I beheld a figure advanced in years, about seventy-three, tall, slim, but upright; with a thin, and, at first view, severe counte nance; but when animated by conversation, and accompanied by a clear and melodious voice, agreeable and inviting to discourse. -I told him that my principal object in visiting Baden was to pay my respects to HIMSELF; one, to whom every country, where ancient classical literature was cultivated, was ready to acknowledge its obligations, and my own was most forward in that number. But now, that I found him here, he must allow me to with me. him away carry He was startled at this proposition; but laughed heartily when I told him that my companion was an excellent artist, and that it was absolutely necessary for the comfort of mind of all classical virtuosos in England, that he should permit his likeness to be taken. You have been at much pains,' replied he, for an insignificant object; and I should betray great affectation in refusing so harmless a request. Do as you please.'Mr. Lewis, on his return, showed me the fruits of a close and long-continued sitting of three hours. The resemblance was perfect; you have it here enclosed, for the gratification not only of all true Roxburghers, but of all genuine lovers and cultivators of the literature of Greece and Rome in either of our Universities. I love,' said the Professor, to read your favorite Thomson.' favorite Thomson.' He then mentioned Pope, and quoted some verses from the opening of his Essay on Man, and declared his particular attachment to Young and Akenside. But our Shakespeare and Milton, Sir, what think you of these ?' 6 They are doubtless very great, and superior to either; but if I were to say that I understand them as well, I should say what would be an untruth: and nothing is more disgusting than an affectation of knowing what you have comparatively little knowledge of.'-I was anxious to obtain from our venerable companion an account of his early studies, and partialities for the text of such Greek authors as he had edited. He told me that he was first put upon collations of Greek Mss. by our DR. MUSGRAVE, for his edition of Euripides; and he dated from that circumstance his first and early love of classical research. This attachment had increased on him as he became older, had grown with his growth, and strengthened with his strength,'-and had induced him to grapple with the unsettled, and in parts difficult, texts of Appian, Epictetus, and Athenæus. He spoke with a modest confidence of his Herodotus; said that he was even then meditating a second Latin version of it: and ob

1 Vol. III. p. 110.

served, that, for the more perfect execution of the one now before the public, he had prepared himself by a diligent perusal of the texts of the purer Latin Historians. I knew his assistance had been solicited for the new Greek Thesaurus, publishing by Mr. Valpy, and I asked him how he liked the execution of that work?Upon the whole, very well: it might have been less diffuse, but it was perhaps better to do too much than too little, in undertakings of this kind. He wished it every imaginable success.'-I took leave of our amiable and venerable host, accompanied with mutual regrets at the shortness of the visit, and with a resolution to cultivate an acquaintance so heartily begun. As we got into the carriage I held up his portrait, and told him he would be neither out of sight nor out of mind. He smiled graciously, and waved his right hand from the balcony."

Dzieje Starożytne Indji ze Szczególnem zastanowieniem sie nad wpeywem jaki miec mogla na strony zachodnie, (by Mr. Lelewel Joachim). Warszavia, 1820. 8vo.

J. D. Fuss ad C. B. Hase Epistola, in qua Jo. Laurentii Lydi de Magistratibus Reip. Rom. opusculi textus et versio emendantur, loci difficiliores illustrantur. Leodii. 1820. 8vo.

Les villes de la Gaule rasées par M. Dulaure et rebâties par P. A. de Golbéry, Conseiller, etc. Paris. 1821.

Oratio de insigni honore quo habiti fuerunt, cum Philosophi apud Græcos, tum Romæ Jurisconsulti; quam habuit Cornelius Anne Den Tex a. d. 9 Oct. 1820. quum in Illustri Athenæo Amstelædamensis Juris profess. auspicaretur. Amst. 1820. 4to.

Specimen inaugurale exhibens Demosthenis Orationem de Symmoriis, variis lectionibus et annotatione perpetua instructam, &c. &c. publico examini submittit H. Amersfordt, Amstelodamensis. 1821. Amstelodami.

Procli Opera ed. V. Cousin; Tomus III. continens partem posteriorem Commentarii in Primum Platonis Alcibiadem. Paris. 1821. 8vo.

De l'écriture Hiératique des Anciens Egyptiens, par M. T. F. Champollion le jeune, &c. Grenoble. 1821. folio.

Η συνταγματικὴ χάρτα μεταφρασθεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ Γάλλου Φήλικος Asalxou. Paris. 1821.

Diatribe Literaria inauguralis in Thucydidem et Ciceronis de eo sententiam quam pro gradu doctoratus in Academia Rheno

trajectina publico examini submittit P. Camper. Traj. ad Rhen. 1821. 8vo.

