6 of which we have already attempted a version. We have next a dissertation on the dithyrambic, from the pen of Theobald Ceva, which contains a variety of pertinent observations upon the style and matter of the poet himself; and at length we reach the poem, the leading features and chief merit of which we shall discuss as briefly as possible. The dithyrambic is a species of poetic effusion, which, perhaps, ought to be confined, as it is in the instance before us, and as its name actually imports, to Bacchanalian subjects, though both the ancient Greeks and the modern Italians occasionally extended it to other deities than the god of wine. The orgic fury, by which the dithyrambic bard is supposed to be transported, allows him a far greater degree of latitude, whether of grammar, metaphor, metre, or even morality, than it would be lawful to assume on any other occasion; in the language of Scaliger, stylus tumidus, atque plenus Deo, plenus numerorum, et vocum compositarum, quas ampullas et sesquipedalia verba satyrici nostri appellaverunt. In all these requisites, the dithyrambic before us is sufficiently full: yet it is but justice to add, that while the poet indulges in as much enthusiasm as the wildest visionary can wish for, he seldom or never suffers himself to be betrayed into any very unpardonable licentiousness, whether of morality or grammar; and is, in both respects, far to be preferred to Chiabrera. In the graver parts of his poem, he confines himself almost entirely to septenaries and hendecasyllables; and, in the choice of his catachreses and compound epithets, he never suffers his enthusiasm to run away with his taste. Like Hafez and Hariri, he denominates wine the topaz, chrysolite, blood of the grape, the liquid amber: 'Ambra liquida, che infernifoca.' And from his compound epithets we may select, as possest of peculiar strength or beauty, such terms as chiomazzure, azure-tressed; oricrinite, golden-haired; egidarmato, ægisarmed; and, as just instanced above, infernifoca, a term to which he seems particularly attached, whence we find it again in the following: Già Gradivo egidarmato Infernifoca il mio core.' How elegant are these epithets, compared with the following of Chiabrera: stuoladdensate, curvaccigliate, corinfestatrice, spemellatacore, caviafarci. The modern Italian, like the old Latin, has been generally supposed incapable of admitting an ornament of this compound kind; and even the most daring of the Tuscan bards have seldom ventured to introduce it, excepting in Bacchanalian and other dithyrambic strains; yet it has been attempted, occasionally, in soberer versification: and Menzini himself may afford us an instance or two of its susceptibility of success; though it should be remarked, that in the terzet we now allude to, and which is as follows, he is describing the dithyrambic measure: A te quest'inno, o buon Lenéo, s'innalza, Ebrifestoso altier fiammispirante, E le Menadi tue punge ed incalza.' Cant. III. p. 62. At the same time, it cannot be pretended that the Tuscan tongue bends with as much facility to this rich and luxurious ornament as the Greek in ancient times, or the Persian, German, or English, in modern days. Having made these general observations, we shall close them with a single extract, and shall take it from the opening of the poem, which has been peculiarly admired, as being sufficiently bold without being too rampant or restive: 'Dell' Indico Oriente Domator glorioso il Dio del Vino L'augusta fronte inver le nubi inalza, Con la vaga Arianna un dì sedea, Al bell' Idolo suo così dicea : Se dell' uve il sangue amabile Si bel sangue è un raggio acceso Su su dunque in questo sangue Si ravvolge e si consuma, I pensier mandiamo in bando.' P. 3. ་ Upon the French Revolution,' the Dantescan vision of Vincent Monti, we shall offer but very little; liking neither the general subject nor the particular occasion on which it was composed, which was the death of Hugh Bassville, a friend of the author's, who fell a sacrifice to the violence of. his own political principles at Rome, on January 14, 1793, exclaiming, as he expired, with much apparent remorse at the part he had so intemperately espoused, Je meurs la victime d'un fou. I fall the victim of a madman.' He was a warm and intimate friend of Brissot, to whose care he bequeathed his only child with his parting breath. The poem is divided into four cantos, composed, as the title expresses it, after the manner of Dante, and often replete with his wild and daring spirit. Bassville night have been a sincere Christian, for any thing we know to the contrary, in the heigh-day of his violence, but for a sincere Christian he was badly connected; or if not a sincere Christian in his life, he may have been so in his death: be either, however, as it may, we can by no means approve of the following de scription of his massacre, especially with the reference which the verses obviously possess, and which indeed the annotator himself has pointed out, to a terzet in the Purgatorio of Dante, applied immediately to our Saviour himself: Di ferità, di rabbia orribil' opra Ei vider quivi, e libertà, che stolta Videro, ahi vista! in mezzo della foltą Starsi una Croce col divin suo peso E a piè del legno redentor, disteso The parallel stanza in Dante is as follows: To translate either would be to sully our paper still farther, which is already sufficiently stained by a copy of the original. We cannot but wish Mr. Mathias had rejected this poem from his collection. For his re-edition of the two preceding he will accept our thanks. ART. X.