a name. a EDITORS' NOTES. and Ireland are engaged to furnish Our present number is enrich- the various articles ; and the whole ed with a production from the pen is under the superintendence of of the Hon. J. Q. Adams. By ma- an editor, who has already proved king use of the Anthology for en- himself fully equal to the task. chasing the jewel, he has conferred That any men should venture to an honour, of which' we are not alter such a work would argue no insensible, and a compliment of little hardihood, and he would which we are proud. If the Pro- more probably incur the suspicion fessor of Rhetorick, in his new of overweening confidence, than rambles through poetry and prose, inspire a belief in his capacity to should note any thing of pleasant improve the publication. But aspect” for the general view, we that this should be done by anonyshould be happy in displaying it mous criticks, of whose character for publick applause. We wish for judgment and talents the him complete success in his pres- world knows nothing, is an imperent literary exertions; and though, tinence, for which we camot find a for each course of his lectures, he It transfers the weighty will not receive the splendid Didac- responsibility of the work from tron of Isocrates, a thousand minæ, those, who are able to sustain it, yet we trust, that his discourses to the shoulders of a Mr. Nobody, will be such, as Quintilian might whom we have neither seen nor praise, and that the consequent re heard. We hesitate not to say, nown will fully compensate the that the whole of the Cyclopædia, scanty pecuniary emolument of as edited by Dr. Rees, ought to be the new professorship. given to the subscribers. The AMany subscribers to the Amer- merican publishers have an unican edition of Rees's Cyclopædia doubted right to add, to explain, have expressed in strong terms to correct an error, or insert a cautheir disapprobation of the muti- tion, within the limitation we have lated state in which several articles mentioned ; but this right does are exhibited. We shall not give, not extend to mutilation or omisat present, any opinion respecting sion, which has a tendency to conthe extent of these mutilations ; found all literary authority, and to though, from the respectability of render the ground we tread upon the complainants, we are afraid uncertain and unsure. We desire to they are important. Should this be understood, not as giving a deciappear to be the case, we have no ded opinion how far this has been hesitation in asserting, that such done in the work referred to; but conduct is altogether unjustifiable. are the more earnest in our expresLet the American editors add what sions, because the practice has been they think useful or important, shamefully prevalent in American provided they be careful to dis- re-publications ; so much so that tinguish what they insert, from no literary man is safe in dependthat which rests upon the author. ing upon many of them, as giving ity of the learned and laborious Dr. the ungarbled and unsophisticaRees ; but let us have no gar- ted sense of the original author. blings, no mutilations, no index With respect to the work in ques. expurgatorius. The work in ques- tion, we hope to give it, in a future tion is of the most respectable number, a thorough examination, class. Upwards of forty of the and to administer strict justice befirst literary men in Great Britain tween the editors and the publick. а ORIGINAL LETTERS FROM EUROPE. Government...Laws...Lawyers. THE kingdom of the two Sicilies, Naples, became an independent state after the dissolution of the Roman empire, of which it was a fragment, and has been from its origin the perpetual seat of discord and civil wars; subjugated by one nation after another, the fertility of its climate, and the labour of its inhabitants, have been insufficient to gratify the rapacity of the conquerors. Yet so lavish is nature of her bounty to this country, that notwithstanding the tremendous effects of earthquakes and volcanoes, and the devastations of continual wars, an interval of a few years of peace always restored its former prosperity. But the immediate rapine and violence of these turbulent times, terrible as they were, have not been so pernicious, as the civil and political consequences that resulted from the irruptions and transient dominion of so many different nations. The former only afflicted a single generation, but the latter have been entailed upon posterity. This beautiful, but unfortunate country, was successively ravaged by the Normans, the Germans, the Spaniards, and involved in perpetual quarrels with the intriguing ambition of the papal power, when the thunder of the Vatican affright Vol. III. No. 7. 