Seu clavum regere, ac ventos immittere velis. Conftituit, prifcifque novum dare gentibus orbem." P. 9. With the poems, however, though fufficiently well adapted to their refpective occafions, we confefs ourselves les interefted, than with the two lives. That of Mr. Benwell contains a moft amiable picture of an ingenious man and a fcholar, exemplary in every relation of thofe parts of life through which he paffed; and falling a facrifice, at an early period, to the confcientious fulfilment of a facred duty. He was born in 1765, and died in 1796. The following paffage fhows him in connection with another valuable and able man, whofe career was alfo prematurely terminated by difeafe.. "He was admitted a Commoner of Trinity College in the year 1783, and chosen scholar of that fociety at the following election. Eager to increafe his knowledge, and refine his tafte, he applied diligently to his claffical ftudies. His college exercises were remarkable for ftrength of conception, purity of ftyle, and juftnefs of obfervation. They frequently attracted the notice of Mr. Thomas Warton, who fpoke of them in terms of great approbation, entertained for their author a very high opinion and regard, encouraged his rifing genius, and procured for him the offer of a lucrative fituation in a literary department, which other occupations induced him to decline. He employed the intervals of his ftudies in cultivating an acquaintance with young men of learning and talents, who were members of his own college. Of this defcription was Mr. Headley, the author of a volume of poems, and other pieces, and the editor of Select Beauties of Ancient English Poetry*. Mr. Headley was remarkable for vivacity of temper, and a high and noble fpirit, which a bad conftitution could not break or dif compofe. His ftudies were chiefly directed to English literature, In the preface to that work, after mentioning the difficulties which he had to furmount in the collection of proper materials, he adds: "For affiftance received I am folely indebted to my very dear friend Mr. Benwell." and he purfued them with unremitting application. His ardent mind found a grateful repofe in the fweet complacency of Benwell's temper; and their difpofitions, although different in fome refpects, were foon bent to mutual confidence, and cemented in lasting intimacy." P. 207. Dr. George Butt was born in 1741, and died in 1795. To delineate a character in fome refpects peculiar, was a matter of fome difficulty and delicacy: but as the peculiarities of Dr. Butt were all connected with great amiablenefs of difpofition, we think that Dr. Valpy has very well fucceeded in giving a view of them. To the following fhort account of his friends we may add, to his credit, that they were all attached to him through life, and fill cherish his memory. "During the latter part of his abode at Westminster, he formed fome valuable connexions, which proved the joy and the confort of his life, with men, who ever loved and valued him, and whofe friendship has been highly honorable and advantageous to those, who have happily obtained it. The chief of thefe were, Ifaac Hawkins Browne, Efq. M. P. John Thomas Batt, Efq. Francis Burton, Efq. one of the Welch Judges, and Dr. Cyril Jackfon, Dean of Chrift Church. Their attachment to him was obtained by his affectionate difpofition, his generofity, his wit, his original and creative genius, his ingenuous, and even humorous fimplicity, by which he became, like Falstaff, "not only witty in himself, but the caufe of wit in others." P. 227. That Dr. Valpy a little over-rates the talents of his friend, particularly in poetry, cannot be confidered as a reproach. Such favourable judgment is the very natural refult of a strong attachment. The following fhort anecdote will give as good a view of Dr. Butt's peculiar characteristics, as can be given in fo fhort a compafs. "In his common intercourfe with the world his fimplicity and artlefsnefs were his diftinguishing characters. Often rallied on fome laughable effects of this difpofition, he