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The preceding seem to be examples sufficient to establish my position, that Hammond went much further, and made much freer with his original, than is understood by the phrase, of making one a model. Perhaps there might be a pious fraud in concealing the fact, that he was a translator, original matter being probably a more marketable commodity than second hand; and such an attempt would be in character for lord Chesterfield, who, counting largely on the cullibility of mankind, deeming, for instance, that no flattery is too gross for a woman, nor hardly any well turned nonsense too palpable for the ears of the mob of the House of Commons, might easily be led to suppose, that the mob of literati were equally liable to be imposed on. But whether or not there was a designed deception in the case, it must be admitted, that Hammond was eminently successful in imbibing the spirit of his original and making it his own. There is unquestionably an high degree of tenderness and elegance in his elegies, not at all perhaps inferior to those of Tibullus; nor can we fully assent to the austere decree of Doctor Johnson, that he did not deserve to gain his mistress, because addressing her in a fictitious character, and under Roman imagery. It is remarkable, by the by, that even the doctor seems wholly ignorant how he came by this imagery, and not in the least to suspect it to be the effect of translating a Roman author. Had he been aware of this, he would, most probably have said so, instead of simply charging him, with deviating from modern life and manners, and producing nothing but frigid pedantry. If, as he says of the prefacer (lord Chesterfield) it may be reasonably suspected that he never read the poems (that is of Hammond) it would be equally reasonable to suspect, that he (doctor Johnson) never read Tibullus; or, if he had read him, that he had wholly forgotten him, since the very passage he quotes from Hammond, as a proof of his want of passion and meaning, is taken from the 2d elegy of the third book of the Roman poet, the whole of which is translated with sufficient closeness.

In fact I begin to suspect in my turn, that even the literary leviathans of England, have little acquaintance with the ancient poets, other than those that are thumbed in schools.

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CLASSICAL LITERATURE.

The recent discovery of several new fables of Phaedrus, having divided the opinions of the learned in Europe, the following from a respectable English Journal, will doubtless be acceptable.

THE discovery of thirty-two new fables of Phædrus, if they were genuine, would be highly gratifying to the learned world. Phædrus was the slave of Augustus, and obtained his liberty by the merit of his fables. Works so highly rewarded by the emperor, in the most polished period of Rome, would claim no common interest. But the question of their authenticity remains to be decided. Nicolas Perotti, bishop of Siponto, lived in the 15th century. He wrote a folio volume intitled Cornucopia, on the first book only of Martial's Epigrams. Had he been equally condescending on the others, what a charming sight in a library had been fourteen folio volumes of Commentaries on Martial! In a small manuscript of 170 pages 8vo., containing about one hundred and sixty pieces, were found copied thirty-two unpublished fables of Phædrus; thirty others of the same writer, already known; thirty-six of Avienus, not reported as new, and sixty epigrams by Perotti himself. This MS. was known to Burman; .but had been missed, and is lately recovered by M. Andres, conservator of the royal library at Naples. M. Cataldo Jannelli, one of the librarians, has printed these fables, with a commentary; has restored the passages damaged by time, by spots of mould, &c. and, in short, has treated this discovery as truly that of a valuable classic. He has added three dissertations; the second is in proof that these fables are really the work of Phadrus. They have been translated into Italian verse, by M. Petroni, and into French prose, by M. Bignoli. The arguments of M. Jannelli are thought by some to be conclusive. Certain it is, that the five books of Phædrus, long used in our schools, were not discovered till 1596; when they were found by P. Pithou, in the library of St. Remi, at Rheims; and that to this day all competent judges are not satisfied, whether they really appertain to the Augustan age.

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There are only two passages in ancient writers, in which Phædrus is mentioned. One is a verse of Martial, in which, inquiring the employment of a friend, he asks,

An æmulatur improbi jocos Phædri?

"Is he intent on equalling Phædrus in the jocose, but bitter style?" This character seems hardly applicable to a fabulist, but rather to a writer of epigrams, or satires. The second passage is more express. It is in the preface of Avienus, who lived in the fourth century, to his own fables: he distinctly names Phædrus as the author of five books of fables. Scriverius of Harlem, denied that the fables published by Pithou were written by Phædrus: he thought them not worthy of the age of Augustus; nor of the gift of liberty. He quotes from Perotti, bishop of Siponto, a passage, in which he acknowledges as his own, though borrowed in another form from Avienus, a fable beginning

Olim quas vellent esse in tutelà tuâ,

and ending, after eleven verses,

Nisi utile quod facimus, stulta est gloria.

