REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Cowper's Works. By Rev. T. S. Grimshawe. Vol. V. Revenons à nos moutons :' we must see Cowper once more, cre we part. P. 8. Mr. Grimshawe is most pertinacious in giving his opinion about Homer and his translators, of whom and their respective merits and defects he knows little more than his parish clerk. "It was," he says, "this acknowledged defect in Pope, that led Cowper to engage in his laborious undertaking of producing a new version." Now we deny this. We deny that Pope's rhyme is an acknowledged defect. By whom is it acknowledged? We know some eminent scholars who adhere strongly to the opinion that the rhyming heroic couplet, varied by triplets, and by pauses running one into another, would best represent the Homeric style. However that may be, Pope did rightly in translating Homer into rhyme; for his blank verse, had he attempted it, would have been portentous. Again, we tell Mr. Grimshawe it was Mr. Pope's leaf-gold, and tinsel, and varnish, and fucus, that spoiled his translation, not his rhyme. There was a translation in blank verse, before Cowper's. P. 29. Who is poet three stars?Mr. Grimshawe is silent. Is it Peter Pindar that is meant? we presume so. P. 49. "We do not think," saith Mr. Grimshawe, "that the Botanic Garden ever fully maintained its former estimation after the keen attic wit of Mr. Canning, though the concluding lines of Cowper seem to promise perpetuity to its fame." Mr. Canning might just as well have attempted to have written down Paradise Lost,' as the Botanic Garden,' if the Botanic Garden had had any vitality in it; but it was not an evergreen garden, and so it speedily decayed. If satirists could write down poets as they please, the blockheads would have a fine time of it; but these satiric guns generally miss their aim, and push those up they meant to send downwards. As old Bentley said, "No one is written down except by himself." If Mr. GENT. MAG. VOL. IV. Grimshawe wants to know why the Botanic Garden went off flower, he had better walk into it, and he will see; and so we wish him a pleasant stroll, and a good appetite. P. 52. As Mr. Grimshawe does not write notes when they are wanted, he favours us occasionally when there seems no pressing necessity. The present is not only unnecessary, but incorrect, for Dr. Darwin was serious about his ice-boats, and not humorous, as Mr. Grimshawe asserts. P. 63. Abbot was not an excellent painter; but he lived in a time of dearth, before the star of Lawrence rose. He was a respectable man, resided near Bedford-square; and had a fair share of the business of the day. P. 68. "Here we are in the most elegant mansion that I ever inhabited." Hayley's house at Eartham was heightened into elegance by the affectionate feelings of the poet; but in truth it had no pretensions to the name. It was formed of lath and plaster, roughcast; the rooms small and very badly situated, having an abrupt and steep hill rising close before the windows, and shutting out all the prospect. On the other side it opened on the village. The view from the summit of the hill is fine, extending to the sea-coast over Bognor and Hampton, with Lady Newburgh's oak and beech woods on the left. The soil is chalk, and there is no water. Mr. Huskisson much improved the house, but left it of the same materials. Cowper's description of elegant' would apply appropriately to Lady Newburgh's neighbouring seat. P. 84. The Adamo of Andreini. "This is one of those scarce and curious books which is not to be procured without difficulty"-and so we presume Mr. Grimshawe never saw it. Now there happen to be two editions of this book; and both these editions are on our table at this moment. Milton was as much indebted to Andreini for Paradise Lost, as Shakspeare was to Saxo-Grammaticus for Hamlet. It is mighty 4 H easy to talk of borrowing; but neither Saxo nor Andreini had wherewithal to lend. P. 133. "We have not been able to discover this epitaph (on Card. Mazarini), nor does it appear that it was ever translated by Cowper." So says Mr. Grimshawe : Oh! Penny Magazine! And you little penny Brough'm ! You have swept very clean All the learning from the room, Oh! little penny Broom! We will now say something on this subject. Mazarini had many epitaphs and more deadly satires on him, than perhaps any minister. It is said in the Bibl. Colbert, that there are fortysix thick volumes of Mazarinades: but this collection is small compared with another, of one hundred and forty, in the Bibliotheque of the town of Chartres. The town-hall of Paris possesses two volumes of Chansonettes on the same. Scarron wrote a Mazarinade-an invective but the person who most distinguished his biting pen was Blot, the gentilhomme of the Duke of Orleans. He seems to have had his satirical couplets at all times in hand. Two of his epitaphs on the minister, then not in his tombeau, are in Chaudon's Dict. Universel, art. Mazarin. The following is one. As is well known, Mazarin's Christian name was Julius. : P. 146. Chapman's Version