:

that the uninitiated were taught to believe many absurdities respecting the intelligences, that resided in, and presided over, certain stars and planets; but the eyes and gopra were perfectly acquainted with the Mythos, under which all the religion of their deluded followers was veiled they well knew that Osiris and Isis, Typhon and Orus, and the whole rabblement of gods, goddesses, giants, &c. were mere men and women; and their Theomachia no more than the petty warfare of a few savage tribes of violent men; historical facts recorded by Thoth and the Cabiri in hieroglyphics, or in a kind of writing, invented for the purpose of confining the knowledge of these things to a few, who thereby gained such an ascendancy over their fellow-men, as enabled them to obtain honors, wealth, and empire, at the expense of the morals and happiness of the multitude. The managers of this politico-religious system went by various names; all of them pretended to possess powers, more than human; some were augurs, some soothsayers, some astrologers, some pythons or ventriloquists, and all of them vile impostors. It was therefore impossible to be an astrologer, in those times, without being a vile person, There were no books of astrology, from which Jacob might learn to dabble in the futile art; if he knew any thing respecting it, he must have acquired it by being initiated into the mysteries of the Cabirl; in which case he would have learned that the whole was a deception, practised on the vulgar, for political purposes; and that before any one could become a professed astrologer, he must determine to be a villain. I believe that no person who has considered the history of the most ancient nations, will think I have overcharged the picture of those ancient quack doctors,-If Jacob was an astrologer, and the 49th chapter of Genesis a collection of astrological sentences, how can any one be so inconsistent as to suppose, that the patriarch would break out, in the midst of such an unintelligible jargon of impiety, into that apostrophe ?-« For thy salvation have I waited O JEHOVAH." I doubt not that Sir W. has sufficient candor to acknowledge, that an astrologer, who considered himself under the influence of the planet Saturn," would make such an exclamation as that above with a very ill grace; and since all who do any of those superstitious and irreligious things are the detestation of JEHOVAH, it is not possible that Jacob should have at all referred to astrology, in the last benediction pronounced upon his children.

Since Kircher and Dupuis only pretend "that the emblems which were painted on the standards of the tribes in the camp of the Hebrews, were no other than the zodiacal signs," No. vi. p. 388. it betrays want of thought in Sir W. D. to suppose his hypothesis can gain any thing by such pretensions; or even by the opinions of Rabbi Kimchi and Aben Ezra: we know the authority of tradition among the Jews was, in the days of the Messiah, so great that they had, by it, rendered the wORD OF GOD of no effect :-not so, I hope, with Sir W. Drummond. Both as a scholar and a Christian, he must esteem tradition in a different manner; and it appears to me, that to read what Aben Ezra has said on this subject, and Kimeki after him, is sufficient to convince any one that the whole i unfounded conjecture, and of no more authority in the presen

than the Jewish legends respecting Ogg, king of Bawat Are by verillum and standard, strictly synonymous as for yea ensign like that carried by the sub-lieuetas rag

ments, or a somalier one like that carried or a cer

Was it like the eagles of the Romar kors

or an image? There is ever reason 71492 were images of the gods and spe

or soldier's path was taker ince TOPPED military standard among the Jumate: ac

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as Jacob's speech from the zodiac: I do not know that any one can prove the existence of such a painted zodiac in that early age; yet is not this necessary to Sir W. D's hypothesis?—I have been somewhat accustomed to mathematical deduction, and on subjects of Theology, the Bible is my Elementary Treatise in it are contained all my axioms, postulates, and definitions, by the aid of which I must try every question. I am at least sufficiently acquainted with Geometry to know, that two magnitudes, each equal to a third magnitude, cannot be unequal between themselves; and I am equally certain, by the Elements of Theology, that no man can be an astrologer and a servant of JEHOVAH at the same time; because I learn from the Bible that every ASTROLOGER is the DETESTATION of JEHOVAH! The benediction pronounced by Jacob upon his children could not therefore be an astrological jargon. Sir W. is too well acquainted with the language and manners of the oriental people, to hesitate in allowing the much greater reason there is to suppose that Jacob prophetically described the dispositions and circumstances of his offspring, in the highly figurative language so common in oriental compositions, than to suppose the venerable Patriarch influenced by astrological notions.

Newcastle on Tyne, Aug. 1812.

W. A. HAILS.

EXPLANATION OF A PASSAGE IN VIRGIL.

If the following attempt to explain a passage in Virgil is thought worthy of a place in your Journal, it will increase the diligence

of

TIRO.

In the third book of the Eneid, when Æneas suddenly appears before Andromache, she inquires for Ascanius with particular

earnestness.

Quid puer Ascanius? superatne et vescitur aura? 339.

