W Dabis, Improbe, Panas. HERE wilt thou ftop, thou all-corrupting Thane, That boafted virtue may be bought, and fold! Shall there not rife fome great, fuperior force, Cut through the gordian knot that binds the charm? Blefs'd be the man, who virtuous, just, and brave, Shall ftretch his hand his country's rights to fave, 'Ere Albion's fons become no longer free, And all her chiefs unpopular, like thee! One man, like Abdiel, all thine arts hath found, ΑΝ AN IMPARTIAL REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, &c. то O fuch of our readers, as would wish to be acquainted with the literature of the times, without fubmitting to the difagreeable task of perufing every new book that may iffue from the prefs, this part of our work will be peculiarly ufeful; as it is intended to exhibit a candid Review of all fuch publications as fhall feem to deferve the attention of the public. And left any one should be inclined to fufpect, either from the title of our work, from fome particular Effays that may occafionally be inferted in it, or from any other circumftance, that we are biaffed in favour of one party more than of another, we beg leave to declare in this public manner, that we will preferve thro' the whole the moft ftri&t Impartiality; allotting to every work, whieh fhall come under our confideration, that due degree of praise or blame, which, on a careful examination, it fhall appear to merit. The performance itself shall be freely criticifed: The perfon of the Author fhall be deemed facred and inviolable. A work that is offered to the public, is furely the object of public criticifm: But all perfonal attacks upon writers, we shall ever ftudioufly avoid, as equally unjuft and illiberal. The Idylliums of Theocritus. Tranflated from the Greek, with Netes Critical and Explanatory. By Francis Fawkes, M. A. Sv. 6s. Tonfon, &c. A' LTHOUGH it gives us much more pleasure to blazon the beauties, than cenfure the imperfections of an author, yet does the nature of our work require strict and impartial justice upon every subject. The public inftruction F and and general utility is our avowed object, and to this muft every private tendernefs give way. To begin, therefore, with the dedication of this work, we must confider it as much beneath that dignity which the priest of the Mufes should maintain in every ftation. These words, through a worthy friend I obtained permiffion to infcribe this work to, &c. implies his having received a kind of fecond-hand permiffion, and prefents an idea of fuch diftance between the barrifter and the poet, which we by no means will entertain. It is an aukward overacting of the courtier. Between Theocritus, Hiero, and Ptolemy, we find no fuch diftance. Paftoral scenes are fuppofed in a ftate of nature; and Pope has told us, that The state of nature was the reign of God. Every diftinction, therefore, fhould be laid afide, even in the dedication of a paftoral work; but if we must be courtly, Horace, the moft polite of writers treated his Mecenus as his friend, his delightful companion as well as his patron, for he was his Dulce as well as Decus; and let him be our rule. This obfervation is within our sphere of duty, for it strikes at adulation, which is a blemish in the individual, and is attended by confequences pernicious to the community. In his preface, the author, as a critic, ftoops to the calculation of the difference between the number of fyllables in an English verfe; and a Greek hexameter. If he professed an entire art of poetry, as Horace did, he had in him the authority for doing fo. Syllaba longa brevi fubje&ta vocatur jambus, &c. but Longinus would never have defcended to this, becaufe Thee, great Longinus, all the Nine infpire, POPE. But what aggravates the crime of entering into this arithmetical criticifm is the intention, for it is done in order to expofe the infirmities of poor old Dryden, whom, after having charged with being tedioufly paraphraftical, and of having induftriously distorted the innocent text of his author to meanings of obscenity, he afterwards, moft condefcendingly, pronounces an excellent poet, and that candour should draw a veil over conftitutional blemishes. The fame of Dryden has too strong a foundation, to require our affiftance; and we fhall be contented to obferve, that we cannot recollect any inftances, where men of real genius are fevere upon each other.-The criticisms upon Creech are downright perfecution, and favour of that uncharitable fpirit, which not only tortures the living, but would damn the dead. The The tranflator feems as well pleased with himself, as he is diffatisfied with others. He affirms, that he has neither followed his author too closely, nor abandoned him too wantonly; and in vindicating the liberty he has taken of not adhering to the letter of the original, has totally mistaken Horace's rule. Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere, fidus Interpres For this rule has no fort of regard to tranflation. It is a precept for writing epic or tragic poems, and advifes to take the fubject from fome known ftory, rather than create a new one. Melius illiacum carmen deducis in actum. But, fays Horace, take care, that in handling this fable, fo taken from another, you do not follow your original word for word like a faithful tranflator, for you are not a translator, but the writer of an epic poem. He himself has anticipated the charge of incumbering his notes with fo many quotations, and pleads his acknowledgment in excuse. We are too well acquainted with the arts of publication, not to difcern the fcheme an author has in fwelling a volume-Take Swift upon it. Though meant at firft, by way of filling, Unhappy ftate of letters! The fame vein of perfecution runs through this author's account of the life of Theocritus, where the unfortunate Dr. Kennet is most feverely handled, and ftands charged with vanity, oftentation, want of connexion, and perplexity, because he did not give a fatisfactory account of the country of Theocritus: This was proved to be Sicily, by an epigram of Theocritus's own writing, which was in every body's hands: Where then was the ufe of abufing any body about it, or making fuch a rout? Indeed, where the opinion of fo exalted a critic as Longinus upon an author is to be fought for, we think no labour thrown away: The words of the motto are, τους Βουκολικοι, πλην ολιγῶν τῶν ἐξῶθεν ὁ θεοκριτοσ, επιτυχεστάτοσ, contain the opinion of Longinus upon our poet; and we cannot agree with our author in his preference of Fabricius's tranflation of the words πλην ολιγῶν τῶν ἐξῶθεν which Fabricius renders, except thofe few pieces which are of another argument; that would be to make Longinus talk nonfenfe, and fay, Theocritus fucceeds beft of any in writing pastoral, except when he did not write paftorals. F 2 The The effay on paftoral poetry by Mr. Greene has every mark of judgment, candour and genius; the stile clear, and most admirably fuited to the fubject. The author's conjecture, why Arcadia was the paftoral scene, is ingenious. In countries, fays he, which fuffer the leaft variation from their original form, paftoral poetry is moft efteemed. That Arcadia was lefs exposed to this variation than any other part of Greece, is certain, from its inland fituation and fruitful paftures; the one exempting it from the vifitation of strangers, the other removing any neceffity of going abroad, and thence importing the corrupting novelties of foreign countries. The falfe delicacy of those who, in paftoral poetry, will admit of nothing but elegant and unblemished fimplicity, he condemns; "because in a piece where Nature fhould predominate, bright colours are more properly blended with the fhades of frailty. Altho' Nature is not to be totally excluded, she is not to be exppofed in fordid habit, and difagreeable colours; and although a reader is not to be fatiated with beds of rofes, no more is he to be difgufted with the filthiness of a dunghill." His obfervation on Virgil's imitations of his mafter Theocritus, are candid and moft judicious: He acknowledges that Virgil had tranflated the fimilies, fentiments, and defcriptions of his Grecian mafter; but that "he feparated the ore from the drofs, and tranfplanted thofe flowers alone which add a fragrance to his work, and calls him the refined Theocritus of the Auguftan age." Let us not forget the obligation we are under to this excellent critic for refcuing our darling Spencer, from the brutal grafp of that giant critic, whofe callous nature was always proof against poetic fafcination. His reafons for the difference between Spencer's September and his other months, in his Shepherd's Calendar, are founded in nature and in hiftory, fountains to which few critics of the prefent age are willing, or perhaps able to recur. But it would be doing injuftice to make extracts from fuch a writer, who ought to be read entire. The great labours of our tranflator in difcovering likeneffes between his author and Virgil, as well as other poets, are not only unprofitably expended, but the fimilitude is forced, unnatural, and fometimes does not exist at all: For inftance, in the beginning of the firft paftoral, Thyrfis fays àdou ti to Vilugioμa, that is, fweet is that whispering, or rather fomething fweet is that whispering; and Virgil, fæpe levi fomnum fuadebit inire fufurro; one fays, the whif pering is sweet, the other that it will penade to fleep; no likeness here, but in the fingle idea of waifpering, which is far from the crime of imitation, in my opinion. So fond is he of this, that he feems to overlook the fuperiority of |