ciation," i. e. in English, Demosthenes was over-hung, the effect of which upon the speech medical men can best determine. The Florentine Bust, of which a cast has been spread all over Europe, is not a Demosthenes.

LXXIII. MERCURY ENAGONIOS. A Hermes. The Physiognomy of this

head of Pontelick Marble, presents

features, which characterize some images of Mercury. The ears, furrowed with some horizontal scars, are suitable to the inventor of Pugilism and the Gymnastic. (Visconti, p. 80.) Upon a Gem of Stosch we have a Mercury Agonios, Enagonius, or Pulastrites, i. e. who presides over the Public Games, such as he is seen upon a Greek coin of the Family Annia. If the Statue had not been a Hermes, he would have held an inverted Caduceus, as if to teach or correct the young Athletæ. Faber says, that the Magistrates of the Public Games took the staff after the example of Mercury. As to the ears, such as are of the fashion of this Hermes, denote a Pancratiast. They are very commonly represented upon Busts of Hercules; and there is a dissertation and engraving of them in an early volume of Memoirs of the Institute.

LXXIV. ALCIBIADES. A Hermes. Although this unfinished head is only mise aux points, it exhibits sufficient resemblance to the acknowledged portraits of Alcibiades, to be collected. This Hermes is noticeable for the traits which it preserves of the mechanical method" de mettre la Sculpture aux points," followed by the antients. (Visconti, p. 30.) In the Pio-Clementine Museum (Tom. vi. Tav. 31.) is a genuine portrait of Alcibiades. Clemens Alexandrinus says, that the Statuaries of Athens gave to their Mercuries the features of Alcibiades.

LXXV. TRAJAN. A Statue. It is a Trajan [Philosophus], draped in that character, but carrying a globe in his left hand. (Visconti, p. 30.) The hands are restorations, and the ensign of imperial dignity, placed in the band of a Philosopher, is not à l'antique.

LXXVI. CANDELABRUM. A small hexagonal altar forms the base. Some figures of Allasses, or Telamons, kneeling in the action of supporting a cornice, ornament in a bigger form three of the faces of this altar. (Visconti, p. 31.) Telamon is a word in Greek,

din's Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain, there is contained a very full description (from Ames and Herbert) of " Thomage, or Myrrour of the Worlde," printed by Caxton in 1480-1; to which is added, by Mr. Dibdin, the following Observation from Oldys, i.e. "In some copies the pages at top are number. ed, and the figures of the celestial and terrestrial spheres are explained in writing by Caxton himself," and then, says the Editor, that the latter part of the remark (by Oldys) is a mere conjecture, aud has no sort of authority to support it, as the handwriting of Caxton is not certainly known.

N the first volume of Mr. Dib

It is now ten years since Mr. Dibdin's Book was published, and it may be supposed that at the time he extracted and commented upon the above remark of Mr. Oldys he had not seen the first edition of the work, in the possession of Earl Spencer, which he so accurately describes in the 4th volume of the "Bibliotheca Spenceriana," published in 1815; for as in Earl Spencer's Edition the figures of the celestial and terrestrial spheres are explained in very old yellow writing ; it must, I think, have struck him, that the remark of Oldys was entitled to respect, at least so far as to be worth examining; and as he had inspected the same work of Caxton among Bishop More's Books in the Public Library of the University of Cambridge; drew himself fac-similes of the cuts from another copy in the Museum of Glasgow-had seen the copy procured from the Library of the Jesuits' College at Louvain, and intimates that the same Edition is in the Bodleian Library (Oxford), and that his late Majesty, the Marquis of Bute, and others, also possessed copies of it; he had the most ample means of proving the fact that could be wished for.

Now, Mr. Urban, with great deference to Mr. Dibdin's judgment, I cannot but attach some weight to

Mr.

