turn, the desperate resistance and fatal overthrow, of the few who, in the midst of dissaffection, still retained their allegiance to the motherCountry The suscessful defence of Corfu against the Turks in 1645 is less amply detailed: indeed, it was necessary for the author to confine himself to general expressions, because the particulars of the attack are very imperfectly known; and the names of the leaders to whom their country owed its protection have been unfortunately and unjustly forgotten. This idea is happily conveyed by Mr. Wright, after having mentioned the slaughter of the enemy :

Fain the muse would tell

Beneath whose arm their bravest leaders fell:

But dark oblivion shrouds each glorious name,

And fate, which crown'd their valour, wrongs their fame.' Our poetical guide now leads us to various interesting spots in the other islands, which are endeared to a classical mind by the most pleasing recollections; and he visits particular districts on the Grecian coasts, which are remarkable for similar associations, or adorned with the ruins of antient architecture, or distinguished in modern times by their exemption from the petty tyrants of the Ottoman empire. Mr. W.'s verses are flowing; his language is pure and unaf fected; and his subjects are uniformly delightful: but we decline to make quotations from the poem, for the sake of inserting his neat summary of the peculiarities which mark the modern Greek language, as it is spoken in the Ionian islands.

The dialect in general use throughout these islands and the adjacent part of the continent of Greece is the Doric; but corrupted by the introduction of a great number of Italian words, and some of Turkish origin, which have, for the most part, been naturalized by the addition of Greek terminations.

The radical words of the modern Greek, in general, bear a near affinity to those of the ancient language: and the principal differences between the two are those of pronunciation and inflection.

'The first of these is the invariable observance of accent, and disregard of quantity; which, although they may be tolerated in ordinary conversation or in the reading of prose authors, by destroying the melody of rhythm, considerably detract from the beauties of Homer and Theocritus, and are still more sensibly felt in the works of the tragedians and lyric poets.

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It would be too bold an attempt to determine how far the force of the vowels, diphthongs, and certain of the consonants in the mo dern system of pronunciation, may correspond with the usage of the classical ages: but the difference between the English and Romaic pronunciation of the Greek may be principally reduced to the following table:

a is pronounced as a in the Italian.

ου

o. W.

as u in Italian, or co in English.

as o without any difference as to the quantity, and indeed frequently inverting it.*

'u after a vowel becomes a consonant, and is sounded as v, which sound is also common to the B: thus, Banus is pronounced vasilevs. x is a peculiar national letter of a harsh guttural sound, resembling, but somewhat more aspirated than, the German pronunciation of the letter g; and

has the force of the softened tb, as in thee. thou, &c.

With respect to inflection. the modern Greek seems to be very deficient; and indeed that defect is chiefly supplied, as in other modern languages, by prefixing prepositions to mark the relations of the substantives, and conjunctions to distinguish the moods of the verbs.

In the latter, the aorist is the past tense most commonly used; and the preterite and its derivatives are formed in all the voices respectively, by the auxiliaries x and x.

The infinitive is no longer in use, but its place is supplied by ' (the contraetion of a) prefixed to the verb in the subjunctive mood; by a singular anomalv, however, in conversation, the infinitive mood of the verb, is almost the only part used when speaking in the present tense.

Another peculiarity of the modern Greek is the adoption of the indefinite article, in conformity also with the genins of other Euro"pean languages: a in the masculine and in the feminine serve for all cases without an inflection.

} In consequence of these differences, the ear which is accustomed to the English pronunciation of the Greek language seeks in vain for that full, sonorous cadence which early habits have taught us to admire, and finds in its stead an acute, stridulous combination of sounds, which is far from being either agreeable or harmonious; while the mind is disgusted at the barbarous structure of a dialect which confounds the anomalies of ancient and modern grammar..

