distinction, that in a curious preface prefixed to this part of the work, and ad-, dressed to the queen, the writer observes, "that it is now a common thing to see young virgins so trained in the study of good letters, that they willingly set all other vain pastimes at nought, for learn ing's sake." An elegant Latin letter, written by the queen to the princess, on the subject of this translation, is yet extant, and proves by the kind and endearing terms in which it is couched, how much she endeavoured to conciliate her affection. The estimation in which she was held by the prince (afterwards Edward VI.) is also clearly indicated by the Latin letter written to her by this promising youth, in his ninth year, expressing his thanks for her kind present of the king's and her own picture as a new year's gift. The princess Elizabeth also proved her regard, by dedicating to her her first literary attempt, entitled "The Mirrour, or Glasse of the Synneful Soule," which the translated out of French verse, into English prose, when only in her eleventh year.*

Such was the zeal of the queen for the improvement of literature, and the ad. vancement of knowledge, that she constantly exerted the influence that she had acquired over her husband, for the wisest and most salutary purposes. The parliament having consigned all colleges, &c. to the king's disposal, the university of Cambridge, apprehensive of annihilation, addressed the queen to intercede in their behalf. Her exertions were successful, and she communicated the king's favour to them in a sensible and wellwritten letter, which is still on record. Her chaplains were selected with great care, and were men eminent for piety and learning. During Lent, her custom was to have a sermon preached every afternoon, in her chamber, which was then accessible to such of the ladies in waiting, as were disposed to attend.

The king, during his last expedition into France, left Katherine regent at home, and soon after his return, she was released by his death from the fatigue and uncertainty of her exalted situation.

A copy of this work, in small quarto, written by the princess, on vellum, and bound in blue and silver embroidery, is preserved in the Bodleian library at Oxford. It is dedicated, "to our moste noble and ver tuous quene Katerin, Elizabeth her humble daughter wisheth perpetual felicitie and everJasting joye."

She retained the king's affection, which had been before so capricious, to the last; and his will, which was dated only a month before his death, exhibits a flattering panegyric on her many excellent qualities. Eventful, however, as was the former part of the queen's life, the close of it was destined to be still more calamitous. Her unhappy union with lord Seymour, together with some ac count of her death and burial, will form the subject of my next letter.

For the Monthly Magazine. LYCEUM OF ANCIENT LITERATURE.-No. XXXI.

(Concluded from page 34.)

Amatory Pocts.-CATULLUS.
HE professed admirers of Catullus

Thave endeavoured to acquit him of this charge; at least, of being intentionally guilty. It is admitted, that he was of a gay and amorous temper; but it is said that, to infer the character of the man from the looseness of his writings, is precisely what he has, as well as Ovid* and Martialf cautioned his readers not to do, in one of his pieces addressed to Furius and Aurelius, who probably had rallied him upon the subject. This piece has generally been adduced as an apology for some of the more indecent carmina, where the indecency lies more in the words than in the sense. Obscenity, among the ancients, in the lighter species of composition, was not only tole rated, but even required; and what Catullus bas said in the carmen last alluded to, was probably the general opinion of his time:

Nam castum esse decet pium poetam Ipsum; versiculos nihil necesse est : Qui tum denique habent salem ac leporem Si sint molliculi & parum pudici. And it appears to have been prevalent in the age of Pliny the Younger, who, sending some hendecasyllables to his friend Paternus, observes to him: Ex quibus tamen si nonulla tibi paulò petulantiora videbuntur, erit cruditionis tuæ cogiture, summos illos et gravissimos viros, qui talia scripserunt, non modo lascivia rerum, sed ne nudis quidem verbis abstinuisse: quæ nos refugimus, non quia seve

Crede mihi, distant mores a carmine nostri: Vita verecunda est, Musa jocosa, mihi. Trist. 2. We have noticed this in our account of Ovid, in a former Number.

Mart. Epig. 36, lib. 1. Carm. 16.

riores,

riores, sed quia timidiores sumus. Scimus alioque hujus opusculi illum esse verissimam legem, quam Catullus expressit. Here we see even the grave sententious Pliny contenting himself with the omission of a practice which, however improper and unworthy of real genius, he does not presume to condemn. That it existed, these and many other authorities which might be adduced, sufficiently demon strate. But it is equally true that Catullus has, more than any other cotemporary poet, indulged in this licentious ness of his age.

