Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

In this translation the zoologist perceives the omission of a part of the description, very characteristic of the genus to which the wolf belongs. This is their mode of drinking, and the particular shape of their tongues, which Homer so well describes by the words,

Δάψονες γλώσσησιν ἀξαιῇσιν μέλαν ύδως *Ακρων.

น Lapping the surface of the water with their slender tongues."

The lion is, with Homer, a favourite object of comparison, and he is usually treated and described with a majesty becoming the royal beast. He is, at one time or other, typical of almost every hero of the Iliad. It has been remarked as rather a singular circumstance, that although the lion was never an inhabitant of Europe, or, at least, only of a very small part of it, he possesses a superior and more frequent place in the armorial bearings of the European nations than other animals. Equally courageous with the tiger, he is said to be more

[blocks in formation]

Such the lion's rage Who viewing first his foes with scornful eyes,

Tho' all in arms the peopled city rise,
Stalks careless on, with unregarding pride;
Till at the length by some brave youth
defy'd,

To his bold spear the savage turns alone,
He murmurs fury with a hollow groan;
He grins, he foams, he rolls his eyes
around;

Lash'd by his tail his heaving sides re
sound;

He calls up all his rage; he grinds his teeth,

Resolv'd on vengeance or resolv'd on death.

We quote this passage chiefly on account of the coincidence which has been observed between it, and the description of the same animal by Pliny. Spernens tela diu se terrore solo tuetur, ac velut cogi testatur: cooriturque non tanquam periculo coactus, sed tanquam amentiæ iratus. "Scorning the hunter's darts, he long defends inspires, and, as it were, testifies that himself by the terror alone which he he is forced to engage, and he at length rouses, not as if impelled by danger, but maddened by fury.” Vulneratus observatione mira percussorum novit, et in quantalibet multitudine adpetit. "When wounded, he marks his assailant with wonderful attention, and singles him out in the midst of the greatest throng." The naturalist of Verona seems not unfrequently to have borrowed both from Homer and Virgil. His description of the bee greatly resembles that given by the Mantuan Bard, and the agreement between the two short extracts, just quoted, renders it probable that the one was borrowed from, or, at least, suggested by the other. The prose writer, however, adds one circumstance, which is, perhaps, in all respects, the more legitimate property of the p Speaking of the lion, he observes upon open ground, and in full

though urged by the warmest onset of dogs and men, he retreats slowly, and in a fighting posture; but when his disgrace is concealed among woods and thickets, he flies with the utmost precipitation.

But it is in the works of Thomson, whom Pennant used to call the Naturalist's poet, that we may find the most ample harvest. This delightful writer has been accused of plagiarism from Virgil; and it cannot be denied that his prognostics of the weather, and several other interesting passages, are almost literal translations from the Latin author. Independent of these, however, there remain abundant proofs of his originality, as well as accuracy, in the description of animal life, to warrant the appellation bestowed on him by the first British zoologist. There is not in any part of the Seasons a more dignified passage than the following one, descriptive of" the feathered king."

High from the summit of a craggy cliff Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns

On utmost Kilda's shore, whose lonely race Resign the setting sun to distant worlds, The royal eagle draws his vigorous young, Strong pounc'd, and ardent with paternal fire.

Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own, He drives them from his fort, the towering

[blocks in formation]

The circumstance alluded to, of the old eagle driving its young to a distance from its ancient eyrie, whether it is as true as Thomson has rendered

it poetical, is consistent with early observation. It is related by Pliny: "Adultos persequitur parens, et longé fugat, æmulos scilicet rapinæ. Et alioqui unum par aquilarum magno ad populandum tractu, ut satietur, indiget."-"The parent bird pursues its adult young, and drives them afar, as rivals in rapine; for a single pair of eagles requires a large tract for preying in, to provide a sufficiency of food."

What a fine addition is made to the description of Satan's first visitation, when Milton makes use of this most natural image!

As when a vulture on Imaus bred,
Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar

bounds,

Dislodging from a region scarce of prey,
To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling
kids,

On hills where flocks are fed, flies towards
the springs

Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;
But in his way lights on the barren plains
Of Sericana, where Chineses drive
With sails and wind their cany waggons
light:

So, on this windy sea of land, the fiend
Walk'd up and down alone, bent on his
prey.

And the same evil being is elsewhere
and otherwise characterized with
equal power.

A lion now he stalks with fiery glare;
Then as a tiger who by chance hath spied
In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play,
Straight couches close, then rising, changes

oft

His couchant watch, as one who chose his
ground,

Whence rushing he might surest seize
them both,
Grip'd in each paw.

I have somewhere seen it objected as an inaccuracy in Milton, where he describes Satan in the Garden of Paradise, and adds,

Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life, The middle tree, and highest there that grew,

Sat like a cormorant ;

in as far as this bird, being webfooted, never perched either on trees or elsewhere. Now, it is a fact worthy of ob servation on its own account, and as showing the attention of the author even to the most ininute particulars, that the cormorant does roost on trees, and is, perhaps, the only individual of the.. palmated tribe which does so.