of Homer is now obsolete, and rendered tedious by the protracted measure of its syllables." Which of Chapman's translations does Mr. Grimshawe mean, for we have three by us, all by Chapman, and all entirely different from each other; and as to the merits of Chapman, we know from whom to take our estimate of them, and what has been said of him from the days of Puttenham to the present. Mr. Grimshawe adds, Pope found it worthy his particular attention.' Of Pope's attention to Chapman, Mr. Grimshawe cannot know much; but we will tell him that Pope's own copy of Chapman is now under the paper on which we are writing and we know all his pencil marks, references, and opinions, with exactness. In his own beautiful hand he has written in Latin that he gave three shillings for the book-he left it to Warburton, who gave it to Thomas Warton, who left it to brother Joe, from whom we had it. We have also Pope's copy of Tickell's Homer, in which he has tickelled him up a little, and made him dance. P. 191. "It would have been curious to have contemplated the Poet of Christianity, and the Author of the celebrated chapter on the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, placed in juxtaposition with each other!" Contemplated! juxtaposition! speaking of two gentlemen invited to meet each other at dinner. Why they would have behaved as all other gentlemen would, not talked about the celebrated chapter, nor the Tyrocinium; but about the weather and Lady Spenser's flower-garden, et quod magis ad nos pertinet, et nescire malum est'-but sooth, it was a foolish invitation, and wisely declined. We have never felt much pleasure in contemplating these juxtapositions! we had rather see the great man in his solitaire ! ་ P. 205. "This failure (of Cowper's ply that nature designed him to be a Commentary on Milton) seems to impoet." Pray mind the inference. Cowper's failure as a critic of poetry, implied that nature designed him for a poet. Oh! ye thousand and one miserable critics who pester the public ear with your croakings, ye worthy sons of Dennis and Theobald, shut your critical jaws, and expand your poetical wings, and fly away. For it will generally be found, that to execute with ease and delight is the attribute of genius, and the evidence of natural impulse; and that slowness of performance indicates the want of those powers that afford the promise and pledge of success.' What a mass of confusion is here heaped together! We only know this, that Cowper had a very fine taste, an exquisite sensibility, very correct and competent learning, and if they do not lie at the bottom of good criticism, we do not know what does. P. 205. " Cowper's translations of Milton's Latin are a perfect model of beautiful and elegant versification." We do not think so we think his translations good only in parts; we beg to refer to Dr. Symmons' Life of Milton. P. 257. "It seems that Milton's father was a votary of the muses, and therefore that the son could claim the title of poet by hereditary descent." The son could do no such thing; for the father was not a poet, but he was skilled in music. We have one of the books (thanks to the old Norfolk Vicars) in which his compositions are signed J. Milton. It is the Psalms of David, by W. S. 1643, 12mo. P. 215. Of Mr. Grimshawe's poetical taste, take the following specimen: -"A popular writer paid the following eloquent tribute to these masterly specimens of professional art: "Yet mark each willing muse, where Boydell draws And calls the sister powers in Shakspeare's cause: By art controll'd, the fire of Reynolds breaks, [speaks. And Nature's pathos in her Northcote The Grecian forms in Hamilton combine, Parrhassian grace, and Zeuxis' softest line. There Barry's learning meets with Romney's strength, [length. And Smirke pourtrays Thalia at full Lo! Fuseli, in whose tempestuous soul, The unnavigable tides of genius roll; Depicts the sulph'rous fire, the smould'ring light, The bridge chaotic o'er the abyss of night, With each accursed form and mystic spell, And singly bears up all the fame of hell." And so this fustian and balderdash is an eloquent tribute! Now there is not a single line that is not nonsense or falsehood, full of sound and fury,' and to the accurate ear of taste and knowledge, 'signifying nothing!' P. 319. "The document of the account of the illness of the Rev. John Cowper, is now extremely scarce, and not accessible but through private sources. Now this is so far from being the case, that (thanks again to the good Vicars' care) we have had for years on our shelves a little common edition of it, from which Mr. Grimshawe has only given an extract. P. 347. Cowper's brother, as every one knows, was engaged in an edition of Apollonius Rhodius, then much wanted, to which Mr. Grimshawe adds in a note, "The subject of the poem is the Argonautic expedition under Jason." True, so it is! and a great pity they lost Hylas. Yet again, if a man will wander into regions with which he is quite unacquainted, and make remarks on the inhabitants, he must take the consequences of his folly and presumption. Yet it was a pity they lost Hylas !