of a studious turn, and fewer ftill of claffical taste, will dedicate their time to those dry and deterring books, in which thefe fcattered reliques were depofited, and on which they have hitherto depended for their almost desperate chance of being refcued from extinction. I mention this not oftentatiously as taking credit on the fcore of industry and discovery, but hoping that the labour

of