27 No. 7. ed the greater part of Europe, in those ages debased by every species of tyranny and superstition. Every invader brought the laws of his own country; the Neapolitans, besides retaining the Roman jurisprudence of the Justinian code, adopted the Norman code, and, that the confusion might be worse confounded, joined to these, with the system of feudal rights and tenures, Spanish customs and authorities, incorporating occasionally with the rest, a papal ordination. This complicated system, or rather this confused medley of laws, many of which, though they were originally good, yet were so successfully veiled in tedious form, as to obscure their meaning and destroy their utility,now forms the unwieldy, intricate system of jurisprudence in this kingdom. It will be easy to imagine the state of confusion and uncertainty, in which such a system must place all sorts of claims or agreements, subject to legal discussion; that the most equitable tenure of property must be insecure, where such a wide field is left open for chicanery and legal vexation and delay. Indeed the single fact, that there are twenty thousand lawyers, in Naples, will give the best idea of er. it ; and it may be readily conceiv- The fertile island of Sicily, ed, that from the body of laws once the granary of the Roman just mentioned, (I have been tald, empire, hardly gives more consethey sometimes come to court quence to its sovereign, than his with a cartload of volumes to cite kingdom of Jerusalem. Yet from authorities and precedents) it is. its immense resources, if inhabiteasy for them to protract any de- ed by an industrious people, whose cision, till the subject of dispute earnings should be protected by has cost more than its intrinsick the laws, this island ought to make value. A fertile soil, a genial sky, its owner a respectable, powerful and, the exertions of industry, sovereign. In its present state, would, in a few years after the it is half a desert, and half a conravages of war, again give to the vent. Nor do the continental posgrain its customary protection in sessions afford much greater rethis country against the fervid sources ; the provinces of the two heat of the sun, the luxuriant Calabrias pay no revenues to the shade of the vine, festooning from crown, and their principal contrithe olive, and other fruit trees, bution is a yearly convoy of a planted at regular distances ;...yet hundred ruffians to the galleys at these charming fields must be es- Naples. teemed uncertain wealth, when The Museum at Portici is one they are held on such a precarious monument in favour of the gove tenure. ernment : no recent researches It is a singular fact, that the have been made, though doubtless present sovereign is the first king much remains to be discovered. who was ever born in the country. We would pardon, however, this A patriot king may be an imagin- government for letting the skeleary being. Surely he cannot be tons of the inhabitants of Pompeia looked for here, where he has not repose in the houses, where they even the slight attachment of have been buried for eighteen birth. Continually subjugated by centuries. This is only disappointforeign nations, they have had a ing the curiosity of the artist and succession of monarchs; strangers antiquarian. But when a stranger to the country they govern- witnesses. the degraded state of ed, and more solicitous about their their country, and the indifference personál splendour and power, with which they suffer its great than the happiness of the people, naturaf resources to lie dormant, over whom they tyrannized. This, he cannot help execrating their with the wretched state of their apathy. laws, sufficiently explains, why this The king of Naples, like his fine country has always been the cousin, the king of Spain, is ex. prey of others, and why the king- travagantly fond of hunting ;: it dom of the Two Sicilies, which seems to be a passion of the Spanfrom the fertility of its soil, the ish line. Yet while the king is genial influence of its climate, and hunting boars in the wilds of its geographical situation, ought to Caserta, bis ministers are hunting have been powerful and respecta- his subjects in every part of the ble, has been too weak to resist kingdom. Had the Neapolitan any rapacious invader, and too court been less occupied with the contemptible to excité the pity or pleasures of the chace, or other protection of any respectable pow. pleasures less ferocious, and,,econ omizing their resources, endeavoured to excite the industry of the people; diminished the herd of insignificant noblesse; given a body of regular laws for civil decisions; occupied the Lazzaroni in cultivating Sicily, or employed them in manufactures; had they availed themselves of their advantageous position for commerce,... the king of the Two Sicilies would have been a powerful sovereign, though now obliged to cringe, alternately, to the great powers of Europe. LIFE OF RICHARD BENTLEY, D. D. Late Regius Professor of Divinity, and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Eng. Τιμιωτατα μεν και πρωτα τα πες την ψυχήν αγαθα. Continued from page 299. THE justice as well as the acuteness of these remarks was universally acknowledged, and Le Clerc was sensible that his character as a critick was lost, if they remained unanswered. While he deliberat ed on what measures he should adopt, a manuscript was left at his house by a stranger, who in the title-page called himself Philargyrius Cantabrigiensis. This book contained remarks on the fragments and corrections of several errours, which had escaped Philelutherus