—The History of the Honourable Artillery Company of the City of London, from its earliest Annals, to the Peace of 1802. By Anthony Highmore. 8vo. 12s. 6d. Boards. White. 1804. THE study of antiquities, once far removed from all the arts of elegance, has of late years been conducted in so libe ral a manner, that the prejudice, however powerful, by which it was once attended, has almost entirely disappeared. The eagerness, however, with which works of historical inquiry are sought for, has made writers less cautious in examining their own talents whilst preparing to appear before the public; and many are too forward to believe, that, because they dwell themselves upon some favourite topic with peculiar delight, it will have an equal merit with the world, whether they give it in a dozen pages, or a quarto volume. Such has been, apparently, the case with Mr. Highmore; whose work is one of the most singular productions it has ever been our fate to drudge through. The first chapter is On the Use of Arms in England,' and is intended to inculcate, that The character of a citizen bearing arms, whose intentions have the stamp of legal sanction, is congenial with the strictest idea of the constitution of this country.' It concludes with two sentences of common-place remark upon True Patriotism, from the sixth page of Dr. Parr's celebrated Fast Sermon. The second chapter treats Of Artillery, Archery, Infantry, Ordnance, Fire-Arms, and defensive Armour.' It contains no intelligence that may not be found to more advantage in the work of almost any author who has treated on these subjects: its principal authority is the well-known work of captain Grose; and, unless the following be an instance, it is not even animated with the slightest novelty of remark. 'The disinterested friendship which subsisted between Jonathan and David has ever been the theme of universal admiration; and this instance of it, which the word ARTILLERY introduces to OUR peculiar notice, may serve to animate every comrade in OUR battalion with the same amiable and active generosity. The life of David had been devoted to death, by the intemperate hatred of Saul; he fled from the court of his sovereign, where the invitations of external honours and splendour but half concealed the unerring shafts of royal power, and hid himself in a field, where, according to a preconcerted agreement with his friend Jonathan, who had first pleaded his cause, the latter shot three arrows in a certain direction, so as for David to hear the orders given by him to his servant to seek for them, and to gather "Jonathan gave them up; and when he carried them to his master, his artillery to his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city." And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times, and they kissed one another, and wept one with the other, until David exceeded. They then pledged inviolable regard to each other, and separated.' P. 14. The third chapter, although the Company is well known to have originated so late as 1585, is called The History of the Artillery Company from the CONQUEST to the Demise of James the First.' Why not from the time of Alfred? since, in P. 37, we are told, that Although the military government of the city of London is of too remote antiquity to be ascertained with very critical precision at this distant period, yet we learn from the Saxon Chronicles, that the London auxiliaries, from whom in subsequent periods the Artillery Company took their rise, having joined Alfred, marched to dislodge the Danes from their possession of the town of Hertford. Hence it is extremely probable, that if a military government was not first settled in London by that great prince, yet that it was re-established by him after its reduction out of the hands of the Danes, in the year 883.' That the practice of arms was constantly preserved among the citizens of London is not wonderful; since in early periods, when we had no standing army, almost every subject was occasionally a soldier; and the citizens of London, if they did not always recruit the armies, would be more frequently called upon than any other subjects to fill out their sovereign's cavalcades. At P. 40, the patent of incorporation, granted by Henry VIII. in 1537, to the Fellowship of Artillery, or Gunners of the TOWER, is given in a sort of insulated form; as if it was intended that the generality of readers should consider it as a charter of foundation to the present Company. In short, the real history of the Company begins in the middle of a sentence in P. 47, where we are informed, that, in 1585, the city being wearied with continual musters, a number of gallant citizens voluntarily exercised themselves in what is called the Old Artillery ground, and trained others to the ready use of war, The narration, to the close of the chapter, is now most tediously dilated; and that which, exclusive of king James's patent, might have been recited in a dozen sentences, fills thirteen pages. Toward its close, a copy of verses, written about 1653, is recommended to the reader, not only as a specimen of mental ardour,' but on account of the early period in which they were composed. |