interrupt the pleasure of our readers, by any further remarks on these productions. Dr. Norbury's we have already reviewed. Mr. Cooke's work is far out of our reach in point of date; and its general excellence may bid defiance to the page, a quotation from the Aoyo Emirápia, published anonymously in the Gentleman's Magazine of April, 1793. We do not pretend to exhibit them as altogether faultlefs; but we are affured that our rea ders of taste and feeling, will not blame us for the insertion : Tuque adeò demum, fimplex indocte poeta, Narrabit, canum quaffans caput, incola ruris- Sæpe illum celeri vidimus ire gradu "Ad montem, folis quà primum lux tremit aurea, "Ante aditum fylvæ, quà dulce loquax fluit amnis, "At primum, meditans nugas, et totus in illis, Ingenuus, fimplex, re pauper, at indole dives, Dum miferis dedit hic lachrymas, accepit amicos: Si bene quid geffit, fi quid male, quærere noli: S BRIT. CRIT. VOL. V. MARCH, 1795 Quare fhafts fhafts of criticifm: but before we tranfcribe his first stanza, we cannot forbear expreffing a wifh, that fome better word had been fubftituted by the learned writer for μνημοσύνα, as expreffive of melancholy; and that the violent deviation from all grammatical propriety, which we obferve in the word ἰδὼν, (line 4) had been omitted. We have ventured to fuggeft an emendation; but have not quite fatisfied ourselves, for our own lines are too mythological, and differ rather too widely from the charming original— Μῶσα δὲ τυτθὸν ἐόντα γ ̓ ἐφίλατο· χως νιν ἔβλεψε MR. COOKΕ. Ενθάδ ̓ ὑποχθόνιος κεῖται Νέος, ᾧ τόδε σᾶμα " ̓Αλλὰ τύγ', οἷος ἂν ᾖς, κακὸς ἡ ἅγ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἐσθλὸς, ἐρευνῶν Τῇ κειται Νέος, εν γαίης παμμήτορι κόλπω MR. WESTON. Μητέρος ἐν κόλπῳ γαίης Νέος ἐνθάδε κείται, Αὐτῷ μὲν φιλόδωρον την, καὶ ἀληθινὸν ἦτος, Οὐράνιος δε πατὴς ἴσον ἔπεμψε γέρας. Παύεο νῦν ἐς φῶς προφέρειν ἔξγ ̓ ἐσθλὰ θανόντος, DR. COOTE. Ἔνθα, χθονός κόλπῳ, κώρος κεφαλὴν ἀναπαύει Πρόφρων και φιλόδωρος ἔην, καθαρὸς καὶ ἀληθής MR. SPARKE. Τῇ Νέος ἡσυχίας εὕδει γαίης ἐνὶ κόλπω, Non noftrum tantas componere lites We wish to avoid fhowing any invidious diftinction, any undue preference. But were we abfolutely called on to decide, we fhould, from the pureft and moft unbiaffed motives, (See Il. xxiii. 615) fill the golden cup with the moft exquifite οἶνος ἔξαιτος, and, not confidering it as left without a claimant, by the fall of any Eumelus, we should refpectfully place it in the hands of the Etonian Neftor: Τῇ νῦν, καί σοι τέτο, γέρον, κειμήλιον ἔσω· We cannot close these remarks without repeating, that among the productions of Mr. Gray fome pieces might be found, more fuited to the majefty of the Grecian Mufe *. Let the refpectable fcholars, who have given fuch proofs of their ability to engage in the work, undertake a version of the "Defcent of Odin," the "Fatal Sifters," and the " Ode to Adversity"-or let them make the experiment, how nobly the masterpiece of our author in the fublime, how the fplendid imagery, and genuine (not cumbrous +) grandeur of diction exhibited in the immortal poem of "The Bard," will become the language beft adapted to do them juftice. Let them fnatch a plume from the eagle wing of his Pindaric Mufe. Let them not fhrink from his awful obfcurity. Let them exhibit the flashing corufcations of oracular truth, beaming through the gloom of future and diftant ages. Let every variety of metre, and, occafionally, of dialect, be at their command. Then let them repair to the rock that overhangs Conway, where Οσσε κυλινδόμενος δεινῶς ᾤμωξεν ὁ Μάνος ART. VII. Roman Portraits-A Poem, in Heroic Verfe; with Hiftorical Remarks and Illuftrations: by Robert Jephson, Efq. 4:0. 277. pp. 11. 