But proceed we now to consider the poet of Verona in his more serious compositions. Catullus is not always the gay and enamoured writer whom love inspires, or satire misleads. In some of his pieces he is tender and delicate. That on Lesbia's Sparrowt is remarkable for its wit and beauty. Some writers have affected to insinuate that the plea santry it contains is tinctured with that libidinous vein too prevalent in the writings of this author. But we confess that we can see no positive grounds for this assertion. As it is short, we insert it as a specimen of the better style of

Catullus:

Passer deliciæ meæ puellæ,

Quicum ludere, quem in sinu tenere
4Quoi primum digitum dare adpetenti
Et acres solet incitare morsus:
Quum desiderio meo nitenti
Carum nescio quid lubet jocari,

Ut solatiolum sui doloris

mani

Scaliger thinks was written on the same occasion with the famous Carmen seculare of Horace; but a little attention to chronology will evince the absurdity of this conjecture. It is more probable that this piece was never intended for a secular ode, but composed for some particular festival in honour of the goddess. The forty-second* is perhaps one of the loveliest little poems that ever graced the Roman tongue. The Julie et Manlii Epithalamium,† one of the longest pieces in the volume, is unusually spirited, and is, perhaps, the best specimen we have of the ancient wedding-song. It is immediately followed by the Carmen Nuptiale, which is supposed to have been written upon the same occasion. Many editors, particularly among the French, make this piece the principal part of the epithalamium on Julia and Manlius, bringing in the preceding carmen by way of chorus. But this arrangement is not adopted by the German or English commentators. In this carmen is that beautiful comparison, which no reader of taste or feeling can read without emotion: Ut flos in septis secretus nascitur hortis, Ignotus pecori, nullo contusus aratro, Quem mulcent auræ, firmat sol, educat imber, Multi illum pueri, multæ optavere puellæ : Idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungui, Nulli illum pueri, nullæ optavere puellæ : Sic virgo dum intacta manet, tum cara suis, sed Cum castum amisit polluto corpore florem, Nec pueris jucunda manet, nec cara puellis. The 60th carmen de Aty, is a very singular composition in galliambics.I Ca

tullus relates the history of the beautiful Atys differently from any other author.§ The diction is highly finished, and the complaints of Atys, however extraordinary may appear the misfortune of this fabulous personage, are tender and affecting. Gibbon the historian,

*De Acme et Septimio.

+ Carm. 58. The epithalamium was a poem sung by youths, or virgins, or both, when the bride was brought to the bridegroom, and placed in the thalamus. Apollo was said to have written the first among the Greeks, on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. The most ancient in Latin that we know of, is this of Catullus.

This metre usually consists of an ana pest or spondee; then two iambics, with a long catalectic syllable; to which are again added an anapest and two iambics, as Vice veris, et favoni glacies resolvitur. Sometimes, that the verse may run more rapidly, a tribrachus is put in the last foot for an iambic, as Super alta pectus Atys celeri rate maria.

See Ovid. Fast. 9 & Metam. 10.

speaking

speaking of the allegorizing spirit of the later Platonists, who constantly in wove philosophic fable with their polytheistical mythology, says, "But all the allegories which ever issued from the Platonic school, are not worth this short poem of Catullus. The transition of Atys, from the wildest enthusiasm to sober pathetic complaint for his irretrievable loss, must inspire a man with pity, and an eunuch with despair." The 61st carmen is a long poem in heroic verse, upon the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and has therefore sometimes been erroneously termed an epithalamium; but it wants the chorus of virgins. The introduction of the famous story of the Argonauts, has induced many of the old editors to style it argonautica, after the manner of Orpheus. In describing the nuptial bed, Catullus takes occasion to recount the story of Theseus and Ariadne, in a beautiful though long episode, which embraces more than one half of the poem. If this be a fault, it is amply compensated by the admirable manner in which the story is told. At the conclusion, the poet brings in the Fates chaunting a kind of hymeneal congratu latory song; an imagery which has a striking and pleasing effect. It is with great appearance of reason conjectured by Vossius, that this piece, as well as the

This short review of the poems of Catullus may satisfy the reader, that though generally considered as a trifling writer of occasional odes, he has merit of a higher kind. Had he from inclination been less addicted to the excesses of his age, and applied his mind to serious studies, he might have ranked with the best poets of that splendid æra which was now rapidly approaching. In his better pieces, he has infinitely more vigour than Virgil; in others he is light and playful as Horace, warm and tender as Ovid, keen and sarcastic as Martial. In general, there is an easy appearance of style, which proves that he wrote without much labour or premeditation. He is sometimes harsh and unpolished; but it must be recollected, that poetry was then comparatively in its infancy among the Romans.

Catullus is generally printed with Tibullus and Propertius. The following

are the editions which contain his works only.