Mr. Oldys's remark, for a reason which I will shortly state to you. What sort of authority could be expected, or would satisfy Mr. Dibdin for a fact assumed to have taken place three centuries since, I cannot suppose; but if Mr. Oldy's was supported by the analogy alone, which the comparison of two or three copies of the work, all of them explained by writ ing of the same stile and character (without any family or literary tradition which he might possess superadded); I must say that he did not deserve to be so slighted, and his remark to be set aside as mere conjec. ture, coming as it did from a person so venerable, so well-informed, and so likely to obtain and examine every document connected with the subject.

I have said above, that in the first edition of the Myrrour of the Worlde, in Lord Spencer's Library, some of the figures of the celestial and terrestrial spheres are explained in very old yellow writing; and as I have a copy of the same edition, wherein the same figures are likewise so explained, and have closely compared the two books, and have found the explanations in each to be exactly similar in the character and hand-writing, the same orthography and colour of the ink, and keeping the same position with respect to the figures; 1 cannot but believe that Oldys had examined different copies, and was right in his conclusion, and that such explanations in writing are added to the figures (the earliest known Engravings, with a date, published in this country) by Caxton himself. It is much more probable that this task would be undertaken by Caxton himself, than by any of his journeymen or servants (whose hand-writings, by the bye, if more than one were employed, would be dissimilar, and the positions varying) for the reputation of a work which he published with such solemnity, and with figures, "without which," he says, "it might not lightly be understood," would greatly depend on such of those figures being explained with writing, which by his own Drawings, or by the error of his Engraver on wood, were defectively set forth in the print, and it is next to impossible, to conceive that copies getting abroad into the world, not previously so explainGENT. MAG. September, 1820.

ed in writing, would by the owners, or various purchasers thereof, be afterwards explained in the very same figures and places, in the same handwriting, and in the same coloured ink, &c.

As I am now on the subject of Mr. Dibdin, and his entertaining publications, I shall proceed, Mr. Urban, and trust I may do so, without the necessity of an apology, to make some remarks upon a few books in my possession, connected with accounts given by him.

When an Author so conversant as Mr. Dibdin with scarce Editions of the Classics, &c. observes in a note respecting the device of Grüninger, at page 163 of the second volume of his Decameron, that those who possess the Edition of Horace of 1498, the Terence of 1496, the Boethius of 1501, and the Virgil of 1503 (meaning 1502), each executed by Gürninger or Gruninger (whose real name, however, was John Reinhardt), may be said to possess the more rare and curious specimens of the Press of that active and spirited Printer, I have reason to think myself fortunate indeed, in having the whole of them (with a slight variation hereafter noticed) in my collection.

Mr. Dibdin has not described the Boethius and Virgil of Gruninger, (probably because he limited himself to Editions printed within_the_fifteenth century); and I shall therefore, after slightly noticing his accurate accounts of Horace and Terence, proceed to give the publick (through your very much respected and valuable Magazine) an account of the same Printer's Editions of Boethius and Virgil.

Mr. Dibdin bas bestowed nine pages of the second Volume of his Bibliotheca Spenceriana, in the faithful description of Locher's Edition of Horace, printed by Johu Reinhardt, (whose Cognomen, as he prints it himself, was Gruninger), and has embellished the account with eleven ac. curate representations of the ornaments bestowed by Gruninger on that volume, and he also gives the sentiments of Bentley on the intrinsic value of this Edition (independent of its typographical execution); but I cannot help lamenting that so distinguished a Printer (who, as Mr.

Dibdin

Dibdin observes, must have employ ed hosts of artists, and had prodigious enthusiasm in his profession) should have used all over the work the identical figures which were given in his Edition of Terence of 1496, and which figures were only applicable to illustrate scenic representations, and are seldom (if ever) expressive of the subject matters contained in Horace's Odes, Satires, or Epistles. Nay, the very names of personages in Terence's Plays are sometimes retained, suspended over the heads of the figures when repeated in the Horace, and this is the more to be regretted, because no expense was deemed by this extraordinary Printer too much for illustrating all his other works with suitable ornaments. He has, it is true, given some cuts in this Horace, solely applicable to the text, but these with a very sparing band.