Now, these twelve verses are found word for word in one of those fables of Phædrus, published by Pithou; here, then, is the authority of the former fables of Phædrus, impugned on the testimony of Perotti, who is the only evidence in favour of these newly discovered: was he acquainted with those fables, and adopted a passage from them, they not being then published? Certain it is, that he did not borrow them in another form, as he pretends, from Avienus, for that writer has no such matter.

This statement, it must be confessed, bears hard on the good faith of Perotti; who, nevertheless, was a man of the greatest learning, as well as a bishop. He was attached to cardinal Bessarion, famous for his erudition: he was his conclavist. He also prevented him from being pope. It is said, that three cardinals applied for admission to cardinal Bassarion one morning, intending to offer him the tiara, in the name of the whole sacred college; but Perotti, knowing that his lordship was retired to his closet for the purpose of study, could not allow him to be disturbed, to see cardinals! he therefore sent away the deputies,

and the proposal went off. When Bessarion was informed of the honour intended him, he said to Perotti, you have lost me the tiara, and lost yourself a cardinal's hat.

While the learned on the continent are divided in opinion on the authenticity of these fables, their character must remain undecided. Their learned editors are clear in their judgment that they display the very style and manner of the freedman of Augustus: but the opinion of the very learned Heyne is against

them.

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MRS. SIDDONS'S DEPARTURE FROM THE STAGE:

Covent Garden, June 29.-This distinguished actress, who has so long been the ornament of the tragic drama: who has been accustomed so often to subdue the soul by fictitious terror, and elevate the heart by the strongest and noblest representations of distress: who has, in fact, prolonged the illusion of the poet, and contributed to the immortality of his genius by the most powerful external representations of the passions, took her final leave of the stage this evening, in the character of lady Macbeth.

It is the misfortune of all great excellence, that it never can be continued long amongst us; and it is yet a greater misfortune, when that excellence is of the peculiar kind and degree which belongs merely to the person, and is essentially inherent in the single object which produces it.

The poet leaves his works behind him, the painter his picture, and the sculptor his statue. They expect, according to the merits of their several productions, to levy contributions of fame in distant ages, and receive the acclamations of future crowds. Indeed, almost every kind of genius has its peculiar instrument and operation, by which it continues its fame to posterity, and flourishes to the improvement and delight of succeeding generations. This, however, is not the lot of the actor; his genius, however eminent, produces no substance or permanent effect; he is, indeed, the creature of momentary joy, the phan

tom of perishable applause; the recollection of him is daily wearing away, and a few years must inevitably consign him to oblivion, or at least leave nothing behind but the sound of his

name.

Garrick himself has admirably touched upon this oblivious quality of his art in the following elegant lines in his Prologue to The Clandestine Marriage: he alludes to the death of Quin and Mrs. Cibber:

“The painter dead, yet still he charms the eye;
While England lives, his fame can never die.
But he, who struts his hour upon the stage,
Can scarce extend his fame for half an age.
Nor pen nor pencil can the actor save,
The art, and artist, share one common grave.

O let me drop one tributary tear

On poor Jack Falstaff's grave, and Juliet's bier!
You to their worth must testimony give:

"Tis in your hearts alone their fame can live,
Still as the scenes of life will shift away,

The strong impressions of their art decay.

Your children cannot feel what you have known;

They'll boast new QUINS and CIBBERS of their own."

It is not often that a female performer is capable of that wide range of characters, or is possessed of that versatility of talent of which we have had examples in the other sex.-Garrick's comedy was equal to his tragedy; the glowing humour of his Scrub, and Archer was equal, in point of truth and effect, to the grandeur of his Macbeth, and the lofty serenity and philosophic elevation of his Hamlet.-Nature seems to have gifted Garrick, as she had already gifted Shakspeare, with endowments as extensive as her own creation, and powers as various as her own productions. To penetrate with an eagle eye through the whole expanse of nature; to be able to conceive and express all the exterior of manners, as modified by innumerable habits and modes, and estranged and distorted from the simplicity of an elemental passion; to be able to paint them with that astonishing effect, that the passion could be brought home to every bosom, is a rare talent, and was never found in any performer, with the exception of Garrick. The female actress is necessarily limited in her art

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