Lipsiensis, in his emendations. In 1711, Le Clerc published this anonymous defence. He prefixed a long preface, in which he attempted to wipe off the stain which his critical abilities had received. His arguments, however, in general, are feeble. He does not name Bentley as his adversary, but by several hints points out his suspicions. This answer to Bentley was written by Pauw, a man of no very extraordinary abilities. He was, however, a laborious critick, and tolerably versed in Greek literature. The remarks do not deserve any exalted commendation. Bentley, in all probability wholly disregarded them, as a few years PLATO, de Legib. IV. afterwards, when he published another edition of his notes in Menander and Philemon, he did not appear, as far as we can remember, to have been influenced in any single instance by the observations of Philargyrius Cantabrigiensis. Many of them display acuteness; but a settled determination, at all events, to defend Le Clerc, and depreciate Bentley, is too apparent. It was observed by the learned Dr. Salter, the late master of the Charterhouse, that the critical remarks interspersed through this work were of little value; and, in the discussion of philological subjects, his sentiments deserve attention. He was a very accurate Greek scholar. His reading was universal, and extended through the whole circle of ancient literature. He was acquainted with the poets, historians, orators, philoscphers, and criticks of Greece and Rome. His memory was naturally tenacious; and it had acquired great artificial powers, if such an expression be allowable, by using no notes, when he delivered his sermons. So retentive, indeed, were his faculties, that, till a few months before his death, he could quote long passages from almost every author whose work he had perused, even with a critical exactness. Nor were his studies confined to the writers of antiquity. He was equally conversant with English literature, and with the languages and productions of the learned and ingenious, in various parts of Europe. But this is not a proper place to enlarge on the classical erudition, or eminent talents, of Dr. Salter. We could not, how ever, refrain from drawing this little sketch of his character, as, in his earlier life, he had been acquainted with Bentley, and cherished his memory with fond respect. He preserved many anecdotes of that great critick, which have been published from his papers, and are now incorporated into this account. Those who were acquainted with Salter, and know how to estimate the value of his erudition, will peruse these honorary lines with some pleasure, which may perhaps receive augmentation, by finding his name recorded in the life of his favourite Bentley. Τις γαρ θάνασι χρη τον ου τεθνηκολο While Dr. Bentley's reputation was disseminated through the continent, by his critical disquisitions, his domestick peace was disturbed by a dispute with the members of the college over which he presided. His time was of course much engaged by the active part which he was obliged to take in these disputes, and his mind must have naturally been harassed by continued suspense. His classical pur suits, however, were not remitted. In 1711 he published his long ex See the life of Bentley, in the Biographia Britannia, and the notes on the edition of the Dif fertation of Phalaris, published by the learned English printer, Bowyer. The facts recorded in this account are generally derived from thefe fources. The mode of arrangement and many of the critidal remarks are criginal. pected edition of Horace, which he dedicated to Harley, Earl of Oxford, who was then minister. The opinions of the learned with respect to this edition are various. By some it was extolled, as the greatest work that had appeared since the revival of letters, and by others it was ridiculed, and treated with contempt. If we may be allowed to give our sentiments on this subject, for 'Who shall decide, when Doctors disagree,' we must confess, we think that Bentley has received too much praise for his corrections of Horace from one party, and has been too much condemned by the other. Some of his emendations display wonderful acumen and critical perspicuity, and some of the passages, which he has restored from the manuscript copies,should certainly be admitted in all future editions. But many of his remarks are more eminent for ingenuity than judgment. It should likewise be remembered, that in his own edition, which was published at Cambridge in quarto, he did not incorporate the most daring of his corrections into the text, but inserted them in his notes, which he placed at the end of the volume, and that he always inserts at the bottom of the page the readings of former editors. The dedication to the Earl of Oxford was dated from Trinity College, on the 6th of the Ides of December, which was the birthday of Horace. It is a lively, ingenious composition. The former part of it contains an address to Horace, with a comparison be tween his Mecanas, in the court of Augustus, and Harley, whom he styles the modern Mecanas. The latter part consists of a short histoof the earl's immediate ancestors. ry |