Catullus, Fol. Parma, 1473. Edit. Princeps. Fol. Venet. 1487, 1493, 1500.

ab Achille Statio 8vo. Venet. 1554.

1566.

-Vossii. Lond. 1684, 4to.

-Vulpii. edit. opt. 4to. Patavii, 1737.

In his epigrams he may be said to be more successful than Martial. This is a species of writing which admits of no gradations; to please, it must be excellent. It is generally founded upon some delicate turn, or lucky word. The Greeks appear to have had a different conception of the epigram from the Romans. The Greek epigram mostly turns upon some thought that is at once natural and subtle: the Latin, by a false taste that began to prevail in the decay of pure Latinity, endeavours to catch attention by some unexpected word which is called a point. Catullus copied the Greeks, who were a better model, and maintains something of nature and simplicity in every epigram, however keen or sar. castic; while in general the effect of Martial's epigrams, is merely to terminate an ordinary thought by some striking expression. He is, therefore, by good judges, infinitely less esteemed than Ca. tullus.

Rom. Emp. vol. ii, ch. 23. note 18,

I

SIR,

HAVE often thought, that wholesale

booksellers do not give their retail customers the same advantages as other retail trades enjoy, by supplying reading societies, and private individuals then selves, at wholesale prices. This greatly injures the retail bookseller, and does not benefit the wholesale houses. For when reading societies, or private in dividuals, have an inclination for a book, or a quantity of books, they would purchase them of the local bookseller at the retail price, could they not procure them in London at a cheaper rate. Of course, the wholesale houses would not be injured by refusing books at the trade price except when they are to be again retailed, as those who want books would then regularly apply to the retail bookseller. Thus, all the books must be procured from the same source; and while the wholesale dealer's advantages are by no means diminished, those of the retailer are justly increased. Liverpool, Aug. 1, 1810.

BIBLIOPOLA.

For

For the Monthly Magazine.

On TWO MEANS proposed for BETTERING the CONDITION of the POOR, and at the same time promoting PUBLIC SECURITY, and the PRESERVATION of PROPERTY and LIFE.

I

ALLUDE to two proposals in the Monthly Magazine for April, signed "Common Sense." Of the practicability of the first proposal of building inland cottages along the road, I own, I doubt. I think that it would carry the poor too far from any labour but that on the roads, in most instances, and too far from their neighbours; but that of marine cottages for maimed or decrepid seamen, or their families, seems to be almost wholly clear of difficulty or objection, and to present great and peculiar advantages of every kind. Add to it the plan of Lord Nelson, for a register of seamen, and an annual new-year's donation to each, after a certain number of years service, as recorded in his Life by Mr. M'Arthur: and I think all pretence would be done away, for the unconstitutional practice of impressing, and the comforts and increase of this so

highly valuable class of society, together with the public benefit, happiness, and security, would be exceedingly pro

noted.

On ROTATORY, as implying PROGRESSIVE

MOTION.

SOME time (I believe two or three years back) I sent you a theorem, which I think was nearly thus: "Whether on revolving bodies, rotatory did not imply progressive motion;" of which the converse is, Whether progressive motion being ascertained, rotatory be not implied.

It seems this was not thought worthy of insertion; yet it is evidently of the most extensive application to primary and secondary planets, to comets, to the sun himself, and probably to all the fixed stars, since in many of these both the motions are ascertained: in others, if a principle can be deduced, a priori, from the laws of motion, one being found, the other will be inferred.

I did not then know that the great astronomer of France, lately deceased, Lalande, had, in terms, argued from this principle of the rotatory motion of the sun, as ascertained by his spots, to a progressive motion of that vast luminary. But having lately become possessed of several volumes of the Journal

de

Encyclopédique, through the attention of a friend, I have had the gratification of finding this idea confirmed from the history of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, for the year 1776, with Memoirs of Mathematics and Natural History, for the same year. Memoir on the Spots of the Sun, and his Rotation. By M. DE LALANDE. I give his words." Le mouvement rotation, consideré comme l'effet physique d'une causé quelconque, est, dit-il, produit par une impulsion communiquée hors du centre. Jean Ber nouilli calcule pour chaque planete le point où cette force doit être appliquée à proportion de la vitesse de sa rotation: mais une force quelconque imprimée à un corps et capable à le faire tourner autour de son centre, ne peut manquer aussi de deplacer le centre: et l'on ne sçauroit concevoir l'un sans l'antre. Il paroit donc très-vraisemblable que le soleil a un mouvement réel dans l' espace

alsolu".