-we repeat, a great pity! P. 380. "The Editor is indebted to the Rev. E. H. Barker of Thetford, for the following anecdote." Mr. Barker is a disgrace to the Church; for he is at this moment sitting in Chancery-lane, with a blue coat and gilt buttons, yellow kerseymere waistcoat, and elegant salmon-coloured cordoons, passing himself off as a lay. man. He also goes about town leaving his card, E. H. Barker, Esq.; and though we have known him many years, and highly esteemed him, as all do who have the pleasure of his acquaintance, yet he has kept the secret so well, that till Mr. Grimshawe let it out, we never knew he had been ordained. We shall insist on a suit of sables' instanter ! We have now done with Mr. Grimshawe's Cowper. We have got rid of these dabchicks of criticism who keep waddling and quacking about the Bedford Level; and lo! the bright Swan of Keswick appears soaring high aloft, and bearing Cowper's fame direct to Apollo himself. Our wishes are now satisfied: now we can say, "Tu carus Latio, memorque gentis Carmen fortior exeris rogatum." Discoveries in Asia Minor, including a description of several ancient Cities, and especially of Antioch in Pisidia. By the Rev. F. V. G. Arundell, British Chaplain at Smyrna. 2 vols. THE total inaccuracy of the maps which accompany the Geography of Ptolemy, is well known: although the sites of the ancient cities are there laid down with confidence, and though they appear in the chart with every apparent mark of veracity, yet one unfortunate circumstance attends the search for them in the places marked by the geographers-that they are generally seen a few hundred miles out of their places. Now in the central part of Asia Minor, looking at the whole extent of country included within lines drawn from Cæsarea to Pergamus, thence to the south of Caria, and along the shores of Lycia, Pamphylia, and Cilicia, what is the amount of the geography determined within this space? How little is known compared with what yet remains to be discovered? The value of Colonel Leake's researches is well known, and Mr. Arundell's name must also be added to those who have deserved well among geographers and scholars. Mr. Arundell succeeded in discovering the Lake of Anava, between Colossæ and Apamea, which was a desideratum in our knowledge. He discovered the important cities of Apamea and Sagalassus, and by the discovery of a river near the modern Chonas, he almost, if not positively, determined the ancient site of Colossæ. In the present journey Mr. Arundell's hope was to determine the site of Antioch in Pisidia, the discovery of which, as Col. Leake observed, would greatly assist the comparative geography of all the adjacent country. He also hoped to find the remains of Lystra and Derbe. Now we will give an account of Mr. Arundell's success in his own words: "After passing over a very interesting portion of the Catacecaumene,† and exploring the districts of many extinct volcanos, they found in the ruins which were the first object of their search, the important remains of an ancient town, which, till a better name can be given to it, the writer will call Clanudda; but which, from the innumerable tombs excavated in the calcareous rock, might better be named Necropolis. Proceeding through the countries lying between the Hermus vestiges of the town of Eucorpia. The and Mæander, they found the probable sites of Eumenia and Apamea were, by the discovery of inscriptions, decidedly fixed, beyond further doubt, at Ishekli and Deenare. Precisely at the distance from Apameat fixed by the tables, twentyfive miles, they sought for and discovered the magnificent remains of the town of Apollonia, or as named in the inscriptions which they found there, Apollonia interesting part of this discovery was their τῶν Λυκίων Θρακών Κολόνων. Not the least meeting with a colony of Greeks, who had lived here from the earliest ages of Christianity, and who, though under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Pisidia, have no intercourse whatever with any other Christian community from without, always intermarrying with each other. The discovery of Apollonia at once assured the discovery of the greater object of the journey, that of Antioch of Pisidia; and at precisely the distance from Apolmiles, the superb remains of the metropolonia fixed by the tables, viz. forty-five lis of Pisidia appeared in view. remains consist chiefly of prostrate temples, chambers, and between twenty and thirty arches of the most magnificently The * What does Mr. Arundel! mean by two large trees resembling the Balm of Gilead, though of much larger growth, near Ishekli ? Is it the Juniperus Lycia,' the Lycian Cedar, he means? if not, we are quite at a loss. "The Catacecaumene, or district of subterranean combustion, was so named in the earliest times. Strabo and others mention it, as covered with volcanic substances. The volcanos had ceased to burn before his day, and the fable of Typhon carries up the period when they became