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readers, to know that the original author is an eminent poet, we will assure them that Hesiod is pronounced to be so, by the few who understand the beauties of his style, and the thousands who only read them. The excellences for which he is conspicuous are, simplicity of language, sweetness of numbers, an impressive gravity of address, and perspicuity in the communication of his thoughts; now and then he infuses ardour into his verse, and sometimes he rises to sublimity. Few passages are found of questionable meaning, or difficult interpretation, in the poetry of Hesiod. It is not therefore to be expected, that a translator will give much occasion for discussion respecting the sense of the original. There is one line, however, in the beginning of the Works and Days, which will admit of a more reasonable signification than the translator has affixed to it.

Κρυψαντες γαρ εχεσι θεοι βίον ανθρωποισι.

Ρηιδίως γαρ καν και επι ηματι εργασαίο, &c. (i. 42.)

is thus rendered :

'Would the immortal gods on men bestow
A mind, how few the wants of life to know,
They all the year, from labour free, might live
On what the labour of a day might give.' p. 18.

We cannot imagine the poet could advance the doctrine which is broached in the English. What possible degree of abstemiousness, consistent with the preservation of life, would be sufficed for a year by the hardest labour for a single day? It appears to us that the meaning of the line is, that the gods had concealed or withheld the spontaneous productions of the earth, which were enjoyed during the fabled age of gold, when the labour of a day might gather as much as the temperate habits of a year would consume. We can only state our opinion at present, without giving our reasons; for if we once get into verbal criticism, we fear the patience of our readers would be put to a very severe test. Generally, the thoughts of the Grecian poet are exhibited with sufficient fidelity. The versification of Cooke is tolerably neat; sometimes it approaches to elegance, but it is often careless and prosaic. The following extract is an instance of the translator's best manner.

"O! would I had my hours of life began

Before this fifth, this sinful, race of man ;
Or had I not been call'd to breathe the day,
Till the rough iron age had pass'd away!
For now, the times are such, the gods ordain,
That ev'ry moment shall be wing'd with pain ;
Condemn'd to sorrows, and to toil, we live ;
Rest to our labour death alone can give ;

And yet, amid the cares our lives annoy,
The gods will grant some intervals of joy:
But how degen'rate is the human state!
Virtue no more distinguishes the great;
No safe reception shall the stranger find;
Nor shall the ties of blood, or friendship, bind;
Nor shall the parent, when his sons are nigh,
Look with the fondness of a parent's eye,
Nor to the sire the son obedience pay,
Nor look with rev'rence on the locks of grey,
But, oh! regardless of the pow'rs divine,
With bitter taunts shall load his life's decline.
Revenge and rapine shall respect command,
The pious, just, and good, neglected stand.
The wicked shall the better man distress,
The righteous suffer, and without redress;
Strict honesty, and naked truth, shall fail,
The perjur'd villain, in his arts, prevail.
Hoarse Envy shall, unseen, exert her voice,
Attend the wretched, and in ill rejoice.
At last fair Modesty and Justice fly,

Rob'd their pure limbs in white, and gain the sky;
From the wide earth they reach the blest abodes,
And join the grand assembly of the gods,

While mortal men, abandon'd to their grief,

Sink in their sorrows, hopeless of relief.' pp. 21, 22.

Idle words are sometimes introduced to eke out the mea

sure.

• May I nor mine the righteous paths pursue,
But int'rest only ever keep in view.' p. 23.

Insignificant monosyllables are brought forward into the most conspicuous and public place to form a rhyme.

But he that is not wise himsel, nor can

Hearken to wisdom, is an useless man,' p. 23.

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The emendations of the compiler are not numerous violent. A few specimens are subjoined to satisfy the reader's curiosity.

1. Cooke. But from Prometheus 'twas concealed in vain
Which for the use of man he stole again;

And, artful in his fraud, brought from above:
At which, enraged, spoke cloud-compelling Jove.'

Lee expands the two last lines.

'And artful in his fraud, brought from above,
Clos'd in a hollow cane, deceiving Jove:
Again defrauded of celestial fire,

Thus spoke the cloud-compelling god in ire.'

2. Cooke. With soothing language and the treach'rous smile The heart to purchase, and that heart beguile.

Lee.

3. Cooke. Lee.

• With manners all deceitful, and her tongue
Fraught with abuse, and with detraction hung."
Around her person, lo, the diamonds shine.
Gold ornaments around her person shine.'
And now attend while I at large relate,
And trace the various turns of human state.'
Lee expands again.

4. Cooke.

And now the subject of my verse I change
To tales of profit and delight I range,

Whence you may pleasure and advantage gain,
If in your mind you lay the useful strain."

Upon examining the four specimens here produced, the intelligent reader will probably be puzzled to determine which will bear away the palm, Mr. Cooke, or Mr. Lee. They seem to contend which can write the worst, and the victory remains doubtful. If they had tuned their reeds, like the shepherds in the Eclogue, for a wager, the justest decision would be for them to exchange stakes. If Mr. Lee is so successful in contending with Cooke, even in his unhappiest moments, for the palm of inferiority, he needs fear no defeat when he enters the lists with Pope or Dryden : he will certainly carry every thing before him. The poet who so easily resigned the throne of dulness to Mac Flecknoe, will not endeavour to wrest the sceptre from any modern possessor, or interfere with the claims of any heir apparent,

If it be alledged in support of Mr. C's emendations, that Cooke's transiation of Hesiod is the best, and that the altered passages were very bad, we have no scruple to say, that, where a good translation is not extant, the better plan is not to publish one; but if it must be published, to give it to the world as it came out of the translator's hands; more especially, if it is altered without being improved. We have paid rather too much attention, perhaps, to this work; but if our remarks produce their due effect on Mr. Lee's mind, before he commits his fame and his property beyond recall, we shall not consider our time to have been misemployed.