Quem tibi jam Troja

Ecquæ jam puero est amissæ cura parentis?

Eequid in antiquam virtutem animosque viriles

Et pater Æneas et avunculus excitat Hector?

Possessed with the idea that the 340th line was left unfinished by the negligence of Virgil, or that it was mutilated by the inat tention of his transcribers, some critics have endeavoured to supply the deficiency, but their efforts do not appear to have been successful.'

For the supposition that, had Virgil intended to finish this line, he would have written

Quem tibi jam Troja salvum fumante tenebas,

I See note on this passage in the Delphin Edition.

but that he designedly left it imperfect, the following reasons may be given.

Virgil's peculiar excellence consists in those delicate touches of nature, which immediately penetrate the heart. He never neglects an opportunity of showing his tenderness, and he dwells with evident satisfaction on every pathetic circumstance. Hence it appears that, when Virgil seems to overlook any occasion for displaying the tenderness of his feelings, the reader should doubt his own knowledge of the passage, and not accuse Virgil of want of taste.

Andromache, a mother who had lost her only son at the capture of Troy, inquires concerning the fate of Ascanius, who, we are told', was of the same age with her son whom he greatly resembled, but who had survived the destruction of his native city.

This inquiry afforded Virgil an opportunity for indulging his natural tenderness, and he has not neglected it. He represents Andromache asking whether Ascanius still survived: she knew he was not slain at Troy, and she proceeds to say so;

Quem tibi jam Troja salvum fumante tenebas;

but the contrast between the fate of Astyanax, and that of Ascanius, rises before her imagination; all a hapless mother's feelings strangle her utterance, and she will not touch the string which reverberates only her own misfortunes.

If the imperfect state of this verse is ascribed to this cause, instead of a defect, it becomes a beauty.

Yet again, when Andromache asks if Ascanius imitates the virtues of Æneas and Hector, the recollection that she once hoped her son would equal their fame, completely overpowers her; she breaks off with tears and long lamentation, which not even the sudden presence of a beloved friend could restrain;

Talia fundebat lacrymans, longosque ciebat
Incassum fletus.

Ireland, Sept. 24. 1812.

CLASSICAL CRITICISM.

Remarks on the Ars Poetica of Horace, and an inquiry into the necessary qualifications for a Poet.

To admonish the young men of his day, and especially the Pisos, against the too prevalent rage for becoming poets, without

Eneid 3. lines 489, 90, 91.

2 From 1. 341. it is evident that Andromache was informed of the loss of Creusa: hence we may conclude that she was acquainted with the circumstances of their flight and consequently with the escape of Ascanius.

being possessed of the necessary qualifications, namely, a musical ear, refined taste, sound judgment, and discriminating sense, joined with a proper portion of fancy; and not in order to disclose the mysteries of the poetic art to the profane vulgar', was the object of Horace in penning this celebrated performance.

As

Hence his reiterated sarcasms against the would-be-poets of his age; his observations on the perfidious attractions of the Muse and the danger of the illusion, under which a poet labors when he makes an estimate of the value of his own verses. our age too is not without an amazing portion of competitors for poetical fame, the remarks that then flowed from his didactic and satiric pen, conjoined with what we ourselves are here about to offer, may possibly be of some service at least to the rising generation, if not to the more hardened votaries of the Muse.

That so many qualities, as are above enumerated, should be requisite for the formation of a poet, may at a primâ facie view, appear hardly probable, but if we examine each and all of them, we shall find them strictly necessary.

1st. Let me ask, who, without having an ear for music, can frame flowing and harmonious lines? who can be conscious of the varied beauties proceeding from the arrangement of periods and harmony of rhythm? who can know the just position of dactyls and spondees so as to give their verse a musical and poetic effect? who, in fine, can duly comprehend that most difficult part of the art, versification?-Hence chiefly it was that Cicero was led to say poeta nascitur, orator fit, because any person possessing a competent portion of sense and natural abilities may by intense study become eminent in almost any profession of life; but to make oneself a poet is a very different thing, for it has never been believed that any quantum of application would furnish us with a good ear, or any other sense which nature has denied us. In a word, a musical or poetic car might be compared to good birth, which as Edmund Howe, the antiquary, with truth observes, is a possession that neither wealth, nor learning, nor splendid actions, nor advancement to the highest posts of honor, can per se procure or constitute. "A man may be created a peer, but no king can make him a gentleman; his birth and descent alone constitute him such."

Having thus exemplified the first point, and the impossibility of possessing it otherwise than as a natural endowment, we proceed to (2d) refined taste; which is evidently necessary in poetry and every thing else connected with the sacred nine; for it is this alone which will mark and constitute the distinction between minds of equal and similar culture.

3d. Correct judgment and discriminating sense must be deemed