He hopes the facred glow to gain, That flow'd through ancient Greece's chain," "Yet ftill on, trembling pinions flies And wildly warbling as he goes, Wherever fancy points the path, the fweetly magic way.” ART. 15. The Maid of Renmore; or Platonic Love. A mockheroic Romance, in Verfe, with burlefque-Notes, in humble Imitation of modern Annotators. I 2mo. 6s. Sherwood. 1810. There is a confiderable degree of mirth and genuine humour in this little volume, which will afford a very pleafant lounge for an hour or two, even to the most faftidious. The moral of the poem, if fo it may be called, is this "That all platonic, ends in mortal love." By way of fpecimen we infert the following defcription of a fashionable modern house : "And lol as if transform'd by magic spell, Does any mark of tasteful madness fail. You fometimes tread on Rats, and fometimes Kings. And that's moft tafte which most wants common fenfe, "With others every thing ft be Chinese, Has aught in common with our atmosphere," &c. &c. ART. ART. 16. The Bullion Debate: a Serio-comic Satiric Poem. By William Pitt (formerly of Pendeford, now of Edgbafton-freet, Birmingham), author of the Surveys of the Counties of Stafford, Leicester, Northampton, and Worcester. 8vo. 87 pp. 2s. 6d. Longman. 1811. The subject of finance was fo long connected with the name of one great WILLIAM PITT, that we at first fufpected it to be affumed in the prefent inftance. But a clofer examination convinced us that fuch is the bona fide appellation of the writer, who has given us here, in very ordinary verfe, a very fingular thing :a real abstract of the arguments ufed in the Bullion debate. He has even given Mr. Vanfittart's refolutions in metre. This part begins thus: 1. "Of money we refolve this thing, They from cash payments were reftrain'd." P. 69. In all this recital the author "bears his faculties fo meekly," that it is not easy to decide to which party his opinion leads. But his performance is certainly curious. NOVELS. ART. 17. The Life and Adventures of Paul Plaintive, Efq. an Author, compiled from original Documents, and interfperfed with Specimens of his Genius in Profe and Poetry. By Martin Gribaldus Swammerdam, his Nephew and Executor. 2 Vols. Ios. 6d. Sherwood. 1811. Izmo. There is fome humour in thefe volumes, which whether they were compiled from authentic documents or not, we tend nor to determine; but the following defcription of an ordinary au. thor's fituation and connection with his publisher is pleasant enough. "In the courfe of a few years he wrote three Hiftories of England, G BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXIX. JAN, 1812. England, one Hiftory of India, Travels through China, and a Voyage to the Levant, a Hiftory of Chrift, and a Syftem of Geography, a Farrier's Dictionary, and a Family Phyfician, a Farmer's Encyclopædia, and an Univerfal Gazetteer, together with a Gardener's Calendar, and a new Syftem of Chemistry. He had as many names as a felon at the bar of the Old Bailey with half a dozen aliaffes. Sometimes he was the Rev. Thomas Thompson, then Walter Tophon, florist, fometimes he aftonished the world with his learning as a plain Mister, and sometimes as an Efquire," &c. &c. Many adventures, fcrapes, difficulties, and perplexities of a poor author are detailed with a fimilar degree of vivacity, but the humour is fometimes coarfe and bordering upon ribaldry. ART. 18. Despotism; or the Fall of the Jefuits: a political Romance, illuftrated by Hiftorical Anecdotes. 2 Vols. I 2mo. 125. Murray, 1811. The author of this ingenious performance has formed a fort of political Romance from the real hiftory of the origin, prof perity, and fall of the Jefuits, which even to the late period of 1749, was thought by the accomplished Lord Chesterfield to have an extraordinary influence over the whole world. The caufes, circumstances, and effects of the diffolution of this wonderful order of men, are the fubject of this volume, for the writer is of opinion that the genius of the Jefuits feems revived in these times. The motive of the writer is entitled to the warmest encomiums. It is to fave the nations of the world from the political dangers of a vile and anti-focial government, by foftering a due love and reverence for their ancient fovereigns, and to teach fovereigns that their great and inexhaustible strength lies in the hearts of their people. ART. 10. ANTIQUITIES. L'Interieur de l'Ancienne Rome, &c. Par A. F. Par. nin, Ex-directeur d'Ecole Secondaire. 8vo. pp. 191. price 43. 6d. stitched. A Paris, Chez Gabriel Dufour et Co. 1809 That education in a free ftate is an object of the very first im portance has been often remarked, and long acknowledged. Conviction of this truth, and the lively intereft which we feel in the younger part of the community, procure a ready notice in our pages of every treatife calculated either to improve the present fyftem of inftruction, or to facilitate the acquifition of useful knowledge. Acting on this principle, we prefent to our readers. a fhort account of "L'Interieure de l'Ancienne Rome," not be. caufe it contains accurate or extenfive information, but to guard our Our countrymen against French deception; and warn them not to expend their money on paper and printing, equally unworthy both of purchase and perufal. The very idea fuggefted by the title, viz. a description of Ancient Rome, is utterly falfe. The author certainly meant, if meaning he had, to write a book on Roman antiquities. To render confultation eafy, he has placed the articles in alphabetical order, a plan by no means to be condemned, on the contrary, it poffeffes, for the. ufe of fchools, fome advantages over the arrangements adopted in the elegant vo lume of Kennet, and the laborious compilation of Adam. To justify our opinion of this work, we shall only transcribe two articles, premifing that they are not felected for any preeminence in ignorance or abfurdity; as there are few indeed in the volume, which might not, with propriety, difpute the palm with them in both refpects; but because the volume begins with the former, and because the other is, though fhort, full of errors. "AIGLES ou ENSEIGNES.