Frid. Traug. Friedemann Oratio de Ludis Literariis regundis, muneris adeundi causa habita. Wittenbergæ, 1820. 8vo.

Bibliotheca Hultmanniana, sive catalogus librorum inter quos sæculi xv. editiones eminent, &c. &c., quos congessit Car. Ger. Hultmann., J. U. D. &c. quorum auctio Sibræducis, Jul. 1821. &c.

NOTES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The second part of the Notice of Mr. R. P. Knight's Carmina Homerica was received too late for insertion in our present No.; but will appear in our next.

Epitaphia in our next.

If D. L. will be more fair and candid in his criticisms, and civil in his expressions, we shall willingly insert his article.

Vectis shall have a place, with some other Latin poems.
Attention shall be paid to several communications.

This Day is published, 8vo. 15s.

THE COMEDIES OF ARISTOPHANES,

By T. MITCHELL, A. M.

LATE FELLOW OF SIDNEY-SUSSEX COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

Printed for JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle-Street.

END OF NO. XLVII.

THE

CLASSICAL JOURNAL.

No. XLVIII.

DECEMBER, 1821.

OXFORD ENGLISH PRIZE ESSAY
for 1809.

THE LOVE OF OUR COUNTRY.

THE love of society is an instinctive principle in the constitution of man, capable of numberless modifications from external causes, and under all of them conducing to ends the most inportant and most beneficial. From his very birth, he, without any effort of volition, or any guidance from reflection, is in fact a social being; and in a family may be traced the outline of the great structure of civil society. To his parents the first tribute of affection is paid; and the impression, which their kindness has stamped on his youthful feelings, is rendered permanent by the experience of succeeding years. By an easy transition his fondness is communicated to all, who are allied to him either by blood, or by affinity; they are the companions or the protectors of his childhood, and to them he looks up in a spirit of conscious dependence, in which attachment is mingled with awe, and gratitude with confidence. As time progressively developes his character, the circle of a family becomes too confined for the range of the social principle, and his mind, with quickened perceptions and enlarged views, embraces a more extensive prospect of life, its pains and its pleasures, its duties and its relations.

But the alliance and union of mankind must not be considered as mere acts of obedience to the benevolent dictates of nature; they are moreover prompted by the vicissitudes of human affairs; they are upheld by congeniality of dispositions, and similitude of manners; they are strengthened and perpetuated by all the advantages, which promote, and all the refinements, which adorn, the varied commerce of life.

VOL. XXIV.

Cl. Jl.

NO. XLVIII.

Benevolence, as it respects our conduct towards individuals, is generally weak, unless on occasions, which excite strong commiseration, or demand immediate relief. Benevolence, according to various circumstances, will be sometimes enfeebled, and sometimes invigorated, by the multitude of the objects, to which it is dilated. It is enfeebled, when they are separated into numerous parts; and it is invigorated, when our imagination combines them into a whole. Hence arises the force of that sentiment, which we experience towards all, who have been born in our own country, and whom we contemplate as standing with ourselves in the same common relation to the aggregate interests of a community. When natives of the same town, or even of the same country, have been accidentally thrown together in a foreign land, the previous, but latent affection, which subsisted between them, is instantaneously called into action. The existence of this feeling may also be discerned in the eager preference of mankind for their fellow citizens; in their suspicion and dislike of strangers; in their disposition to overvalue in the one, those qualities of personal merit, which they depreciate in the other; and, above all, in the enthusiasm, with which men of different classes, different pursuits, and different tempers, spontaneously unite in the hour of peril or distress.

By a well-known faculty of our minds, individuals, who singly are disregarded, may be embodied into one complex object, which attracts and fixes our attention by its apparent magnitude and uniformity. We are thus led to survey our country, our civil and our religious establishments, with the liveliest sensations, though the particulars, which compose each group, when separately considered, are either too minute, or too distant, to force themselves on our notice. Age, condition, and the numerous connexions of family and neighbourhood, lose at the moment the differences, by which they were formerly distinguished, and are blended into one large and bright form, which captivates our fancy, and engages our affections under the general name of our country. Accumulation ennobles the assemblage, and our regard is bestowed, not according to the interest, which each of its constituent parts might simply inspire, but with an energy, proportioned to its collective dignity and importance.'

It is wisely ordained by Providence, that this predilection for our country should be more forcible and more constant than our love for mankind at large. An active principle is thus created,

'Lord Kames's Sketches of the History of Man, ii. 269. 4to. edition.