clung to it as one of the firmett props of his future comfort. He often turned away anger by a foft anfwer, and fometimes found matter of amufement and innocent gaiety in the attacks made upon him. In-confequence of a loyal Serinon, which he had preached at Reading, he received one morning at break faft an anonymous letter, abufive and threatening he did not leave the table till he had turned it into playful and elegant poetry." P. 258. We have been on the whole much gratified by this vo fume; and doubt not that it will communicate to many the fame pleasure it has given to us. ART. ART. XIII. Jani Ottonis Sluiter Lectiones Andocidea. In terjecta funt LUD. CASP. VALCKENÆRII ineditæ, et Jo. Luzacii in Andocidem animadverfiones: item nonnulla ex codicibus MSS. excerpta, 8. Lugd. Bat. apud Haak et Socios; 1804. Imported by Lunn. IT has been frequently obferved, that the inhabitants of Athens, equalled at least in mental endowments by thofe of the other ftates of Greece, were alone pre-eminent in real eloquence: and the ardent genius of her government, which affected to beflow confequence upon every individual, was well calculated to diffufe, through the bulk of her citizens, fenfibility for public deliberations. It would be need lefs to recount here the talents of preceding ftatefmen, which infpired with vigour and animation the efforts of Andocides. Pericles, the honour of his fpecies, and the peculiar boast of Athens, has bequeathed to pofterity nothing but his name. His enemies however atteft, that his commanding eloquence, inforced by a majeltic attitude, was capable of fwaying the moft wild and furious democracy: ταχὺς λέγειν μὲν, πρὸς δέ γ' αυτοῦ τῷ τάχει πειθώ τις ἐπεκάθιζεν ἐπὶ τοῖς χείλεσιν οὕτως ἐκήλει· καὶ μόνος τῶν ῥητόρων τὸ κέντρον ἐγκατέλιπε τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις. If irritated by the bafe treachery of his country's allies, or the turbulence of his domeftic foes, Περικλέης Ουλύμπιος ἄστραπτεν, ἐβρόντα, ξυνεκύκα τὴν Ἑλλάδα· and though at the termination of a difaftrous campaign, he would tenderly lament τὴν νεότητα οὕτως ηφανίσθαι ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ὥσπερ εἴ τις τὸ ἔαρ ἐκ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐξέλοι, yet he could infpirit his countrymen with an untameable confidence in the caufe of glory at that eventf period. Who can reflect, without bitternefs of foul, that this noble patriot followed the examples of Themiflocles and Cimon in not leaving for the inftruction of pofterity any monuments of his eloquence? It affords but little confolation to us to be informed that the grave and upright hiftorian and model of the Attic tongue, Thucydides, poffeffed the reputation of imitating the preft concifenels We loudly applaud the fortitude as well as judgment of the learned editor of the Edinburgh Thucydides who has replaced in E e 3 the concifeness of his vigorous ftyle, whofe political condu& he abhorred. The character of Antiphon, of the Rhamnufian ward, who was probably among the first who submitted their fpeeches to the public eye, has been forcibly delineated by the pen of a grateful scholar; Avtiqāv, avèp 'A‡nναιων τῶν καθ ̓ ἑαυτὸν ἀρετῇ τε οὐδενὸς ὕστερος, καὶ κράτιστος ἐνα θυμηθῆναι γενόμενος, καὶ ἃ ἂν γνοίη εἰπεῖν. The next orator, whofe fragments are confiderable. is Andocides, defcended from a family, as he himself tells us, maoy palta και κοινοτάτην ἀεὶ τῶν δεομένων. The ΚΗΡΥΚΕΣ, who traced their genealogy to Mercury, and were employed in inferior offices at the altar, enjoyed, like the Eumolpida, and other facerdotal houfes, certain diftinctions and privileges. We Thall not dwell upon thofe losthfome vices which confign his name to infamy: we alfo forbear to enlarge on thofe acquirements, which did not difgrace his liberal birth, and by which he was, occafionally, diftinguifhed in his country's councils; his orations are the beft vouchers for them; and the work before us, no mean effay of a young ftudent entering on his twenty-first year, will manifeftly conduce to bring them forward