What a beautiful description is presented in the fourth book, of that u niversal peace and harmony which reigned in Nature before the Fall, and how delightfully varied is the picture! What a skilful combination of the liveliness of action, and the stillness of repose!

About them frisking played All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of

all chase

In wood or wilderness, forest or glen.. Sporting the lion ramp'd, and in his paw

Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,

Gamboll'd before them; the unwieldy elephant,

To make them mirth, used all his might,
and wreath'd

His lithe proboscis ; close the serpent sly
Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine
His braided train, and of his fatal guile
Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass
Couch'd, and now filled with pasture gaz-
ing sat,

Or bedward ruminating; for the sun
Declined was hasting now with prone ca-

reer

To the ocean isles, and in the ascending

scale

[blocks in formation]

woods,

First hunter then, pursued a gentle brace,
Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind.

It might be said of Milton what his great representative of the present day has so well written on another subject, that

He could be sportive as a fawn
That wild with glee across the lawn,
Or up the mountain springs,
And his could be the breathing balm,
And his the silence and the calm
Of mute insensate things.

The mind of this inspired poet seems, indeed, to have indulged with peculiar pleasure in the contempla

tion of the distinctive forms and ha

bits of animals; and there is generally so much of the picturesque, as well as of the beautiful, in his representations, that one rarely reflects on those misfortunes of his sight, to which he sometimes so mournfully and so touchingly alludes. From him there is "no voice of weeping heard, or loud lament," but the majestic calmness of his sorrow while bcwailing

the universal blank

A

[blocks in formation]

MR EDITOR,

THE following illustration of Madame de Stael's ingenious remark, that the mind of Homer was very similar. in its powers to that of Newton, (De l'Allemagne, I. 2. ch. 18.) may amuse and philosophy so incompatible with such of your readers who think fancy gether in the same breast. In readcach other, as to be unfit to dwell toing Ariosto the other day, I came to the following passage:

"Altri fiumi, altri laghi, altre campagne
Sono la su, che non son qui tra noi;
Ch' ha le citadi, hanno i castelli suoi,
Altri piani, altre valli, altre montagne,
Con case, delle quai mai le piu magne
Non vide Paladin prima, nè poi ;
E vi son' ampie e solitarie selve,
Dove le Ninfe ognor caccian le belve."

ORLANDO FURIOSO.

This, you perceive, is something like the celebrated philosophic hypothesis, which maintains the moon and the planets to be inhabited. The coI began to examine whether it was incidence struck me so forcibly, that original to Ariosto, or borrowed from some earlier writer, and my research opinion in Lucian's True History, was rewarded by finding a similar all antiquity, not excepting even the the most extravagant work of fancy of indeed, it is of Gulliver, Baron MunMetamorphoses,--the ground-work, chausen, and other wild modern fictions of the same class. Still of earlier

date, I found the opinion broached in clus and the Stromata of Clemens the Orphic verses preserved in ProAlexandrinus, in the fragment beginning,

« Μησατο δ' άλλην γᾶιαν ἀπειριτον. %. 5. %.

That is, "He (the Deity) formed another earth of great extent, called Selene and Mene, which contains many mountains, cities, and houses." What was once a wild fancy then, has now become legitimate philosophy-Dr Chalmers has even tried to embody it with theology; and I have little doubt that some of your more learned correspondents may find and favour you with similar notices of the no less singular opinion of Sir W. Herschel, that the work of creation is still going on in the heavens, where he thinks he can see with his powerful telescopes, new worlds in every stage of formation, and adding every day to the countless orbs which roll through space, affording a country and a dwelling-place to a population more numerous than ever entered into the dreams of imagination.

This wonderful hypothesis of the present actual progress of creation in the universe, is stated and maintained by him in a paper on the Sidereal Heavens. (Philos. Trans. for 1814, p. 248.) Some curious information on these topics, your readers will also find in an Italian work, entitled, "Considerazioni intorno á la Poesia, &c. di B. Garofalo, 4to, Roma."

Cambridge, Jan. 5, 1819.

-A.

REMARKS ON A MISTAKEN ROMAN

and your very respectable correspondent, in his translation, instead of named after Nervana, should have said, named Nervana, or named after the Emperor Nerva. Nervana was the name of the cohort, and there is certainly a manifest impropriety in saying that a cohort is named after its own name. This oversight is, however, probably a mere lapsus calami, and as the meaning of your correspondent is, notwithstanding this venial impropriety of diction, sufficiently obvious, I rather regret that I have adverted to it.

The only material point of difference is his rendering the letters 00 in the inscription, one thousand. It is true, as he states, that in old books, (I suppose he means Roman manuscripts,) the Arabic figure 8 prostrated thus, denotes a thousand. This is not, however, the Arabic figure 8, (though it nearly resembles it,) but the Roman numerals CIɔ, denoting a thousand, constructed into one thus, oo, and latterly written with one effort of the pen, and without the medial distinction thus .