"The motion in rotation, considered as a physical effect of any cause whatever, is produced by an impulse our of the centre. John Bernouilli has calculated

for each planet the point of application of such impulse, in proportion to its rotatory velocity: but any force whatever, impressed on a body, and capable of causing it to turn on its centre, cannot fail at the same time to displace the centre, (that is, relatively to absolute space, or to give it a progressive motion.) It appears, therefore, highly probable, that the sun has a real motion in absolute space."

He then proceeds to shew, that as the sun would draw with it the planets and comets, we could not be sensible of this his progressive motion, otherwise than by approach or recess, with respect of the fixed stars. And from their any astonishing distance, this must be very nearly invisible, unless on a great length of time.

to

Dr. Herschel has proved this inves tigation, and has greatly strengthened the proof by the evidence of accumula tive observations and results, most care. fully classed and compared.

La Lande, in the same memoir, notices that a progressive motion of Arcturus of only 4' 5" or 245" in a century, would give a real central motion of eighty mil fions of leagues in each year.

Journ. Encycl. t. ii. anno 1780; ptie. ii. p. 203.

Troston-hall, July 23, 1810.

For the Monthly Magazine. VISIT of an ANTIQUARY to LONDON. T is an eccentric commencement of a

Letter to quite tuo passes it f abrupt form: one is from Voltaire, "I speak what I think, and care very little

whether others think as I do;" and the other, "That there is no disputation in matters of taste."

From business and pleasure united, I have just made an excursion to the metropolis. Whatever pleasure pastoral poets may derive from beholding lazy Tityrus piping under a tree, I confess that I had full as much inclination to

hear the music of Bow bells, and behold the beauties of Kensington-garden girls, who luckily did not live in the time of a calumniating poet, who, without heed of slander, would probably have styled them, as he did romping Galaten, lascive puelle. And this, though they are only

barmless

I had scarcely been in London an hour, before I was urged with, "You will go and see the Duke of Bedford's statue; the New Theatre, the Townley Collection; and the Four-in-hand Club: the present lions of London. The last of these visits I declined for the following reason, very sensibly given by a stage-coachman. "Gentlemen (he said) often mount our box with an inclination to become adepts in driving curricles, phaetons, &c. but they are quite mistaken. Stage-coaches are heavy burdens, and our task is to make every horse do his duty but the light open carriages of gentlemen, are little more than wheelbarrows at the heels of horses, and driving these, is chiefly to restrain the horses from mischief." Donkies, as is well known, are very prone to gib; and however amusing may be the pranks which they play in their sulky moments, I am inclined to think that the Eton boy, who lately dashed among them with his team of donkies, is not to be considered with a faun smile in the spirit of Fun, but as presenting a good example for the modern Jehus, by finding them plenty of

1

useful occupation-that of curing the restiveness of asses. This is no trifling consideration, when it is known that a donkey has lately been sold for the enormous sum of titteen guineas. Forsaking then, any idea of entertainment from merely seeing carriages and four driven by gentlemen, I repaired to the spot where stands the sad memorial of the noble patron of the useful arts-the English Triptolemus, who in the days of mythology, (from the policy of sound patriotism,) would have been honoured with a temple. I confess, that I could not advance to the spot without the most melancholy sensations. I recollected the untimely fate, the short-lived bloom, of this bright flower of family, the statue appeared to me to confer opulence, and merit. The execution of honour upon the artist, and the ornaments to be perfectly coincident. Some powerful reasons may, however, conduce to prevent the possibility of sound criticism. First, the statue is of bronze, which was not the general custom of the cution like marble. ancients; and, by no means, shows exedarkness all the small parts, and is cerIt sinks through tainly not the best form. Nobody would desire the Venus, Apollo, Meleager, &c. to be changed in materials: though it perhaps would be eligible in a Hercules, or figures which exhibit much muscle. Secondly, this statue stands so high, that the view teazes the spectator with the bare outline of a human figure. In mo. dern statuary, there is often no attitude, no character, no allusion to any thing from position. Either they sit and look as tamely as if they were at dinner, or they extend one arm, and only want a fishing-rod, to have the graceful attitude of anglers. This taste was no doubt derived from days when those white or gilt sticks, called truncheons, were in vogue. I am aware, that although Hope gazes upon a rose-bud, and the Philo-opher declines the head, such characteristic representations are mostly limited to deified and allegorical figures; yet the plough upon which the statue rests the hand, might cause it to pass for a Cineinnatus, were it excavated in Italy. statue looks straight forward, like Charles I. at Charing Cross, and many others, in unmeaning vacancy. I do not say that a Bakewell rain would well suit the genius of sculpture, and that the duke's eye could be directed to it; but, in my opinion, some character should have been given to the statue. I am not

The

speaking