7s. Robinsons. 1794. the hiftory of Rome, the early attention of youth is always directed in the courfe of regular education; and, as its events are great and striking, and recorded by the most eloquent writers, throughout life we continue to recur to it, with a partiality that delights to dwell and expatiate on every * No modern poem has, perhaps, had the honour of being fo frequently tranflated as this of Gray. Befides the five Greek Verfions here fpecified, and those in Latin referred to in our preceding article on this fubject, there is a beautiful book printed in the fplendid types of Bodoni at Parma, (1793) and well known to the curious in typography, containing an Italian tranflation, by Sig. Giuseppe Torelli, of Verona, in the fame ftanza as the original; another in Verfi Sciolti, by Abbate Melchiore Cefarotti: and a third, but very bald and faulty, in Latin Elegiacs, by Johannes Cofta. We doubt not that there are French tranflations of it, but they have not come to our knowledge. + See Johnfon's Life of Gray. 5 feature. feature. Deeply tinctured with this claffical tafte in the beginning of life, and accustomed in the progrefs of it to refer frequently to the beft models, as guides to his own fertile and vigorous genius, Mr. Jephfon here indulges his tafte, while he exercifes his reafon; and, in delineating objects fupplied by Roman history, proves clearly to what ftudies he has always turned with most affection. As a dramatic writer, he has already established a fame which will not quickly fade; as a didactic poet he will certainly gain no small applause by the production now announced. The title of Roman Portraits, perhaps, hardly conveys a fufficiently clear idea of the nature of this work; the plan of which is, to give a concife, but comprehenfive and connected, view of the hiftory of the Roman people, from their first origin down to the time of Auguftus; and this is executed in strong and beautiful heroic verfe. As this defign was to comprehend the ornamental, as well as the ufeful; to please as well as to inftruct, fuch an historical view must be both short in the matter and felect in the objects; the political hiftorian was, therefore, permitted to confine his relation to fuch paffages as are capable of ornament, and would strike the fancy at the fame time that they inform the understanding. A feries of celebrated events, and of diftinguished perfonages thus felected from the Roman hiftory, and prefented with the dress and decorations of poetry, is, therefore, what the reader has to expect under the name of Portraits. Mr. Jephfon begins his poetical exhibition with a general character of the Romans; he then proceeds with the character of Numa Pompilius; the next diftinguished character is that of Lucius Junius Brutus; then follows the ftory of the first inftitution of Tribunes, and that of Coriolanus; with the Decemviri, and the formation of the Roman Laws. After which are the following portraits-that of the Roman Soldiers, the Stipendiaries at Veii; the Plebeians admitted to the Confulfhip; the Roman Legion; Hannibal; Scipio Africanus ; the change of Roman Manners after the deftruction of Carthage; Marius; Sylla; Mithridates; Catiline; Cicero; Pompey; the Battle of Pharfalia; Cato the younger; Julius Cæfar; the Prodigies after the Death of Cæfar; the State of Rome after Cæfar's Death; Lepidus; Antony and Cleopatra ; Octavia; Auguftus; Virgil, Tibullus; Horace; Ovid; the Auguftan Age. Such are the fubjects prefented to us in this work, which is, indeed, full of entertainment, and inftruction. Even fuch parts, as the Roman foldiers first becoming ftipendiaries, and the defcription of the Roman Legion our author has con |