Art. IV. Account of Jamaica and its Inhabitants By a Gentleman, long resident in the West Indies. pp. 305. Longman and Co. 1808. THIS work, which is drawn up in a lively and amusing

manner, appears to give a just representation of the present state of the important island of Jamaica, of its various productions, and of the manners and dispositions of its diversified inhabitants. Neither deep science, nor acute research, is perceptible in the author; but we have no reason

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to doubt the fidelity of his delineations. He professes to have copied nothing from others; and assures us that the account he gives is in a great measure the result of his own personal experience and observation, unaided and unrestrained by the pages of any writer whatever, and unbiassed by any motives but those of a love of truth.' Pref. P. xii.

In the description of the voyage and approach to Jamaica, as well as in that of its interior scenery and vegetable riches, we were forcibly reminded of the flowery language of the late Mr. Beckford, in his history of this island; but it is not often that the author disgusts us with the silly af fectation of fine writing. The varied surface of the island is much more appositely displayed by the homely emblem mentioned in the following passage:

In gazing on this landscape, the author has more than once been reminded of the method a gentleman, who had been in Jamaica, took to give an idea of its interior to some of his acquaintance, who wanted a description of it. He took a sheet of writing paper, and crumpling it up between his hands, laid it on the table, and half expanding it, told the company that was the best description he could give of the face of the interior of Jamaica' p. 9.

The government and laws of Jamaica are necessarily framed upon those of the mother country, with such modifications as would naturally arise from local differences. It were to be wished, however, that some things did not bear so near a resemblance, or rather that they did not exist at all either in the parent state or the colony.

The office of secretary is here a very lucrative one indeed, perhaps second to none but that of the governor himself. The fees attached to it are very considerable every patent commission and other instrument has its stated price, and even the records of office can only be opened with a golden key. It is pretty shrewdly to be suspected, that the price of sinecure or nominal appointments is rather arbitrary than specific. It is by no means unusual to offer from an hundred to five hundred pounds currency for those nominal appointments.' p 38.

It has been supposed, that the lawyers of this petty speck on the terrestrial globe, receive not less than half a million of money annually, for defending the property of their fellow citizens against legal or illegal invasion.' p. 41.

The chapter on commerce, specie, taxes, &c. is short and unsatisfactory, considering the important nature of the objects. But the author seems aware of his forte; and hurries through these, and matters of a political and military kind, to picture with greater felicity of expression, and more comprehension of the subject, the persons, dresses, manners, and customs of the inhabitants, and the objects of natural

history, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, which offer themselves as articles either of use or curiosity..

It is here stated, though not for the first time, that the bread-fruit is not so important an acquisition, to the country as was at one time expected.

This plant multiplies so fast, that at the present time (twelve years since its first introduction here) every part of the island abounds with it. The negro, however, who is a pretty good judge of the substantial benefits of vegetable production, regards this stranger with cold apathy; except as a novelty, he prefers the cultivation of his more productive and substantial plaintain, and his more palatable and nutritive yam. The truth is, the breadfruit, though it makes a very good pudding, is of itself an insipid and not very substantial food.' p. 100.

The Otaheite, or South Sea cane (introduced about fourteen years ago into this country), has almost totally superseded, the old West India cane, there being now few properties that retain any of the latter, particularly on the north side of the island. This cane' (the old West India cane) was of much smaller size than its successor; it seldom exceeded six or seven feet, exclusive of the top, and was about four or five inches in circumference; whereas the other is frequently ten, twelve, and even fifteen feet in length, and eight or nine inches in circumference ; the size, however, must necessarily depend on the fertility of the soil, and favourableness of the season. The old cane had, however, its pe culiar advantages; its juices were perhaps richer, it yielded a weightier and more substantial sugar, and its leaves, or tops, afforded a larger supply of fodder, and of a better kind, than the other. The planters were therefore for some time doubtful, on these accounts, of the benefits and expediency of the exchange. But the greatly increased quantity of sugar which the South Sea cane yielded, caused it finally to triumph over its ancient rival. Four hogsheads (of 18 cwt.) are often obtained from an acre of the former, while the latter seldom or never exceeded two and a half: the medium of both may be set down at two and a half and one and a half.' p. 102.

We believe that the Bourbon cane (exactly the same with that described here as the Otaheite or South Sea cane) was first introduced into Jamaica from Martinico, upon the conquest of that island in 1794. We remember to have been furnished, by correspondence with Jamaica on this subject, in 1799, with three instances of its great superiority in pro-, ductiveness to the old cane, all of which exceed the largest proportion stated by our author. On an estate called Old Plantation, in Clarendon, 10 acres yielded 43 hhds. of the finest sugar ever seen in the island. On Castle Weemyss estate, in St. Mary's, 7 acres and 3 rood produced 31 hhds.; and 3 rood 24 perches (16 perches less than an acre) at Eden estate, in the parish of St. George's, gave 5 hhds. of excellent quality, from rattoons of the preceding year.

In the tenth chapter, on planters, proprietors, attornies, overseers, and book-keepers, the author has entered into a

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