to the notice of the learned. The Lectiones Andocideæ are diftributed into twelve chapters: the first contains an account of A.'s ancestors,―teftimonies of the ancients refpecting his diction,-the plan of the work, and the differtation of V., with which Sluiter was favoured by his mater Luzac, and which would, we apprehend, have found a place more naturally in the eleventh chapter, or the fcattered leavings in that chapter fhould have been made fubfervient to its improvement here. The fecond and third chapters relate principally to the mutilated Herma at Athens, and the charge of having violated the Eleufinian Mysteries: the fourth chapter to the banishment and return the text certain attic forms of infection: fee Panætius ap. Euftath. 1946,93=813,16. the termination alfo of the fecond perfons fingalar, of the prefent and futures paffive and middle, has escaped the officioufnefs of the early editors of Prifcian; and λsúcs xpάTITO, in Mufgrave, ad Aj. 1370, owes, we fufpect, its fituation to the involuntary and ill-placed indulgence of the compofitor. In Thucyd. II. 49. we beg leave to fuggeft the propriety of restoring πολιτών του πελιδνόν Mier. Art, Πελιτιὶν ἐν τῷ τ, Αττικῶς. Photius, Lex. 15, πελιδνόν. μελών. Λέγεται δὲ καὶ πολιτιὸν παρὰ Θουκυδίδη and Alexis ap. Athen. 107. D. would have appeared in Pierson's note, ad 1. c. with the true orthography, Aloxúntai yaç EXITVÒN put, if the printer had not envied the charitable do nation. of of Andocides; in the fifth many nice points in the Attic code regulating teftamentary fucceffion, and enjoining the intermarriage of orphan females with relatives are difcuffed; the fixth and feventh chapters are employed upon the text of the noble speech concerning the mysteries; the eighth chapter shows caufe why the oration against Andocides, generally quoted as made by Lyfias, fhould be fet afide as fpurious: in the twelfth, Mr. S. refumes his concern for Lyfias, and presents us with variations from a MS., or conjectural emendations or both, o eighteen orations, found in the margin of a copy of the Aldine edition belonging to the public library at Leyden. To the alterations noticed in the funeral declamation, are added lections from a MS. bound up with cod. Demofthenis preserved in the fame collection. The ninth chapter revifes the text of the oration concerning his return; the tenth that concerning the peace, which Valckenaer believed to be genuine; and the eleventh that against Alcibiades. Mr. S. ac knowledges his obligations to Profeffor Luzac for his friendly advice and fupport throughout the Lectiones, and alfo to Mr. Tydeman for his kindnefs in procuring him the loan of a copy, ed. Ald. depofited in the fame collection, in the margin of which are noted many variations, better or worse than the Aldine text: and fome of them diftinguifhed by YP or C, Mr. S. fufpects, and with reafon, to have been taken from a Venetian MS. From Sluiter's remarks we could produce inflances which evince accurate reading and extenfive research, as well as paflages which demand revifion; but we haften to the confideration of thofe tranfcripts from the adverfaria of a SCHOLAR, whofe papers, elucidatory of the Greek orators, if publifhed with judgment, would be a benefaction to the whole community. We fhall begin by producing fome defective pallages from thefe lections, which, in our judgment, may be attributed partly to hafte, and partly to an indifference to thofe printed works, in which that excellent critic has been engaged. Pp. 76. 10. In Andocides, p. 1. 1. 21. ed. H. St.—or δὲ πλεύσαντι ἐς Κύπρον, ὅθενπερ ήκει, ἢ πολλὴ καὶ ἀγαθὴ διδομένη καὶ δωρεὰ ὑπάρχουσα γή πολλὴ reflored by VALCKENÆR. An illuftrious fcholar has remarked that " in conjectural Criticifm, as in Mechanics, the perfection of the art, I apprehend, confifts in producing a given effect with the leaft poffible force."-Herodotus III, 5. anò vàρ Povinns μέχρι οὔρων τῶν Καδύτιος πόλιος, ἢ ἐστι Σύριων τῶν Παλαιστι vŵy nahɛcμέvwv yn koti Jac. Gronovius; this correction is important and certain, Ee 4 P. 100 |