The Strasbourg Terence, printed by Gruninger in 1496, I certainly have not (as hinted above); but an Edition printed by him in 1499 (the year after the Horace was printed) is in my possession; and when I say, that this latter Edition has all the embellishments contained in that of 1496, and has also others not contained therein, and the places left blank in the first Edition are filled up in the second with cuts, I feel as if I possessed the better edition of the two. I shall not go into any description of my copy, because Mr. Dibdin has bestowed ten pages of the same second volume of the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, and thirty-two Engravings, in his elaborate account of the first Edition (to which mine bears the closest resemblance in Letter-press and Wooden-cuts), but shall proceed to describe in order, Gruninger's Boethius and Virgil (which Mr. Dibdin has only intimated to be in existence), and I shall conclude with a very slight observation or two about the Terence printed at Lyons in 1493, described in 4 Bibl. Spenceriana, page 561.

BOETHIUS. The recto of the first page contains the title only, "Boetius de Philosophico consolatu, sive de Consolatioe Philosophie: cũ figūr. ornatissimis novit expolit."On the reverse commences a register, &c. extending to eleven pages. The Proeme occupies five pages. On the reverse of the last, of which is a cut

of Rome, and of Boethius ascending with trumpets, &c. to the capitol, to make his Oration to the Senators (as intimated in the first Book). This beautiful Cut (which measures 5 inches by 4) as also the first page of sheet B. on which the Work commences, are in my copy disfigured by being shut together before the Illuminations, which were bestowed on them at some very distant period, were dry. The sheets are in sixes down to X, but Y has eight leaves, on the recto of the last of which is the following Colophon over the Printer's mark, shewn at page 94 of the second volume of Mr. Dibdin's Bibliotheca Spenceriana, Impressum Argentine p Johannē grüninger Anno incarnationis dui Millesimo quingentesimo primo Kalendas vero VIII. Septebris."

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Each division of the five Books has very interesting cuts of the subject matters (the dimensions 34 inches by 2) but many of the cuts are extended to the whole width of the Letter-press (six inches) by additional blocks representing temples, porticos, and various buildings, landscapes, trees, &c. suitable to the print to which they are subjoined, and in many instances a block of this nature represents Boethius and Philosophy, his companion, as spectators of the scene, and especially in those where they themselves are not the Dramatis Personæ. All the Prints are executed with great spirit.

VIRGIL. I do not mean to dwell long upon the merits of this extraordinary Volume, but shall content myself with the following brief account of a Book, which if ample justice were done to it, would occupy ten or twelve of Mr. Dibdin's closest printed pages. The title, printed in red, stands thus, "Publii Virgilii Marons opera," over a splendid woodcut (nine inches by six) representing the Poet standing under the wings and protection of Calliope, having on his right hand Mevius and Buvius (weeping) Cornelius-Gallus, Tucca, and Varrus, aud on his left (to whom Virgil inclines attentively) Mecenas, Augustus, and Pollio. The Work coutains more than two hundred very lively Wood Engravings incidental to the different subjects treated of, many of them as large as that on the title. At the end of the twelfth Book of

the

the Eneid, commences, on a new paging, Liber tredecimus, and other subjects, to the quantity of thirtyfour leaves. On the recto of the last whereof is the following Colophon, over the Printer's device, "Impressum regia in civitate Argenten ordinatione elimatione ac relectōne Sebastiani Brant. operaq et impensa non mediocri magistri Johannis Gruninger anno incarnationis christi. Millesimo quingentesimo secundo quinta Kalendas Semtembres die."

I shall not detain you longer (Mr. Urban) than just to remark, that happening to have in my possession the Terence, printed by Ascentius at Lyons (1493), described at page 561 of the Supplement to the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, I most cordially agree with Mr. Dibdin, that the embellishments of this Edition are much superior to those of the Strasbourg Edition of 1496 (Gruninger's, described before); that there is more character, spirit, and intelligence in the cuts; and that the scene is often extremely well acted in them; and I shall beg to refer your readers to the second vo lume of Mr. Dibdin's work for facsimile representations of the blocks,