I do not presume to extend these observations beyond the limits. of the Ionian islands; though, from the few opportunities which I have had of listening to the conversation of the Albanian soldiery, 1 believe that, as far as relates to pronunciation, they may be equally applicable to the people of that district, who are reported, in other - respects, to speak the Romaic dialect with a degree of purity much -nearer to that of the ancient Greek: while (singular as it may ap pear) the natives of Attica, though still remarkable for wit and acuteness of intellect, speak a more barbarous jargon than even the inhabitants of the Ionian Islands. Much has been done, since the -first connection of the court of St. Petersburgh with the Greeks of the continent, towards purifying the Romaic, and reducing it to the

* Thus Argos is pronounced as if written A9gorus.

form of a regular dialect, and mary works in that language have been published at Trieste.

The Legislative Assembly of the Seyen Islands had also decreed, that after ten years no other language should be used in the promulgation of the laws, the public records, pleadings, and process of the courts of justice.

What might have been the effect of this regulation it is impossi ble to determine; but I am much inclined, to suspect, that the improvement of their literature would never have maintained an equal pace with the rapid progress of their political corruption."

We are sorry to learn from Mr. W.'s preface, that in consequence of the occupation of this short-lived republic, (called by him the Septinsular territory) by a French force, the world has lost a more extensive work which he had meditated on the same subject, by his having been deprived of the materials which he had collected; together with a valuable library, which was confiscated and sold by the French at Zante, as English property. We apprehend that his proposed tract would have been very generally acceptable, and are unwilling to resign the hope that the loss may, in a considerable degree, be repaired. Art. 22. Brighton. A Poem. Descriptive of the Place, and Parts adjacent, and other Poems. By Mary Lloyd. 12mo. Boards. Harding. 1809.

55.

Shall princely Brighton remain unsung, while so many other watering-places of less note have been be-puffed and be-praised in verse? It must not be, fays Miss (or Mrs.) Mary Lloyd;

"Laudabunt alii claram Rhodan, aut Mitylenen,

Aut Ephesum, bimarispe Corinthi

Menia

(Hor.)

"and I will chuse Brighton for my theme." It must be confessed that she has endeavoured to make the most of it; and though she has invoked no muse, knowing perhaps that the ladies of the hill are very coy, she has contrived, with a pen which seems to have the gift of going, to weave into her poem the characteristic features of the place, from the pavilion of the Prince to the bathing machine of Martha Gun. Thus is the subject of the poeta apostrophized:

Brighton! thou loveliest neighbour of the wave,
Whose stately cliffs the rolling surges lave,
Where roseate health amid the breezes play,'
Whose gentle breathings cool the fervid ray
Of scorching summer; pleasing gay Retreat,
Beauty's, and fashion's ever favourite seat:
Where splendour lays its cumbrous pomp aside,
Content, in softer. simpler paths to glide;
Where in succession, various pastimes sport,
Where nature's grand and simple beauties court,
Where every taste may find a charm to please,
If fond of the sublime; the surging seas

Brighthelmstone is supposed to have derived its name from Brighthelm, the name of some considerable person to whom it belonged; and the Saxon word Tun, signifying town: it was abbreviated to Brighton, about the end of the 17th century.'

H 3

Their

Their vast floods rolling on the sounding shores,
When the bold wind unfolds the billowy stores;
Will lift with solemn awe the wond'ring soul,
To Him! who bade those mighty waters roll.
Or if in simpler benes thou find'st delight,
The country round thy devious steps invite,
To mount the uplands, or the daisied plains
To trace, and list while birds their melting strains,
Of youthful day enamour'd, sweetly trill,

While snowy flocks adorn the fragrant hill.'