Having perused a considerable number of Roman inscriptions, and having never, in any one instance, discovered numeral letters pointing out the number of men engaged in the erection or dedication of the tablets on which these inscriptions are found, I was not a little surprised at the new theory advanced by your correspondent, and the more so, as he not only adheres to it in the present instance, but endeavours to corroborate it, by informing us that he is inclined to ON looking over your Miscellany of believe that the letters CL found on July 1817, I observe an account of a the altar of Minerva at Burnfoot refer Roman inscription transmitted to you also to the number of men who joined by the Rev. Dr Cririe of Dalton, which in erecting it. This inscription on runs thus: I. O· M-COH·INER- the altar of Minerva I have not seen, VANA GERMANOR-00. EQ and it would, therefore, be premature CVI-qRATEST-L-FA¶NIVS-FE- to hazard an opinion respecting it;

INSCRIPTION.

MR EDITOR,

LIX TRIB.

Of this inscription he gives two translations, which do not materially differ, and I shall, therefore, content myself with the first, which is as follows: "To Jupiter, the most holy and the most high, the first Cohort of the Legion named after Nervana, consisting of a thousand German cavalry, commanded by Lucius Fænius Felix, its Tribune."

It is clear that this cohort was named Nervana, from the Emperor Nerva,

but as to that at present under consideration, there appears to be no manner of doubt that your correspondent is mistaken.

Had it been intended to express the number of German horsemen engaged in the erection of this stone, and had that number been a thousand, the Roman numerical letters CIO would undoubtedly have been used. But the letters OO are not numerical, neither can they, as they stand at due distance, and unconnected, be an arbitra

ory

ry or errative effort of the chisel, instead of CIO, or . Indeed, the theadvanced by your correspondent is so wholly destitute of truth, or even probability, that it appears to me quite untenable.

But 00, as is well known to every classical scholar, is a common contraction for Omnino. This is no vague conjecture, for Calepine, an eminent lexicographer, expressly says, that (in notis antiquorum) 00 is a contraction for Omnino. This point being settled, the inscription, divested of its contractions, will run thus,-Jovi, optimo, maximo, cohors prima Nervana Germanorum omnino equitum, cui præcest Lucius Fenius Felix Tribunus. The translation will run thus,-" To Jupiter, the Best and Greatest, the first Cohort Nervana (consisting) of Germans wholly cavalry, commanded by the (Roman) Tribune, Lucius Fænius Felix."

All that the inscription means to import is, that a German cohort of cavalry, named Nervana, and commanded by a Roman tribune, inscribed this stone to Jupiter, and it was certainly a proud mark of distinction that it was dignified with the name of the Emperor Nerva, and was composed wholly of Germans, (without admixture of Romans,) excepting the commanding officer, who was a Roman tribune.

It is to be regretted that antiquaries are generally too eager and impatient, and where a difficulty occurs, as in the present case, will, like Alexander, rather cut the Gordian knot than take time deliberately to untie it. Of this impatience, I, too, have had my full share, and I have made the present communication with no view to detract from the celebrity of your able and respectable correspondent, but solely from a wish to make our antiquities as clear and intelligible as possible. I think it is pretty evident that the inscription in question points out no definite or precise number of Germans, and if your correspondent will favour us, through the medium of your miscellany, with the other inscription alluded to, I will be much obliged to him.-I am, Sir, &c.

RT. HUDDLESTON. Lunan, 5th Dec. 1818.

ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE DIFFU
SION OF KNOWLEDGE UPON THE
HAPPINESS OF THE LOWER RANKS
OF SOCIETY.

MR EDITOR,

No. I.

THE question, whether the diffusion of knowledge is calculated to increase or diminish the happiness of our peasantry and our mechanics, is becoming, every day, more important. It is closely connected with national freedom, and the dignity of the state, and it is impossible to speak upon almost any general political subject, without adverting to this leading topic,-this grand principle which bears upon and regulates all the movements of government, whether they be lenient or despotic. Wherever we turn, indeed, in political speculation, the diffusion of knowledge among the people meets us, and enforces attention, in consequence of its influence on individual opinion and public sentiment.

What do you mean by knowledge? it will be asked by those who wish to have all their ideas sorted and labelled with methodical precision: And what definition of happiness have you adopted? Now, Sir, although I have no great opinion of a logical definition, and think that its rules might, with no material loss to learning, be for ever consigned to the same tomb with Aristotle's syllogisms, yet, to preserve a good understanding with those precise and well-meaning persons, I shall attempt to say something in the way of explaining what I understand by happiness and by knowledge, which, if they be not definitions strictly ad regulas, (and those terms seem but ill qualified for the endurance of logical chains,) they may, perhaps, turn out to be intelligible descriptions.

By happiness then, I understand, man feels that satisfaction which a with the rank and condition in which Providence has placed him. Whether he be rich or poor, wise or ignorant, if he be happy, he must feel satisfaction and contentment, and must make a general submission and acquiescence to fortune, whether she choose to smile or to frown. I do not mean that he should be insensible, as the old Stoics pretended to be, to all the ills of life; but a man that I should account happy, must learn to feel, and

Q

VOL. IV.

« ZurückWeiter »