-La feconde année du confulat de Marius, vers l'an de Rome 647, chaque légion eut pour enfeigne une aigle d'or. Avant ce temps-là, ou prenait pour enfeigne des figures de loup, de minotaure, de cheval, et de fanglier. Plus antérieurement encore, les Romains fe fervoient d'un petit morceau de bois mis en travers au haut d'une pique, au-deffus de la-quelle état une main; au deffous, plufieurs petits morceau de bois taillés en rond, où l'on voyoit les portraits des Dieux. Cette enfeigne s'appeloit fignum. Enfin, les premières enfeignes fous Romulus n'étoient autre chofe qu'une botte de foin que portoit chaque compagnie, manipulus foeni, dóù ces compagnies furent appelées manipules. Il y avoit encore une autre enfeigne appelée vexillum où étoit reprefentée en or, ou en argent l'image des Céfars avec le nom de l'Empereur. "Les confuls, pour marque de leur dignité portoient un bâton d'ivoire furmonté d'une aigle, comme Martial le témoigne : "Da nunc et volucrem fceptro quae furgit eburno.” Liberty having been annihilated in France, and the eagle adopted as the ftandard of the troops, by the man who now occupies the throne of that country, Pornin would naturally, with the fervility peculiar to his countrymen, hail Aigles, as an aufpi cious commencement to his book. But unluckily for him, the Confulfhip had no fecond year during the Republic. It is however true, that the eagle was the standard of the Roman legion in the fecond Confulfhip of Marius, (Pliny, x. 5'), and it ought to have been added, that it was then first introduced into the armies of Rome as the military enfign, by the fame brave, though ferocious general; but it is equally true, that it had been formerly adopted by the Perfians, (Xen. Anab. Lib. iii. Cap. x.) Καὶ τὸ βασίλειον σημεῖον ὁρὸν ἔφασαν, «ετόν τινα χρυσοῦν ἐπὶ Taμ, which Pornin ought alfo to have noticed. the eagle always of gold; on the contrary, filver was G 2 πελτης ἀπ Nor was generally preferred, preferred, fays Pliny, lib. xxxiii. cap. 19, from its being feen at a greater diftance. Befides, for the fake of the young scholar, it ought to have been added, that though the figure of the Roman enfigns was always that of an eagle, yet they were not precisely alike. Sometimes they refembled an eagle in a standing pofture, at others, with outstretched wings, which was the most common form, and not unfrequently with a turret on their backs, or with the thunderbolts of Jupiter in their talons, as if ready to be launched. Roman hiftory juftifies what is faid of Manipulus, and of the other figures mentioned. What is advanced respecting fignum, is wholly a mistake. That term was used generically, applied to every kind of ftandard, and frequently denoted what, in the British army, is called a company or divifion. To render the affertion refpecting the Gods confiftent with truth, the term fhould have been preceded by warlike, as the figures of those only who prefided over war were employed as military enfigns. The author is not more fortunate with regard to vexillum. It was a piece of fquare cloth, not filver, the ordinary ftandard of the cavalry only, and was in ufe, centuries before the birth of the firft Roman Emperor. Pornin could not have committed this blunder, had he known that velum, a curtain, a fail, is only vexillum contracted, (Cic. Orat. 45.) To correct the. laft error in this article, we have to add, that there is no foundation in history for what is faid refpecting the badge of the Conful. Befides, the line is not from Martial, but from Juvenal. (Sat. x. 43.) who is fpeaking of a triumphant conqueror, who was not neceffarily a Conful. Pompey had the honour of a triumph, when only an Eques, not even in the number of the fenate, and poffeffing no civil authority whatever. Many fimilar inftances occur in the annals of Rome. This laft error has not even the merit of origi Dality, being faithfully copied from a dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities, compofed for the ufe of the Dauphin, of which a tranflation, published in London in the year 1700, is before us. "JOUR.-Les Romains divifoient le jour en quatre parties, favoir; prime, tierce, fexte et none. Prime commençoit à 6 heures, tierce à 9, fexte à 12, et none à 3. Le matin, manè, duroit, jusqu' à midi, et après midi venoit ce qu'ils appeloient meridiei inclinatio." It is almoft in poffible to give a defcription of the Roman day in words more remote from the truth than thofe juft quoted. That nation did not divide the natural day into 24 equal parts, calcu. lated by twice 12 twelve hours, and begin to reckon from midnight, as is the cuftom in Britain and France; yet this is the very idea which Pornin must have intended to convey. With them the day always contained 12 hours. The firft began when the upper limb of the fun appeared above the horifon, and the twelfth terminated with his fetting. Hence it is manifeft that their hours were fub. jest to perpetual change,-longeft in fummer, and fhorteft in win ter |