P.S. Being on the subject of the Works of Terence, I have further to observe, that I have two other copies of that author, one printed by Robert Stephens in 1529, folio; and another, printed in folio, by Roigny, (Paris) 1552, which I believe to be, as to the cuts, a fac-simile of "Le grant Therece, 1539," mentioned by Dibdin in II. Spenceriana, 434 (note); having a profusion of cuts, always shewing in the back-ground a curtain, behind which the actors retire, or from which they occasionally peep, or come forward in a very striking and not uninteresting manner; and I send herewith a Drawing of the cut at the top of the third Scene of Act the third of Andria, where you will perceive Simo and Chremes before the curtain, and Davus entering to them from behind.

sublunary concerns!-How far they executed their commission with sufficient sanctity and fidelity, the subsequent period of more than 200 years affords ample testimony-for in that period, with all the aid of improved skill, deep knowledge of the languages, and the numerous criticisms on various important texts, there has not been any Translation which the Church could adopt in preference to it. Still, it is fair to say that although "it is the best upon the whole," yet if a pious effort were made, not to re-write, but to discharge it of some glosses, to adopt some marginal amendments, to omit acknowledged interpolations, and to add what little has been omitted, the received Version might be advanced in its stage to 'perfection, without, as A. Z. says, unsettling the minds of Christians;" but this implication goes far beyond his meaning; for if a new Translation were at all likely to have this effect, it should seem that our Version cannot be so correct as it is. Now I should rather contend, that by amending its few errors, it would rise still higher in the estimation of all Christians, and put to silence the pride of scoffers, and not unsettle the minds of Christians; but any one who carefully compares it with some of the

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Translations which have been the product of modern times, will not be satisfied to lay it down and adopt them, unless a strange predisposed feeling of mind should lead him astray.-Bp. Lowth's Isaiah, Bp. Newcome's Minor Prophets, and New Testament, Harwood and Scarlett, Belsham and Bellamy; all show a degree of inferiority which all their acuteness could not overcome, and could never reach to an equality with the received Version ;- -yet they had the benefit of the improved language of modern times, the philosophical spirit of liberality too, which relaxed some of the power, and bore down some of the barriers of this original Transla tion; but these have been the invisible means of its present superiority, its sanctity, and the pious reverence which all men, women, and children, pay to it almost instinctively, and which I should fear they never would feel or express towards a new Translation; hence it may almost be averred, that if such an attempt were now made, the fate of Religion and

Revelation, and the encouraging sanction of a general and particular Providence, and the certainty of Judgment, and the hope of Immortality in a future state, would be sealed! To these essentials of the Christian Faith, no modern language would give the impressive force which they have acquired in the received Version. In this I agree with A. Z.

Selden said, that the Hebraisms are kept, and the phrase of that language is kept. (See his Works, III. 2009.) This is the very secret of its merit. Modern writers would have rendered it as much as possible an English work, and thus would have entirely lost the sense of the original, which admonishes and warns and illustrates with the symbols of Asia and Palestine, the soil where Revelation grew and was perfected. That the whole history and precept it contains related to those countries, preserves the union and the sublimity,-and the application of them to other nations is the effect of the further interposition of Providence. I read it with this impression, notwithstanding the critical observation of Blackwell, who speaks of "the faulty Translations of the divine original, which either weaken its sense, or debase and tarnish the beauty of its language."

Pr. xv. A. D. 1731.

In Waterland's Vindication of it, published in 1734, we have many testimonies of a profound Scholar; and though he marks several possible amendments, he would not yield to them without asserting that, "though a very good one, and upon the whole scarce inferior to any, yet is undoubtedly capable of very great improvements." To say otherwise, would indeed be to allege an impossibility, that man could do any thing that was not imperfect.

The utmost care should be observed in treading a threshold of so delicate a structure; "Do we not know," said the eminent Blayney ou Jeremiah, p. 12, “ the advantage that is commonly taken by the enemies of Revelation, of triumphing in objections plausibly raised against the Divine Word, upon the basis of au unsound Text or wrong Translation? And though these objections have been refuted over and over again by the most solid argumentations of private religionists, do they not still

continue