these, may be reckoned the age of Homer: his poems are the only memorial of it which have reached us: but it is impossible that they should have been the single instance of genius and taste produced during the period, in which that poet lived: 2. The next may, (but with great laxity of chronology), be called the age of Philip and Alexander: 3. The age of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, follows; it is not often mentioned, but it produced Theocritus, Apollonius Rhodius, many persons eminent in art and science, and one, certainly, of the most important works of antiquity, the Greek version of the Old Testament, usually termed the Septuagint: 4. The Augustan age is illustrated by names familiar to every classical reader: 5. The Saracenic period, or the era of the Ommiades;-" the flourishing ages," as they are described by Mr. Swinburn, of Arabian gallantry and magnificence, which "rendered the Moors of Spain superior to all "their contemporaries, in arts and arms, and "made Cordova one of the most splendid cities "of the world. Cordova was the centre of "politeness, taste, and genius; tilts and tourna

ments, with other costly shows, were long the darling pastimes of a wealthy, happy people: "and this was the only kingdom of the west, "where geometry, astronomy and physic were પ regularly studied and practised *." 6. The age of Julius the second and Leo the tenth, so admirably illustrated by Mr. Roscoe, in his Lives * Travels through Spain, p. 280.

of Lorenzo de Medici and Leo. The Reminiscent has sometimes thought that an interesting history of the revival of literature in this age might be formed, by supposing a literary tour on the plan of "The Travels of Anacharsis the "Younger." A young Sarmathian, initiated in the classics by some German or Italian, whom war or commerce had carried beyond the Vistula, might make his way into Italy; and, after much wandering, become the commensal of Erasmus at Bâsle, and remain with him, but with a liberal allowance for casual excursions, until his decease: then he might resume his wanderings, visit England and Scotland, and spend his last days with Grotius. Much, of course, he should see, read and hear; and all he saw, read or heard, he should communicate to some favoured correspondent, who, after the decease of his friend, should publish his letters with notes. Such a work from a pen of taste, learning and industry, would be even more interesting than that of Barthélémi, and find its way to every school, every library, and almost every toilette in Europe. How grateful to men of letters would it be to hear that Mr. Hallam was engaged on such a work! 7. The age of Louis the fourteenth, is yet the glory of France. With the single exception of music, every art and science, every branch of elegant or profound literature, was then cultivated in that kingdom, by persons, to whom the public opinion of all Europe has uniformly assigned a lofty place in the temple of fame.

XXXI. 2.

The Era of British Literature.

Ir is pleasing to an Englishman to observe, that the age of British Literature is of longer duration, and not inferior in splendour to any which have been mentioned. It may be divided into two serieses of writers; the first, may be supposed to have commenced with Spencer, and to have closed with Edmund Burke; the second to have commenced at the decease of that great man, and to embrace the present time. In some branches of taste and science Great Britain has been equalled, in sculpture and painting she has been out-done, in other countries; but what poets have surpassed Milton or Shakspeare; what historians have equalled Hume, Robertson, or Gibbon; what philosophers approximate to Bacon*, Newton, or Locke?

*The life of lord chancellor Bacon, by Mallet, is universally admitted to be very defective. A well written account of the public and private character of this eminent personage would be an invaluable accession both to the literary and the political history of this country:-the Reminiscent therefore adds with pleasure that the public may expect to receive it from the pen of his friend Mr. Basil Montagu. That gentleman has already preluded to it by his two articles on the Novum Organum of Bacon, in the Retrospective Review.

Inverting the adjectives in the well-known sentence of Tacitus," Bonum virum facile dixeris, magnum libentur ;”we may apply it to Bacon: beyond this, we fear, that no impartial investigation of his character will ever lead.

Where do we find such an union of political knowledge, philosophy, and eloquence, as in the pages of Burke?-In his line of excellence,and it certainly is not one of the lowest,—this great man stands, in respect both to ancient and

His general subserviency to the sovereign and his favourites, and his adulatory language to them, cannot be denied; but it is some extenuation of them that, in his time, equal subserviency, and equal adulation, were chargeable on several of the greatest of his countrymen. Lord Coke, his stern and powerful adversary, did not scruple, out of compliment to James, to call sir Walter Raleigh "a viper of hell;" and to call the vile Buckingham," the saviour of his country."To extenuate the bribery proved upon Bacon, it is said, and perhaps it is generally true, that though he was bribed, his judgments were impartially given it has ever been asserted that an instance has not been shown, in which he decided in favour of the party, from whom the bribe was received. It has also been said, that bribes to the same extent, and proffered in the same manner, had been received by all his predecessors.

The circumstances of the afflicting dénouement of the catastrophe are highly interesting; but much in them remains to be cleared up. It is certain that Bacon himself desired to be publicly heard; this argues no fear of inquiry; and it is also certain, that it was only from an unhappy deference to the monarch and his favourite, that Bacon did not insist upon such an enquiry, and made his submission: Over this, genius and learning will ever sigh; no one, blessed with either, can read the caustic line in which Bacon is mentioned by Pope, without a pang.

The reflection transcribed in page 184, from father Bourdaloue, may, when we contemplate the infirmities of Bacon, be, with great propriety, indulged in.

to modern times, without a rival or a second. We remember the verses, in which he is described to be one,

"Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind,

"And to party gave up, what was meant for mankind."

But, if he had not been the very thing he was, would so many general truths have fallen from him? Should we have received from him such irradiations of fancy, such bursts of eloquence? His very adversaries will allow, that even in the aberrations, which they charge upon him, there is talent enough to set up a hundred political sages of an ordinary calibre.

The second series may be said to comprize the writers of our own time: Several are eminently respectable; and some will reach and be read with delight and admiration by the latest posterity.

XXXI. 3.

Comparison of the Writers in the British Era of Literature, with those of Lewis the fourteenth.

SUBSCRIBING to the well known verses of

lord Roscommon,

"The weighty bullion of one English line,

"Drawn through French wire, would through whole pages shine;"

the Reminiscent yet doubts, whether, speaking generally, French writers are not superior to the