The fishermen, the bathing, the rocks, the cliffs, the chalybeate spring, the signal-house, the parade, the races, the devil's dyke, the libraries, the church-yard, the Steyne, Preston and Wick, the theatre, the circus, and assembly rooms, &c. are all noticed, and described in sech a way as may be acceptable to the frequenters of Brighton, who will easily follow the writer from object to object. Since ladies ba-, thing form an important and attractive feature at watering-places, this lady-poet has not only devoted some lines to the description of that ceremony, but has done Martha Gun the honour of making her priestess of the mysteries :

But softer scenes invite the cheerful eye,
When the calm sea reflects the azure sky;
When gentle zephyrs o'er the waters sweep
Their silken wings, and scarcely move the deep;
When beauteous fair-ones to the beach repair,
To taste the wave*, or breathe the sea-fraught air;
Or wait in turns, their lovely forms to lave,
And steal fresh beauties from the ambient wave :
See each fair cheek a brighter tint display,
Each sparkling eye emits a livelier ray;
The vital stream swift coursing from the heart,
Diffuses glowing health throught every part:
Each rose-lip'd Hebè, now more brightly fair,
With buoyant spirits seems to tread the air.
But hence, profane ones! nor with prying face
Approach the precincts of this hallow'd place;
Where Martha Gun, sage priestess of the shrine,
Guards, with religious care, the rights divine:
Twice twenty times the glorious circling sun,
O'er the blue sea his annual course has run,
Since honest Martha, in the lucid wave,
To beauty's charms an added lustre gave;
Now aged grown, and toil no more her lot,
Yet still she hovers round the favourite spot.'

We have heard of some Acteons who are very desirous of having a peep at these rites divine.' but we hope that the tremendous aspect of Martha Gun will keep such audacious sparks at a proper distance.

As Miss Mary Lloyd professes to be young in poetic deeds, (this

About 1750 the medical use of sea-water was brought into prac tice at this place by Dr. Russel,'

being

being her first attempt,) we would rather treat her with one of our smiles than with a surly frown: but since she has now broken the ice, (as we say,) and may be induced to plunge again and again in the poetic wave, we would recommend her to be more fastidious; and in particular not to suppose that peace rhymes well to race, or return to run, or that grammar may be sacrificed to rhyme.

All good christians will say Amen to her Address to the Deity:
Thou gracious Source of Mercy! that afar

From this blest Isle, hath kept the seat of war!
Oh! when it pleases thy Omniscient will!

Speak peace, and bid the warring world be still.'

We are sorry not to be able to compliment this lady on her Mis cellaneous Poems: but the loungers at the libraries may call them pretty.

Art. 23. The Sceptic: a philosophical Satire. By the Author of Corruption and Intolerance *. 8vo. Is. Carpenter. 1809. Should the rule of Des Cartes be adopted, “de iis omnibus studiamus dubitare, in quibus vel minimam incertitudinis suspicionem reperiemus,” scepticism would unavoidably be the reigning fashion. Among philosophers, it has always been in request; and we need never be ashamed of doubting, when we recollect that by so doing we keep the very best company: but between that doubting which acts as a signal to guard us against drifting on the rocks of implicit faith, and the obstinate resistance of evidence which inevitably impells towards the vortex of Infidelity, an open sea expands, in which all the truly wise will endeavour to steer their bark.

This spirited satirist wishes to be considered as not less orthodox than sceptical but we will not promise him that he will pass muster with the saints. As á poet, he has energy, and his satiric lash is made of good whip-chord. His use of it, in the region of politics, will be called fun by one party and no fun by the other: but we shall follow the poet to the department of scientific and theological scep

ticism.

Ix Science too-how many a system, rais'd
Like Neva's icy domes, awhile hath blaz'd
With lights of fancy and with forms of pride,
Then, melting, mingled with the oblivious tide
Now Earth usurps the centre of the sky,
Now Newton puts the paltry planet by;
Now whims revive beneath Descartes's pen,
Which now assail'd by Locke's, expire again :
And when, perhaps, in pride of chemic powers,
We think the keys of nature's kingdom ours,
Some Davy's magic touch the dream unsettles,
And turns at once our alkalis to metals!
Or, should we roam in metaphysic maze,
Through fair-built theories of former days,

Some Dr-mm-d from the north, more ably skill'd,

* See our Review for April last.