extinct to the remotest periods of mythological tradition." When Cicero held the government of Cilicia, which included Pisidia, Pamphylia, &c. he resided at Apamea. Apamea is one of the few cities privileged to strike the beautiful and curious silver medal called the Cistophoree, and which still puzzles the numismatist. See also a curious Apamean medal of the Deluge, in Mr. Arundell's vol. i. 210. There is a box or ark resting on the waters; a bird with a branch of a tree in its bill; another sitting in the ark, a man and a woman sitting inside, and the word NOE written underneath. constructed aqueduct the writer ever beheld. From hence, having coasted nearly three sides of the Lake of Eyerdir, which is in circuit at least one hundred miles, the travellers went by Isbarte to Sagalassus, collecting some further notices on the magnificent ruins of that city so celebrated for the siege of Alexander. Thence they went in pursuit of the ruins of Selge, and if the ruins they found are not those of that important city, certainly they belong to a city of very considerable importance. It was the wish of the travellers to have gone in pursuit of Perga, Lystra, and Derbe, but the entrance of the Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pacha,† into Iconium, and the passing of troops all over the country, made it imprudent to seek for antiquities at the risk of personal safety. They therefore returned by Bourdour, and thence by a route in great part new, to the back of Chonas, where by the examination of the river miscalled the Lycus, they decidedly fixed the proper situation of Colosse at Chonas. Though the journey occupied but six weeks, yet the distance travelled over in that time could not be less than a thousand miles, and including the writer's former journey, the new ground, hitherto unknown to the European traveller, or at least unpublished, will not be much less than six hundred miles." Now these must be considered very important, as authentic additions made to our geographical knowledge. They are detailed in a very agreeable and lively manner, and they are accompanied with much collateral information, and illustrated with some unpublished inscriptions. Journey to the North of India overland from England, through Russia, Prussia, and Affghaunistaun. By Lieut. Arthur Conolly. 2 vols. MR. Conolly is a person of acknowledged enterprize, and well fitted for encountering and overcoming the difficulties of a journey through such lawless countries as he had to pass. Instead of pursuing the usual route through Persia, by Ispahan and Shiraz, to Busheer and the Persian Gulf, which has been too often traversed to present much novelty, at least to the passing traveller, he chose the more arduous and dangerous, but far more interesting road through Affghaunistaun, by Meshed and Heraut, and Kandahar, till he reached the Indus at Khyrpoor. He engaged as his companion Syud Karaumut Aliee, a very clever and gentlemanly native of Hindoostân, who had resided many years in Persia, and was held in great esteem by the English there, and to whose assistance Mr. Conolly was indebted for having completed his journey with safety. Mr. Conolly gives the same favourable account of the province of Mazenderaun that other travellers had done : Our journey (he says) through Mazenderaun was delightful. It is a province of high mountains, which are clothed from base to summit with the forest and fruit trees of Europe and Asia. Wild vines, of gigantic growth, twine round the large trees, and drop their tendrils from the highest branches. The walnut, the mulberry, the pear, and the pomegranate trees were in profusion, and their blossoms were in beautiful relief to the dark foliage of the forest trees. The turf was green and elastic, and covered with flowers. We enjoyed lovely weather, and the fresh air was always perfumed with the scent of the wild rose and hawthorn. The narrow valleys between the high mountains are cut in steps, like the hanging gardens of Lahore. Through each one falls a stream, the water of which being raised to the level of the highest step, falls successively upon the others into its bed again on these ridges is grown rice, the staple food of the people, and an article of considerable export. A great quantity of coarse sugar is also grown in Mazanderaun and exported, and the province is famed for the manufacture of grass cloths, which are taken to all parts of Persia. Though the mulberry tree is common, the silkworm is less attended to than in the adjoining province of Ghilan ;-on the sides and *The Siege of Sagalassus, by Alexander the Great, is described in Ælian's Tactica. When Mr. Arundell gives it as his belief" that Lady Hester Stanhope could have done more to prevent the advance of Ibrahim Pacha, by a single word to her subjects of the Desert, than all the firmans and armies of Mahmoud," we take leave to inform him that his authority for this assertion is not good. We do not believe Lady Hester could have stopped a single musket, or have smoothed a single bristling mustache. |